New Allotment Owner

[nicbates]

Help!!

I become the proud owner of an allotment in late July, and I wanted to ask what I can do with the allotment in late summer.

the land has been used to grown hay/straw on it, so hopefully wont be too weedy.

What can I do with my allotment, can I grow anything on it in late July, should I start seeding up now in preparation to plant out in July.

It would be fab if I could get some vegetables grown for the winter but I do not know if this is possible?

Is it too late for potatoes?

any help is much appreciated!

[nick the grief]

Hi Nicbates,

Welcome to the Vine and congrats on your new lottie.

It's not too late if you plant early spuds but you might struggle to find then at this time of year. As to what can you do - Dig it and as to veggies, if you look around you may well finds some Brassica plants (Brussels, Broccoli etc) that you can plant now for winter, plus leeks and come October you can plant some winter Onions & Broad beans to over winter.

It's not too late to sow some Runner beans for a later crop or even some of the early peas you could sow now and get a crop off them as they are quick matureing.

As to weeds - I bet that you have a lovely crop once you start digging as the little buggers lie dormant for years before bursting into life

Mainly, I'd make sure you are ready for next year and just crop a bit of it this year.

[Earthbabe]

Hi nicbates and welcome to the Vine. You could also try some salad - overwintering lettuce and mixed, radishes, leaf beet, winter spinach and possibly get a late row of maincrop carrots in - try Autumn King, but making sure you are ready for next year is vital. Good opportunity to add organic matter/manure to some, lime to other beds and so on.

[nicbates]

thanks both of you, this is really helpful, i look forward to digging!!


...if ayone knows of some secret supplier of potatoes that I could pant out at the end of June that would be great!!

[SarzWix]

Hi Nicbates, congratulations on getting your lottie
Someone posted this link on an earlier thread about seed potatoes, might be worth a go?
http://www.vanmeuwen.com/form/search.html?search=potato.
You could also haunt your nearest B&Q; last time I was at ours they had lettuce, cabbage, calabrese, brussels & pea plug plants. You could pot them on to keep them going til you get ground ready to put them in?
Good luck

[Earthbabe]

Marshalls do packs of 48 or 64 plug plants from £9.95 a box. Just had a catalogue through and thought of you.

[nicbates]

I now plan to spend my lunch hour buying up from catalogues....i pray I dontget too caried away

bring on allotment time!!

thank you!

[vicpivo]

You can try some fruits also - My local nursery suggested I come back Early autumn to get an Actinidia plant (mini-kiwi).

There are other hardy perennial fruits you can add to the allotment, but ensure you've planned the layout first prior to planting!