Allotments 4 All

Hello everyone â€" I’m very new to all this!

I’ve just got an allotment in NW England. I’ve cleared all the brambles, weeds, shrubs, broken glass, bits of cars etc etc from it and dug a fair chunk of it over.

I’m going to rotovate this  area on Sunday and then I’m finally ready to start growing things!! I think.

Is there anything I should do to the area first and what could I sow this late on in the year??

Any advice would be very greatly appreciated!

Many thanks

hi plotsurfer
welcome to the addictive world of plotting.sounds like you've been busy. i've been plotting 4 years now so will give you some tips that i have picked up/learnt from experience.

1. get yourself one good allotment book. i have dr hessayon (think thats how its spelt). get it from b & q. its a very good book telling how to plant, look after and diseases etc.

2. you can still plant things like lettuce, radish, throw some peas in, spring onions although you might get them a little later than everyone else.

3. if you have a greenhouse get black buckets for tomatoes/chillies from asda for free. the flower buckets that they throw away. if not morrisons sell about 10 for about 30p.

get to know your allotment neighbours because at this time of year lots of plotters have extra stuff they are just dying to give away. a lot of us plant far more than we need and thus have an excess.

4. clear an area for a compost heap and start one now. what i have is compost bins for kitchen waste(peelings etc) and a manure pile. i got some cow manure this winter and it will be rotted down and ready to dig in this winter. part of plotting is thinking ahead.

i could give you lots more tips your head could get battered and my fingers are aching. good luck with the plot and dont be afraid to ask questions.

ps  where abouts are you in the northwest, i'm in blackburn

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like you've already broken the back of most of the nasty jobs. I'm also sure you'll get plenty of warning about rotovating your plot due to varying weeds. There seems to be 2 schools of thought on this:
1. Rotovating will encourage weeds to kick off again (especially things like bind weed and couch grass) but on the other hand:
2. Rotovating will save you a lot of manual digging work, as long as you are prepared to weed the areas you have rotovated afterwards.

I would have loved to have rotovated our plot when we got it a little under a year ago, but we had no access to one and couldn't really justify the costs of hiring one. We ended up manually digging over half our plot so we could sow things out - I'll deal with the other half later this year.

As for sowing. You can get Carrots our now (Autumn king or similar) Sweetcorn can go out now, some peas, you are just on the tail end of sowing out some spuds - stick em in and see how they go (the bonus being that you can put them in pretty unprepared soil and they'll take care of themselves and make turning the soil over later easier) You can chuck in plenty of salad plants... LOADS a stuff! :)

I found, when I was starting out, that it was easiest to pop down the garden centre and look at the seed packets and work out what I could get in :) You also have the option of buying some plants from garden centres that have been started up for you already - that will help out with those crops you may have just missed out on.


Do you have a greenhouse or shed etc?

Hello PlotSurfer and welcome to a great site. Being a newbie myself this is a great way of learning loads of information, everyone is really helpful.

About the rotovating I personally would not….! Having spent days / weeks clearing the weeds which I’m led to believe from a fellow plot holder where caused by the former holder on my plot rotovating when he had nothing better to do. Stick to digging if you can.

You could try carrots, parsnips’ lettuce, courgettes, cabbages a few ideas to be getting on with

Good luck, DD.

Welcome, and well done so far! You've done the three most important things already: cleared the rubbish; started digging; joined A4A.

As for crops, there's plenty. (Look at the other threads, where we're all worrying about whether it's too early, or too late, to sow, or plant whatever you care to mention and you'll get some ideas.) Weedgrower's advice is sound: chat up your fellow-allotmenteers and they will all have spare plants. (We've just started our Swap Table going for the season: tomatoes already on it, but there will be masses of stuff before long.)

Still plenty of time for beans, peas, sweetcorn, tomatoes, summer & winter squash, roots, salads, brassicas, leeks, for starters. Then think about getting the ground ready for autumn-sown onions, garlic, broad beans.

And I must admit to being dubious about the rotovating. Never done it, but I've seen others who have!

Welcome - I pretty new myself, and this is an addictive site (almost as addictive as allotmenteering itself!).

Get as many plants in as you can and think about what vegetables you like eating.  There is no point in growing stuff you won't eat and enjoy.  Get seed catalogues, read the Hessayon book - it's excellent.  Chat to your other allotmenteers as Trevor says, they'll give you all sorts of bits and pieces and loads of advice.

The summer will go very quickly, remember that in the autumn you can put in to overwinter garlic, onions, broad beans, and other stuff under fleece.  Good luck!! :)

Wow, thanks for the speedy responses and thanks for being so friendly!

So much good advice already!

In answer to some of the questions - I'm just outside Manchester, I have a shed (I bought for £10 and I'm very proud of!). No greehouse, though I'd love one eventually.

Any more tips please keep them coming this way, its all very encouraging.

Thanks again

hello and welcome from me, too!
I'm a newbie, got my 1st plot last October so still got LOADS to learn.
the only thing I can advise is to cover any ground you're not using, otherwise the weeds will take a firm hold! (voice of bitter experience ::))
you can use cardboard, carpet, tarp, plastic, anything that keeps the light out really.
I haven't got much in the ground yet either, but when I posted on here asking when it's too late to plant, the consensus seemed to be that a lot of things can go in the ground as late as June, so you've got plenty of time ;D
enjoy, and don't forget to take lots of pics!

Welcome to the site. As someone has already mentioned there is lots you can still grow. The season is only just starting for most things. If in doubt just ask and someone will know. There are some very knowledgable folks on here. Don't forget to post pics of your progress.

hello, I'm new here too but have had an allotment for a couple of years.
my tips, though they may not be what others would say are:

dont grow anything you dont actually like - we ended up with masses of jerusalem artichokes which we are still fighting against as they keep growing back

some things just wont do well where you are. listen to nature and concentrate on the things that do grow

find someone to water for you when you go away - otherwise you'll return to bolted lettuces, dead tomatoes etc

do grow pumpkins to give to all your pals for halloween - this will go down very well

grow a few flowers too

dont dig for too long at a time

keep hoe-ing
:-)

Welcome Plotsurfer get in some carrots,beetroot, radish's,lettuce,spring onions and parsnips may be a bit late for toms but you could buy some plants to put straight in and if anybody asks you haven't seen me.  :P :P :P ;D ;D ;D

Hello Plotsurfer and welcome to A4A, you will find us a friendly bunch of gardeners who are more than willing to share their knowledge and experience with you. Apart from the above mentioned crops you could still sow Runner Beans, French Beans, Beetroot, Carrots, Peas, Spinach, Turnips, etc. Best of luck with your new plot, regards Steve.

http://www.myallotments.com

Hope you're having fun so far Plotsurfer  ;D

I can't thank you all enough!

It's great to find such an enthusiastic bunch of people.

My heads buzzing with all the advice and I can't wait to get to my patch this weekend!

Hello and welcome from me too, you have made a good choice coming on here, there is lots of sincere help and a lot of knowledge and a bit of cheek from some posters too I might add.

Sounds like you are doing all the right things and as everyone else has said there is little that you can't still sow, keep an eye on varieties of veggies too, some are made to sow later than others.

Have fun and welcome to the madhouse, watch out for the cheeky ones.

XX Jeannine

Ps  Cute picture !!!!!!! Warned ya

Hi Plot. Why don't you forget about the rotavator? It could cause you so much extra work in the longrun. Cover most of the ground with old carpet (yes I know about the chemicals etc. maybe get hessian backed wool one!) or some dark polythene. Basically, block out the light so weeds cannot survive. Dig over a few areas for planting in over the next month. I dig it with a fork first then pull out the rubbish, then get one of those things with a few prongs, the ones that you twist (only a cheap bargain basement one), and give it a good going over with that. Then bash some of the big clods with the back of the spade or stamp on them. Go over it with the hoe. Sound like hard work and it is  but if you do a small patch each time you visit, it is surrprising how quickly it seems to get done. I think of it as hard labour for all the wrongs I have done, lol!!!!!
About the covered up stuff, after a few weeks just lift a bit of it up, see how it is going. If you don't like it, cover it up again until it is better.
When you get stuff planted in the first bit of cleared ground, and that could just be a metre square, you will feel as though you have achieved something. the bug will be getting you.
Have a look on your local Freecycle if you want some old carpet or anything else for that matter. Why not ask for a Greenhouse. Everything is free you just have to collect it.
Back to the rotavator. When you have a bit of ground clear of weeds then rotavating should be okay in the future. I intend to get one at the end of the season, do the bits where nothing is still growing and cover it up until next season.

Hi Plotsurfer, welcome to the group, most nurseries (and online companies like CROCUS) supply veg plants so you can catch up with crops that would have been sown earlier. I bought some summer cabbages the other day from B & Q which were reduced to 99p for 12 plants. Also I'm always being told to just have a go, don't feel that it's too late necessarily, have a go, if you don't get anything happen you've only lost a few seed.
I'm sure you'll get loads more useful advice from all the fantastic people on here.

Good luck!

Hi Plotsurfer,
I'm outside Manchester too, just down Hyde Road, between Denton and Gorton, Wilton allottments.  Where are you?
There are plenty of oldies on my plots, but young uns like me coming on as well.  How about you?

Again - thanks for all the posts!

The allotments contain a really mixed bunch of people. I'm probably the youngest, but there are loads of young families and couples.

Thankfully there are still plenty of the more mature/wiser type who are all really friendly and helpful.

Allotmenting is definitely losing its flat cap image though and our plots now have a waiting list!

My suggestion would be to have a look in the Swap Shop section. You may not have anything to swap with yet, but there are still posts with people willing to swap for no returns.

I've just dipped my toe into the swaps world. Everyone has been so generous and rush at you with swaps and suggestions.