Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
Report on allotment...
Page Previous  1, 2
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Land Management
Author 
 Message
Jeff



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 9:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Well after a weekend of hastle I'd rather forget, I didn't even get over to the allotment

I'm planning an assault this coming Saturday now so have a little time to plan more... Until then...

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Jeff wrote:
Well after a weekend of hastle I'd rather forget, I didn't even get over to the allotment

I'm planning an assault this coming Saturday now so have a little time to plan more... Until then...


Oh, it happens; I hope the weekend wasn't too bad! But you're going to find that you never get down as often as you'd like, you'll be eyeing up the plots run by the retired blokes, the immaculate vegetable paradises, and then you'll look at your own weedy plot you've had two hours free to work on in the last month and you'll almost want to cry!

But then you'll STILL be producing more than enough veg to keep you and yours going, even if it does sometimes seem to get on top of you.

Got my plot in February. This weekend I harvested more butternut squashes than I could carry (big ripe things, with some more still ripening, but I wanted them off before a frost might come), more courgettes, more French beans and runner beans, lettuce, radishes, some turnips, a few carrots, my first head of celery, leaf beet, rape greens, rocket, coriander, and from the garden tomatoes, basil, chickweed, more lettuce, tomatillos, dandelion, and from the stores (harvested earlier in the year) spuds and onions.

And all of that was from my own back, from my own work... It's just compelling, and the best of it is there's more than a hundred of us all doing just the same thing in a little bit of land in suburban Cambridge. When you stop to think about it, it's just bloody marvellous.

Sorry, seemed like a time to be enthusiastic

Jeff



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 9:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'd say you're definately a few coffee's ahead of me this morning!

It's good to hear what awaits me at the end of all the digging and weeding, I'll certainly be thinking about all the goodies I can be harvesting this time next year to keep me going through what's going to be a looooonnnnnggg, haaarrrrdddd winters slog

Behemoth



Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

An old hand on out site said that regardless of size it would take three years before I got my plot how I wanted it. He was right, I'll finish next spring!

Jeff



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 10:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

3 years, I don't know if I'll still be living in the area come 3 years time... Still, I'll plod on and make the best of it...

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 10:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Behemoth wrote:
An old hand on out site said that regardless of size it would take three years before I got my plot how I wanted it. He was right, I'll finish next spring!


Three years? I do hope so. I'm already planning changes for the mistakes I have made over the last two years. I really, really, hope that will be it and I can then concentrate on the growing bit.

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Judith wrote:

Three years? I do hope so. I'm already planning changes for the mistakes I have made over the last two years. I really, really, hope that will be it and I can then concentrate on the growing bit.


I tend to be fairly relaxed about the mistakes. Doesn't really matter if a few things fall over, to be hones, as long as the rest does okay.

judith



Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 10:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I'm pretty laissez-faire too, but my fruit section just isn't working due to a) lack of protection from all manner of walking, creeping and flying things, b) me packing in too much stuff and c) a bit of bindweed I need to get under control

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Judith wrote:
I'm pretty laissez-faire too, but my fruit section just isn't working due to a) lack of protection from all manner of walking, creeping and flying things, b) me packing in too much stuff and c) a bit of bindweed I need to get under control



Ahh, the dreaded bindweed!

Keep hacking it back, and it keeps coming. I've had some success with digging it out, then black plastic for a few weeks followed by weeding it as it comes back. Glyphosate helps when all else fails. Have you come across anything else that helps?

Bloody awful stuff, bindweed.

I haven't much worked on the fruit yet; I've got a couple of currants I rescued, and a row of summer raspberries I put in this year. Oh, and a grape vine that's sulking at the moment. But having the plot has allowed me to put some strawberries in the extra space I've now got in the garden

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Last time i had an allotment i went from the sublime to the ridiculous. 4 years of no cauliflowers, then 46 taken home on the same day. Its fun, its peaceful and its a "getaway" from life when you need one. I reckon though, that 30% of my time down there is spent listening to other allotment holders giving advice.
I am doing nothing this autumn other than overwintering some onions and garlic. I reckon that if i can keep the enthusiasm going over the winter period whilst there is nothing but bare earth to look at i will have no problems next year.
I am going to grow the seedlings etc at home where i can keep an eye on them until they are big enough to plant out as i could not manage a seed bed at the allotment with my time constrictions etc.
By the way-can i compost stale bread or will i just be attracting rats?

cab



Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Bernie66 wrote:

By the way-can i compost stale bread or will i just be attracting rats?


Yes, and yes. It'll compost, but it can attract vermin.

I soak it in water and leave it on the wall for the starlings.

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

why do you soak it in water?

Jeff



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It's far easier for them to consume it that way as it breaks up with ease, also it holds the birds there longer if you like a spot of bird watching cos they'll be quick to fly away with a lump of bread if given a chance...

Bernie66



Joined: 14 Jan 2005
Posts: 13967
Location: Eastoft
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 05 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Jeff wrote:
It's far easier for them to consume it that way as it breaks up with ease, also it holds the birds there longer if you like a spot of bird watching cos they'll be quick to fly away with a lump of bread if given a chance...

Gotcha, but won't be birdwatching starlings

Jeff



Joined: 23 Feb 2005
Posts: 145
Location: Essex
PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 05 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Honestly, I'd recommend it, they are one of the most interesting, entertaining and enlightening of birds... Ok, I like my ornithology

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Land Management All times are GMT
Page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com