Topic: New Allotment - What to do now

[rugbypost]

 : ;D Enjoy yourself it all takes time do a little bit every day if you can couple of months from now you,l bo wondering what all the fuss was about  welcome to allot4all

[Digeroo]

Welcome to A4A.  Congratulations on getting your allotment.  I hope you enjoy it.  If you are short of time have you though about squashes, courgettes and pumpkins.  They take up a lot of space quickly, and keep the weeds at bay. 

[chriscross1966]

Hi Stedic - your plot sounds like the one I've just acquired in Braunstone. There's a bit to clear but the plot isn't too bad as it was worked up until sometime last year.
My plan is to cover about half the plot with weed control cover and plant root crops (pot's, carrots) and some broad beans in the rest. I need to sort out the shed and the great pile of general rubbish that I've inherited - including the falling down greenhouse  :-X
I got the plot quicker than I expected - I was thinking there'd be a waiting list, instead I got one straight away - so it's doing the spade work (as it were) to have a half-decent plot for when I take early retirement in 2012.

Any hints as to where to get a pile of muck from in Leicester?

Search for stables/liveries/equestrian centres locally.... it should be free if you shovel it yourself, if they poo-pick the fields then that doesn't really need rotting down it can go straight on, it's the straw/urine in stable manure that needs rotting....

[1066]

Hi millimole and welcome to A4A and congrats on the new plot  ;D

[saddad]

Hi Milli... are they the allotments that back onto the Great Central Way?

[Russell]

If you are not confident that you can get all your new plot into production this season, the beds that you are postponing can be shallow and roughly cleared and seeded with a green manure. The green manure will give the weeds a hard time and also help your plot fertility. Its not a lot of work, really and it is a great morale boost so see something growing.
My favourite green manure is phacelia tenacitifolia because its flowers are so popular with bumble bees.
For a quick rough and ready clearance see if you can borrow a Canterbury hoe from someone. Once you have got used to its ways you can be very productive if you don't want to dig deep. Follow up with a three prong cultivator when the soil is dry enough, again don't go deep. Broadcast the green manure seeds. Enjoy. Dig your green manure crop into the soil during autumn or winter. Get the beds into your rotation pattern.