1st allotment unsure where to go after bad start

[spacedhopper]

Hi all Matt here 37 yo from kent!

got a allotment in july and had a bad start now im unsure what to do! need a few positive ideas and friendly advice

Love the idea of a allotment and really want it to work but lifes been busy of late and ive let it slip a bit, How offten to people visit thier allotment?

hope this forum can boost my confindence and help me get growing and learning!!

Please to meet you all

matt

[sparrow100]

I'm usually up there for about 7 hours a week now, a lot more in early spring and summer, less/not at all in deep winter.

Am suffering from Can't Be Arsed at the moment. I've a 5m bed I wanted double dug and done this year, but just cannot find the motivation.

[spacedhopper]

Hi

I think I can achieve 7hrs just been a mental couple of months and about to become a dad so its going to get even more mental.

hopefully I can make it work think I just need to concentrate on a bit at a time instead of trying to do a bit of everything

Thats my plot!

[Kristen]

I have beds in fixed positions, 4' wide. I never walk on them, only the "paths" in between. I don't dig them, and they are covered with Mypex (a woven weed suppressing membrane which lets water & air through but not light). The beds are raised - so called "lazy raised beds" - I dug out the paths a spade's depth (a "spit") and added the soil to the beds, I'm on heavy clay and this improved the drainage significantly (so its "lowered paths" rather than "raised beds", but it has the desired effect)

With the Mypex I don't have to do any weeding, and only need to water occasionally (as it keeps the moisture in, compared to bare earth). I have cut X's in the Mypex where I want each plant, and I have separate pieces of Mypex for each crop - so I can reuse them next year, and they will have the correct spacing etc. That obviously needs a fair bit of organisation, to label the pieces as to which crop they came off and so on, and also I have crop records going back 10 years so I (now!!) now that we want X amount of Sweetcorn and Y of Courgettes ... so that might not be so easy for a newbie. You could use cardboard instead - large boxes from White Goods or Bicycle companies are good. They will take a year to break down, and will suppress the weeds in the meantime.

I treated the whole of my plot with Roundup, a Glyphosate weedkiller, at the outset - obviously up to you if you are comfortable with that, and then had the local farmer plough it and I hired a hefty rotavator, so that got me the whole area "cultivated" on day one. Since then I have been adding decent amounts of manure / home made compost each Autumn (just put it on the top and let the worms pull it in), I don't dig anything at all (except that in harvesting Potatoes, Carrots, Leaks and Parsnips enough digging goes on that that section does, in effect, get dug.

Dunno if any of that translates into what you might be able to do (as I appreciate I've been doing it since the year Dot, so much easier for me than a newbie). I take considerable time over the initial planting - layout out the membrane, getting the plants at exactly the right spacing, etc. but that all takes place in the Spring and I don't go away etc. during that period of time (plus I find it uplifting to be cracking on and out in the garden as the Winter ends and Spring arrives ...), but after that I doubt I spend even an hour a week tending the plot (excluding the time to pick stuff, but family & kids helps with that bit )

[Kristen]

P.S. Ignore the perfectionists on either side of you. Lots of people here will offer good advice, and you'll get a more balanced viewpoint that a few local Old Boys might have, so you can then form your own view.

[Guest]

Hi spaced and welcome to the vine and congratulations for 6 weeks time

Yes you have given yourself a massive task but it is do-able if you want it to be. Firstly a series of questions to ask yourself

*Is now the right time for an allotment? Is it relatively easy to get allotments where you are? Is there a waiting list? (If you are still keeping it carry on)
*Is there an allotment committee or similar? Can you approach them to see if there are volunteers to help from the waiting list? Can you plot share? Can you swap for a smaller plot? Can you drag friends or family into share?

As for the perfects, unfortunately most of us have come across them at some point and if they are not prepared to help or offer advice ignore them. However there is often a min. criteria to meet for lotties i.e weeds kept down and a certain amount of crop per plot so it will take work. I used to go down to my lottie most weekends for a few hours at a time and I could easily have spent more to try and get the better of it.

Are you sure your spuds are dead? dig them up you might be surprised (any left in the ground are quite likely to sprout next year - not really a good thing )

Tips: If digging have your back to the majority needed - face what you have done (it makes it a bit less daunting). Keep using plastics/ weed control fabrics like you are. Talk to other allotmenteers I am sure there must be some decent ones. Use winter time to plan what you want to do next year. Little steps are better than no steps

Apart from that good luck and don't forget to enjoy your little one when they arrive.

[spacedhopper]

Thanks for all the replies!!

That quote "little steps are bigger than big ones" is what im concentrating on!!!

Going to work on a small patch to start with and then move onto the covered one and the rows in the photo.

It feels like a massive task but ive got some ideas (hops being one of them, The area this is was famous for being all hop fields many years ago and Id like to pay a little homage and grow my own to brew with)

Im going to give it a good go and if I cant manage it try and move to a smaller plot if possible.

Thanks again will keep coming back for advice!!

[Kristen]

Some points I forgot to mention:

1. I would strongly advise that, initially at least, you only grow what you like to eat. Experiment and grow a wider range of things later on.

If you get a mediocre crop (inexperience, disease, drought, whatever) of something you love, but it tastes OK, that won't feel too bad. If you grow something you then find that you don't like, it took you hours, was a nightmare, had a disastrous yield, whatever, then I reckon that is far more likely to annoy you.

2. Put some emphasis on growing "high value" crops. Things like Runner Beans (assuming you like them, see Rule Number One ) are expensive in the shops because they are labour intensive to pick. You'll be able to feel good about the money you are saving - plus you'll have the benefit that all your home cooked veg. taste far better than supermarket stuff.

Similarly don't grow Main Crop spuds. They are very cheap to buy in the shops in winter, they are hard to store (they will all be sprouting by XMas) [farmers have cold stores - easier for them to store them, than you!] and there is a high risk of losing your crop to Blight. OTOH First Early Potatoes taste fantastic, and cost an arm and a leg in the shops and are all ripe & harvested before Blight becomes a problem ...

3. Grow for flavour. Some crops, like Sweetcorn, cannot be beaten on flavour. Picked fresh and cooked within an hour or so there is no comparison with shop bought. As soon as they are picked the Sugar starts turning into Starch ... so the ones in the shop have been a couple of days travelling before you get them into a pan of boiling water will never be able to compete on flavour. In fact I'll be very surprised if anything you grow tastes less good than shop veg. but having said that it is worth choosing varieties that have good flavour (for example, growers may choose a variety because it has a thick skin and thus doesn't bruise easily on the Supermarket shelves, you can choose one with a thin skin, handle it carefully, and enjoy the better taste ). We have a rule here that no garden veg is stored, everything is picked and cooked "immediately", it tastes so much better fresh.

4. Grow what you like to eat (just checking you hadn't forgotten that rule already )

5. I recommend you keep some notes too. For each crop:

Variety
Dates sown, planted, first crop, last harvest and Qty of plants grown.
Notes - "Need more" / "Need less" / "Never again!" Whatever feedback you get from Chef and Family

then next year you can use that to adjust how much of everything you grow, whether you might start earlier / later and so on.

6. Try to adopt a Crop Rotation - that stops disease building up in the soil. At a minimum don't grow the same crop in the same place two years running. If you are able to then divide the plot into 4 zones / areas and rotate the crops around them on a 4-year cycle. (You can read up about it, but basically one zone will be Roots like Carrots and Parsnips, another for Onions / Leeks / Garlic, one for Peas and Beans, and one for Brassicas (Caulis, Brussels, Cabbage)

[Guest]

You might find this thread helpful / inspirational

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ter_34360.html

[Knight of Albion]

A very warm welcome to the forum, dear Matt.

[Bill HH]

Welcome, Great advice from kristen, The only thing i would add to it (if he didnt already) is the importance of starting a compost heap. Compost is in my opinion the key to success it gets rid of waste and saves money on fertiliser. it encourages worms and conditions the soil, it surpresses weeds too. Use it as a mulch and let the worms drag it down into your soil.

[Kristen]

The only thing i would add to it (if he didnt already) is the importance of starting a compost heap

No, he didn't. But he should have. Old and senile, that's the problem ... should probably be in the compost heap, eh?

[Feral007]

I'm a No Digger so I cover with cardboard and hay. Mulch is great.

I've got sick of trying to get the compost from the kitchen to the compost. So have bunged a big metal bottomless bin in the lower end of the garden. It will end up the middle of the garden eventually. This way the compost is more likely to get there and stop annoying me in the kitchen. And the composting stuff can leach out into the area around it. At some stage I'll just move the bin and start the process someplace else. We also do chop n drop, so that some of the goodness taken from the soil goes straight back in.

Really, even without the 6 week interruption (I'm a midwife, I know how much time those little tackers take up ) you should try and make the start up as easy as possible.

I'd cover everything. Start with a quick and easy crop that doesn't take too much nurturing, and get that started next.

Plan where things like compost and paths go.
Work out the watering that will be needed.

That should take 6 weeks. You've now got time to plan what you will do with the rest....while you walk the floor with bub

Plan to grow what you like definately.
And what is more costly to buy, and then what tastes best when grown.

Plan to grow what you can store/freeze/bottle for later.

But I always plan to grow what's easiest. I will never be one to try and grow out of area things.
I don't have a greenhouse, but even with one, if you are growing things that require lots of fussing then you have to expect a lot of time spent, and not always a good product at the end.

Last season I grew a massive globe artichoke. I didn't eat one of them. But it cheered me up no end, seeing that massive big healthy plant in the middle of the garden. Grow things that make you feel good, and that there is a reason for doing it. Best of luck.

[Aberdeenplotter]

I'm a well seasoned old codger (having to admit that nowadays)but to me the idea of concentrating on little bits doesn't cut the mustard. Many folks have romaticised ideas about allotments but somehow seem to ignore or be ignorant of the amount of work that is necessary to look after one properly.

Anyone taking on a neglected allotment as the picture you posted shows yours is really needs to have a plan of how to get it into order and covering a plot with cardboard or tarpaulins/carpets doesn't do it. It needs very regular sessions of hard work digging/tidying. By all means tackle a bed at a time but make sure you do it. Allocate yourself regular sessions and set yourself realistic targets of what you want to achieve whilst there and make sure you achieve the targets.. Don't just go there on a whim. That way you won't achieve much. It really isn't fair to neighbouring plotters to have weeds seeding and blowing on to their ground and it's the fastest way to fall out with them.

[Kristen]

I'm a well seasoned old codger

Snap!

(having to admit that nowadays)

Snap Snap!

to me the idea of concentrating on little bits doesn't cut the mustard

Snap x 3 !

Over the years (7 on this forum ... more on others ) I have seen newbie allotmenteers talking of bring a plot round bit-by-bit, and seen others do it in a few weekends. Clearly not everyone is fit enough to do it bull & china-shop style, and I find it hard to judge how an adult newbie would fare - I've been gardening since a teenager, but when I started growing veg all I had to help was a book or two and a mag like Amateur Gardener. There were no forums to check what was what, although I expect some adult friends of my parents did give me advice now & again.

I think covering anything that you cannot get under cultivation promptly is best. I would be inclined to roll the covering back for the main part of the winter - little light / growth of weeds, but water and frost can get to the soil.

But I would definitely be aiming to get the whole plot under cultivation in the first season, and looking at ways of minimising the time & effort needed to maintain it.

Using a rotavator is regarded as causing more trouble than it is worth, because it chops up all the pernicious weed roots and they all then grow but I wonder if the plot is going to then be covered whether that is the best way forward for a newbie - in order to get it all under cultivation "easily"?

The pernicious weeds are going to be a problem anyway, so if covering will conquer them what does it matter if there are 10x as many?