Topic: A great diary of an allotment

[sandersj89]

Thought you might like to see this>

http://www.moonbells.freeserve.co.uk/allotment/allotment.html

Jerry

[Kerry]

i DO like reading diaries like that, and thanks to the people on this site who have theirs-i suppose i am just nosey!

[wardy]

 :)  I can recommend a very funny diary which will strike a chord with all fledgling allotment holders

Have a look at it at www.linkpoint.co.uk/allotment

Wardy

[Bun]

Hay Wardy, did they carry on, or did he just stop writing?
I'd love to read some more. :)

[wardy]

Hi Bun  :)

I think he must just have stopped writing the diary. It's very good isn't it?  It really made me laugh, especially the bit about never having cultivated anything but his own nasal hair  ;D       I could actually picture him trying to hammer the post in!

Wardy

[newchangeling]

These are both really great sites - it's lovely to read people's experiences.

It is a shame that the Yorkshire one hasn't been updated for some time (but then, if I were that close to the Black Sheep Brewery a web site would not be my priority either!!!)

[moonbells]

This is quite embarrassing - to go hunting during my lunch break for allotment links and discover my own diary recommended up there...
<blush>
I only started it so my Dad could see what I'd been up to!
Thanks for the feedback and compliments! - I'm not too good at fancy frames etc, but if anyone can tell me what info/things I could add to it to make it better, please do!

[Sarah-b]

Hi there Moonbells -  at last someone else from my Chesham allotments has discovered this site. Welcome to allotments for all!

I'm on the same side as you a bit further up. Think I ran into you at the last AGM.

Sarah.

[moonbells]

Hi Sarah! Yes I remember you :) <wave>

Are you going to join the allotments' working party on the 12th? I have said I'll try and turn up though I'm not sure how much digging I'll manage! Have to admit that it's the best chance we've got of getting some of the more dilapidated plots back into cultivation and attracting more newbies.
 
Anyone here been part of a working party to clear plots?
 
Apparently there's only 18 left to be taken... more of them up near you I suspect.  And they're hoping to get them all in cultivation by the end of the summer. 

Meanwhile, on with the sowing - I have parsnips up now!

I'm going to have to collect URLs of other blogs and list them I think - there are quite a lot of new ones up there now and I too like seeing how other folk cope with their plots and try to encourage them.  This is my 5th season - amazing where the time's gone!

Best wishes
moonbells

[Sarah-b]

Pretty sure the working party is on the 13th - the sunday.
I'll really try and go - but have 2 small children and a mother just getting out of hospital on Friday - so am wary of over-commiting my time. But anyway I will really try.

Yes it is really good that they have managed to let out so many of the plots  - we'll just have to see how people get on. It is a huge job taking on a neglected plot and you get no support from the council. I think that is something else the working party could do - help struggling newbie's who have taken on really messy plots - anyway, one step at a time.

It's only our 2nd yr at Cameron rd (previously had a plot in Leeds which was much more fertile). Hoping for a few more succeses this year.
Have you got your parsnips under fleece or something - blimey - I haven't even started sowing yet. Just managed to get th shallots in before the snow started last week.

sarah

[Mothy]

Hi folks,

Moonbells, I've just been peeking at your diary and it's a great source of encouragement for a newbie like me just starting my 1st season on a neglected plot. Please keep it up and thanks for making the effort!!

TimJ

[moonbells]

Sarah -  Shallots are in modules in the back garden (probably buried under the latest snowfall, but they'll be fine) and the parsnips are in loorolls of compost inside after someone mentioned they ought to go in about now (Never grown them before!). I'm desperately trying to finish draftproofing a polycarbonate upright cold frame kit (it was a factory second so has ill-fitting glazing but saved me 2/3 the list price) so I can bung them and the sweet peas outside, but at the moment they are germinating happily at 12 degrees C.  The 13th? Oh... must check. The latest Grower seems to have vanished so I'll go hunt!

TimJ - thanks. The first season always seems hardest - though with my new half plot I've started as I mean to go on instead of trying to work it out as I go - this forum looks to be very good at helping newbies to avoid the pitfalls.  As you can probably see from my rambles, I didn't avoid all of them...and I'm still trying new stuff I haven't a clue how to deal with!
 Start a diary (in whatever medium you prefer) of your own. I guess most gardeners do. That way you know what you sowed when, and whether it was too early or late, so the next year you can time it better.  I note the date daffodils open in my garden, and work sowings from that.

Believe me, the first veg you harvest will be fantastic :-)

How many folk here have a notebook with planting dates and rotations in??? Or take photos?

moonbells