Anyone with an allotment?

Get in I've just got an allotment! 3 rods (75m squared). It's been let go a bit but looks amazing. Now realising how much stuff I need to get it sorted.

I'm really made up. Only slight downside is that it's late in the season but I can plant winter veg too.

First things first though I need a shed. Anyone ever bought one and constructed one? Are they easy? Also does anyone know where I can pick up cheap /2nd hand tools?

Main thing with building a shed is that you (generally) need two people to do it.. One to hold and one to fix - they are pretty straight forward. I looked at loads on eBay first but collection etc proved more hassle than it was worth so bought online.

Make sure you get a good level base - paving slabs on sand work well - and spend a bit of time planning out your plot before siting the shed. Leave enough room to one side for a water butt etc etc.

Car Boot sales are best for (non electrical) 2nd hand tools - not sure if you mean DIY tools for the shed or Gardening tools for the allotment.

Of course the most important things for your shed are something to make tea with, a wind-up radio and heavy padlock for door security.

get lettuce in now, and you'll have salad bowls galore until september
french / italian salad mix packs ftw

find a source of manure locally cover your 3 rods with 12 inches of manues
dig in let rot over winter next season you'll be breaking records with your runner beans courgettes marrows and pumpkins

Thanks both.

Turns out that after a bit of rooting around there is a concrete base for the shed. It looks level but will check. Thanks for the tip on a two person job. My girlfiend will be so pleased...

Will try and get hold of some horse poo (aparently the allotment supply dried up for some reason). and start digging it and plannign for next year (but willl sow some stuff soon too).

I've got to give up my plot. Short notice, but if anyone wants to dig up and transplant some autumn bliss raspberry plants to their plot/garden etc then let me know. Allotment is next to Hampstead Heath and I'll be going there this Friday...

Anyone have trouble with bindweed? Last year it really came on with a vengeance and although I dug up and pulled out loads, this year is already promising to be a bastard for it. I've caved in and started trying glyphosate gel, which is quite practical as it applies as a gluey gel and quickly dries on, so it goes exactly where you put it and stays there. Initial results are promising but it is a really fiddly job getting in amongst the perennials my wife decided to put along the edges of the allotment, and dabbing it on all the bindweed coming up through it. I'm constantly anxious about putting roundup on the wrong thing and killing one of my wife's beloved plants.

Does anyone have any experience of sucessfully combating this menace?

I think the glyphosphate is the best idea. I had a little bit and thought I'd managed to get rid of it... didn't realise the roots could go down 5m!!!

They say if you keep on digging it up eventually it'll go but you might have to contend with stuff coming from neighbouring plots. Once you get rid of the big palnts you just need to catch ti early and you'll be OK.

Bindweed is relatively easy to get rid of, just keep weeding it and it'll go. It might take a few years but you'll beat it eventually.

Horsetail on the other hand, what a bastard to get rid of. I've dug up buckets of the stuff and it keeps coming and coming and coming. Fucking prehistoric plants!

Horsetail is a bugger. Ground elder is causing us first world problems. I think I'll have to get the Roundup on it (although I do not like using chemicals).

Found my first horsetail on the plot this week. We've seen nothing on my side before.

I suspect it was people dumping some of their waste on my plot just before I took it over that did it.

Basrtards!

Hello all,

I've been working on this lately - a project which supports disabled people to grown their own food and to cook it together.

We've been making jams and chutneys for the last few years, and this year have stepped up that element of it (the Queen and Phil got some this year, and actually wrote back and said they enjoyed it) and have been selling them at markets.

Seed to Plate - Bells Piece - Leonard Cheshire Disability - YouTube

Anyway, I hope that two minutes explains a bit about it. If you'd like to support the project and get more people growing and cooking healthy food there's a just giving link in the youtube page.

Of course, anyone wanting to share this is more than welcome!

Horsetail is a bugger. Ground elder is causing us first world problems. I think I'll have to get the Roundup on it (although I do not like using chemicals).

You know that you can eat Ground Elder? It fell out of favour as a kitchen garden plant specifically because it was so vigorous and takes over.

Anyway, the glyphosate definitely worked well. Not sure if I got it all, but had it under control well enough that I'm confident I can wipe the bindweed out. It did seem to cause some problems to plants that were local to the one I targeted, so presumably once the poison is in the root of the plant that got dabbed, it can pass into the soil a bit. It breaks down in the soil but perhaps not quickly enough to avoid hurting surrounding plants a little - some yellowed and were weakened, but seemed to recover.

This year I have started by shovelling about a ton of manure onto the plot. It was too dry recently to wash the poopy goodness into the soil, so I dug it over last Sunday and was rewarded with a nice farmyard smell that filled the whole street the next morning. I hope to have really reinvigorated the soil for this year, as apart from beans and potatoes, last year was a bit of a washout (partly because I spent harvest time in Cuba, I guess). The missus is growing a tiny Fidel Castro in her tummy this year, so I guess I'm going to have to do most of the planting for once. Usually it's the best I can do not to just kill everything - my job is normally 'hole digger'.

After a lot of hard work over the last 18 months at last my allotment is really beginning to take shape. I've 'reclaimed' a load of additional space from a massive tangle of brambles and ivy and it's starting to be prodctive.

My pond has newts and frogs (although the frogs may only be visitors).

My rhubarb and gooseberry obsession is on its way to being sated.

AND... after a year in the ground I've just spotted my first proper spear of asparagus. It's only the plant's second year so cropping might not be a good idea but the growth last year looked strong so I might be able to take a few spears.

All I need now is a machine gun for the squirrels and wood pigeons that keep digging up my strawberies/eating my plants.

I think with asparagus you can crop for around 2-4 weeks in the second year. Ours is in it's fourth year now and is well established, and I definitely harvested some in the second year.

Ah good to know, thanks. It looks so amazing that it would almost be a shame to cut any... but I will.

living off purple sprouting broccoli at the moment...

We've an abundance of blackcurrants this year. We took over half of our neighbour's plot as they had to give it up, which included 4 blackcurrant bushes. I've just spent two hours picking them, and there's probably as many again to come. We've already made blackcurrant jam, a blackcurrant crumble and given a punnet to our childminder. Time for more jam and some cordial.

I'll take some of that jam off your hands in exchange for some chutney later this year.

Let us perfect it first, the last one, whilst delicious, is a bit too runny.

Not enough pectin. Add apples.

Or use jam makers sugar, which has added pectin.

It was meant to be soft set, so we added water as per the recipe. Next time I'd reduce the water by at least a half. No need for pectin, these little black beauties are full of sugar.

Andrea made some raspberry jam the day after, and used jam sugar. It's more of a jelly than a jam.

All the better for spreading......

I have jam making stuff. Holler if you need any of it, or if you need a spare kitchen.

Been a bit f an odd year growing wise. I have to admit the thing that excited me were the two oyster mushrooms I managed to grow. Probably 2 of the most expensive ones I've ever grown. I think all in the stuff cost me in the region of £30 to innoculate 7 or 8 logs 2 years ago and so far these are the first to sprout. It may mean more are on the way.

2nd best thing about 6 kilos at least of pimentos de padron. They've failed previously but this year they did really well following a shaky start and are still cropping.