Just acquired 2 run down (trashed) plots, newbie, am I under time pressure?

[Lisette]

I've always wanted to be self sufficient and in the past have had 50 pots of bell peppers/tomatoes in my mothers garden (much to her despair). Hubby has a little experience from when he was younger and so our quest for an allotment began. After being told we'd be on a waiting list for 5 years, within 2 days time we had acquired 700M2 worth of plot O_O! It's divided in 500M2 and 200M2 lots. The smaller one will have chickens in a decent amount of space once we get permission from the council. I'm a stay at home mum and my kids (and I) love the outdoors. I'm confident we'll be able to manage between the 5 of us - once we get round to scraping together all the info we need.

Problem is, I'm worried that by the time I've learned what I need to know, I'll be too late to sow anything. We're looking at growing all basic sorts such as potatoes, onion, runner beans, cabbage, garlic, herbs, strawberries, rubarb etc etc etc. Should I hurry up and just get planting some and then see what we end up with? Or do I have plenty of time (say a month or two) to seriously read up about what we want to do (with our limited budget) and how we want to do it?

[Martin H]

Welcome to the vine, Lisette!

If you're in the UK you've got plenty of time yet, winter has hardly started.

Get busy tidying up the plots over the next 2 months and you'll be in good shape.

[Lisette]

Fab . I'm in the UK (Nottingham). Is there anything that needs seeding particularly in the winter? I've read about strawberries needing seeding in winter inside if you haven't planted them in the previous fall.

[spanish_gardener]

Hi Lisette, where are you? Have you got a heated greenhouse? I don't sow anything until March or April and it's fine. If I was you, I would buy some books, such The RHS Allotment Handbook or The River Cottage collection if you want to learn not only about grow your own but about preserving, new recipes, etc., search on the forum, create your own calendar and buy your seeds.

Grapes Recommendations: Bargain Beginner Book

Grapes Recommendation: The River Cottage Handbook Collection (10 books)

New Shoots: Useful Links

[spanish_gardener]

Fab . I'm in the UK (Nottingham). Is there anything that needs seeding particularly in the winter? I've read about strawberries needing seeding in winter inside if you haven't planted them in the previous fall.

Please, read this post:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tch_76761.html

[Lisette]

Thanks! I am reading up as much as I can so please don't think I'm mindlessly trying to ask boring questions which have been asked 2 million times before.

Edit; only just noticed your first reply. I'm in Nottingham, do not have a heated greenhouse and do not have the ability to purchase one. We've got lots and lots of glazed doors/window frames inherited on the plots though (plus about a million shard of broken glass spread over both plots). Will definitely have a look at ordering one of those books.

[chris]

Welcome to the forum. Chillis/peppers can be sown now, they need a long growing season to ripen - but you may know that from your pots anyway!

This book (Allotment Month by Month, by Alan Buckingham (I think that's the author)) is amazing, and a great practical guide. ISBN 1405340851 - can be found cheap second hand, or in your library, I'd high suiggest getting it.

Cover your plot with whatever you can (plastic, cardboard, newspaper) and try and dig out any perennial weeds that you come across - all the annual ones will die from lack of light (note the cover must stop light) - making them easy to remove Besides, you may not get around to growing over both plots, covering it will stop weeds growing.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Chris makes a very good point there about there being books in the library you can borrow. it's expensive enough getting a plot up and running without buying books.

My advice to anyone taking on a new plot is to get it dug over as quickly as possible . If you can get this done in a mild spell, any frosts to come will help greatly by breaking dow any rough clods.

I also advocate planting as much of the plot as you can in spuds the first year. This helps clean the ground up and if you add fym to the drills at planting time, you are also fertilising for next year. It's not the spuds growing that cleans the ground. It's the constant movement of soil coupled with the haulms or shaws as we call them depriving weed growth of light. The ground is moved when you dig, when you set up your drills, when you earth up the growing spuds several times and finally when you lift them at the end of the season. Absolutely no chance for the weeds to settle and at the end of the season, you have a lovely weed free bed ready for the following year.

[Nannysally99]

As well as the local library , charity shops have lots of gardening books, the one where I work sells the big ones for £1.29 each. Bargain


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[rustylady]

Hi Lisette, welcome to the Vine. If you add your location to your profile it will show on your posts and we won't have to keep asking where you are.

Most seeds get sown in March or April, so you have plenty of time yet. You could buy some seed potatoes and start them chitting, and also some onion sets. Neither of these need planting just yet, but the shops tend to run out of the best varieties if you leave it till then to buy.

[Bren In Pots]

Hello and welcome to the vine Lisette

you've had some good info so all I'll add is to have a read at the vines growing guides :-

How To Grow Vegetables & Fruit | Growing Guides & Tips | Grow Your Own Magazine

[noviceveggrower]

Hi there and welcome.
Last year was my first year on my allotment and I got mine in April. I have only just got my spuds chitting and got my bare root fruit trees. Haven't even thought about planting my seeds til late March.
I have had plans in my head since autumn on how to shuffle my plot about. Mine is very boggy so planning to do drainage ditches in. The strawberries are moving and so are some fruit bushes.
You will find you are always tinkering about with something.
Best advice is remember it is a process of learning. Some things will work some things wont. And patience you can't rush nature. You may jiggy it along a bit but some things take time.
Oh and there's people who can help, give advice and listen to you here which is great.

[Bill HH]

Its only January, you have lots of time. There is a fever gardeners get that makes them think they must be planting stuff now or they will not grow anything all year. Resist it. If you are handy you can turn all those windows into cold frames of clotches. If you end up taking longer than expected to dig things over and tackle the weeds etc you can always buy small plants quite cheaply in garden centres etc. Dont try to do it all at once, pick an area and weed it well rather than doing the whole lot badly. Best of luck maybe we can see some pictures of your progress.

[Lisette]

Thank you all for your kind responses. That last book mentioned is fab, just what I needed! It's affordable on amazon, but will have a look in the charity shops first. Like you said, we've got enough expenses coming our way! Luckily I've been gathering bits and bobs for years already.

Our allotment' society has already finished with all of their potato orders but told me they might have some scraps left for me to pick up. I'm reading up about potatoes and onions first, the rest will follow later as I've got enough time.

The coldframes are a great idea. The husband has been aching to do projects for years so he can eat his heart out. Not sure what is particularly suitable for growing in a cold frame and all other ins and outs associated with cold frames, but I'm sure I can find it on this forum.

I'm particularly interested in square foot growing, even though we've got more than enough space and probably don't need to. It just fascinates me!

[Kristen]

Not seed this book recommended to you as yet:

Vegetable and Herb Expert by H G Hessayon
The Vegetable & Herb Expert: The world's best-selling book on vegetables & herbs: Amazon.co.uk: Dr D G Hessayon: Books

It won't tell you how to grow veg in much detail (the other books mentioned here will do that well), but it has just one or two pages per vegetable with all the essential information - how much seed do you need? What yield do you get? what is the plant spacing? When to Sow / Plant / Harvest. What the potential bugs and diseases are.

Invaluable as a reference guide IMHO. The varieties are out of date (its a moving target) and some of the other info (such as recipes) is probably not useful, but I think the core information is spot on.