Allotments 4 All

Hi Folks,
I get the key to my new lottie next week.
I grew up in a lottie family but haven't had one myself(waited 9 years on waiting list at old house,moved here and waited 6 months ;D)
It is an old site that has been reopened after 11 years.
It is 7 poles so should be managable,the council have already sprayed it .
my plan
rake up all the dried up top weeds.
double dig small sections(removing "nasty" weeds as I go) using seaweed as the soil improver.
cover up the areas I am not working with cardboard.
use green manure.

my questions are,
Is it o.k to use seaweed and green manure or is this overkill?
Is it o.k to leave cardboard on overwinter to supress weeds?
what can I plant within the next month or so just so I feel I am growing something?
also any ideas what I can use to seperate my plot from my neighbours as i have a 3 year old son who
I would love to help me on the lottie but I am nervous about him running next door and trampling things.

many thanks in advance.

Welcome Pookienoodle,if you've got a question someone on this forum someone  will have the answer.You seem pretty organised.I'm a great believer in covering what you can't work temporarily though others may disagree and i'm sure the cardboard would be fine.As for children on the lottie my first thought is it's not really a safe place generally though that said our grandchildren often accompany us on picking sessions or just to feed the ducks.We have three firm rules No running.No shouting No throwing.And like in other peoples houses you only visit another plot -by invitation :) Happy growing :) :) :)

OOPs forgot over winter garlic,onions spring cabbage.I know you can nurture peas e.t.c for an early crop but personally I'd go for the easy stuff (says a lot about me  ;))

Hi PN and welcome to A4A.Great that you got your allotment!Enjoy!

Cardboard is good - you will need to weight it down with bricks, or better still, either compost or manure if you can get them. It will rot down into the soil and improve the texture.

Before you plant anything have a jolly good look at your plot. is it flat or sloping, where is north? etc. I'm assuming you have no shed or greenhouse? Then get some paper and draw your plan. List what you want to grow, work out where more permanent features like shed and fruit are going and plan your crop rotation.

Within the next couple of months you can plant garlic and overwintering onions as well as broad beans. Those would be your first beds. November is the time to plant bare-rooted fruit bushes and trees so if you want any of them you still have time. As you clear an area you can plant it with a crop or plant it with green manure. I have found phacelia very good although it's getting a bit late for that. Maybe hungarian grazing rye or winter tares?
Seaweed is a good fertiliser but I believe there are restrictions on gathering it because if the environmental impact so bear that in mind. I would read up on crop rotation and what plants like what. Improve the soil not the plant is the way to go. Good luck!

Unless the soil is light or previously very well worked double digging is probably impossible. Dig it all over to one spit depth to see what you've got.
Welcome to A4A Pookie...  ;D

Field beans are a good green manure that you can plant now, leave to overwinter and dig in during the spring.

re: your 3 year old and the plot

Quite a few people on our site bring young children with them. You could put up 2 cheap sheds (freecycle if you are lucky) and have one that is full with his toys to keep him occupied.

You could also fence of a smallish area (just high enough so he can't get out) and fill with woodchips (many councils will deliver a load free to allotmens) and put his toys in there.

I would recommend having a specific area for him to play safely because chasing him around really limits the time you can spend on the plot productively.

There are lots of ideas for getting children involved on this site if you take a search.

Also be careful on your new plot for things like glass etc

Once you have cleared some of your plot then winter is a great time for building structures and preparing for adding permanent fruit bushes in the spring

Think about:

a compost area
a seating area (even if this is small it will be a godsend in the summer!)
raspberry frame
leaf bin
fruit trees like apple, plum etc

Best of luck!  ;D

and....

Post some pics!

thanks both,
I am lucky that the plot is flat and I am the keeper of one of the site water troughs.
I have checked about the seaweed and as long as it has washed up on the beach not is not still attatched to the rocks I am "more than welcome" to it.
I am looking to use cardboard as I have access to unlimited quanities of it through work,free is best in my book.
I will eventually have soft fruit bushes but want to give very carefull thought to the types and varieties i plant so I may leave that for the time being....though it is tempting to pop some canes in.

No, there is no shed so I may have to ask Father Christmas for one,I would love to make my own as my father was always in demand on the lotties due to his fine"building a shed from nothing" skill,unfortunatly I paid no attention when he was showing me how. :-[

thanks,
i will post some pics as soon as I get my key..luckily it is 2 mins drive from where I live.
The more i think about it the more I like the idea of banning my 3 year old until he is a little older...I wouldn't be able to appease him with toys when there was soil and worms aound...we have a back garden full of outdoor toys and he still prefers soil and bugs and generally getting dirty.
I already have a huge compost bin lined up,I will start this and then probably make a second wooden one.
I have been thinking about a seating area,I would like something permanent as I have some concerns about theft(area is not too good) but no concrete is allowed so will have to give it more thought.
I would love to knock somethink up with drift wood,though this maybe a project for the future.
I am nervous about what i will find when I dig,my plot looks a lot less overgrown than others.
I hope this is because it was one of the last to be given up before the council closed the site rather than a sign of anything nasty in the soil.

Yes welcome Pookienoodle!

I would love to build a shed out of old doors as well - on my old site there were some amazing structures! I also don't have the skill or time. Your plan sounds good and I think the others have given some really useful advice on kids. I can't take mine as they're v small, and the other plotholders have electric fences (and I have brambles  ;D)

Quote from: saddad on September 27, 2009, 10:50:27
Unless the soil is light or previously very well worked double digging is probably impossible.

That's quite heartening to hear in a way - sometimes the old-fashioned gardening books recommend daunting levels of effectiveness and organisation!

So do you think it's best to single dig, then double dig in future years? Or just never double dig?

Depending on how soon you get it, you could get some plants just to get something in if you are feeling really eager...
have a look round, maybe someone else on the allotment site will give you some plants or:
http://www.vegetableplantsdirect.co.uk/ourshop/cat_210622-A-Available-To-Plant-Now-For-Winter-Veg.html

Just another thought about children (i sounded a real grumpyknickers before) why not take the little chap when you're visiting for a short while as you live close  by.Just walk him around holding hands showing him
"stuff" .My granddaughter now 8 has been coming with us to dig the first potatoes every year, she also loves munching freshly picked peas while her brother now a teenager yawns because he's too far away from a football ;D I think it's a case of getting him used to the place in frequent short visits

well I just popped onto the site as I drove past and saw the gate open,only 2 plots were occupied.
one guy has his nearly cleared already(he will be sore tomorrow as he has done most of it today)
the other plot had a gang of girls with 2 crates of lager,beach spades :o who where walking all over my plot to get water from the trough for one of them to put their feet in. :-\
I took my son with me for a look(we had been buying seeds from wyvale) and he cried when we left as he though we were planting the seeds there and then.

Welcome to A4A, I would be tempted to get all territorial and put up some sort of barrier to prevent other folks tramping all over your plot to get to the trough! You could use something simple like builders netting on sticks as a temporary measure, or try Freecycle/skips to look for anything you could use. It is amazing what other folk will throw out!

I would also spend a bit of time doing some planning on paper or computer, just decide where you want your paths first and how you are going to keep them weed free..... mown grass, bare earth, weed suppressing membrane, cardboard etc. The fun is in the planning...... ;D

Good to hear your son seems interested, I built a willow den for mine on my plot, he would sit in it for hours and even fell asleep in it! ;D Now he is older he is put to work of course... ::)

hiya, pookienoodle..welcome to a4a  ;D
just watch your little 'un doesn't try to swim in the trough, we had an 8 yr old plotter's grandson try to climb into a water butt  :o

hello pookienoodle and welcome
  if you are using cardboard on your plot weight it down well,the woman next to me covered her beds in it in the strong winds the weed membrane blew free and lots of the plots were covered in
half rotted wet cardboard as you might guess she was not popular

Quote from: phlips66 on September 27, 2009, 18:45:35
hello pookienoodle and welcome
  if you are using cardboard on your plot weight it down well,the woman next to me covered her beds in it in the strong winds the weed membrane blew free and lots of the plots were covered in
half rotted wet cardboard as you might guess she was not popular

I have spent the afternoon filling plastic milk containers with play sand to use as weights,so I hope to avoid flying cardboard syndrome.

Quote from: manicscousers on September 27, 2009, 18:18:12
hiya, pookienoodle..welcome to a4a  ;D
just watch your little 'un doesn't try to swim in the trough, we had an 8 yr old plotter's grandson try to climb into a water butt  :o

thanks
he was investigating the worms in there today.

you can always use bags of dug up weeds to weigh stuff down, we did, they then rotted down into compost;D

pookienoodle
 great idea filling milk cartons with sand,i fill mine with water(allotmenting on the cheap).
 its great you want your little one involved,my son is 6 and has been going for sevral years
 he has got to know lots of people there and lovesgrowing and planting,it is a great think for kids
to get involved in,and i hope your little one likes it just as much as my little fella.
            good luck with your new plot

Welcome Pookie,  congratulations on your new plot.  I think Deb is right it would be good to define your plot area.  I've only had my plot since April this year, it was in quite a state but I managed to grow a surprising amount of stuff.  I tended to just bung stuff in once an area was dug and learned a massive amount.  Now I want to get it all dug over and manured and let the weather do its thing so it is ready for spring so I wont grow anything over winter.  Good luck and enjoy  :) :)

Lushy x