New allotment. What have I done

[blackheartsgirl]

Ahh What have I done, panicking slightly about new allotment.

Ive been on the list for quite a while for one, now ive got it and ive had the keys.

its not too overgrown, its got a shed which is full of crap, it’s really not that bad, there’s some overgrown beds and a nice raspberry patch.

but here’s the clinch. I’m now financially in a worse place than what I was a few years back, I’m really hovering just above the breadline and I can’t afford bags of compost or fancy raised beds.

luckily I have loads of garden equipment like forks and spades, trowels, a hoe, a wheel barrow, rake, pots. I have fence paint left over which will do for the shed. I’m absolutely rubbish with power drills or making things but I do have some garden edging rolls that might make a bed.

im doing this entirely by myself, I am a lone parent to 4 dc, the youngest are teens who don’t want to help and I also work part time. I’m peri meno and I get tired quite quickly and overwhelmed (ADHD 😆)

am I crazy for even thinking I can do this. I went down there earlier and I loved it, it’s such a beautiful place but oh my goodness I felt anxious about it all

No, if you leave one perennial root in the ground it will grow back. I admit I didnt google it I just taught organic horticulture for 10 years.

No, corn will cross pollinate with any other corn so unless you have only one variety in the area and by that I mean several square miles you can grow it but the cross pollination will give you inedible corn that is only useful for making flour. Again, I was a seed guardian for around 15 years and taught seed saving for many years for one of the only organic seed saving organisations in the UK.

With regards to sweetcorn, most sweetcorn in the UK is F1 hybrid so even if you save from your own variety, and don't get another variety's pollen, you are likely to get some of each of the parents of the hybrid. Neither of which will be 'sweet'.

Seed saving corn is such a specialist activity, that the Heritage Seed Library don't even have them on their list of seed saving 'how to's.

Giving advice about saving from difficult veg is just a waste of time for beginners, sorry but it really is. It sounds great but it has to be open pollinated seeds, and have at least 100 plants that need isolating, hand pollinating and then isolating until the pollen has all gone.

Garden Organic | How to save vegetable seeds

Below is photo (I hope) of before and after of grass covered for 5-6 months over winter with cardboard then mypex.

One other thing to add. If you find it's all too much and not for you please please give up your plot early - don't struggle on letting it get more and more overgrown for the next person. You can come back to allotments when the kids are older and you have more freedom.

I’d add as well, get a couple of beds roughly prepared and put in perennials. These are low maintenance, and you want to get them in asap as some can take a year or two to fruit. Things like raspberry canes (get long canes for summer fruit this year - YouGarden have them half price), strawberries (runners are cheap), blueberry bushes (Roots are good for those- arrived with blueberries on last year), and see if you’re allowed patio or dwarf trees on your allotment. Perennial kale, rhubarb, currants etc. mulch those beds with grass clippings or woodchip and you’re done.

I didn’t have a greenhouse or tunnel, so bought one of these cheap https://www.aosom.co.uk/item/outsunny-portable-small-polytunnel-with-mesh-windows-for-indoor-and-outdoor-240x90x90cm-green~1I8S3J9A3SO01.html. It’s been great so far- have planted spinaches, salads, etc early and use it to harden off any seedlings in there. Will use it to get my aubergine and tomatoes going in May when I plant out, and then can move it to try to extend the strawberries and more greens etc

It you just need to get things cultivated, put in potatoes, artichoke tubers, and some pumpkin or squash. They take up a lot of room and will provide cover.

For quick speedy wins, spinach is very quick to grow, chard, pak choi etc and salads for harvests in less than two months if you do cut and come again

I’ve just come back from a lovely morning down there, it was very warm, lots of wildlife and birds, butterflies too. I’ve made a start, I’ve cleared out most of the shed, it’s absolutely full of rats droppings, acorns, spiders, I found a dead desiccated rat and the floor boards are rotten. Bit gutted about the floor boards but my lovely neighbour but one saw me and came to say hello. He said the plots been empty for well over a year and told me not to worry about the shed, nearly everyone’s shed is either rotten, got holes in or falling apart, just patch it up and make do 😆.

managed to dig over half a bed, I’ve also got a bed full of raspberrie canes so I weeded that and done some strimming, oh and took some rubbish to the tip

@GnomeDePlume most definitely see the logic of little and often, I came away from there before I was exhausted which was sensible.

@Seaitoverthere definetely yes to the newbie allotment thread!

thank you all again for your help and tips,

@hockityponktas
@blackheartsgirl

And anyone else, thread is here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/gardening/5510892-2026-allotmenteers-have-we-lost-the-plot

Wrong thread

Little and often is the best option. People are very generous, although I have discovered a few free tomato plants usually requires me to water their greenhouse when they're on holiday.

Ask the people around you. I'm sure if you are eager to give it a go, they will offer some good advice. An allotment is perfect for mental health. If you are stressing already.....

You could improve the soil a by turning some of that grass over and leaving it to rot into the soil, adding nutrients and improving structure. You could also do the same by sowing a green manure - green manure seeds (which will cost about £3), and once it's grown hoe it all back into the soil before it sets seed. This will add nitrogen and improve soil structure. Once it's rotted down give the soil a good raking and sow your veggie seeds :-)

Keep hold of your allotment now that you've got one, and manage your expectations in line with the time you have available. As your kids get older you will be blessed with a space to get away, relax, meditate, be one with nature, create something, and achieve something you will feel proud of. And who knows, if you let the kids choose and plant something themselves, they may become interested as well.
Plenty of good ideas here. My suggestions would be to:

• start small, just dig up one rectangular bed to start with, so you can plant something this year to encourage you (onions and potatoes are pretty foolproof)
• start growing your own tomato and squash plants at home from seeds collected yourself from the veg
• gradually create more beds over time. Don't worry about raised beds, although start looking in skips etc for unwanted wood that you can create them with
• get creative with other peoples rubbish! you can create a cold frame with old shelving, plastic sheeting or pieces of glass. And supports for beans and tomatoes with metal rods, curtain poles, broom handles etc
• put a notice up on the gate "Single mum, new allotmenteer, wanting any cuttings/corms or excess seeds you have" . You should be able to get rhubarb, strawberries, rosemary, mint etc for free this way,
• build a compost heap with all of your kitchen veg waste and grass cuttings
• speak to other allotmenteers. They are a friendly bunch who will love to help. Sometimes they will group-buy manure or something for less ££

Congratulations! You’ve started at the perfect time of year. As pp said use cardboard/old carpet to reduce the weeds. Put some old potatoes in. A couple of cheap packets of seeds will get things going. But don’t worry about planting stuff too much to begin with, just enjoy the tranquility of your space. Most allotment folk are great to chat with and usually love nothing more than sharing their knowledge and plants with newcomers.
Take your garden chair there and enjoy!!

OP wrt your shed floor, we put an old pallet on top of a rotting shed floor and it worked well for several years
DO NOT use carpet to suppress weeds unless (unlikely) it is 100% wool with a natural backing like hessian. It never goes away, is an impenetrable barrier, and impossible to dig out once soil has covered it. I am still finding it after 10 years.
Also, don't use a rotavator, it will chop up the roots of perennial weeds and each tiny fragment will grow into a new weed 😥

(1) Don't worry about clearing it all at once, do it in sections.
(2) The plastic sheet in the photograph is your first 'bed'. Peel it back trying not to tear it. If its been down long enough and everything underneath is dead, that is your first bed. Dig it over and clear it with a fork. Keep it weeded.
(3) Move the plastic sheet and pin it down over your next section. In time after a few months, this will be your second bed.
(4) Sow easy crops like lettuce. Don't forget to thin them out and water them.

You dont have to garden totally organically if that isnt going to work for you.

We do use chemicals from time to time but we use them sparingly. Where possible (and effective) we use organic methods of weed and pest control.

Installing ponds and 'seeding' them with frogspawn from another pond on the field we have been able to significantly reduce the amount of slug pellets we need to use. Our ponds are now home to frogs, newts, dragonflies plus plenty of other insects.

Do you remember learning about crop rotation at school? Now you can finally use it. Keep a record of what you planted where (I guarantee you wont remember). Rotating from season to season will mean you dont build up pests in the soil.

Most importantly, enjoy your allotment. Take time to look at what you have achieved. Dont always just focus on what you still have to do.

You are already a miracle worker! Go for it. A completely new adventure, complete with new friendships awaits you. Have fun! Wear gloves 😃

Congratulations! I’m sure the other allotment holders will give you advice if you ask and offer their spare seeds/cuttings. Enjoy all of your lovely fresh fruit and veggies.

No need for fancy raised beds, go no dig. Keep an eye out on marketplace for things you can use like woodchip for paths between the beds.

Also take lots of pictures. When you're chipping away a bit at a time it can feel like you're not making progress, so take lots of pics so you can look back and see what you've achieved.

Personally I don't think allotments are much of a money drain. More time and effort 😆

You just need the land and seeds - which don't really cost much. And once you successfully start growing bits you can always harvest your own seeds, think peas, beans, squash

My allotment does bulk buying of manure and stuff which you can buy into, it's often a lot cheaper to do it this way.

Enjoy it, it's a fun quirky place to spend your time 🪏

Definitely quirky

We had an allotment for a couple of years then gave it up as it was too much work and we were away a lot. You have to commit a fair amount of time to it but it can be sociable at the allotments and other people will usually support you by lending you tools or giving you seedlings, excess compost etc. It's a community!

We did hire a rotavator to give our plot a good turning over and it saved hours of deep digging but others advocate the 'no dig' method. I'd suggest easy crops with good yields for your first planting - spuds and carrots are always a safe bet - but do grow something nice or different like an unusual or pricey veg, some flowers, make it special. Don't forget to enjoy sitting in a deckchair on your plot in the sunshine now and then. It can be an oasis of calm.

We're just starting on veg in our own garden. Lots of advice on the RHS website:
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/allotments
Apparently radishes are easy quick wins -- from seed to harvest in about 4 weeks!

I don’t have an allotment but my stepdad does (in past 2-3 years). He knows what he’s doing luckily but says others have given advice and things if he needs them.

What worked last year for him were courgettes, beetroot, tomatoes, chard, rocket.

For presents you could ask for garden centre vouchers, this is what I give him now, he uses for his garden as well as allotment.

Oh and as pp said radishes!

Whenever I see my parents they sometimes give me veg, my stepdad has a brilliant photo of him grinning with a basket of veg he’d grown and harvested! Morning better than home grown. If someone has an apple tree and you get apples then stew and freeze or put in Kilner jars.

Glad you had a productive first day.

As others have said, potatoes are a great first start and its the perfect time for them. When I took over a very overgrown allotment, pretty much all I grew was spuds (they're great as you dig when you plant them, and dig again when you harvest, so giving you a chance to weed that part as you go) and pumpkins (good ground coverage once they get going).

Over the years I've tried many, many varieties of spuds. I recommend a row or 2 of 1st earlies, so you get a first taste of your labours as soon as possible. I would also plant up a bag of Kestrels - a really great and somewhat underrated spud. The slugs don't touch them. I've had nearby varieties decimated by slugs, while the kerstrels go untouched. They taste great and are verstile (boil, mash, fry).

Good luck and enjoy!