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Wasnt there an allotment thread before, please bring to top if you like instead of this. Ok i got an allotment after barely a year on the waiting list, I was quite happy with that. It is a reasonably sized plot with a fig tree(I hate figs, but will keep it all the same),a shed and i dunno, 15 foot by 50 ft of land as a guess. Wanna get loads of asparagus in asap ready for harvesting in 2 to 3 years. Then it is an open canvas, any ideas? What are other people doing this time of year? Not even gone at it with a shovel yet because it is cold and surely hard work. Should I cover it, to somehow compost it or something? I want easy crops for the first year... Thinking jerusalem artichokes, courgette, runner beans(I love them but refuse to pay inflated shop prices when my old man has them homegrown coming out his ears in the summer). Maybe some fancy spuds, thinking pink fur as I am quite happy with my rooster desiree from tescos. Maybe sweetcorn. I understand carrots and onions are easy to grow but they are so cheap from tescos wondering if it is worth it. Greenhouse might have to wait until 2014. Not interested in fruit, would like to hear from other vege growers, what are they doing this time of year. Ta in advance.
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at the moment nothing. The greenhouse was stripped and sterilized before xmas and fresh muck was also dug in at the same time. WIll start setting seeds middle of Feb
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Nothing too, dug veg patches (in my garden) and covered them over with some sheeting, to enable the ground to heat up a bit more, and discourage any weeds etc. Dug in all the rotted compost which had been in the compsoter for a year or so. Need to refill the plastic composter from the 'open air' compost heap to give that a helping hand. Need to give a good clear out to the greenhouse ready for the Spring. Cut back all the fruit bushes / apple trees.
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also nothing being done here at present. Most of ground not yet dug over from last year, but will wait until better weather for that - ho hurry. Will buy onion sets soon and early potatoes which I grow in large pots to have them ready earlier when prices are still high
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Best to dig over soil and dig in compost before frosts set in, so that frost can break up the lumps in the soil. That's why people usually clear out and turn soil over in the autumn.
It's possible winds will turn westerly next weekend. If they do, and if that thaws out the soil, that might be an opportunity to turn over the topsoil on your new plot, pull out weeds and leave it for February frosts to do their work. |
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This may help ... http://www.nsalg.org.uk/
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Get a load of tesco's burgers or horse shiit into that plot, cover the areas you won't use straight away as all you will grow is weeds.
Grow yourself some Khol Rabi. Really the greatest of veg. Quick growing, very few pests and you can use every part of the plant. Tastes mildy of turnip. I'm surprised this country hasn't caught on to this veg. I owned a private allotment but it was too expensive to maintain but it was the 10 mile round trip that eventually got to me. I've my name down for a council one for the past 5 years but there's a 10 year waiting list minimum. I still grow in my yard but nowhere near as much as I did when I owned the private allotment. |
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Jan - nowt
Feb - start Garlic Broad Beans Carrots Spring Onions |
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Kohlrabi advice:
http://www.growveg.com/growblogpost.aspx?id=178 Not that you really need any, except perhaps to keep hold of your grass clippings to mulch it, as they obviously don't shade the soil like other cabbage types (Kohl = cabbage in German). |
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Anyone doing anything?
Ive built 4 raised beds...8ftx4ft. There was a compost heap on the site and though it isnt perfect(top layer was just fresh looking turf with about 6inches of soil, got rid of that and underneath was some decent, but not great, compost. Two barrow loads of that in each raised bed. Nice wood chip paths all around, have turned over much of the mud elsewhere on the site ready for spuds(easter) and asparagus(next weekend). Fig tree and rasperry bushes still there from the last bloke so will keep them and hopefully get some produce from them come summer. Bought a cheapo greenhouse for about 20 quid from argos, will strap it to the side of the shed, will be secure and south facing so perfect for putting seeded pots iin ready for planting. As yet nothing planted, juat lots and lots of digging, forking and raking. The raised beds look a treat, full to the top with good looking soil and compost. Runner beans in may, spuds at easter, asparagus asap. Broad beans, jerusalem artichokes asap? Will have to do a bit more reading regards courgette, onions, swede, carrots, lettuce, toms (the other things I fancy growing). Right bored you enough, what are others upto? |
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I wish I had your enthusiasm, Rob.
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I hope I can keep it up. Nothing actually planted yet, just hope I have broken the back of it. Two thirds of the plot is either the raspberries or fig tree that was already there, or ready to for planting. If half isnt been actively used by the summer they take it off me. Id be happy with a plot half the size personally, too big for me.
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Go to Tesco ya tight fackers
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It prob doesnt save much/any money in the long run. Even if it doesnt taste better, sure I will think it will. Good exercise too. You should give it a go SF it is satisfying. And therapeutic.
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I've got two gardens, mowing the lawns is hard enough for me.
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Dig it up and plant some veg and then you wont have to mow it.
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my mums got a lovely greenhouse coming on Friday cost her £1400
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Would be nice to get a fancy aluminum framed proper glass green house, alas I am a cheapskate.
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this is cedar Rob she wouldn't have an aluminium one
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Even nicer. On a proper concrete base no doubt.
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yes
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Im gonna be using bungee cords to strap mine to the shed to stop it blowing away, from little acorns.
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she had the old one 20 years so she had her moneys worth
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I'm involved in this project:
http://www.communitygreenway.co.uk/news/2013-02-15/avoniel-community-garden-starts-to-take-shape It's a shared harvest, which I don't agree with but it's not my money so I can't really complain. Eventually there will be 50+ raised beds. I'd prefer 4-6 of my own and grow whatever I like but I have to go by the rules. |
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Ive built 4 raised beds...8ftx4ft
That's impressive winter work Rob, you deserve to reap the rewards from all that effort. The commercial potato figures for last year came out recently ( lowest since '76 ) and seed potato prices are up only a little on last year http://www.potato.org.uk/sites/default/files/imce/SupplyPressReleaseDecember.pdf I've dug over about 30 feet by 3 feet to a depth of 12 inches, and it's going to be almost all spuds, as it's such an easy first year result imv on new ground, and can't see shop prices coming down any. |
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Rob, a problem you will have is a gluttony of produce arriving all at the same time. Try and sow small quantities frequently rather than together. If you plant 4 cabbages at the same time then you'll be harvesting 4 cabbages around the same spell. Also things like peas, mange tout etc. will be picked all summer long - keep picking them even if you won't use them, it will encourage more pods to grow and you will be stuffed full of them for 3 months solid.
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Burts mum is going to grow cannabis
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hey what a great idea
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A dozen pepper seedlings started in pots next to the radiator.
Dug over and composted the old raised bed that came with the house back in the autumn. Found a butler sink buried beneath the tulip bulbs. Extracted that, filled it with gravel that got washed up from the River Tone when it flooded last year and compost on top. Will grow rocket in it later. Not planting out anything for the foreseeable. The weather model output looks brutally cold. Using the greenhouse to dry out extra firewood. |
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celeriac started today in tray indoors - try that, simple, no pests, just keep watered
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It's snowing here
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Nothing for me yet because it's too cold/wet/snowing. Maybe in a couple of weeks I'll start.
When people say it tastes better than what you get from shops they are 100% correct. I had forgotten what real carrots tasted like until I grew them. I realised it's been about 20 years since I tasted them the same. I do potatoes, carrots, turnips & swedes (the same thing but the swedes you can leave longer in the ground to harvest last), basil, tomatoes, peppers. If you have dogs then be careful what potatoes you grow. Some grow potato berries which look like green tomatoes. They are poisonous and my dog like tomatoes - had a worrying night after I caught her eating one. If you have the room (any room and just grow to fit) then I can't see why people wouldn't - if able, grow their own. Instead you see them spending money to go to the gym, drive to Tescos and drive home. You can do a lot of gardening in that time. It tastes better, it's better for you and it makes you healthier - naturally how our ancestors have kept fit. Watch for the small greenhouses from Argos etc. They are useful but be careful leaving young seedlings in there with it closed on a hot day. As in a normal greenhouse you need to regulate the heat |
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Cheers 666... Good advice.
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Just to point out that green tomatoes are toxic for dogs. Admittedly a dog would have to binge-eat them for fatal effects, but they can still cause stomach upsets in small hounds, with all the messy consequences. (Tomatoes are members of the nightshade family of plants.)
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and dont let raw potatoes [peelings perhaps) anywhere near chickens ...
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Think my broad beans took a hit with the cold weather yesterday. They looked all droopy out of the window this morning.
Will try and get some seedlings growing in the propagator first this year I think, rather than just planting straight in the soil. |
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I never plant any bean straight into the ground, if it fails to germinate you have a gap in your row or an empty bean stick. Always in the greenhouse then gradually harden them off.
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only just seen this thread. Rob's become the Bob Fleming of ChitChat
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billy - arent you meant to soak them in water first for a while to see which will sprout?
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Nothing even planted yet sultan?
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