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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:24 - Apr 25 by hubble
I think raspberries and gooseberries would be okay in the middle of that plot. Really hope you try beekeeping. Plenty of good advice from others in this thread. Good luck and enjoy. Even just turning up, putting the kettle on (little gas burner in your shed) and having a cup of tea would be nice :)
Yeah, get a shed. It’s ace when it pisses down. Also, get a canopy and a dog - even better!
Did I ever mention that I was in Minder?
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:30 - Apr 25 with 1141 views
My wife’s dream to have an allotment . We grow green beans and Tomatoes and the occasional courgette . Quiet successfuly . I did point thought she’d be making chutney from unused vegetables for the rest of her life . Anyway good luck with it though mate.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:47 - Apr 25 with 1089 views
I've grown blackberries at home, to eat as fruit and to make blackberry liqueur. The latter is a doddle to make and is a great replacement for cassis in a kir. I used a native bramble, you just plant it, water it, cut it down to about nine inches high straight away, then leave it to do its thing. It will need pruning quite often, but you could get eight or nine good bowls of fruit per plant and the flowers are bees' favourite.
Mint will grow almost anywhere but spreads readily, so put it in a bucket, then bury the bucket.
Oregano is easy to grow, smells great and is very popular with pollinators.
Good luck whatever you choose to grow!
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:59 - Apr 25 with 1070 views
There's something about growing from seeds, when they first pop up and you bring them on, then pot them on then a few Months later you can eat the results of your effort.
My Father had a profound influence on me, he was a lunatic.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 21:19 - Apr 25 with 1038 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:30 - Apr 25 by Mick_S
Yeah, I learnt that in the last garden centre I worked in. Less shit in it, apparently.
Great, gentle thread.
Only on Loft For Words could you be discussing the potential demise of Marti and 5mins later the Jack Hargreaves brigade are debating the benefits of no dig growing and keeping bees. We have a sizeable allotment behind our house and it is great to see the same people year in year out marching down the alley with their bags and barrows full of produce. Must be a nice sense of achievement to sit down at the dinner table and eat your own grown grub.
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 20:47 - Apr 25 by R_from_afar
I've grown blackberries at home, to eat as fruit and to make blackberry liqueur. The latter is a doddle to make and is a great replacement for cassis in a kir. I used a native bramble, you just plant it, water it, cut it down to about nine inches high straight away, then leave it to do its thing. It will need pruning quite often, but you could get eight or nine good bowls of fruit per plant and the flowers are bees' favourite.
Mint will grow almost anywhere but spreads readily, so put it in a bucket, then bury the bucket.
Oregano is easy to grow, smells great and is very popular with pollinators.
Good luck whatever you choose to grow!
You can get thornless blackberry varieties. Don't worry about the tree, just look to forest gardening if you get a lot of shade. It's definitely a time commitment. On keeping bees.....investigate David Goulson. Amateur bee keepers aren't always a blessing, if there's a lack of forage 'kept' bees will compete with wild pollinators, yields will be low, and uncared for hives can be vectors of disease. Instead, encourage native bees in. And hoverflies. And forgive the wasps, they do a lot of good. We've got a medium-sized council house garden, ours is the only one planted up, a number of fruit trees, a massive Spanish broom, etc etc, mainly because I like plants and dislike my neighbours, anyway, it's absolutely buzzing with activity.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 08:17 - Apr 26 with 820 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 07:36 - Apr 26 by Gus_iom
You can get thornless blackberry varieties. Don't worry about the tree, just look to forest gardening if you get a lot of shade. It's definitely a time commitment. On keeping bees.....investigate David Goulson. Amateur bee keepers aren't always a blessing, if there's a lack of forage 'kept' bees will compete with wild pollinators, yields will be low, and uncared for hives can be vectors of disease. Instead, encourage native bees in. And hoverflies. And forgive the wasps, they do a lot of good. We've got a medium-sized council house garden, ours is the only one planted up, a number of fruit trees, a massive Spanish broom, etc etc, mainly because I like plants and dislike my neighbours, anyway, it's absolutely buzzing with activity.
Forest gardening sounds interesting!
What can grow there?
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 08:59 - Apr 26 with 789 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 21:19 - Apr 25 by CateLeBonR
Does anyone on here know where I can buy a good gnome?
Have you tried British Gnome Stores?
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 09:00 - Apr 26 with 783 views
We signed up for an alotment couple of weeks into lockdown
Would have been 55 in the queue, two weeks earlier but was 175.
Everyone had the same idea.
Like others have said Gary, the no dig approach works well, however like ourselves it looks like your plot, not been tended to for a while.
Rotovating a plot is likely not to be helpful as the bind weed can tangle and they can with rotovating you are simply leaving the weeds cut still in the ground, and they can start again.
We found a composter with sieved soil best for growth, more so than anything you can buy at garden centres.
If you can pot some seeds up in trays before hand at home, by windows or buy a mini polytunnel, some plants are best germinated first before planting out.
Netting over cabbage, broccoli and many others can be required. Some buggers get hungry.
There is such a thing as companion planting as well.
Some crops really don't get on with being right next to others. Ie you don't want your Chelsea plants bang on top of your Rangers plants. One can inhibit the growth of another, as they effectively don't get on.
Also, if you can over time, try to ensure your entire plot is flat. Heavy rainfall on uneven ground is liable to lead to unwanted ponds in lower level areas.
We have rhubarb and strawberries which grow each year without replanting. Nice to have a herb area. Again they regrow each year.
If you can have things that harvest throughout the summer that's good too.
And some say do not replant the same produce in the same area. Not sure why I think it's because you add different nutrients to the soil. Again encourages better growth.
The main thing is to put aside time to attend at least twice a week and also look at weather forecasts beforehand and its essential to be regularly attending, as its very easy to miss times and suddenly you back to square one. And if it's anything like our plots, the alotment officer of the law, usually a town council employee is looking at untended plots regularly and if its starts getting unruly again, they will advise you to get on top of things, otherwise could lose your plot due to long waiting lists with prospective new clients taking over.
So yes, leave aside two weather appropriate sessions a week especially to start with.
Lovely to get physical exercise in the open air Gary.
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 17:27 - Apr 25 by GaryHaddock
Yeah that’s the plan, all about clearing and weeding this year.
To avoid digging I’ve brought a load of that mesh that lets in water but not light. Does it work?
[Post edited 25 Apr 17:29]
Up to a point. Once you remove the mesh any dormant seeds etc will reactivate. Once you have cleared it (the hard work bit) just make sure you keep on top of it, it's then a fairly easy job.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 09:27 - Apr 26 with 734 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 19:11 - Apr 25 by GaryHaddock
Cheers for the advice gents.
Clearing out the shed and found these gems.
Those are classic finds - clearly the previous groundskeeper had his/her priorities straight.
I love the idea of an allotment but mainly for the peace and quiet - genuinely have no knowledge of how to grow plants or keep them alive.
If I sense enough short cuts reading through this thread I might look into it a bit more seriously. Quite a few nice ones around me and a 5-10+ year waiting list, so plenty of time to either get my act together or drop out.
[Post edited 26 Apr 9:51]
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 10:39 - Apr 26 with 655 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 09:49 - Apr 26 by BklynRanger
Those are classic finds - clearly the previous groundskeeper had his/her priorities straight.
I love the idea of an allotment but mainly for the peace and quiet - genuinely have no knowledge of how to grow plants or keep them alive.
If I sense enough short cuts reading through this thread I might look into it a bit more seriously. Quite a few nice ones around me and a 5-10+ year waiting list, so plenty of time to either get my act together or drop out.
[Post edited 26 Apr 9:51]
I was told it was a two year waiting list and I got this one after about 6 months.
Put yourself down. Can always decline it when it comes up.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 03:45 - May 1 with 445 views
For those looking to start small pop down the garden centre and pick up a couple of tomato plants and you will not beat eating your own just picked produce in a few months
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 07:44 - May 1 with 309 views
The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 10:39 - Apr 26 by GaryHaddock
I was told it was a two year waiting list and I got this one after about 6 months.
Put yourself down. Can always decline it when it comes up.
I was secretary of our allotment association during covid and it seemed we were getting applications almost every day. The waiting list from fifteen to approaching a hundred.
We estimated the waiting time might be as much as seven years but post-covid a lot of people had lost interest.
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The Allotment Thread 🍃 on 10:08 - May 1 with 193 views
For those looking to start small pop down the garden centre and pick up a couple of tomato plants and you will not beat eating your own just picked produce in a few months
We used to bring back a tomato from Greece and plant the seeds.
Brought back the head of a daisy type flower once which produced a wonderful array of colours.
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