New Grower here

[mrsnesbitt]

We are fortunate in having a large paddock. I want to start growing my own butdont want to bite off more than I can chew...any advice gratefully received.
D

[dni_dave]

Blank canvas

welcome to the 'vine mrsnesbitt

the best advice to start from is to read the previous posts in this section as they contain a lot of useful information. You'll see advice from people all across the country so can chose what suits your area. There are lots of posts on weather/climate that will be useful. You'll have to determine on how exposed your site is going to be as one of the biggest enemies is wind. Protecting from that is a good start.

How big an area you want to tackle will depend on what you want to grow and how many you want to feed. Some people on the vine have large allotments, while others harvest only their front gardens.

There are a lot of very helpful people on the forum who will be more than helpful but you may have to be a bit more specific to get the best advice. There is no doubt though that this is one of the best places to come to ask questions though.

Spend some time planning before you dig, but whatever you do you'll wish you had done something different. Get something easy in the ground (see other posts) to get the interest going. Then you'll be hooked as we all were.

Good luck with the plot, hope it all goes well and you get as much out of it as we did this year (our first!!).

dni_dave

[andrewo]

Split it up

I would advise do what you can and do it slowly, let the rest go fallow. As long as the beds are no wider the 3' (this will help if you choose the no dig method and you will never have to step on them). Create four beds and a rhubard patch, just dig up the turf and get going. You can use a large part of the paddock at an orchard (even graze sheep there) and fruit bushes, suggest that you do that first at this is the right time of year.

In simplest terms, get a piece a paper, draw out your plan and do it bit by bit (heck if it's big enough keep chickens as well). All I can say is that I am green with jealousy that you have a large paddock...oh what I wouldn't give.

If you need any help, do let me know the dimensions of the paddock. Orientation and whether it is flat or on a slope.

Andrewo

[mrsnesbitt]

Thanks ever so much for the comments above. Yes Andy we are very lucky...it is an ex-police house we live in. We have a goose on the paddock to keep the grass down. In the past we have kept chickens as well as ducks, but sadly our rescued german shepherd has voices in her head which tell her that such creatures are evil and must be destroyed so for the time being there will be no more. I have so much to do...there are other flower beds which need sorting too. I wondered about having an alium bed where i would grow onions, shallots, garlic etc as well as the flower variety????

[Looloobowers]

Baby Steps

Hi mrsnesbitt and welcome,

My sister and I have just taken on our second allotment which is just grass. Like you it seems huge and maybe bigger than we can cope with. As we both have health issues we decided that everything would be done in baby steps i.e. a little at a time. We do not put ourselves under pressure we just dig a bit and plant a bit and so on. 3 years later we take on our second. Just dont plan too much too soon as this puts on the pressure and the last thing you want in a garden is stress. Take it slow and enjoy what you achieve. All the help in the world (apart from labour) is right here where you are.

All the best
Looloo

[andrewo]

Aliums

Flowering kind are best in a herb patch, four reasons:
(1) They are unlike the common chive and won't be eaten
(2) The bottom foliage dies back early as all the nutrients are put into the flower and this can look unsightly, but if you plant it near oregano it will cover this up.
(3) Crop rotation, flowering aliums don't like being moved and you will have to do this if you grow with onions and shallots to prevent disease and cross contamination between species.
(4) Watering, onions need alot of water and this may rot the ornamental variety who do not need lots of water.
My advice is to grow ornamental with herbs or perennial flowers and to grow annuals with crops, such as parsley or cerinthe, which is beautful flower or cosmos or look at companion planting - lots of fun.

Where is your paddock situated? North, South? Is it on a slope? Is the soil clay or chalk? All factors. Let me know and good luck.

Andrewo

[Jaxom]

Think from the plate backwards

For me this year will be my first with a proper vegetable raised bed to grow vegetables in. I only have a small garden so space is limited.
Just because you have a big plot does not mean that you want tons of vegetables to grow unless you do intend to have your own stall at a growers market
How much cabage does your family eat each week? will you need more than one head a week? The same question could be asked about each vegetable you wish to grow. When you have worked out what you want to eat and how much then you will know how much earth to dig over.
A patch of earth measuring one foot x one foot will grow 16 full size carrots or 16 raddish. the same area could also grow four full size lettice or 16 cut and come again type leaf crops. Conversly the same area will only support one cabage.
Some areas of the plot will be able to grow a number of different types of vegetables in one year if you rotate and use catch crops in spaces that are not full, early in the year but have the later crop slowly growing in the same area.
The best thing to do is read as much information as you can find. There is a thread called recomended books that we started earlier in the year. perhaps some of these recomendations could be of help.
While it is cold, sit by the fire and read, dream and plan your plot.
Good Luck
Jax

[WiZeR]

hi MRsN, I can't offer you much advice as I am just starting out myself. But I wish you all the luck and hope to hear all about your new plot.

[Lottie]

Wise words Jaxom

I have just finished my second year with an allotment. I made the mistake of buying all the seeds I wanted and a few extra 'on special offer or if some failed'

I wore myself out germinating all the seeds in the packet - not realising that dispite what it says abouts use by dates, all but parsnip seeds seem to germinate if you keep them in the right conditions, but may not be so prolific.

So after giving virtually all my little plants away as I didn't need too much of each, and spending all that time and money on compost and pots etc.

When I asked the recipients of said donations of my plants, they all seem to have perished due to, ' forgot to water them' 'rabbits got them' caterpillars ate them' type excuses which was soul destroying.

So I am going to sow a few of each, and save or swop the rest. And as I have the space I will grow, say 10 plants of several varities of beans, peas, etc.

I have left growing up my lottie about 40 purple sprouting broccoli plants yet to sprout - and if you read my WWW about caterpiller cafe you will see that it nearly killed me picking off caterpillars for hours at a time over the summer.

I will have broccoli coming out of my ears, freezer, the chickens - so a lesson hard learnt.
Wish I had had you to advise me last year.

[dorothy Organ]

New Grower here.

Start as you mean to go on Mrs Nesbit. Start with one area and dig it really thoroughly. I have started 'Moon Gardening' and wish I had done it years ago. The book I use is Moon Gardening by R.J.Harris, published by Really Useful Books of Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He talks about one vegetable at a time and gives very specific advice about planting times, manuring etc. Last year I grew parsnips and carrots as he directed and grew the best crops for 20 years.

[nick the grief]

Hi Dorothy & MrsN,

You'll have to keep us all posted on this one. I saw an article about moon gardening and felt sure it was an april 1st that had missed the press deadline! Anything that can help is worth ago.
As to your dilema Mrs N, cut all your turf and stack it for a year and I'll be round next year for it for my compost fot the Chrysanths Seriously, It's easy to get carried away like Lottie say's, I sat the family down and asked what they like to eat and then told them 4 acres aof Strawberries wasn't sensible we eventually got a list and thats what I grow - hence I don't have trouble with Parsnips as we don't eat them .... Phew

[Hardy]

Hi

I took on an overgrown allotment a few years ago. It really was derelict and I don't think the other plot holders thought I would see it through. But I started by covering it all in black polythene and planned out the area, making a list of what I wanted to include. These were

two greenhouses
a shed
two cold frames
3 compost bays
3 water butts
a large storage box for pots, groundcover fabric etc
an area with groundcover fabric for dumping pots and trays of cuttings, seedlings etc
raised beds
ornamental borders
paths
an area to leave the wheelbarrow, piles of stuff ready to take home etc

By the time I'd done that and worked out the best places for all of these the area didn't seem so daunting. Next I marked out on the ground and started digging my beds one at a time with paths in between them. Again, because these were in small chunks they were quite easy to manage and it was an acheivement to knock another patch off the list...

Obviously you will have different needs to mine but by listing some of the ingredients and planning the best place for them (easier than it sounds because convenience, access to water and the position of the sun will determine a lot of things) it should help you to make a start.

So basically, like the others are saying - make plans then do it small bits at a time.

I hope this helps!

[Jaxom]

Hardy: What a good post. Your plans sound as though they were well thought out. Lots of people talk about making plans but your post made it more visual.
Jax

[nick the grief]

Hi All,

I sort of plan mine but as I feel happier with a Key board than a pencil & paper, I find MS Powerpoint is great. I can see what it should look like and then wonder why it doesn't

[Nicos]

We plan ours on graph paper and can then work out a rough estimate of how many plants to grow in each bed and the bed size. We always allow a few plants over for the slugs to munch or non-germination before transplanting onto the allotment. Other than the cats deciding to use the seedtrays as a litter tray(!!) the numbers of seedling tends to work out about right.Too few and the bed becomes smaller , and too many and we enlarge it or give away spares.