Anybody an allotment newbie or oldie willing to offer support?

[nettie]

Just thought we could offer each other support, advice and most important in my case encouragement

We've had our allotment since march time, we were really lucky to get one as they have long waiting lists where we are, and have have done pretty much nothing to it. It is completely overgrown, got loads of stuff dumped on it and is a real mess.

Well me and the DS's spent an hour down there this morning an have brought back enough rubbish to fill our dustbin and have at least made a start, now just need to persuade DH to get down there with his brushcutter or show me how to use it!

I am under orders from elderly allotment gent to get Isle of Wight garlic Sept Oct time from the supermarket to plant and overwinter. He assures me that it is exactly the same as the £4/£5 for 2 bulb ripoff from the seed companies. But has to be IOW, not imported so that it understands British seasons.

We got ours in March too, and to be honest with a 2 year old we haven't done nearly enough, though we are eating our potatoes at the moment (about half of them had been eaten by worms, and while some of the holes are tiny they need using up. We have a few onions, loads of courgettes and two massive pumpkins growing. But then our allotment wasn't too bad when we got it, it was just grass and some weeds.

There doesn't seem to be much we can do at the moment except digging some more patches. We have 3 large beds dug, but that is only about half the plot.

I want to dig some plots for soft fruit. Any tips on what the best plan is.

Nettie, as others have said, start slow, once you get digging you'll start feeling like you have achieved something. Maybe make a plan of the beds you want.

Crop rotation basics.

It's really worth setting up beds to rotate on a 3, 4 or if you can manage it 5 year basis.

There are some greedy crops out there that suck in all the nutrients one year and need to have a fresh bed to start with the next.

Others will actually leave nutrients in teh soil which others can take advantage of the next year.

And if you have a lurgy one year for one crop, you need to move it the next year so it doesn;t catch it next year. Hence crop rotation.

what variety of peas are good for over winter?

The pea variety favoured on our allotments for overwintering is 'Early Onward', but I think 'Feltham First' and some others are winter hardy too. I bought a packet of 'Meteor' for 50p just recently from Wyvale & that says it's ideal for Autumn/Winter sowing on the packet, so that's what I'll be growing this year (might get some early onward from the market too).

I was told it's a good idea to overwinter them as not only do you get a slightly earlier crop but they don't get pea moth as they flower before the moths are abroad. I certainly had an excellent crop this spring and it was a very cold winter, so I imagine if the plants can survive that they will be just fine most years.

Can anyone recommend a good place to get some raspberry canes/a good variety to look out for. Also how many canes do you think we would need to get a decent crop/some from the freezer.

Reading the post about garlic with interest - can you just put normal cloves in the ground?

can you just put normal cloves in the ground?

mostly yes you can. Although sometimes supermarket cloves have a sprouting inhibitor on them though which means they won't grow properly but I don't know how you can tell if this is the case. UK grown garlic will grow better in UK than foreign garlic, but it's generally quite an easy crop & not too fussy so you'd probably get away with anything. You are supposed to plant the biggest cloves.

Thanks Snorkle - just wondered as its about £4 for garlic on the Thomson & Morgan website - much cheaper to pop to Tesco's!

For rasberry canes if you can find someone who already has some then they sprout new canes & so they may be prepared to give you some when they are tidying up. I bought a couple of cheap canes from Lidl last autumn (one died & one is now fruiting) and this summer a couple of people have been only too keen to give me some more (several of which have unfortunately died in the drought, we are desperate for rain here at the moment).

who was it mentioned broad beans? can i put them in now?

Not quite yet - October or November is what's recommended for broad beans and use a variety like 'aquaducea', 'aquadulcea claudia' or 'the sutton' which is winter hardy. They will grow a bit in the autumn, then overwinter (they just sit under the snow & it doesn't bother them) & in the spring off they go again with a headstart on the others. They tend to crop before the worst of the blackfly infestations too which is a bonus.

oh excellent. what else is good for over winter type crops? am reluctant to leave the whole thing bare.

Onion sets can go in in October too. Plant 'radar' for white onions or 'electric red' as a Japanese red onion. Both these will over-winter & give an earlier crop than spring planted varieties.

You can also plant spring onion seeds (I use 'white lisbon') about now for a spring crop.

I have started planting winter lettuces ('rosetta' and 'arctic King') now too - as I'm now the proud owner of a greenhouse (thank you freecycle) I'm hoping for a better supply of winter salad than usual, but I'm rather guessing with the timings. 'Artic King' can grow outside too, but I didn't have much success with it outside last year.

Been up again this morning and cleared some more rubbish, tried to make fence higher as well, hopefully this will stop people chucking things over. managed to tread on a nail as well ho hum!

I've got loads of strawberry runners at the moment in the garden would it be ok to transplant them to allotment this week or are they best left where they are for now.

Hi Can I join here. have changing some of our garden into an allotment size veggie patch this year. So far have managed to grow potatoes, horseradish, garlic, strawberries, tomatoes and mini pumpkins. The brussel sprouts got eaten by the pigeons. (Pesky things)

We've put our strawberry runners into little pots so that we can move them once transplanted in a few weeks time.

I'm hoping to get a greenhouse over the winter if possible. Am going to be looking for green manure for winter and more garlic next. My mum is slightly obsessed about growing shallots and onions so won't be doing them as they have taken over our house this year.

I'm hoping to pursuade DH to help build a fence to run blackberries and raspberries along next year. I'm really looking forward to growing more veg.

So far we have 2 1.5mx3m plots.

Can I join too. We have had our allottment for 3 1/2 years. The weeds are the worst problems. They grow so quick.

We have managed to grow potatos, cucumber, tomatos, beetroot, spring onions, and marrows, and more marrows and more marrows. Didn't have much luck with rasberries or runner beans this year. Any advice is welcome - apart from how to grow marrows.

Has anyone any tips on keeping rabbits out?

We have the plot fenced with old boards and chicken wire, looks pretty secure apart from a bit behind the shed that we cant't get to!

At the moment if I don't cover everything with either frames and netting or plastic bottle cloches it gets eaten. Last week they discovered by as yet untouched fennel which I thought was detering them by aniseed smell.

The plot looks like I'm growing bottles at the mo! DH seriously considering a humane trap but am not sure. Any other reliable deterants?

This year the site seems inundated with the furry pests they semm to be breeding like erm rabbits

Rabbits - we had them in back garden until next door got a new puppy and they've not been seen since. So a small yappy dog in close proximity?

Could you all keep your fingers crossed for me please ? I'm off to the parish council meeting tonight as a plot of land has been found that could be allotments and they are discussing whether to submit for planning permission tonight. The people who live right by it are up in arms, something about dogwalkers not being able to use it anymore (they will, a path will be around the outside), that they are worried once allotments are built it will lead to other things, oh and that we'll leave the gate open and there will be "gypsies in the carpark". One meeting got very heated with someone threatening to petrol bomb my friend's DH's house.

I'm no good at public speaking but am going along to make up numbers and will hide behind someone if it gets too heated as am a wimp !

Hope it goes well WBN.

Good luck Wbn and fingers crossed

Thanks, we had a good result, they are going forward for planning permission. Fingers crossed they might eventually happen.

Hurrah!

Hi - ooh can i join please ?
We just took over our allotment and started work today.

We`ve been naughty and rotavated the site, but now the hard work starts with clearing it and levelling it by hand.

heres` my plans for Winter. To get plot completely neat and tidy

To plant out rootstock fruit trees / shrubs.

Plant out garlic and onions - would love advise on which ones as there's so many

To plant lots of spring bulbs - cheap ones from Lidl - thought i may as well for cutting in the spring .

Contemplating a couple of hens in an igloo at home too but need to find out exactly how much mess i`ll have in my garden first !