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New plot holder, new member, hi!

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  • New plot holder, new member, hi!

    Stumbled across this little Gold mine while using my Google Kung Fu looking for advice.

    So thanks for the great advice thus far and hello!

    Just a little background, I got into gardening a few years ago when I moved into a property with a garden that was mostly 4 foot high in weeds and the housing association had sent a letter requesting it be "tidied up". I moved in with (my now ex missus) who wasn't interested in gardening and she used the garden mainly as a dog run which is why it was in such poor state. So I set about tidying it up and got bitten by the bug, not long afterwards I also started collecting Bonsai as it was something I had always had an interest in.

    A few years down the line the garden started shaping up nicely and my Bonsai collection had grown to a large scale production facility with the full intention of starting my own Bonsai nursery in a few years.

    I split up with the missus at the tail end of last year and I moved out a few months ago into a flat with only a small balcony, managing only to salvage a small portion of my Bonsai and next to nothing of the hundreds of hours of sweat, blood and tears, let alone effort and hard work of the decent sized garden I had built up from nothing.

    I caught a break when I asked the local council if they had any plots available on the local allotments when I was informed they had several available. I now have my first plot of land and around 250 m2 of land at my disposal! It's still very much in dog order as moving house and starting a new job recently has taken up the bulk of my time, but once things settle down I intend to start investing time and effort (No doubt a decent chunk of cash) to get myself back up to speed and where I was prior to having to move with my Bonsai interest.

    The allotment will mainly be used for Bonsai cultivation, but I will keep a section for the veg and flowers I liked eating/growing.

    Early days and a lot of graft required...



    I've been putting in an hour or Two here and there, digging over the bottom end and removing the weeds, some of which are doing their best impression of an underground Anaconda...

    I have been lucky to snag some great stuff via Freecycle, Wheel Barrow, Burn bin, composter and a 7x5 shed along with a load of flags, bricks and timber/pallets. (Yep, back of my VW Polo looks like my allotment already, tick that one off the list.)

    Managed to get some maincrop spuds in already, hopefully will get some Sweet Corn on the go this week.

    I'm now about a Third/Halfway up the plot digging over, so will slow down with that and focus on the area I have dug over.



    Gonna have to spend a few hours removing the nails out of the timber I have so far managed to get my hands on and then start building some raised beds. I was going to do the same as I did at the old house and build large raised beds from decking, but I now only have use of a VW Polo and I cannot fit the 2.4m long decking boards into it and B&Q will not cut them for fear they break a blade, grrr.

    I need to get the raised beds up and running as I desperately need to get some of the Bonsai I have in the ground so they can get a few months of growing and settling in before Autumn hits. They can't stay on my balcony at home for much longer and a few years in the ground will do them so good. I used to overwinter them in my polytunnel, that now isn't an option so in the ground they shall go and it'll be fingers crossed they make it through the winter. That said, they were spoiled rotten, large heated polytunnel all through the colder months, heh.

    Must say I'm missing the 5m x 2m polytunnel I used to have, this time of year it'd be swamped with seed trays and bursting with life. I have improvised and adapted a little bit and have started to use the spare bedroom as my new Bonsai studio. Though there is only so much you can do with a few windowsills and a small balcony. That said needs must as the devil drives and I have just bought some staging to go out on the balcony and it is now filled up with the seed trays for the £50 worth of tree seeds I recently bought and sowed indoors. Need to start somewhere to get myself back on track and rebuild the huge number of trees and saplings I lost this year due to the move.

    The sunshine of the loss though, I did not have much room at all at my old place to get trees into the ground to bring them into maturity, now I have a honking great stretch of land, so it's all good!
    Life should be more like Bonsai...

  • #2
    Hi Si and welcome to the Vine.
    There are a couple of Bonsai growers on here, I'm sure they'll be along soon to share experiences. Pull up a chair and make yourself at home

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    • #3
      Hello and welcome and good luck with project Bonsai
      Le Sarramea https://jgsgardening.blogspot.com/

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      • #4
        Hello and welcome to the vine Si
        Location....East Midlands.

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        • #5
          Hi there and welcome to the Vine. Very impressed with your pictures of your plot.
          Think you are very wise doing a little at a time, nothing worse than back ache when you've done to much, and being able to grab some stuff off freecycle etc.
          sigpic

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          • #6
            Hello Si & welcome to the Jungle, the plot is coming along nicely. Good luck with your Bonsai venture.
            sigpic“Gorillas are very intelligent, but they don't have to be as delicate as chimps -- they can just smash open the termite nest,”
            --------------------------------------------------------------------
            Official Member Of The Nutters Club - Rwanda Branch.
            -------------------------------------------------------------------
            Sent from my ZX Spectrum with no predictive text..........
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            KOYS - King Of Yellow Stickers..............

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            • #7
              Hi Si and welcome to the vine.

              Rather than BandQ check out the price of decking/fence boards at local timber merchants or builders merchants - not only can you save money but some of them will deliver direct to the allotments.

              New all singing all dancing blog - Jasons Jungle

              �I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways to NOT make a light bulb."
              ― Thomas A. Edison

              �Negative results are just what I want. They�re just as valuable to me as positive results. I can never find the thing that does the job best until I find the ones that don�t.�
              ― Thomas A. Edison

              - I must be a Nutter,VC says so -

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              • #8
                Hello and welcome to the vine
                Carrie

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Jay-ell View Post
                  Hi Si and welcome to the vine.

                  Rather than BandQ check out the price of decking/fence boards at local timber merchants or builders merchants - not only can you save money but some of them will deliver direct to the allotments.
                  I had not actually thought about that, top tip thanks. I have a Tradepoint account so B&Q is usually the easiest/cheapest option for most things I needed.

                  Travis Perkins is the nearest BM's, but their web site does not show prices (You have to request a quote which is annoying) but I can check them out next time I'm down in town I guess, cheers.
                  Life should be more like Bonsai...

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                  • #10
                    Hi there- and Welcome to the Vine from me !!

                    Gosh- looks like you're cracking on well with that plot!
                    "Nicos, Queen of Gooooogle" and... GYO's own Miss Marple

                    Location....Normandy France

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Bonsai Si View Post
                      I had not actually thought about that, top tip thanks. I have a Tradepoint account so B&Q is usually the easiest/cheapest option for most things I needed.

                      Travis Perkins is the nearest BM's, but their web site does not show prices (You have to request a quote which is annoying) but I can check them out next time I'm down in town I guess, cheers.
                      Get a quote from other merchants too and go back to get it cheaper yet. What they charge depends on what discount access they have and how generous they are feeling at the time. Also if you talk to them nicely they might have lots of cheap/free goodies lurking that you can make use of pallets, damaged baths, worktops, written off pipe there is no telling. It is amazing how much cack lurks in a merchants that allotmenteers can use.

                      Hi and welcome to the vine btw.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Norfolkgrey View Post
                        Get a quote from other merchants too and go back to get it cheaper yet. What they charge depends on what discount access they have and how generous they are feeling at the time. Also if you talk to them nicely they might have lots of cheap/free goodies lurking that you can make use of pallets, damaged baths, worktops, written off pipe there is no telling. It is amazing how much cack lurks in a merchants that allotmenteers can use.

                        Hi and welcome to the vine btw.
                        More great advice, thanks.

                        I'm learning to become a mooch and the don't ask don't get principle is kicking in more than ever now I have an allotment.

                        I am waiting for a phone call from an old school friend who works at a B&Q (Warehouse size) so I'm hoping he can hook me up with a load of their rubbish that is Gold for me!

                        Won't stop me hitting up the local TP's next week mind you, and anywhere else I can find, heh.
                        Life should be more like Bonsai...

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                        • #13
                          Snagged a few hours out in the sunshine today, was pretty nice.



                          This is where the 3 rows of spuds went in. The first bit of leaf are just starting to show through.




                          Then gave the upper area of the plot another nuking with Weedkiller to finish off the more stubborn stuff that has evaded the first 2 zappings. Once I'm sure the bulk of it all is dead I'll set about covering it over with cardboard till I am ready to work the ground over as I now need to focus on the bottom end and get some productivity going.

                          Then came home and rearranged the balcony as I needed to get the staging set up, wired securely and loaded up with seed trays and Bonsai.

                          Busy old day all in all! Lovely to be out in the sun soaking up some rays and getting a start on my tan.
                          Life should be more like Bonsai...

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                          • #14
                            Compost bay up and running and in the background the shed laid out ready for when I get the base levelled and fixed into situ.



                            A few nice long rows dug and prepared ready for when the Sweet Corn I sowed yesterday at home get up to planting out size.

                            Life should be more like Bonsai...

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                            • #15
                              Speaking of my balcony...

                              Life should be more like Bonsai...

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