Topic: To plant or not to plant

[rewsal]

Hi all,
        I never would have guessed I’d be posting to an allotment bb ,just goes to show you can never say never.
This is a great place to gain information I was hooked on it so I joined. look forward to getting to know you all better soon.
Well I'm a complete rooky at this allotment game but very keen, I’ve had my plot for about 5 weeks now slowly clearing it and have rough dug about half a dozen 3m x1.2 m beds and two larger beds too break down over winter.
but I so want to get Raspberries and rhubarb in for next year (well for year after crop wise  I guess ) but the bindweed and couch grass I’ve missed are waiting to get me. I think this is my first crisis, all digging and nothing else. It’s still the best thing I’ve done in ages it does seem to suck you in to a whole new world.
Is it the same for all new plot holders this first autumn and winter ? Any pitfalls i should watch out for ?

Regards to All
Rewsal

[Hot_Potato]

Welcome rewsal.....I too am a new member of this fabulous group.....had my lottie nearly 2 weeks now....like you I'm busy clearing and digging.....masses of couch grass......I'm also hoping to grow rhubarb a.s.a.p. and hoping to obtain the odd crown or two maybe from some fellow lottie-holders.....(as suggested by some of these wonderful members)......it does multiply and people might want to pass some on....keeping my fingers crossed anyway.

My plot has an area in the middle with very sad neglected fruit trees and soft fruit bushes and I can just make out amongst the dead stuff some old raspberry canes....whether or not they can be resurrected I don't know but if not....will start of scratch.

Isn't it a wonderful feeling when your working away up there on the patch.....planning all the things you want to do and hopefully be able to grow?

Happy digging - Hot Potato

[Mrs Ava]

Hi and welcome rewsal, I adopted my plot almost 3 months ago and absolute adore it!  The weeds weren't toooooo bad, until I came across a nice healthy patch of mares tail! hmmm.  But, I am not a weed worrier, I just oik them out and don't get up tight.  Mind you, ask me again in the spring when all my little seedlings start getting bullied by these thugs!  I have gardened for as long as I can remember, learnt  everything I know by my gramps and am still learning all the time thanks to everyone on this site!  Happy days!!   ;D

[merv]

Hiya rewsal and welcome  :)

Don't be in too much of a rush.  Well cleared land now will save heartache later. Take joy in a well dug and weeded piece of ground and then you'll really reap the benifit of it when you grow.

Rhubarb doesn't need to be planted 'til March and by that time I'm sure you'll have made friends who will only be delighted to give you presents.  We all keep seed well in excess of what we are going to plant....so I'm sure you'll get lots.

Please, take it slow and easy and enjoy it all.

[rewsal]

Hi, thanks Hot_Potato,EmmaJane and Merv for your replies please keep me informed of your progress. You are right Merv when you say to take it slowly as it will save time and effort in the long run but i so want to start growing things. Still if I'm honest I,ve done alot to get as far as I have . The plot had not been worked for 3 yrs and was as hard as concrete with the dry summer we've had and pretty over grown. I have all the major nasties blindweed,horsetail ,couch grass etc so clearing is slow ,but people are very friendly ie have just planted at home 13 blackurrent hardwood cutting another plotholder let me take .Another bonus is the cooking apple tree from which i got 70 lbs of apples, so thats the rent paid back. I have too say that I'm hooked good and proper. Just had a result got 12 windows to use as clouches and have been offered a free dismantled greenhouse if I go collect it ,so things looking up !

Rewsal

[campanula]

Hiya,
I have also just started a lottie - I thought I would just spend this year getting my soil in good heart and have made raised beds using gravel boards and stakes. I have had to get topsoil in as the soil was non-existant - just a sort of sunken area 5m x 15m - hence 6 tonnes of topsoil!
What's more, i work as a landscaper so the lottie is sort of a busman's holiday but we do get leftovers from jobs. To the other site users, i actually laid turf between the beds - again, left over from a job. Having a pick-up means being able to get whacking great loads of manure so my day now consists of working in someone else's garden all day then rushing back to my (tiny) garden at home, then leaping on my bike and nipping down to my allotment for a final grub about. Am saving for a shed (so I can move in!!) as a refuge from teenagers.
Anyway, you have some time to take things easy and plan for next year and there is still some time to even get a few crops in. Enjoy your gardening. Isn't this site terrif?

[rewsal]

Well Campanula, That does sound like a busmans holiday,but I wish I had access to leftovers   :D.I hope to have raised beds too in the end but treated timber is so expensive it will just have to wait and be done as funds allow.Hope you get your refuge soon.Did you see the article in Kitchen gardener mag about loss of top soil from allotments seems like your plots suffered the same fate in the past,6 tons of top soil is alot,that must have taken some shifting.

regards
Rewsal