Allotment/Veg patch thread 11 'We bid farewell to rainbow leaves but will keep plotting along'

[bookbook]

Well, nights are drawing in, leaves are starting to turn, harvesting carrying on
What a summer it has been!
Join in with the ups and downs of growing our own into autumn.
Last thread www.mumsnet.com/Talk/gardening/2951768-Allotment-Veg-Patch-Thread-10-Plotmenters-busy-into-summer-and-loving-James-Wong?msgid=71770088HERE

I imagine getting chickens to stay tidied is harder Cath!

On hoop. Supports, would the sort of rod that Monty is using here work? www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/grow-plants/how-to-make-steel-rod-plant-supports/

Thanks for that video - that’s worth thinking about. I mentioned to DH that we could make some metal ones but he thought plastic would be better and I can’t remember why now. Possibly ease of getting them. I will look into it.

I have a jumble of old plastic greenhouse frame bits that I bodge together as net supports which works fairly well. One other thought - could you use poles from a cheap/second hand/charity shop tent?

Yes possibly- I might go and poke about in charity shops tomorrow. Or cave in and just amazon actual plastic hoops. I tried using bamboo canes with milk bottles on as posts and it just didn’t work. Actually now I’m thinking I’ve got some very long canes maybe might bend enough. Thanks for ideas

We're new to allotmenting so haven't done it yet but a lot of our plot neighbour's seem to be using stiff hosepipe as net holders.

Hello plotters!

chock it's probably HDPE pipe rather than hosepipe. You can stick lengths of cane or dowel in the ground, then the pipe on top of that in a hoop shape.

Well, this season has finally started for me, as I have JUST had my first seed germinate. Sweet pea, so not an edible, but it counts. I've not really done much yet, it's been way too cold and my ground is still sodden. I think I'll hold off on the tomatoes until after this next cold snap. I don't think I've ever left it so late before! I did also sow marigolds and cosmos today.

I also had a good few hours at the plot today too - I'd only been to add to the compost and check up in things. I cleared lots of rubbish, tidied over my strawbs, and gave the beds a good weeding. And I dug up another rhubarb as I still have way too much. I also weeded a patch that was previously grass - the soil was surprisingly lovely to dig. So I tried to lightly fork over an existing bed that was thick with manure -and it was solid, wet, clarty clay

It's wet again today and this weekend, so will hopefully sneak in an hour or 2 sometime next week.

My raspberries are just starting to have their first green shoots emerging from the soil, and my berry plants and fruit trees are budding. Spring is around the corner...

Can I join? I’ve got tomatoes, pumpkins, artichokes and cosmos germinating in the kitchen. This will be my first year with my new raised beds. I’ve also sown my onion set and planning beets, lettuce cucumber sweetcorn beans and peas.

Hello, Effer ! (Channeling booky), roughly whereabouts are you?

What tomatoes have you sown? I'm a bit obsessed with tomatoes...

Welcome Effer!

I just finished pricking out my tomato seedlings - started on Thursday - I have 72! obviously not all will end up being grown up plants but still I think I’ll have a lot to give away. Maybe it’s a good thing my peppers have been such a failure, more room for tomatoes!!!

My main variety is San Marzano which I want for cooking, hoping to make lots of batches of sauces, passata etc, and then cherry tomatoes more for eating and salads over summer - Rapunzel (a red cherry plum), Tigerella (stripy, part of a Xmas gift set from FIL), Citrina (yellow), Apricot Dream (erm, orange? I thought it sounded cute!) and one that I don’t really know what it is, it was a foil packet with “purple cherry tomato” handwritten on it that I’m not quite sure where I got it from! So I’ve just labelled that ‘Purple Cherry’.

Morning!
welcome Effer :)

at Spotted - why is it the grassy bit isn't clarty I wonder

Una - that reminded me - I used the poles from my DD's old wendy house as a net support - it was a bit ermmmm ^wobbly*
good luck with protecting from chickens Cath - (I was imagining them with lovely combed feathers ) . I was going to suggest a wigwam with chicken wire around .
I'm with you on the San Marzano Serendipity - I have grown them now for 3 years, and make great tomato sauce. I am also sticking with my Sungold cherry tomatoes and St Pierre salad ones. But not sowing until after next week
I'm off to shovel manure for an hour , I have been mulching around the raspberries and soft fruit - so I'd better get on with it!

Welcome Effer !
I'm obsessed by tomatoes too!
This year I'm growing: Gardeners Delight, Chocolate Cherry, Black Cherry, Sungold, Tigerella, San Marzano and Corazon.

I'm going for San Marzano, Gardener's Delight and Sungold this year - hoping that now I have (or almost have!) my greenhouse I might actually get a crop that isn't blighted this year!

Welcome Effer.

Does anyone have any experience of growing potatoes in a more shady spot?

I have an area to the side of the house but hemmed in by a wall on one side and hedge on the other, open to the north and south. Should get full sun for part of the day but not all. Wondering if it's worth trying to squeeze some potato plants in here.

Hello all! Fell off this thread when the weather stopped play. Still cold here but am setting some seeds off today. Will go on my kitchen windowsill then wil hopefully get the little aldi greenhouse up next weekend depending what weather we get.

Been to the garden centre this morning. Bought seed potatoes, seeds and some outside lights for at home. I bought flower seeds as well for the pots and baskets at home.

Looking forward to a couple of hours at the plot tomorrow. I want to set the potatoes to chit, put some fertilizer down round the blueberries and start preparing some beds, hopefully to start a few things off.

We get married in 7 weeks (gulp) so I have a billion and 1 things to do. But don't want to get behind on stuff as this time of the year we need to be organised.

a spring wedding, how exciting. good luck with everything!

we 'only' have black krim and green zebra toms from seed (both very tasty indeed) and will get some plants of 'normal' red toms from a garden centre in may.
plan to sort out the raised bed (old sandpit) this weekend and sow peas. have to protect it from cats an foxes though. they like digging in soft soil.

Absurdly happy. Our greenhouse is now glazed and almost ready to start moving plants into!

Thanks for the lovely welcome everyone! Re tomatoes im growing Sungold and the ever reliable gardeners delight. Kids have knocked over the tray twice but think I’ll still have enough. We have underfloor heating family think I’m very unreasonable but it’s a great place to germinate stuff.

I’m in Hampshire Hounds. I’ve got two 3mx2m new raised beds after a garden revamp. I thought I’d try no dig and they’ve both got a bag of manure on top. I can’t work out what to do unless I dig it in though. I can’t really sow seeds in an inch of manure

Hi Efferlunt, welcome to the thread, I'm Hants/Surrey borders.

I have done nothing this week except plant some shallot seeds .

First seeds sown here today. Pumpkins and butternut squash. Gave me an amazing feeling - a mixture of excitement and calmness, if that makes any sense at all!! Tomatoes will go in the propogator next. Craigella here. I only have room for 4/5 plants in the greenhouse, due to cucumbers and one site being shelving and space for peppers, chillis etc. Hope to put the peas in guttering tomorrow. Sweet peas are done as well today.

Hi Efferlunt. I only joined the thread recently.

Wow a wedding and lots of gardening Frouby - hopemit goes well.

Hi everyone, can I join you and tap into some collective wisdom? I should be getting an allotment in the next two to three weeks. Unfortunately I am a complete novice having only had a small London garden to play with so have never grown anything beyond a few courgettes, tomatoes and marrows and some potatoes that I got from sticking an old potato from my fridge into a raised bed! Also I think the allotment will be in pretty poor condition. On the plus side, it's only a couple of minutes walk from my house.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a beginners allotment book that will take me step by step through preparing the soil and what tasks to do when. I'm quite excited by the whole thing but a bit daunted as well so any advice would be massively appreciated.

Welcome outdoortype!

I got my allotment around 18 months ago now and was/am a complete novice too albeit from a gardening family. The plot was completely overgrown - weeds taller than me in some bits. I have to say books have been only somewhat useful/more inspiration than instruction, but, videos have been much more useful for me. There’s a lot of allotment vloggers on YouTube and I binge watched a few when I first started.

Best advice is - cliché - it’s a marathon not a sprint. Do a little and do it often. Get something in quickly so you’re invested - if it’s an absolute state, first just clear a small patch, a few square metres, plant something, anything in it. Then work gradually to clear the rest, bit by bit.

My first year I concentrated mainly on getting the structure of my plot done, and on getting some perennial things - fruit, herbs and asparagus - in and started. I took short cuts if I had to, if I’d missed sowing seed then I unashamedly bought plug plants later.

Good luck!

Hello!
Welcome theoutdoortype - exhilarating and scary all at the same time . I am assuming you are in London ? The book I always recommend is Andi Clevelys 'The Allotment Book' - covers most things easily , with enough explanation and detail .
Do you know how big your allotment will be-? they can vary enormously
First steps once you get the nod .
Take a big tape measure and make a plan of it with anything like shading trees/hedges/structures etc. See where the sun comes, were the shade lies etc. How do you get water to your plot , can you have a greenhouse/shed. How do you get anything bulky there - access for getting manure/compost there etc.
Get to know your neighbours
Go slow and steady on clearing/getting it ready - mantra I always say - its a marathon, not a sprint.
Get a little area properly clear and plant something - don't let the weeds take it back , and then just work at your pace - little and often works a lot better than a massive go and then nothing for weeks - its wasted effort. Cover anything you can't work on with weed suppressant- cardboard, or weed membrane something like that .
and the biggest thing - Grow only what you like to eat
Good Luck!
It is glorious here today - so I shovelled manure onto raspberries , and dug up the last of my sprouts and enjoyed the sun on my back . Its all looking ready to go :)

x post there with Serendipity - I'm a slow typer ......

Welcome outdoortype. I have the Andi cleverly book after recommendations on here. It's pretty good and I always refer to it if I am unsure.

We took our plot on last May. It was a mess. Brambles and weeds 6ft high. 3 smashed greenhouses in it. Not fenced off. No shed. Tonnes of rubbish.

My advice is little and often as above. And clear some space to start growing. It toom us months to clear it all and it's still a work in progres but we started at the least bad bit and cleared enough space for beds. And had a decent harvest last year. Also start working out a budget now. Fencing was a big cost for us, as was the shed. And tools.

And take lots of photos to plot your progress. It can get a bit disheartening when you are still clearing it weeks later unless you can look back and see where you started.

Had an hour on the plot this morning. Set my spuds to chit, chucked some fertiliser around the blueberries and worked out where the chicken run will go. Cleared a few weeds and pottered around a bit. Then came home and jet washed the decking and built my little aldi greenhouse and had a tidy up of the shed.

Hoping this forecast bad weather doesn't come. Really want to fill the greenhouse with seeds but holding off until next week in case we need to move greenhouse to shed.

Getting very excited for this season now. One of the rhubarb crowns is poking through that I planted last month and the rasperries are starting to show signs of life. And the allotment site was a hive of activity today too. Exciting times ahead.