The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: CPWSolf on May 07, 2014, 12:17:55 am
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So after a long time I finally have an allotment!
Condition: a 10m by 10m piece of weeds and grass. No water no electric nothing.
Got today but managed to dig over a small patch. And plant some spuds.
Look forward to updates.
Chris
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Well done :thumbsup:
What else are you going to plant when you have finished fighting with weeds?
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Congratulations! From little acorns etc etc - or from tiny spuds :thumbsup:
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Good news and exciting times ahead I don't doubt. That's how both our gardens started out, nothing but pernicious weeds and grass. What's next now the spuds are in? Try growing other plants through weed suppressing membrane - it'll make this year's growing that much easier and more worthwhile for you. Happy sowing and growing :D
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Good luck with the allotment.
Let me know if you find a magical way of keeping the weeds and grass away.
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It's a start. Good luck with the weeds. When I had an allotment covered in creeping buttercups, I strimmed it all short then put plastic down to kill what was left.
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:thumbsup: well done. Are you allowed to build compost heaps or have a tool store? At the village allotment, a chap has rigged up an ingenious system of guttering around his covered compost heap and mini-shed, and collected the rainwater. It gives just enough to keep his plants watered - saves a lot of time carrying water ::) .
Plant pumpkins this summer to cover the ground ;D
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Just out of interest - how much do you pay for this tiny plot? (I've seen some allotments that are seriously expensive... Kind of defeats the object.)
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Thanks all:
I intend to grow in no set order: parsnips, leeks, caulis, broccoli, onions, carrots, pumpkins, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes.
That's just off the top of my head. Have certainly got plans for a lot more
In terms of rent I pay £25 a year, which includes as much muck as I want as well.
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:garden: good luck with the start of your plot :sunshine:
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In terms of rent I pay £25 a year, which includes as much muck as I want as well.
That's a decent price. I've seen allotments advertised at ten times that rent.
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gosh 10 times!! even £25 for a 10x10 seems a lot.
I have 2 full sized allotments, one is on a council site I pay that I pay 30.00 per year for and the other on church owned land only 20.00 per year.
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Is that a 90'x30' allotment ? A lot are only 45'x30' these days .
When i got my first allotments , they were 6d each per week , that was in 1967/8 , when i was nearly 11 .
I had them until i was about 18 , when i gave them up as i was working from 6am - 6pm 6 days per week and was doing ghosters 2 or 3 times per week ( working on from 6pm until 12pm ) .
During the time i had them , they provided all the veg for the family , mum and dad and 7 kids . I was the only kid on there . In all the time i was there , they never took the 1/- weekly rent once and would never let me pay for any seeds from the shed .
Many old boys would give me trays of cabbages or toms , or i would find a trayful of seedlings left on my plot .
Most of the old boys there had known my granddad , who died when i was 5 , and liked to look after 'Pop's' grandson .
Most died during the time i had the plots , and their plots never got taken on .
Happy memories (apart from the old boys dying ) of different times and some lovley old boys .
Not one woman had a plot up there , how strange was that ?
Good luck cpw , hope you enjoy your plot .
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Different times indeed... These days I sometimes think allotments are considered fashion items, hence those incredible rents! OK, I think the one I saw (a few years ago) for well over £200 did include a small shed. But still. It was a bit outside the village, so people will be using their cars to get there - more cost. We used to have an allotment that was about 1.5 miles from where we lived, and we always went there by bike (or handcart for transport - I have a wonderful memory of sitting on top of a huge pumpkin, being pulled along - must have been 4 or 5 at that time). Anyway, unless allotments are truly affordable, only the rich will be able to have one - and weren't they supposed to ensure that the poor could get cheap veg? (Btw, we also had a large veg garden at the house, plus a smaller one behind the shop... No fancy lawn for us - just a few flowers around the edges.)
I think women were suppose to deal more with the results of the gardening, at least that's how it was in our family. My mum "helped" in the garden, of course, especially with harvesting, but it was definitely my father who was in charge. When my mother died, my father learned a lot about the processing, too. Don't think he ever bothered with bottling, but by then we had a freezer, which was a lot easier; and he learned to make jam at the age of 70.
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We had a big garden when I was a child. Dad did the vegetable growing and Mum did the flowers. I think that was the accepted way then. I've never bothered much with flowers, although I do like to have some. I'd rather put my efforts into growing something I can eat.
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Cheers everyone!
I thought £25 was reasonable, especially as they are not council run just an association of the owners/
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Just found out - there's a waiting list for this area (Kincardine and Mearns) - cost around £50. And there aren't any in the village where I live, anyway. So you'd have transport cost - plus equipment, seeds etc - that doesn't make for cheap veg, even if you don't count in your own time. So - allotments only for the rich?