New allotment!

[Demeter]

OK, so subject to getting the paperwork to sign, I've got my allotment and can start at the weekend. Yay! I met the bloke on site today to pick out the plot. It's 125m2 and currently has a good crop of grass and clover on it, and that's it... a blank canvas.

The allotment rules are (1) no fires (2) no trees and (3) any structure (shed, polytunnel etc) must be both sturdy and temporary. One side is 2-3 empty plots and the other side is 2-3 *very* nicely kept plots, with most plots on the rest of the site being pretty well cultivated, but not intimidatingly neat if you know what I mean. There is a big north fencing hedge at one of the narrow ends, with a railway line on the other side, so I was thinking of using the hedge end for compost heaps and other things that don't mind if there isn't much sun.

I'm happy if this year is just about clearance - I plan to mulch with cardboard, weighted down with farmyard manure, rather than try and dig the whole area over. But it would be good to grow something as well, even if it's only green manure! I don't want to spend huge amounts of time down there - at least not for the forseeable future, longer term it might be a different story! - as I've got my own garden and the shared city farm plot going. So I'm looking to put low maintenance crops in there, and I'd also like to grow some fruit - strawberries and raspberries, maybe a cherry tree in a pot (the bloke said that would be allowed).

Anyone got any advice or suggestions?
Thanks! Wish me luck!

[Two_Sheds]

Yay, sounds good.
Raid your local shops for flattened cardboard boxes ~ look round the back. If you ask, they tell you no on Health & Safety grounds

If you grow soft fruit, you'll need to be picking it every other day when it's ripe ... you can't leave it a week.

Other low-maintenance stuff - I grow hundreds of French beans for drying. They need a bit of watering and tying in, but not much else by way of attention. Brassicas too, once they are netted against pigeons and butterflies.

When you've planted stuff, water the ground well and mulch, mulch, mulch. That will drastically cut down the amount of watering and weeding you have to do. Grass clippings are great if you can get them.

Limnanthes is my favourite green manure (as most people will have gathered by now). http://www.archiemiles.co.uk/Images/...0douglasii.jpg

[Demeter]

I've got some limmanthes seeds! Can I sow them in July / or when? (from memory I think the packet said autumn)

I've got loads of cardboard too!

[Snadger]

Congratulations on getting your new allotment.

Clover is a good weed to have! In fact it can be used as a green manure! It is a legume and has nitrogen fixating nodules so if covered with cardboard the clover will die and release the nitro for your crops, plus it will give you a lot of organic matter as well!

Enjoy!

[Garden_girlie21]

If you want to grow a cherry tree in a pot, try a dwarf variety like "Compact Stella" (eating variety). There are plenty of dwarf varieties that are happy to grow in a large pot. Have a search round the internet for the best buy!

Jennifer

[Two_Sheds]

I've got some limmanthes seeds! Can I sow them in July / or when?

Well, mine have just gone to seed and sown themselves, so I guess now is a good time. Sow them about 6" apart for good dense ground cover.

[Demeter]

limnanthes question - ground cover with onions?

Spent a morning down at the new lottie today with the little one and we've now mulched probably a bit more than a third of it, and cleared an area at the hedge end where the compost heap is now started - and already heaped quite high! Under the weeds we've found (so far) 2 chairs, several large logs, and some wood and sheet metal that I suspect may be the corpse of an old shed... Yes, not just grass and clover, we also have thistles, nettles, sticky-wicky, brambles, dock, dandelions, creeping buttercup, couch grass and several plants I can't even identify! I'm sure they're common weeds, I just don't know what they are, good news is they mostly look like annuals to me. (Although I think I saw two or three horsetails growing in amongst the stuff I was clearing as well, but I was too scared to look closer in case I was right... Am hoping not, obviously!)

We've also dug over 2 very small patches (one each) - the soil is absolutely beautiful. Dark, rich - clay soil but with masses of organic matter, not all heavy and sticky and red like in my garden. I've put some spare toms and borage in my patch and littl'un is putting flowers in hers. She's got some nicotiana planted already and has some marigolds at home that she grew from seed which she wants to take next time. (Not bad for 3 years old, although she did have a tantrum before we could get underway because she was being mummy this morning and thought I should let her drive the car...)

Anyway, I had a limnanthes question - can I plant them as a companion / cover crop with alliums? Was thinking it would be good to have them as ground cover given that onions and things don't have much leaf to shade out weeds. However, would limnanthes (or anything else like it) compete too much for nutrients and water etc?

Fanks!

[sewer rat]

Onions prefer clear ground until they get established but after that they will survive whatever grows around them. I had a superb crop of onions last year and you would have thought I was growing weeds in that area of the field - you honestly couldn't see the onions unless you looked really hard.
Having said that, it was particularly wet up here last year (whereas it has been particularly dry this year so far) so there was loads of moisture in the ground so not much competition for moisture - might be a different outcome if it is particularly dry - though I haven't noticed my onions suffering much so far this year - they are all just beginning to bulb up now, and once again you can only just see them through the weeds.
Weeds are not always bad - I think it was Snagder who said that he considers chickweed to be nature's mulch !!

[Demeter]

Thanks, Rat

Think I might try it in that case, and just make sure the onions have plenty of space to get going before I let the limnanthes take over... (Am hoping dry weather won't be a problem as the soil seems to be very moisture-retentive, famous last words I know but I am ever the optimist!) The next door plot has got huge onions in what seems like acres of bare, weed-free soil. It looks very neat and all, but all that hoeing is not my idea of fun, especially not when you could use the soil to grow something nice and useful instead