[DiggerDog]

Thanks, Coldandwindy (name anything to do with your location by chance?) I will pause to think about the rotavator for a bit.  Good news is I have a tap 20 feet away from the plot.  Hooray!

[snowdrops]

...but it's been so blooming rainy. I now have 10 pallets on the plot ready, but the place is like a bog. I've decided to stop paddling about in it. With a bit of luck we'll get a few dry days before the weekend and I'll build my monster compost bins on Saturday.

Yes always a good plan to stay off the ground when it’s sodden

[Subversive_plot]

Greetings DiggerDog! I like your chosen name because I used to have a dachshund that we nicknamed DiggerDog (for the usual reasons).

If you cut and suppress weeds (black plastic) on some smaller areas now, you may be able to get something growing on those when the weather warms a bit. As others have suggested, see what your allotment folks require.

Good luck!

[DiggerDog]

I have a Westie, hence Diggerdog for me too. :-)

Right - I've built 3 compost bins from the pallets and started to fill them, and through a friend of a friend I'm off to collect a boot-full of sheep poo at the weekend to mix in as I go.  I've also bought a pile of fence posts and wire netting to replace the collapsed fence between me and the neighbours plot (with one very happy neighbour to boot!)

Cor - a lot going on seeing as I've not supposed to have started yet!

[comfreykid]

Belated welcome Diggerdog ! .     Sounds like you are getting on well , good to hear you have your bins up and running . I find three bins great for a continuous supply of compost. Sheep poo , good stuff !! 

[Dekzion]

A new plot is a nightmare and a dream all in one! Welcome to the 'allotment effect'!
When I started mine 2 years ago I built a perennial weed bin, I screw bolted 4 pieces of corrugated tin together to make a solid bin, lobbed the clods in that and then covered it with a builder bag to keep the light and rain out.
It is now dry dust and I'll be throwing it back on the plot. Reason being is that dumping weeds to the corporation is removing a layer of good topsoil.
I get Digestate from a local energy plant but local horse owners are only too glad to get rid of manure which is usually more straw than anything. I also built three compost bins but used used plastic pallets as they wont deteriorate (they cost £6 each)

[DiggerDog]

Making progress!

The fences are now replaced, and six beds marked out and covered 6 weeks ago which have now been dug over. I've also prepared a base ready for a shed. Meanwhile, just to get started I've got some seed potatoes chitting back home and some squash seedlings coming along nicely! 

[DiggerDog]

Well, I ended up doing far more than I'd planned this year - just couldn't resist.

I've been harvesting sweetcorn, cucumbers, lettuce, potatoes, spinach (what a great crop!) and herbs (basil and parsley), and I've got loads of butternut squash coming on nicely as well as some leeks looking good.  I had a few drawf french beans from a couple of plants given to me by a plot neighbour. I think I'll grow more of those next year. And I'll try peas too.

So, mostly a success - just a couple of minor failures including spring onions (sparse and pathetic-looking) and bulb fennel (having no bulbs to speak of yet.)

Over winter, I'm planning to build a lean-to greenhouse against my shed, then chillis it is!