Author Topic: OK, so I have my new allotment.... (Read 3306 times)

Svea · « **on:** February 12, 2005, 12:00:08 »

...now what??? help.

can you nice people tell me:

- what kind of tools should i buy? i currently have NONE.
- what kind of stuff should i put in the ground NOW, as in this or next weekend? the site has been worked well, and manured in the autumn (just spoke to the previous lottie owner who is moving to a different plot). i kind of know where stuff has been grown before so can work out some kind of rotation plan (i hope)
- how much space do i need for soft fruit? i have one bed along the fence which is kinda small (about a foot wide or so) - dont know if this would be enough? that is where i would want to put bushes....

any other ideas for someone starting from zero?
many thanks

svea ~ dead chuffed and excited! :D

NattyEm · « **Reply #1 on:** February 12, 2005, 12:02:52 »

No advice sorry (just starting out myself!) Just wanted to say congratulations ;D

Carrie · « **Reply #2 on:** February 12, 2005, 14:33:54 »

Svea - I think you are a fellow southeast Londoner - try going to the council tip at Manor Place off Walworth Road - they have got bags of compost at a subsidised price 4x40litre bags for a tenner -it is lovely stuff - I got some on Wednesday and am digging it into my lovely heavy clay!! if your soil is anything like mine you will need to give it a bit of "lightening up"

Svea · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2005, 16:09:33 »

carrie,

how come you know about my 'local' tip? ;)
wanna PM me the location of your allotment/garden?

the soil is in good condition i think - wont know for sure until i dig in my spade for the first time :)
still working on a planting plan and checking seed catalogues - so far local 'garden' centres havent had a great seed selection so may rely on mail order.

bought a hand trowel, hand fork and dibber to start me off with. would second hand tools be a good thing to look for - if so, where? anything particualrly for a lady to use (not too heavy etc)??

cheers
svea

northener · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2005, 17:37:19 »

Hia try alan romans for seeds they are only 50p a packet order over a fivers worth free p +p wwwalanromans.co.uk

cookie · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2005, 17:53:44 »

hi, another newby here, get yourself a decent fork to start with! I have put in broad beans, garlic and early peas. Don,t know if I can put in shallots yet, as the ground is still very wet. Lucky you to have a good plot to startoff with. i am digging like mad, loads of couch grass to remove . Other half wants to spray and then rotavate, but in am not convinced! good luck !!!

Roy Bham UK · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2005, 17:54:47 »

Hi Svea and good luck with your lottie, if you hurry you may pick a few bargains up at your local B&Q as they are or have been doing garden tools at half price, I picked up a nice hoe for £3.21 my local B&Q had rakes hoe's and other tools, also someone here said they bought bags of seed potatoes for a quid :o

thistle · « **Reply #7 on:** February 12, 2005, 18:04:46 »

Congrats !

Essential tools: fork, hoe, rake, trowel, watering can, kneeler. Spade if you're into digging. Not so much a tool, but equally essential IMO, is a good veg book. Dr Hessayon 'Vegetable and Herb Expert' or Joy Larkcom 'Grow your own Vegatables' are both excellent.

Things you could plant now: garlic, shallots, fruit canes, rhubarb crowns. Can sow broad beans and early peas (round-seeded variety) in situ.

TULIP-23 · « **Reply #8 on:** February 12, 2005, 18:25:14 »

Hoi Svea :)

New lottie :o congratulations Hope you have lots of Sunshine and Pleasure ;D

Good Luck with the tool Search.

Greetings Take Care Tulip-23 Mike

Moggle · « **Reply #9 on:** February 12, 2005, 19:44:57 »

Congrats Svea, I am fairly new too (October), but will have a go at giving advice:

I found a fork a lot better for digging clay than a spade, I seemed to get better leverage. I have a spade to back that up, but use that for edging beds and moving around soil that is already broken up. Have bought a rake for levelling and making drills/trenches in soil. Mr M picked up a dutch hoe for me last weekend at a boot sale, a little rusty but okay. My spade was second hand too.

I have planted Garlic and shallots, and even chucked a few onion sets in as it has been so mild, just 10 or so. During the week I will be putting in Broad Beans and early/hardy peas, and will plant a few rocket potatoes under some fleece.

Can reccomend Kings seeds, they are pretty cheap, the Organic catalogue seems to be reasonably priced too and benefits a good cause. I also got a Dobies catalogue a few weeks ago, and got free seeds with it, so I have a good opinion of them based on that alone :) Wilkos are great for cheap seeds and other stuff too - cheap strawbs for your fruit bed if you like them :)

As to how much space for soft fruit... How much do you like soft fruit? Are you like me and would sell your firstborn for a bucket of ripe raspberries? Then you'd better make a big fruit bed. Strawbs don't take up that much space I don't think. Raspberries I think need a 80cm - 1m wide row. www.kenmuir.co.uk has loads of pdf files with growing advice for soft fruit.

Good luck, take loads of photos and tell us all how you're getting on ;D

Svea · « **Reply #10 on:** February 12, 2005, 19:51:38 »

well, as for the fruit, i would like to grow gooseberries, raspberries and one or two hybrids (loganberry? tayberry? that kind of thing). the bed is about four metres long but only about a foot deep between the wooden fence and a row of concrete pavers. i know this is where i would like the bushes to go, but i think i may have to move the pavers by half a foot or so :( which will be heavy work.

i dont know about strawberries yet - i do like them but am a little concerned as to how hard they are to grow? slugs, pests and diseases, i.e. how maintenance intense are they?
and how many plants for some kind of crop for two people?

must study my veg book (joy larkcom) but i dont think she talks about fruit???

svea

Kerry · « **Reply #11 on:** February 13, 2005, 12:29:27 »

can recommend the loganberry, Svea. inherited one with my garden. it was 'untrained' and all over the place. after putting up wires and pruning properly (very simple), it now crops very heavily around late July.

Dirkdigger · « **Reply #12 on:** February 13, 2005, 13:44:50 »

Hi Ya Svea,
I'm also a beginner with no equipment. Decided to start off cheap and bought a 7 piece set from Argos. (spade, fork, rake, hoe, edging half moon and a hand trowel and fork) Its all stainless and only cost less than £30 for the lot.
Seeds I have purchased from my local Wilkinsons store.
It seems as expensive as you want to make it to start with, so we have just decided to go cheap for starters and learn from our many many mistakes.
;)

Carrie · « **Reply #13 on:** February 13, 2005, 14:08:56 »

Hi Svea

My allotment is in Nunhead on the Stuart Road site so Manor Place is my local tip too!!

Looking at other posts on the site Aldi seem to be doing very cheap raspberry canes and gooseberry bushes - there is one down on the Old Kent Road so not far for you to travel - I'm heading off there tomorrow to check it out - it's half term next week so I am off with the girls - so lots of allotment time is planned?

Carrie

Svea · « **Reply #14 on:** February 13, 2005, 17:42:51 »

thanks folks for your suggestions.

dirk, we have an argos round the corner so will check it out :)

carrie, have located the aldi (and also the lidl) - not too far to walk from us. we have sold our car two weeks ago so now we have to walk everywhere. our site is on the aylesbury road - owned by the church not the council. just pure luck we live next door otherwise we'd never known.
we are both working full time so allotment time is evenings/weekends. not evenings atm obviously, as it's dark them. if i can drag my sorry a*s out of bed early i might to some tidying in the morning before heading off to work. hmm, maybe that's wishful thinking though ;)
let me know about any offers from the aldi though, please :)

have just been round there taking my time, checking the size, and what has been grown in the beds previously. some of it is guesswork but by and large i will be able to rotate sensibly :) the plot is roughly split in thirds for the three main groups, plus a bed along the edge which i have earmarked for fruit. it's actually about 2 ft wide by, uhm, 40ft long? (my own shoes, not necessarily standard feet there ;))
the whole plot is 22ft by 40 ft - a good size i think. two compost bins (plastic) are standing about, there is also the left overs of two permanenet compost bins (wooden pallet stuff) in one corner but i may get rid of those and replace with a shed in due course. one side of the plot borders against a house wall - gets lots of sun. i know it will be a little prone to drying out, but i think it's perfect for tomatoes and other heat lovers.

i have not one but three rhubarb plants (plant clumps more like) - what can i plant close by? is there anything rhubrab doesnt like to get into bed with? ;)

cheerio
svea

Carrie · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2005, 13:17:58 »

Hi Svea

Don't bother with the trip to Aldi - I guess they think those of us in central London won't want to grow anything other than flowers - they only had primulas for sale and I got some very blank looks when I asked about raspberry canes

Carrie

okycoky · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2005, 16:07:29 »

Hey Svea,
Good luck with the allotment. Managed to rent one 3/4 years ago now and it's the best thing i've done in years. The size of the plot was a bit daunting when I first started digging so now there's three of us sharing. For tools I just bought cheapish basics - fork, trowel, spade, rake, hoe, watering can - from Wilkinsons. I've bought a lot of seeds from there too, but for more interesting things I've searched the web. Such as asparagus, which I highly recommend if you can wait a couple of years! And "walking stick" kale. This year I might have a bash at spaghetti sqash, or whatever it's called.
Anyway, all the best. ENJOY!

Svea · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2005, 16:16:46 »

Carrie, thanks for the info on ALDI :(

are you after fruit canes? i am looking at the ken muir website - interesting stuff, but they always come in fives. i dont think i want more than two per species - anyone fancy sharing an order?

thanks okydoky - i am not so much daunted as excited but i am sure i have forgotten something...;) plenty of time to panic later, i am sure.

aquilegia · « **Reply #18 on:** February 14, 2005, 16:17:30 »

The tools I use most are:

fork (make sure you get one that comes up to your hip for comfortable leaning on!)
narrow trowel (for digging out deep rooted weeds between plants)
hoe
rake
secatures/knife

Check out local papers, car boot sales etc for second hand tools - much cheaper and often better quality than new.

If you only want a few fruit canes, check out woolworths - I got four raspberry canes for £2 and they had Tayberries too (I was tempted, but I'm not sure if I have the room as I only have a little garden).

good luck!

Svea · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2005, 16:38:01 »

woolworths?
i thought they only stock chocolates and cards.....
alright, i'll go check them out :)
thanks for the pointer

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Author Topic: OK, so I have my new allotment.... (Read 3306 times)