Introducing Lottie, my first ever allotment

[FlowerpotGirl]

Thank you. In that last picture the light coloured ground is the carpet Its beautiful dark soil underneath. Need to clear the seeded heads of the rest of the patch before I expose it. I don't want a whole new load to deal with

[muddled]

Hello FPG, lovely to read how you're doing
(no-one here would object to pics everyday...when your 'normal' friends are sick of hearing about your plot we'll still be all ears!)

You're right about those seedheads.
If I were you I'd get some cardboard and start covering areas to weaken the grass untill you get round to it. This is full on growing weather and the grass will be growing and ripening faster than you can clear it.

Those raspberries will also grow back. They do tend to spread! So don't be afraid to be brutal with them.

On one of the pieces pf cardboard you could lay all the 'might come in useful' junk as you find it andon another you could start your compost heap. That'll be two sections that require no work before autumn.

[skeggijon]

Slow and steady wins the race.
Looking forward to watching your progress

[FlowerpotGirl]

Thanks all for the support. Muddled I did just that at the weekend. I've trampled all the grass down and put boards over it to keep it down We had torrential rain yesterday which battered it too.

So I had my first full day on Saturday and achieved loads. I have hand cut everything in the pictures with Secateurs! I know that's bonkers and time consuming but I kept seeing hidden treasures and this was the best way of keeping them safe and learning my plot. I've found lovely red potatoes, lots more rhubarb hiding under a crazy Bramble, and Blackcurrant bushes. I've also found out that Gooseberries have horrifically sharp thorns and my arms are covered in cuts. At the back of Lottie is 'Killer Corner' named so as everything in it wants to hurt me! There are Wildroses, nettles, and Gooseberry bushes. I've met both my lovely neighbours and one side burnt a lot of my cut grass for me as my compost heap is about 7ft tall now. Having seen the way the wind blows I've given up carefully removing seed heads. The abandoned plots to the left of me are covered in seed heads and the wind carries them over. Also I won a super water butt on eBay for 99p!! It was a great weekend.

So without further ado here is Lottie day 5.....

[FlowerpotGirl]

I've also plant some carrots

[Bigmallly]

A belated hello FPG & welcome to the Jungle.

[FlowerpotGirl]

Thank you

[FlowerpotGirl]

At the risk of boring you all last night I managed to clear the grass in front of the Raspberries and discovered a wooden border and one random onion.

Progress....before and after

[Kirk]

The edged bed looks a nice size to dig over, remove whatever you can out and then get a few plants/seeds into so that you have a going for this year at least. That way you have some sort of a crop to show for all the effort.

Try Hitchin market for a small selection of plants, although the choice there is getting smaller week by week.

I couldn't see the random onion in the photo.

[FlowerpotGirl]

haha tha random onion had been removed accidently I only realised it was there when I chucked the clippings on the compost mountain

Allotment people are so lovely. I've been given some late Parsnip seedlings from an Allotment person and I've got some carrots in too.

Last night I cleared the other side of this Raspberry bed and have planted dwarf beans that I've had at home, celery and a tomato plant. Luckily they are all happy companions as I've got them in the same area. Its a test to see what does well and how they survive the slugs. I think the celery might not make it....

Thanks for the heads up about Hitchin market, I'll try that this weekend. I'm in Letchworth so its not far at all. I have brought masses of seed packets from Pound Stretcher last Saturday and some seed potatoes that were bursting out of the packet. The seeds are good till 2019 and for 39p a packet I couldn't not

[Nannysally99]

A late welcome from me too
If you've got time to post pics, then we'll look at them FPG, a right nosy lot we are lol

[FlowerpotGirl]

Today I'm feeling like a proper allotmenter (totally a word right? ) I went out in my lunch break to find Pallets. Wickes charged for them, but lovely Homebase let me take what I wanted from the back, as long as they weren't the blue ones. So in my office clothes I had a scramble around and I'm now the proud owner of 4 half pallets and one lovely big one. I feel all official now and like a proper allotment person

I'm going to tart them up a bit with some lovely Wood stain (Sea Grass Green I think), which is non-toxic and should keep them weather proofed for a while longer. The real reason is that I want the compost heap to look pretty! Words I never thought I'd say I've been bitten to bits and have scratched arms but I'm starting to win the battle of the brambles

[FlowerpotGirl]

Little update I've been slowly clearing the grass slowly and have got to the point where I can start adding paths and planning the plot out. I've added a flower bed where I'll put herbs and flowers like lavender. I've ordered a pond liner (2.5x2.5metres) and I'm going to install a little pond as I have two resident frogs and I'm making them homeless. I don't want them to leave as they eat slugs so I'm hoping they'll approve of the pond. I'm going to use water from the water butt and remove the water butt from this area (as in pic).

I've also ripped out the awful old plastic boards that were sharp and ugly and I have an epic hay stack to burn if we ever get a few days of sunshine. Not bad progress though I reckon. I do keep repeating to myself 'Rome wasn't built in a day'. I've got a pepper, lettuce, parsnips and pumpkins all growing in the plastic greenhouse (another new addition) and hope to have the beds ready for them by the weekend. We currently have a yellow weather warning in place till Friday for storms and torrential rain so we'll see!

[Jay22]

Brilliant FPG and a belated big hello from me!

[FlowerpotGirl]

Thank you Jay22 and a big Hello back