Hi All

After just 4 short months on the waiting list Greenwich Council have offered me an allotment, I am yet to view it but have been told that the available plots are all overgrown so I won't have to pay for it for the first 6 months.

I am pretty good at growing stuff indoors, I have managed herbs, tomatoes, and chillis on the windowsill, and I worked in a bonsai tree shop for a couple of years so I have some basic knowledge of fertililser and soil types etc.

What I need is some advice on what I will need to get myself up and running equipment wise, and what I should be doing at this time of year to get things ready for spring. Or can I grow things over winter???

Can anyone point me in the direction of any good websites or books? I think what i need is a calender telling me what to do, and how and when to do it.

Also any other secrets/tips at all would be appreciated.

Cheers
Steve

We've just got a Dorling Kindersley allotment book. Has a few intro sections, then a month-by-month guide, then a plant-by-plant guide. Really good.

We're in a similar situation to you. We just bought a house with a veg garden that was fairly overgrown. We're focussing on tidying it up and repairing the beds/walkways over the winter, but I believe this is the time of year for planting bare-rooted fruit trees/bushes and getting your onion and garlic in the ground.

Steve-g, first off, well done for getting one that quick!

The waiting list here is now two years.

Anyway, hold fire buying anything expensive to start with, if you allotment is anything like mine, your neighbouring allotment holders will be bending over backwards to help you out with clearing your patch.

They will be keen on you clearing the weeds down to stop them covering their plot too.

Go down make yourself know, take a big flask of tea with you 😉 and have a chat with the locals.

I wouldn't worry too much about growing anything just yet, as Mike mentioned, sort out your paths and start clearing things up.

The easy way to clear a patch is to cover it with some old carpet, which will kill off most of the weeds underneath, then you can look at removing what is left and turning your soil over.

Some good books out there, this is a good one to start with:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Half-hour-Allotment-Royal-Horticultural-Society/dp/0711226059

One last tip, pace yourself, its all to easy to try and do everything in one go, then get bored or disillusioned with it all and give up, seen it happen her a few times, just take your time and enjoy.