Topic: NEW ALLOTMENT

[mememe72]

HI to all.  My son (10) has just been given an allotment,he has been helping out on the school allotment but  i know nothing about, he has had a shed for xmas (yes a 10 year olds wanted a shed), sean and his dad have just finished digging the plot over and now we have know idea what to do next.  We have put a pototo order in with the association not sure when we will receive them and we have purchased some seeds (mental note forgot brussells!) but we have no idea what we need to do with the soil, or what we should be doing this time of year.  Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you in advance
Debbie, Neil and Sean

[sarah]

how exciting!  getting the plot dug over is great and that will mean you can prep the ground for crops. i would order some manure and while you are waiting for it to arrive i would go to the library and get a couple of books out about veg growing and have a look around this site and gen up a bit on crop rotation; sowing times; propogation etc.  make a list of all the things youwant to grow and find out what requirements they have and just go for it. in the first couple of years (well all the years really) youwill have successes and failures. sometimes it will be because you did something wrong and sometimes it will be for other reasons such as inclement weather etc.  your potatoes should arrive in the next month or so and you can chit them if you want to.  then pop them in come april and hey presto.  there is so much advice out there and anyone you ask will be happy to help you, but inthe first instance i would advise a little reading and plannind. . good luck! :D

[ceres]

Welcome to the site!  It's great your son has got the gardening bug so young,

Before you order manure, do a search on this site for aminopyralid and also Google it.  There's a lot of contaminated manure stockpiled at the moment just waiting for unsuspecting gardeners.

[mememe72]

hi we were told by the association not to bother with manure but just to use some mushroom compost through it dont know if this is good advise or not.  There were some plants already in the plot there was some potatoes, brussells, broad beans, spring onions, kale, cabbage and sunflowers and raspberry canes.  the only things that we have kept are some sunflower seeds, the raspberry canes and some broad beans.  The shed is going up on sat hopefully, and we have some rhubarb that needs planting.  The other thing is we have lots of strawberry plants that have been taken from some plants we where given.  What do I need to be doing with these as they all outside on some staging and not sure should be have them covered or not?

Thank you in advance
Debbie, Neil and Sean

[asbean]

Welcome to A4A me3, what an exciting time you and your son are going to have!

How about drawing up a detailed plan of the plot, and making a list of your favourite fruit and veg (there is no point in growing stuff none of you like).  Keep it simple at first, an allotment is a long term commitment. and you learn by experience and every year is different.

It's a good idea to get a book on veg - the Hessayon one is excellent, tho not very organic in his ideas, but gives you an excellent idea of how close to plant stuff, seed size, potential problems etc.  There is a wealth of knowledge on this site (use the search tool!) or google and never be afraid to ask!

Oh yes, and keep a diary - so you;ll know when you sowed the seed and when to expect it to come up! And it's a good way to keep track of what you're growing from year to year.

TeeGee, one of the A4A members has a fantastic website - The Gardeners Almanac - http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Indexes/index.htm

 :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[caroline7758]

Hi, and welcome! How great that you have this project with your son! Some of the best advice will probably come from the other plot owners at your site, as they will know what grows well there, although if they are all oldies they may poo-poo some ideas! Whereabouts are you, by the way, because location can make a difference?

[manicscousers]

hiya, mememe, welcome to the site  ;D
what a brilliant thing to have a 10 year old with his own plot, our 10 yr old grandson likes to come to pick and sow but isn't keen on digging  ;D
if you haven't done it, mark out where your paths are so you don't walk on the growing space, have fun and don't do too much at once, our strawberies are already in but, if the ground is ok, I think you've got until the end of march to plant them,  :)

[cornykev]

Hi me3 and welcome, mushroom compost is meant to be very good, if its available and reasonaby priced go for it, a guy I know covers the plot with it in winter and leaves it and reckons the soil is great when its time to plant, a book is a must, check out amazon and what else ohh yes, good luck.  ;D ;D ;D

[mememe72]

thank you for all the good wishes, we live in derby, and the asociation sells huge bags of mushroom compost for £2.00 not sure if thats a good price or not they also sell growmore and grow organic which is a bit more expensive i think they said the soil is a clay soil so not sure what we need to put down for that and as the shop is only open on a sunday morning for an hour its a bit hard at the moment to ask.  I have purchased a book called Vegatable growing month by month by John harrison with which we received 5 packets of sutton seeds for free to get us started and we have brought some discount packets from various places but as we are just starting out and have not got a clue I think I might buy some plants as well just in case!!!  Also my son has said he would like some gooseberries if anyone knows of a good easy starter I would be most greatful.

[nilly71]

Welcome to the forum ;)

Depending on the size of the bags of mushroom compost dependes on if it's a good price or not. I can fill any size bag for 60p near me, but i do have to fill it myself and get the inside of my car dirty.

As advised before, mark out your paths and only walk on these.
Start/build a compost heap.
Make sure you plan where your shed and fruit trees/bushes will go, so they do not shade your plot.

Homebase are doing nice fruit trees for £9.99 and B&Q are doing fruit bushes including goosberries for 3 for £10.

Don't bother with books, unless you get headaches from looking at the pc screen. all the info you need is on here and the internet.

Neil

Neil

[Deb P]

Welcome mememe72  ;D, I am also in Derby at Littleover Lane Allotments.

I paid about £60 for 50 large bags of mushroom compost this year from a mushroom farm near Ashbourne, so depending on the size of the bags you have access to that may not be a bad deal! Which site are you on?

[mememe72]

we have an allotment at field lane in alvaston, we have a half plot which we measured as 25ft wide and about 100 ft long give or take so not even sure how much we will need or how much you use but i hope to find this out from the shop on site.  We do not have transport so it hard to get thing there even though we only live about 10 mins away.

[mummybunny]

Just wanted to say congrats on getting a plot and all the best. I think its fantastic that your son is enjoying the joys of veg growing.

xxx lucy

[kt.]

Welcome to the forum.  Look and listen to what other plot holders around you do.  Take their advice if you like it,  if not then do your own thing.  Everyone has their own methods.  Plenty of advice here, but as previously said - a good allotment book is a valuable tool.  Good luck with your plot. ;)

[Peasticks]

As an amateur myself I have found the Grow Your Own Veg and Cook Your Own Veg books by Carol Klein very useful, I know they wont tell more experienced members of this forum anything new but they are well written and easy to understand for those of us who dont know what they are doing  ;D - WH Smiths have them on sale at the moment for £5 apparently.

The New Book of Self Sufficency by John Seymour is also good

[gardening jan]

hi I 'm a new allotment holder too. Its all very exciting, I think it's a great time to become a allotment holder we can plan, plant and harvest exactly what we want. I wish i had a family member who is as enthusiastic as your granson. My lot don't even enjoy eating veg let alone growing it.. I hope to change them!

[saddad]

Hi Jan, Debbie, Neil and Sean...
Like DebP I'm on Littleover Lane as well...  :)