Overgrown wasteland of allotment - worth it?!

Jayar

We were all new at one time or other Rachel, so the only stupid question is the one you don't ask
You know when you leave your potatoes under the sink and forget about them, they start to grow roots? Well, to an extent, that's chitting. Except it's best not done in the complete dark or the roots go all long and weak. Some people save up their cardboard egg boxes to put them in, but I just chuck on a tray on top of a kitchen unit out of the way.
I can tell this thread is going to run and run. By the end of this year, you will be so proud of your efforts.

bha.fatboy

Good luck with it and go get it. We had a waste land one last October and it now has around 15 various sized raised plots along with a beautiful pond to attract frogs etc to keep the slugs at bay and a greenhouse. In true monwey saving expert style the only thing we have paid for was sol compost and top soil. Using freecycle etc we have got a free Greenhouse. We used a thrown away cast Iron bath for the pond. Got about £400 worht of roickery rock for a tenner from someone who wanted it shifted. We alsop got quite abit of topsoil free and made the raised beds out of pallets. Our fellow allotmenters have given us loads of seeds and cuttings and I took some plants / cuttings from my garden for the rockery. In a few months it will be stunning when the veg all start growing
Yes I am very proud of what I have achieved if you had not guessed so anyone can do it

rach2403

Wow what a fantastic response - thank you so much!!!!!!

Well I've done it now - rang the lady and the allotment is mine! (well ours - should probably include hubby as need him to do fair share of donkey work!)

The only problem now is identifying what exactly our allotment consists of! The parish council lady told me to ring the bloke who owns the allotment next door which have just done (although was very scared!) and he's going to meet me down there on Friday morning to sort it out. He sounded very nice but I have this unreasonable fear that he's going to take one look at me and think i'm not worthy of the allotment or something - especially as I'm such a novice! I just hope i'm wrong on this - sure I will be!

bha.fatboy - if I can have as much of a success story to tell as you have in a years time i'll be a very happy lady!

Jayar - potatoes in egg boxes on top of fridge as we speak - thanks so much for that! They are new potato size - how many do you think i'll need - they came in a big net bag surely i don't need to plant them all?!!

showtunesgirl - will check out all the books you recommended - thanks!

Wow I am so happy I have taken this slightly daunting step - it's lovely to feel as though there are people supporting you along the way - thank you so much for that!

Rachel x

madhouseof4

OMG, I would snap their hand off (after haggling for a second free year, lol!). If allotments are really in that short of supply, I would definately take it. It will be hard work at first I am sure, but imagine the smugness and pride you will feel when it is up and running and you are growing your own, which I am sure will tast fabulous!

I am very jealous naturally as there is a 2 year waiting list in my area! Good luck with your allotment!

jellymid

Well done, Rachel, I'm sure you'll have fun . Don't worry about your neighbour thinking you are not up to the job, he'll be delighted that someone is attempting to get control over the weeds near his plot. I took on such a plot 4 years ago and it has been so rewarding. I would second the advice to cover some areas with carpet or landscape material until you get around to digging them thoroughly. It stops you getting demoralised and will be much easier to dig next year. Skips are handy places for finding old carpets. As for getting rid of the weed matter, you can compost it for a couple of years if you exclude all light, but I would check whether the site has any facilities to deal with it - regular skips/bins. You will probably be digging masses out. I scrounged some unused plastic bins from neighbours made redundant after wheelie bins arrived. Along with all those fantastic vegetables, you'll undoubtedly grow some fantastic muscles!

Ps: Beware rotavators though - they just cut the weed roots up into tiny pieces and you end up with more weeds, harder to clear

DKLS

Digging Party????, Invite your mates, and Bring a case of cheap beer soon get the job done, and you will have a huge sense of satisfaction. Even better when you tuck unto your own produce for the first time.

rach2403

Digging party - I like that idea!!!!!!!!!!!

Hoping neighbour will turn out to be nice helpful person - sure they will, just when I went to look round the old retired men looked at me very suspiciously but perhaps that's just me!

I want to go down there now! Fingers crossed it doesn't pour down on Friday or we could be stuck!

Rachel x

showtunesgirl

What kind of potatoes did you buy Rachel?

We only planted a small amount last year and I regretted afterwards not planting more as they are absolutely unbelievably delicious! Seriously, there is nothing better than pulling up your news, washing them down, lightly coating them with olive oil and salt and roasting them. I could eat loads of these! Just you wait and see!

angie_loves_veg

I am SOOO glad that you have gone for it - you will be growing soon, no doubt. I had exactly the same problem, so I tackled it one small section at a time. The advice in this thread is all good, but I did take one extra short cut - after hacking a small area of the (shoulder high) brambles/nettles and unrecognisable weeds to a more reasonable 6inch-ish, I treated the area with roundup (glysophate-weedkiller), not organic, but hell, since then I have been! Ater about two weeks, dig dig and dig... pulling the now deadish roots as I went - the roundup makes this job a lot easier IMO. Doing this you *could* be planiting my mid april - earlier if you are really keen! while the roundup is doing its thing, I moved onto the next section....

May I recommend (in addition to potatoes) squashes as a good first crop? They spread over a huge area and hence smother emerging weeds as they come, they need little maintainance and produca a bumper crop of storable produce - yum yum!

angie_loves_veg

rach2403 wrote: »

Jayar - potatoes in egg boxes on top of fridge as we speak - thanks so much for that! They are new potato size - how many do you think i'll need - they came in a big net bag surely i don't need to plant them all?!!

obviously depends on the variety, but last year I averaged 2lb of pots from each seed potato - these were earlies though - you get a bigger yield with lates and maincrops......

I'll second earlier advice too - plant them all! they store and you can just never have enough!

HTH