[Swee'pea]

I've had my allotment since february ( as a few of you will know) and after lots n lots of rain I managed to plant mangetout, broad beans and early potatoes ( pentland Javelin) plus two courgette plants before the heavens opened up again and have conspired ever since to pour down on my days off . Took a load of paving stones I'd been given to the allotment on saturday and I was devastated with what I saw

courgettes.....pulled out of their specially deep dug beds by what appears to have been a fox who then proceeded to cover his 'dinner' in the hole left by my courgette plants and hid it for a later meal. Courgettes were then killed off by pigeons.

potatoes...only six plants that I can see and they aren't going to give us more than one meal between them I reckon ( IF the darn slugs don't get them. They've got the rest of them as no signs of anything showing.

pigeons decimated my peas and totally killed off my beans as I forgot to cover with netting

top it all off the darn site is floating in water and it's lying on top so I STILl can't dig it over and the lovely weed free area I'd cleared a month or so back is now well over a foot high in grass again due to the weather having been so wet n horrid.

I feel like giving up There's no one using their allotments on the site either so not seen a sole in the whole time I've been there. No one to talk gardening to or swop seeds etc.

I really want my allotment to produce but it's such heavy clay and the drainage is darn well non existent. I've tried contacting the allotment officer but she's never available and doesn't answer emails or telephone calls.

Sorry to rant...hoping that getting it all off my chest here will make me feel better about it all ....thanks

[Aunt Sally]

That a sorry tail of woe  :cry:

There are quite a few gardeners here who have wet plots so there will be lots of advice for you.  

My son and his partner have a ery dampplot in Birmingham and are gradually building raised beds to help to make it drain better.

If you have a plot you can improve it, but if you don't have a plot .....

[slowcompost]

Take heart if the weeds are growing so can plants. look on it as a challange.  Everyone has years where nearly everthing seems to fail.
Also your better of with heavy ground than light sandy stuff.
I'm a bit suprised that potatos did'nt come up though, maybe they got frosted off?

[gardengran]

sorry to hear all that swee'pea, i think the raised beds idea is the way to go too  

[Swee'pea]

That's very true aunt Sally...at least it's my plot even if it does resemble a pond for most of this year

I had hoped my OH would help me setting up as I wanted raised beds anyway ( seems much easier to work) but he doesn't seem motivated so I'm going to have to have a go at making them myself I guess or I'll never get anything grown at all

[Fenland Girl]

Chin up! My plot (not an allotment as such but an area of rented land tacked on to my garden) was completely overgrown when we moved here 6 years ago. It is on heavy clay and often gets waterlogged. But we've cleared it bit by bit over the years, and a combination of raised beds and improving the soil with compost etc has helped with drainage. Everyone gets years when things go wrong and is very depressing but there's nothing like getting out there and sorting it out to make you feel better. Just take it a bit at a time.

My potatoes have been disappointing this year too!

[Swee'pea]

I reckon most of my potatoes were munched by the horde of prize slugs I appear to be harbouring on my allotment (wonder if there is a prize for most slugs in the local allotments comp?)

thanks for the encouraging words..you're right of course...raised beds it's got to be and if I have to make them then so be it..a challenge it is

Next year is watch out here come swee'pea and her humongous veg hehe

[richyrich7]

Well Swee'pea  I can see where your coming from but keep going we all have bad years. My plot looks awful this year, don't seem to have the time that I'd like to put into it. But theres always next year    

And them raised beds are so easy to make get yourself a cordless drill drive and show the world what you can do. use slug pellets and kill the b%$$^ds. :evil:

[Big Jen]

This gardening lark is so full of ups and downs.
The "ups" are brilliant when a little bit of success is gained.
The "downs" are devastating when you feel the whole world is against you.
Dont give up- there's always next year
BJ

[Swee'pea]

Thanks everone for the words of support and you're all right...so...tomorrow on the way home from work I'm off to buy myself a cordless drill and bits, some screws and when I get home I'm going to have my OH pull some pallets that have been sitting out in our garden to pieces for me and I'm gonna take them upto the lottie n get going......if I sit feeling sorry for myself then I'll have nothing to show for the hard work I have put in and if I wait for OH I'll get nothing done.....pics WILL follow although I'm not sure how soon ..thanks again guys...you lot are greaattttt!!

[yummy]

Last year was our first year. Our plot flooded several times and most of our stuff went rotten. We were really annoyed, just like you are now but it will get better.

We have started to convert low areas to raised beds now. It costs a bit to start with. We bought bark chippings in and got a tonne of worm compost to fill em with but gradually we are doing a new part of the plot every couple of months and it is getting easier now. Yours will get easier too.

[Brambles]

That is so like my first year swee'pea.  I got virtually NOTHING out of my soil except slugs and leatherjackets!  I now have slightly raised beds, and each year gets a bit better as I learn more and more.  
Had some great crops this year so far (though still not grown any potatoes!)  I don't use slug pellets, just a torch at night!  have got reasonable control of them now, have to leave some for the frogs and toads!
Pigeons are pests, but there are ways round it, have to say that CD's on string worked for me this year though I know that has not worked for some people.
Whatever you do, don't give up on one bad year, there are lots of very experienced people to give excellent advice on here as I think you already know.  Let us know how you get on!  Good luck with the cordless drill

[Aunt Sally]

WTG Sweetpea  

[Swee'pea]

I will add cd discs to my list of must get's for tomorrow too....this is not going to beat me.

A friend has just told me on the phone about an allotment site she saw either on tv or online where it is an old piece of tarmaced land and they have used those huge builders bags full of soil and people have a bag of soil to grow their veg or flowers in like mini allotment plots. That got me thinking. I have recently seen these woven bags for £1 in a certain shop of same name/denomination that could be filled with soil and lined up in rows ( or even patterns) and they would happily grow potatoes or whatever in them....if the raised beds aren't very successful then I'm investing in a load of these bags too and will grow stuff above the water line in the bags too

feeling much more positive and I'm now thinking outside of the box...thanks so much everyone of you

[woodburner]

I feel a rant coming on, so many people are recommending raised beds. You don't need bits of wood to raise the soil. In such wet conditions, the wood will only take a couple of years to go rotten anyway. Lazy beds have been around for centuries, and are brilliant for heavy soil, wet or otherwise.  

Don't look on this year as a waste, as the cultivation and manuring has improved the soil, regardless of the state of the crops. Plus the weeds would have been far worse. You have also learned what pests you have to deal with, and hopefully next year you will be able to avoid them. I'm losing out this year, from trying to do too much too fast. I should have known better as I am an experienced gardener, but the temptation of so much ground was too much to resist, and now I am struggling to keep the weeds down. (They're always worst the first year as you disturb all the dormant seeds and give them light to germinate.)

Edit: Ooh well done for that out of the box brainwave
Our posts crossed as I'm watching tv at the same time

I must pass that on to a friend of mine who is being kicked off one of her lotties (long nasty story). She has space at her house but most of it has concrete 6" down. I've just realised she can turn the concrete to her advantage too as, if she digs out the soil between the beds where she wants the paths to go, they will already be hard lanscaped.