Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

jtb2412

Hi Rummer

We've been really lucky with the weather and been able to get down there after lunch (we do work but on flexible hours so plan to finish early when the weather is good and work late when its raining - not sure what we'll do if it keeps staying fine ! :rolleyes: )

Not entirely sure about plans for the space yet but we're probably going to carry on growing what we have in our own garden but on a larger scale. We were too late this year for potatoes so looking forward to having a bed (or maybe a couple !) devoted to those. We'll probably have a salad bed, brassicas (cauli, brocolli and cabbage), a bed for sweetcorn (grew that this year in our garden and it was delicious !), runner beans, peas etc etc. I'd dearly love an apple tree (bramley) but need to check the score on that one (kiwiblue, I think we're allowed fruit trees as long as they don't get too big - need to ask again to make sure !) There's lots of things we wanted to grow this year but simply didn't have the space (parsnips - which have to be in the ground a long time ! - leeks, goosberries, carrots and i'm sure there will be other things going on the list as the weeks go on ).

Plan for now though is to get the beds dug first and possibly get some onion sets and garlic in.

I must remember to sow little and often next year though as we made the same 'mistake' as you did and put all our seeds in at once and ended up having gluts of things (the kids were starting to look like runner beans ! :rotfl: ) - I think that will be helped by the amount of space we have though - not enough space in our garden at home to succession sow !

One bonus is, i've lost 2lb in 2 days ( I need to lose some ! ) so it's all good !

Rummer - make the OH a lovely meal from all your fresh veggies, get the candles out and then pop the question (Can we get an allotment??? !!!! ) - he'll be putty in your hands (not that i'm speaking from experience ! :whistle: :rotfl:

sad_dog_lady

thanks so much for this , we get our first allotment next week, we havent seen it yet, but hubby and eldest son are good at this clearing lark, and digging too. but i m not sure what on earth to plant at this time of year...can anyone help me??

jtb2412

Hi sad dog lady ..... well done on getting your allotment too :T ! It's a great time of year to get one as you can get the soil well prepared for next year's growing season.

We're still gardening novices so the only things I know you could plant now are onions and garlic and I think some varieties of cabbage (we put some spring ones in a couple of weeks ago ). I'm sure there must be other things to grow now - I shall have to investigate my gardening books and report back (possibly bedtime reading tonight if my eyes can stay open long enough - been in bed just after 9 the last 3 nights :eek: ! lol)

Don't forget to take some pictures sad dog lady and post them on here if you can - the more the merrier !

One thing I would suggest is take a really good long wander around the rest of the site and look at other people's plots - you will get some great ideas from them and it's worth seeing what they're growing too as some things do better in different areas of the country. Where about's are you ?

Also, talk to the other plot holders, they will hold a wealth of information and it's always good to make friends (we've been given some kale plants by our next door neighbour already !)

Right off for a bit of a soak in the bath otherwise I won't be able to move tomorrow :rolleyes: ! I shall have a read for you sad dog lady and let you know what you could grow

[Deleted User]

Wow, heaps of progress already.
I am spending today getting the seeds for summer planted, tomatoes, melons, pumpkin, loofahs, peppers etc. I have an electric agricultural mat ( its like a plastic coated electric blanket - sold to help newborn lambs etc survive ) and I stand the trays on that - temperature is perfect for germination so I get a great strike rate.
Have a great day
Jennie

jtb2412

Hi everyone !

Well it's the end of day 3 and the weather has been great so we've got lots done again :T . Hubby strimmed round the compost heaps and the back of the shed. The shed has been swept and tidied up and we've nailed up some batons to hang some of the tools on. Also dug another bed and a bit of another one. There's lots of grass and weeds in these last few beds :rolleyes: so it's little by little otherwise we're going to be very sore ! We're digging by hand (as opposed to rotorvating) as it's the only way to get the dreaded couch grass and dock out :mad: !

I don't think we'll get much done for the next few days as the weather looks pretty nasty. Mind you, could do with doing some housework ! lol

Sad dog lady - there's not much to grow this time of year really, pretty much what I said (onions, garlic) but you could put some broad beans in too (so our allotment neighbour said !)

kiwiblue where are you? Am I right in thinking your in Aus? Interesting about the agricultural mat - might be worth us investing in one ! I shall have to look at prices

Today's pictures:

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/7cb0NKBTmFm9-FN-9c42tc87qa*6lTPiVWUPv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/7cb0NKBTmFm9-FN-9c42tc87qdAc1rP1gnDfv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/7cb0NKBTmFm9-FN-9c42tc87qaknZl8yMDn5v4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/7cb0NKBTmFm9-FN-9c42tc87qeUdFRsOkL6Tv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg
http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic/7cb0NKBTmFm9-FN-9c42tc87qW-vtmYzGKXfv4xQp5Fd3Ig=_l.jpg

Will update next time we get down there (probably next week judging by the weather forecast i've just seen ! ) :eek:

Rummer

Looking great, you have turned it around so quickly, where do you get your energy from? I manage about 15mins heavy digging and then I loose the will to go on!

[Deleted User]

Looks great you must be so pleased with your progress.
Re location - close but not quite, actually live in NZ
Cheers
Jennie

Sporticus

JTB - you're doing a fab job! Go girl!! You've giving me encouragement to keep going. I went to see our prospective allotment this morning - needed to discuss size with dh when he came home. May have to start my own diary on here or the other site mentioned!

Our plot is on the site of an old market garden. It's not been worked for several years, the previous owner would just occaisionally plough the field to keep the weeds down. When I went down today they were just taking off the top layer to make it look a bit more tidy!:rolleyes: I'm sitting here tonight with the laptop and gardening books planning what we are going to grow.

Sad dog lady - we're also thinking about planting green manure to help keep the weeds down. It may help you too!

Will definately post pictures when we get our site - it's a true blank canvas!

ok_go

Very impressed ...

I am a newbie too, but having to run a whole plot on my own is slow work at the moment. I am just working through the brambles - last patch should hopefully be cut down this weekend !!!! And then using cardboard as a mulch over the winterto help control the weeds.

I have also discovered that my plot floods quite badly do am trying to look for clever ways to raise parts of it...

Regards

Go

jtb2412

Have decided to resurrect this thread (sorryyyyyyyy lol) so that I can log my progress and for anyone else who has an allotment to have a natter along the way. Feel free to hijack if you want

Have done a little bit since last year but not much .... weather hasn't been too great and having lots of family to visit over the Xmas period, things with the allotment took a back seat for a while.

However, we're raring to go again and can't wait to get started !

A quick update on what we've done since I last posted:

Popped in 3 rhubarb crowns
Managed to 'blag' some pallets from a local building site so that we can edge the beds.
Worked out our plan for what is going where and when (blimey, that was hard ! Seed packets spread out all over the living room floor and many 'discussions' as to what should go where :rotfl: ).
Popped in our onions

And that's about it !

Plan for the next couple of weeks is to get the rest of the beds dug over (we've now got 2 more than we originally had :T ) - firstly get the potato bed dug over and covered to warm the soil.

Start to edge the ones we've already dug.

Get seeds started off (little bit too early yet but will be watching the weather like a hawk !) Have a greenhouse in the garden so can afford to start a few off early

We've also had a break in over the winter :mad: Some nice little monkey decided to break the door of our shed (which was locked) and swipe a fork and spade (brand new wheelbarrow, push mower, and various other tools were left ). So, hubby will have to go down next weekend and repair the door. We didn't have enough time to do it today, only to put the lock back on and hope they don't come back. No others broken in to either. I guess this is one of the things we're going to have to learn to live with :rolleyes: . As long as they don't pilfer my veg otherwise i'll be a very angry redhead :mad: :mad: :mad: .

So, that's it for now. Would love to hear what everyone else is up to with theirs and pics are always welcome :beer: .