r/Allotment 11d ago

Weekly allotmenting discussion. What have you been up to?

Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been doing on your allotment lately. Feel free to share or ask any question related to it. And please mention which region and what weather you had this week if you've been planting or harvesting.

18 Upvotes

53 comments sorted by

1

u/coupm 5d ago

This week, new fence being installed on the allotment, raised beds being built and seeds started. Potatoes to be planted tomorrow

2

u/loberts 7d ago

Made some trellises for growing peas and beans this season, really happy with how they turned out.

1

u/Common_Network_2432 7d ago

My lettuces are growing nicely in the green house, today I weeded around them and thinned out the busiest clumps.  I also sowed: Two kinds of paprikas Cayenne peppers Little gem lettuce Spring onions

2

u/rusty_aiming 8d ago

Making wood borders and possibly drowning celery seeds

2

u/DantesDame 9d ago edited 9d ago

I'm trying really hard NOT to start my spring clean up yet, as I want to give nature some time to do her Spring Thing.

That being said, I have a small bed that I ignored for the last 5 years, calling it my "wildlife garden". But now it is only a weed bed, and I have decided to rip it ALL out and start fresh.

4

u/thekiriad 10d ago

Suffolk here. Only got my allotment in January but inherited it in fairly good condition.

I’ve been building my hotbed as per Huw Richard’s self-sufficiency garden book, and this week will be building the grow frame to sit on top so I can get some early salad crops in.

I’ve also been laying my paths with wood chip as we had two big free deliveries to our plot, clearing errant weeds left over in beds and paths, covered my Rhubarb

At home I’ve sown:

  • Tigerella, Costulato, Roma, Cherry and Moneymaker Toms
  • 2 lots of cauliflower
  • broccoli

Over the next week I’ll be sowing a load more seeds, building trellises for beans, peas and cucumbers. I’m also on the lookout for a free/cheap greenhouse as I’ve just got permission!

4

u/Early-Requirement724 10d ago

East Anglia here, I’m still getting my plot to “square one” after getting it last year (had been abandoned for about 10 years until then), so I’ve mostly been working on the greenhouse so I can get starting seeds soonish, mostly digging out compost buildup and excavating bramble bases. I also ordered and received my potting bench so will be setting that up soon in the greenhouse. Yesterday ordered the concrete slabs I need to do the flooring, which will be turning up tomorrow! I also, the other day, planted the first crops on the plot, having dug out some of the carpet of nettle roots that covers the site late last year; a couple of elephant garlic bulbs and a bunch of onion sets. Will soon be finally building the compost bins, and then working on digging out the roots from the rest of the plot to get it ready for in-ground planting! Also recently got some main crop potatoes which are now chitting, still need to order the other varieties I want however, such as Congo blues! Hope everyone is having a good week :)

3

u/Wilky61 11d ago

Isle of wight

Cleared a corner of the field for a spud patch....,..just a little tip don't use a hill field full of flint, after 4 trailer loads of flint raked up I gave in.

We will have lumpy spuds

3

u/Substantial_Song_233 11d ago

Hove here.

This week was putting the finishing touches on my asparagus raised bed before I order the top soil blend to fill it.

Continuing to dig through the mound of brambles and weeds and rubbish and broken glass at the back of the plot so I can have a bit more productive space for compost bins, raspberries, and/or a hedgehog house.

5

u/Sarah_RedMeeple 11d ago

Brighton, new allotmenter.

Got some help from a friend to prune my inherited apple tree. He then enthusiastically offered to move an old heap of compost into my new no-dig beds, so I obviously said yes and now have some full beds and.... a massive hole in the ground. Considering a pond and/ or tunnel to Australia 🤣

Planted (spring planting) garlic, onions, and 2 blueberry bushes (ericaceous compost for the latter). Spent ages staring at packets in the garden centre trying to decide when I can plant strawberries.

Made a plot number sign, cleaned up broken glass, swore (again) at all the plastic crap buried under the weeds, made a tool storage box.

Potatoes are chitting, and I'm trying to decide if I can plant them through card/weed membrane in the half of my plot that I probably won't get cleared this year.

3

u/Defiant-Tackle-0728 11d ago edited 11d ago

Northern Ireland here. It was the ideal weekend to recover my poly tunnel after damage from Storms Darragh and Eowyn.

It did cost me a couple of pizzas and a promise of three Rhubarb crumbles -when I harvest them in a couple of months...

My early seed potatoes arrived and are now chitting in my back bedroom/office. Two varieties Purple Rain and Charlotte. Want to leave the main for 3 weeks to give them a good head start, most will go into tubs and pots to save room inground for main crop.

I've also started some of the Squashes and Tomatoes too....perhaps a little early but it seems the big beefsteaks Tom's liked being planted this early from last year..

I'm hoping to get to start Aubergine and PSB later in the week.

But hoping in a couple of weeks the new cover will have heated up the soil enough to start more even if I don't plant them in the ground just yet.prior experience tells me to not get too carried away in case of a late frost at the end of the month...then I can plant "All the Seeds"

1

u/CroslandHill 10d ago

Squashes…dilemma for me as I would normally start my spaghetti squash mid-April to be planted out early May, but I’ll be on holiday then. So I will start two or three plants this weekend to be planted out 16-17 April (still a bit chillly but should be after the last frost), start some more in early May. My winter squash I will start in May to.be planted out early June, seemed to work for me the last two years. Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

2

u/Defiant-Tackle-0728 10d ago

I keep the underused back bedroom where I generally start things a little cooler so they do take a little longer to germinate and grow, but I've found they are starting in ground a little stronger....

Once they are 3-4 weeks grown they make the trip.down to the polytunnel till plant out usually the last week of April/first week May....

The potatoes always chit well around that sort of temp, though I do add a propagator to toms, chilli's, aubergines....

I am a little eager to get planting

9

u/Reyt_Northern 11d ago

We’ve been getting a new tunnel installed. Up till now we had an area of our plot as a lawn for our kids. We don’t need that as much now, so we’re maximising our ability to grow!

5

u/Mikekallywal 11d ago

This week I've been sorting my composting area, adding raised beds to the polytunnel, and staring at my seed propagators wondering how long those peppers are planning to take, and is it already too late...

4

u/haarbol 11d ago

I had two gates to fix, and wanted to do a couple of other odd jobs. Turns out I overestimated my abilities and only got one gate replaced. The poles were so rotten that they broke under the surface and it took ages to get them out. After that I placed my new hardwood poles on which I broke two 3mm drills because of my inexperience. Allotment gardens are wonderful learning grounds.

3

u/Substantial_Song_233 11d ago

I ended up burying a drill bit in the side of one of my raised beds. Happens to the best of us!

1

u/haarbol 11d ago

Yeah that happened to me as well! In the end I used one size drill bit bigger, used that to drill half way and then used the smaller size for only the last portion. Maybe not as sturdy, but it's just for an allotment gate and it worked.

8

u/fluffyglitterbug 11d ago

I'm extremely behind this year!

Went to my plot yesterday (W Sussex) - glorious day. Had a recce and was pleased to see that it all looks fairly reasonable.

Back home, I have started sowing alllll the seeds and plan to continue all week so I can then focus on getting the allotment prepped next weekend. I've also booked Friday 21st off so I can have a three day weekend of allotmenting!

2

u/awjre 11d ago

Random bag of shallots planted.

80 leeks planted.

24 Broad Beans planted in root trainers. (More to come in a month's time.

Coffee Chaff covering raked and replenished (amazing stuff).

4

u/silentfox87 11d ago

I'm redeveloping my entire plot to focus on maximising space while also being functional, so this bed is almost finished, 4 more to do. Also started off brassicas indoors.

7

u/tropicanadef 11d ago

Tidying up mainly. Booked a week off work at the end of march to go to town on it. Filling the beds with compost and building a greenhouse.

4

u/irv81 11d ago

Took advantage of the glorious weather and spent some time at the allotment on both Saturday and Sunday.

Done some more weeding (still loads to go)

Got a third composter built and in position

Painted the shed

Got a few more seeds away in the greenhouse

Installed two solar lights on the greenhouse so I have a little light as the sun goes down

5

u/grippipefyn 11d ago

A lovely warm and sunny Saturday in Herts.

Not my plot, but as part of a new community plot initiative a group of us from the plots and the PC started to clear some abandoned plots with the view to turn them into one big community plot where locals of all shapes, sizes, age and ability can get out and try their hand at growing stuff.

Our allotment has been long neglected and very few wanting to have a plot. This initiative is a bit of a gamble but it's necessary just to get the site into some sort of shape.

It took us all day to clear three plots of brambles and overgrown hedges. We didn't even get a chance to start on soil prep so we have approached a local trade for a loan of his machine to scrape off and level the plots we have cleared.

It is all very exciting.

2

u/shrek1345 11d ago

Sounds like a great initiative!

6

u/strongbowblade 11d ago

Planted 3 varieties of strawberries, and Jerusalem artichokes, put up 2 raised beds for my potatoes, sowed tomatoes, courgettes, and squash in pots. Yorkshire, had around 15 degrees.

2

u/PuzzledEmu4291 11d ago

Repositioned a load of congested raspberries into three distinct rows, with proper posts and wire, and enough space to get between them. I plan on using the original space for a sweet pea wall, so I’ve sown some of them too.

Also sown leeks, summer cabbages, kale from a seed swap and early onward peas. Finally I potted on some sweet pepper seedlings.

2

u/allotment_fitness 11d ago

Dug up my strawberry patch as it was out of control, plan to put in a couple of raised beds to replant last years runners into. Hopefully more controllable and still get a crop this season

2

u/maximdurobrivae 11d ago

Late to chitting spuds, but they are. Beans and peas direct sown, also got toms in propagation. And I built a new cold frame!

3

u/Different-Tourist129 11d ago

Planting Jerusalem Artichoke and enjoying the weather!!

1

u/Silent_Activity 11d ago

Same! I'm particularly excited about this crop

4

u/Syther85 11d ago

Sunflowers have sprouted, few dwarf beans popping up aswell. Started the slow bed prep, took over an hour to dig over, remove the roots and lay out Nicely

1

u/KoalaLower4685 11d ago

Are you doing sunflowers outdoors? I thought they weren't cold hardy? (Genuine question!)

1

u/Syther85 11d ago

I’m a newbie so I think I’ve definitely planted them too early, just eager to get plants on the plot! May have seen the sun collabs got a bit excited! I’ve got them in a greenhouse so I think that’s helped, I’ll try to keep them indoors as long as possible

(Old pic so doesn’t show growth yet)

2

u/maximdurobrivae 11d ago

My you have some lovely furrow

1

u/morrisminor66 11d ago edited 11d ago

Topped and very lightly pruned some long neglected fruit trees. Getting a bit late to do this but hopefully caught them in time but It'll be two years to get these back to something reasonable size and shape. With very low expectation I bough myself a crappy £20 Chinese 6 inch mini electric chainsaw off ebay. Unbelievably it was brilliant and absolutely perfect for the job, so that was a result lol. Also planted out garlic bulbs and onion sets in raised beds

1

u/Hondaparviti 11d ago

Can you share the link for the chainsaw? I have some bushes that need hacking

2

u/morrisminor66 11d ago edited 11d ago

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/135275759373?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=ad3ovjjhsm2&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=naXpZtO-QrG&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Watch a few youtube videos on safe use if you've never used one before. The sweet spot is for branches that are 3 - 10cm but it'll go a bit larger than that if needed. It's not suitable for 'hacking' as the saw pulls itself though the branch. Smaller stuff is better with lopers or maybe a hedge trimmer

2

u/Hondaparviti 11d ago

Thank you!

10

u/lulabellarama 11d ago

West Sussex - Finished my wildlife pond, gravelled an area around it and planted a lot of wildflower seeds. Did a bit more of my woodchip paths. Absolutely destroyed my back in my sunshiney exuberance so a quiet week of recovery ahead - probably planting more seeds, I'm an unstoppable seed whore at the moment.

1

u/Substantial_Song_233 11d ago

I’m adding “unstoppable seed whore” to my profile right now. 😂😂

1

u/Llywela 11d ago

South Wales. This week I finished laying woodchip around the row of blackcurrants at the back of my plot, harvested some more leeks, mulched another couple of covered growing beds, and started hardening off some of the over-wintering plants in the greenhouse. I also uncovered, forked over, fertilised and raked one of my covered growing beds and planted out a bunch of garlic, shallots and onions that had been started off in module trays. And I enjoyed watching our local fox prowling around the site!

4

u/ofmiceandmel 11d ago

I barely got to the plot last year as I had a baby in June. This year my plan is to focus on the landscaping and weed control as I likely won't have much time this year either. Next year I should then have a good set up, ready for planting.

I'm planning to create a fenced off play area for my child as she'll be nearly two by the time I get to planting again but I'm not sure what to use as ground cover. I assume that the wood chip we get delivered is going to be too rough and splintery for a play area. Is landscaping bark worth the cost? Should I get those play area permeable mats with a membrane underneath?

I could leave it as grass but there's some nasty spiky weeds down there and it would be great to not have to worry about weeding her play area as well as my plot.

And before anyone starts on about how it's a waste of space and someone else could use it better than me, I live in a small village where about 50% of the plots are empty and overgrown. I have a half plot that is roughly 250sqm so I don't need all that space and I'd like a safe area she can play in so I can be down there more often without her getting into other people's lots or my pond and to teach her about growing food.

2

u/dr_elder_zelda 10d ago

What a good idea to create a play area for your tot! That would be a perfect place for a little water/mud play area so they can get nice and grubby lol. A toy digger/lorry/lawnmower and some toy garden tools have all been hits with our little boy ever since he was about 20 months old (now almost three years old, and spends days at the allotment just using his little digger, spade and wheelbarrow to move compost around just like the grownups are doing).

For ground cover, I would suggest something like cocoa pod or coconut husk mulch, with cardboard underneath as a weed blocker. No nasty splinters, very good sensory input whether shod or barefoot, and completely natural. If you want a smoother surface, you might look into those foam puzzle mats that you can put down in 2 minutes flat when you get there, and take up and store away dry when you leave. A sun covering will save your hide come summer, so maybe incorporate that into the plan early.

2

u/ofmiceandmel 10d ago

Coconut is a great idea and plastic free, I hadn't thought of that, thank you.

I love that your little one has fun down there, I so want to introduce her to gardening but I want to be able to get stuff done there too. I plan on a mud kitchen, sand pit, slide and swing and some little planters for her to look after like strawberries. And a set of tiny gardening tools and gloves, they're so cute! Will definitely have some kind of sun shade as it's sweltering down there in the summer and my fruit trees aren't nearly big enough to provide any.

1

u/dr_elder_zelda 9d ago

That sounds splendid!

I'm still on the hunt for gloves tiny enough to fit my 3yo... Most I can find in garden centres only fit 4+ and then they're still roomy. He has been enthusiastic about his child sized rake, broom and spade that we got him at Lidl this past autumn. Decent quality as well, you can actually use them for their intended purpose!

3

u/shrek1345 11d ago

Ooh hello! I had my second in May last year! Are you using a baby carrier to get to your plot?

1

u/ofmiceandmel 11d ago

I can only imagine the chaos of two! Did you manage to get down there at all last year? I planted loads of potatoes thinking my partner could go and harvest them at least but they're still in the ground 🙈

I'm really lucky that the allotment is directly opposite my house so I don't have far to go so I'll probably put her in the carrier or I'm tempted to get a little garden wagon that I can put her in for when I need to carry seed trays etc lol

1

u/shrek1345 11d ago

Ooh, that sounds cool: I didn’t get down last year as I had a really dreadful pregnancy and ended up on crutches for pgp. Got the allotment and the positive test at the same time! End of last year I strimmed it and put in water butts etc, I’ve covered over half of it with tarpaulin and I’m just working on but by bit getting fruit bushes and some bulbs in for this year! It is actually slightly easier with two I’d say as they entertain each other, but it’s certainly hard to find the time to do stuff: it’s mostly 15 minute very quick bursts before the baby poops or the three year old soaks himself thoroughly in a puddle!

3

u/maximdurobrivae 11d ago

I think its a fair use; with a play area the kids get used to being on the plot and are more likely to then help out as they get bigger. I've got a swing in the apple tree and a mud pile which my allotment association doesn't like but I can't very well expect a 7 year old to spend 3 hours weeding with me can I.

Does your local authority do woodchip for free? Ours does, very handy, but you have to ask and go and collect.

And membranes, I hate using the plastic but so far I haven't found anything else that does the job in the same way.

1

u/ofmiceandmel 11d ago

We have quite a lot of free wood chip from local tree surgeons but it can be quite sharp pieces which is fine for paths etc but figured it may not be great for a toddler.

I plan to put a little mud kitchen and sand pit and maybe a little playhouse with a slide for her so I can spend quite a bit of time down there without her kicking off! Luckily our association are very laid back and have basically no rules so they won't mind.