Allotments 4 All
Allotment Stuff => The Basics => Topic started by: ChrisBro on June 24, 2009, 09:15:49
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Hello everyone just thought I would make my first post and introduce myself, I am Chris and I live in Pembrokeshire. I have been lurking in this fantastic forum for a couple of weeks now and have to say its an absolute goldmine :)
I have just got my first allotment, yesterday in fact, I was very very lucky getting this as in my county there are only a total of 150 plots for all residents :o and we are very rural which is even more surprising, the land around here that isn't being used by anybody is unbelievable, yet the council would rater spend money on nice sculptures oh and of course getting things nice and tidy ready for the tourists!!!!
Anyhow I was very very lucky there is a huge waiting list in my county, I rang the man at the council lol thats takes care of these things on Monday, he told me there was a huge waiting list and it would take some time to be allocated a plot, oh dear I said there must be something??? Well it turned out there was 2 very nice plots on their own so not part of a traditional allotment setup that nobody else wanted!!!
Usual story they are very overgrown got a good few weeks of clearing and digging but Im sure I will get ther ein the end, they are very big plots one is nicely (kind of) mowed grass and the other is well a jungle lol, I am in the process of trying to talk him into letting me have the 2 of them as 1 big plot, got to speak to him again this morning about that.
Anyway where they are situated, they are in between 2 houses in the corner of a cul de sac, my 2 neighbours that live in the houses are elderly but have lived there for years and their husbands both passed away now used to have the plots for many years so managed to get quite a bit of info from them last nigh re the soil etc and what success they had over the years and what turned out to be a disaster lol
It seems that although we are mainly a huge farming area with very fertile soil these plots for some reason are very clay'y (is there such a word??) anyway yet another problem for me to over come thought nice raised beds with some decent top soil would solve that one.
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot1.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot2.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot3.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot4.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot5.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot6.JPG)
(http://www.chrisbroadhurst.com/allotment/allot7.JPG)
As you can see from the images the plots are at them moment seperated by a hedge my plan is to rip out in the middle of the hedge about 3 foots worth to make an opening into the second one, I was thinking of leaving the rest of the hedge in to act as a wind break, Pembrokeshire is a very windly place lol.
There is also a couple of photos of plant and I have no cloue what they are so if anyone can help with that and let me know if any are woth saving that would be great.
I am very much a learner when it comes to this but hey Im a quick learner ;)
Anyway hello to everyone any advice for a newbie would be greatly appreciated or tips n tricks of what you would do with this land as well.
Thanks in advance
Chris
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welcome to the site ChrisBro the best and friendliest one you can find.
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Welcome to A4A Chris... the last one is ragwort. Has yellow flowers and often yellow and black striped caterpillars from the Cinnibar moth(red).. it's poisonous to animals ( and probably humans if they were daft enough to eat it!!)
:)
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Welcome to A4A Chris... the last one is ragwort. Has yellow flowers and often yellow and black striped caterpillars from the Cinnibar moth(red).. it's poisonous to animals ( and probably humans if they were daft enough to eat it!!)
:)
Hello and thanks for your replies :)
Ragwort thanks for that, is it just a case of diggin it up from the roots and burning?
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Hello ChrisBro - yes clay'y is a word - well on my site it is any way!
Prepare a bed at a time and try to get something in as soon as poss. Endless digging isn't fun!
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Hello ChrisBro - yes clay'y is a word - well on my site it is any way!
Prepare a bed at a time and try to get something in as soon as poss. Endless digging isn't fun!
Yeah thats what I was thinking, I have now spoken t the man from the council and both of them are mine yipheeeeee, so I have booked a brush cuuter for this weekend, I have a petrol strimmer but would be endlessly replacing the nylon line trying to get through this stuff so thought a brushcutter would be a better option.
Heres my plan, flatten the whole site with the brushcutter then go over it with the normal petrol strimmer, you can actually get it back to bare soil near as dam it breaks the line a lot but does the job, then I was going to hire the rotivator and just turn over maybe half of it, sift through it getting rid of roots etc then dig some compost and manure in and build my raised beds on top of this, then fill them with some decent soil, compost, manure and maybe a scattering of fish blood and bone meal.
What do you think does it sound like a plan or am I getting it wrong already lol?
The neighbours say that in the past anything above ground growns great but anything rootie is a nightmare and even potatoes in the past have had many problems will the above steps combat this?
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hi and welcome, there will be tones advice pouring in advising you how to tackle the plot, so i'll not bother but will wish you loads of luck, energy and as much great gardening vibes as possible ;D.
ps i think the 2nd to last picture with the orangy red flower buds are called Hieracium aurantiacum - Orange Hawkweed, Fox and Cubs.
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Rotavating soil is great fun and makes the site look great very quickly. The downside is that is you have perennial weeds that grow from roots then you will slice up the roots and make lots of little potential plants. If you are methodical and can pick through then you should be OK
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Wouldn't rotovate. If you do, you'll have a huge job trying to pick out thousands of shredded roots and inevitably you'll miss thousands so will end up picking them out twice or more. If you don't rotovate, you'll have a huge job digging out the roots but at least they'll be relatively intact and you'll get the majority out first time. Rotovating will make it look better quicker (and may indeed be fun, although how I'm not sure ???) but it's a false economy. Dig over a small bed and get it planted up. Then dig another........ and another...........
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Welcome to the forum.
A unique plot......you are in a great position. ;D
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Thats one heck of a huge plot to have raised beds on. Do you know the price of planks and topsoil these days???
My dog!!! You are very quickly going to go broke. lol
I would suggest perhaps you could have a few raised beds for salads, melons, strawberries, the more delicate stuff, but spuds, cabbage etc plant in the ground.
In fact planting spuds over half that ground would save you time and money as they tend to smother weeds, break up the ground etc.
One good thing about clay soil is that clay holds on to more nutrients so the ground is probably very fertile.
Oh and last but not least, welcome to the forum. ;D
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Wouldn't rotovate. If you do, you'll have a huge job trying to pick out thousands of shredded roots and inevitably you'll miss thousands so will end up picking them out twice or more. If you don't rotovate, you'll have a huge job digging out the roots but at least they'll be relatively intact and you'll get the majority out first time. Rotovating will make it look better quicker (and may indeed be fun, although how I'm not sure ???) but it's a false economy. Dig over a small bed and get it planted up. Then dig another........ and another...........
Hello thanks for your reply and advice, I did think that myself but thought I might get away with it because of building raised beds with nice new fertile soil, I realise in time some of these roots that I will inevitably miss will make their way to the surface but didnt thin it would be too much like hard work controlling them as they appear?
What do you think?
I am a newbie to all of this and only know the very basics so please excuse me if I am barking up the wrong tree lol
thanks
Chris
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Hello thanks for your reply and advice, I did think that myself but thought I might get away with it because of building raised beds with nice new fertile soil, I realise in time some of these roots that I will inevitably miss will make their way to the surface but didnt thin it would be too much like hard work controlling them as they appear?
What do you think?
I am a newbie to all of this and only know the very basics so please excuse me if I am barking up the wrong tree lol
thanks
Chris
If you're talking about things like couch, nettles, brambles etc it will be even harder to get them out of a raised bed once you've buried them deeper and have crops growing.
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Chris on one of my plots I had to have raised beds because of invasive tree roots meant I couldnt dig and yes I laid the beds straight over grass. I didnt dig the grass out beforehand and in 3 years only a few bits of couch has made its way to the surface and these are easily dealt with.
I layered the raised beds with;
cardboard (good thick stuff)
newspaper (many, many layers)
horse muck (good 6-9 inches of it)
straw (again a good 6-9 inches)
then topsoil (to the top of the box)
This saved me a lot of money by filling up the beds and acting as a cover for the ground to smother the weeds.
Soak each layer as you are adding it and you can then plant straight away.
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Thats one heck of a huge plot to have raised beds on. Do you know the price of planks and topsoil these days???
My dog!!! You are very quickly going to go broke. lol
I would suggest perhaps you could have a few raised beds for salads, melons, strawberries, the more delicate stuff, but spuds, cabbage etc plant in the ground.
In fact planting spuds over half that ground would save you time and money as they tend to smother weeds, break up the ground etc.
One good thing about clay soil is that clay holds on to more nutrients so the ground is probably very fertile.
Oh and last but not least, welcome to the forum. ;D
Hello thanks for your reply :)
It wont all be raised beds I am planning on a shed 10ft by 10ft then a greenhouse hopefully 12 by 10 subject to finding a good deal (dont have a huge budget unfortunately) and I want some chucks in an enclosure because we have plety of foxes here in Pembrokeshire so thats going to take up well quite a bit of space really now I come to think about it probably mmmm the whole length of the 2 plots then about 15foot ot as well so theres quite a bit of "none" growing space to claim from the plots as well.
The potatoes according to the neighbours anyway have never been successful on these plot and are prone to (here we go I may be wrong) blite?? Thats why I thought the raised bed idea would solve all my growing problems in one go.
The wood I was hoping to beg and borrow from a local scaffolding company and of course freecycle and the local council tips, to soil round here you can generally get deliverd for about 30 - 40 quid a ton not a wheel barrow fan at all but hey once its done its done lol
Was also going to mix in quite a high proportion of manure and compost to try and speed things along a little :)
Im only in my ealry thirties and have took these on for a long long term project, I liked the idea of the raised beds so I could put gravel paths in between to control the rest of the weed problem and also make it nice and easy for the barrow and watering etc
Like I say I am a newbie so may be getting this completely wrong lol ::)
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Chris on one of my plots I had to have raised beds because of invasive tree roots meant I couldnt dig and yes I laid the beds straight over grass. I didnt dig the grass out beforehand and in 3 years only a few bits of couch has made its way to the surface and these are easily dealt with.
I layered the raised beds with;
cardboard (good thick stuff)
newspaper (many, many layers)
horse muck (good 6-9 inches of it)
straw (again a good 6-9 inches)
then topsoil (to the top of the box)
This saved me a lot of money by filling up the beds and acting as a cover for the ground to smother the weeds.
Soak each layer as you are adding it and you can then plant straight away.
His thanks for your reply, that sounds like a plan what height did you start the beds at? I was thinking just the width of a normal size scaffolding plank, I think mine would need to be quite a bit taller to accomodate those layers sounds like a great idea and the thick cardboard would surpress anything underneath, when it rotted do you think they would start to come up or should they all die in the meantime?
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Good luck if you can actually get scaff boards at a reaonable price. :) Damaged scaff boards cant be sold cos of the good old Health and safety regs >:(
I think you dont quite have the right idea about what blight is so Ive included the Blightwatch link for you. Blight isnt in the soil. http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/content/bw-Home.asp
Well in 3 years I havent had a massive invasion of couch grass in my raised beds and couch usually tends to hang on in there so I think Im clear of most of it.
Chris I couldnt get scaff boards at a good price where I live so I used doors cut in half length ways, begged borrowed and skip dived for old wardrobes etc so my raised bes are usually about 2 ft high. Saves me a lot of bending ;)
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Heya ChrisBro, and welcome to the forum.
Your photos made me shudder. Here is my house plot in Denmark just less than 3 years ago:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/2h5vf50.jpg)
And here it is this morning.....
(http://i42.tinypic.com/208w7f5.jpg)
As the pavement artist says "All My Own Work". I have very heavy clay gound, and you can imagine what it is like after a digger has compacted it.
I have dug 12 veggie beds, not all are in the photo. 9 of them I dug two spades deep by hand, incorporating tons of seaweed. The results are ( think) outstanding. When I got to the last 3 beds I couldn't face any more hand digging, and so I borrowed a rotovator..............and now I wished I hadn't. Rotovators just don't go as deep as a spade, and as someone points out, they chop up roots and spread them!
Anyway ChrisBro...........YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Go for it, and good luck.
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Very nicely done Bjerreby ;D
Chris if you are planning regimented rasied beds then several posters (where's the doc when you need him? ;) have web sites you need to see, regimented to almost to the point of OCD. But he has some great ideas ;D
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Good luck if you can actually get scaff boards at a reaonable price. :) Damaged scaff boards cant be sold cos of the good old Health and safety regs >:(
I think you dont quite have the right idea about what blight is so Ive included the Blightwatch link for you. Blight isnt in the soil. http://www.blightwatch.co.uk/content/bw-Home.asp
Well in 3 years I havent had a massive invasion of couch grass in my raised beds and couch usually tends to hang on in there so I think Im clear of most of it.
Chris I couldnt get scaff boards at a good price where I live so I used doors cut in half length ways, begged borrowed and skip dived for old wardrobes etc so my raised bes are usually about 2 ft high. Saves me a lot of bending ;)
Hello thanks for the heads up on the blight lol I told you I was a newbie ha ha ha, seems like a gret service that site offers am going to register, am now thinking of throwing some main crop potatoes in the very clay'y parts in the hop it will break some of it up, with the best will in the world on my own there is now way all the beds are going to be created and filled quickly so might be a good way of doing a bit of soil conditioning??
Heya ChrisBro, and welcome to the forum.
Your photos made me shudder. Here is my house plot in Denmark just less than 3 years ago:
(http://i44.tinypic.com/2h5vf50.jpg)
And here it is this morning.....
(http://i42.tinypic.com/208w7f5.jpg)
As the pavement artist says "All My Own Work". I have very heavy clay gound, and you can imagine what it is like after a digger has compacted it.
I have dug 12 veggie beds, not all are in the photo. 9 of them I dug two spades deep by hand, incorporating tons of seaweed. The results are ( think) outstanding. When I got to the last 3 beds I couldn't face any more hand digging, and so I borrowed a rotovator..............and now I wished I hadn't. Rotovators just don't go as deep as a spade, and as someone points out, they chop up roots and spread them!
Anyway ChrisBro...........YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Go for it, and good luck.
WOW you have done a fantastic job I hope my plots look half as good as that sometime soon :)
I know what your saying about the rotovator but got to admit Im still tempted especially if I follow Ishrad great layer method for the beds snd will save an awful lot of time now just maybe not in the future.
Love your plot it looks great well done and lucky you in Denmark as well, I have been toying with the idea of a holiday home in Bulgaria now for a few years but that another subject and one I could waffle on about for ages so I will leave that one there ;D
Very nicely done Bjerreby ;D
Chris if you are planning regimented rasied beds then several posters (where's the doc when you need him? ;) have web sites you need to see, regimented to almost to the point of OCD. But he has some great ideas ;D
Would love to see some pics of this lol OCD can relate to that :)
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Hello thanks for the heads up on the blight lol I told you I was a newbie ha ha ha, seems like a gret service that site offers am going to register, am now thinking of throwing some main crop potatoes in the very clay'y parts in the hop it will break some of it up, with the best will in the world on my own there is now way all the beds are going to be created and filled quickly so might be a good way of doing a bit of soil conditioning??
It's too late for maincrop potatoes now, there isn't enough of the growing season left. You could try some second earlies for Christmas potatoes which will crop in around 10-12 weeks. It's a fallacy that potatoes break up the ground. It's YOU that breaks up the ground when you prepare it for planting, earth them up and harvest them.
Dig some small beds and get planting. There's nothing like seeing (and tasting) your crops to motivate. You should still be able to buy courgette and squash plants and they are great ground cover. You can sow over-wintering brassica seeds or buy plants. There is plenty of time to get sowings of carrots, salad leaves, spring onions, radishes etc. Oriental salads like pak choi can be sown soon. Then into the autumn you can put in garlic, onion sets and into winter broad beans and peas. Autumn into winter is the time to put in fruit trees and bushes so get those beds ready in time.
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http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Deep_bed_building.html
a link to some pictures of the raised beds
lbb
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Damaged scaff boards cant be sold cos of the good old Health and safety regs >:(
We have bought hundreds of planks of slightly damaged scaffold planks (and rusty poles) from a local firm - in my experience local firms are quite keen to get rid of them for cash. Didn't realise it was technically illegal. Our whole site is held up by them!!
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Hello thanks for the heads up on the blight lol I told you I was a newbie ha ha ha, seems like a gret service that site offers am going to register, am now thinking of throwing some main crop potatoes in the very clay'y parts in the hop it will break some of it up, with the best will in the world on my own there is now way all the beds are going to be created and filled quickly so might be a good way of doing a bit of soil conditioning??
It's too late for maincrop potatoes now, there isn't enough of the growing season left. You could try some second earlies for Christmas potatoes which will crop in around 10-12 weeks. It's a fallacy that potatoes break up the ground. It's YOU that breaks up the ground when you prepare it for planting, earth them up and harvest them.
Dig some small beds and get planting. There's nothing like seeing (and tasting) your crops to motivate. You should still be able to buy courgette and squash plants and they are great ground cover. You can sow over-wintering brassica seeds or buy plants. There is plenty of time to get sowings of carrots, salad leaves, spring onions, radishes etc. Oriental salads like pak choi can be sown soon. Then into the autumn you can put in garlic, onion sets and into winter broad beans and peas. Autumn into winter is the time to put in fruit trees and bushes so get those beds ready in time.
Hi Ceres thanks for your post, this is exactly what I need I am a learner but a quick one and the more step by step easy instruction I get the better lol.
Where I live we dont have much on the way of your traditional garden centre theres is one locally in Fishguard I went yesterday to have a mooch but the price of the plants was ridiculous, typical small town attitude because they have no competition everything is top dollar there is a lot of that round here. So I headed off into Haverfordwest our local "big" town thats about 20 miles away from me, there we have a Wickes and a Homebase, Wickes was pitiful good for building stuff but no live plants whatsoever in their so called garden centre lol and Homebase well what can I say lovely stuff but need a second mortgage for most of it.
My next plan is good old Ebay see what I can pick up on there or I live near something called the real seed catalogue http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ they are out in Newport, I have read a few good things about them on here and other sites so going to take a drive out to them tomorrow see whats on offer if not it will have to be cyber plants :)
Also there is a Wilkinsons in Haverfordwest they seem to sell a good selection of seeds and things cheaply so will have a look there as well, will try the second earlies on the spuds I'll get some of them ordered ready to go in.
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments_Deep_bed_building.html
a link to some pictures of the raised beds
lbb
Hello thanks for your reply, I like that a LOT thats exactly what I have in my head so glad to see I am thinking along the right lines, I was going to use gravel in between the beds put the paving stone idea is great much more tidy and pleasing to the eye, I have 3 small children that will be "helping" (if you can use that word!!!!) out so the cleaner the better lol. Great effort you put in there it looks great.
Damaged scaff boards cant be sold cos of the good old Health and safety regs >:(
We have bought hundreds of planks of slightly damaged scaffold planks (and rusty poles) from a local firm - in my experience local firms are quite keen to get rid of them for cash. Didn't realise it was technically illegal. Our whole site is held up by them!!
OOOOOPPPPPSSSSS ha ha ha well as long as the health and safety nuts dont find out Im sure all will be well, as long as they arent used for scaffolding again I really cant see the problem but hey common sense never prevails with these matters unfortunately lol
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your idea of ebay for a good cheap resource of ready to plant plants is a good idea. in 2007 when my beds were ready it was to late to sow most of the things i wanted to grow and so i used ebay with great success both crop wise and wallet wise.
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your idea of ebay for a good cheap resource of ready to plant plants is a good idea. in 2007 when my beds were ready it was to late to sow most of the things i wanted to grow and so i used ebay with great success both crop wise and wallet wise.
Hello thanks for your reply, I have been looking on Ebay this afternoon and there are some great plants at very good prices my only concern is the sending of them ie Royal Mail not very good at the best of times but I suppose its more down to the seller and the way they pack them. Will have to try and see what happens.
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Chris.
I see you have sorted out your user profile, and you are close to the sea.
GET A TRUCKLOAD OF SEAWEED!
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Chris.
I see you have sorted out your user profile, and you are close to the sea.
GET A TRUCKLOAD OF SEAWEED!
Ha ha thanks for the reply I have just commented funnily enough on another thread about seaweed supposed to be great stufff, do you just mix it in with your compost or dig it in the ground or both?
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Hiya, chris, what a site, look forward to the pics as you progress, our site used to be under water for 3 months a year so raised beds was a must ;D
ours are made from old pallets, the boards last about 7 years if treated first, we used the same method of cardboard on the couch grass, marestail etc, very few bits coming through
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Hiya, chris, what a site, look forward to the pics as you progress, our site used to be under water for 3 months a year so raised beds was a must ;D
ours are made from old pallets, the boards last about 7 years if treated first, we used the same method of cardboard on the couch grass, marestail etc, very few bits coming through
Hello thanks for your reply, lots of lovely produce in that pic looks great cant wait to see mine looking something like that, its funny you should mention pallets I have just been to se a local animal feed supplier down the road and he has a stack of old pallets just sitting in his yard a good couple of hundred anyway he's told me I can help myself so raised beds here we come lol oh and also a couple of good compost bins of course.
Cant wait to get started now got the brush cutter booked for weekend, just running around sorting the gardens out at home so I can have the weekend away from them dam grasss grows so quickly!!!
Nearly done now :)
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Don't burn the ragwort, compost it. It's an annual weed which will rot down to non-poisonous compost; if you burn it you're wasting organic matter. Dig what you can and either strim the rest or cover it with black plastic. As long as you persist, you'll get there!
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Don't burn the ragwort, compost it. It's an annual weed which will rot down to non-poisonous compost; if you burn it you're wasting organic matter. Dig what you can and either strim the rest or cover it with black plastic. As long as you persist, you'll get there!
Hello Robert thanks for your post, I will do that am going to collect a load of pallets tomorrow so fingers crossed should be able to at least get the compost bin built and started off so I will throw it in there.
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Hi Chris. Welcome to the forum. Now don't you get buying all that stuff from Wilkies without lettin me know whats going cheap. I'm famous for havin shares inWilkies. Ask anyone ;D
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Hi Chris, sorry just to clarify the link i posted isnt my plot,
it belongs to the good dr that the other posters were refering to,
you said you would like to see it so i posted the link for you.
mine is no where near as tidy :-[
lbb
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Hi Chris. Welcome to the forum. Now don't you get buying all that stuff from Wilkies without lettin me know whats going cheap. I'm famous for havin shares inWilkies. Ask anyone ;D
Ha ha ha thanks for your welcome, Im a typical bloke TBH dont do shopping lol only under the threat of death unless its a car or something dangerous ha ha ha thats different, it was my good lady that was telling me about Wilkies sounds like you 2 would get on famously lol she is another bargain hunter.
Hi Chris, sorry just to clarify the link i posted isnt my plot,
it belongs to the good dr that the other posters were refering to,
you said you would like to see it so i posted the link for you.
mine is no where near as tidy :-[
lbb
Ahhhhhhh I see thanks for adding that link I appreciate that and all credit to the good Dr whoever you are........
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get thee to the car boot sales on sunday morning and you should find plenty of ready plants at very cheap prices. good luck with your project, i hope it comes together. :)
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get thee to the car boot sales on sunday morning and you should find plenty of ready plants at very cheap prices. good luck with your project, i hope it comes together. :)
Ji Sarah thanks for your post, thst about the only shopping I do partake in volluntarily these days car boot sale I love them, there are usually a few sellers with plants etc never paid much attention before but will be doing this weekend great idea.
Thanks
Chris
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Hi Chris and welcome, I think you've had sound advise, the two things I will have to definitely second is no to rotavating and Shirl's definitely got shares in Wilko's, all the best and keeeeeep digging. ;D ;D ;D
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Hi Chris and welcome, I think you've had sound advise, the two things I will have to definitely second is no to rotavating and Shirl's definitely got shares in Wilko's, all the best and keeeeeep digging. ;D ;D ;D
Hello thanks for your welcome its very much appreciated, I am a web designer by trade and got all excited this afternoon, registered a new domain and have thre a site together to document my adventure, god I feel like a kid at christmas sure it will wear off when the diggin starts lol
thanks again for your welcome :)
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your idea of ebay for a good cheap resource of ready to plant plants is a good idea. in 2007 when my beds were ready it was to late to sow most of the things i wanted to grow and so i used ebay with great success both crop wise and wallet wise.
Hello thanks for your reply, I have been looking on Ebay this afternoon and there are some great plants at very good prices my only concern is the sending of them ie Royal Mail not very good at the best of times but I suppose its more down to the seller and the way they pack them. Will have to try and see what happens.
yes it does depend on the sellers packing ability/ skill, also stick to sellers who specify that they only post items Monday to Wednesday, that way your purchases stand less chance of being stuck in the sorting offices over the weekend.
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your idea of ebay for a good cheap resource of ready to plant plants is a good idea. in 2007 when my beds were ready it was to late to sow most of the things i wanted to grow and so i used ebay with great success both crop wise and wallet wise.
Hello thanks for your reply, I have been looking on Ebay this afternoon and there are some great plants at very good prices my only concern is the sending of them ie Royal Mail not very good at the best of times but I suppose its more down to the seller and the way they pack them. Will have to try and see what happens.
yes it does depend on the sellers packing ability/ skill, also stick to sellers who specify that they only post items Monday to Wednesday, that way your purchases stand less chance of being stuck in the sorting offices over the weekend.
I'd not thought about things being stuck in the office excellent advice thanks for that :)