Anyone with an allotment?

Tidied all that mess away, Lizzie dug the area over and got it covered. I stuck some onions in that should have gone in before Xmas. Fingers crossed they’re still good.

I’ve tried to keep everything on our plot fairly low to the ground and heavy. It’s getting windier in the U.K.

I need to plant some seeds soon they keep winking at me

Planted soon verbena, delphiniums, sprouts and chillis

Tomatoes (3 varieties), aubergines, Brussels sprouts (4 varieties) and courgettes sown today.

Got a very exciting email from the local allotment society today. Their waiting list has been closed since 2014 but they will have 25 plots going in July and will be holding an opening day for them. It's only a 5 minute walk from my house so fingers crossed I can get down there first.

Gave my plot up today (moving house) :(

Tons of seeds getting sown at home over the last week. Heated seed mat is a game changer.
Cauliflower, cucumber, squash and toms all up after a couple of days.

Camp out! 😀

Sad times, not sure how I’d feel leaving ours. It’s not even that amazing, but I’d definitely miss it. New plot for you somewhere?

Not a bad shout!

planning on growing some squash vertically in this raised bed. It’s 3x1.5m I’ve ‘artworked’ the frame in, anyone reckon I could get 4 plants (the purple dots) in that space or am I being a bit ambitious?

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If anyone frequents poundstretcher/bargain buys everything is 50% off. 8-10 seed potatoes (chitting and slightly ropey looking but some decent enough) for 75p, strawberry plants, 50 onion sets, shallot sets, asparagus for 75p each. And some red/black currant plants, raspberry and gooseberry plants for £1.75 each.

So my seed potatoes have arrived. First Early Mccain variety that produced excellent results for me last year. QQ re chitting. Last year, I just purchased seed potatoes later in the year which were already in an advanced state of growth from Homebase. How much sunlight do the potatoes like when chitting? Just leave the box open in the corner of the room or put in strong sunlight on the windowsill or just bung em straight in the soil?
I've increased the size of the potato patch this year by 400% by taking up more of the patio and digging in compost from the hotbin. Soil is looking much improved however still needs another 200l at least to finish the bottom right hand corner off.

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Load of tidying up, weeding and hoeing prep this afternoon, and a haul of white sprouting.

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The chits will get longer in the dark but greener and stronger in the light. I’ve had mine in a cooler place with on a windowsill for a month or so now.

More clearing and a bit of digging today. Chucked a load of poppy seeds down on the old salad bed(we’re doing salad on the balcony this year) and finished getting the onions in.

Want to put a 6ft high trellis of some description as shown in my excellent drawing below. Liz wants to use that area for filming yoga(she’ll improve her pallet platform) so wants to enclose that and the bed behind(blue tarp) for a bit of backdrop/privacy.
What are our options for something smart looking without spending a shit ton. I guess it’d be 1.5-2 standard fence panels in length on each side.
I was thinking the most basic option is posts and 50mm galvanised mesh on the roll but apparently that’s not up to scratch.
All landscaping materials have gone up hugely in price since I last looked :/

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Fresh AAA rated woodchip in the communal pile today. Boots filled. Started gutter Peas too, not sure how successful they'll be. Some other stuff started too.

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Looking good.

Bet the soil will be great under where those wood chips are in a few months. Looks great!

Looking good - cant wait to get down to mine (work has been a bit manic/demanding recently) - got a load of seed potatoes at B&Q last week marked down from £4 to 10p - its usually Wilko i get my discounted potatoes from so theyre going in this weekend and im replacing the glass i lost recently with polycarbonate sheets which arrived last week

I moved about 500kg of manure to the plot yesterday. Managed to plant some carrots seeds and parsnips

Bit jealous of folk that get wood chip and manure free at their allotments, would love that at ours. Looking good, @rhb

Planning on putting my early potatoes in containers this week.

We get a regular supply of free manure from the police stables - it used to get shared around the city fairly but the site realised if we essentially bribe the driver by giving him a nice "drink" for dropping the stuff off he turns up a lot more regularly. So we all now pay a few quid each for 10 barrows full per contributor

Does anyone else share their plot? Felt we bit off more than we could chew for our first year so never finished the last strip of clearance as we rushed to throw loads of stuff in the ground.
Got a friend who’s gonna take on a 10x10’ bed for now. We’re supposed to get her signed on with the council but she’s been visiting the whole time we’ve been there so everyone knows her anyway.

The thinking being it’ll give me a bit more time over the summer to do some more landscaping.

Well, I had to go to a stable to pick it up and drive it to my plot.

I’d like to get more but would need a trailer and a digger with scoop

I did arrange for a local tree surgeon to dump wood chip at our site though.