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.

So, after listening to all you guys and your allotments, I have an appointment of Friday morning to look around a private allotment site after putting my name down on the council one.
Could you advise me on what questions to ask and what to look out for? Good, bad and ugly things? Please?!

I think we all had a go at helping Spotted up thread, but here are some things that spring to mind
water is paramount - is there a tap near hand, or other access
ease of getting onto the site - I never thought of this until others on here pointed out the difficulties in getting compost and manure to their allotment!
can you have a shed/greenhouse - do you need permission
how weedy/neglected it is
is it in the shade or a very windy site
Good Luck!

well, on a plus point today- I had a lovely hour in the sun at my new extra bit of plot. Started to dig up the potatoes, and amazingly some are okay! I assumed I would have to bin them all due to slugs etc - just shows you - I dug mine up at approximately the right time, and they were riddled with holes- a more resistant variety presumably! :)

Pirates - how exciting! I got some excellent advice - from the 21st Jan if you want to find that specific bit of he thread. I've had my plot almost a month now - Yikes! Tho it was covered wih snow for a couple of weeks.

To advice, I'd add - are there any especially bad weeds that you should know about? There's mares tail on my site, tho thankfully not near my plot.

Related to that - is there a chemical usage policy? There's not at mine, and I am fairly 'natural ' anyway, but I think there are some things that I'd want to roll out the big guns for. Like mares tail!

What's the cultivation rule -uup how much would you have to get done in what time -aand is it feasible? I've lots of time on my hands at the mo, and I've been there loads. But it looks like I've done nothing as it was snow covered, then too wet (clay).

Related to that... what's the soil like? Mine is heaviest clay, but I'd expected that as I live only minutes away, and we're surrounded by old clay quarries and brickwork. It would have been a nasty surprise had I not, though. Could you take a trowel and have an exploratory poke about to see soil condition? Find out too if there are any especially poor-draining bits.

I hope you love it. I love mine already, even though I am aching today and my thighs are burning with all the squatting (hand weeding!)

agoodbook I had a lovely sunny time too! No exciting finds for me though, just more weeds.

Ooh, Pirates - per above taless of break-ins, find out about that, and vandalism etc.

TLS sorry to hear of your nicked stuff. That's just horrid, isn't it? Someone I work with told me he used to have to paint patterns, flowers etc on his dad's allotment hints as a child, to make them less steal able - would that be a thought? That's assuming it's other plotters nicking the stuff to use themselves.

I love getting rid of weeds spotted - digging on a nice day, and knowing a bit more land is ready.... very therapeutic and de-stressing :)

It is quite zenith, isn't it, agoodbook ? Will I be saying that when they cone back for the umpteenth time though?

I don't actually know what weed is which, so I am taking them all out (wwell, trying). And I don't know which ones can't be composted, but them my compost is still a pile of mud (why?) and potatoes anyway; Ive not sorted it yet. So I am being really meticulous about getting the root out, then green bagging all my weeds and taking them to the council compost thing at the tip.

Can anyone recommend a good weed guide for me to learn from?

Zenith? Butt out, autocorrect. I meant zen, obviously!

I'm off to grab some Aldi bargain gardening things today, but have also just had the email to say that it's Lidl's gardening event March 5th - www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?id=502&ar=3 U had some bits from them last year and they were excellent so I'll get more.

Why does my tablet hate me? I had some garden bits last year. Maybe you (never 'U') did too, but I don't know that.

ooh- I'm off to Aldi ! spotted
Just had a look through all my gardening books, and the best weed identification ones are
Readers Digest illustrated guide to gardening - my copy is very old, but you still see them in charity shops, and it also has good basic info on veg gardening and great illustrations of weeds and pests and diseases
RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening - I picked mine up for £5 at a car boot sale, and this has a great section on veg growing as well
Could you try the library to see what they have? I have an allotment book by Alan Buckingham called allotment month by month which has some photos of weeds,
I think the readers digest is the most comprehensive list :)

thespottedzebra- I don't know which ones can't be composted, but them my compost is still a pile of mud (why?)

Well I would try to remove as much soil to begin with - I might hazard a guess that its too wet and its rotting rather than composting. You may also wish to get a male person to provide a bit of wee for it lol.

We had break ins at our allotments the other week. They cut the padlocks and helped themselves to someone's rotavator. I won't leave anything over there in the way of expensive equipment. It's not that a secure a site really, anyone can climb over the fence if they want to. I shall see how it goes otherwise start nagging the council about it.

I managed to get over there a couple of times last week and get a bit more digging done. I'm holding off from sowing any seeds as we don't have anywhere to put them in the house and so mine will just have to catch up later. We're in the South East so this won't be a massive problem as we have a slightly longer growing season than those of you further North.

Need to get over to the garden centre to get some more manure and also some other feed to help the soil. And I also have some bags of leaf mould which I'll try to get over there. As soon as it stops raining that is!

I do like the idea of painting flowers all over things Spotted, will try that :)

I know what you mean about space to start seeds off Cedar, I think I'm going to have to requisition all of our windowsills and hope the boys don't knock compost all over the house. Getting used to the Up North climate and shorter growing season - thinking about trying turnips instead of tomatoes this year.

well, I now know what my next job is. DH has just been down to the allotment as we ordered a load of manure - and very lovely stuff too by his account. The load is twice as big as the double pallett bin ...... :)

Well, I have got myself an allotment!! I am not sure sure how big it is, quite small I think, but will be plenty big enough to start with. I will go up there tomorrow, weather permitting, and measure it all out and take some photos! I can't wait! It is very clay soil, and has couch grass (do you say couch as in sofa or cooch?!) so I am debating whether to spray it with roundup or not.
Otherwise it is in good nick, I think, no shopping trolleys or anything like that! There is water right next to it, a big trough and a tap, and a large manure pile, wood chip pile and little gravel stones I can help myself too, along with wheelbarrows to borrow. No shed. And no toilets!!! Will have to find my festival sheewee!!

Hurrah! Welcome to the club

Is it far from your house? Mine is near enough to pop home for quick wee, which is good as I have the bladder of a gnat. Other than the lack of loo, it sounds very well-appointed: wood chip pile, manure, gravel , wheelbarrows! Mine has none of that, so now I am jealous of you, too.

Exciting Pirates - we started small, and I'm glad- its far less intimidating!
For all we have a big site, no toilets on ours - :( They have been talking about it for the last 2 years, now there are a lot more women there !

I have put my first seeds in the propagators today and managed to fill two already and I've hardly started. I've ordered another one,the biggest I could find. I don't have an allotment,but have a 50ft x 20ft polytunnel on the farm where I grow most of our veg,and some raised beds in the garden at home. I won't grow anything edible in the raised beds now as we have acquired 3 cats who think it is their toilet. I'm going to try just flowers in there now. I grow seedlings to sell as well,both to my customers ( I work as a gardener and farmer) and on a little stall on the street with an honesty box. I'm lucky in that with 2 ponies and the farm livestock,there is never a shortage of manure.

It's a quick ten minutes in the car, so not too bad. It's quite a small site but I am near a couple of very well tended plots so hopefully I will get some tips! Others seem to be a bit neglected but it could just be the time of year. I can't wait to get started...am hoping the weather is nice tomorrow, but am waiting to hear back from the allotment man to pay so I have been checking my emails all day! I'll be sad if he doesn't reply til after the weekend!

Plague has struck our household, if the weather has been half way decent then the illness has returned and I've either been nursing myself or children! But finally made it back onto the allotment yesterday, and thankfully the weeds have been dormant. Phew!

Congratulations Pirates! Am in the middle of digging couch grass (I pronounce it the same way as the large thing you sit on - that arsing grass ) of my new plot, and it's a bugger, but I keep telling myself that every root I pull out now is one less clump later on in the year. I may well be calling it worse things in a few months. Hope you get your key soon.

I had a birthday on the middle of the plague, and was given a baby greenhouse (like the ones in Aldi this week) so I have a place for seed trays and a load of plants, so I need to up the digging rate so I can plant them soon. Aldi did well out me this week - gardening gloves for the kids and seed compost, so I'm raring to go again, and will keep up with this thread!

so, its been raining all day, but eased off a bit in the afternoon so i took the kids up to see the allotment and take a few measurements...i forgot my camera though which is a bit of a pain. It is a kind of trapezium shape and the longest side is 33 feet and the fat end is 24 feet and the narrowest end is 7.5 feet. Big enough to keep me busy?
I have attached a diagram. The earth is optimistically brown in the diagram, although it is all now covered in couch grass!

Quick visit to the allotment today

• planted broad beans and peas
• lifted last of oca
• had another run in with allotment stalker - same old story. He is insisting I have to be friends with him

Resolved to order nemaslug.

And told my plot neighbour about the issue with allotment pest

Stainless ! Welcome back. I hope the plague has left your house now. Happy birthday too, and congrats on the greenhouse. I also did a raid on Aldi and got lovely gardening things, including a new cover for my greenhouse that I've just realised is the wrong size and some gloves, and cloches. Then today my mum v unexpectedly bought me a grow house - a wooden cupboardy greenhouse thing .

And I've sown more seeds today too: broccoli raab, leeks, asparagus pea, yard long bean. The latter 2 I'm not sure about as everyone says that the pea tastes horrid and the bean probably won't grow. But I have soil, and seeds, and time so what the heck?!

I have time but can't do much on the allotment as it keeps on raining. I've done about all I can there now, until the ground dries out a bit. I've started to churn it up a bit, which isn't good at all. And it's raining now so tomorrow will probably be a write off too.

Fnoz - your set up sounds lovely! What do you farm?

Mink poor you. I hope you have told him to do one, that he is bothering you and that you don't have to be friends wih him and that actually you're not? What did your neighbour say?