Anyone with an allotment?

yeah the mud is soft so diggable at the mo. Looks like the old polytunnel was removed by cutting around the polythene at ground level.

That’s the problem with sheds. They advertise there’s something in me, I might be valuable.

It's easily solved. Just put a treasure chart in a prominent place in the shed, ideally with a good torch next to it, and a spade. The ne'er-do-wells will instantly go off in search of treasure and won't bother your shed again.

Yeah broad beans for me this week. Garlic and onions went in a couple of weeks back. Speaking of which, what can I see use to improve drainage in a raised bed for said broad beans? Obviously horticultural grit would be great but £££.

Would sharp sand do it?

I’ve got onions and garlic planted. I should plant some kale. But it always seems to get eaten

always seems to get eaten

I went down to harvest some kale earlier, bloody caterpillars all over one of the plants having a good old nibble. It's bloody November caterpillars, what are you doing?

I remember watching a program years ago of a guy who had a shed on an allotment that was in an area prone to having things being nicked. He built a false wall at the back of the shed, hid his good tools behind it and then left a few old ones out in the shed as easy pickings. Always thought that was a great idea!

White fly all over our otherwise heathy plants, I'd hoped to use it through the winter but they are infested unfortunately

The sheds on our site apparently get broken into often but only ever for power tools so everyone just leaves those in the big communal building lockers which are relatively secure.
We want a shed but mostly just for somewhere to hang out and have a coffee.
The open sided ‘bus shelter’ shedlet seems pretty popular on our site: roof for collecting rainwater/keep dry, somewhere to sit and keep low value tools. It also supposedly gets you round the single structure rule on our site as means you can have a greenhouse as well(it’s supposedly one or the other but the bus shelters are tolerated).

My shed is never locked but at the last site break in the door still got damaged by whatever fuckwit tried opening it. I leave no valuable tools there.

Tools are the usual target but I was told that the sheds used to get broken into by kids looking for alcohol because some of the old boys would keep a bottle of something in there.

Tough shit fuckwits ...

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Went over to our plot today to check if last night's storm has ruined the newly installed beanpole structure. That was all good, however it seems the warnings we'd been given about flooding were not as exaggerated as we'd hoped.

I think it's basically due to the high clay content of the soil, so I think we'll be making the raised bed there 3 or 4 decking boards high. Has anyone on here successfully created some kind of trench system to encourage draining?

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Lots of worms (lumbricus terrestris - rather than composting/tiger worms), small stones, organic matter and horticultural grit should help. You could sow a load of clover or similar to add hummus to the soil and help drainage.

some of the old boys would keep a bottle of something in there

There’s a couple of guys near me who keep 48 pack of Stella in their sheds and just sit there and drink most days. Their plots are immaculate so they must do some work too.

That’s good to know - we’ve found loads of monster worms on the plot so hopefully now that it’ll be grown on properly rather than being somewhere to bury rubbish, the soil will improve

Similar neighbours on mine with Red Stripe and Wray & Nephew. Tend to do three sisters growing, seems low maintenance allowing more drinking time.

just sit there and drink most days
more drinking time

It is not just drinking , its observation.
Gardening = 10% perspiration and 90% observation
:)

One of my Brussels Sprout plants has this slightly weird disease going on. Just affects the leave, should I harvest it now to stop it spreading it to the others?

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Can you remove the affected leaves

Could do, it's quite a few though. Would probably strip the plant. May harvest - so long as I have a couple of stalks for Christmas, I'll be happy.

How long before you would harvest ordinarily

Not really sure tbh, it’s my first time growing sprouts. Definitely wanted some for the Christmas dinner. But no real plans otherwise. There’s plenty on there to eat but also looks like they could have quite a few more still to grow.

My rasps berry canes from Thomson and Morgan that I order before lock down finally arrived this weekend.

So now I’m satisfied that no matter what if I can harvest anything at my allotment it’s raspberries

I’m thinking about building a hot composter how insulated does it need to be. Could I use thick wood or do I definitely need insulation to keep the heat in and to a maximum

Been looking for a greenhouse locally and one came up for free about a half hour away. However it was 8x20foot! A dream in one way, but I haven't got the time or graft for dismantling it and getting it up again. Would love a big greenhouse one day, extend the growing season right through the winter.

I was offer the 12 x 8 foot one on the plot next to me. It was too bigger job and would have taken me days to shift.

Would have been easier to swap plots but that wasn’t on the agenda