Viewing allotment tues!

[mo]

At last seems like forever, get to view an allotment tue. Went walking with the dog today past the allotments and the gate was open so took a sneaky look b4 i got collared by a lady! got chatting and she told me quite a bit. Think i now roughly were it is as she did state that the plot next to hers hasnt been touched for a year. Looks a state, not very big but will get me started. Its clay soil, lots of water around! tips would be appreciated to get going

[mo]

[asbean]

Congratulations  :) :) :) :)

First tip is to establish what you've got, measure up, take compass bearings, go home and get out your seed catalogues etc, pour a glass or two of the bubbly stuff and plan ... plan ... plan.  Then wait till the weather is a bit better and make a start.

[dtw]

Don't be put off by the weeds/brambles etc.
Practically all of us started with an allotment like that.

Most of mine still is.  :-\

[mo]

thanks guys, looking forward to getting stuck in whatever gets chucked at me!  :D

[DeeBee]

Everything crossed tha your new pastures will be fertile!

Bet you don't sleep much on Monday...its like grown up Christmas Eve,

Enjoy and Good Luck,DeeBee :)

[Cuke]

Congrats Mo! :)

Don't forget to take some pics to show all us nosy people! It'll be good to look back when to see how much you've done too.

:)

[Lauren S]

Hello Mo and welcome to A4A.
Congrats on your new Lottie.....Lots of exciting times ahead for you.
My advice would be...Take things slowly, you're no good if you've done your back in etc. On days/evenings when you cannot go to the lottie, take time out to draw up a rotational crop plan. That way each time you clear a section you will have already decided what you are going to plant there and if it needs manuring or not.
Keep your eye out for skips, they can be full of lovely lottie things :o
Beg , borrow or scrounge any thing from anyone that has wood or poles/canes etc
Happy plotting, planning and digging  ;D
Lauren

P.S. Take lots of photos and start a blog, you will be surprised in just a short time how much progress you have made, even on days when you think you aren't getting very far.  ;)

[Mr Smith]

Mo,
          We are right in the middle of digging our allotment which as not been touched in several years, my plan is to do heavy digging for a couple of hours and then you gradually work your way through it, cheers

[Lauren S]

It never ceases to amaze me how many times peeps on here say they have a new lottie that hasn't been touched for years. Why aren't more people *kicked off* if they don't keep their plot going. Waiting lists, I'm sure wouldn't be so long if they were more strict.  ::)

[cornykev]

Hi Mo and welcome to the madhouse, all good advise so far so good luck and happy digging.      ;D ;D ;D

[Mr Smith]

Lauren,
         Back in November last year when I first started to enquire about an allotment I was given two allotments to look at , on the Saturday morning when I went down to view there was a young lady working on an allotment next to the one I was looking at.  After a brief conversation with her it turned out that she was on the waiting list for a lotty but could not be bothered with the one I was looking at because it needed a bit of graft putting into it, needless to ay I'm now getting to be the boss of it and I would love to see her face the next time she comes down to have a dig, :)

[davee52uk]

Watch out for skips with any wood on. There are endless uses for wood - edging the plot, beanpoles or even row markers for small pieces. If all else fails, at least on our plots, you can build a fire to keep warm. Wood, when dry, burns with loads of heat and very little smoke.

Window frames again are great from skips. These can be used to make cold frames and even complete greenhouses.

All the best for the new plot.