Old Style Book - Allotment Tips/Advice Needed

tootles_2

We took over an allotment late last year, it was covered in weeds and for us the easiest way was to get it ploughed and rotovated, then OH divided it off into beds, the width of the plot by 4 foot wide and built up the sides wih shuttering so we have deep beds you can reach from either side. Each bed is divided from the next one by a path of wood chippings which the council had kindly dumped for the allotment holders use. The front part nearest the roadway we have dug over and are going to put in a wild flower mixture to attract butterflies, bees etc, this strip is about 6 foot wide. We have onions garlic and shallots in, plan to put in several rows of early and second early spuds to break up the soil and will do that each year using a rotation system on the beds. Salad crops, runner and french beans soft fruit, all the bushes from the garden have been transferred, so we have apples, plums, rhubarb, gooseberries, currants and some strawberries, the raspberries are still in the back garden, as is the tayberry, they are both trained against the fence. We will also grow courgette in a grow bag in the back garden, if you cannot get to the allotment every day they can quickly become marrows!!!!!! We tend to grow veggies that are expensive to buy. We have a very good nursery near us and buy the number of plants we need, keep them at home for about a week before we take them up and plant out. For the two of us gorwing the plants from seed is just not on except for things like little gem lettuce which we love and carrots, beetroot etc, even then we succession sow so we do not get too much maturing at the same time and have to put it back into the compost heap because its gone over.

Someone left a pile of bread trays on the green at the back of the house, 8 of them have made a very good divided compost bin wired together, saved us taking one of the bins we have at the back of the house for household waste, the compost from these goes back on our garden here at the house.

We have a shed on the allotment and it has two water barrels one on each side. There is water, but they switch it of during the winter so if we need water we have the barrels, we also have an old bath halfway down the allotment, it was there when we took it over, this is to be filled with water from the barrels to save us carrying water during the summer, and of course catches rain water as well. The area round the shed is set out as a sitting area and we have a small gas burner so we can make tea, I could at a pinch using a steamer and a disposable bbq cook a meal up there. The site is surrounded by high conifers which mean it is sheltered from wind, we were up there last weekend and even though it was blowing a gale once in the allotments it was quite warm in the sun which we get for most of the day.

We did not have to pay the rent this year as the allotment was in such a state when we took it over, in normal year it will cost us £12.