Slowly getting there!

[chell25]

I'm completely new to growing. I have never grown at thing in my life and decided it would be great to get an allotment. Now i have it, i dont know where to start.

After finally clearing it and rotated the whole lot, its slowly coming together. I have created 3 beds at the moment with scaffolding boards as edge�s and also give me room to add more compost if needed. I left the beds for a couple of weeks to dry out and just racked it every couple of days. I finally managed to get hold of free greenhouse and shed (collecting shed next week). The green house is all up now with some shelves, i have now taken all the seedlings i had grown at home and planted most of them into the ground! It might be a little too early but I�ll learn from my mistake. At the moment I have planted the following as below:
Bed 1 - Pots and carrots
Bed 2 - Radish, Onions, Leeks, Spring onions
Bed 3 - Cauliflowers, Broccoli, Red cabbage

I still have in my green house growing, peppers some onion seeds and toms.
I have also today planted some Sweet corn and sweet peppers.
I know some people will be reading this thinking oh my god what has she done, but I think I got too excited when I got the allotment and went home planted everything I possible couple and my whole house was full of plants and the other half wasn�t to impressed. So I thought the best thing to do was to get them in the ground, if they grow then I�ll be well chuffed!!

Chell

[Eyren]

They should all be fine, Chell - most of the stuff you've planted out is hardy traditional veg that can take pretty much anything the British weather can throw at them. The only exception is the spuds, which will need earthing up when they emerge (i.e. you cover the shoots with soil, straw or grass clippings) to protect them from late frosts.

As long as you keep the tender summer veg (toms, sweetcorn, etc) warm until the last frosts in your area, you should be fine. Just keep an eye out for slugs in this wet weather, especially around your leafy greens - and you might want to invest in some fine netting or enviromesh for the summer. I was caught out last July and lost a fair bit of my brassicas to the dreaded cabbage white caterpillars

[chell25]

Yes, i'm keeping the toms, sweetcorn and cucumbers in the green house oh yes and my stewberries.

I have covered the spud bed with some net and covered the other to beds with a polytunnel, i have also scattered slug pellets over all 3 beds.
The spuds are slightly built up now and as you say when they start coming up i will build them up. The spud bed is the lowest of all the beds and doesnt have much added compost so i have plenty of building room.

Thanks very much

[Alice]

Sounds as if you're doing fine Chell and should have a sucessful year in front of you. Well done. Can I suggest you keep a written note of what you planted and when you planted it out and note how they get on, then next year you can refer to it and decide if anything would be better planted earlier or later.

And if you go into personal profile you can let us see where you are in the country as that can affect timescales.

Good luck and hope you get great crops.

[pipscariad]

Welcome to the Vine Chell, for a new-to-gardening person you're doing brilliantly in my opinion!

I'll just echo the good advice given above, pretty much covers it I reckon, but mainly I just wanted to let you know how I'm impressed I am (and envious - I'd love a greenhouse!).

Good luck, and here's to years of successful growing

[snohare]

Ooh, I am so envious of your get up and go Chell, I wish I had done that well so fast the first year on my lottie.
No doubt you'll be sorry with some things for whatever reason, but then half the fun is in the uncertainty, you'll love it when things do well because you were so on tenterhooks (whatever they are) !
The only advice I'd give you is, try to always have a Plan B, so that if a crop fails you have something to stick in and make use of the ground.

[chell25]

Thanks for the advice. Well only had half a plot and me and my partner have been tlaking about getting the rest of the plot so i have the whole plot, went down to the shed today, and now i have the other half of the plot, so even more room to grow!!!

Cant wait

Chell

[chell25]

Ok, well on saturday all seedling's where planted into the ground. I have been down there this morning and all the plants have flopped over and look like they are dead!!

Any ideas what could have caused this? could it be where i have planted them and they need to establish in to the ground? would they pick up?

Thanks

Chell

[Noodles]

There was a pretty harsh frost where I am last night, if it was the same your way that could have gotten them (it will help if you add your location to your profile).

[Flummery]

Hi Chell. If you've raised seedlings in a sheltered environment - windowsill, greenhouse, cold frame etc. it pays to harden them off before planting out. You do this by putting them outside during the day for a week or 10 days and bringing them back into shelter overnight. By this time they have acclimatised to the hard, cruel world out there! It's less of a shock to the systems! Good luck. Sounds like you are really making progress.

[chell25]

Quick up date.

I have left the half dead seedlings in as, the main stem seems to be growing and looking good, it’s just the leafs that look dead, so i will see how they go. I have also planted some seeds of both Cauliflower and Broc straight into the ground. My leeks, and onion set have started coming though which put a big smile on my face. The sweetcorn i planted is going really well. I noticed some red ants about today, so i'm going to keep an eye out. I dont know if these are a problem! need to read about them.

The soil on my allotment has a lot of clay. when i first got the allotment we rotivated the whole plot, but its still seems really hard and clumpy. Today i forked over the area where i am planning on putting my next 2 beds, and it is like moulding clay! I am planning once i have made the beds to fill it with as much top soil and compost as i can, but is there anything else i can do to improve the soil?

Another question, in my beds a have a lot of weeds that are starting to pop up, on the site where my allotment is, there is a pile of wood chip, could i use this to cover the top of the soil to keep the weeds at bay? Then as the veg grows it will come though the bark, or i could leave it bark free where i have planted seeds?

I am all very new to this, but loving every min of it.

Many thanks

Chell

[Two_Sheds]

The sweetcorn i planted is going really well.

It's very early to have sweetcorn out. I won't be sowing mine for another fortnight - it hates cold, and a frost will kill it.

[chell25]

The sweetcorn is in pots at the moment in the greenhouse. My plan is too keep these growing in the greenhouse.

[Two_Sheds]

there is a pile of wood chip, could i use this to cover the top of the soil to keep the weeds at bay?

No. As the wood chip rots down, it will rob nitrogen from the soil, starving your crops.

To reduce your weeds, hoe on a sunny day. Don't keep disturbing/digging your soil, because you will simply bring more and more weed seeds near the light and make them grow.

[bubblewrap]

It's very early to have sweetcorn out. I won't be sowing mine for another fortnight - it hates cold, and a frost will kill it.

Sowed my sweetcorn & runner beans in the greenhouse today should be ready for planting out last week of May/first week of June.