What should I be doing now in the new allotment? Should I be sowing things in trays read to plant out later? If so, what things? I'm in Suffolk, if that makes a difference. Jemma xx
Depends how much land you've got ready to plant. "New", as in recently cleared & awaiting a first crop; or "new", as in acquired earlier in the season. first stuff cropping & where do I go from here?
There's plenty of stuff you can still grow in modules or sow direct. (Trawl back over earlier threads and you'll get plenty of ideas.) But the next "planting window" is mid-October when you plant out onions & garlic (& broad beans where you live). So if you're in the "getting beds ready for a crop" stage, get them ready for those.
Then start preparing land for the potatoes next March.
Ther is nothing like failure to teach you things.
Seeds are cheap and labour is easy.
Plant a selection of different seeds. Salad stuff, french beans, peas, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, turnips etc. If there is a fine autumn, many will do well, if it is miserable and cold they will not. After the summer we have had so far, it is a good bet that nature will make amends!
http://www.allaboutliverpool.com/allaboutallotments1_homepage
Depending on what you soil is like you could be ordering some manure ready to spread over and dig into your ground. Also as someone else said just try sowing odd things surely the weather has to change and perhaps autumn will be good
Yours Billie
I sowed runners and french beans in root trainers last Sunday (indoors because the GH is too hot at times and not direct because we keep getting such heavy rain I'm afraid the seed will rot - but don't have any factual support for that). The french beans were already showing on Wednesday evening.
Sowing into the seed bed pak choi, choy sum, curly kale and Cavolo Nero.
Direct sowing broccoletti.
Still haven't go round to starting my leeks. There's rust everywhere so may start them in trays but probably too late.
Also sowing a few mini cabbage and all year round caulis to see what happens.
Tim gave a list on this thread a couple of weeks:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33603.msg335795.html#msg335795 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33603.msg335795.html#msg335795)
There's also this chart in the Wiki
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?page=9 (http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?page=9)
Check this thread also:
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,33549.0.html
And Real Seeds website has a guide to Summer sowing at:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/summersowing2.html
Sheltering from the rain... or building an Ark depending on where your Lottie is!
;D