My first allotment !

[Rose willow]

hello all, I hesitated to post here as it says ‘ serious veg grower’ but as a first time allotment holder that def does not apply to me. My house has a north facing garden so I am ok with plants but not veg.

i went to see the plot yesterday and agreed to have it. It’s ‘fairly’ weedy having being vacant for 12 months but the very nice man I saw said he would strim it so at least it doesn’t look that bad. No idea of size really as we were talking and walking most of the time but I have an agreement of what I can have there etc.

my very loose plan is to cover a lot of the site with a plastic cover and go there when work and weather permits and trty to clear at least some ground before March. I think I w8ll buy ready made plants from go this year and see how I go.

i May be asking some very simple questions as I go on 😄

[Ms-T]

Hiya and welcome...all questions are welcome too..

[Jungle Jane]

Hello Rose Willow welcome to the vine congratulations getting a new plot

[burnie]

Good luck with your growing

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Rose willow

like Ms-T says we do like questions but be prepared to get lots of different answers. We all garden our own way so it's just a matter of finding a way that suits you.

[Nicos]

Hi there -and welcome to the Vine

[Plot70]

I started my plot in December 2019.
It had not been cultivated much for several years.
Have you worked out what soil type you have?
There was quite a bit of land fill detritus and then masses of couch grass and mugwort and bind weed.
I dug deep and pulled all the weed roots out as far as I could and with some of the wet heavy clay that would not separate from roots built a large clay walled raised bed and more than half filled it with live couch grass roots and the rest of the weeds and sealed it with a thick layer of steaming hot horse manure and through a small hole in the top tipped the potting shed latrine in for good measure.
I capped it with a thin layer of top soil with large plug plantings of winter squash and got away with planting the squashes out early even with a nasty late frost due to the hot manure below. There was very little re-growth from the couch grass roots as they got pickled.
I got told off for growing too many winter squashes.
The resulting compost now looks like peat with fibers from the couch grass roots and mugwort stems.
If the clay walls last I will dig it out to original ground level and plant at original ground level and cover to make a cloche to start off in the nutrient soaked clay underneath.
I got reasonable results on the remaining cleared ground with just horse manure and clay and root balls from the land lord of a house he rented to tenants who turned out to be naughty farmers. They were peat and perlite with roots that turned to liquid with the first sign of frost. The local police assisted them with the harvesting.

[Snoop Puss]

Hello and welcome, Rose Willow. Congrats on getting your plot. Hope you have a great growing year. Buying plug plants makes a lot of sense while you're clearing land. Clear and fill as you go.

Not sure about why it might say 'serious veg grower' anywhere on the Vine. We're a mad bunch! With some honourable exceptions, I should add.

[Rose willow]

Thanks all for the friendly replies!

[Penellype]

Hello Rose Willow, welcome to the vine. How very exciting for you - I remember how I felt when I first got my allotment, just over 4 years ago (is it really that long???!).

I've kept a thread on here of everything I've been doing at the plot, right from the start, which you might find helpful. The thread is here: https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...pe-s-allotment.

[nick the grief]

I'll second Snoops post ... if it were for serious growers they would never have let me on New weedy plots - (or allotments as they are called ) theres some basic rules I always used to give folks.

1. It's not a race ... its not even a marathon ( theyre called snickers now) It's supposed to be enjoyable.
2. Make a space on there to stop and admire your handywork (drink tea) if you're allowed a shed have a look for freebies in your area.
3. DO NOT go at it like a person possesed all you will succeed in doing is knackering your back and you will get disheartened and give up. As my old mate used to say " do a bit leave a lot"
4. Yes, cover it with plastic although something like Mypex is better as it will let water through. weigh it down with some plastig tubs from you local pond shop - biggest they have. Then you can sow some stuff in there be it Veg or FLowers and it will look 'nice' and the lottie committee will see you're doing something as you'll be going down to tend your tubs.
   
   Veg you can grow include Potatoes - especially earlies I put 3 in a 30litre pot and theyre great. Pease you can grow go for the shorter varieties for now. Carrots - I always used to grow a couple of tubs of carrots that the kids used to sow and then they could pick them too. Dwarf Beans - french or 'runners' Hestia is a dwarf runner with red and white flowers. Salads stuff - if you watch the videos by Charles Dowding he picks outer leaves rather than the whole pland and they last for 3 or 4 months so a couple of sowings will give you half a years supply - Salad onions will grow too.
   
   As to flowers well, anything that takes your fancy really.!
5. Now its covered in plastic and you're killing the weeds off go to your place of contemplation ( tea shed) and make a plan of what you want to grow on there that way it makes it more enjoyable. keep notebook in there too because you'll think of things and then forget about them when you get home.
6. when you go to your plot roll back the plastic/mypex and clear a couple of rows across the plot but clear it of all the perennial weeds. If you can get some manure get it now - it can be rotting down ready to use. then as you clear a patch you can put some on the clean bit recover and the worms will take it in for you then you can plant thru it if you want (maybe sow some brussels now ready for planting later). and if you do that a couple of times a week then com the end of your first year it should be just like everyone elses.

But most importantly if your stuck don't be afraid to ask some of the fellow plot holders. the older ones are best because they've been doing it for years and they know what does ( and more importantly) and doesn't grow in your area. Most of them will usually have a few spare plants and more than likely will give you some ... they'll take the p*ss but it will be in good humour.

And you can always ask on here we're pretty good too.