Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Jaye on January 03, 2008, 10:42
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Is there anyone else on a very lengthy waiting list? I don't want to dig up my lawn as the kids use it to play....I am going to have to think of veggies in a couple of unused flower beds and we have a glass leanto laughingly called the "garden room" (what the estate agent called it when we moved) where we keep the recycling and the washing machine and tumble dryer. I could put a very wide shelf in the garden room (over the tumble dryer) and use it for grobags i guess. Would probably only get a couple in but it's south facing so they would get sun. I have a blackberry bush by the shed that is going great guns...can maybe put an arch up for that leading to the shed. I do have space to grow herbs... I'd like to grow salad leaves and I'd like an apple tree but the tree (s) would beed to go to the north facing end of the house i think and i am worried about it blocking loads of light from the lounge / front window.
Sorry that this is a bit of a ramble.....
Jaye
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I revamped a disused flower bed and enlarged it quite a bi and also dug up some lawn, but both areas were not part of the main lawn and so can be easily protected from small people playing, not that I have any yet but will have shortly as I hope to be approved to foster in three weeks time. I was lucky enough to inherit a greenhouse and conservatory too so use those too to grow stuff. I got my allotment a couple of months ago after a 2 year wait. you could do worse than spend a couple of eyars planning and dreaming!! and growing a bit here and there too!
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Hi Jaye,
I joined the council waiting list for an allotment in July 07 for one of the three sites in my town. The list was huge and I was told it would be at least two years! :( :( so I resolved to a long wait :( :(
A couple of weeks later an elderly neighbour said that there was another allotment site in town which had been left in 'trust to the people' through a will and was managed by a local estate agent. Low and behold in Sept 07 I signed a tenancy agreement and took on one of the many vacant plots (and its cheaper than the council ones!) It seems as if people didn't know it was there :?
I would put in some leg work and make sure there aren't any similar sites near you. It may cut your wait!!
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Jaye, before i recently got an allotment i dug up a 1m x 3m bit of garden turf and planted runner beans and below them lettuce, carrots, spring onions etc, growing on 2 levels allows more things in the same space. Remember though where the most sun comes from and plant the beans so they don't take all the sun from your ground level crops, ie smallest crops at the front where they will get most sun. It is good fun for the kids too as they realise carrots don't grow on Supermarket shelves :lol:
CD
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i have successfully grown veg in the flower borders - and most things can be grown just as well in pots
i've grown allsorts in pots - like lettuces, cabbages, leeks, toms, peppers and chillies, beetroot and radishes etc - just get a few pots and have a play in the dirt :lol:
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I've been on the waiting list for about 9 months now and i've moved from no 169 to in the 30's - woo hoo.
As for what to do while you wait....... grow a few toms and courgettes and post loads of sarcastic comments on here - werks for me! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Like Splodger I grew veg in amongst the flowers in the beds, they are just as decorative, and runner beans up against the garage wall. I grew french beans, peas, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, and loads of other veg in pots.
This also gives you a bit of experience in growing stuff, and raising plants from seed.
Where theres a will there's a way :D
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i grew cabbage and carrots in an old 'side on' tea chest tucked behind the garage - half filled with tyres and other large junk, put in a tarpaulin (rmember to perforate) then filled with tops soil and compost - grew peas, radish, lettuce, spring onions, tomatoes, chillies (started indoors) in pots and troughs lined round the bottom end of the garden. Still waiting for the allotment.
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You could try Square foot gardening (http://www.squarefootgardening.co.uk/index.htm) thats the UK site or Here (http://www.squarefootgardening.com/)for the official US version, the system works very well.
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Another take on square foot gardening is in Carol Kleins books Grow Your Own Veg, lots of other helpful tips too for larger scale stuff.
I got it via the bookclub at work (possibly Book people) for about £5
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Any elderly folk around your way need their garden culitvating?
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Another take on square foot gardening is in Carol Kleins books Grow Your Own Veg, lots of other helpful tips too for larger scale stuff.
I got it via the bookclub at work (possibly Book people) for about £5
Sally is that book good, i have a few already but the latest Marshalls newsletter reckoned it was quite good
CD
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It was well worth the £5 I paid, some of the recommended varieties seem to have disappeared, but the growing tips are very useful. Can't see it on the book people website at the mo though. Here's the amazon link
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product//1845332938/ref=br_fq_3
I'd do a google for a better deal first though.
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Thanks for the comment guys. All suggestions gratefully received - you have some great ideas.
Richy I hadn't heard of square foot gardening before but it sounds interesting so I have ordered the book from Amazon.
I have toyed with the idea of raised beds for a whle tbh - I have a book on gardening with kids and it had a plan for 4 raised beds put in a square with a path in between. In the centre corner of each bed there was a little piece of wood to make a little seat for small children. Then a wigwam of sweetpeas and mangetout had been set up in the centre so it effectively made a little den for them. They had grown spinach and beetroot and allsorts in the bed. It's definately worth thinking about.
Jaye
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Thanks for the comment guys. All suggestions gratefully received - you have some great ideas.
Richy I hadn't heard of square foot gardening before but it sounds interesting so I have ordered the book from Amazon.
I have toyed with the idea of raised beds for a whle tbh - I have a book on gardening with kids and it had a plan for 4 raised beds put in a square with a path in between. In the centre corner of each bed there was a little piece of wood to make a little seat for small children. Then a wigwam of sweetpeas and mangetout had been set up in the centre so it effectively made a little den for them. They had grown spinach and beetroot and allsorts in the bed. It's definately worth thinking about.
Jaye
Is that 'Eddies Garden' my daughter (4) loves that book so much that she pleaded for a runner bean wigwam and loved it when it was built!!!
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Richy I hadn't heard of square foot gardening before but it sounds interesting so I have ordered the book from Amazon.
We had great success with it over the 2-3 yrs we did it, that was until I could no longer resist the call of the lottie. Best carrots I've ever grown
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Hi Jaye - I rang up the local council in a couple of areas nearby to try and get on the allotment waiting list - they were so full that I didn't pursue it, but one of the council clerks told me he thought that there were a few parish administered sites around. When I finally tracked some down - 2 in the next village along - there were vacant lots on both - I got to choose! It might be worth really asking around, as the main council sites are not the only ones around.
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but one of the council clerks told me he thought that there were a few parish administered sites around. When I finally tracked some down - 2 in the next village along - there were vacant lots on both - I got to choose! It might be worth really asking around, as the main council sites are not the only ones around.
That would have been my suggestion, but for the 'lack of car' thread:
http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=10896&highlight=drive (http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=10896&highlight=drive)
But for anyone else, it's well worth checking out plots in surrounding villages. Look on an O.S. map and check with the parish council clerk - they should know the contacts.