Hi everyone,
I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself, and say hi.
I'm Jane and I'm a total allotment (and gardening) novice. I've only had my allotment for 5 months, so I'm a bit slow out of the starting blocks for this year's growing season. My plot had been completely neglected for a few years and had no existing infrastructure, so for my first few months I've focused on the basics - I put up a small 6 x 4 shed, attached some guttering and water butts (I now have three) and I've just finished building the perimeter fence. I've also taken delivery of a tractor-load of pig manure, which is rotting down nicely in a shady corner under a tarpaulin. What else? Oh yes, I've created three long narrow beds, in which I've planted some potatoes (bed 1) and lettuces, leeks, carrots, fennel, beetroots and dwarf french beans (beds 2 & 3). Apart from the lettuce - which is thriving - they're not much more than seedlings at the moment (they went in very late!) but at least they look healthy. The one crop that I did inherit was an established strawberry bed, and yesterday I picked my 8th big haul of gloriously flavoursome berries - I've harested 4kg altogether from that one small bed. What else? Oh yes, I've put in a couple of rhubarb crowns, rescued three sadly neglected raspberry canes, and discovered a gooseberry bush under the edge of my manure heap. I also have a plum tree....
I doubt that I'll plant much more this year as I'm very short of water. The allotment site has no water supply, so I desperately need some rain to fill my butts! In the meantime I'm toting water every day in a 10 litre container, which luckily just fits in the basket of my Pashley bike. I'm already thinking ahead to autumn, when I'll be creating a 4 bed layout for next year that changes the bed direction from E-W to N-S. I plan to mark out the paths and beds over the next couple of weeks and then get cracking on building some compost bins at the shady rear of the plot. The allotment is N-S, south facing and well-sheltered. It's only a half-plot (14m x 7m) but that's plenty big enough for a gardening and veg-growing newbie.
I'm sure I'll have a shed load of questions over the coming months/years, so I thought it was wise to make your acquaintance!
