Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Patrick King on March 31, 2008, 21:01:08
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ok i got my plot today ;D it is better than it looks. I get next years rent free if i clean it up. yay ;D
(the area in the red lines is mine. you can see where people have been taking short cuts with the cars.
Shed not mine :( so gona have to look for a shed.
on the reciept it says its a 10 rod plot but i think its bigger. soil is really good under the grass. i was up there for about 5 hours to day shifting some of the grass. The best thing is one of the allotment taps is on my plot ;D.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/plot.jpg)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00073.jpg)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00074.jpg)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00075.jpg)
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so glad it's settled ..just the right time as well..enjoy yourself, a bit at a time ;D
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Enjoy.
I like to draw a plan to give me some Idea of what I want from the plot.
Hope you get some help with the digging.
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It looks like a great plot. Plenty hard work ahead though! Pace yourself.
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Wow! You'll need to take that in easy stages - not too much in one go. Stand back often and admire what you've done (with a glass of something tasty in your hand)
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yeah my dad is going to help shift the stuff. one of the people i meet today said i can borrow his petrol strimmer and rotavator which will be a great help later on.
once the site is cleared im am going to plan whats going where. you bet im gonna be taking a drink down with me. it was really lovly today was able to work till 7pm. hope tomorrows the same.
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Hi,
Looks a good size! - it's amazing what difference a quick attack with a strimmer makes. Good luck and congrats!
;D
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ok been down the lottie to day and dug and forked quite a bit. heres where i am up to.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/plot-1.jpg)
what the most effective way to remove this grass there is few roots and weeds it mostly over-grown grass.
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ok heres the first draft of my design
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/plotsdesign.jpg)
(yellow block is sweet corn)
what do you lot think?
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Firstly I thought I had it bad with my overgrown plot (see my thread) but it is nothing compared to yours. As a newbie myself the best thing I invested in was a rotavator for the day. Cost me £35 +VAT. I did clear as much as I could first though. And as my plot is an old allotment from many a year ago the soil broke up really well.
Now once again I am a newbie to this so please all don't shout at my advice but I woudl have though it would have been better to section your plot off into root, brassicas and others and have your specific strips within these sections. That way you can rotate easier. Hoep I'm not talking to much rubbish.
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I never of looking at my allotment like that. really good idea!!!!
just gone onto google map and done the same type of allotment planning.
your plans look good!
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I'd agree with heyho. I'd divide into areas for umbellifers, brassicas, legumes, alliums, salad + misc and potatoes so that it's easier to rotate. I think about what I like to eat and can eat a lot of. E.g. in your plan, there wouldn't be enough potatoes for me and you have no beans (runner, french, broad), salads, fruit, chillies, peppers. I started off with 2 full rows of beetroot and have eventually figured out that I actually only need a quarter of a row.
Also bigger beds with fewer paths gives more planting space.
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heyho i though i had to remove all the grass be for i could use one of those. the ground under it is perfect so i have been told by many people who have come to see it.
i didn't think about dividing them into those category's. can you help list what i have in my plan into the category's please. im not to sure which go where. (newbie)
when i go down there this afternoon i will measure the plot so i can sort it better.
The plot is a weird shape, but im sure with the help of this forum i will get a good layout. Also all planting is going to be in the ground not raised beds.
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How about getting hold of old paving slabs and when your plot is clear lay paths which would divide growing area for each type of crop...eg. make cross through your plot with slabs. Then you have one area for potatoes, one for brassicas=cabbages,brussels, broccoli, cauli etc... One plot for onions,leeks,salads, herbs., carrots and fourth for sweetcorn, peas, beans...
Then each year you just swap the plot in rotation...
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How about getting hold of old paving slabs and when your plot is clear lay paths which would divide growing area for each type of crop
Why waste all that growing space. Just a narrow walkway between crops should be suffient.
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Why waste all that growing space. Just a narrow walkway between crops should be suffient.
[/quote]
Well, for pair of wellies and wheelbarrow 1 1/2 foot wide path is not much loss for the space...and if it stops getting stuck in mud in winter I think it well worth it. How narrow is your walk ways...?
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Why waste all that growing space. Just a narrow walkway between crops should be suffient.
[/quote]
How narrow is your walk ways...?
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Don't really waste the space on walkways, just the spacing between rows. Why would you want a wheelbarrow on an allotment that was full of crops.. Stuck in the mud? If it is that bad I would not be walking on it.
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If you work clay soil you do need paths :)
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If you work clay soil you do need paths :)
I do and I don't.
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Well you must get very muddy boots and compaction of your soil :)
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Well you must get very muddy boots and compaction of your soil :)
As I have a wife, they get cleaned, but the ground is not as compacted as it would be under slabs.
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a good plan, patrick, I live just round the corner, I pop and see you and your plot on fri or sat if you about?
rgds, tonybloke
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Well you must get very muddy boots and compaction of your soil :)
As I have a wife, they get cleaned, but the ground is not as compacted as it would be under slabs.
Mmmmmmmmm I need time to consider a suitably cutting reply
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a good plan, patrick, I live just round the corner, I pop and see you and your plot on fri or sat if you about?
rgds, tonybloke
Yeah i should be down there most of Friday and Saturday. it will be good to see you there.
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Think you are doing a stirling job patrick and many congratulations on what is a really massive plot, which should give you many hours of hard work, and personal satisfaction and hopefully a bumper crop or two!!
(http://www.animated-gifs.eu/leisure-gardeners/0034.gif)
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tonybloke - you've got to turn your picture around - got a crick in my neck trying to see what it was. ;)
twinkletoes
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now got myself a petrol strimmer/brushcutter only £30 i saw it advertised on the allotment gate. gonna go up to day and have go. will post updated pictures today.
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now got myself a petrol strimmer/brushcutter only £30 i saw it advertised on the allotment gate. gonna go up to day and have go. will post updated pictures today.
Sounds like a bargain, make sure you get some goggles. A tip I learnt years ago with a strimmer is to wear a sacking apron to take the force out of those little hard stones that flick up at the same height as your family jewels.
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Search on crop rotation for information (there's some good articles on here as well). I might have got this link from this site:-
http://www.myallotments.com/CROP%20ROTATION.html (http://www.myallotments.com/CROP%20ROTATION.html)
As for rotavating with all that grass there's some school of thought that says it isn't an issue and everything gets mulched in and you can pick up the roots, weeds etc as you finishing preparing it. Personally I think to clear as much as possible seems a more sensible idea.
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ok, just back from the lottie. been strimming all the stuff i could see ;D. meet tonybloke today, nice chap. gave me some advise about how do my plot. i also got some dinner of a nice lady from the plot over the path from me, which had fresh chips from her plot. lovly
heres some picture of the site after strimming it. tomorrow im gona rake then mark out where i want my bed then dig them out. thanks tony.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00077.jpg)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00076.jpg)
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Hi Patrick
Are you a pilot in your spare time? How do you get your aerial photos?
I am nosy! Tell you what though you have a lovely plot!
I am in agreement with the others though you need less footpaths between beds and you will need less bed per vegetable! Some you will find you will only need 6feet length and you will be still overloaded and sick of the sight of them.
Sometimes it is as well just to work out roughly how many of which particular variety you enjoy eating and have lots of that and less of some things which are only occasional choices.
I never plant huge amounts of potatoes as my reasoning is that they are dirt cheap at the farms £5 for a huge sack and to me the ground is more useful to use on something that will cost a lot more to buy in the shops - if you get my drift!
(I know what I am talking about - I think?!)
Good luck anyway - it looks a super plot and you are really doing well with the clearing!
Old Bird ;D
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thanks,
for the aerial picture i use http://www.maps.live.com
yeah after talking to tony i am going to replan the design to 1path 2beds 1 path and so on.
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tonybloke - you've got to turn your picture around - got a crick in my neck trying to see what it was. ;)
twinkletoes
how do i do that?
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there you go tony. (right click, save picture as)
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/tony.png)
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ow yeah im picking a shed up tomorrow from a friend who getting rid of it as he has bigger one and because it has a leak.(easy fix) cupa tea in the shed ;D
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shed is up now, didnt get much else up as it took most of the moving panel by panel form my mates to my plot. i have made a frame for a window which i am going to cut into the shed. need to look over my plot while having a cuppa dont i ;D just gota wait now to see if any complains about where it is place. any ways back up there tomorrow to do a couple more beds. now that i have marked a few out.
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Sorry this is really off topic, but Ace does your missus do moonlighting? Got my boots really dirty today and no-one to clean them for me! ;) ;)
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How did you get that close with live search patrickking04 ? this is the closest I can get to mine....
(http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a85/mickwall/plot1.jpg)
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wheres your plot i will have go then if i am able to get a better picture i will tell you how i did it.
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Is this any better?
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/micksplot.jpg)
if so you have to click 3D and birds eye view, in this picture you can go closer.
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God my plot looks a mess even from that far away, (mine is the one after the one with the greenhouse) thanks I'll have a play.
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just tried this, the pictures are at least 4 yrs old..it's still got the old club and our old plot :(
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The picture of my allotment is a few years old, no idea how patrickking04 got so close to his plot I can't get any closer than the picture he posted.
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call me patrick. all i do is just keep zooming till it stops. thats it nothing else to it.
mine
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/newpic.jpg)
yours
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/micksplot1.jpg)
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maybe it's our computer as it's very blurred :)
yours is a lovely shape, are you putting a fence up so's they can't take short cuts?
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hey, yeah i am putting up posts then ropes or wire to stop people going on my plot.
the posts in the red square are what im putting in.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/posts.jpg)
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The plot so far
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00086.jpg)
Where all the brain work is done
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00087.jpg)
My handy work. a window is needed in a shed. so i built one.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00088.jpg)
The view from my shed
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00089.jpg)
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;D patrick... you are doing such a grand job... Your allotment is looking a real treat, coming on very well after all your hard work!!!! I also see you have your priority's in the right order... a shed to shelter and make a cuppa (with all mod cons!!) and look through your shed picture window and admire your handy work!! And so you should!!! Thank you for keeping us posted on your progress, its really nice to be able to see how your efforts have improved things so much!!
WELL DONE!!!!!
(http://www.animated-gifs.eu/sports-trophies/0021.gif) (http://www.animated-gifs.eu/sports-cheerleaders/0028.gif)
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wow, patrick, all that in such a short time..here's to the next couple of months ;D
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Well done Patrick you have really done so well so much work in such a short time. I know how much effort you have put in. Great way to keep fit eh! ;D ;) :)
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Looking good my man, looking good. ;) I bet people are miffed about not being able to take the short cut. The plot must of been vacant a while looking at the tyre marks that ran through it.
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How do you keep the shed so tidy? ;D
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cheers for the comments.
The shed has only been up for a few days, thats why its clean give it time. lol ;D
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Wish my bloke was as motivated in our garden :'( :'( :'( :'( lol.
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I can't think of a better word than impressed. It's so inspiring to see your progress. Can't wait to see it at the end of the season. Don't over-do it though. Tried the map thingy but our bit goes all blurry - don't think it's been done yet. Maddening because a couple of roads above and it is crystal clear. Oh well.
Twinkletoes
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Hi Patrick. your doing a good job with your allotment keep it up. I tried your map site for my allotment but its not a up to date picture how come! your 1st picture shows how it was when you got it and the 2nd after you have done some digging? my picture isn't as clear as yours and the map doesnt show the 2 symbols on the lower left whatever they are (under rotate) can you help. compo
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The plot so far
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00086.jpg)
Where all the brain work is done
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00087.jpg)
My handy work. a window is needed in a shed. so i built one.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00088.jpg)
The view from my shed
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/DSC00089.jpg)
huge plot but looks good soil, keep up the hard work and by the end of summer it will be all worth while/