Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

Frugaldom

Hello

JTB, all is not lost, I have potatoes planted all over the place, so I'm hoping the others will have fared better, especially since the hens can get up and around most of the others. The raised bed was the only part of the garden completely fenced off from them and, not surprisingly, it was also the only place I had trouble with slugs getting at the peas. I was pleased with my 2.3kg of potatoes cooked up yesterday, regardless of losing a load.

Rain arrived here, so no watering today other than in the little greenhouse. I'm carefully tending what looks to be my last cauliflower to see how big I can get it to grow. My peas appear to be starting to grow again with a second set of flowers emerging. I'm glad I spotted them as I was about to pull out all the plants after having picked loads of peas. I hope they grow as well again next year. I THINK I have yellow courgettes growing, but had forgotten if I even had a yellow courgette plant. My butternut squash plant has now passed the 6' high mark and has loads of flower. I'll be really delighted if I get a crop of it as it's first time I ever planted squash seeds - compliments of the BBC Big fig promotion. Granddaughter loves the plant, she thinks it's Jack's beanstalk. :rotfl:

Can anyone suggest what could grow safely during autumn & winter storms in a very windy part of Scotland? The square foot garden needs replenished with something but it isn't deep enough for root veg.

shaz_mum_of__2

what about winter onions/shallots or garlic nyk or any number of oriental leaves or plain english cabbages kales etc take a look at the seed company web sites to see whats seasonal

I have had the seed box out looking for fillers for the gaps that have appeared

Shaz

Frugaldom

Have sown more turnips, salad leaves and onions plus I have leeks ready to thin out and plant in the SFG. However, I am reconsidering the layout of the garden as 6 months of watching hens & ducks freeranging has drawn its own conclusions. My mini orchard is surviving, which is the main thing as it's on my longterm wish list, but the whole greenhouse thing is not going to plan. I had simply sown too many seeds and then everything got swamped. And out of all of that, only the cherry tomatoes have reddened. I'll probably harvest them this afternoon and get them simmered down into sauce for easy storing, then that'll clear a bit of greenhouse space.

I now have my first baby artichokes! Must go get photographs for the blog. I only spotted them this morning when out picking the beetroots.

jtb2412

Hellooooooooooo !

See update on 1st post ! Back later with pics ....... hope all is well with everyone xx

jtb2412

Well, here it is.



We have up to the white post next to the green shed (shed is on neighbours plot) Weeds and dock need clearing but the ground is pretty soft underfoot so it shouldn't be too bad. Completely blank canvas which is good. We'll be sitting down later this evening and working out what is going where. :j

Although the plot is only 5 rods (we have been working 10), the plan is to not have pathways between raised beds like we currently have. This, we think, should give us pretty much like-for-like growing space. A lot of space is wasted on our 'shared' plot due to grass, 5 compost heaps, a patio area outside the shed and waterbutt area so we should be able to grow roughly the same amount as we have done this year.

We should be able to do it on a fairly low budget too as a lot of the wood on our shared plot is ours and we'll be taking it with us - will do for making the compost heap. Only thing I can see us having to outlay for is a shed but that won't be until next year (probably Feb/March time) - no point in a brand new shed sitting there empty for the winter.

I just hope the lady who's plot we've worked this year isn't too disappointed that we're not going to be able to help next year. We did think about running both but I think it's going to be much too much work - the sites are about a mile from each other so will mean a lot of running about otherwise. I do think though, that there are plenty of other people who would be willing to 'help' her as we have done this year.

Now then, where's that pen and paper :rotfl::p.

Rummer

How is everybody??

Frugaldom

Hi Rummer, I'm still here, just never seem to get around to keeping up with all the threads. Weather has been rubbish here - one good week out of 6 I think, so the garden has gone to pot. I've almost emptied the square foot garden, I'm getting plenty potatoes, just picked more beans, have made a astart on emptying the greenhouse so I can get the pergola built over and alongside ot for winter storm protection (except we have gale force winds here this weekend, so not sure how it'll cope) and I planted up the raised beds only for the sheep to get into them! :mad:

My latest batch of lettuce and radish seeds are growing in tubs so these will be transfered to the greenhouse as soon as weather permits some decent gardening time. Most times I go out it's to hang out washing or clear up after the hens & ducks. I'm desperate for my little orchard to grow but the way the winds are battering the trees, I think it may explain why there were no trees about the garden area when we moved here.
Major rethink needed for next year as I do want my mini orchard.

How are things in your garden & lottie?

Rummer

Good to hear from you nykmedia! I am in Scotland too and the weather has been too wild to do anything productive in the garden. I am a bit gutted as we did not manage to get half the things done this year as we had planned. We are viewing our garden as a five year project so we can get to know it and decide where to put things.
The veg we had organised for the winter was eaten by caterpillars so next year I will get netting sorted. I just can't face cleaning out the greenhouse but I need to do it soon so I can get the patio furniture put away over the winter.
I feel really guilty everytime I look out the window and see all the wasted space and mess.

Rummer

I thought I would bump this up to see how you are all doing. Things in the garden have been very quiet but I have been planning up a storm!

scotsaver

Rummer - many thanks for bumping this, I got my Allotment plot just 2 weeks ago and can't wait to get stuck in - I spent the first weekend up there digging over and measuring up so that I can make some plans. Looks a bit daunting at first as you just don't know where to start but have had to have a break this last week as we had a bit of snow and what with family staying at Xmas I can't get over there. Things will be back to normal next week and so I wil be getting back up there, spending a couple of weeks digging over and then deciding what to do.

Will read over this Thread for some tips and inspiration.;)