[tiredmum]

I've had my plot about six weeks now...Potatoes are in and growing really fast! 9 year old son is amazed every time he sees them! Sweetcorn, leeks are at home waiting to go into bed two when it's ready. Huge crown of rhubarb, that was left by the previous tenant also gooseberry bushes that were left and I've now discovered loads of strawberry plants that were being strangled by weeds! Prepared some ground for them and transplanted 10 plants today. Things are going slowly but I'm happy as long as this time next year I've got the whole plot dug over. Loving every minute of it though, mistakes and all! lol

[zucchiniqueen]

I'm a newbie to the site, but this is our second year on the allotment. Last year, we were all prepped, and then it just flooded here, so a mixed bag of successes. This year, we seem to be way behind - my partner has been away for three weeks and I have kept up with getting the seedlings ready to go in, but not with the plot itself, and it is awful! It is just a field of weeds now - everyone else's plot looks incredible, and I just feel embarassed by it! I am hoping that a few weeks hard work will catch us up but am feeling a bit down about the whole thing    On the upside, I have some fantastic looking seedlings ready to go in - I guess that is a start!  :?  Good to hear that everyone else is doing well though!

[sawnee]

Hi (newish)
Had our plot a year this month, have it all cultivated apart from about the last 10ft(no matter how hard I try to get this last bit done something else always seems to crop up)  Should have a good supply of veggies this year, will be picking Broad beans in a week or two, have been eating lettuce for a couple of weeks now and we are looking forward to garlic,onions,pots,leeks,sweetcorn,turnips,carrots,spinach,french beans,runnerbeans,courgettes,squashes,asparagus,cabbage,brussels,caulies,broccoli,strawberries,raspberries,gooseberries,whitecurrants,redcurrants and probably loads I have forgotten
We have learnt loads and it has been hard work, but we have enjoyed every minute of it  
The people on this site have helped no end, not only with sensible advice but also a shoulder to cry on when it all goes wrong or someone to share a joke with and make you laugh outloud at the PC after all sane people are tucked up in bed  

[upert]

i started on an overgrown allotment for the first time 3 weeks ago, had it ploughed, turned but not rotovated as i didn't want the couch grass coming back with a vengeance. i have an awful cold which has slowed me down but i've got two deep, wide serviceable beds ready to go.

i've planted potatoes under black weed mats, onions here and there to deter nasties and marigolds and sage to do likewise. lots of stuff started off at home: courgettes, sweetcorn, carrots and onions, these last two in  in guttering, peas, beans, pumpkins leeks, tomatoes and gourds. unless i get a move on with the weeding and digging i don't know where i'll put it all.

this site has been very helpful indeed. thanks all.

[muntjac]

well done to all of you ,this season is our first season of growing etc in a new place and i forgot how hard a job it is ,we have spuds through with onions and broad beans planted out shallots are going good all the brassicas have been sown and now are about an inch tall ,thousands of plants around the garden in the small greenhouse ,sop still even more to do the new greenhouse should go up the morrows weather permitting, concrete to lay then the base to set .6 hours later ( after constructing it we should be able to lay it on top of the base frame and ,then dig out all the dross from inside to fill it with nice compost and topsoil- the scotsrocks
 

[ruth82]

I got my plot last november and spent the whole winter getting rid of the weeds, all of which seems to have been in vain as they are all back with a vengence now.  Apparently black plastic is the way to go next year!

So far my potatoes seems to be doing really well, and I've been hilling them up religiously.  I planted my onions at 2 week intervals but they all now seem to be at exactly the same height!

I do have severe allotment envy, no one else seems to have a weed problem as bad as mine, and everything just seems better than mine, but I'll keep going and hopefully get a couple of meals out my efforts.

Unfortunately I am moving in 2 weeks to a village 10 miles away so its going to be a bit more of an effort to get down to the plot.  I am going to put my name on the waiting list in the village but it's a bit daunting to think I think I'm going to have to start again from scratch there. But at least I can try to do things properly this time rather than just making up as I go along! :roll:

[babe]

im a newbie, and quite proud of my little green rows on my veggie patch  

[bb_odiham]

I'm doing well.

The rest the garden, as the missus says, is "an exercise in bio-diversity", but my vege patch is coming on a treat.

Ok, so it only has spuds in right now and I've only just planted the courgettes, but slowly does it.

I think I've learnt my lesson from last year, where I rushed everything into the ground and ended up with mustard going to seed and the lettuce going to the slugs.
I didn't spend enough time getting the soil balance right, so my soil was dry, full of stones and generally not good for growing anything aside from weeds.

My patch looks like a random patchwork quilt of bits of cultivated ground, but it seems to work. Again, a lesson learnt from last year, when I tried to work all of the soil over in one go - very knackering and not a very good idea.

So yeah, I think the spuds will be a success - and bottom line, working very slowly and surely is the best way to go, with emphasis on getting the soil right prior to planting. I've worked in a loads of compost, fertilizer etc. and also started to make definate lines where the vege are growing - mounds as it were  

[Arls0308]

Hi,
We've had out allotment just over 6 weeks now. It was rather overgrown, but we luckly strimmed it and gor a few beds dug in before we had all the rain. We've done really well since then, but I've been planting lots of different stuff in one bed, so may have trouble next year trying to rotate them. We started out with some potatoes, French Bean and Meteor Peas in pots too, just to get something growing down there. Since We've got a bed with raspberry, Tayberry (not soing much though - just a stick) blackberry, blueberry and some fruit trees (that may need moving later in the year). We've dug a couple of flower beds, currently with some Sunnies in. I've got rows of Radishes, beetroot, garlic and onion (not doing much) and some broccoli and Sprout seedlings. Another bed with Potatoes in, The next bed was too big so split it and have Savoy and PS Broccoli and in the other side spinach, Pac Choi, Butternut Squash, some Salad seeds and some Monge Tout and more Peas.

We've gone a bit mad with beans, peas and tomatoes, so may be donating those to other allotmenteers. We still need to dig over the other half of teh plot, but I'm really chuffed with it - I just love it down there.

I've found that for some reason a lot of the older gents won't come over and chat with me, but will happily chat to the guy next door. Not sure if they're uncomfortable speaking to a lady on her own, but even when I say 'Hi' I get grunted at. Otherwise, I'm getting to know people (awful at remembering names though), the greenhouse is getting the glass in this week and hopefully a shed before July!

Yeahhhhh!!!!

[franmeerkat]

I've had my allotment for two weeks and so far, it's been hard going! My lottie neighbours tell me that it hasn't been worked for four or five years, and so far, it's been dig dig dig. But the soil looks good, and I've got three beds done, all with pototoes.
Coming on at home in pots, I've got four kinds of tomato, beans, peas, beetroot, fennel, cucumber, squash, and chillis. I just ordered some veg plants online, so that I can get some brassicas and leeks in.
The allotments are very friendly and supportive, although on my first visits, nieghbours would come over to my plot, shake their heads sadly and say 'That's going to be a lot of work.'
Among all the couch grass and weeds I've discovered I already have two rhubarb crowns and a gooseberry bush, so I've had my first allotment harvest!

[garddwr bach]

First time for me to plant broad beans and I've erected a wigwam for them. A 'friend' who called had a good laugh and said that there's no need!!!! as they don't grow very high - is this true??

[franmeerkat]

Hi Garddwr -  broad beans are normally staked (ie some kind of straight support rather than wigwam) unless the variety you're growing is The Sutton, which can get away without support.
Send my love to Gwynedd please!

[garddwr bach]

Thanks Franmeerkat
I've already erected the wigwam now but I don't suppose it matters. It will just be empty at the top!!

[nickyveglover]

hi i dont have an allotment yet but decided to build raised beds in garden. So  far have planted in ground early potatoes, maincrop and pink fir apple, broad beans,, peas mange tout, onions, garlic, rocket, mustard frills, carrots, parsnip, beetroot.  Ready to go out tomatoes, sweetcorn,peppers, chilles, all manner of lettuces and in seed bed, cauliflower, 3 types of cabbage, brocolli and sprouts. Looking at it all wrote down im very pleased and exited but would really love an allotment, aw well cant have everthing.

[JimG]

I've had my plot for about 18 months.  It hadn't been cultivated for, depending on who you talk to, around 4-7 years and I inherited 600 square yards of brambles, thistles, two sheds (in slightly dodgy condition), a very broken down greenhouse and a wrecked cold frame.  We couldn't even see the cold frame when we took the site on as it was buried in the undergrowth!  But we did inherit a very productive old apple tree and it's been a mass of blossom recently. Looking forward to another bumper crop.

It's been and continues to be a struggle.  My personal circumstances last year held me back - long story! - but I'm getting on with it now.  Yesterday, one of the veteran gardners told me that I was getting on top of it now.  I beamed - inwardly.

I think I've learned that you do get rewarded for your hard work and you'll only ever get out of the site what you're prepared to put into it.  There's no point looking in wonder at the reproductive qualities of weeds and giving in and I've found that digging is strangely therapeutic.  That's enough silly old cliches but I have felt fitter than I have for some time and sales of suncream have increased in the past week or so!

Taking on the allotment is probably the best thing I've done.  If I can only persuade my OH that digging is indeed beneficial to the soul then I'll have cracked it!