Grow Your Own Magazine

I bought the book 'The 30 minute allotment' and the principles really sounded very 'do-able' and I really wanted to give it a try. Luckily, I have been able to take on a new allotment which is literally round the corner from my place of work. An ideal opportunity!

I thought I would keep a mini diary (mainly as a record for myself), just to see what I can achieve in 30 minutes a day, Monday to Friday.

Wednesday 7th May - met with the secretary and he showed me which plots were available. All were overgrown, some were just imprenitable thickets of brambles. I chose a half plot that had been partially worked last year but still had a good crop of docks and brambles.

Thursday 8th - took some rubbish bags and collected all the visible rubbish. Filled three bags in the half hour!

Friday 9th - called into Asda on the way to work and bought the 3L size ready to apply Roundup. It comes with its own sprayer. At lunchtime I sprayed the worse of the docks and some of the brambles. Got about half way up the plot.

Monday 12th May - sprayed the docks and brambles on the other half of the allotment. I could already see the signs of the Roundup begining to work on the weeds sprayed Friday.

Tuesday 13th - took my strimmer and strimmed the first half of the plot. Spot treated any weeds that I had missed.

Wednesday 14th - raked the cuttings from Tuesday. Spot treated weeds again.

Thursday 15th - went back with the strimmer and cut the remainder of the plot.

Friday 16th - further raking and clearing.

Monday 19th May - moved house

Tuesday 20th - went up and did a final rake over. The Roundup has killed off a lot of the underlying grass and has shrivelled up most of the docks and nettles. The brambles appear largely unaffected. Not bad really; I have not used all the 3 litres and the plot is looking much better. Also, over the previous week I had disturbed one or two frogs hiding in the long grass. I was pleased to see that they were still there today, so the Roundup had not affected them at all

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

Sounds like you have a way of getting the most from your 30 mins! I know it's satisfying to cut down the weeds so quickly but I think spray on weedkiller needs time to kill the roots under the soil even if the leaves die off quickly. The weeds will come back if the roots survive. I found that digging them out completely was best - time consuming but at least it gets rid of the weeds properly.

Good luck with cultivating your new plot.

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Julie

I'll look forward to reading what you manage to get done. I've just taken on a plot that is 125 square metres that is covered in weeds and hasn't been worked for a couple of years. The site representative reckons it'd be best to spray everything, then pick it over to remove all the dead stuff, then get it rotivated. Once thats done I'm planning on covering most of the plot with black plastic and then I can work on a bit at a time. Good luck with yours Effigy

My plot is around 150 sqm. Due to my time constraints, spraying was the most obvious solution. I would like to have had it rotovated, but there is no one to do it other than me.
So my plan now is to mark out my beds (I reckon I will get 11 in) and start digging them manually, removing weeds & brambles as I go. I think it will be probably be getting on to the end of July before all the beds are dug.
I have drawn up a plan of what goes where (with a crop rotation covering four years) so I am going to plant up those that I can for cropping this year, and start working towards next years plan on the others.

Good luck with yours as well

Edit: Here is my Crop Rotation Plan

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

Wednesday 21st May - marked out the first of my beds. I plan to have 11 beds in total, each about 20ft by 4ft, with decent sized paths in between. I marked out the first of the beds and began digging.

Thursday 22nd - further digging. I can dig (and weed out) around two and half sq yds in my 30 minutes.

Friday 23rd - finished digging the first bed. Just needs raking over and then I can prepare it for my first sowing.

I have had to be realistic about the time its going to take me to dig all 11 beds. I will not get them completed untill the back end of July at best. So I have decided to get planted what I can and then prepare for next season.

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

You're going really well! If you have managed to keep up the rate you started with you should have another bed or so ready now.

That said - take it easy, don't strain anything!

Good luck and stick with it

Terry

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The weeks and the years are fine. It's the days I can't cope with!

Thanks Terry

Had Monday & Tuesday as holidays so didnt get to the lottie until

Wed 28th - swopped the spade for a Chillington Hoe, and prepared another bed.
(Most of the others on the allotments are Afro-Carribean guys, and this came as a recommendation from them. And its a brilliant tool!)

Thur 29th - Used the hoe again and prepared bed No3

Fri 30th - Planted my first seed! I raked over the beds that I had cleared so far, and planted Dwarf Beans in Bed No1. I had made wire hoops and I covered the bed with netting to protect from pidgeons.

Mon 2nd June - cleared up around the first three beds of all the grass and dock roots that I had thrown out when clearing and started work on bed No4. Only got to clear half - hopefully be able to finish it tomorrow.

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

Woot, way to go!! Fascinating thread to watch! Well done

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Yep, I'm loving reading about how you're getting on

You're going great guns, Effigy. Don't want to put a damper on things, but you will spend most of your 30 mins dealing with annual weeds this month, which will be germinating now that the perennials aren't smothering them.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Well done Effigy

Im with Shirl this is like a good book, looking forward to the next instalment. Just got a lottie meself so know all about strimming weeds.
Good luck and all the best Phattaff

Thanks for the kind words

Unfortunately, I have suffered a bit of a set back

As well as trying to minister to two lotties, I am also trying to lay a concrete base for my workshop. As I started on Sunday there was nowhere to hire a mixer from, so I thought I would have a go mixing by hand. After about three hours, I was pretty done in (I am a middleaged pen-pusher, so not used to all this manual work) I was very sore on Sunday night, even after a nice soak in the tub, and working on the lottie on Monday was painfull (which was why I only managed to clear half a bed). Tuesday went to the Doc and he confirmed that I have torn the ligaments/tendons in my left forearm Dont know how long it will take to heal, but it hurts like hell!

So

Tue - Visit to Doc. Anyway it was lashing it down so wouldnt have been able to get a lot done.

Wed - despite dire warnings from SWMBO, managed to clear the rest of bed No4. Painfully slow though. Finished by spraying a few docks and nettles that had started to re-grow.

Over the weekend I ordered more seed from Thompson & Morgan, who are selling all their seed at half price at the moment. I've bought sweetcorn, borlotto beans, carrots (3 types) and peas. I also strayed onto the Veg Plants Direct site and found they do 'Allotment Specials', so I ordered 100 mixed Brassica plants - Cabbage, sprouts, cauli, calabrese and brocolli, plus 100 leeks and 30 onion plants. Hopefully, this will make up a bit for me being so late in getting started.

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

You do realise what you've said don't you? A new veg plants website, amongst us addicts!

Seriously though, sounds like you're doing great - but take care & don't do yourself any more injuries!

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Newbie,
keen but clueless

UPdate: Monday 9th to Friday 13th.

Progress has been very slow and painful, however I have managed to clear another bed - thats 5 in total now. According to my plan its two beds for legumes, two for brassicas and one for roots. I had ordered a load of plants for delivery in June, but the supplier is running behind schedule, and they have still not been delivered

The first French Beans that I sowed have all been eaten by something - very dissappointing, though I have had better sucess with the borlotto beans, practically all have come through. Also the mangetout peas have started to emerge, though they have also been knobbled and look a bit patchy.

Monday 16th to Friday 20th: Holiday to Cornwall. Took GYO magazine and two vegetable growing books to read

Monday 23rd. Hoed the five beds that are dug, though the annual weeds were not too bad. I'm now starting to feel veg-envy when I go to the allotments and see everyone else's plots bursting with growth and my meagre effort. Very demoralising really, but I tell myself that I am really preparing for next season now. The lotty will look much better (I hope) with 100 brassicas, leeks and onions planted; plus I've still got time to get some carrots sown and perhaps other roots like beetroot and swede. Also, there was a feature in the GYO mag about Chicory, and apparantely now is the best time for it, so I plan to get some raddichio and sugarloaf seeds and get those started at home.

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

I've just come onto this thread, having not been around much for the past couple of weeks, and its great!! Who needs a soap when there's real life like this to involve us?!

So firstly, how was the holiday?? Secondly, hows the arm?? Lastly (for now) hows the planting??

Oh, and did you HAVE to?? Another veg site to meander around !!

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Life may not be the party we hoped for but since we're here we might as well dance

Great - Cornwall really is a lovely place


Bloody painfull. Just as I think its ok, the slightest use makes the elbow stiffen up again

I am still waiting for my plants to arrive.
The site is vegetableplantsdirect.co.uk and I had read good reviews about the quality of the plants, but it looks like the increased business has swamped them a bit

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Frank
....never buy a dwarf with learning difficulties - it's not big and its not clever!

fab posting! don't feel down. i didn't have the mammoth tasked you've faced with my plot but i remember this time last year feeling the same when i looked at other people's plots and now for the first time this year i'm the one getting the nice comments as it is now finally coming together. you will have brilliant veg next year. the one thing that i did in the beginning though was buy some plug plants and then at least there was something there...you might not have started them from seed but you still have to look after them to help them grow! runner beans also saved my life as they were easy and we got a huge crop.

I'm with Maximillian, plug plants really help with the veg envy at the beginning. having said that mine were attacked by pigeons because I didn't net them but the ones my boy planted are going great guns.

Buying in plug plants is great. It does give you a boost. But I also recommend making your own plug plants by sowing seeds in pots, cells or rootrainers at home and then planting them out when they are a good size - at least three inches. Sowing direct, in my experience is not so successful as the little plants are very vulnerable but survive better if the are planted out bigger.

Hi Effigy
A great thread. I'm just down the road in S-o-T and in a similar position so I am following your 'story' with interest. Also - good plan for rotation. Take care.

Hi Effigy,

Well done you, I am reading your story with interest, I have two plots on an allotment, it is hard work, but I love it. Hope your arm is better. You can still plant carrots, beetroot, etc. also I have started some winter cauli and cabbage, will be ready next spring.
Keep your plot covered through the winter, it will help a lo