Just taken on an allotment

[Mikey]

My strawberry bed is a permanent fixture Don, I top dress every year with some garden compost and dig out the plants on a year cycle, after 3 years the crop really isn't worth the effort. I'm with rusty they do look past their best but will still give you lots of new plants for next year.

I always plant my runners into some pots of compost as they grow, to save disturbing their roots when I cut their lifeline before winter.

[DonSpillacy]

Hello Mikey.

My bed is in a good position to the rest of the plot and although badly overgrown is now halfway there. I'm thinking about another plot next to it so may pot on runners this year and move them to new plot. Then, give the old plot a new load of soil/compost and put runners in there next year. (if that makes sense!)

[Mikey]

Yes perfect sense Don, I have mine condensed into 1 bed at the moment, but in three rows. I transplant one row every year. Digging it over to remove any persistent weeds (bindweed for me!), and adding a bit of muck. My bed seems to be growing year on year, I bought a load of honeyore and cambridge favourites at a garden centre that was closing down recently. I paid about 15p a pot, so I'm also considering moving to a new bigger bed for next year, and combining them with my fruit bushes.

[DonSpillacy]

Splitting into rows is a good idea, it'd be difficult to forget which one to renew that way. I think I've got cambridge favourites, elsanta and alpines but the labels could be wrong. I've also got a lot of rasberry canes and 3 gooseberry bushes but they're against the fence so are going to be difficult to protect from attack from birds.

[Mikey]

Hi Don, a lot of my neighbouring plot holders drape some green netting over the berries when the fruit starts to develop, it keeps the bulk of the fruit safe from the birds they don't like getting their claws tied up in it.

I have plans to make a cage area over my brassicas this year and transplant all my fruit into it next year. I'm just in the designing stage at the moment.

[DonSpillacy]

Hello Mikey.
I'm still designing and changing my mind every day at the moment. I'd like to move the raspberries and gooseberrie sbut I think I'd probably kill them if I tried. I saw some netting in our local pound shop so might try that out.

[DonSpillacy]

Another update.

I've done more digging, finally cleared the weeds from the strawberry bed, cut down a load of nettles and started to clear up the shed.

Also, one of my pots has started to pop through the surface. You wouldn't believe how happy I was when I saw this.



Obviously I've earthed it up a bit more. I think it had quite a head start as some of the seed pots were quite well sprutted in the bag.

Found an old birds nest in my shed (sorry for pic quality)



And finally, the shed itself from a different angle.



Although a bit rickety looking, it is well braced inside so I may get a few more years out of it. The door needs resetting, but apart from that the only problem is the views are excellent from the allotments, but you can't see them from the almost windowless shed.

[alldigging]

How big is that blue barrel thing?

[DonSpillacy]

Hello alldigging

It's over 4 ft high (might be nearly 5ft) and full of water. It's not been used or cleaned for a while, so the water's a bit green. Also, the tap doesn't work which makes getting water out of it difficult!

[DonSpillacy]

Been a while since I posted pictures, so here's some more.



Have loads of strawberries coming, but the bed is overgrown again after all the work I did clearing it up. I'm moving the bed next year so will take runners then dig over the patch (it's been overgrown for 4 years apparently so needs freshening up)



Looking South, parsnips, pots, beetroot, caulis, leeks and sprouts.



Looking other way, french beans, some sort of climbing bean that's half dead (a present from a neighbour), broad beans, 100 onions and strawbs.

I've only got 15 sweetcorn, 3 courgettes and 1 marrow left to plant (plus possibly some cabbage seeds) so I'm about done planting wise this year.

The biggest problem I'm having is weeds and greenery re-growing (especially after the last few weeks' rain). In the rush to plant things before it was too late, I've only been fire fighting the weeds and it's got to a point now where I spent half of saturday morning hoeing and hacking and had nothing to show for it.

I bought some of the stronger weed control fabric yesterday (12m for £9.99 in a local garden centre which seems as cheap as the internet) and am getting a load of cardboard from work so after the last bits of planting next weekend, I'll be hiding every bit of mud and greenery in sight.

[DonSpillacy]

Update

Finally starting to eat stuff other than rhubarb. About ten punnets of strawberries so far (about a third given away), so the annual rent has been roughly paid for in that alone. Broad beans are very nearly ready too, had a quick shufty at one last night and ate the beans while watering.




Operation cardboard has begun. Now everything is sown, I can get on with clearing the weeds, grass and general rubbish. As I'm clearing I'm putting down cardboard (borrowed from work), carpet, plastic sheet, whatever I can get my hands on.





Left to right, front to rear.
Pumpkin, Marrow, Sweetcorn
Parsnips, Potatoes
Beetroot, caulis, swedes
Leeks, sprouts and some white sprouting broccli that someone gave me





Fench beans and some other beans (was a present, they called them kidney beans)
Broad beans, 97 onions (lost 3 in a hoeing accident) then strawberries.





I think I've found the reason why rent is only £20 a year. The lot behind mine is now head high with weeds, nettles and lots of other things that are getting ready to distribute their seeds. No one on the committee seems bothered by this, it's just taken as one of those things that happen.





Finally, looks like I was right to keep the bath and (what looked like) dead water lillies. Still no frogs or toads though but a hedgehog did move into the shed for the night over the weekend.

[Dorothy rouse]

I love your shed! Tis beautiful ?


DottyR

[Martin H]

Nice going. Great progress! You should get some decent crops as the season goes on.

Would the committee object if you took a billhook to the weeds on the plot behind? Actually I'd be tempted to just do it and then apologise if required.

Re the onions: was it a single hoeing accident or three closely-spaced ones? Drunk in charge of a swoe, maybe?

[DonSpillacy]

Dorothy - Yes tis a lovely shed. Apart from the holes and diagonal door. It does feel like a proper allotment shed though.

Hello Martin H.

I don't think the committe would mind what I did. It is actually tennanted though (he sowed a line of seeds in April then gave up - apparently he does the same thing every year.) Luckily the prevalling wind runs across the plot so someone else will get most of the seeds.

It was two seperate hoeing accidents. I got a bit over keen... I'm now weeding them by hand to avoid further damage.

[Dorothy rouse]

Your shed has real character!
Mine is concrete and v small, and definitely no character!


DottyR