just joined

[littleweed]

hi little weed here just joined and very green!Would be very grateful for any advice on my new allotment currently submerged! Need shed raised beds and a new brain as mine refuses to take in the enormity of what I've taken on!

[Peter]

Welcome to the vine.

How big is your allotment plot?

[Mrs Dobby]

Welcome to the madhouse littleweed! There's a good bunch of grapes on here who'll offer advice, fun, friendship and a few laughs, so ask away, share your joys and failures and enjoy yourself as much as the rest of us do!

Congrats on the new plot btw!

[bubblewrap]

Hello Littleweed welcome to the vine. First of all don't panic take your time, it does not all have to be done streight away.Plan what you want to do.
A good book to help you..The allotment handbook by Caroline Foley ISBN 1 84330 583 6 £12 99 but you may be able to pick it up secondhand.
But I wish you the best of luck with your new venture.

[dexterdoglancashire]

Hi Littleweed and welcome to the Vine! You've come to the perfect place to ask any questions you've got. Agree with BW re: book mentioned above - it's a very useful one. Don't worry about taking on too big a task - just divide your plot into sections and work on each one, get that sorted then move onto the next bit. Most of all ENJOY! Looking forward to hearing how you get on. Bernie PS Don't forge to use the search option at the top of the Vine - there is lots of info about what to do when you first get a lottie.

[shirlthegirl43]

Hi and welcome to the vine littleweed. Looking forward to reading about your lottie.

[Birdie Wife]

Hi, congratulations on the new plot and finding the Vine, there are lots of fellow Grapes here who are just starting out, like yourself, and others who have heaps of experience, but everyone has good advice to contribute. Hope you enjoy it here, take it a bite at a time and you'll have your plot up and running in no time. You're a bit late to start with most things, but if you dig over a small patch you should be able to sow and harvest some salads still, and you might still get bean plants and leek seedlings from garden centres to get you started. Then you're into overwintering things like onions, garlic and broad beans which you could get underway in October/November.

Good luck!

[sewer rat]

Hi Littleweed and welcome to the asylum.
Just really want to say welcome and echo what the grapes below have said already - take your time, enjoy it and don't be shy about asking advice from all your fellow grapes.

[littleweed]

Welcome to the vine.

How big is your allotment plot?

7.5metres by b--------- if I know! How good is that I never even asked!

Hello Littleweed welcome to the vine. First of all don't panic take your time, it does not all have to be done streight away.Plan what you want to do.
A good book to help you..The allotment handbook by Caroline Foley ISBN 1 84330 583 6 £12 99 but you may be able to pick it up secondhand.
But I wish you the best of luck with your new venture.

Thankyou for the welcome & advice on the book, where would I find it?

Hi, congratulations on the new plot and finding the Vine, there are lots of fellow Grapes here who are just starting out, like yourself, and others who have heaps of experience, but everyone has good advice to contribute. Hope you enjoy it here, take it a bite at a time and you'll have your plot up and running in no time. You're a bit late to start with most things, but if you dig over a small patch you should be able to sow and harvest some salads still, and you might still get bean plants and leek seedlings from garden centres to get you started. Then you're into overwintering things like onions, garlic and broad beans which you could get underway in October/November.

Good luck!

I have actually got some plants started in the hope of finding a plot. Being naive I thought that was all I had to do! How wrong was I, been water logged most of the time so apart from a few motheaten cabbages & other odds nothing has been done! Never mind I will win in the end I hope. However if anyother grape would like some spare couche grass or bind weed I'm your man actually woman!

[bubblewrap]

Try Amazon? or go to a book shop with details. They should be able to tell you if it is still in print.

[Peter]

7.5metres by b--------- if I know! How good is that I never even asked!

Well when you get a chance get the rough measurement, it will affect some of the advice people give you as to what is best to grow.

[Uncle Albert]

Welcome to the vine.

For the book, try www.abebooks.co.uk as this will find most books, whether in-print, or out of print.

As for what to do next, divide the tasks into three; those things that need to be done now & always (digging, weeding, digging & weeding, weeding & digging, you're getting the picture), those things that give you some short term results (sow some cut-and-come-again salads, radish, beetroot, etc.), and some longer term projects (sow some kale, for example, which will start cropping in autumn/winter & spring).

But most of all, use the first year as a money saving project - you spent £10-£100 on an allotment, while other people spend £100-£1000 on a gym. Your exercise is in fresh air, while the gym freaks spend their time indoors. You will get free organic veg, whereas others will pay through the nose for their's. If everything goes pear-shaped, you (along with the rest of us here) will probably go go slightly less pear shaped as a result of the digging & odd bit of good food.

And most of all, floods aside, you'll enjoy your patch, like the rest of us have with ours...

[Seahorse]

Hello and welcome Littleweed! I'm quite new here and still very much a learner but everyone is so friendly and helpful that I'm sure we'll both be experts in no time!

Claire

[chrissie the chippy]

Hi!

Where abouts in Derby are you? I moved from there 8 years ago, I miss it soooo much.

I'm still getting over the thought of how much work there is to do on my plot and I've had them about a month now

[HeyWayne]

Every day is a school day. Books are great for when things go to plan, but I'd say I've learnt equally as much here in the vine. Still so much to learn.

I'd echo echo echo what the rest have said regarding taking a section of plot at a time. The longest journeys start with the shortest step.

Great people, great advice, great scott is that the time...