Allotments 4 All

Hi,

I've just got my allotment, but it's a fair distance from me and so I'll probably only be able to get down there once a week.

Do you have any suggestions on what veg I can grow that would only need watering once a week during the summer ?

Also, any suggestions on winter veg ? I was thinking about brocoli and cabbage. When should I plant this, and will it grow right through until spring ?

Many thanks.


(ps:  I live in Hampshire.)

it will depend entirely on local weather conditions, so you might get away with it, also depends on what your soil is like anyway - clay dries out rock hard for example - everything needs water but you could adopt a mulch programme so that after watering you mulch to conserve moisture

Andy,  that's great that you have just got your allotment!  I'm sure you will get plenty of useful responses to your question.  Our daughter has an allotment in Leeds, and she rarely waters anything (apart from when planting out) as she can only get there once a week.  Things just have to survive!  
You  ought to try to get some potatoes in asap, even if they haven't been chitted (left in the light to start healthy and strong shoots).
Try French and climbing beans, spinach, courgettes. You can plant onion sets now.  Get some leeks going, too. I grew tomatoes  outdoors in Herts, and didn't water after initial planting.  The theory is that if you water frequently the roots develop higher up, and therefore  suffer without regular water.  If left to themselves, the roots will go down to search for moisture.  It works for me, even here in SW France.
If you have access to well-rotted manure,  put some of that in, to help conserve moisture.  And mulch well, too!
Good luck

What's your soil like?

We have no water, I only water when the seed/ling goes in and I mulch everything like crazy - or when there has been no rain and the cracks start to show [the mulch starts to fall down these so I know it's time!].

I do have a water butt though - runs off the shed....invalueable. And we have containers that catch the water all winter and they get used up during the spring/summer when watering those seedlings in.

I usually try to find out when rain is due and then do a mass planting session the day before. Then just let them get on with it.

But we are on clay - it would be different on sand.

I pretty much never water my onions and leeks, and never water my potatoes.

I would say that harvesting is going to have an even bigger impact than watering. A lot of nice summer stuff needs looking at every few days to pick it at it's prime... So I'd focus on things that stand well without going over. I wouldn't bother with tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn, peas, broad beans, courgettes or soft fruit.

I would think about spuds, boltardy beetroot, chard, Jerusalem Fartichokes (if they don't make you explode), carrots parsnips, Borlotti beans for shelling, winter squash, onions & leeks...

You might get away with PSB or it might flower early if it gets too dry- sow it around now. Cabbage - depends on which type but to my mind there are better crops (such as chard) for a meat & 2 veg type meal. Over here, brassica are a lot of work because you need cages to keep the pigeons off & then a lot of messing around to weed & harvest.

You really need to spend more time there Andy, at peak times we all spend 20+ hrs on the lottie, I don't think you have thought this through, good luck on how u go forward but as said harvesting will be as big a problem as watering and that's without the weeding.    :-\

Mulch everything, and that'll do a lot to keep the soil moist. I don't water anything except plants in pots and newly planted seedlings.

Hi I grow alot of courgettes & winter squash & they wouldnt survive/give a decent yield on my heavy clay soil without alot of watering so it may be best not to grow things like this (im in the south so itgets hot & dry). It would probably help to make raised beds then put a black membrane cover over the path areas to cut down on weeds (you could use cardboard too but it wont last that long so would need replacing all the time). If you sank large plastic bottles into the soil in raised beds with afew small drainage holes in them & some gravel you could then fill with water & hope that it drains slowly into the beds during the week.
You could use grass cuttings to 'earth up' spuds I find that this helps to keep moisture around them.
Sometimes due to ill health I cant get to my lotty as much as I should & most things do ok but weeding would be a nightmare if I didnt cover unused areas. I also plant alot of things through black memebrane to stop the weeds from growing. (I get cheap stuff from Wilkinsons about £5 a roll & it lasts 2 or 3 seasons).
HTH   

Last year I still had an allotment where I used to live so was only getting to it twice a week regularly for about 2-3 hours a time. As I knew what the situation was and also had other gardening commitments (a new garden and another allotment near where I'd moved) I was facing a situation much like yours.

What I grew was:

Alliums: garlic, maincrop and pickling onions, shallots
Maincrop spuds
Shelling beans (I'm a veggie so I use quite a lot)
Winter Squash

It all falls into the camp of a big day planting, a big day harvesting, in between water and weed.... It meant I wasn't going to lose a crop for the odd day here or there, and if I coudl have done it all in a single 5-hour session it would have been OK, as it was, twice a week after work, catch the late bus home, for you it might be a day at the weekend.....

chrisc

Mulch, mulch and mulch again! A heavy layer of straw over everything!  Tomatoes might be alright if you really water the roots heavily once a week, beans tend to be more forgiving, and peas are generally alright as in April/May you tend to get rain fairly regularly. I wouldn't bother with aubergines or peppers, they need regular watering usually. Courgettes, hmm they might be OK, but you'll need to pick them more than once a week in the summer! in 3 days the fruit can get massive!

Definitely spuds and onions, I never actually water mine, they sort themselves out.

I normally only get to my allotment once a week, and some of my neighbours are the same. It's absolutely possible. I think the key is to make sure it's every week. Before I had children I could have spent more time down there, but I had a better social life and went away a lot, and to be honest now my plot is better, even though I go once a week, because it gets more reliable attention!

Don't be put off if you get some failures, everyone gets failures anyway. The plot gets better every year, if you keep on working at it.

As others have said, organic matter in the soil helps reduce need for watering, as does mulching. However, at first you might have trouble achieving both these, due to time constraints and/or money/transport, and might find crops are wilting this summer. But each year, you will improve the soil, and gradually, they'll need less water.  I'd say avoid containers, as they need more frequent watering, and don't get a greenhouse!

Try a few things, and see what works for you. Good luck!  :)