Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

spirit

before above and [STRIKE]after[/STRIKE] work in progress below

chrisbethany

I have about 5 bread crates (going to use them for salad), about 10 other white bread crates, not as deep but will do for something, just not sure yet - any ideas? Also 5 large black crates ideal for carting stuff down the lotty from the greenhouse here in the garden, about 30 plant pots of various sizes and a water carrier which will be great in the summer as it's a bit of a walk to the water trough (our plot is slap bang in the middle of two :rolleyes: :rotfl: ).

Hi - if you stack them using the handles to make them taller, they make a great temp mini greenhouse for seedlings - particularly useful on the lottie, where you can move them around. I just cover them with fleece if frost threatens.

Chris

chrisbethany

Hi All

Had a great birthday (yesterday, now) compliments of the FANTASTIC weather and a lovely lunch out with DH :j - there are some benefits to his being out of work! I spent the rest of the day sowing lots and sorting out the garden, and now can't sleep because my head is buzzing with ideas and plans !:o

I've been lucky to have a lottie at the bottom of the garden for 14 years, and gradually put in raised beds, etc. But DH isn't remotely interested in gardening. I work almost full time and have struggled with quite a few aches and pains over the past few years. This has meant the lottie had become a real millstone and I spent all the time feeling guilty if I wasn't on top of things (and I never was!). Last year I handed it over to my lovely neighbour who is 20 odd years younger than me, and a keen gardener, and the relief of doing this was tremendous.

I am now being much more realistic, making the most of my garden and accepting physical and time limitations, and it's taken me getting to 57 to realise I can't do everything (and actually I'm the only one who ever thought I had to) Talk about a light bulb moment :rolleyes:

I've been swotting up on the square foot gardening idea - much more sensible for only two of us at home now, and a gardener of my advanced years! :eek:Hopefully it will be much more of a pleasure now, rather than a list of jobs getting on top of me. One mistake I'd often made was getting carried away, automatically sowing the whole contents of a packet. Now, with two 4' beds (to start with, anyway) I won't be tempted to do that, and I'll work harder at succession sowing.

Once we put fencing along the bottom of the garden, to cut off the lottie, I'm swapping my second shed down to the bottom corner as a chook house, and fencing off a 12' x 30' run. I'll swap it with the greenhouse, moving this up the gardne near the house, where the shed is at the mo. In front of chook run will be the raised beds (it will be interesting to see if that will be enough to feed us - if not, I'll put in one or two more). I think I'll give the rhubarb and runner beans beds of their own, though, as I reckon they are too bulky or high for 12" squares. I won't have any tatties this year, but was reading about using a kitchen extension flat roof for builders' bags for growing them. Anyone tried this? Mind you, the thought of me climbing up onto it doesn't bear thinking about :rotfl:

What results have any of you had with the square foot idea? Is it true that a 4' x 4' bed is sufficient to feed one adult?

Anyway, starting to yawn so need to go back to bed :rolleyes: Night all!

Chris

PS Shaz - your veg look scrummy!

Frugaldom

chrisbethany wrote: »

What results have any of you had with the square foot idea? Is it true that a 4' x 4' bed is sufficient to feed one adult?

Belated Happy Birthday, CB I have just put in my first square foot garden this year, 8' x 4' with slots down either side that I have now filled with peas, radishes, herbs and will be adding marigolds as soon as these grow enough. I'd love to think it would feed 2, that would be brilliant! Mine's coming along nicely with cabbage, cauli, broccoli, radishes, onions, spring onions, leeks, beetroot, snowball turnip, lettuce, peas and herbs. With a bit of rotation and good planning, 4 x 4 probably could keep someone going in veggies all year. I hadn't even thought about it that way. :T I had left 6 squares to plant up 3 courgettes but have been reading up on 'vertical gardening' using heavy duty wooden or metal trellis and methods of supporting squash, courgettes, cucumbers etc - all VERY interesting when, like you, I haven't got an allotment. It means space for twice the number of courgettes etc. I also have a couple of raised beds, greenhouse and hens who get to free range, so I have a lot of fencing about the place. :rotfl: I do have 2 small potato patches, though, and have planted them up like square foot gardens - one potato per square. What should be a lawn is gradually turning into a mini orchard and I have planted seeds into every available container plus hung baskets wherever I have enough space to secure them.

Loving this thread! We're a bit behind with progress compared to 'down south' but think it's the slight weather variation.

have a good day, everyone, and let's hope we get a similar heatwave this May to the one we got last May.

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi Guys

pleased you enjoyed your birthday chrisbethany

mummy leads its not too late for you t grow all those things this year if your plots not too overgrown

look what spirit achieved in 5 weeeks (well done you)

Nyk the big red lettuces were bought in as little plants for a quid but i keep picking the lower leaves and they keep growing they were meant to be a butterhead type lettuce not a cut and come again

Behind them is spinach which we eat as a sald leaf and behind there out of view is a row of cut and come again leaves which have had a drastic haircut but are sprouting again

the cabbage/broccoli/cauli are waiting to go in the front raised beds but the netting not here yet then theres webbs lettuce and pak choi some f which will be allowed to mature and some as baby leaves i will not buy lettuce this year hopefully i also have an outdoor(cloched) row of mixed leaves and webbs and one of the front beds has a row of rocket(my fave)

I have pak choi seedlings coming out my ears at the minute in the shed


rainy here and not much to do still till the weather warms up and i can get some plants out the shed and greenhouse

Hope its better wher you are

Shaz

Top_Banana_2

Spuds growing rapidly!


How high do they need to be before I earth up? How wide do the mounds need to be when I earth up? And how tall will they eventually be?

Frugaldom

T_B, this was my potato patch in June last year. It has 5' canes and netting around it, so the potato foliage can't be far off a metre high. You can let the stalks grow up about 8" before having to earth them up and I'm sure mine were earthed up about 15" - 18" last year, hence the reason I'm wondering how the potatoes grow in the little black flower buckets, as my potatoes have already reached the top of them. All but a couple of my potatoes from last year were in the ground, so I haven't tried pot growing them in pots until now. Thinking of trying to squeeze a bit more space for more potatoes, as we use a lot of them and they taste much better when home grown.

Earthing up is to prevent sunlight getting to any of the potatoes as it turns them green. Green potatoes are poisonous, so earth up as much as possible to get more potatoes per plant. Mine averaged around a kilo per plant without doing much to them last year.

Laura_D_3

What gardening tasks are suitable for rainy periods? I'm thinking its not a good idea to plant seeds whilst its actually raining as they'll wash away :-( And its rained all week. I've spent a load of time in my greenhouse and I'm so impressed with how quickly things grow despite the fact I have had to put shower curtains in for four of the panes at the moment.

Happy gardening everyone x

shaz_mum_of__2

Laura_D wrote: »

What gardening tasks are suitable for rainy periods? I'm thinking its not a good idea to plant seeds whilst its actually raining as they'll wash away :-( And its rained all week. I've spent a load of time in my greenhouse and I'm so impressed with how quickly things grow despite the fact I have had to put shower curtains in for four of the panes at the moment.

Happy gardening everyone x

Planning planning and planning :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:


oh and online garden shopping and indoor seed planting ........well maybe just a little like some proper butterfly netting and some unusual tomato and bean seeds ...............black tomatoes anyone??

Shaz

Laura_D_3

Ohh how exciting I've just been to see my mum and dads new allotment plot - and new it is...just bare ground (they've created a whole new site). The people we met were lovely. Anyone got any suggestions for what they can grow in their first year there