1st allotment advice

there you go Paul like i said an expert will be along soon Thanks Kristen for your fab advice as always
id be lost with out the advice i have had here

 

Thanks all

do i not need to put anything of the bed im planning to grow roots in next year?

 

(Relatively fresh) Muck tends to make Root crops "fork"

 

Ok thanks Kristen, i have found a source for part rotted manure with no straw or hay in it.

Is that the stuff i need for the rest of my plot.

Damn im such a noob. lol

Thanks again

Paul

 

Sounds OK. Unusual if it is just poo, and no straw though.

Don't worry about the Noob bit ... everyone starts somewhere!

 

there is guy locally that has it was no straw or hay in he seems to have wood shavings in it

 

First step I would advise is a little planning which will serve you well later on, to this end I recommend that you go to this page http://photoephemeris.com/tpe-for-desktop and download and install "The Photographers Ephemeris".

Its a program designed for Photographers to use so that they can work out where the sun will rise and set in a given location, so they can plan when to be at a particular location. Gardeners can also use it to to help them decide where to plant things...no point digging a new bed if the sun never gets there, likewise there is no point putting up a shed where it will block light that your plants will need, or placing your compost heap out in full sun instead of shade.

The above program will show you a map of your area and utilises google maps, you'll be able to zoom in enough to see your plot and see where the sun rises and sets at any given time of the year, which is very important especially with decreased light levels in winter, and the low angle of the winter sun.

So plan to erect a shed at the back of the plot furthest from the sun, with perhaps your compost heap behind it, maybe then permanent fruit bushes and trees could go in front of the shed and most other things in front of those. Your plot looks big now, but when its planting time it gets very small very quickly.

Raised 4ft wide beds are all well and good but on the smaller allotment plots of recent years, they can take up too much space with their in between pathways and containing boards, traditionally allotment beds are quite large (mine are 40ft x 13ft) and are accessed by laying down scaffold boards and walking on those as this limits compressing of the soil when walking on the beds. The soil remain fairly loose using this method.

Tools

You will need a fork, spade, hoe and rake and some secateurs. Also useful is a good long length of twine tied at each end to a peg for marking our or planting to. The Hoe will become your best friend next year because if you hoe as the weed seedling emerge, you'll save yourself a lot of work later on. This year It took me 30-45 mins to hoe the whole plot which included 4 x 40ft x 13ft beds, one large fruit cafe (40ft x 15ft) area and two polytunnels (20ft x 10ft) each (plus other beds) and I did that once maybe twice a week.

Other things you might need are twine (tying plants up) canes (plant support) netting (crop protection) . This is just a bare minimum

Water

You will need a water supply and a means of storing it on your plot and to get the water to the storage, so a hosepipe, some water butts and a couple of watering cans, I say two because I water with one in each hand at the same time...saves time!

A good seat and a table/bench to work on are also useful too.

Steve...

 

Wood shavings require nitrogen to rot down, so its not the most ideal way of acquiring manure, it's still make good soil conditioner but it wont feed your plants as well as manure with straw will.

Steve...

 

Hi there.

As usual, some great advice given One thing I would add is for you to do yourself a favour, and get hold of this...http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Vegetab...1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351195199&sr=8-1-fkmr0

I find it really useful and a great help when getting started.

Cheers...Freddy

 

I second that. I've got that book. Its excellent.

 

You not paying attention at the back Freddy?

Definitely the most useful / used book I have

 

Dig your plot over and leave as rough as you can to let the frost do it's work.the only weeds I dig out are any that will spread under ground I.E.twitch buttercup,etc,any soft weed such as chickweed or plain grass,skim of and lay it in the bottom of your trench,then bury it with the next spit.As for manure I don't bother with this now as it was £30 for a small load in 2009,I use chicken pellets,1 hand full to a square yard,it's a lot easier and cleaner to use.1 tip that was given to me many years ago when growing carrot's and onion's was to grow 1row onion and 1 row carrot's till you had the crop you wanted I.E maybe 4rows of 1and 4 of the other,this helps to keep of carrot fly as the fly do's not like the smell of onion and the onion fly do's not like the smell of carrot.I have used this method now for a number of years and only had problems one year when I forgot to do this.
Good luck with your plot and if you enjoy it as much as I do you will have a happy time,I've had my plot now for over 40 years.
Ian

 

This article on allotments along with its related links will cover most of the things the others have said and possibly a bit more!

http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Allotments/Allotments.htm