Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

Melonade

WOW raised beds, ponds, baby chicks, thunder and rhubarb :T You've all been really busy I'll definatley grow some rhubarb if I ever get an allotment. If I had a bit more garden I'd make a special place for some.

OH made our first raised bed this w/e and it's brill I'd dug the area over and weeded thinking there'd be plenty of soil and I'd maybe need some manure or compost. Truth is I need lots to top it up!!! So it's covered over with carpet again and I'm off to buy some compost tomorrow and hopefully my Dad is getting me some manure this w/e.

The 2nd bed will be made this w/e and hopefully I'll be able to get some spuds planted in soon. I'm not sure how many I'll fit into a 4ft square bed though

My strawberry plants are growing FAST even though I've had to re-pot them a couple of times in as many days :rolleyes: and so are the tomatoes. The sunflowers are just popping up (hoping I've not planted them too early)

I'm really enjoying watching everything grow and I'm really glad I decided to give it a try :T

Laura_D_3

Morning all

I feel like I haven't been on here for ages I had some gastro virus last week so spent the entire week in bed, getting very annoyed that I couldn't get out in the garden or down the allotment. Then on the Saturday I had a horrible nightmare that I was going to get kicked off the allotment as it had gone to wreck and ruin over the week. So on the Sunday despite the virus turning to the flu I dragged myself down with a scarf wrapped round my neck despite the beautiful weather - must have looked a right fruit loop especially to the couple of new comers having a look at their potential plots :cool: However thankfully my allotment was fine although starving for water I've put in some peas, managetout, asaparagus peas, broad beans, carrots, parsnips and chard and finished tidying up the strawberry bed. Although the strawberries aren't in neat lines which is frustrating as I can't really move them until they've fruited. Its like they were planted by someone a bit tipsy :eek:

Unfortunately I'm away with work tonight and at a hen night this weekend so I won't get to go now till Sunday, so thank God for all the rain we had yesterday :j Although I'm slightly gutted as its the first meeting of the year Sunday morning and I'm going to have to miss it because I'll be nursing a hangover up north :eek:

Happy gardening all :beer:

jtb2412

Hi all :hello:

Hope the weather is as lovely where you are as it is here Been in the garden/greenhouse all day potting stuff on and getting up to date with other bits and bobs.

How is everyone else doing?

Sorry to hear you've been poorly Laura, a bit of fresh air will have done you the world of good hopefully - not much that can keep a gardener down is there?

Melonade - glad everything is growing well for you. Half the battle is getting things started but sounds like you're doing just fine. Can't help with the sunflowers as i've never grown them before, you'll have to let us know how they do.

NYK - have been keeping up with your webpage, things looking very healthy up there, loving the pics of the chooks. We went to see our 'barter lady' today and collected some more poo for the compost heap, she gave us some wood that she didn't want and a dozen eggs :j, we gave her a nice big bunch of rhubarb in return and i'll take her some more tomorrow when we've been down the lotty to pick it. We watched her chickens running up and down the garden, they're really funny :rotfl:. However, it just made me want some even more so I think once the allotment is finished (digging and sorting) and most things are looking after themselves, I might look into it. Need to find some land first (have registered on the landshare website so fingers crossed!) Sorry to hear you haven't started on the pond yet - I sometimes wish there were more hours in the day to do things but I've yet to find a way to make more . The £4K challenge is taking a bit of a backseat atm, although I'm being good and keeping my spreadsheets up to date and still watching what I spend .

DH has potted on all his chillis (it took him 6 hours :rotfl: - now he understands why I'm in there for so long ) ..... he's got 113 so I think we'll be selling some at the car boot - if we can sell 50 at £2 each that's £100 to offset my gardening costs. We think we might sell 'produce' rather than spare plants as I think we'll make more money that way (e.g beefsteak tomato plant I'd probably only be able to sell for 50p or £1 at most but if I sell the tomatoes then I could probably make £10 or more per plant so we're thinking of keeping most things, finding a space to grow and sell the produce instead).

We're off to the lotty tomorrow to put in my main crop spuds and weed the strawberry bed (the one that I can't actually see the strawbs in lol). I think that will take us most of the day but if we get time then we'll dig a bit more of the huge bed on the other side.

Hope to have a BBQ tomorrow night for tea - quick and easy after a hard day's work .

Going to go and have a read of my gardenin mag now while I have a nice soak in the bath (no wine :rolleyes: so will have to have a pamper instead ).

Have a lovely Sunday, happy gardening ! xxx

Frugaldom

Good morning

I hope you are feeling much better, Laura D. It's awful having to stay in and look out the window at sunshine but even worse when you're feeling rotten. Maybe the fresh air will have helped speed up the recovery.

Rummer, I'm dying to see your new pond, have you any piccies yet? Still not started one here as been too busy trying to chickenpproof everything as it grows. Your garden sounds brilliant! Did you get the compost for the coldframes? I usually only have about 4" of the stuff as it seems deep enough to get stuff started before potting it up or transplanting it. If grow bags are on offer, I use them as well. £1.20 is best I can find them this year, no 99p ones to be seen anywhere about here.

Melonade, it's great to hear you've made such progress - don't worry about the strawberries and I would plant a potato in each square foot, so that could by 16. Going on my previous average, that could net you 16kg of potatoes Not sure if that's enough space for them but mine are only a foot apart and I have 4 or 5 in each barrel.

JTB I wish my rhubarb was as prolific as yours! I got enough for one crumble and will need to be happy with that until it grows. had to completely wire off that little corner as the hens were still trying to peck through to the leaves! :eek: Sounds like you've sown loads of stuff. Must catch up with your blog pics again.

Shaz? Where aaaaaaaaaaare you? :rotfl:

The past couple of days have been real scorchers and today looks like being the same, so I've been in the garden practically fulltime. I've also asked my landlord if he can find me a bit more space for growing stuff, anything considered, so he now knows I'm serious about it, though he probably still thinks I'm batty. :rotfl:

We got 9 chicks hatched out the 13 eggs, all purebred and, hopefully, worth about £20 - £25 each in around 20 weeks time. The others, including Silkie chick (which is a girl, so she gets to stay forever :j) have been roaming about the garden and having a great time untidying everything I tidy. I'm now in the process of making wire 'tubes' to try to stop the cockeral from dust bathing at the foot of the young apple trees.

Greenhouse seedlings coming on a treat and I finished redesigning my makeshift mini-tomato house yesterday. It now has 2 tomato plants inside with space for 2 more plus, perhaps, a pepper plant. The strawberries are beginning to flower! I can only think that this is because I've had bubble wrap around the pots to try and stop the wind & frost getting at them. I removed the wrap yesterday. Potatoes are sprouting away nicely, the small raised beds have been fenced off as the hens were digging every time I earthed up the shoots, the square foot garden seems to be working, although it still has several more squares needing filled when the frost goes, and all but one of the fruit trees & bushes are budding. I'm almost sure there are flowers coming on the cherry tree and the biggest of the blackcurrant bushes! :j

We have freebie blackberries - they are everywhere here, growing through the hedge, growing along the dry stone wall and all along the drive. Can't wait to see if they fruit.

Off a-gardening now, have a great day and enjoy the party, BBQ and anything else that anyone else may be doing this weekend.

shaz_mum_of__2

I am here....................

Been nice here since we got back from derbyshire and spent 2 days just tidying the greenhouse and potting shed and digging up and re potting the strawbs (not the best time but it needed doing as they were being strangled by grass and the runners from last year were everywhere so they are all potted on now and staying in pots where i can keep a better eye on them

Got about 30 spare runner plants to take to the car boot too

Courgettes all potted on there are about 30 plants(4 varieties)

pumkins potted on too 7/10 germinated these are crown prince a blue skinned variety with orange flesh and smaller fruits i dont really know how big the plants get though ...................???

More peppers potted on up to about a 100 now

the chilli seeds have finally germinated too its been about 8 weeks!! i had given up on them

While i was away all but 3 of my marmande tomato plants died i am gutted as this is the variety i wanted to try the most

The potatoes in buckets in the greenhouse are flowering!!!!
The potatoes in buckets in the garden now have full buckets and foliaige about 8 inches clear of the bucket , what feed should i use on potatoes ( i have never done so before but the books say too) do you think growmore will do??


Better go back to uni today and exams looming

Shaz

Frugaldom

Good luck with exams soon, Shaz and wow! at the potatoes flowering! Mine are nowhere near that stage yet and there's no chance of getting anything else outside as it was white out there this morning again. Looks like another sunny day, though, so it will mean I can get something done - just not sure what.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Dominic4975

Hi all, new to this forum & to growing my own veg.

My Mums/Mine/Sisters veg patch is coming on well (24' x 13'!!), got spuds, parsnips, carrots, peas, beans, lettuces, onions & radishs planted, still got loads more to plant thou.

Currently got asparagus growing in various places in my grass, does ne1 no if i can move it out of the grass this time of year??
it produced spears last yr & this yr so far.

Dominic

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi Dominic and welcome

I think autumn is the best time to transplant the asparagus as this is when you can buy it in the shops whilst it is dormant

well done on planting so much already and good luck

Nyk

The potatoes were all planted at the same time but put in different places some in greenhouse some in the covered patio and some outdoors hoping to stagger them through the summer..................as they have been so quick i am tempted to plant more!! i can only manage new potatoes in the pots and they dont store as well although last year i just cut off the foliage and put the pots in a cool place and they lasted a fair while i noticed our £land had some varities i haven't got so may get some at weekend

Noticed a neighbour making some raised beds for veg and am going to try and do some swapsies (he shooots too so might bag a pheasant or 2 too)

Laura hope you feel better and getting out more

Shaz - who is wondering how she is going to manage a 2 week holiday??

Top_Banana_2

My potatoes have started to get weeds growing in the soil that I have earthed up. I can't hoe them out as it will ruin the mounds.

Any tips?

Rummer

I hoed them out last year and they were fine.