Inherited an allotment and not sure what to do!

Will do. It's rained today and forecast a bit of rain tomorrow so hoping that will help then going to sew seeds on friday.


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Just a thought but you could try giving yourself and the plot a little break and planting Phacelia. Give the bees a crop they will love, suppress the weeds and add human to the soil. Apparently it is particularly good in dry soil.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist

 

@Scrungee can't stop laughing at that.


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Auto correct strikes again LOL

 

Well I'm gutted/confused. My first sowing on the little round carrots had started to sprout and I was disappointed in the number of seeds showing signs of life compared to the pot id done in my back garden. I had two that were looking half decent as of last night. This morning they had disappeared. Not sure if it's slug, birds or rabbits?! Whatever it is didn't fancy the spring onions as they're fine.

Could i transplant some of the seedlings out of my pot into my allotment patch?


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Sorry to hear the news :( It may be the earth is a little tired and needs some working on? That idea about green manure springs to mind. Im trying that this year. I wouldn't like to say though if that is it. Did you use fertiliser on them at all?

Re the transplant, Im no expert but i guess you could. Im not sure i would go for that option though if your efforts so far on that patch have been problematic.

I'm far from an expert though. Folk laughed at me last year because when i was told to ask for more advice in a garden centre I mentioned we had a B&Q close by i could ask in LOL That's how little I know! I'm on the same learning curve Snorky, lets hope the others here have some thoughts for you

 

I suggest you get the book JWK advised, I got one from Amazon for 1p plus £3 postage, it weighs a ton, has about 1200 pages, and it advises EVERYTHING from seeds to finished product, what how and when to do what, Even how to use the product in the kitchen and Medicine chest

Best now would be to prepare the ground, by turning it over and leaving it in lumps for the weather to do the work,
To get part of it going,Keep a small space for current stuff then add BnQ compost and in a small area mix well with sharp sand, plant your carrots in that, you can still get late ones in, stand by with your Garlic for next month, along with some overwinter cabbage
Put some catch crops in lettuce radish rocket
I believe you will find your previous carrot seeds will appear shortly

 

Thanks guys. Actually the smaller sections that I put the carrots in were all basically the B&q multipurpose stuff and not the clay patches. On the bank holiday i put some nettings across and the seedlings are starting again. Spring onions are coming on well too!

As for the clay patches-well we dug out loads of the clay (it was painful) and got rid of that, then dug in loads of manure and topped the beds up with the good stuff.



My strawb plants are starting to root too-id put the new trails into the ground and the roots are coming on well. Going to clear the lasst two beds of clay and manure/compost them too, do some weed supressant material and plant in the straw plants ready for next year in their permanent place.

[emoji4]


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@Jack ah i have this book my grandma gave me but seems quite old in its references. Its not very big so maybe the one u and jwk mention is more comprehensive?

 

@Snorky85 your allotment looks so nice and neat. You can inherit an allotment? I did not know that. You are doing some very fine work. Fresh vegetables are always a good thing.

 

Thanks @Baymule We bought a house which had private allotments and it was the one that came witht the house. It was in such a state at first-sun baked cracked ground, full of weeds.

Gradually getting there with it. Had my first crop of spring onions recently and they seemed to be extra tasty!

 

Thanks @Loofah only got it july/august time so only half a season as it was practically empty.

My carrots kept getting eaten but my spring onions have been fab. Now got red and white onions and garlic in and growing well.

I planted some "christmas ready " tatties and they were growing well. It said to mound the soil up over then to encourage more tubers...i did that and it actually killed them. I was really gentle doing it too...so annoyed about that.

Got my strawbs in and they're looking good as is the rhubarb. Just let oking forward to the new year to start off seedlings etc in the greenhouse. Hoping next year will be more successful!