My first allotment!

[Randommoose]

Today at the allotment:

Put a ground anchor in to tie my dog to.

Wandered around thinking and planning, looking for more things in the ground. Found 4 broad bean plants growing plus a short double row of something - any ideas?


Pruned out all the fruited and dead canes from the summer strawberries (Glen Ample).


Pruned all the autumn strawberries (Joan J)


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[Randommoose]

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I harvested the smallest area of leeks - got these minileeks. I had them for my lunch and they were tasty!


Pruned the blackcurrant bushes to open them up as they were quiet congested. One might need some more doing to it and they both need going over to remove any big buds (a few, not many).

Poked a couple of bits of ground with a fork and trowel. It is smooth and clay-ey and wet on the top, underneath it is crumbly but sticky. There are a couple of beds where compost has been put on top but this does not seem to have been drawn down by worms at all, it is just on top. But maybe it was put on as mulch late in the year? The ground just seems to be clay soil, not at all composty. Weeds are growing but not loads and nothing tall. I don't know if that is from the soil being too wet, cold and sticky (or low nutrition) or if someone did a good job of weeding before winter. The soil is quite shiny when it catches the sun.



I'm leaning more towards getting soil improver to either dig in on put on top to improve the texture of the soil and help it drain better. I'll talk to my friend on Friday about that and see what he can do.

Chilli_grower - no major weeds and in the bits I dug I didn't find any roots. I have got to know bindweed and ground elder well because we are fighting with them coming over in our garden from the neighbour! You must have had to put in a LOT of work to clear it from an allotment - well done!

Bario1 - Thanks for that - I hadn't thought of netting practicalities. I've never grown brassicas before! The entire plan is flexible and the U shape was actually just for the sweetcorn block. I was doing 1.2m beds as the stuff I have read said those are easiest. I'll have a think and see what works for netting too. Maybe get a long 1.2m bed (or two) for brassicas and a long tunnel.

My parents have a supply of lots of 6-8inch wide planks so I should hopefully be sorted for edging.

Thank you for the replies,
Moose

[Randommoose]

I've done a different plan. Having had a dig in the existing beds and finding out the soil isn't really any different, just dug a bit or had a bit of compost as mulch. So it isn't really worth keeping the existing layout other than the two north-south beds either end.

Here is the link:
http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=496315

The weird patch of garlic top left is where there is a garlic bed already. Can overwintered garlics be transplanted to a different location?

Moose

[sparrow100]

You jammy beggar that looks a great plot!!

Congrats from me.

Only 3 comments from me on the plan - am not sure you will get many sweet potatoes if you are growing them outside, they like heat, I don't know about transplanting garlic - the roots go very deep so perhaps not. And by crikey you like carrots!!

[WendyC]

Assuming the scale at the top is correct, your beds are about 9m long. I think I would split them into two, or three, shorter ones you will have a long way to walk round so the temptation might be to walk through. Perhaps make the path already?

[Randommoose]

Hehe thanks Sparrow - they had more plots available than people on the waiting list and seeing I was the one who had been emailing them regularly, I got first choice! There were about 6 or 7 to choose from and I chose the one that seemed best

Sweet potatoes - yes, probably won't work, just an experiment for fun as I like them and have the space!

Yes, I like carrots and we eat a lot of them. So this will be for eating and storing.

Wendy, yes the beds will be 10m long with a path at either end (all the bare area around the raspberries is path). I'll think about splitting them or having a plank or paving stone path over them. Thanks for the suggestion.

It is good fun planning it and stuff but there is some uncertainty as there is so much I don't know and don't even know I don't know! I've read loads on this forum in the last week though and that has helped me learn a lot.

I'm trying to decide whether to get seed to sow indoors now for the plants I only want a few of (cucumber, courgette, butternut squash) or just buy young plants to plant in June.

Moose

[Randommoose]

Thanks for showing me that plan Sparrow. It is interesting to see what other people are doing. I hope it works out well for you!

Does any one have any ideas of what this is? I assume vegetable as it is growing in a short double line. I don't recognise it though.



Moose

[veggiechicken]

Is it parsnip? or celeriac?
Have a furtle and see what shape it is below soil.

[Randommoose]

Thanks, it appears to be celeriac - certainly there is a a roundish, slightly lumpy, cream coloured root below the leaves. I've never even tasted celeriac before!

Today we are off to get as many edging planks as we can and borrow a trailer. Need to buy a wheelbarrow too. Then later or tomorrow off to get 2 year old leaf/straw/sheep poo compost from my grandmother.

I've got about 2.5 tons of 3 year old well rotted wood chip/leaf/etc compost coming at some point in the next week or two.

I (well, my parents) have a chicken poo/straw/bonfire ash compost heap I can get supplies from but some bits are fresh, some bits are rotted. I'll have a look at it later to see how rotted it is.

I can get fresh woodchip for paths. I know someone with a cow farm so potentially could get manure (haven't asked though). I can get straw.

I'm planning on going about this in a (sort of)raised bed/mulching/no dig/green manures style. The soil is not compacted apart from where it has had paths. It is wet, cold, sticky heavy clay but can easily be dug out with one finger (what I did with the celeriac!). It is capped (smooth, shiny surface) in areas but under that seems in nice-ish condition. So I'm hoping that with a strict only walk on the paths rule, and plenty of compost, I should be able to make a good start this year and gradually make it more fertile and less wet/sticky etc.

One question - when I make beds, do I need to rough up the capped surface before covering it with compost? I'm thinking that if I don't it might prevent water, worms and nutrients moving from level to level.

Thank you,
Randommoose

[Randommoose]

Some progress made - everything seems to take far longer than expected!

At the weekend my husband and I spent 3 hours taking a woodpile apart to get to the wide planks near the bottom, cut them up into 3m lengths to fit in the car, then put the woodpile back together. The next day I unloaded them all at the allotment. I needed about 100m of edging and have got that much by pure luck - I didn't measure or count on the day! A couple of the long planks are split so I might go back and get a couple of the ones I set aside as spares.

Today I marked out the beds with string, then laid the planks along the edges to work out the best layout with the least amount of sawing required.


Then I dug a small trench and put one plank in on edge. The paths still need to be dug out to a few inches lower and the soil from them put on the lowest sections of the beds.


Doesn't seem like much but it was about 3 hours! I had to stop then to go to work.

The soil seems quite nice. Very heavy (so glad I don't have to dig it all!), but reasonably crumbly. It isn't compacted which is good.


I'm looking forward to starting to plant. Will go shopping in a few days and start some things off in modules in the conservatory. I am not buying anything to plant directly out until the compost delivery has come as I don't know when that will be. How thick does 2.5 tons/tonnes (I don't know which) spread across 100m2? I don't know whether that will be enough or whether to get 5 tons.

Moose

[Randommoose]

Today I got to meet a lot of people at the allotments which was really nice! I met two neighbours opposite the central path and I already know the one who has the other half of my plot. So just the people either side of mine to meet now. I learnt some new things and some site-specific things so that was useful.

I have done more edging, harvested some more leeks and two parsnips (which I discovered are a nightmare to dig out of wet clay - I snapped one). I weeded the groundsel out of one bed as it is going to flower soon.



It is good fun!

[Randommoose]

Over the last few days I have continued to make progress.

Got more planks for edging
Got lots of bags full of well rotted leaf mould and compost
Have now got 3 beds edged - 2 left to do
Have dug out most of one path (of four to dig out)


I need to get the remaining two beds edged, weed some stuff, dig up some parsnips and the compost will be coming on Friday. It will be good to have compost in and paths made (weed fabric and woodchip) to make it look smart

Moose

[spanish_gardener]

Today I got to meet a lot of people at the allotments which was really nice! I met two neighbours opposite the central path and I already know the one who has the other half of my plot. So just the people either side of mine to meet now. I learnt some new things and some site-specific things so that was useful.

I have done more edging, harvested some more leeks and two parsnips (which I discovered are a nightmare to dig out of wet clay - I snapped one). I weeded the groundsel out of one bed as it is going to flower soon.

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It is good fun!

Lucky you. I wish I could take the dogs to the allotment too.