Allotments, do you have one?

[Vossy1]

Well do ya
At the beginning of June we (my wife and I) got our first allotment. It's 10 x 18.5M (around 220 sq yards) and it was 6' high in brambles. We cleared it in one day using a brush cutter and it's been a job of planting it and digging it ever since. The first job was to dig and plant as the planting season was getting short. I've dug 3/4 of the plot to 1 spade depth. This wasn't helped by very high temps and clay soil :shock: Even so we're now getting a good crop of runner beans, climbing French beans, purple Teepee dwarf French beans, French beans, beetroot, radish, carrotts, second early spuds, peas, shallots, lettuce and kale. Crops still to mature are sweetcorn, cabbage, savoy cabbage, cauliflower, celery, sprouts, cucumber, corgettes, pumkin and tomato.

Attention has just turned to winter onions/shallotts/cabbage and getting some fruit bushes mainly Blueberry (Patriot) and Blackcurrant (Big ben). My plot seemed large at first, now it seems too small to fit everything in :shock:
We've found it a great way of keeping fit and having fun.

If you have one tell us about your allotment :thumb:

 

[Frisp]

Dont have an allotment but have a big garden which has lain fallow for years. Used to be a strawberry field before the house was built on the plot. It has a real deep dark loam. I opened up 4 beds which are about 10'x10' each and I built a few raised beds a couple of years back. Al I did with the beds this year was plant tatties to break up / clean the ground. The tatties are quite scabby so that would indicate a alkaline soil. In the raised beds I had a few salad its and bobs some fennel which I planted too early and it bolted, some Swede which are coming along nicely but I see something is at the leaves. My early carrots were great but the late ones never came. My parsnips are simply Mag Fkn Nificent, real healthy dark green foliage like trees I can feel the neck of the root and they are huge... Cant wait to get em roasted..
I have just transplanted my leeks into one of the cleared tattie beds

Im going to open up another bed and have a 5 year rotational plan - summer brassicas, Tatties, roots, winter brassicas, clover / resting. the brassicas should like the limey soil.

Im going to top dress the lot this winter with Seaweed from the shore. Ayrshire tatties were once renown for their flavour as the fields were always dressed with seaweed as a fertilizer.sadly farmers in Ayrshire have stopped this practice and Ayrshire tatties are wattery blobs. I top dressed with seaweed a number of years ago and the whole garden was impressive. slug population was decimated (salt). everything seemed greener and more vivid. and the Taste.........was fan fkn tastic...

 

[Zwickel]

sorry, may be it´s a little bit off topic, but I found it too funny:

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey. He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work as the ground was hard.

His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over.. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love, Papa

A few days later he received a letter from his son.


Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie


At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.


That next day the old man received another letter from his son.

Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie

 

[Frisp]

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[damfoose]

I have a very small gardenn thats getting smaller by the month due to the inevitable growth of the plants / bushes / WEEDS not so many weeds but the plants and bushes seem to have taken a life of their own and shot up this year.

I am pestering the local council for an allotment when one comes free but it may be some time as their is a monster waiting list for one but when one come free itl have the usual vegies thrown in it and a cpl of strings of hops.

 

[Wez]

The waiting lists by us are crazy, est 3 years

So last month we took on a plot on a private section of land (behind a pub)

So far it's been hard work, the plot was full of couch grass & bricks so the first step was digging it over by hand, removed ~ 2 tonne of bricks :shock: fences up now, shed, water butts and compost bins going in this week, then we will be getting the plot sectioned off into it's beds and a few things will be going in to overwinter.

Hops will be going in too at some point.

I've found a great community spirit down there, with everyone helping each other out.

 

[jamesb]

I had one up until last year when I moved house and it was impractical to get too. Quite successful on there too considering I only had it for a couple of seasons.

I'm currrently getting the back garden here in order (was very overgrown) for next season, but I've got a greenhouse full of tomatos and some runner beans and herbs growing.

 

[aeddon]

I got two alltoments, one large at 25m x 25m and a medium at 8m x 25m, both are massive if you tackle/see them as a whole, but as soon as you start planning and putting things together, very quickly you NEED more!!!!

Just in case you didnt know, Blueberrys are lime loving plants so wont go well with the rest of the plants, very very different soil requirments, plant them in pots or a bath.

Some invaluable advice - get lots and lots of gypsum, use max does every year, and cover with tonnes of horse manure and find and use (if you can) local council composting scheme, usualy free for as much as you can take. get the soil covered in largest layer of manure/compost you can and cover for winter.

invest in some black plastic/ground cover/landscaping fabric, keep ground covered. get gypsum and lots of it.

 

[Vossy1]

I got two alltoments, one large at 25m x 25m and a medium at 8m x 25m, both are massive if you tackle/see them as a whole, but as soon as you start planning and putting things together, very quickly you NEED more!!!!

:shock: ...now that's an allotment (25x25)

but as soon as you start planning and putting things together, very quickly you NEED more!!!!

Very wise words :thumb:
I'm after the plot next to mine as I've already run out of space. I want to get 15 fruit bushes in when they're delivered in Nov, 6 blueberry, 3 black currant, 3 red and 3 white.

So far it's been hard work, the plot was full of couch grass & bricks so the first step was digging it over by hand, removed ~ 2 tonne of bricks

:shock: that is unlucky

 

[dandan]

I have 'access' to the parents allotments (two large ones join together)! (beer exchange for land) have my own little plot that is being prepared for hops!!! We have One 15m x 4m Greenhouse, one 10m x 6m polly tunnel, a few sheds.

Plenty of other fruit bushes and trees but these have seemed to turn into jam not wine :x ! and lots of veg beds, we can remain self sufficant on the veg side for nine or 10 months of the year! dad is a big fan of companion planting so flower are among veg and green manures are often seen on some beds over winter.

 

[Wez]

Planted our spring green cabbages (Wheelers Imperial) out today they have been grown from seed at home, the overwintering onion setts are looking good too.

Wintering Garlic and broad beans due to go in in the next 2 weeks (weather dependant).

Oh also fitted the number plaque to the shed

 

[A T]

Nice work Wez

 

[SheyMouse]

I'm on the list for an allotment. 25 in front of me. Approximately 2 years wait.

One thing I am thinking of is the landshare scheme from Hugh Fearnly Wozisname. I remember seeing it on tv last year, and having applied to get an allotment, and still waiting I am considering this.

Here's the link:

http://landshare.channel4.com/

 

[Wez]

We talked about that at our allotments and we all think it's a great idea - go for it!

Our allotments are brand new, well they have not been allotments for 30 years and have had some abuse! I had 2t of bricks in mine so it's nice to be in a group of people who are just starting out, there are 28 of us and we're all becoming good friends.

I've resisted the temptation that many have gone with tho to bollok things in as fast as possible opting to prepare properly for next year, looking forward to the coming months.

Hope you get a plot :thumb:

 

[SheyMouse]

Cheers Wez.

There are a couple of people in the area, one just down the road who are offering their gardens. I'm going to wait until spring to see if they have space. Having just got into brewing, I want to get the hang of that first before having my weekends tied up with preparing beds etc.

 

[Vossy1]

Can't believe how long ago I started this topic :shock: since then I've moved lotties twice and am now settled at the present one since Jan this year. Thought it'd be an idea to share some piccies at this, the busiest time of year weeding
The herb patch, the spuds, and the butterfly protected cabages with beetroot between and celeriac out of shot near camera and broad beans behind


Onions and garlic (winter and summer), asparagus in front of greenhouse, right angled wall of raspberries next to GH

Espalier trained fruit trees, netted currants (various), lots of gooseberries this year


Already had the 1st problem of the year, onion fungus...it looks rife on my plot

 

[PD]

no wonder you aint got time to brew....

You are forgiven my son


Well done on a great looking allotment

 

[dennisking]

Think you need some hop plants V.

 

[graysalchemy]

Think you need some hop plants V.

And what would he do with them hey

Very nice looking allotment V. Wish I had one not that I would have time for one unfortunately but it is my ambition to have my own acre of land to do what I like with.

 

[Vossy1]

Cheers PD ...arf arf arf..A :lol: I can't brew at the mo :x Do you remember the coolant leak that ruined my second batch...well M's had the chillers for modding since TST but he's been mad busy with work so hasn't been able to do them. I'm hoping he will soon as I have 2 liquid yeast that have just gone out of date :pray: