Well after 2 and a bit years on the waiting list we have finally got an allotment. I haven’t seen it yet so no idea how overgrown it is or how much work needs to be done but what can people reccomend to plant in the next month or so as I am thinking that we might have missed the majority of items for summer eating!

spuds, courgettes (if visiting often enough to harvest), spinach beet

When I had an allotment I tended to do hardier, lower maintenace stuff like spuds and squashes, onions and garlic

Spuds – break up the ground nicely
Courgettes – grow like f*ck, need little or no attention
Salad crops – easy peasy, cut and come again

Enjoy!

I have a book on allotment gardening if you want it, got 2 copies of the same one so don’t need both

You’re still well in time for peas, beans, carrots, parsnips etc. as well as the above. Just get a shift on doing some clearance!

Allotments are basically our back garden!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=ampthill&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ampthill,+Bedford,+United+Kingdom&gl=uk&ll=52.022542,-0.503139&spn=0.001373,0.004128&t=h&z=19

If it’s not been cultivated for a while then I’d look at skimming the weeds off tyhe top and then renting a rotovator for a day to break it all up a bit.

Get to have a look at it tonight and then can see what state it is in.

Woddy2000 – cheers for the offer but we have got a couple of books but havent looked at them yet – was waiting until we have the allotment!

renting a rotovator for a day to break it all up a bit.

NOOOOOO!!!! Or at least not if it’s got bindweed, ground elder, mares tail etc on it – you’ll just chop em up into tiny little pieces all of which will come back stronger than you can possibly imagine. Think sorcerer’s apprentice with weeds….

Glyphosate weedkillers are a good short-cut if you don’t want the fun of hand weeding, but you’re gonna be digging most of it over some time anyway.

Best bet is to work on clearing enough to plant your first crop, then move on from there. Trying to do too much in one go is a recipe for disaster.

BTW – woody’s tip on salad crops is ideal as they’ll be up & cropping pretty quick so you get something back nice and early.

I’ve been on the waiting list for years, waiting for dead mans shoes in a very healthy part of the world.

Anyway, linky below is meant to be quite a good quick reference…

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/veg_planner.asp

butternut squash is good too, cover loads of ground, requires little attention and produces loads

Ok here is the allotment. Raised beds are handy as it means we can work our way through methodically. Wife and I are off to the indian for a meal and to work out our allotment plan (well it seems like a good excuse to eat out!)

Allotment by robbo1234biking, on Flickr

blimey, thjat’s in great copndition 🙂

last one I had was previously occupied by a kleptomaniac – Council (and us) removed 8 skips worth of junk…

you got it made in the shade robbo!

Stop worrying you have not missed out on any planting yet. Still time for just about everything. Not a lot grows when its cold in blighty.

First priority is clearing the soil of rubbish and weeds. From your photo above you don’t have very much work to do really once you get stuck in. 1 hour work per raised bed weeding and turning the soil at a plodding pace by the looks of it.

Get your spuds chitting away now – put in the soil end of April.

I recommend buying a plastic mini greenhouse – cheap n’ cheerfuls the way – for seeds that can’t be sown direct and you’ll be sorted.

Just the right time to get that allotment up to full speed I’d say.

Ours was chest high weeds and shrubs, that is a walk in the park!! Have really enjoyed clearing ours though, had an ace bonfire on Saturday, it was like brazillian rain forest clearance… Slash and burn !! Good luck.

Get your seeds coming on with some propagators on your windowsills. Easier to plant out wee plants than seeds for a lot of stuff.

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/

Have a look at their varieties – far more fun than the garbage sold elsewhere and well researched.

My allotment (OH’s really!!)

http://allaboutallotments.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Allaboutallotments/140595012660360

Just watched your video on your site… Goodness me! Absolutely amazing!! If there was an allotment version of MTV cribs it would be sure to be on it 🙂

I would love to get even half as good a result.

Ours is massive we can hardly control it.

I recommend black porous sheeting to prevent weeds from taking over. Small beds are easiest to deal with.

We have nothing in yet – normally easter for us up here in the NE.

Whilst on the subject if anyone has a greenhouse or poly tunnel available we are desperate for one 🙁

haha, thanks, I’ll tell him, he’ll be v happy someone’s watched it!! Is it any good ? 😉

Runner beans will be easy to grow.

Also ask advice from all the other holders, they’ll be delighted to give you their knowledge and experience tips.

Lol..

wwaswas – Member

If it’s not been cultivated for a while then I’d look at skimming the weeds off tyhe top and then renting a rotovator for a day to break it all up a bit.

I would avoid the temptation to rotovate too, 1st big mistake I made too, looks great but come next year you could have more bindweed than you know what to do with 😉

As thepurist mentions in his post, it will only generate more work in the long run.

The best tip I could think of is to pace yourself, its very easy to go mad in the first month or so digging over the whole plot and planting what springs to mind just to fill your plot up, then get bored.

We see it all too often here, new people start, dig everything over, then for whatever reason, never turn up again.

Get chatting to you neighbours, they can save you a mountain of work, with advice and pratical help, never buy what you cannot borrow too 😉

Last tip – Tea, make sure you have planned your Tea making facilities on site well, make brews for your neighbours, when you brew up 😉

Imho, you are far better off taking a slower approach and work on a small area of your plot, double dig the plot, trying to remove all the weeds you can, Spuds as mentioned are a great crop to start with & will help break up your soil for you.

Do you know anyone who keeps horses or cattle 😉

The alolotment is less than 100m from the house so no problems with tea making facilities! 🙂

Have started a blog on it so will get some photos tonight and going to look at a rough layout. have 8 raised beds so makes it easy to dig out at first as you can focus on specific areas.

Been looking at sheds today as well! THe wife got some seed potatos of someone at work and then going to look at some basic herbs and then stuff like lettuce, carrots, beetroot etc (we have gorwn these before in the garden).

There are already some leeks in their and some unidentified bushes (no comment please!).

looking forward to getting going with it over the weekend in between entertaining guests and replacing the alternator on the wifes car!

Divagirl – I have allotment envy now!

OK then have started a blog up about the allotment so our parents can track what we are doing (we live a long way away. Here is the URL to the blog. Think we made a good start this weekend. Planning on getting some potatoes in tomorrow night after work

http://thebelsomsallotment.blogspot.com/

Good start! Top tip for the mint – leave it in a pot and sink that into the ground. If you plant it out it can run everywhere – not a major issue as you’ve got contained beds, but still easier not to have to deal with that in the first place.

Cheers for the tip and ski cheers for the comments on the blog! Did another update on the blog tonight after putting the pots and snips in. It is getting quite addictive really!

We have a blog too, our plot is very rough and ready but from the start we had I don’t think we are doing too badly!
Our allotment blog

Before

After