The 2015 Allotment / Veg Patch Thread - it's here!

[TheSpottedZebra]

Yes, it's the thread you've all been waiting for, a place to chit chat about your allotment or fruit and veg patch - however big it may be. Even if it currently only imaginary or no bigger than a pot of growing basil from the supermarket.

Come discuss your plans, your seeds, your learnings from previous years and your goals for this year. All levels of knowledge welcome, from absolute beginner, to enthusiastic 2nd year-er (me!), to anyone else.

We have a reasonably large allotment (around 25 poles) divided up into 3.5m * 4.5m beds. I agree that covering beds is a good move. We do this routinely over winter with as many beds as we can get to.

We do rotavate as well but after a lot of the weeds have been killed off.

Something we started doing a couple of years ago was dedicating one bed as the compost bed. All the compost material goes onto that bed then when the bed is full we cover it with weed proof matting which we then plant the courgettes through. The combination of rotting down compost and black weed proof material makes a micro-climate resulting in improved courgette crops

Gnome 25 poles??? That's massive isn't it? I still have allotment envy. After 2 weeks of officially having an allotment, I really do think it's too small. Your compost bed sound genius.

Welcome, Petula ! Did you make your cold frame from scratch eg wood and bits and bobs, or did you recycle windows? I've never made a cold frame, but once again, I have ideas above my station... What are you planning /hoping to grow?

I have another compost question, if I may...

The heap that I have inherited I need to turn, but I noticed that it has loads of soil in it. Loads. And big whole potatoe. When I turn it, should I try to get the soil bits out, and maybe chop up the pots, or can I just mix it all up, moisten it, and leave it to cook?

what do poles mean in terms of size of allotment? (i don't have a real allotment)

we made the cold frame from some plastic panels of varying size that used to form the roof lights on a relative's conservatory, which we screwed to pieces of wood and hammered into the ground, with the lid hinges made from cable ties. it is VERY basic but quite large! if we needed to hide a body for a while...

will do potatoes again as they were good last year (so dp tells me, i don't eat them), as were beans and mange tout. salads, courgettes, beetroot, leeks, brussels (for autumn/winter). i hope to try pak choi this year, and get some rhubarb crowns too

we had a snigger in the nursery at the leek seeds description "long thick tasty shanks"

Life is better when you can snigger, IMHO. I thought that a rhubarb word was filthy, but unfortunately ve forgotten the word.

Re poles, I think that a old school typical plot was about 10 poles, which is about 250 sq. m. So 25 poles is about 625 sq.m, no? Mine is 100 sq m.

Standard plots the council do here are 10 poles. Our allotment is new and small so I have 5. Keen growers take on 2 lots.
Rent on a 5 pole is £50.

It does me. Only one adult to feed and 2 kids one of whom will not touch veg so its just the right size. Alrhough if I did get a 10 pole I'd take up some space with flowrs, trees and a huge shed:-)

Hanks Zebra, I'm very chuffed with my possible asparagus!

Where are you Mink, I have a half plot, 125 sq m, and pay the princely sum of £7 per annum, plus £2.50 insurance. We're between two rivers here, so the water table is high and we have pipes going down into the water table for extraction, so we don't have to pay for water. I also have an IBC tank being fed from the shed guttering, so hopefully I won't have to lug water around too far in the summer.

I'd love to try growing satsumas as well. Only way I'd get to do that is if we won the lottery and I could have a proper orangery.

Went up to our allotment yesterday. Shifted 3 bags of manure which went nowhere when we spread them out so need to get some more. Finished moving the dumping compost heap which means we now have access to the cold frame. Which needs a new cover but can be salvaged. Might move it if I can to a more sheltered spot.
I might have a go at the cardboard covering for some of our plot. My daughter ambitiously thinks she's having about half the plot but somehow that doesn't extend to much willingness to actually dig it....

Hi, I'd like to join as well. Been gardening and growing things for a number of years but still a beginner in real terms. We got our allotment in 2010 but after four years of battling and getting disheartened with it, we have reduced the size of the plot to take just the half that we had originally managed to do something with in the first year.

We went down on Sunday for a mooch and a chat and creative thinking session (!) and hurrah DH is feeling more inspired (I am already, it's Spring, my Instagram feed is filling up with garden promise and I've come here for more inspiration). So this year we hope to turn the half sized plot into a lovely lottie (sign to go on the shed) instead of cringing, sighing and near crying when we do go down there.

We have some shifting around to do - fruit bushes, a cherry and a plum tree, then build a big fruit cage; get a new water butt (the old one was pinched) make a new compost bin, make fences, do lots of digging (couch grass is having a field day), and then we will have raised beds symmetrically by our shed and then a 'farmer's field' with rows of crops, although need to decide what they are and sort out rotation.

I have years of seed packets to sort through and to decide what we'll grow, and then start sowing and growing.

What made it hard for you to do a whole plot, Jill? I am worried I will run Out of enthusiasm and/or time once the garden picks up in spring too.

dougal I am in Edinburgh and we recently fought off a plan to double our rents
Does mean that growing on the allotment costs the same as buying the veg you grow. Its a labour of love.

yes, poles, rods, perches are all old measures. We do have a fair bit of land but I promise we arent land blocking. Where we are there doesnt seem to be the same demand as in other areas.

We are lucky in that our allotment society is privately owned so the rules are different from council fields. I remember the field steward who took us on said that we could grow anything we liked except weeds and drugs. Actually I think that he was more concerned about the weeds!

SpottedZebra about the Au growing season. I'm in Melbourne, so temperate with long autumns and tomatoes, cues and aubergines still produce for several months. We're by the sea, so no frosts. Our house is, effectively a very old sand dune, so the veggies beds are raised. The satsumas are dwarf varieties in pots, though citrus grow very happily and productively in the ground, we have too many other non-fruit trees to do this.

Seasons theoretically go spring 1st September, summer Ist December, Autumn 1st March, winter 1st June. We've had quite a few very cool dry spells this summer so toms have been slower to ripen.

We were fighting a constant battle against weeds, pernicious weeds, brambles, ground elder, bindweed, nettles, dandelions, all sorts of many varied and happily growing weeds and we concentrated first on the dig gable area and then tried to tackle the second area but never got beyond fighting weeds and brambles and couch grass. Time, motivation, younger child, work, renovating our house, too much on our plates, not enough energy or drive and so this now is the compromise, and I think we can do this with our halved plot, much more achievable and realistic.

H Mink, that's not good on your rents!

Sorry H was supposed to say Oh! Blasted iPad.

We cleared brambles and nettles to make our little veg patch (probably about 4m by 8m). We took turns with with mattock and fork and it took us weeks to get that small space free enough of the roots to actually plant stuff. We're still cleaning the remnants now as they come up

So, a local lady with land, has just called to offer me a VEG PAAATCH!! (with poly tunnel)

Great news Amantes.

Just wanted to share a photo I took earlier which shows that my windowsill being taken up with seed incubators doesn't seem to be bothering my cat.

I'm still a bit tbh!

Impressive seed warming device you have there

Amantes that's excellent! But, continuing my theme of Mr being jealous of everyone else's plots -I am v of your polytunnel ! How near is it to you? How lucky that you did start all those seeds! Hey, did those seedlings recover from their attention from your DC?

Lovely warmer, WhoKnows .

Hi all, got a raised planter that is going to be my responsibility. Approx 30ft x 5ft. In a good sunny location. However, I am basically a complete novice. So:

1. Can people recommend any good books or websites?
2. I would ideally like to mix in some flowers with the veg as well as it is in a front garden area so would be nice to have beauty as well as utility. Is this possible/feasible?
3. What are the easiest things to grow, probably need things that are fairly low maintenance.

www.growveg.com is great, you get a free trial to start with and it helps you with things like daydreaming crop rotation.

Danglaf I would recommend 'the no dig garden specialist' from amazon. It's a no nonsense clear and friendly book whoch covered growing methods, lots of fruit and veg and loads of pictures. It's so good I use it year on year and I've been veg growing over ten years.

Thibk carefully about what you want to grow vs the cost of growing it. So potato's I don't grow much of (more the husband wanted to) as they cross carry blight to my tomatoes which I am passionate about and usually grow a dozen varieties.

I also grow squash (courgettes, butternut, pumpkin and pattypan), salad, onions, garlic and loads and loads of beans. All things which are expensive and which I can store if a glut happens.

This will be the first year I have an allotment as well as my veg patch, due to a slight resourcing issue on my time then I'm keeping it simple this year. Next year I will grow a wider variety but sometimes it's nice to grow a few things well!

Oh and carrots. Lots and lots and LOTS of carrots!

As for the flower plus veg then absolutely the best way to go to encourage pollinators. I companion plant with veg and flowers and grow ornamental edibles in my herbaceous borders. Every year I learn new things.