Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

Frugaldom

shaz_mum_of__2 wrote: »

Has anyone seen these
http://www.pottyinnovations.com/

expensive but got me thinking we were at a fish shop(tropical not chips) yesterday and they had lidded polystyrene boxes of a similair size and wondered if these would work ?? well insulated too, i know the chip shops get wet fish in similair boxes but don't think you would ever get rid of the smell

Nyk i think JTB means chook manure pellets not feed ...:rotfl:...

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: OOPS! I never thought of that - but does that mean people PAY for manure??? :eek: Feeling all smug now, as I've just dug all mine in and it's free locally.

Re the polystyrene boxes - I have loads of the stuff and am making all sorts of insulated 'projects', all free apart from 5 new sheets for constructing a new hatchery/brooder for chicks as I wanted to make sure it would be uncontaminated. As well as the chip shop, you could try aquatic specialists, large pet stores that specialise in tropical or marine fish, furniture stores etc, they all use copious amounts of polystyrene either for insulation or for padding in transit. Mine all came via the furniture route . I'm told that it's also good for covering ponds to prevent freezing in winter and for floating duck platforms.

jtb2412

WE'VE FINISHED DIGGING ! :j :j :j :j :T

Been a hard slog as soil was really 'claggy' (clay soil) and heavy but we've finally done it :beer: .

Will upload some pics shortly (add them to this post).

Nyk I had to giggle at the chicken pellets thing - shaz got it right, they're poo and not feed lol :rotfl: - good for the soil so you're lucky you get yours free as we have to pay for ours ! :rolleyes: If we're ever up your way then i'll bring a bucket, spade and a bag :rotfl: . You sound like you're doing great ! And WOW to all the fruit bushes ! You could get a jam industry going there (or is that the plan )? I'd love more fruit and think next year i'm going to sort out somewhere for my much wanted bramley apple tree. We have nowhere to put one at the moment but hopefully when we've got our own lotty in our own name, then I can have one . Pond is a great idea as they'll eat all the slugs (not sure if you get any but they're rife here and caused me to lose a lot of stuff last year). Much to my dismay I had to use slug pellets - I exhaused all other natural forms of 'disposal' but to no avail. Probably have to resort to them again this year but I did buy the 'friendly' ones .

Re: shady corner, how about jersualem artichokes? They pretty much grow everywhere (but very tall, like sunflowers) and they're great for soups . Not sure what else to suggest really - will have a looksie in my 20-or-so gardening books and see what I can find for you .

Rummer great progress there ! I think half the battle is getting the motivation to do things - we're the same but once we've started, we tend to get stuck in real good . Re: roping OH's in - just say you'll give him a nice back massage if he's aching after digging (then casually accidentally on purpose forget ! :rotfl: ) Either that or bribe with food - usually works .

Shaz LOVE the idea about the polystyrene (sp?) thingys - we've got a fishmonger very close by so guess where i'll be going later this week and what i'll be asking for . Thank you ! xx Also lurrvveee the potting shed and personally I don't think £350 is that bad for something like that ! If I had that much spare and the space to put it then I'd be punching in my debit card now ! :shhh:

Ok off to sort out pics ....... back shortly and thanks for staying with us ! :beer: Now the fun begins !

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209001.jpg (taken yesterday (I think !) before we started the final slog).
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209002.jpg (yesterday - working in T-shirts !)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209003.jpg http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209006.jpg
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209007.jpg (the last spade dug !)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209008.jpg (the finished plot - 3rd bed up has rhubarb so not dug over for fear of disturbing roots !)
http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/ll95/kaj030405/allotment220209010.jpg

Rummer

I am so impressed at all your hard work!

Frugaldom

JTB last year we had so many problems with slugs and snails that I tried everything I could. Crushed eggshells worked alright but we couldn't eat enough eggs to generate the quantities of shells required to surround the garden. Apart from that, birds like picking at shell! :rolleyes: Then we tried the evening raid by torchlight and decanted over 100 of the jolly little beggars to a nearby field. That didn't work either, apparently snails have a homing instinct!! :rotfl: I ended up buying them a 'carry-out' and letting them all drink themselves into oblivion! It cost about 27p per can of cheap lager from Mr T and I just put some inside a few bottles, tubs, bowls, jars, anything that would look like a good licensed nightspot for slugs and snails that they could climb into and get inebriated. They got so drunk that the birds had scoffed them all before they sobered up and it didn't seem to leave our feathered friends with hangovers. I only wish I had discovered this long before the end of summer! The pond attracted a few frogs and we also attracted a hedgehog. I believe he's now in re-hab drying out from 42% proof livefeed. :rotfl: This year, my mini pond project is for entertaining the future occupants of the new 'duckhouse'. (Read 'new' as renovated from a delapidated kennel.)

Snail traps = best things ever. The shop bought ones have little sachets of yeast in them but Tesco saver lager works just as well, in my opinion

Well done on getting all the raised beds dug! It's looking great and, from the piccie, looks like your rhubarb is growing.

shaz_mum_of__2

wow you must ache all over..................well done

my rhubarb plants(4 of them )are just poking through , i better get a decent crop this year its thier 3rd proper year so fingers crossed

I am having a good look through seeds this week and drawing up a planting plan ...........the garden just isn't big enough for all my grand designs...lol


Shaz

Rummer

Hello

I am just finishing off my planning and I have decided to buy three raised beds this year with a view to adding more over the coming years. I have had a look online and I know that I want wooden ones and wondered if anyone could recommend a value for money supplier?

Oh and I wondered the seeds that people are starting off indoors will they be moved to a greenhouse or are they being started inside instead of using a greenhouse? Just curious!

jtb2412

Evening all

Must just say thanks for your kind words of encouragement - it's nice to share and even nicer when other people appreciate the hard work too so have a drink on us :beer: (virtual) .

Had a bit of a relaxing day after all the digging over the weekend ! Strangely though, i'm not stiff at all - you should have seen me last week, walking down the stairs like an 80 year old ! Actually an 80 year old could have probably walked down them better than I was :eek: :rotfl: .

Itching to get started now and keep looking at my many pots to see if anything green is poking it's head up - nothing yet though !

NYK - I'll give the beer traps another go but we did try it last year. Mind you DH did enjoy finishing off the cans :rolleyes: lol. Rhubarb is growing well considering they were new crowns in just before Xmas. We have lost one I think (put 3 in) but i'll give it another few weeks before I replace it with another crown (MIL always has half a dozen spare :eek: :T ). We've got 2 crowns at home here in the garden too and we're forcing one of them so should get an early crop.

Shaz Had to giggle at your 'grand designs' and the garden not being big enough. That was our problem last year hence the allotment this year. Am going to ring the Council tomorrow to see where we are on the list for our own. Got itchy fingers now we've finished our 'shared' plot ! :eek: Have you got baskets for toms/strawbs? Just thinking you could give yourself some extra space by doing them. Also those kiddies toy buckets with the rope handles (not sure if you know the ones that I mean?) are great for carrots ! Let us know how your plan goes :T

Rummer, not sure about raised bed suppliers but we made ours in the garden from wood bought from Focus and they worked out about £30 a bed. They're approx 4ft wide by 8ft long so will give you a bit of a basis price-wise.

The seeds we're starting off indoors will indeed be moved into the greenhouse - it's just a way of me starting things off a bit earlier than is usual (I'm impatient ! ) It does give you a longer growing season though, the next things I start off will probably just go straight into greenhouse and the things after that, into the ground (about April/May time).

Have a good week everyone and happy gardening ! :beer:

Frugaldom

jtb2412 wrote: »

Evening all

...Also those kiddies toy buckets with the rope handles (not sure if you know the ones that I mean?) are great for carrots !

I'm considering using some of these, what do you plant your carrots in? I've had no luck with carrots so far, so trying them in tubs this year. Do you use soil or compost mix?

jtb2412

Nyk, we just used everyday compost, the 3 for £10 from our local garden centre to be precise and they came up lovely ! It also helps prevent the dreaded carrot fly from getting to them as they can't fly as high as the buckets so they should be safe. Also can move them around to suit. We got our tubs for 50p each from a car boot sale - think that has to be my bargain of the century ! lol

Going to try growing in the ground this year as well as the tubs but not sure how we'll get on. That's half the fun, seeing what will grow where !

What's the weather like up there at the moment? Been very mild down here, just hope it stays that way ! :rolleyes:

Rummer

jtb2412 I have thought about building my own but I have never done anything like that before, the cheapest wooden beds I have seen are £33 each (1.2m x 1.2m) and come with all the bits so just need assembled. I might go and cost how much it would be to build them myself and then make a decision if there is a lot to be saved.

After looking out my seeds and deciding on beds and where things are going I am just itching to get started so I think I may follow your example and plant some things indoors. I was thinking of starting chillies, peppers and maybe some tomatoes. What else could/should I start indoors?

Shaz I am with you on the grand designs! Hoping over the next few years to convert all our ground to fruit and veg growing, taking it one step at a time though!

NYK Thank you for the advice about the beer, we really struggled with slugs last year and lost lots of veg to them, does using raised beds make any difference??