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View Full Version : I've been offered an allotment whoop!!



Kiddleywinks
23-01-2013, 07:18 AM
After 3 years of waiting, I've finally been offered an allotment :clapping:

When I lost my job, I turned part of my garden into a veggie patch and really got into growing veggies - it saved me money which was very tight at the time, and gave me something to do instead of watching Jeremy Kyle :laughing:
After doing it at home for a year, I put my name down for an allotment, but obviously, having waited this long, things have changed somewhat.

The mindees love the veggie patch, especially when it's harvesting time, but I'm wondering if I'll be able to manage an allotment now on top of working, does anyone else manage to find the time to do both? (I know I'll have to RA)

I really really want to expand on what we grow at home, and it's only a half size plot - going to see it tomorrow to see how much initial work's going to need doing

I do think taking mindees down there will enhance their experience and knowledge, and intend on letting them have their own little patch to grow what they want, dig, do whatever lol, and another part of me thinks it will help to give me more energy (If I can be motivated enough to get off my fat ass at the end of the day :D)

Thoughts anyone?

loocyloo
23-01-2013, 08:22 AM
sounds wonderful ... go for it!

i am sure there are minders on here who have allotments, i just can't remember who!


sadly, despite trying, i don't have green fingers!!! so an allotment would be my idea of hell! :laughing:

lilac_dragon
23-01-2013, 10:17 AM
I have one and love it!
Had it for 23 years and take the los over regularly to dig, move the worms from one bed to another (it's so they get a holiday one of the los says!!) they eat the fruit water the plants and watch the butterflies. We have a family of hedgehogs on there, so can have a peep if we're quiet and careful. the Mum had 3 hoglets last Summer, great fun.
On your RA don't forget to lid your water butts, if you have a shed dont forget about the sharp implements and weedkillers. Have a First Aid Kit and Suncream onsite, if you have a greenhouse, safety glass or plastic.
Check with your allotment providers if they're OK with it, know someone who was refused permission to use it for her minded los as their council said it was therefore being used for business purposes.
It's hard work, and if your little ones don't want to go you then find you're having to keep it up in your own time, evenings and weekends.
Hope you have fun!!

nikkiv
23-01-2013, 10:22 AM
I'm probably not going to be a lot of help as like you I grew in the garden in any container I could find and a little patch! Was allocated an allotment after 3 years of waiting loved it so much! Then started childminding couldn't get up there as much as I wanted even with the mindees :( then had to give it up even when I have half back to the council I was really sad but now we're back in the garden veggie patch and using loads of different containers a lot easier to look after now though, and better crops as they are not neglected ;)

mushpea
23-01-2013, 11:46 AM
I have on and reguarly take the mindees to it,they help plant and dig , this year I am hoping to have a 'digging' patch specialy for them with diggers, spades, people etc.
we have been growing stuff in our green house in the garden over winter and have now started to plant some seeds in there to take to the allotment later when the ground warms up a bit, I do the main work at the weekends , its my allotment and my 'space' so ususaly I devote a half day on a weekend over there.

ChocolateChip
23-01-2013, 12:04 PM
Sounds a great idea, would be lovely for the children in so many ways I think.
Maybe if you are worried the plants being too much work could you mark out a small play area for the lo's where they can play safely in sight while you get on with the gardening jobs that they can't/ don't want to do? Not sure what age you have but a mud kitchen or diggers and stuff that won't be ruined my wet and mess, or keep an old easel and chalks in the shed? And I'm no expert but maybe plan to have 'sturdy' plants at the allotment and the more finicky ones at home, then you can see to the ones at home more easily and hopefully the others won't hurt if you can't get down there for a day or two, ifswim.
You won't know until you see it but the potential is very exciting- beginning to wish it was mine, lol! Best of luck with it :thumbsup:

freckleonear
23-01-2013, 12:08 PM
Yay! We love our allotment. Last year was a bit of a disaster due to the weather, but the children loved sowing and harvesting potatoes. Watching the tadpoles grow was a also huge hit, so it might be worth creating a mini pond area in a small tub. This year I've taken on a bigger plot but am sharing with my dad, so hopefully it will be less work.

Rick
23-01-2013, 02:00 PM
I think it will be great for mindees to learn where their food comes from! But you have to make sure you have time to do it. Those learning journals won't write themselves! Lol :laughing:

RuthJ
23-01-2013, 02:19 PM
Sounds fantastic! The little ones will love it! At my daughters school they grow vegetables. They help to harvest, wash and occasionally prepare the veg for making soups. I love the thought of it but not sure I'd be brave enough to get an allotment. I'm not green fingered at all! Good luck :)

eddie
23-01-2013, 02:29 PM
Now I have allotment jealousy! I would love one as well. Hope you will do updates on what you are growing!!

Kiddleywinks
23-01-2013, 02:53 PM
Aww thanks guys n gals, my first reaction was YAY, the next was oh poop - how am I going to manage, so it's reassuring that my initial reaction is still the right one :laughing:
I'll be putting that many pictures up you'll all be sick of the sight of them lol

The allotment guy already knows I'm a childminder, so will double check tomorrow that it shouldn't be a problem, and as I've had my name down for longer than I've been minding he'll know it's not a commercial thing

Thanks LilacDragon for the pointers down the allotment with the water butts, shed etc, will take all that on board :thumbsup:

ChocolateChip - Brilliant idea about the easel!:thumbsup:

Rick - I'm planning on escaping down there in the better weather so I'll probably take the LJ's with me for some peace and quiet:laughing:

I've looked at the time I have available and I could manage a few hours a week outside of work, additional time whilst working with the daytime littlies, although school holidays should be interesting lol, and a couple of hours in the week of an evening if needed. Means I'm gonna have to get ultra organised which isn't a bad thing really

Ooooo... getting excited again now

mushpea
23-01-2013, 07:39 PM
We have made raised beds at ours its took almost 3years to get as many as I want due to cost of compost and wood, we went for cheap wood and also asked on freecycle for soil aswell, we found raised beds are easier to deal with, less digging and the children know where they can and can't walk as they can see the beds easier

Rick
23-01-2013, 08:13 PM
Aww thanks guys n gals, my first reaction was YAY, the next was oh poop - how am I going to manage, so it's reassuring that my initial reaction is still the right one :laughing:
I'll be putting that many pictures up you'll all be sick of the sight of them lol

The allotment guy already knows I'm a childminder, so will double check tomorrow that it shouldn't be a problem, and as I've had my name down for longer than I've been minding he'll know it's not a commercial thing

Thanks LilacDragon for the pointers down the allotment with the water butts, shed etc, will take all that on board :thumbsup:

ChocolateChip - Brilliant idea about the easel!:thumbsup:

Rick - I'm planning on escaping down there in the better weather so I'll probably take the LJ's with me for some peace and quiet:laughing:

I've looked at the time I have available and I could manage a few hours a week outside of work, additional time whilst working with the daytime littlies, although school holidays should be interesting lol, and a couple of hours in the week of an evening if needed. Means I'm gonna have to get ultra organised which isn't a bad thing really

Ooooo... getting excited again now

Kiddleywinks, I can't wait to see pics of your spuds and marrows! :magnificent:

VeggieSausage
23-01-2013, 08:32 PM
I have on and reguarly take the mindees to it,they help plant and dig , this year I am hoping to have a 'digging' patch specialy for them with diggers, spades, people etc.
we have been growing stuff in our green house in the garden over winter and have now started to plant some seeds in there to take to the allotment later when the ground warms up a bit, I do the main work at the weekends , its my allotment and my 'space' so usually I devote a half day on a weekend over there.

I have anew allotment too - its really overgrown, dh not interested in it, so just me and a load of under 5's!! not sure how I will get on......Mushpea what seeds are you growing over winter and when do you plant them out?

mushpea
23-01-2013, 09:03 PM
I have anew allotment too - its really overgrown, dh not interested in it, so just me and a load of under 5's!! not sure how I will get on......Mushpea what seeds are you growing over winter and when do you plant them out?

I have planted tomato seeds and pepper seeds and chilli seeds on the window sill in the kitchen but these i will probably grow on in the green house when it warms up a bit, we have grown beetroot and peas this year in the green house through the winter and over the allotment we have parsnip, leeks, onions, garlic, broad beans, around march time I will start planting metor peas over the allotment they are quite hardy and we always get a good crop although very few make it home!, we will also plant beetroot, leeks, lettuce, squash (never grown them before but got a free seed pack), potatoes in pots , carrots, sweetcorn, and in april runner and french beans, I am sure there is more but I have gone brain dead, I tend to plant what we eat but not brasicas like cauliflower or broccli as they take up a lot of room for what you get, we also have strawberry plants, blueberry bushes, gooseberry bushes, raspberry bushes, black current bush, fruit trees- bramely apple, eating apple, pear, cherry, plum non of which bore fruit last year as they are still young, I also have a fig tree in the green house which again is too young at the moment.
normally I sit down with the kids and we look at what we eat the most of and decide what to grow from there, the littlys love planting, watering, digging , pulling weeds and their favorite bit is pulling the veg or picking the fruit, the look on their face is pricelss and the produce tastes fantastic. last year none of my raspberrys came home cause they ate them all but the strawberrys we had a glut of and so made strawberry ice cream

bunyip
24-01-2013, 09:57 AM
A few tips if you have a new allotment:-

1. Survey your realm. Go take a look at what's there. What needs doing? what needs changing? (like that big patch of rampant brambles) what do you want to keep? (maybe the last tenant left you some nice currant bushes.) This helps when you get to point 2.....

2. Perfect planning prevents poor performance - have an idea of what you want to do and what resources you have, especially time, labour and skills. You are not going to manage a full-sized statutory plot with 50 different types of plant on one Sunday afternoon a week. Be realistic, plan, but be prepared to be flexible. Get hold of a good general book. Plan to use a 'rotation' system of the different plant types - this is good for the soil and good for the crops. If possible, aim to grow crops that will allow you to spread the work over time. You don't want to have to plant/sow everything in the same 2 weeks of spring and harvest everything in the same 2 weeks in August. Seriously, think about what you want the land to be doing in 5 years' time. One of the nicest, most productive things to grow is fruit, especially cane fruit (raspberries, etc.), strawberries, etc. They helpspread the work over the year, produce huge crops over many weeks, are easier than veg to preserve a glut(freeze/jam) and give you some pruning and tinkering to do when little else is going on. But they do need a lot of soil preparation, so aim to precede fruit by a few years of veg planting: this allows you to be weeding and feeding the soil in readiness for the fruit whilst still making it productive as you go along.

3. The most important things are: you, the soil, your tools and the climate/weather. You can look after the first three and keep them in good condition; the last one will look after itself.

4. Do not bite off more than you can chew, especially in year one. This will depend a lot on the state of your plot. It is far more important to get the groundwork right that to have an amazing tomato glut. Think ground clearance, weed control and soil condition. e.g. Far better to get a strawberry bed well-prepared, cleared of weed and the soil in good heart before you put in the plants, than to whack them in immediately then find you have to dig them all up next year to clear perennial weed from underneath.

5. Make sure you control the plot, and it doesn't control you. The land is very demanding (just go away for a week in the summer and you'll see) but your job is to make the land work to your benefit, and there's a lot you can do to take control. Often, the first step is to cover the whole lot with plastic sheet, carpet, etc. to slow down weed growth. Then, as time allows, remove some of the covers, spray the remaining weed off with glyphosate (Roundup), then dig and plant when the weedkiller has done its work. If you let it get out of control you'll have a weed problem - and that's everybody's problem. If your plot is a haven for weeds and pests, then expect to have a mob of justifiably angry plot-holders and the site managers on your back. So don't let it happen.

6. At the early stages, big, easy, undemanding crops are your friends. Potatoes are great for 'clearing' the soil. At a push they can be popped into a hole and pretty much left to there own devices, even in an area of light weed/grass. They can be planted through holes in plastic cover, which is doing 2 jobs at the same time. It also allows you to put off digging that bit until you dig up the tubers. You'll not get the best harvest ever this way, but you'll get something, and you'll buy time while you work on another bit of ground (and convince the site committee that you're steadily putting it under controlled cultivation.) Pumpkins/marrow/courgette/squash are excellent too. They can also be planted through plastic, they cover lots of ground (so more of your plot looks 'busy') and can give such bumper crops that you'll almost get sick of them.

7. Don't get carried away looking at seed catalogues. Limit what you grow to things you'll eat. Choose easy stuff like the potatoes and squash mentioned above, lettuce/salad leaves, radishes (the quickest to grow, so you get fast results and begin to feel you're getting somewhere). I would not try to grow more than 6-12 different things in year one. You can do a few things well, or do a whole lot of things badly. Your choice.

8. I hate Carol Klein. It's not personal, I just despise the whole Gardener's World thing, where they make everything look easy and every little job is ever so nice, takes 2 minutes, produces fantastic results and no one ever gets dirt under their nails. What they don't show you is that it's probably taken 5 underpaid chaps a lot of hours to prepare that perfect bit of soil for KC to put in one lettuce without ever leaving the beautifully-paved garden path, or that the same lads will spend the next few weeks chasing off every little critter from a slug to a rabbit that wants to eat said salading before she rocks up with her brand new girly-pink garden snips to harvest her lunch. Bourgeois TV gardening may well be responsible for the massive demand and huge waiting lists for allotments. What they don't tell you is that it's also responsible for the fastest ever turnover of plots. More than ever before, people are coming into growing with false expectations and not the first idea, so they quickly get overwhelmed, disillusioned and fed up with the whole thing. Thanks Carol. :mad:

9. Garden centres want your money - end of. By my estimate, 90% of what garden centres sell is useless, gimmicky tat. 100% is over-priced, even where it might be of some use. Buy the best simple tools you can afford or (if like me, you store them on-site) the best ones you don't mind being stolen. Ideally, find a local family-run seed merchant who has generations of experience of what will actually grow in your local soil and climate. If you can't then buy from someone like Alan Romans (he has a website) who has an amazing choice of potato and also sells veg seed at a fraction of the cost you'd pay in a garden centre or major seed company. How? Because he sells seed with minimal packaging. Why? Because seed packets and promotion cost more than the seed itself. How come? Because a lot of people are stupid enough to buy visually. Nobody gets the Bunyip's spendy-buttons just cos they can print a nice picture of a beetroot and display it at eye-level.

10. Don't use the "O-word"*. Only bad tings will happen.

Sorry, that's awfully long and wasn't meant to be the 10 commandments. (A bit of a passion of mine.) Hope it helps - and don't forget to enjoy yourself.
:)

(* = "organic")

Edited for fat-fingered typos.

Kiddleywinks
24-01-2013, 12:08 PM
WOW Bunyip, that's brilliant, thank you!

From what the allotment officer said, the plot was given to a guy last year, who spent weeks and weeks clearing it of all weeds, dug it all over, and was never seen again! :eek: It's also been strimmed and weed killered by the council, but not sure when that was.
It's a half plot, thankfully, but I don't even know how big a half size plot is yet :laughing: That particular mystery will be solved this afternoon when I get to see it.

I already know about crop rotation, and having tried brassica's at home, have pretty much decided I'll probably give them a wide berth this year - I just seemed to provide a safe haven for every caterpillar and slug in a 50 mile radius, and boy did my cauli's bolt quick! One day they were fine, the next pfft!

My initial thoughts at this stage are:
Salad crops for the kids - raddish, spring onions, lettuce, beetroot etc
and for me, potatoes - earlies and lates, onions, garlic, might give carrots another go, move the strawberries and raspberries from home down there, as the garden's in shade from about 4pm in the summer, and leeks.
All the above being things we eat lots of and so do family members haha.

I've already done the 'getting excited seed shop' when I started getting into it at home, so learnt that particular lesson very early thankfully, but thanks for Alan Romans pointer, I'll definitely check it out

It's good to know you're passionate about it - I'll know who to come to when I'm panicking :thumbsup::jump for joy:

bunyip
24-01-2013, 12:26 PM
Sounds like you already have a good start and a sensible approach from your garden experience. :thumbsup:

I completely dropped brassicae for pretty much the same reasons: not worth the space for the amount of hassle. I also dropped maincrop potato as they always get hit with blight here. (Not enough heavy industrial pollution to suppress the spores, like there was 'back in the day'.) But in the right storage conditions, 2nd earlies can keep until Xmas and beyond.

Garlic has a wierd habit of alternate 'good' and 'bad' years, and I've tended to grow more shallot than onion because they're more expensive in the shops and easier to pickle the surplus.

Raspberry will tolerate partial shade. Most the good varietes were raised in Scotland which can have pretty short daylight hours. A lot of Scottish troops took up raspberry cultivation when demobbed after the Great War and shipped the produce 'down south' on the railways.

Been doing this for years and still struggle with some of the 'easy' crops like leek and carrot, whilst finding some of the 'harder' things a doddle.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Just remember I'm an 'old grump' who believes almost every gardening book written in the last 40 years is only good for composting. :D

Kiddleywinks
24-01-2013, 02:54 PM
Aaaargh! I love it!!

Just tried attaching a pic, but I'm on my phone having just met plot 3a, and it won't load lol

It's been strimmed to within an inch of its life, and has been council sprayed in December so there's just brown stubble showing. Getting it this early means I should be able to keep on top of any weeds that come up - yeah right lol

Will post a pic when I get home
Excited.com x

VeggieSausage
24-01-2013, 07:07 PM
gosh you're lucky - not that i use weedkiller - but mine is about waist high in weeds and couch grass.....I am going ot be very fit at this rate....

Kiddleywinks
24-01-2013, 07:48 PM
Hope this comes up ok!

Kiddleywinks
24-01-2013, 08:00 PM
gosh you're lucky - not that i use weedkiller - but mine is about waist high in weeds and couch grass.....I am going ot be very fit at this rate....

Oh don't worry Veggie, I still have to get it all up too, so it's all gonna be dug over and de weeded too. I'm aiming for a size 12 by May :laughing:

mushpea
24-01-2013, 08:41 PM
ooh a blank canvas, excellant, when we got ours the council had just ploughed over the field and basicly turned over all the weeds straight back in to the soil! it came back horrendous which is why we decided on raised beds because they are deffinatly easier to keep and have less weeds, plus my back isnt great and i wouldnt have been able to keep up with the digging so now we have nice plots with weeds in between :laughing:, I definaly love my allotment though, I would be like one of those little ol blokes with their flat caps and flasks over there if I could be :laughing:.

bunyip
25-01-2013, 07:38 AM
gosh you're lucky - not that i use weedkiller - but mine is about waist high in weeds and couch grass.....I am going ot be very fit at this rate....

I know this sounds daft, but you're the lucky one Veggie. I'd far rather be able to see what type of weed I've got. If someone has just strimmed the top-growth off then there's little way of knowing if there's a huge root system of something nasty happily sitting out the winter underground. Anyway, living weeds do tell you a lot about the health of the soil. And a nettle patch is a great asset to an allotment. :)

bunyip
25-01-2013, 07:42 AM
Hope this comes up ok!

Whoever put those slug hotels (sorry, raised beds) in is a lot skinnier than I. I'd never get my bum in between them:panic:, never mind find room to work. I have 'em straight out; maybe leave a high one for the carrots, and use the wood to build a hot-bed if you can get really fresh manure from somewhere.

VeggieSausage
25-01-2013, 09:51 AM
oooh its brill, will take some photos of mine and make you gasp at the weeds, has not been tended for 3 years so its bad.....

whats the first thing as an allotment holder we shouls do - weather is snowy here so can't get at it so what shall I do for now?

Kiddleywinks
25-01-2013, 10:07 AM
Plan what you're planting, and where, then check what seeds you have left over from last year BEFORE looking at a seed catalogue :laughing:

coffee-time
19-02-2013, 01:23 PM
ive just stumbled across this thread, glad i did! my husband has just got an allotment too! lucky for me its his project so he will be doing all the hard work! he's going to keep me a corner for the kids so we can go down there whenever we like!
some fab advice from bunyip, im going to print off your 10 commandments for my husband to have a look at!!

zippy
27-09-2013, 04:59 PM
Hoping to get an allotment next year so will be badgering you bunyip, thought it might be a good idea to use this thread to share free seed links too just ordered my potato ones that everyone probably knows about Grow Your Own Potatoes | Potato Council (http://gyop.potato.org.uk/) but did get some Heinz tomato ones last year so will be back if I find them again.

zippy
27-09-2013, 05:00 PM
Free tomato seeds Free Heinz Tomato Seed Packet | Free Stuff Finder UK (http://www.freestufffinder.co.uk/free-heinz-tomato-seed-packet/?oo=0)