If you were starting a brand new allotment garden what would you do first

[FurForksSake]

We get the keys soon for our 75m2 allotment, it is a brand new allotment so not needing lots of weeding and nothing to preserve.

We don't know if we will need a greenhouse or a coldframe or anything. I don't think we will need to store anything as we are a 2 minute walk from the site so can carry tools and watering can etc.

We know what we'd like to grow and that includes some flowers as well as root veg, legumes and salad. Should we be looking for scaffold board to section off parts of the plot?

Many thanks for any wisdom. I am going to read the long veg patch thread now!

If it is brand new and not weedy etc then I'd go no dig. Cover with cardboard and set out needs with a thin layer of compost etc and plant straight into it. Look up Charles Dowding for some good guides.

Stick some easy stuff in this year like some spuds while you decide what you want to do with it and aim to grow more next year.

Look up no dig gardening, you need a lot of compost and manure but you can start with a small bed like that and keep going, spent mushroom compost is good and can be delivered in bulk.

Plan it, working out where the soil goes.we can only put a shed on a particular corner under the rules so you might want that free in case you change your mind.

I’d start small. Cover up any ground you aren’t using, weeds at this time of year are rampant.

Decide on your paths. We have lots of bark clippings left at the allotment so use those.

Grow what you like to eat. You’ve still got time to put first Earlies and second earlies potatoes in.new potatoes are fantastic. And great weed suppressant.

Fruit is easy. Look online for bare root fruit bushes or buy from Aldi or Lidl.

A cutting patch is lovely.

I grow lots of flowers that self seed, calendula, borage, cerinthe.

If you can have a small pond do. It makes a huge difference to wildlife.

start a compost heap asap. Perhaps get a hotbox type thing to kickstart. But a pile enclosed on three sides will do. One of ours has three old doors salvaged from a skip retaining the contents. You'll need to be mulching and adding to the soil and some point and compost takes tiiiimmmeee.....

No dig gardening is great once the soil is in decent nick. All we know is it once was farm land, but it could well have been compacted etc during construction.
Like others, I'd lay out where paths were to be and dig the rest a spades depth, & remove any perennial weeds and roots. I certainly wouldn't be waiting next year to put in any crops/plants, there's plenty of annual veg and flowers that can be planted/sown now and that will give OP an idea of the state of the soil.