The Start Of Something Beautiful

[rustylady]

I havent got a greenhouse atm due to new allotment and also would modules be to small due to the bulb/clove sizes?

Modules are fine Insy - you only use them until the bulbs have developed a root system. Also, don't forget that garlic bulbs need to be split into individual cloves for planting. From one bulb you should get around 9 or 10 plants.

[rustylady]

Looking good Insy.

[Mrs Dobby]

Looking really good there Ben!

[insy]

what size modules are we talking? cause im gunna need a hell of alot also would it be just as safe to stick them in the plot with either a net or fleece covering them?

and thanks hopefully ill get that one hole sorted tommorow so i can start on the second one hopefully them 2 holes will be all i need for my onions and garlic haha but i dont think it will i think ill need a 3rd hole lol

regards
ben

[Two_Sheds]

bought myself 600 litres of rich mutli purpose compost and 10kg on pelleted chicken manure

Are you loaded or what ?
MPC is great for sowing seeds into, but I wouldn't waste it on the open ground. Also, chicken pellets are a plant food, not a soil conditioner (high nitrogen & alkaline) so use them if you are planting brassicas etc. The nutrients will be all washed away over the winter.

What you can do, if you have any empty bare ground left, is cover it with a green manure. That should satisfy your "need to grow"

[insy]

nah im a student, the compost only cost £24 and the pellets cost £7 so not to much spent and i just want to make sure these 2 beds have all the nutirnets they need for when my onions and garlic and shallots go in the rest will get horse manure when the allotment get it delivered

Also today i spoke to a couple other neighours and the couple i spoke to before said in a couple of weeks there going away for about 10 weeks, so they said when there away just go help yourself to what ever veg/fruit has ripened not sure whats up there atm i believe its some tomatoes/runner beans/broad beans and few other things


I like doing things properly if you do things properly once the next time will be ten times easier, plus makes me feel better knowing ive done the best i could do. I really cant make my mind up on this greenhouse ive seen for sale its £76 quid and is 6ftx8ft soooo tempting

[insy]

Also if i were to plant broad beans and radishs what varietys would i have to plant for overwintering??

thx

[binley100]

Broad beans would be aquadulce claudia , not sure about the radishes . I didn't have much luck with overwintering bored beans as the mice had them all , so I resowed in feb.

[insy]

if the mice touch my stuff i will bring down rains of fire on there sorry little butts, im being serious ill stay there day and night and ill catch them pesky little scavengers haha mind you we do have 3 cats on patrol there ive noticed

Ill keep a eye out for them broad beans then, dunno if i like them but im sure ill find some use for them hehe maybe a bit of experimental cooking

Also has anyone had any luck ever growing these? http://www.suttons.co.uk/Shop/Pea+Av...eds+190048.htm

thx

[Lazgaot]

insy, you're doing a great job but I feel you're throwing alot of money and effort into those two holes you've dug. Looking at the first picture the soil looks fine and I'm not sure why you added the compost at such expense. Gardeners are very thrifty.... You've stated you want things done right from the outset which is great, and I'm not trying to put down your plans, I just think you are overengineeringou (over digging, overfeeding and conditioning) the beds and you will get equally excellent results with a bit of simplification. You'll also save your back which you need for the next 60+ years!

You will get excellent results if you just dug down to 1 spade's depth, removed all traces of weeds and their roots, then added about 6" of well rotted compost/manure on top of that, don't bother digging it in either, the worms will do a far better job for you. Cover it over with cardboard (from your nearest newsagent or shop) and weigh it down with bricks or stones for the winter. In early spring, start your plants off in modules, then when ready just plant them through the cardboard.

The cardboard keeps the beds weed free and will decompose into the soil. Repeat this once a year and you'll have a fine lottie with more produce than you can manage!

[insy]

Thanks for the reply, sorry for the lack of updates latelly i havnt been doing much due to ovetime at work and run down from work, gym, and allotment haha

Lazgaot i hear what your saying and i wont be shoving all the compost and that in the other holes i dig, but due tot he fact im looking to plant shallots, onions and garlic in these holes in the next 2 weeks thats not enough time for horse manure to rot down so im supstituting the horse manure for these holes with compost and chicken pellet manure. The rest of the allotment ill be getting ready for my rhubarb, strawberries and spring/summer sowing and planting so ill dump loads of manure on top, i only want to double dig this year as its been been neglected so much after i double dig it this year ill just dig once and rotavate it every year

thx
regards
ben

[insy]

Heya people,

Sorry for the lack of updates and so forth but latelly been really busy as i just started back at college and lets say they werent kidding when they said this year gunna be mayhem :O :O

With college and extra work hours ( as ive just bought a new 125cc and im trying to get it on th road for better travel ) havent been able to spend as much time over the lottie as i would like

The first hole will be completely filled in tommorow fingers crossed, other day i dug my second depth in the second hole and laid the sides and paths with the supressent sheets ready to be filed back in.

My onion/shallot/garlic sets arrived today im very happy with everything except the electrics im disspaointed with them as they r extremely small and quite a few are shriveled or dry/crumbly. I didnt expect as much garlic as i got as the cloves on each buld was never ending.

Also gotta look up my warranty on the stainess steel fork i bought from B&Q as 3-4 weeks into being used the actually steel end of fork snapped cean when digging :O i expected the handle to snap but not the fork itself, something not right there.

Ill try keep you updated and try to do as much as i can but the work in college im talking about is i only started 2 weeks ago and we already started a 4000 word essay endless amounts of homework + they expect me to read 70+ pages this weekend ready for a little exam !!!!

thx
regards
ben

[Caro]

Hi Insy,

Just caught up with your thread. Good for you, and well done on all your effort and progress.

You've just reminded me to check out onions and garlic myself. On the bits of the beds I'm not using, I'm going to plant some green manure.

Hope it continues to go well for you!

[insy]

Was a busy bee today, pretty shattered now as only having 6 hours sleep from work last night i was at lottie all day and i managed to

1) Finish filling 1st bed
2) Plant all onion sets and have shallots ( no room left in bed 1 )
3) Place chicken manure pellets on surface of soil in bed 1
4) Start filling in bed 2 ready for planting rest fo shallots and garlic

I also have a picture of the villans that snapped my stainless fork

[insy]

The Villans dug up 3 of these beasts then the fork snapped clean