Just got an allotment (Merged)

Lusignan

Well done! What kind of a state is it in? Ours was chin high in weeds and brambles all over when we got it last June, and we razed the lot and covered most of it in tarpaulin while we cultivated one bed after another. Last year we got out of it cabbages (planted August - harvested right through till a month or so ago) and potatoes grown in tyres (planted seed potatoes August - harvested November onwards). We've dug pretty much all of the rest and have about 70% of it planted up now.

brindles01

As well as looking here for advice try the Grow Your Own forum and google 'allotment blogs' to get a really good take on what people are doing with their land. If you have access the internet there really is masses of advice out there. Also your library is a good source of advice - try these two books - Delia's Kitchen Garden (not a cookery book!) and The Great Vegetable Plot. Both are fantastic and are like bibles for veggie growing - I can't recommend them enough You'll soon be finding you haven't got time for anything else once you get hooked!!!

jfdi

http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/index.php

This is a brilliant resource too - you could even treat yourself to a year's subscription to the Magazine if you can afford it. They usually give away loads of seeds throughout the year.

HTH.

A
xx

petef_3

the allotment is in good condition hardly any weeds just needs something doing to it ie plants lol
louise

sueshells

Have you seen your allotment in full growth? Have you taken it on in the depths of winter? If it is the latter then you might be wise to have a little dig around, if you haven't already, and just check that you don't have lots of overwintering perennial weeds such as thistles, nettles, couch grass and dandelions. Hopefully you have a cultivated plot which someone has just given up for some reason in which case you are extremely lucky and I envy you.

If you are new to growing then it might be easier to start your plants off at home and plant them out in the allotment when they are a bit bigger - that way you can see what you've put where.

There are still seed potatoes in the garden centres and these are great to grow - especially "earlies" (new potatoes). Nothing can beat a fresh homegrown new potato with loads of butter!

A tip I like, if you don't need huge onions, is to sow a group of 6-8 seeds in a pot in a little group and then plant the whole potful, excluding the pot, into the allotment as they are. You will get a group of small to medium sized onions - the push apart as they grow and don't need thinning.

I also recommend Kichen Garden magazine. There are now 2 other veg growing mags, but in my opinion, they are very much for trendy urban gardeners rather than people wanting to grow plenty of good fresh veg. In addition to the free seeds on the cover there are also offers of seed collections for which you just pay postage - you often get 8 pkts of seed for £1.99 or so. Plus they have special offers on plants too. A brilliant buy and a really good read. I had a subscription for years until my cash ran out!

Good Luck and keep at it - gardening is good for you in so many ways.

Sue

greenishfingers

petef wrote: »

the allotment is in good condition hardly any weeds just needs something doing to it ie plants lol
louise

Sounds great! Potatoes and courgettes are really easy IMO, as are tomatoes (gardeners delight are a good starter variety). Onions and shallots, but not from seed, are also good.
A word of warning though: I thought the allotment I took on last March was in good nick when I first saw it - not too much couch grass and no other perrenial weeds- until the bind weed took over.:eek: I hope yours has been better loved than mine was!

Lusignan

Our biggest problem is foxes - they've had our seed potatoes up 3 times so far.

lianne1978

Just wanted to say hello to my green fingered friends! I have finally got an allotment in my village after years of waiting, I am going to have a look at it tomorrow morning with the Allotment Manager. What I must point out is I am a complete novice and I wanted to ask you experts for some advice. When I go in the morning is there anything I should look out for - in terms of size, drainage, location etc. I want to grow a range of vegetables and hopefully keep chickens (although I am led to believe you can't do both on the same allotment?).

I will be able to dedicate roughly 4 hours a week (if I have chickens this would be more) to the allotment is this enough or am I basically not going to be able to maintain it?

Sorry if this all sounds obvious or unrealistic but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RAS

Congratulations

You need to ask about the chucks, some places allow them and some do not. If you have them, they need to be let out am and locked in every night. And they need to be in a secure enclosure (fox proof), so they would not get into your veggies.

Posted some thoughts on taking over a plot for Rach the other day. Beyond that, if the plot is in good nick, or you can get a couple of days hard work in over Easter, 4 hours is a good basic.

You do need to think about watering though, particularly seedlings. May be best to start stuff in modules as that minimises transplant shock.

kethry

I'd agree about the chickens: ask first!

as regards time and planning, i really can't recommend this book enough - get it from the library. I didn't find it much use cos i'm rich in time and poor in money (lol), but for someone who's poor in time, i can imagine its a lifesaver. It recommends buying plugs, if i remember right, rather than growing from seed, which is a little more expensive but you have the knowledge that a) unless you really treat them badly, each plant is growing and on its way and you should get a harvest from most, if not all, if you treat them how they like to be treated.. b) it saves on time as someone else has done all the hard work of nurturing them.

the half-hour part refers to going to the lottie for half an hour every day, except at weekends, obviously if you have chickens you'll be going every day anyway (including weekends!) but any time you give your chickens will be extra to the half hour. the guy who wrote the book runs a nursery (garden not kid type!) and doesn't have time to spend a lot of time on his lottie, so he does his lottie this way.

give it a go from the library!

keth
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