Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

Frugaldom

After a bit more research (ok, surfing online) I am totally committed to turning our newest raised bed to 'square foot gardening'. Howling gales aside, we got me some frugal compost and finished the newest raised bed and I have now got my grid in place. I made it out of twine and thumb tacks, measuring out each square foot as I went. I have 32 squares (12" x 12" or approx 30cm x 30cm) plus 16 small 'slots' measuring 3" x 12" (approx 8cm x 30cm). The main squares will be for the fruit & veg, the edge slots for flowers and herbs. It's all very exciting and I can't wait to get started planting! But I haven't even planned it all out yet. It's not deep enough for potatoes, carrots or parsnips. anyway, I was so excited about getting it completed, I went back out with the camera. Here's the handiwork so far, but it still needs to be fenced or netted to keep cat/pheasant/hens off it.



Can you tell I like my new 'game'?

Doom_and_Gloom

That is amazing nykmedia :T . Makes me want to finish my beds off properly for my square foot gardening project, although they aren't raised lol. I hopefully will be making one raised bed though; 3ft by 3 ft for the blackberries and blueberries. The herbs and flowers in those sides is a really good idea. Hope it all goes well.

Rummer

I love your new bed Nykmedia, that is exactly what I want for my garden! I can't afford new ones and the wood from the DIY store was too long for my car so I have got some pallets that I am hoping to break up and make a couple of beds out of, no idea if it will work but they will be free!

Frugaldom

Thanks, guys! I'm really excited about trying this but it's thanks to JTB and all of you on here that's made me come to the decision of trying raised beds and square foot gardening in the first place.

FREE IS GOOD! Pallets would work well once split up. My frame is made from bits of an old wooden greenhouse or conservatory that my neighbour salvaged and shared with us. (I used the glass panels for the coldframes.) I laid the lengths of wood together, no nails or anything, and just used extra slithers of wood to hammer into the ground to hold the shape. We've managed to get 3 raised beds out the wood so far and there's loads left.

Aldi is selling weed control fabric this week, I meant to check that out and see if it was worth buying some to keep in store.

It's my first year doing raised beds & square foot gardening, loads of research still to do and I like seeing JTB's progress so I can pinch ideas from there, too

Rummer

Just planted a whole load of new seeds and my sis gave me new pots for the garden. Maybe tmrw if the weather is dry I will try breaking up the pallets :eek: and nailing them together then I will put the beds in an unused piece of the garden and hope for the best.

Made a firm decision to pull out the bramble bushes and I think I will plant a whole load of potatoes in that bed to improve the soil and then next year maybe plant different fruit bushes in that area, maybe a huge strawberry bed! The fence along it will need to be replaced soon so I don't want to plant anything long term there until the fence is fixed.

I have been so inspired by all your ideas and it is good to share mine and bounce ideas off you all as I don't know anyone else who is growing their own fruit or veg.

TismE_3

Hi all i have really enjoyed reading through this thread, may i ask how long you all had to wait for your allotments? and where you are.
i've only just applied for information on our local allotments and i am just wondering how long the whole process takes.

Many thanks in advance and please keep posting your wonderful tales and advice, i am sat here with a note pad!

Tisme x

Patchwork_Quilt

Hi Tisme. It took 5 years to get our allotment but our previous one only took a few months. It depends who's running the scheme. Ours was a goat/chicken pasture before we got it, with two unsafe and rotting sheds and a lovely pink bath. There's still a stand of conifers at the entrance with a trailer underneath it! I keep reminding the town council but to be fair, they don't have any resources at all to clear it.

Having said that, I have taken the top off the bits of ground we could reach and last year got initial crops of potatoes, beetroot, ,parsnip, broad beans, leeks, swede and courgette.

This year, I am planting much the same basic stuff as I am not too confident. However, I have more ground to play with as the clearing was not finished last year, so I plan to have some squashes too.

I spent 3 hours there yesterday and got my potatoes in, the broad beans, beetroot, onions and cabbage. I found it helpful to keep a journal last year of what I did when and what varieties I planted. Again, nothing fancy. All the seed came from Wilkinson both times.

What I would really like now is a shed and a greenhouse at home but one thing at a time ...

Good luck everyone and I'll enjoy seeing how we all get on

jtb2412

Morning all :hello:

It's a glorious day here, not a cloud in the sky !

Got lots done in the garden yesterday (will pop some pics up shortly). Off down the lotty this morning (got to get the troops up first, lazy little mites !)

Patchwork going to get our potatoes in today too (got the 2nd earlies in yesterday - bags in garden (you'll see from pics) but 1st earlies going in down the lotty under fleece until all the risk of frost has passed. Re: confidence, I still get scared every time I plant a seed that I'm going to fail . My leeks are still not showing and I'm starting to panic :eek: I think i'll have to do another lot and propagate them. I do find I'm very impatient when it comes to gardening too, last year I kept pulling things up to see how well they were doing - not very frugal but I've since changed my ways :rotfl: .

TisMe - be prepared for quite a wait for your allotment - the lists are growing by the day as it is the new 'in' thing. However, you may be very lucky and get a plot quickly so don't give up. Best thing is to ask your local council about sites and how long waiting lists are - they will give you some idea. Don't forget there are also 'private' sites owned by churches, parish councils etc. Best thing I can advise you to do is visit all the sites (Sundays are a great day for this !) and ask the plot holders on the sites - most are extremely friendly and are a wealth of information. Let us know how you progress !

Rummer like the idea for the bramble area. :T Fruit wise we have: strawberry patch (at home in garden and two on the lotty), gooseberry bushes (lotty), raspberry (autumn bliss) at home and raspberry (golden) down lotty, blackcurrant bushes (at home), rhubarb (both at home and on lotty) and that's about it. I'd love more and will probably look into more next year - tis a bit late now. Ideally I want a bramley apple tree but it's finding the space for it ! Don't forget to take some pics if you can ! Pallets are fine for beds btw, just make stronger with a stake in each corner to bang in the ground and a cross piece in the middle to strengthen. Our allotment raised beds are all made from pallets from local building site (free of course !)

Nyk loveeeeeee the bed ! You're so neat ! I'm a messy worker lol.

LauraD any news yet?

Right off to raise the troops, pics will follow a bit later tonight of both garden and lotty.

Have a happy gardening day folks !! xxxx

http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309001.jpg (Seed potatoes x 18 planted in garden waste bags and rubble sacks from DIY store)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309002.jpg (DH Herb bed done yesterday, wood from local recycling centre)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309003.jpg (For the peas, frame made from the base of our old bed)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309004.jpg (Radishes under here and going to plant some spinach, glass rescued from recycling centre)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309005.jpg (Our last 2 cabbages, spring onions and some weeds !)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309006.jpg (Blackcurrant bushes showing signs of Spring)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309007.jpg (Inside greenhouse - more to start off yet !)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309008.jpg (Inside greenhouse again)
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/?action=view&current=garden150309009.jpg (DH's chillis, all 98 of them :eek: )

Rummer

Finally a dry day here! I am just finishing my brekkie and then I am heading to the garden to rip out those bramble bushes and get digging! I am just so excited that I have a dry day at the wknd and I fully intend to lose myself in my garden all day!

Frugaldom

G'Morning It's dry here, sun was shining but it's decided to hide again.

JTB, I just went through your garden piccies and you are so much more organised and neater than me, trust me on that! Your garden looks positively manicured compared to what we're starting with, ours is more like an overgrown mini-allotment with a house in the middle! :rotfl: But we do share some similarities; here's one of my lettuce containers. The clothes pegs are to hold the plastic lid in place. :rotfl:



Inspired, once again, I am going to start planting up my square foot garden.