How is everyone's plot doing ?

[andy_j]

Managed to get round the whole site this week and have a good look at what everyone else has been up to.

I was amaized how full some of the plots were....potatoes, onions, broad beans, peas, salad crops, parsnips, leeks you name it. Some people's potatoes were a foot tall !!!!!

I have 2 half plots. The first one is quite heavily manured with well rotted cow poo. this was rotorvated on easter saturday and ive just got some onion sets, leeks and a few parsnips in (in a non manured area). I do have plenty of bits in the greenhouse to go in when the threat of frost has gone but it just seems so early.

My other plot was rotorvated this week and will be for spuds, carrots and parsnips as it doesn't have any manure on.

So what have you been up to ? Have you started yet or are you already full to bursting point

[RaptorUK]

So what have you been up to ? Have you started yet or are you already full to bursting point

As it's my first year I find it a little hard to know how well/badly, early/late I am with things . . . I think I'm just about on schedule for my plan even though I was late with some things, for example the Winter Field beans, they are ready now to be chopped and dug in, then my Brassicas can go in soon after.

Garlic is looking good and the Rhubarb I divided looks quite happy, my Broad Beans had some failures to germinate but they were donated out of date seed so I don't feel too bad about it and I have filled the gaps with new seed, if effect successional sowing

My row of Parsnips looks OK, they have a couple of true leaves, my row of Beetroot looks like it's all coming up, no sign of my carrots yet but it's only been just over a week. The Hrb bed looks quite empty at the moment but we do have Bronze Fennel and Dill germinated and French Tarragon planted, the Thyme, Coriander, Sage and Summer Sorrel will be ready to be planted soon, they are growing away in the greenhouse all from seed. The Rosemary has been difficult as expected, one seed from ten germinated and is growing slowly, we have sown some more.

We have plenty of stuff growing in the greenhouse almost ready to be planted out, Sprouts, Cauliflowers, Savoy cabbage, Spanish White Onions, Shallots, Leeks . . . need to sown Florence Fennel very soon and my winter Cauliflowers.

I've also constructed paths and a "roof" to collect rainwater, I have 400 L so far . . . .

Edit: Almost forgot the Asparagus bed I have started, 11 Ginjlim and 10 Backlim so far . . . also growing Sweet Purple from seed in the greenhouse.

This is what I started with last November . . .



. . . and this is where I was on the 13th April 2014

[malcolm1973]

Hi first time on here at Last got my allotment just started it had to strim it all down first now I can see the size of it look at growing fruit and veg have been given lots of fruit bushes and three fruit trees for my birthday so going put them there

Growing veg at home got spuds ,let radish, s onions ,carrots,parsnips runners,French beans, beet root ,leek,strewberry in a pallet ,corn first year for that


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[crannman]

mine looking well winter onions 'leeks'garlick nearly ready .spuds starting to show broad beans around 9inch . lots of seedlings in greenhouse almost there too but its warned of a harch frost up here in yorkshire so keeping them under cover for now

[noviceveggrower]

Wow RaptorUK you've really cracked ok well.
I have two half plots a fruit one and a veg one. Fruit one is just chaos. Weeds every where I dig one up and at least 6 more pop up in its place. Veg one is far more organised. Have first and second earlies in plus two main crop spuds. Then have peas and French climbing beans in. Have planted broad beans and some other beans direct into the ground. Got a raised bed with parsnips and turnips in.
In my greenhouse I have more peas and beans to go out. Yep more my first lot looked half hearted and the second lot couldn't be arsed to grow so I planted a third lot then low and behold the first and second lot took off. Flippin typical.
Any way apart from peas and beans I have sweetcorn, cucumbers, gerkins, butternut squash, fennel, sprouts, cabbage, cauliflowers and toms.
Am doing salad stuff in tubs due to next doors cat digging my raised beds up at home. Already have some carrots appearing.
Think I am going to be running out of room. Haven't told OH that. Growing quite a bit as my M is retiring and my dad is cutting his work hours down so hoping to try and feed two families this year.

[andy_j]

The first bed is now full.



This bed will be for leeks. Two thirds planted at the moment, ive got a few coming on in the greenhouse for the other third

[Maddiesaur]

This is my first year with mine and I'm loving it!

I took lots of advice from here and actively used the "take it slow", "don't necessarily have to completely dig it all over" and "think about what you want to eat" advice on.

My weather hasn't been great at all, so so much rain up here that really only in the last couple of weeks could anything be done A) safely - it was a nightmare walking around on thick wet mud and sodden grass and B) to any useful effect on the plot.

We've now prepped three beds and put in a few experimental onions a week or two ago and I've planned what I'll grow in them. I've a Strawberry bed which I've weeded, thinned out the strawbs and dealt with the runners.

I've two more beds which need prepped but it won't take long, maybe an hour each. The previous "owner" did a lot of hard work last year to the soil and so all I really need to do is lift a few weeds and add a bit of manure, I've been very lucky. One, maybe both, I'll try out Square Foot Gardening in with salad leaves and such.

I've got some things started on the windowsills for a bit of fun really. Starting off some peas, beans, sweet peas, chard, herbs, spinach, that sort of thing. This was more so that we had some "green" and "life" about the flat as the weather has been so dull and grey and damp that everything was a bit depressing for a while. So it's been nice to see things actually coming to life and nearly ready to plant out!

My last frost date is this weekend, as we are not due to get any cold weather, I'm going into rebel mode ( ) and taking things up to plant out tomorrow, our community evening.

My allotment community are going to introduce a bit of friendly competition this year so I'll be looking to add some variety to what I had originally planned and I'll be thinking a little on appearance too.

[Euan]

We're into our second year with our half plot and things seem to be going ok.

We've got salads planted and they seem to be coming up well, helped by the fleece we've had over them the past 4/5 days. At the top end of that bed the first lot of peas are in and I've constructed the cane grid for the beans which will go in shortly.

The middle bed has the early and main crop potatoes and they seem to be doing well. The bed closest has fennel and will get the courgettes eventually. The new carrot bed is on the right hand side and we've got a couple of rows planted with some more to be done this weekend.

The bed on the right has the onions and shallots at the top and then the brassica's are under the netting - sprouts and cabbages are in with broccoli to follow shortly.

Our greenhouse that I built is up beside the shed (full of stuff growing!) and eventually the tomatoes, peppers and gerkins, etc will be in there by themselves.

[catgirl]

I got the keys to my half plot yesterday morning and was just itching to get started. So I bribed my partner and his friend into spending all of yesterday on the plot with me, clearing everything but the polytunnel and the shed off it and rotavating the lot.

Yesterday evening was spent planning where my beds are going and what is going in them, and the rest of this week will be spent digging everything over again to break the soil up a bit better. Unfortunately it's clay soil but it has already had some organic matter put into it, and I'll just have to keep adding to it. Overall I'm pretty pleased with what we've achieved so far!

Before (with my workforce):


After (with boyfriend):

[Bigmallly]

Your boyfriend appears to have run off with a couple of beds...............

[Jonnyt]

That's better than with the next door neighbour which is a more common scenario


Sent from my iPhone using Grow Your Own Forum

[catgirl]

Haha! Yeah, we removed the beds to rotovate the whole plot in one go. Whoever had the allotment before me left about 1.5 meters between beds, which is way too much in my opinion! So they needed to be moved anyway.

[andy_j]

Been pretty busy over an extended bank holiday. Got my shed all mended after the winter storms.

With the night temps set to be over 10 degrees C for the foreseeable future, I planted out my Sweetcorn and courgettes today

[roar349]

Slowly getting there.

Got a couple of small raised beds in, one planted with onion sets, the other the kids are using and have sowed some lettuce/radish seeds. Also cut the hole in the bottom of their old sandpit and put that down there (the kids are using this for flowers).

Got a handful of potatoes in the ground, cane structures built ready for beans/peas and ground dug over for cabbage/cauliflower/sprout beds.

I still have one raised bed at home which I'm using with a long cloche to get things started (although something got in and polished off a lot of my brassicas, i suspect replanting there/straight in the ground may be too late now though). I'm aiming to get my pea/mangetout seedlings in the ground this weekend as they seem to be a decent size now.

[The Nichols']

We've got 4 beds (4x4m) full of various potatoes and veg. Only the onions are losing the battle against the weeds, something I plan to fix this weekend. It won't happen but at least it's on my plan

Polytunnel is full of tomato and pepper plants and about 20 peas I'm hoping for a very early crop from.