New allotments Autumn 2010 Chat

scotsaver

I've had my Allotment since last December so still in my first year and I wouldn't be without it - had loads of soft fruits which I've made into jars of Jam, used in Puds, had loads of spuds, courgettes, squashes, pumpkins, tomatoes, lettuces etc etc. Still got Leeks, cabbages, PSB, swede, cauli's etc etc to look forward to.

Only used about 2 thirds of the space but working hard to get the rest of the area ready so that I can grow even more next year.

Find this "grow your own" very addictive and also love the exercise, fresh air and sociability that comes with the Allotment.:D

Denno17

I am going in to my second year of allotment growing and have just been fortunate enough to be given a greenhouse (plenty of toms and chillis next year :j) I am fortunate enough to have a plot big enough that i have fenced of part of it and have chickens running around one area and grow in the other, free chicken manure aswell :rotfl: this year my first real crop of spuds have been destroyed with wire worm and blight :mad:beans and leeks are going good guns though. I am about to start planting my onion sets and garlic.

GreenFly_2

dogcat wrote: »

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?

You can get some japanese onions in as well as garlic and shallots. I've also just set some seeds of Cauli and as already suggested some Autumn sown broad beans can be put straight in the ground or as I prefer put into toilet rolls first and when they have a strong root structure, they can go into your beds.
When I got my plot, most of my neighbours were very generous and offered lots of spare seeds, but any seed catalogue or garden centre.

Good Luck and congrats on the new plot
GF

GreenFly_2

Denno17 wrote: »

I am going in to my second year of allotment growing and have just been fortunate enough to be given a greenhouse (plenty of toms and chillis next year :j) I am fortunate enough to have a plot big enough that i have fenced of part of it and have chickens running around one area and grow in the other, free chicken manure aswell :rotfl: this year my first real crop of spuds have been destroyed with wire worm and blight :mad:beans and leeks are going good guns though. I am about to start planting my onion sets and garlic.

If you had potato blight, be careful as you know it can affect tomatoes. I put my greenhouse this year and was devastated by Tomato blight. I plan on using a blight tolerant variety this year called Ferline and there is a beef tom that is also tolerant but the name escapes me at the moment.

Good luck next year on the spuds!
GF

[Deleted User]

I`m so HAPPY today as I have finished clearing and it is ready to fully plant. I have made a lot of use of weed matting that I got in big rolls from costco and also of hammer-down black pegs from gardening naturally and most of it is covered, including the section with the mustard that I dug in last week. I made very good use of a hand azada that I bought from here http://www.get-digging.co.uk/ it is quite a wide one but I sometimes used the corner to split great hard lumps of clay and it worked brilliantly. I also used it to move lots of soil around and to make good edges next to the grass paths. It is my best tool together with the long handled one

I am waiting for a norfolk greenhouses shed and they did say 28 days so it must be soon. I have enjoyed planning on paper and then finding out I do indeed have room for 4 blackcurrant bushes. I ordered ben sarek, which I can plant 2` apart as a hedge, which will also make a good windbreak. I ordered alpine strawberries and some called alice and am just waiting for the gooseberries (invicta) to arrive as well as the blackberries (loch ness) and the rhubarb crowns (stockbridge arrow and champagne)

The comfrey (bocking 14) root cuttings came last week and I have planted them in deep trays for now. They will go into a dedicated 8 x 9 patch. Heck I have just realised that we only moved house the middle of june and I cannot believe how much has been done. It is fab this being at one with nature

Denno17

Spent an hour on the plot this evening starting to dig over and area that i still have not touched, I managed to grab a bargain from the pound shop 2 fruit bushes 1 red current and a black current marked as a pound each got to the till and the came up as buy one get one free :D result, my next challenge now is to start building some raised beds to grow some asparagus and my carrots in. Greenfly yes i am aware of the blight spores affecting toms as well, a damn good disinfectant usually works and make sure all affected plants are burnt and not placed in the compost bin..

Sare

Ive had my allotment a month its a half of whatever a whole is! and covered in 4ft weeds but I got very lucky as a man on there offered to stim, plough and rotivate it for us for 60 quid. I know its cheating but I'd be retired before I got that lot sorted!

We did get up there and do a bit where the shed is to be positioned last weekend and it was lovely sun was out trees rustling in the wind sheer bliss roll on spring

Ive bought some garlic and Onions and some Raspberry and Strawberry plants and I cant wait to get going.

Then I shall spend the winter planning

Denno17

Sare wrote: »

Ive had my allotment a month its a half of whatever a whole is! and covered in 4ft weeds but I got very lucky as a man on there offered to stim, plough and rotivate it for us for 60 quid. I know its cheating but I'd be retired before I got that lot sorted!

We did get up there and do a bit where the shed is to be positioned last weekend and it was lovely sun was out trees rustling in the wind sheer bliss roll on spring

Ive bought some garlic and Onions and some Raspberry and Strawberry plants and I cant wait to get going.

Then I shall spend the winter planning

Even though it has been rotivated make sure you go over it with a fork to get all the roots out, even the slightest rhizome root can cause havoc.

CommitedToChange

hi guys - so nice to to meet so many first yearers - and people which know a bit more.

I've started double digging my plot - digging in sand and compost to try and make it a little more free draining. Then I'm sowing hungarian rye to over winter.

Have to admit that its harder than I thought but I'll get there.

loucroft

I'd definitely recommend digging down around a large spades length ( the head, not the handle too ;-) ), that helps get stubborn weed roots up and then constant hoeing through the year to keep the weeds down. Then, when the bed has emptied of anything you're growing, dig down again and add your nutrient material

Word of warning - nasturtiums. Don't plant if you can't keep them down, mine come back year after year and won't go away!!