Tweet
Greetings from my new half plot in sunny Herefordshire
Hello all!
After growing tomatoes, chillies and courgettes at home I came across Dan Allotment diary on youtube, after watching what he produced for a couple of years I found myself thinking "I'd like to have a bash at that!".
Fast forward to a late friday afternoon and sending an email to the local group that runs the council allotments for them and I get a swift response telling me that the site I enquired about was full, BUT they had a half plot available closer to my home address and I could view it the following morning if I wanted.
I sent a quick response saying I would be delieghted to go and look, so I decided to do some undercover work and take a sneak preview to spy any potential plots, I looked through the fence and sure enough there was a plot shoulder height in weeds and two busted up shed and a bunch of abandoned christmas trees and I thought oh dear I bet thats the one Im getting!!
Next day I meet the site rep and he takes me to a weed ridden already planted out patch and says this is yours if you want it?? I was overwhelmed with relief and agreed on the spot!
The following day I went down and began the laborious task of clearing the beds of all weeds and then decided to look at what was already there, parsnips were no good so lifted them and removed, parsley was good so lifted and relocated, cabbages where last years left in and hadnt had any success to lifted and binned those, once it was all cleared and I made sure it was weed free I forked it over and then rotavated both beds and left it at that, took me about 3 days to get this far, I then went back a couple of days later and added in a ton of well rotted muck to each bed and rotavated that in as well.
I am now about to go wild and start putting my spuds and garlic in, got some strawberry plants off one of the chaps on the next plot over, also got some onions, cucumbers, peas, and beans in the process of germinating and although im a bit behind where id like to be I should get an ok crop this year from those, I also have my chillies and tomatoes ready to plant out once the weather picks up and this risk of frost passes.
My other bed will see me going for some stupid large marrows, not entirely sure how successful I will be but it will entertain me and the kids and also no doubt the chaps on the plots around me, I figured this was a way of keeping the weeds down in the plot I have no plans for this year and also a way of experimenting and keeping the fun aspectof allotmenteering, I got my seeds from giantvegseeds.com so I have a genetic head start but no skills so aiming at 50lb+.. I can then make plans for next year to rotate and fill both beds with things I will use and be able to keep as I feel this year was a little rushed and not entirely thought out but was keen to do something before time escaped me.
I will attempt to put a reply to this with pictures from my phone so you see my before and after of clearing but I know although it was hard going I got off lightly after seeing some of the posts on here.
I will update this throughout the season both for myself and for you guys to share my seasons journey.
Thanks for reading
Damian
After growing tomatoes, chillies and courgettes at home I came across Dan Allotment diary on youtube, after watching what he produced for a couple of years I found myself thinking "I'd like to have a bash at that!".
Fast forward to a late friday afternoon and sending an email to the local group that runs the council allotments for them and I get a swift response telling me that the site I enquired about was full, BUT they had a half plot available closer to my home address and I could view it the following morning if I wanted.
I sent a quick response saying I would be delieghted to go and look, so I decided to do some undercover work and take a sneak preview to spy any potential plots, I looked through the fence and sure enough there was a plot shoulder height in weeds and two busted up shed and a bunch of abandoned christmas trees and I thought oh dear I bet thats the one Im getting!!
Next day I meet the site rep and he takes me to a weed ridden already planted out patch and says this is yours if you want it?? I was overwhelmed with relief and agreed on the spot!
The following day I went down and began the laborious task of clearing the beds of all weeds and then decided to look at what was already there, parsnips were no good so lifted them and removed, parsley was good so lifted and relocated, cabbages where last years left in and hadnt had any success to lifted and binned those, once it was all cleared and I made sure it was weed free I forked it over and then rotavated both beds and left it at that, took me about 3 days to get this far, I then went back a couple of days later and added in a ton of well rotted muck to each bed and rotavated that in as well.
I am now about to go wild and start putting my spuds and garlic in, got some strawberry plants off one of the chaps on the next plot over, also got some onions, cucumbers, peas, and beans in the process of germinating and although im a bit behind where id like to be I should get an ok crop this year from those, I also have my chillies and tomatoes ready to plant out once the weather picks up and this risk of frost passes.
My other bed will see me going for some stupid large marrows, not entirely sure how successful I will be but it will entertain me and the kids and also no doubt the chaps on the plots around me, I figured this was a way of keeping the weeds down in the plot I have no plans for this year and also a way of experimenting and keeping the fun aspectof allotmenteering, I got my seeds from giantvegseeds.com so I have a genetic head start but no skills so aiming at 50lb+.. I can then make plans for next year to rotate and fill both beds with things I will use and be able to keep as I feel this year was a little rushed and not entirely thought out but was keen to do something before time escaped me.
I will attempt to put a reply to this with pictures from my phone so you see my before and after of clearing but I know although it was hard going I got off lightly after seeing some of the posts on here.
I will update this throughout the season both for myself and for you guys to share my seasons journey.
Thanks for reading
Damian
Comment