Our Allotment Journey - Day 1 !

jtb2412

Morning everyone, popping on while most are still asleep to catch up

Weather has been good here but not allotmenteering done as mum and dad are down for the weekend. We took them to see it yesterday and they were very impressed :T .

Nyk thanks for the idea about the plastic guttering - will be on the lookout for some of that (free of course).

Frugal Fox so sorry to hear about your break ins etc - we had our shed done over the Xmas period and it was so disheartening. I have heard that we do get vandals wrecking plots just for the sheer hell of it but it's not been too bad lately. I understand your despair and it must be really heartbreaking to see all your hard work just disappear. I know our older chappies decided to have a 'midnight' walkabout over the allotments when there were people hanging about and it seemed to do the trick (although I was told they had their spades on them, for digging of course :eek: ). Have you got an allotmet association you can get to try and sort this out? What is the police presence like there?

Rummer, pleased to hear you're doing well - keep it up ! Let me know when you get anything appear :T

Shaz great idea about the builders bags. Its amazing how resourceful a gardener can be . We picked up some blue/yellow piping from a building site the other day, ready for our polytunnels - chap was very happy to give it to us as he was going to put it in the bin ! DH said he'd pop back another day to see if they'd got any more

Melonade ...... hello :hello: . Don't worry too much about not having time to get things started - we didn't finish digging our raised beds until May last year and we still got plenty of things. I just started everything off indoors - every windowsill was covered - least I didn't have to do the dusting for a few weeks :rotfl: .

Gazza I tend to use those cardboard pots that disintegrate in the ground, that way you're not disturbing the seeds when you plant them. Starting them off in the greenhouse just tends to give them a bit of a boost and you get a bit of a longer growing season. Just shout if you've got any specific questions and I'll try and help (if I can't then i'll check in my books).

Things are starting to come along here, I've just got up and DS atlantic giant pumpkin has popped up so he'll be thrilled (we call him our little Alan Titchmarsh lol). My beefsteak tomatoes will need re-potting very soon, they've shot up and I don't want them to go 'leggy' so will put them in a larger pot probably tomorrow/Tues. DH has his chillis on a heat mat (MIL bought me for Xmas :T ) and they've come up already so it was obviously what they needed.

One of the parsnips has sprouted a shoot (the ones that were on wet tissue) so i'll pop that in a pot later too. No sign on any of the other parsnips yet but I might swap them over with the chillis when DH isn't looking .

No sign of any of my flowers yet but they can take up to 28 days. All 40 of my Cos lettuce are doing great (in the greenhouse) and all my garlic has come up (outside) - very quick for that !

Right the troops are awakening, I'd better go and get brekkie on the go ......... back later guys n gals ........ have a fun day ! xxx

shaz_mum_of__2

The builders bags are great for allsorts of things we have 3 as compost bins too

I have a cherry tree to plant today and going to start som tomatoes chillis and peppers off to as the others dont appear to have germinated but it was saved or old packs of seeds i need to pot on the kohl rabi too bit wet n horible here so not much else i wouldn't think oh and i have been naughty and ordered these

http://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/?PAGEID=36588&STK_PROD_CODE=1080-5384&CTL_CAT_CODE=M21889

i dont do very well growing brassicas from seed for some reason so prefer to buy plants these will be going in one of the front garden raised beds all lined up in pretty pattern


Have a good day



Shaz

COOLTRIKERCHICK

sorry but havent read the thread all the way through yet, will have a cuppa later and read it through

for those of you who have had break in in allotment sheds etc....

i seen a programme years ago, which had a teriffic idea...

make a wooden box that is long enough for your tools etc... then dig a big whole and put the wooden box in the whole, then over over with a light dusting of soil, and maybe put a plant pot or something on there too. or an old builders bag with a few bits of rubbish in it, this is just to remind you where you have buried it...lol.... and if there are any break ins they might not move a bag which has rubbish in it...


its just a thought, which would work....


this is my mil garden that we have just had cleared to try and grow most of our veg.. it went from this



to this



we had to have a professional in to clear it al down, as there were about 6 trees that needing felling and over 40 years of overgrowth to clear...

so we are slowing chearing the roots and working out the plan this year.... and only plants somethings...lol...

Rummer

The shallots are in! Planted between heavy rain showers!

Frugaldom

Hello fellow gardeners I'm happy the new month has arrived as I have so many plans to fit loads of veggies into the new garden which is, slowly, starting to look like a garden at last. The shed has now been insulated using the free polystyrene sheets (courtesy of Freecycle) and the next task is to dig out a small pond, because I'm planning on keeping a couple of ducks as well as some chickens.

Planting plans for March:

Courgettes
Artichokes
Onions
Carrots
Beetroot
Peas
Peppers
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Spinach Beet
Assorted herbs
Marigolds

My garden is beginning to look tiny when I compare the amount I want to plant against how much space there is and allow for keeping everything safe from the livestock. Now considering everything that can be hung from the wooden fence, telegraph pole and old clothes poles. :rotfl:

My blackcurrant and redcurrant bushes are all budding and both crowns of rhubarb donated by a friend are growing. Second box of lettuces have sprouted, second set of cherry tomato seeds have germinated and the pepper seeds soaking on damp paper look as though they are germinating now, too. :j


Still haven't asked landlord if I can turn part of the lawn into a potato bed but I have all the potatoes waiting to be planted.

Can anyone tell me what will happen with my beetroot? I had a few small beetroots wrapped in a plastic bag inside the fridge and one of them started sprouting! I cut it up so there was one tiny shoot on each section and stuck the pieces into a pot of compost on Wednesday and, today, the first of the shoots has grown up through the surface.

jtb2412

Morning (early !) everyone

Had a great afternoon in the greenhouse yesterday, sun was shining, it was really warm and I got loads of things planted.

My parsnips have sprouted which I'm really pleased about as they're very hard to get going :j ! (I cheated and put them in the propagator that DH bought with his b'day money) - I think this is the way to go with them. I'm glad DH got it now !

I moved my tomatoes to the greenhouse yesterday so I hope that when I go out there this morning, they'll be ok ! I did pop a lid over them so fingers crossed - I needed the space on my windowsills so didn't have much choice really :rolleyes:.

Hoping to get more things sown over the next couple of weeks (aiming for a constant supply of things instead of a glut like last year ).

Nyk - you sound like me ...... waiting for the 1st of the month to arrive so you can start planting the things that say "plant in March" lol :rotfl: Just a thought about your potatoes, what about garden waste bags - we're doing our second earlies in them at home (first and maincrop going down the lotty). I reckon you can get about 3 plants to a bag. Not very frugal in that you have to buy them but it would mean that you can plant them a bit earlier and not have to worry about digging up new beds. I can't see your landlord objecting to you digging a bed though, would imagine he will say as long as it is returned to it's original state. Let us know how you get on ! Glad the chicks are doing well too, loving the pics - feel free to post some on here too !

Rummer - you're braver than I am darting in and out of rain showers - I'm a fair weather gardener . I'm a bit worried about our shallots, they've not come up yet - I might have to have a little dig around to see if there's anything there but I need to wait for DH to get back from his monthly meeting (and night out on the booze :rolleyes: ) to tell me where exactly he planted them :eek: .

Cooltrikerchick - (nice name btw !), you've done a fantastic job clearing that lot ! And I thought our allotment was bad ! You've got a wonderful space there - keep us updated how things are going (pics welcome of course ).

Right off to get organised ......... been getting up early to do housework so I can spend the afternoons in the greenhouse ..... otherwise I might lose the children in the dust :rotfl: . TTFN ..... happy gardening ! xx

Rummer

Oh I am so excited it is the weekend and it is March so I can start off another batch of seeds tmrw! That and I have a number of new trees to plant in the garden, I am so excited! Still have a hug amount of digging to do but I am sure that will all fall into place at some point.

What do you all have planned for your gardens this wknd?

Frugaldom

Hi guys

CoolTrikerChick, I LOVE that garden! It's just calling out for some [strike]hens[/strike] veggies & fruit.

JTB, yes! I was sitting with my diary where I have a full year's planting planned out and counting the days until March so I could get a few more seeds planted - then it snowed! :rotfl: However, there are buds coming out on both the fruit bushes and the trees, so it's quite exciting watching the progress of the mini-orchard and I can't wait to see the hens & ducks plodding about among them.

This weekend - planning to go visit the farm that's offloading some surplus birds our way. We went out there today and all we could see was a sea of white ducks! :j

I've planted some of the pepper seeds that are germinating on wet paper towel, so that will hopefully give me my first 24 seedlings in a few weeks. We're forecast for frost, wind, rain, sleat and snow over the coming few days, so there won't be much more getting planted in the garden but I may need to thin out the lettuces (or eat some salad leaves) as the box is now filled.

Well done with the parsnip seeds! :T

Rummer - maybe you could get some hens to help you with the digging

Rummer

Ooooh I would love hens or ducks but my OH has put his foot down quite firmly!

shaz_mum_of__2

Hi guys

Spent the morning cleaning our caravan so no gardening done

but have a fig tree and a blackberry bush to plant later and probably plant some tomato seeds too.


Oh and the new potting shed arrives next saturday ..........finally made a decision its a 7' by 7' one like this



cant wait to fill it with shelves and seeds

Shaz