Anyone with an allotment?

We were given a 1yr grace period after moving in to get ours up to the 3/4 cultivation that is required for our site but as long as you’re clearly making progress they seem pretty chill.
I guess every site is difference.

Todays drama on our site is that one of the new starters from a couple of weeks ago turned up with a guy and mini digger today and scraped the top layer off of the plot, completly trashing all the paths, raised beds and perennials from the previous tenant(it had been abandoned for about a year but previously really well tended apparently.

They’ve ended up with an enormous pile of dirt they’ll have to pay to get carted away, a completely barren plot that will be completely covered with weeds again in a couple of weeks unless they’ve got a team of landscapers turning up tomorrow to fit out the whole plot and pissed off both neighbours as the digger tracked onto their plots.

It’s odd as after they strimmed last week the plot looked ace and they’d have just had to dig over one bed at a time at their leisure. Now they’ve gotta deal with it before it becomes a jungle again.

I’d argue that to take a plot from derelict to full productivity would be about 3 years.

Jeez. This is crazy! I find it so weird that people want a plot but not the work. That is the hobby - the gardening? Non?

Don’t do it! First job of market garden bed prep is to de-stick and stone and they are fastidious about it.

yeah decided I'll stick with wood chip for the paths, found a mother-load in the local cemetary recently so just have to go load it up one weekend.

Have asked allotment boss if he wants the stones on rutted dirt road.

Went up to the plot this evening, and you know what? Fair fucks, it is a bit of a state. Loads of weeds have grown up around the broad beans, garlic and onions. Nettles at the back of the plot, too many bits of wood and other shit strewn around the place. I need to get it cleaned up.

Dug up my elephant garlic for the allotment competition tomorrow and left it on Dougie’s plot. Have to help my wife with something so can’t make the weighing. Least I’ve got something to enter this year.

Oh and more ants making nests in my potato pots. 😭😭😭

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I went down last night to water. Couldn’t get over how dry it was, considering how much water I put down only a couple of days ago. Probably go back tomorrow to do the same.

Even the rhubarb leaves had taken on a brittle crackly feel.

We’re watering twice a day here in Walthamstow this week, only way to keep the spuds happy it seems…

One of the sites near Golders Green I used to deliver woodchip to in my tree work days was notorious for people having garden maintenance teams coming 2-3times a week to do their work for them!
There were fully landscaped plots there as well that looked as good as any fancy urban garden design….

good luck Tonts, i had a letter i didnt think was merited earlier this yr, i improved it enough to keep them happy

Thanks. The heat isn’t going to help but I think if I just cut back everything I can, cover a few bits with card and tidy the place I should be good.

I would quite like that job 😂

Harvested a few things this morning. My garlic and onion are all tiny, potato crop is poor, broad bean crop poor - everything has suffered from the dry year (and distinct lack of watering) we've had. So why are the weeds all thriving and waist high?

Bonus (tiny) carrots that I didn't sow was nice though.

Im wondering about getting some quick stuff sown when i lift my potatoes to fill the gaps and hopefully get another crop - so far my thoughts are perpetual spinach, beetroot and radish

My globe artichokes are growing like crazy about 5 foot high now

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Sounds good! Could also still sow Pak Choi and other greens like mustard etc.
Rainbow chard?
Could start some overwintering kales as well still.

Dwarf French beans might be a goer as they fix nitrogen from the air not the soil, so won’t mind the slightly spent ground.

Nipped up the plot this afternoon and found a note saying I’d come second in the allotment elephant garlic competition. Take that haters from the council! Planning to brandish the note shouting “do you know who I am!?” if evicted.

Fab and congrats !

Unless someone on committee really has it in for you for some reason my experience is that if you show them you’ve taken their letter seriously and done something or explained why not you’ll be ok. People with illnesses or family problems are given consideration, I’d strim everything and weed kill liberally . Hope you beat it

Cheers. It beats my effort last year where the lettuce I grew was so small it could only be weighed in tenths of a gram. I didn’t submit anything in the end.

I've got loads of these this year, nearly enough for 1/10th of a salad.

Had some potatoes from the plot tonight. Normally our potatoes get eaten by slugs but had some kestrel which I believe are slug resistant. So tasty

These look immense, by the way. Globe artichokes do look great. Need to get some more perennials on my plot.

Good luck Tonts - i love your allotments posts so i dont want it taken away from you