Herts Newest Allotment Owner!

[W0lf]

Hi

I've found out yesterday that I've become Herts newest, and proudest and probably most clueless (lmao) allotment owner!!

I must admit I expected the waiting list to be 18 months plus but luckily for me there is one available half a mile from the house! Anyone else here an allotment owner and got any resources, tips or tricks for a beginner?

 

[sasquatch]

Congrats on that. I waited a year and a half to get one. It's massive, but hadn't been touched for years which made me wonder why the wait. I bought one of these and it changed my life! I went for the heavy hitter as I had a lot of work to do.

My five year old son loves to go and potter about with me so everyone's a winner. Work a few sections and do small bits at a time instead of trying to turn the lot over in one weekend. Get somewhere ready for compost and get as much done as you can now so it's ready to go in the new year.

I don't know much about allotments yet but I talk to the people there whenever I can to get tips on what I should be doing. At my allotment there's a couple that have had their plot for 61 years! There are plenty of allotment web sites with plenty of info but I'm trying to avoid more computer time.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Bushwhacker]

I've got a fairly big plot (1000 ft sq) which used to be pasture land.
If you have to dig it out yourself, get some old carpet or black silage-bailing plastic and lay it on the grass now to kill it off. It makes digging it out much easier.

 

[tomongoose]

Hire a rotavator when you first clear it it makes life so much easier

 

[shaggystu]

work out where you want to put things like shed, greenhouse, compost heap, paths, perrenial plants (asparagus, rhubarb, fruit trees, herbs etc.) then once you've worked out where your beds are going to be (you'll probably want 4 or 5 permanent beds) get them all turned over in nice big lumps now and let the weather work it's magic. you can either clear all the weeds off and get them into your compost heap or you can dig them in, doesn't make an enormous amount of difference either way. then you can leave the main beds until the spring, by which time the frost should've broken them down quite a bit. by then you'll have read so much on the subject and been given so much advise from the other allotment holders that you'll know where you want to go next.

enjoy your new obsession (because it will become an obsession!)

stuart

 

[W0lf]

Thanks everyone! Some good tips. I have two websites (Gardenaction and Allotment.org) to read but there is sooo much to learn!

 

[gregorach]

Allotments are great! If you're on an established site, then talking to the people already there is definitely the best way of finding out what will work well there - but don't be too afraid to try new things either.

Personally, I'm a no-digger, and I recommend Charles Dowding's book Organic Gardening the Natural, No Dig Way. (I see this is a new edition.) Lots of people seem surprised when I tell them I don't dig, but it seems to be working quite well so far...

 

[Melonfish]

i've got two books on allotments and garden veg. i'll dig them out tonight and let you know what they're called, they're very informative and tell you alot about the types of soil things like to grow in and actually run down each month on what you can plant, what needs looking after and what needs pulling out etc. month by month play.
i got them from the book people. i'll post em later

 

[W0lf]

Allotments are great! If you're on an established site, then talking to the people already there is definitely the best way of finding out what will work well there - but don't be too afraid to try new things either.

Personally, I'm a no-digger, and I recommend Charles Dowding's book Organic Gardening the Natural, No Dig Way. (I see this is a new edition.) Lots of people seem surprised when I tell them I don't dig, but it seems to be working quite well so far...

Thanks. I like the sound of no-digging!!

 

[W0lf]

i've got two books on allotments and garden veg. i'll dig them out tonight and let you know what they're called, they're very informative and tell you alot about the types of soil things like to grow in and actually run down each month on what you can plant, what needs looking after and what needs pulling out etc. month by month play.
i got them from the book people. i'll post em later

Thanks. I'll keep my eyes peeled!

 

[Shewie]

Great news, what you got planned for it ?

Can't beat a bit of home grown veg in the pot

 

[Paul_B]

Can I just say something about the use of rotavators? They are good at churning up the ground but also very good at distributing seeds. I got my allotment October last year after about 2.5 years waiting list. 11 ppl on it before me and onlyh 14 plots!! Reckon a few dropped off the list but I got a call in August 2009 that one was free but I didn't have to take it as there was a whacking great big pidgeon loft on it. I didn't take it as there was a full plot likely to be coming up in 3 months. It came up inless than 2 months. I took it. Apparently an old woman had it but her husband got ill and died IIRC then as she was about to get back on top of her plot she got ill. Anyway she couldn't look after it so someone did her a favour and rotavated it. Perfect! It looked good and was ready for planting unfortunately the weeds had just gone to seed and when I took it on there were loads of weeds on it. I sickled them down and dug out the plot. Many days of hard work but I stil; have patches that haven't been done. Anyway with my first crop coming up I couldn't get to the plot for 2 weeks and it became overgrown with the weeds from all the seeds that had been mixed in by the rotavator. Plus it had couch grass on the plot. Can anyone imagine what happens when you chop up couch grass roots into a mass of pieces then spread it around? CLue? Well in one really bad area of about 2-3m long by about 1m out I actually lost about 1 foot of soil height once I removed the couch grass!

Anyway I have had a very busy year and haven't got to the plot enoug to do it butit was myfirst year. I also lost a lot of the gooseberries and black currants to them going over ripe because work and the really **** weather stopped me pickingthem. You have to have the time for allotments IMHO. I was thinking of giving it up but will give it one more attempt.

Good luck with your plot BTW. I hope it works out for you. Just IMO use a fork and weed it all out before you start. Doing a small bit then planting then another bit IMHO is harder somehow than doing it in one go. BTW keep an eye on Lidl and Aldi for bargains. they did those weed suppression plastic sheets very cheap this/last year. Better that than ordinary black plastic sheets as that stops water getting in and the soil is never right after impermiable sheeting.

Actuallyit has reminded me that I need to find out how to pay up for this coming year as I missed the AGM and the reall payday due to work.

 

[v-ness]

Congratulations!!

We've been after an allotment for ages, but we live in a village without Allotments and the nearest town ones have a long waiting list.
A couple of months ago we were offered a corner of a farmers field that is too small for a combine harvester to work in. The farmer dug some organic fertilizer into the soil for us and we're free to use it as we please. The only problem is that the access for the field is through the middle of our patch. That still leaves us 2 pieces of land to plant veg, keep chickens, put up a polytunnel etc, with each plot being the size of a large allotment. All for the grand price of: Nothing
Anyone out there waiting for an allotment- it is worth talking to a farmer near you.
Happy planting
Cheers
Ness

 

[gregorach]

Anyway with my first crop coming up I couldn't get to the plot for 2 weeks and it became overgrown with the weeds from all the seeds that had been mixed in by the rotavator. Plus it had couch grass on the plot. Can anyone imagine what happens when you chop up couch grass roots into a mass of pieces then spread it around?

Argh! Couch grass, bindweed, equisetum (horsetail) - these weeds love cultivation. There's nothing they like better than having their roots chopped up into little pieces.

One of the reasons I favour no-dig is that it doesn't dredge up the practically infinite reserve of weed seeds in the soil, just waiting for their opportunity to germinate... Well, that, plus sheer laziness.

 

[W0lf]

Great news, what you got planned for it ?

Can't beat a bit of home grown veg in the pot

No idea. Also got a small space in the back garden for a smallish patch. Was thinking root veg and greens for now at the allotment and herbs and a few alternatives at home. But in all honesty I haven't really planned anything yet!!

 

[W0lf]

Congratulations!!

We've been after an allotment for ages, but we live in a village without Allotments and the nearest town ones have a long waiting list.
A couple of months ago we were offered a corner of a farmers field that is too small for a combine harvester to work in. The farmer dug some organic fertilizer into the soil for us and we're free to use it as we please. The only problem is that the access for the field is through the middle of our patch. That still leaves us 2 pieces of land to plant veg, keep chickens, put up a polytunnel etc, with each plot being the size of a large allotment. All for the grand price of: Nothing
Anyone out there waiting for an allotment- it is worth talking to a farmer near you.
Happy planting
Cheers
Ness

Great!!! A small holding then!!! That followed by bees is my ultimate aim. Good luck.

 

[W0lf]

Argh! Couch grass, bindweed, equisetum (horsetail) - these weeds love cultivation. There's nothing they like better than having their roots chopped up into little pieces.

One of the reasons I favour no-dig is that it doesn't dredge up the practically infinite reserve of weed seeds in the soil, just waiting for their opportunity to germinate... Well, that, plus sheer laziness.

Must read about this no-dig options!!

 

[Mesquite]

Congrats W0lf on getting an allotment. When I enquired about one in my area I was told it was a minimum of 3-4 years waiting list :yikes:

I can believe that as one of the projects that I run for my work is on allotments and it's even worse being in Brent with at least 5 years or more waiting list. The reason it takes so long at times is that so long as the holder pays their yearly rent it's hard to actually evict them off of an allotment.

Anyway here's another forum for you to join to get tips

 

[W0lf]

Congrats W0lf on getting an allotment. When I enquired about one in my area I was told it was a minimum of 3-4 years waiting list :yikes:

I can believe that as one of the projects that I run for my work is on allotments and it's even worse being in Brent with at least 5 years or more waiting list. The reason it takes so long at times is that so long as the holder pays their yearly rent it's hard to actually evict them off of an allotment.

Anyway here's another forum for you to join to get tips

Thanks Mesquite! Another forum to read! Let's hope it's Tapatalk native so I have more things to do on my journey home!!

I must admit I was expecting to wait yrs for one so I'm dead chuffed.

 

[wingstoo]

I took on a piece of land earlier this year, still lots to do, but some of it hadn't been touched for about 100 years, the rest about 25 years.

It started like this

And looks a bit like this now

Have had a few bits and pieces from it already, 80lb of spuds, about 20lb of runner beans, and we have added three chickens and a huge shed.

Wings