New allotments Autumn 2010 Chat

CommitedToChange

Pop into the shed for a quick cupper and discuss what you're doing on your new allotment. Share your stories good and bad as we amble through our first year together.

More seasoned allotment holders are of course welcome to pop in for a quick natter and share some advice with us newbies :beer:

CommitedToChange

Well my allotment is 30 by 45 feet - and was originally covered in bramble bushes. Those have been cleared by the council - and I have been left with a wonderful patch of ground, that is unfortunately very clay heavy and slow draining. At the moment it is boggy and and I have more than once sunk up to the top of my wellies in it :eek:

My plan in to level off the surface and try to dig in a load of manure and sharp sand to improve the surface of the soil. Then I'm gonna sow a load of green manure on the site and leave it to overwinter. In the spring I'm gonna dig it in patch by patch - covering it with tarp as I go. After a month I'll be ready to start creating my raised beds and sowing my first crops :T

My hope is that it will take a month to dig in the green manure - so as I dig in the last of it in I can start back at the beginning building beds! Well it seems like a good plan.

Hopefully today I will obtain the last two pallets I need so I can build my compost heap. I may also have a lead on free manure :j

redsam

If i can suggest get digging now, the frost will help to break up the clump. My plot is clay you have to remember clay is full of nutrients, it doesnt have to be all fluffy and crumbly like to tv shows. Find out if you council delivery leaf mould for free, thats excellent to dig in. Not all plants like manure. Broadbeans can be planted now and if you dont like them you can dig them in as a green maure as the nitrogen is very good for the soil. Please remember that flower/seed heads blow in the wind and you may annoy other plot holders if thier plots end up covered in your green manure, some however may not! Try and get hold of some bocking 13 comfrey - it doesnt spread and is a perenial, the leave can be soaked in water for a liquid manure or put leave in the compost or dig straight into your plot. Alot of people think you cant do anything or grow anything during the winter..not so! If you havent already check out your local freecycle for sheds and greenhouses.

you can also use cardboard as a weed surpresant and plant through it, it will suppress weeds and break down and help the soil.

Good luck with your plot, with carefull planning and planting you will have veg all year round.

jollymummy

It's very timely that I read this thread. We were warned when we got our plot in May that it floods. Just been up there this evening first time since last Thursday as we've been away. I would say a good two thirds of it is under water !!!!
Hubby has tried digging a few holes, but we have very heavy clay soil too. We were warned that it could flood but not to this extent, so I've emailed our parish council for advice. Hope it doesn't kill off our little boys plants
We wondered about using gravel or building up the beds to avoid quite so much flooding, as we are in a bit of a dip - any ideas folks??
Cheers

[Deleted User]

I got my allotment 9 weeks ago and it was an absolute horrible mess of weeds, couch grass and bindweed and the clay was solid. First I did the background work ie I got a notebook and plotted the rotation plan and where I would be putting the fruit, flowers, compost and small shed. The plot is 10 x 100 feet and is a perfect size for us. Then came the very hard work of clearing and some was only done roughly to be worked on properly in the future. As soon as I could I got the weed suppressant down and also some basic paths. I sent for some lovely sturdy tundra cabbage plants and an assortment of broccolli plants from plants by post and they were super specimens. I also quickly bought some hoops and lots of mesh and pegs etc, luckily we had just moved house and I had the funds at that time. I got excellent leek plants from ebay and they went in as did the brassicas. The brassicas went in under environmesh held up by the fantastic hoops from gardening naturally and to this day there isn`t a mark on the plants. The leeks failed due to the leek moth. They will have to go under mesh next time and what a faff that is

I sowed mustard ( a brassica) in the fruit bed just 5 weeks ago and I chopped it up and dug it in a few days ago and today I laid weed fabric over it as well

Last week I put in loads of onion sets (too many) all in nice rows but something disturbed them overnight and many were lying on top in groups, 2 days later. They were under mesh so I am puzzled. The rows are no more but I re-planted them. Today I planted elephant garlic and shallots but I am going to have to watch them and cover them soon as elephant garlic is really leek-related

Broad beans are mostly sprouted too

Phew, it seems like a whirlwind but I absolutely wanted to get something in for this winter

Now to think about how on earth I am going to mesh very tall elephant garlic

[Deleted User]

jollymummy wrote: »

It's very timely that I read this thread. We were warned when we got our plot in May that it floods. Just been up there this evening first time since last Thursday as we've been away. I would say a good two thirds of it is under water !!!!
Hubby has tried digging a few holes, but we have very heavy clay soil too. We were warned that it could flood but not to this extent, so I've emailed our parish council for advice. Hope it doesn't kill off our little boys plants
We wondered about using gravel or building up the beds to avoid quite so much flooding, as we are in a bit of a dip - any ideas folks??
Cheers

sorry about the flooding, that must be soul destroying.

angelavdavis

kittie wrote: »

Last week I put in loads of onion sets (too many) all in nice rows but something disturbed them overnight and many were lying on top in groups, 2 days later.

We had this problem - its either birds or squirrels. You will need to cover them somehow as we have had to do.

redsam

jollymummy wrote: »

It's very timely that I read this thread. We were warned when we got our plot in May that it floods. Just been up there this evening first time since last Thursday as we've been away. I would say a good two thirds of it is under water !!!!
Hubby has tried digging a few holes, but we have very heavy clay soil too. We were warned that it could flood but not to this extent, so I've emailed our parish council for advice. Hope it doesn't kill off our little boys plants
We wondered about using gravel or building up the beds to avoid quite so much flooding, as we are in a bit of a dip - any ideas folks??
Cheers

our plot is clay and ina dip so could have flooded if we didnt dig lazy beds.

Google Lazy beds - you will see the Irish and Scottish farmers use this method as it rains alot there. when it rains you wont have your veg getting soggy in water!

loucroft

Did you see this post about putting more nutrient into the soil, could use manure in one section and my and wslla's recommendation for plants that perhaps don't like manure, won't duplicate it but here's the link to the page containing the recommendations :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/36968300#Comment_36968300

DizzyMum_2

Hello,

Can I join? I've had a half size allotment for three years but am so disorganised never seem to grow as much as I plan to :rotfl:

I'm in East Anglia and we've got quite heavy clay soil. When I started alot of it had been covered with carpets for a couple of years and the soil under that was sooooooo heavy and waterlogged. This year I finally got the last section dug over and put potatoes in :T

I definitely agree with getting clay soil dug now and let the winter do the hard work.

So this October I'm going to ....

- ensure two more beds are clear of weeds
- plant out some Broad Beans (Aquadulce) to overwinter
- get my garlic in
- collect kitchen rolls/toilet rolls and large milk cartons (I'm cutting the bottoms off the cartons and am going to grow my brassica seedlings in next spring - they always seem to fail in the seed bed)

LOL

DM

dogcat_2

I've not even been up to my allotment since I got it last week.....I hope to get up there this weekend. I have 3.5 rods...big enough for me. It looks like it's been well dug over already. Not sure what I can grow at the moment. Any feedback would be most welcome. I won a raised bed last year, which I thought I could put up there. Where do you all get your seeds...etc...from?