2026 Allotmenteers - have we lost the plot?!

[Seaitoverthere]

A thread for those of us with new allotments to discuss progress and swap ideas. All welcome , established plot holders and wannabe plot holders too!

@blackheartsgirl
@hockityponktas

Got a new plot last November but am not new to allotments, moved areas and haven’t had one for 4 years.

My shed looks good from the front but back is held together with old decking boards at the bottom and pond liner to keep the water off at the top.

My plum tree that went in last year isn’t doing anything and the 50p gooseberry I bought last year that looked dead does appear to be and beyond the Lazarus moment I was hoping for, can’t win them all!

I’m battling the slugs, want to do this organically, but it’s sad to see little seedlings I’ve raised on windowsills be munched, despite covering them when planting! However the little harvests I’ve had already (rhubarb, spinach, salad) have been motivating!

Thanks @Seaitoverthere!
Love a good allotment chat. We’ve had ours since May last year so our first full season this time. We rushed a lot in and got some really good summer crops. Enjoying planning everything properly and having the time to sow stuff on time this year!

Beer traps?

I protected a couple of sunflower seedlings with holly leaves from slugs last year but I don’t think that is practical on an allotment, though may try dried brambles as have a load of those.

Lovely to have the time to plan this year @hockityponktas .

I have had mine for 2 years but never joined an allotment thread on mumsnet! I am so excited to see all the little leaves coming through on my fruit bushes, most of which I planted last year.

For slugs I found that watering nematodes regularly onto the plot made a big difference.

I might have to do beer traps and nematodes, thanks for the recommendations. I’ve been using coffee grounds and straw so far, and covering with fleece

My patio cherry didn’t seem to do much at all in its first year, especially as some ants used it for aphid farming, but it has loads of leaves and buds this year. There might be hope for your plum tree!

Hello lovely allotmenteers!
I used beer traps for slugs but found the removal absolutely gipping. My partner disagreed with using them (he is very much 'no-kill') so insisted that as they were my idea I had to deal with them.... so I stopped.
I used Strulch instead- surrounded my precious crops -salad, strawberries, cabbages, by putting a 4 inch strip around the outside edge of the beds, apparently slugs and snails wont cross it. I also but a strip round the bottom of my cold frame ( given to me by our allotment grandfather) which protected my seedlings. It was a bit pricey but very effective- about £25 for 200ltr which covered 2 long beds 10mtr x 2 mtr and 2 pallet collar beds.

There's a Youtuber called Simon Armitage , ex RHS gardener, who gave this tip- prop a damp plank on the shady side of the bed, the slugs will roost there and in the morning you can just collect them up and dispose as you see fit ( we hoy them over the back boundary, which is on the opposite side of a thin culvert, hedged with rose and hawthorn, and then a rough outer ring of grasses of a racecourse)

We planted rainbow chard last year which flourished all summer and autumn, stayed alive over winter, and has been giving us harvests this spring already- it looks beautiful in growth, especially when the sun glows on the red stems.

We planted plum, pear and apple trees, (espalier and cordon) blueberry bushes on our first winter (2024) , and are hoping for fruit this year. Our neighbour was getting rid of his gooseberry bushes and gave us two, which gave us lovely sweet berries last year.

This year we are planting white clover under the fruit trees, to give an evergreen carpet, suppress weeds, and feed the pollinators. It will also look pretty.

We planted green manure on the cleared areas, which has given us smashing fertile soil for planting. An RHS tip was to use birdseed instead of a special green manure mix, which would have cost a fraction of what we'd paid. Some tips just come too late.

Its not 'my' plot, it's my partner's, but I think I love it more than he does. lol.

We covered our beds this winter with black plastic. I hear this isn’t great for the soil though apparently. Interested in how green manure works for next winter if anyone can explain? Do you just dig it in to soil in spring? Does it not just keep regrowing where you’re trying to plant veggies?

Let the green manure grow over winter, strim it before it flowers, late winter/early spring and dig it in. The roots stay put and compost themselves into the soil. It provides loads of organic matter and whilst growing, covers the ground so weeds cant compete. It was hard work digging in to the size of area we covered 10sq metres, but worth it to prepare the area which had been a bramble and couch grass jungle, which we had to clear and seemed a bit poor afterwards.
Some such as mustard will die back and compost themselves into the bed.
I havent used field beans, but have read that they are very good.

We've also somehow managed to get an allotment with rare or totally unknown weeds - the ones that bear no resemblance to the pictures in my 'what's that weed' book' lol

@tealandteal that is encouraging and I will still hold out hope for my plum. I planted a couple of pillar apples and a pear I had in pots at home and they look Ok. I’ve been given a jostaberry and black currant, have one live gooseberry, 2 rhubarbs - one of which was on my original allotment and has travelled to other allotments and 3 houses plus one I found in the brambles at this one, I don’t even like the stuff but it is tradition now so it stays.

I have strawberries and autumn/summer raspberries. 2 blueberries in what was a pond when I got there- a water butt cut in half now with drainage holes and ericaceous soil soon to be mulched with bits of my old Christmas tree. New pond made as old one too near some beds and I would have fallen in at some point.

. I’ve inherited 2 cherry trees , 2 mystery trees, thornless blackberry and a massive rosemary currently with loads of flowers on. That bed has woodchip on it which isn’t ideal and weedy but staying for now.

There are a few flowers on my peas. Agree about rainbow chard, I transplanted it from home and it has done well and looks good. Broad beans were November sown and doing ok, as are garlic and shallots sown at same time.

Had a plot previously that had mustard as a green manure someone else had sown and it did keep coming up.

There is a stream along one edge of our site and I am incredibly lucky and have a plot bordering it. The end nearest it was covered in 6 foot high brambles and reeds so I hacked them back to make space for shed and can sit in it and watch ducks and moorhens which is lovely. I ignore the shopping trolley dumped in it and the couple of rats I have seen ! I made a couple of steps and found someone had put in some in further down so can get to the water now and my neighbour has a pump and pumps water up I have noticed.

There’s a buddleia and pheasant berry on the bank which were swallowed by brambles so are now released and been pruned and I’ve planted fever few, Erigeron, a cowslip and 3 primroses so far plus some Achillea I found. Have some valerian, toadflax, sage and chives to go on that bit too and some wildflower seed. Stacks of bindweed in that bit , also in my fruit bed and in with garlic, no doubt in other places too. Plus couch grass in strawberry bed so far and marestail lurking too.

@Sproutling have you a picture of your mystery weed?

What are you all looking forward to growing this year? I have trombochino and mangelwurzel seed. Trombochino is to go one side of my rose arch, someone had given me jute trellis to put on it. Other side has a £3 climbing rose and will put sweet peas in this year till it gets going .

There’s loads of old wood on my plot. Will save some so can make covers for nets and rest is coming home for wood burner. I have a huge pile of brambles, nettles and bins weed that at some point will come back in stages and go in green bin at home.

Found 2 concrete fence posts that have tucked away and have no intention of moving again as too heavy plus a rusty hubcap I think I will grow something through. It only took 2 car loads to tip of rubbish so think I got off lightly, would have been more were it not for green bin at home.

There is membrane everywhere so had to dig load out which is hard with soil on top. Huge mats of bind weed roots underneath. Under what is now a strawberry bed is a blue tarp that was there and still is as couldn’t face removing it and figured strawberries are shallow rooted. But lots of couch grass coming through and I think next winter I will empty it and remove the tarp then dig over properly .

But for now I think I have done enough for first season and am just going to plant and weed etc and hopefully harvest. My DC are adults now, DD back today and looking forward to taking her as she hasn’t seen it yet. I’ve worked my backside off since November and loved every minute of it 😊

Looking forward to trying the “3 sisters” method this year. You sow corn, dwarf beans and squash or pumpkins in the same plot and apparently they work together brilliantly! We will see….

@Seaitoverthere I have also planted a jostaberry, I’m really hopeful for a few fruits this year.

@hockityponktas I love the three sisters method although my corn never grows well, which is not down to the method but more down to me! This year I am going to attempt to grown my pumpkins on an arch.

I found three baby sloworms in a raised bed on the weekend so I will leave that one alone for a while and rejig my plan for planting. I usually visit the allotment with small children and large dogs in tow so any tips for plants that don’t mind being trampled a bit are welcome.

Ooh joining in! Newish to allotmenteering, we got our plot in August 2024 so have had one growing season so far (it floods in winter so can only grow March to Oct ish).

We were fortunate to inherit a plot from someone who knew what they were doing, so we’ve got asparagus, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, and a couple of apple & pear trees. All very productive last year but I haven’t fertilised anything and the asparagus plot is a bit overgrown so need to give it all some attention.

Last year we also managed to grow a huge number of tomatoes, onions, and a giant pumpkin, plus some raspberries. Trying to decide what to plant this year and figuring out rotation!

@tealandteal we had success with our hastily planted corn last year, had to get it the second it was ripe before the badgers did though!

Hello, I have a raised bed which I sadly neglected last year to a horrible case of shingles. It got overtaken with marestail last year which I managed to get rid of (hopefully) by covering the area with cardboard and membrane. I'm heading this weekend to plant red cabbage, beetroot and carrots to start the year off.

@Seaitovertherethose sounds interesting to grow!

I am a beginner, so have got all the seeds for unusual heirlooms, which I now understand is meant to be a rookie error 😂 But everything I am growing I couldn’t get in the supermarket, so if they survive and aren’t decimated by pests, I’ll be happy to taste them

I've tried to add a photo, but get a message saying image isnt valid, I sent a photo to another thread in the same way so not sure whats happening. I'll get my tech support on to it when he's in (ie my long suffering partner lol)

Yay to a new allotment thread, we got ours (small plot) a year ago and have taken on a friend's and got another small plot - not sure if this is too much!! There's some salsify growing on the new plot which must have self seeded which im excited about, also planning on doing some cucamelons and a polyculture raised bed on top of the regular things we did last year. Absolutely love it!

I meant to ask, how many of each things are you planting? I’m struggling to work out how many you need. I have over 30 tomato seedlings! 15 aubergines. 100+ peas and mangetout, although they take very little space up vertically. But the other things like spinach, you only get a few leaves per plant each little harvest - how many do you need?

@january1244 things like spinach and peas I direct sow, make a trench, water, seed in and cover and let them do their own thing.

Tomatoes I had 4 or 5 last year but my greenhouse isn’t properly sorted . I’m going to whack in a few blight resistant bush ones in allotment.

Thanks @Seaitoverthereso how many roughly would you direct sow to have enough to feed a family of two adults, two preschoolers? I’ve googled it but it’s coming up so variable - some sites say 5 spinach per person some say 20+