Potatoes and other Questions

**sowitgrowit** · 19-04-2012, 03:44 PM

My advice: Have fun.

I've had my plot for 3 weeks now so I'm in the same boat as you - I've cleared it all now (ouch), trenches for spuds are dug, but not planted yet. Good luck with it!

My plan is, roughly: As soon as I can there get potatoes in the ground, put them in, also onion sets. Hopefully this weekend.

I've started a compost bin but it's already overflowing so I need to move the heaps of stuff I cleared to a more managable/out of the way location.

Then, with spuds and onions in the ground (long term growers), I'll plan what will go where and how much space it might need, ready for what I want to plant as it warms up (just things I really like to eat, basically, which can go in at some point soon):

Lots of french beans close together in blocks (dwarf variety, small bushes), courgettes, sweetcorn, butternut squash, etc. Also a mixed area for radishes, beetroots, etc.

All I will really be doing in the planning stage is getting some short canes, some twine and marking out beds for the above. When I can see what will go where and where the walkways will be, I'll be happy and feel like it's taking shape.

Enjoy yourself, it's great!

**Farmer_Gyles** · 19-04-2012, 04:07 PM

Equipment needed for the allotment:
Fork and spade for digging
Trowel / bulb planter for planting
Chair to sit back and relax
Flask to carry your tea
Notepad and pen to make notes on what you've planted, where you planted it, when you planted it (always do this!)
Radio in case you fancy a bit of company when no other humans are around
Wellies / old trainers / shoes for when you're working the plot (wear clean ones to and from the plot)

**Kaiya** · 19-04-2012, 05:09 PM

I like filling in forms

1. What should my first job be to start
Get on top of future weeds before they get on top of you, and start sowing either in pots or direct as appropriate for your weather and the condition of your new allotment.

2. Is there a plan of action
Divide and conquer. If the plot is in good nick, cover areas with weed membrane (expensive but convienient) or cardboard and mulch (cheaper but harder to get) so the spring weeds don't set up home while you get going. If the plot is covered in weeds, do the same, but to weaken the weeds as you work your way through them. That way you can focus on small areas without the rest growing into a rampaging jungle behind you.

3. What equipment will I need
Tool-wise? Depends how you want to grow things. I follow no-dog principles, so I have a ladies spade that is only used for planting bigger plants and moving compost, but other than that I use hand-tools (onion hoe and a 'cultivator' fork-thing) for everything. I also work crouched down, not standing up. If you dig, you need a fork and a spade, plus a soil rake for making the surface into a fine tithe (no big lumps), and possibly some form of hoe for weeding. If you have no water on the plot, you need cans to move it (or a hose if allowed).

In other equipment, if you don't have a water butt to collect rain water from the shed, consider one, and consider where you will put compost if you don't already have a heap/bin.

Oh and consider getting some books. This forum is amazing but I love books as they give a good grounding and detail you can't always get from browsing the forum - basically reference books. There are lots around, but I like Joe's Allotment (more a story than a reference book), the River Cottage Veg Patch and Keeping An Allotment by Kevin Forbes.

4. What is best to plant at this time of year
Almost everything! You aren't too late to the party but this is the busiest sowing season, and some plants (onions, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks) are probably more urgent than others (brassicas, sweetcorn, carrots, beets, squash etc.) as they should be getting in now. This year I'm growing everything from seed but in my first year (last year) I got onion sets and brassica seedlings so as not to get too overwhelmed by sowing seeds. Also - I like the two 'guidelines for what to grow' that get bandied around - 1, grow things that are expensive to buy (main crop potatoes are cheaper to buy than to grow, salad/new potatoes are more expensive to buy) and 2, grow things that taste best fresh from the plot (sweetcorn tastes best fresh, peas arguably are fine frozen). There's also the "grow what you like to eat" but if I followed that I wouldn't be trying turnips and chard this year as I've never really eaten them (knowingly) before - some experimentation is good!

5. How much compost should I buy
The soil doesn't need shop bought compost, so you only need compost for pots. This year is the first year I'm sowing seed in seed compost instead of multi-purpose compost, although I'm still using MPC in the bottom of pots to reduce the amount of the more expensive seed compost used. MPC usually has offers on for 3-4 bags for �10-12 so that usually dictates how much I buy.

6. Is it too late for potatoes?
No. They aren't frost hardy so get damaged if they have foliage above ground in a frost. I feel last frost is surprisingly late (as a fellow novice!) - the risk of frost drops over time but doesn't drop to zero until May. I saw some ok looking (i.e. no long white sprouts) seed potatoes in the big diy stores still so there are seed potatoes available.

**MancGardener** · 20-04-2012, 09:51 AM

That's great advice Kaiya! Thank you so much!

**Paulieb** · 20-04-2012, 02:15 PM

Last week I bought an extra bag of seed potatoes from my local 'garden centre group' centre which had a big 50% off sticker on them, so try and get some asap and you'll probably get a bargain at the same time.

As said previously by someone else, due to a late start, in my first year I bought tomato plants, sprouts, sweetcorn, and some other veggies as plants from a GC. Saves lots of time and although its not too late to sow tomatoes I'd consider getting a few tomato plants for the GH to get some nice early toms.

This year I'm growing nearly everything from seed (including 20 types of chillis and 20 types of toms).

Good luck and have fun!

**MancGardener** · 21-04-2012, 02:52 PM

So I got my allotment today. Picture attached, and it isn't in to bad condition. The previous owner has left alot of his rubbish there though so looks like I will need to have a few journeys to the tip. I need to clear the greenhouse out as well but I did manage to harvest some rhubarb that was already planted! The Mrs has made a crumble out of it which is in the oven now

The plot has 2 compost bins already, with 1 made out of pallets and 1 permanent bin, however both are pretty full and they have a lot of weeds in so will need to empty these which means more trips to the tip

From the allotment shop I have bought some potatoes and other seeds such as tomato, peas, beans and carrots I just need to find out what to do with them! I have a quick question which I would be very very grateful if people could help;

1. With the weeds is it best to just put them all in a bin bag and take them to the tip?

I will have a look on the forums for help with weeding as I'm sure there will be plenty on here.

Attached Files

allotment.jpg (0, 92 views)

**Alison** · 21-04-2012, 04:27 PM

For you spuds I'd recommend what I did with some of mine the first year I had my plot - I've described this on here before but can't find the post but basically I had a load of extra seed spuds and not sufficient ground ready for them. I cut back the grass and weed over an area and dug up the bigger bits of bramble and wayward raspberries that were there before covering the whole area with cardboard. I held it in place with all sorts of things, bits of wood, pegged down string, tyres etc etc. The marked out my potato spacing and cut holes in the card accordingly. Then used a bulb planted to make a hole in the ground (note no digging was necessary), sprinkled a bit of potato fertilizer in the bottom and mixed it with the loose soil before dropping the seed potato in and back filling. Then ignored them for a few months and dug up. Had a massive crop and the soil was much easier to dig than the other areas I was reclaiming about the same time as the weeds had died back and I was getting a crop as I dug. Sited the polytunnel there the following year. This is a piccie taken just about the time the spuds were coming through and to be honest I was amazed how well it worked as I wasn't expecting much with the second one being the day they were first planted.

Most amazing thing for me is looking at how different my plot looked back then - should look at old piccies more often

Attached Files

**MancGardener** · 21-04-2012, 05:01 PM

Thanks Alison.

I have another couple of questions as well. When I am digging over my beds using the single dig method, I currently have no manure. Should I still do this and just use fertilizer?

Also what is the best way to distinguish beds. String and posts??

**Capsid** · 21-04-2012, 06:12 PM