The noob allotment adventures..

Have ordered some raised beds which will be arriving on Monday. Also went shopping yesterday, picking up some weed fabric, compost and fleece. Planning on getting some wood bark/chop stuff for my paths. Have seen big bags on sale £4 a bag at our local coop so that'll be really handy helping to keep the weeds under control with the weed fabric in place too.
Looking forward to getting started with them especially as I've been particularly rough this past week. I've also reorganised my seed boxes. I've got tonnes of them!
Haven't been able to get up the allotment this week because of how I've been feeling, so god knows what state it's in, especially as we've had strong winds. Fingers crossed it's not too bad.

 

Hi Sarah, so sorry to hear you've not been feeling yourself but sounds like you have got some great plans. I shall look forward to seeing some photos of your great progress when you have the raised beds/bark etc in place

 

These are the raised bed borders I've ordered. 1x1m for £8.99 each. I figured by the time I'd spent money on timber, time effort etc I'd be better off getting something premade. Fingers crossed they're ok! Arriving monday.



Today I've also planted some main crop potatoes that I got in a free potato growing kit from Thompson and Morgan. Still have my 'big batch' of spuds to plant once their spot is ready on the plot.

 

Thanks to the high winds I've been forced into buying a sturdier alternative to my plastic greenhouse which is looking very close to total collapse. Can't afford a proper greenhouse so ended up with a cold frame which was on offer for £40.



Must have been fated as it fits my veggie seedlings perfectly with no space spared.



It also gave me a chance to have a look at how things are doing and get rid of the weaker ones to save space. The wind had dried everything right out too so got to give everything a good soak.

Also turns out I have a tonne of sprouts, waaay more than I need or would ever eat so will have to look at passing them on.

Currently have:

Sprouts
tomatoes
kale
lettuce (though looking weak so may not last)
Beetroot
weak leek and onion
hot pepper
garlic

Plus others that are indoors in propagators at the min. But hopefully these seedlings will come in a bit now they're in a more stable environment!

The onion and leek are looking particularly sorry for themselves, but were victims of the first 'great greenhouse collapse' of 2015 do ended up knocked about and repotted again try and save them.


Not sure if it's worth carrying on with them or chucking them to be honest!

 

In propagator news, here's the current state of play

Sweet corn, sweet pea and turnip

Cauliflower and beetroot


Cucumbers, kitchen scraps and a sunflower


And my herbs!

 

Bargains galore today!
3 for £10 on 70l bags of bark from Asda, plus a 100L water butt for only £18! Never seen one with stand etc below £30 before so I was well chuffed to say the least.

Finally planted in my 3 blackcurrants today. No blooms on them yet so we'll see how well they take, if at all!


Think I'm going to have to invest in a new wheelbarrow though. The one I inherited from the allotment is seemingly trying to kill me. Glad I've had my tetanus booster...



410L of wood chip ready to lay down our paths. It cost £26 all in. Also have the weed fabric ready to go.




Bargain waterbutt! Woop! Also note flyaway bird table, re-erected for the umpteenth time....



Beautiful raspberry blooms!



Progress!

 

Oh yea, couple of herbs for my little herb garden, curry and rosemary, £2 from Asda.
To the right of them are some hyacinth that I rescued from the £1 shop and were so dry I thought they wouldn't make it! I wish shops would actually bother watering the poor things!

 

Phew, that weather has been a bit crazy today. My plastic greenhouse is in a right state now. Lost a few flower seedlings to the wind but the coldframe has protected all of my veg so am VERY glad I got it yesterday!!

Today me and the youngest went up to the allotment and started placing the raised bed borders, weed membrane and wood chip. Have made a main path so far. I've cut corners a little by not hoeing out the weeds etc under the membrane to save time and because the soil was soaked right through and too compressed (I can deal with paths etc properly once the beds and planting is done if I need to. I've put down the membrane and then put a good inch or two of wood chip on top of it, so hopefully it'll smother any weeds underneath it.

Have ordered some more raised bed borders as am happy with the ones I've had. Even though they're not perfect as some of the ends have broken off, it's an easy fix and they're more than up to the job. For £8.99 for 1m squared beds it's going to work out cheaper to do it like that rather than make my own AND they're already treated and designed for the job. These are them.

The one I made before for the herb garden out of cladding is already straining under the weight of the soil so not going to do any more that way.

Going to need some more topsoil but the lady who offered me some wasn't there today and I couldn't find her plot so will see if I can catch her this week sometime.

Will post more photos when I get some!

 

Back from a rather windy allotment. More progress made in the weed fabric/wood chip but have run out of wood chip so need to go grab some more. Local discount store has 70l bags for £2.99 each which I'm glad of considering how much I need! Looks much better with it though.

Also added a bit of a layer of compost onto the beds until I get topsoil on it.

More raised beds coming tomorrow do things will really start to take shape.

 

So nice to have a bit of warm sun. Can we have more please?

It may be the school holidays but I'm determined to get loads done over the next couple of weeks. I took the kids up the plot with me on Saturday and managed to do a fair bit.

The herb garden was put in by my eldest, who painstakingly decided on every place with the utmost precision and care. There is rosemary, lavender, curry, mint, apple mint and curled parsley in there at the moment. More will be added in as and when they're ready. Planning on adding coriander, thyme, chives and basil at the moment.

Also in this section is the addition of a brick ringed flower area. Currently full of rotted manure/compost but will get some topsoil on top of it. Haven't decided what flowers to put in yet though.

Next to the herb garden will be tomatoes, hence the couple of unopened growbags currently living in the frame. Need to prepare the bed yet though. More wood chip and weed membrane has obviously been put down to hopefully smother the weeds, but I'm already finding it easier dealing with the odd weed as and when they poke through rather than staring at a great sea of them.

Plan on eventually putting some containers next to those beds to brighten up the expanse of wood chip. These will have nice bee friendly flowers in. Speaking of pots, I've acquired a load off freecycle of varying sizes which will do perfectly

Wood chip, weed membrane and more compost/manure down in the parsnip bed. The brick you can see are surrounding a rhubarb root which wasn't looking the healthiest but will hopefully do ok. If not it's not a great loss as I plan on planting one elsewhere anywhere. It was a case of convinience at the time!


Lots and lots of potting on done this weekend. Have various decent looking seedlings including cauliflower, calabrese broccoli, lettuce, kale, tomato, sunflower, sweetcorn, pak choi, chard, sprouts, cayenne pepper, garlic plus some flowers.

Have so many seedlings at the moment I've set up a facebook page offering surplus plants/seedlings in exchange for donations to the British Hen Welfare trust. It's proving popular too!

LOVE LOVE LOVE my coldframe.



...and funnily enough, so does my cat. He reckons it makes a wonderful sunbed.



Very impressed with my freecycle-acquired waterbutt. Can't do much with it at the minute, seeing as it came with a load of frogspawn! Looking forward to seeing the frogs grow.

We've also taken down our old trashed greenhouse and are recycling it. The plastic has been binned as it was torn and so no use. The poles, however, have been upcycled into an extended run for the chickens. Just need to attach some chicken wire around it and it'll be set to go! Was a bit of a crystal maze job turning it from a greenhouse frame into a right sized rectangle, but we did it!



Speaking of which, the chooks are doing really well. We wouldn't be without them now!

 

Loving your work! Lucky thing with pots off freecycle!

 

Hi Sarah,

Great progress being made here and I get the sense that your really enjoying it too. It can be very rewarding in many ways looking after an allotment.

I just had to say something about your mint, it would be a good idea to contain it in a pot or separate bed as all mint wants to do is completely take over the world.

Keep it up!

Steve...

 

Haha steve speaks the truth, I planted mine in borders! It's not too bad...yet!

 

Haha.. thankfully the mint has stayed in it's little pot so I'm afraid there'll be no mint world domination plans this time around.

Managed to get a fair bit done today with my eldest and we now have 4 finished raised beds complete with topsoil. One is going to be for parsnips and something else if there's room, one for sprouts, one for tomatoes and one for broccoli and cauliflower.

Have some rocket, cress and salad leaf seeds to plant into the herb garden plus a few mini seedlings of chives, coriander etc. Broad beans are ready and waiting and ready to have another go (with protection this time...) but I'm starting them off in propagators first to give them an extra chance of actually surviving.

Have ended up buying strawberry plug plants, but haven't even started a bed for them yet so they've been moved into bigger pots for the time being. Have 6 so 4 will go up the plot and 2 in the back garden. After 5 attempts to grow them from seed I've given up! Why are they so difficult?!

I've got some netting ready to cover the beds and beans, hopefully protect them from pesky critters. I've also started getting stuff for a fence to surround the plot and rabbit proof it.

Also bought a new wheelbarrow today! Finally! No more risk of tetanus... lol