Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: Petra on September 14, 2005, 16:56:55
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Well, Ive been dithering for the last week or so as to whether to take the plunge and get an allotment. Ive been to see one today and am going for it. I was originally going to have a half plot but the reckless side of me has taken over and Ive gone for a full one!
Im so excited but a novice so please bear with me as I will no doubt start to ask the most stupid of questions over the foreseeable future!
Im really impressed with the site, I feel like Im joining a secret society!!!
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Hi Petra!!
Its not a secret society, although when I blether on to my friends about it they behave as if I have joined the Masons!!
I got my plot in June, so know how exciting it is...well done you for getting a full plot....I have one and already worry about having enough space when all my grand plans finally work out!!
Welcome, and enjoy!!
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Hi Petra,nice to see you on this site, dont worry about asking questions, we all do, enjoy your plot, try to take pictures from the first time you started working, plenty to read in the different pages,
all the best
windy :D
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How did you find out about this 'secret site' I was googling to find out about carpeting a lounge ;D. I bet they wished it was secret when I logged on.
Come on everybody tell us how you found out.
There will be a free tip on how to conquer weeds as a prize for the most original answer.
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Welcome to the club - have you gone through the initiation yet, the goat doesn't bite honest - or is that my other club ?
I was googling for red spider mite when I stumbled across this site. I still don't post much, but read a lot.
My OH and friends just shake their heads sadly when they see me on here and generally pass some comment about flat caps, pigeons and whippets, stereotypes are alive and kicking here in Gateshead !!
You'll be glad you got a full plot, there's nothing worse than running out of space and you don't have to do it all at once.
We all ask "stupid" questions, but there's always someone here who knows the answer. Enjoy your plot ;D
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No secret about the A4A no membership, no signing in, no credentials needed and no worries about stupid questions, as I hold the record and will not be beaten ::) ;D
You are now entering the most exciting part of allotmenteering, what with all the questions and what to do where to start, fire away I will still learn something here. ;) Welcome aboard ;D
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Welcome Petra!
I was pointed this way by another member when I was posting on another, much less fun, sight! ;D
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Welcome Petra
The only stupid question is the unasked one.
Search engine looking for an answer on tomatoes, strange thing is I found answers to questions that it never occurred to me to ask. Great site.
Regards
MikeB
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Well Ive picked the plot now.....had a choice of 8. Its a bit overgrown to say the least at the back of the plot, mainly by bindweed and there seems to be a lovely crop of hollyhocks at the front with a magnificent pampas grass. Itching to get going but the treasurers away and it all got a bit complicated!There is a meeting on the 2nd and I hand ove my fees then, get my key and away we go.
Plenty of bed-time reading til then on allotments/vegetables/weeds........ :D
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My OH and friends just shake their heads sadly when they see me on here and generally pass some comment about flat caps, pigeons and whippets
Have you been watching me reedos???? ;D ;D ;D
Welcome Petra, no question too stupid! Someone out there will always know the answer :) Take it slow and take piccies.
I like EJ was pointed here by another member, from probably the same less fun site!
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Hi, I'm a newbie as well, good isn't it :)
This site was mentioned on another gardening site, so I had a look around ;D
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Thanks to you all for the kind welcomes, I found the site "googling" specifically fro allotment related info and found that this one seemed the best.
Better drag myself away now and get back to work :(
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If my old man ever googles and finds this site I'm in dead lumber . Called him a cabbage earlier on ere earlier :o
Mine was amused last night to find me tapping away at the computer - 'talking' to all my 'allotment pals' as he put it! I assured him I was doing essential research! He may have commented along the 'how sad' route. But he spends a lot of time on mountain biking sites - and I think that's sad!!
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I've had a load of stick for getting an allotment never mind researching stuff. People keep saying i'm old before my time but sod em! ;D
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Hi Petra,
Welcome.
When you tackle that Pampas grass make sure you wear long sleeves and a stout pair of gloves!! ;)
People, mainly my children, think I am a real saddo for inhabiting the allotment boards. ;D
RosieM
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Thanks for that tip.....my OH keeps looking slightly aghast when he walks into my home office and spots me on the site!
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Well done on your plot Petra. Never mind about 'stupid' questions - I could go ask them for England ;D
I don't suppose there's a prize for the most boring answer - but I found A4A while googling in order to find an allotment to rent!! Bonus, or what :D
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Isn't it odd the way folks think allotments are "sad". Why would growing cheap nutrituous, fanastic tasting food be sad?
I think it's they who are sad! :)
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Thanks for that tip.....my OH keeps looking slightly aghast when he walks into my home office and spots me on the site!
He looked even more aghast when I took him down to the allotment yesterday to see the plot for the first time!! I cant wait to get started but have to wait til the 2nd when I can hand over my rent. Have been reading up all day and drawing plans but want to start now!! ;D
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Like you I have just taken on a new allotment :oh and what a lot of clearing to find the earth let alone where to dig! not to be defeated my husband armed with super powered petrol strimmer managed to clear well over half of the ten foot high (bit of an fib there!)weeds. I discovered an overgrown shed behind a big tree which needs a torch to see into to make sure nothing lurks within! After several tea breaks and a lot of raking we felt as if we had made good progress.
We both are looking forward to our new pastime and know it will be full of trials and errors but a lot of laughs as well!
On returning home my teenage son asked me what I had planted and had it grown! Must get him trained up to this lottie lark!
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Hi Plastic Bag ;D (nice name) Welcome aboard, this is where the excitement begins, a good time to start on the lottie and still plenty to do ;D
As others have said, dig a small patch, plant something on it then dig another patch and so on, or should that have been sow on ;D anyway enjoying it is the key. ;)
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Hi Petra ;D Welcome to the world of allotmenteering!
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Ditto to plastic pig ;D
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Most people think I'm either mad or joking when I talk about my allotment BUT have talked one friend into getting her own plot on my site (her dad used to have one there about forty years ago) and another friend has agreed to help me fit a roof on the shed and do some digging. Hee! Also been given seeds and advice, most of which I've forgotten.
Anyway, to become really sad you have to blog about it. :-[
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I'm a newbie toobie,
I visited my allotment for the first time on friday and came away having made two new friends and with my arms full of freshly dug & picked carrots & runners - and by the looks of it all the allotmenteers here are a similarly friendly bunch.
I've only taken on half a plot at the mo coz the other half is a rather large and disturbing mound, but who knows - once the lump's been flattenedover the winter and my son (1 yr old) gets a bit more involved i may well need the extra space.
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Hi Plastic Bag ;D (nice name) Welcome aboard,
Oops! sorry :-[ I misread your handle ::) ;D
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My other half is a rather large and disturbing mound as well ;D
I'll get me coat ..... :-[
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fnar fnar ;D
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welcome on board :)
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A free shed? Wow what a find, but you want to take care on entering it without some lighting in hand! If it took some finding (covered up by overgrown surroundings) you want to keep it looking like that to secure anything you may keep inside. Appart from storage, lotty shacks are always handy should you get caught short by the weather, keep an eye out for a piece of second-hand furniture to sit out those wet moments in peace and quiet. 8)
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Hello Shackman :) The shed has to be the hub of the lotty doesn't it :) I help on a communal one and we have a chalk board in it and we leave messages for each other, esp if we get caught in rain and have nothing else better to do. We keep a stock of lager in there for emergencies if we get "trapped" in there by rain :)
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What a nice idea, Wardy.
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One note I read on there last week was from a guy who had "become trapped" inside the shed and been forced to listen to the test match and had to drink all the lager to survive, with a PS to Red Leader to get more lager ;D
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Well still waiting to take control of the plot......should all happen this Sunday, can't wait.
In the meantime decided to have a rakeover of the compost bin that I started at home (dalek from the council) and was absolutely gobsmacked at the fantastic compost within. :)
OH thinks Ive finally flipped as I didn't shut up about it all night but I felt a real sense of achievement. He was still in shock at me dragging him over to his brothers house where the builders had left palletts and buckets and I put them all in the back of his car. The final straw was me sitting all the way home with a washing machine drum on my lap that I then put a big plant and plant-pot in it. I think it looks brill!! ;D
Any other re-cycling ideas for me??
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What is it about washing machine drums this week? Wells, incinerators and now plant holders. I'm missing out here, will have to acquire one and put it to a use nobody's thought of yet! :D
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What is it about washing machine drums this week? Wells, incinerators and now plant holders. I'm missing out here, will have to acquire one and put it to a use nobody's thought of yet! :D
Washing? :o
Coat on, already out the door...
Cheers,
Rob ;)
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Hi Petra,
I took a huge step and got a full plot and never done any gardening myself, feel like Christmas has come!!!
Can't wait to get started! Hope all goes well for you.
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Well done you for taking the plunge! I did it a couple of months ago and everything is doing great, which is very surprising as most things that i do seem to do go pear shaped ;D
Lucky you on the shed, Mine fell through (almost literally!) so will have to do without :'(
Nevermind,at least the car boot is lockable!
Don't forget to enjoy yourself.
My mantra is "Mud is Marvelous!"
Only Small
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Recycling is a bit contagious and you get that you can't throw stuff away in case you might find a use for it. EJ gave me a good tip (and there's loads on the tips thread) to cut up plastic milk cartons to make plant labels. They also make good measuring jugs (as they have measurements on) and I also use them filled with water (and water bottles) to weigh down my sheet mulches
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Recycling is a bit contagious and you get that you can't throw stuff away in case you might find a use for it. EJ gave me a good tip (and there's loads on the tips thread) to cut up plastic milk cartons to make plant labels. They also make good measuring jugs (as they have measurements on) and I also use them filled with water (and water bottles) to weigh down my sheet mulches
Bet you can't go past a skip without rummaging around for a bit either - family disowns me when I salvage some useful piece of something that might come in handy for some unspecified purpose sometime in the future ;D
Talking about sheds, I must be a proper allotmenteer now - got invited to the old boy in the corners shed for mid morning coffee with the old chaps. Boy can they swear :o
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Hi there
I m relatively new to this infectious growing hobby which is about to take over my life also very new to techno computer stuff so forgive any mistakes I may make.
Have been viewing site for a short while and you all seem a friendly bunch!!!!!!!!
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Reedos My OH is having a day off to help me in the house and has started by cleaning out his outbuilding and putting all the stuff either in the house or in the dustbin. He threw out my inco pads (well not mine) but they are big sheets for folks who wet the bed but I use em for capilliary matting and to keep frost off stuff, to line my car boot when I've got bags of leaky manure in the car
A host of uses and I found a bag full in the bottom of the dustbin. Such a throwaway society we live in today ;D Tsk
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:D :D Hurray!!
Finally took posession today!! Went and paid my fees and was offered a different plot, much nearer to the all the amenities (loos, tool sheds, meeting shed etc). Its in a much better condition than the original one and I spent a good afternoon there today digging with my 8 year old. We dug over the front 3ft that is used as a flower bed and she put in some daffies. Am revising the original plans I made and am really excited about it all. Have got some onion sets and am after garlic and broad beans next I think. Anything else we can try at this time of year?
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Yes and there are loads of ideas on A4A here and there - all recent posts :)
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Loos what kind of posh allotment is that ??? We just have to hang onto it or use the compost heap ;D ;D
Welcome aboard