Hello to everyone from 2 very frustrated newbies

[chriselst]

Well as you've managed to get a council to act sensibly, you're clearly a miracle worker so...





...any chance of sorting the bloody weather out?

[chriselst]

[goodlife]

Well as you've managed to get a council to act sensibly, you're clearly a miracle worker so...





...any chance of sorting the bloody weather out?

;D ::)..that might be pushing it too far.. ::)

[Aden Roller]

Congratulations - once the plot is shaping up the next thing on your list of "to do"s might be to consider standing for Allotment Committe office... and if there isn't an allotment committee there could should be  ;)

Let us know how you get on with the clearing, cleaning, planning, shaping, planting and growing.  :)

Good luck (as if you need it!!)

[Esplanade]

We only had an hour on Saturday to visit and take stock of what we'd taken on. A brief tidy up.

Sunday we spent 3 hours and cleared an area of HT and learned about the plot.

Tonight we managed to spend an hour+

We have a great plan that will hopefully be a very interesting read too (on our blog)..

We have 8.8m x 37m in total and a 1m fence on 2 sides and a pair of double garages at the rear. The 4th side (long side) has a few short fruit trees on the adjoining empty plot.

The allotment is oriented East-West and is sun from sun up to sun down at this time of year. The long fence on the 37m side is continuous and is facing South so that will hopefully be a sun trap for cuke/tom frames next year.  :)

We've pulled approx 30 sq metres of Horsetail so far. The plan is to clear it, skim 2.5 inches and smother the entire plot with 2x cardboard and cover with the soil again - to wipe the HT. Then we'll have 8x 10m x 1.2m main beds, oriented East-West which will be thick lasagna beds and several smaller beds for herbs, etc..

A patio area to chill in an surrounded in pots with flowers etc. A lot of composting boxes.. we have an enormous supply of natural waste available: grass clippings, seaweed, shredded paper and horse manure..


it's early days of course, we'd love to hear suggestions from everyone :-)

[Esplanade]

Hello everyone.

we just thought that we'd pop back with a short update of progress - 6 weeks on.

We've managed to clear about 40% of the plot so far and put some beds in. Tanya's done a great job of restoring the fence and we have some healthy looking veg appearing.

Hope that you're all enjoying your allotments, good luck :-)

[Jeanbean]

WOW that looks great. :) You must be chuffed with your work Keep it up and keep us informed of progress.

[hippydave]

looks good, glad you got it planted and not just covered, at least you will have something to show for all your effort. Good Luck.

[cornykev]

Looking good, keep up the good work.   ;D

[Digeroo]

I think your progress is really impressive. 

Though if land has been covered with weeds as soons as you turn your back for even a minutes they will be springing up again.  I would recommend mulching almost everything.  Grass paths can look nice, but they grow very fast as well.   I have started using straw on mine instead.

I do hope that the local wildlife does not come over the fence and rearrange your careful planting.

[Aden Roller]

Looks lovely.

Hope you are managing to keep the pigeons away from (what looks like) your lettuce.  ;)

[Esplanade]

Hello to everyone again   

we thought that you might be interested in our progress so far..

we had a few setbacks with some local wildlife coming onto the plot and making 'changes' but we're moving onwards slowly. We passed an important milestone at the weekend - we cleared the final parts of the plot!

It's quite a size now that you see it all cleared. We're putting down #nodig beds and have all of our beds that we've laid so far - planted. The compost bins are going in and are getting filled too. It's exciting stuff; now's the time for planning our plantings for next year and making sure that everything is well mulched.

We're active with our blog and it might make an interesting read for anyone interested in the #nodig approach?

here are 2 photos - exactly 3 months apart, before and after.





take care, best wishes, Tanya and Roy

[pumkinlover]

That's a fantastic achievement

[caroline7758]

Wow! What an amazing transformation! Well done you!

[Digeroo]

That is truly an amazing job you have done.   Major suggestion - give yourselves an enormous pat on the back.

[digger46]

Hi  Tanya and  Roy
          Well   done   i  would   love   to   have    you  both,   on one    off  the   5   
  Sites    Im    a  rep   for ,   plot  holder,s    might   copy    and   make  my   life
easier     keep  the  good  work    up.   
                                               
                                                 Digger 46 

[BarriedaleNick]

Digger is right - if all our newbies got on that quickly as that well then our Committee would have a lot less work.

Well done indeed..

[Esplanade]

Digger is right - if all our newbies got on that quickly as that well then our Committee would have a lot less work.

Well done indeed..

thank you, very inspiring comments for us!!

Tanya and Roy

[gazza1960]

well done to you both thats an excellent effort.

Gazza

[Esplanade]

Hello everyone and a Happy New Year to all !

We've just popped back in to talk about our progress on site. We haven't stopped even during the Christmas break and all the rain and we now have 70% of our beds in. The late spuds were a great success and we've cleared most of the produce now; just some leeks and cabbages to come out. Out shallots, onions and broad beans are in and away.

Here's a little late harvest..


We also managed to get half our compost bins and frames in


Hopefully this will help us get some squashes and cukes on the go later this year and protected a bit from the Northerly winds

How is everyone? Have you ordered your seeds yet?

With best wishes for a great (and a drier) 2013

Roy and Tanya

[Unwashed]

That's superb, very impressive.