First year allotment - were you successful?

[Storming Norman]

Lots of folks have posted this year about their new allotment.

So did I.

It's only a small plot but it's been a revelation to me, although I have been growing at home for 20 years.

At the end of this month it will have been six months on the site and there are so many successes I can't possible name them all. Sorry but I'm going to try to name a few I have never tried [or not succeeded with]:

Artichokes - great big globes from a seed sown just this year.
Raddiccio - yum!
Chinese lettuce - just like you see in the shops
Corriander - no it did not go straight to seed for once
Sweetcorn - full cobs and yes more than one cob per plant
Kohl Rabi - very odd that one
Butternut squash
Fennel - how exotic, and rather tasty
Leeks - no I have never grown these either
Cauli's - just amazing
Really tasty Strawbs
I actually got good carrots
And finally a decent crop of potatoes - even with blight.

Oh - and I lost 12lb in weight.

All the hard work has been so worthwhile.

What have been your successes for this year?

[organic]

The digging up of weeds has been amazing 2/3 of the plot in about 10 to 15 working hours (I had help from my girlfriend for some of it) I found a few forgotten spuds and onions in the process too.

Yea, so I've only had the plot a short while so need to make more progress to really talk about success - but I'll be ordering some stuff from Garden Organic this week so that will get things moving properly.

[kiwirach]

i'm 18mths into my allotment....my first full year of growing.
my successes this year have been with the slugs....i used nothing last year and lost just about everything i planted. this year i was orginally going to try the nemaslug stuff, but balked at the price, and while researching options found a bottle of organic slug pellets at the local garden center, so have been using those and have keep the slugs off everything.....'cept i didnt put enough round the kohl rabi and they've had to good do at those!.
other successes.....
strawberries....so tasty and bountiful
beans....french and runner....yum....my own beans!.
finally have managed to turn some green Amish paste toms red so i can collect the seed for next year!.
i'm also going to say sweetcorn, even tho they wont produce a cob now....i have grown them on more than i did last year....they were to late last year and alot were eaten by slugs...so while i wont eat any, i'm pleased to see them swaying in the breeze!.

i'm just amazed at what i've been able to achieve and so proud when i harvest another success...cant wait for next year already, even tho theres things to do for the rest of this year!!.

[weekendwellies]

I got a plot this year in march which was waste ground that the council made into allotments.
There was so much to dig over and being on my own with this project I made a start and found it to be incredibly hard work so I have only dug about a quarter as yet.
I know, excuses excuses!
Lots of horse tail,
the other 3/4 will get dug through the winter.
I planted a load of potatoes of varying types of which I have so far dug up about 2/3rds which were really tasty once I figured out that they dont take as long to cook as shop bought ones. The ones left in the ground will come out over the next few weeks, I am sure plenty of grapes will say they should be out by now however to my mind they store in the ground just as well, if not better than, as ones kept in my kitchen cupboard.
Next I planted a bed of salad - lettuce, radish, beetroot, spring onion, carrot.
Lettuce tasted bitter and went to the guinea pig, who really enjoyed it.
Radish was mostly nice and very hot, but some got very thick skins which was impossible to remove and quite frankly I didn't see the point as without the bright red skin it does not add to the salad.
Beetroot - marvellous and there is still some more to come.
Spring onion didn't show.
Carrot -extremely intensely carroty flavour and still more to come.
Courgettes - lots and lots, some went to marrow, still more to come.
Corn - small but perfectly formed and very tasty. Much better that shop bought.
Strawberries - the slugs get to them mostly before I do. Will have to do something about that for next year. But some were eaten by us and tasted sweet.
Brassicas went in but got eaten by something.
Second try was growing and ok last time I checked.
Onions are going in over the next few weeks.

I also have a gorse bush still to deal with and some blackberries to deweed and train.

In the garden I have had loads and loads and loads of apples, pears and plums.
Also rhubarb and gooseberries which were surprisingly sweet as when I bought same from shops they were really sour.

[Two_Sheds]

My first plot, I shared with a neighbour. Neither of us had a scooby doo.

Out of the whole plot, all we managed to harvest was broad beans, and they were tough!

I cut myself pretty little beds, edged with grass ... of course, it was couch grass, and strangled everything I planted.

I didn't let it dishearten me: every time something went wrong, I read up on it and did it better next time. I just LOVED being out in the fresh air and having all that space to myself (after being in a one-bed flat). Just brilliant.

[Dynamo]

The digging up of weeds has been amazing 2/3 of the plot in about 10 to 15 working hours

I can only think that either your plot was pretty weed free to start with, the soil is very loose, and the plot is only small. I've had my plot since Spring and even though I've put a couple of hundred hours work into it since I have still got at least a third of it to dig and weed. the soil has been rock hard for the most part and full of horsetail in the main, and loads of grass and dandelion roots. I've broken about four forks trying to get the lottie into shape so far.

On the plus side, I got two big bags full of taties (Maris Piper and Maris Peer), loads of Beetroot, Onions that will burn your head off if you eat them raw, Leeks, Lettuce, Strawberries and Rhubarb that were already on the plot when I got it, Cabbages, Cauliflower, Swede, Peas, Broad and String Beans, and a few parsnips. Because I started off pretty late, I regarded everything I grew as a bonus.

I'm off down the lottie again tomorrow to see if I can nurse one of the damaged forks along before it breaks completely.

[BFG]

A couple of 100 hours preping plot? Blimey.

Have you considered using no dig methods?

[weekendwellies]

I've had my plot since Spring and even though I've put a couple of hundred hours work into it since I have still got at least a third of it to dig and weed. the soil has been rock hard for the most part and full of horsetail in the main, and loads of grass and dandelion roots.

My heartfelt sympathies Dy. You're not on my site in Merseyside are you?

[eastkentspur]

Had mine since mid August. Very chalky soil on the hills above Dover. Weeded the whole plot and covered 3/4 of it with plastic mulch. Now it's rained at last i've dug the other 1/4 and built four 2.4 x 1.2 raised beds on it ready for my (hopefully) overwintering onion sets, garlic, peas and broad beans. Fingers crossed.

[binley100]

Had mine since March it hadn't been touched for a couple of years. Things that have done well are Runner beans , fennel, cabbage,beetroot,broad beans and courgettes even after attack by rabbits. There was already gooseberries and raspberries on there so once we cleared out the nettles they have done really well. Lost all tomatoes to blight (boo hiss). PSB seems to be going ok netted against pigeon attacks ( learnt my lesson on that one) .I've now got spring cabbage and garlic in . Trying a ring of coffee grounds and crushed eggshells round cabbages to ward off slugs. So far seems to be working so...fingers crossed. Oh and sweetcorn not too bad although little late planting but don't like the eariwigs that seem to accompany them.

[Alison]

A couple of 100 hours preping plot? Blimey.

Have you considered using no dig methods?

I've spent a similar amount on preparing mine also, over the past few months I've spent at least a solid day and a half every week and more some weeks (plus a couple of spells of annual leave). No dig is fine and the beds I've created will be treated in this way but ther are so many weeds etc in the soil and it's pretty compacted so I think it's really worth the efforts of diggin it properly the first time. Am already seeing the benefits. On average it takes me a full days digging / weeding to clear each of the 10' by 4' beds and I've managed 12 this year plus a load of other stuff but I don't mind as I know it will save me time in future years by doing it properly in the first place.

It's my first year on the plot (almost exactly a year since I started clearing now) and I'm very proud of what I've achieved. The summer veg has been brilliant and I've not had to buy any since mid June. Not too sure that the winter stuff will be quite so good as I'm not brilliant with brassicas and they did go in rather late as the beds weren't ready but at least I should get something. Also have a tonne of potatoes in store plus onions, garlic, frozen French beans, toms, tomatillos, courgette, peas etc, salted runner beans, bottled passata and loads of jams and chutneys. Very very exciting and this is before I've put up the polytunnel which will be this winter's project - yes I know, I'll be lucky to get a calm day etc but it's the only time I can get OH to spend some time helping me and it's definitely a two man job!

[organic]

I can only think that either your plot was pretty weed free to start with, the soil is very loose, and the plot is only small.

You decide...

5.5 yards by 25 yards. (Just about a half plot)
Completely covered end to end with dandelions and horsetail. The top quarter is thick with docks and the whole plot had a decent amount of couch grass, a few nettles dotted around and bits of plantain here and there. All that added to something I can't identify (very straggly stuff that tangles all over the place) which was bearing seed meaning I had to be careful to dislodge as few as possible to stop it (as much as possible) from seeding the plot as I cleared it.

The average depth of dandelion root is between 1 and 2 feet. Some horsetail roots went down further than the 2 to 3 feet I was prepared to dig chasing them.

The soil was hard enough that when I tried to boot in a spade after breaking a fork handle I couldn't get more than the first 1/4 of the blade below the surface without using both feet... I had to give up and come back with another fork.

I dunno if that counts as fairly relatively weed-free and loose soil, but I guess it could have been worse, though I'm not entirely sure how without adding a load of brambles and the likes in on top.


In other news, I cleared about 5.5 yards by 3 yards again yesterday after work. Once I clear the same again I'll be into the part that's nearly all docks. On the plus side I should have cut back the Jerusalem Artichokes by then so won't have to keep ducking.

[Storming Norman]

I started this so here's my tuppence.

My plot is 60 sq metre - possibly 1/4 traditional plot [although technically half sized plot on our site].

It had not been worked for 10 years - we removed 3 trees - and the hedge that had grown over half the plot in that time. The bonfire took 3 days to burn down.

The ground was like rock [being unworked clay] and I estimate that it took me 100 hours at one full day a week for 3 months to clear, dig and install raised beds. A small chunk of that time was moving soil from the very sizable compost heaps in the hedge end into the beds. I was told later that my neighbours had been using my plot for their compost for years - apparently.

Now my plot is raised - theirs is sunken. All I can say - they contributed well to my very successful growing year.

It was hard work - there are no shortcuts really. Clay is not much fun to dig is it? Although it is very fertile when you get on top of it.

[snakeshack]

got my plot in september last year,some of it was 6 ft high brambles, the rest was worse,took us 5 days to clear to ground level before we could dig,we're on london clay here so time was of the essence as it becomes too sticky to be workable.got the raised beds in and have had avery productive season
runner beans (enorma) were outstanding
had 12 butternut squash from 2 plants (all over 4 lb)
had good spuds apart from cara which the slugs ate
chinese cabbage were good as were most salad crops
onions from sets were pathetic
good crop of caterpillars on a calabrese root stock (no leaves though)
worlds smallest melon 2in diameter ,took up an 8ft x 4 ft bed
cucumbers and gherkins in such numbers I got death threats from the wife and kids
pumpkins which spread so far they fruited on the benches and I had nowhere to sit down
see before and after pics

[Two_Sheds]

I guess it could have been worse, though I'm not entirely sure how without adding a load of brambles and the likes in on top.

I'm not trying to diminish your achievement at all, but to make the 100 hour people feel better: yes, brambles on top are the very worst. Mine were 6 foot high and covered the whole plot. 18 months on I am still digging the roots out. The perennial nettle is nearly as bad: thick tough yellow roots that break forks. I've got my last patch of those under a tarpaulin for the winter.

Little and often does it.
I still have bindweed coming up all over the place, and couch grass invades constantly from the neighbour's paths.