Another help I'm a newbie post! Prepping an overgrown bed for sowing

[nickdub]

Last question on this thread (hopefully!) With starting stuff off in trays or pots, is it possible to do this outside i.e. at the allotment as we don't have tons of room in the flat

The answer is "Yes but ..." :-)

so things which are reasonably hardy like onions, kale, lettuce etc can be sown now or later in trays - if you can, get a platform for them (old table, couple of tires and/or bricks with a board on, ...) up off the ground and away from pests - each tray should be kept damp and to help with this either put a sheet of glass over it or put it inside a clear plastic bag - don't sow all the seeds in a packet at once, keep some for sowing again later.

For some things like tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, runner beans etc its not really warm enough for sowing outside yet - the trick with these is to get an old margarine or ice-cream tub and put a folded wet piece of kitchen roll in the bottom, place however many seeds you want upon that and then put the lid back on firmly - put this container somewhere warm eg shelf above the fridge back, on a radiator or in the airing-cupboard - check every day to see if roots are appearing (ie the seeds are chitted) - when they do sow roots, then take it down the plot and plant each seed in its own small pot.

Finally some seeds are pretty hardy but don't like being transplanted - these are generally things grown for their roots like radish, carrots, beetroot, parsnip etc there are two main ways round this either 1) save some toilet roll inner tubes or make something similar, fill them with compost - pack these in a tray and put one or two seeds in each one - the aim being to transplant the whole thing once the plant is growing well OR 2) use the ice-cream tub seed chitting method above, then when the roots appear take the tub, half fill it with water and use this to float a few seeds at a time directly in to a line in the soil on your plot.

No such thing as a stupid question BTW - stupid answers however are possible...

Happy gardening :-)

[blackmore]

The answer is "Yes but ..." :-)

so things which are reasonably hardy like onions, kale, lettuce etc can be sown now or later in trays - if you can, get a platform for them (old table, couple of tires and/or bricks with a board on, ...) up off the ground and away from pests - each tray should be kept damp and to help with this either put a sheet of glass over it or put it inside a clear plastic bag - don't sow all the seeds in a packet at once, keep some for sowing again later.

For some things like tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, runner beans etc its not really warm enough for sowing outside yet - the trick with these is to get an old margarine or ice-cream tub and put a folded wet piece of kitchen roll in the bottom, place however many seeds you want upon that and then put the lid back on firmly - put this container somewhere warm eg shelf above the fridge back, on a radiator or in the airing-cupboard - check every day to see if roots are appearing (ie the seeds are chitted) - when they do sow roots, then take it down the plot and plant each seed in its own small pot.

Finally some seeds are pretty hardy but don't like being transplanted - these are generally things grown for their roots like radish, carrots, beetroot, parsnip etc there are two main ways round this either 1) save some toilet roll inner tubes or make something similar, fill them with compost - pack these in a tray and put one or two seeds in each one - the aim being to transplant the whole thing once the plant is growing well OR 2) use the ice-cream tub seed chitting method above, then when the roots appear take the tub, half fill it with water and use this to float a few seeds at a time directly in to a line in the soil on your plot.

No such thing as a stupid question BTW - stupid answers however are possible...

Happy gardening :-)

Thank you again for all the advice! this will definitely cover all bases and keep me busy for a while

[muck lover]

It isn’t cheating to buy a few young plants even just this year. Especially the things you won’t have room to grow from seeds. Trays of seedlings or a couple of young plants aren’t too expensive....
Your plot neighbours might have some spare plants and probably also good advice about local growing conditions.

[1Bee]

Congrats, you've got a cracker there! And it's EXCITING, isn't it?! Everyone loves a new plot.

I second not being ashamed of buying a few plug plants...

You might want to google the 'no-dig' approach? It's not for everyone, and you don't have to go the whole hog, but it might be helpful. Last season I took on another patch of the plot, and it was clear I wasn't going to get it dug in time (full of docks, horsetail, couch grass, nails, glass and, I found out when I dug it this year, a wheel and a milk churn, among other scrappy things....) I ripped off anything with lots of growth (I don't have access to a strimmer), put down a layer of cardboard, a layer of manure and then covered with black plastic. I cut holes in the plastic, prepared planting holes by digging as best I could a small patch, and throwing in a handful of mpc, chicken manure pellets and BFB (blood, fish and bone fertiliser) and planted pumpkins and squashes I'd grown earlier. We had a bumper crop, the weeds were suppressed, and I was able to dig the bed, which was ready manured and fertilised, this spring.

Just an approach you might like to take for a bit of your plot?

Other than that, you've had some great advice. Enjoy!

[bikermike]

Advice as per above - welcome to the vine! looks a nice plot

I find it helpful to divide up areas with boundaries - it's much easier to weed a small area thoroughly and then move onto another.

Depending on your budget, I'd definitely go the garden centre route to get things going in your first year. Uncovered soil will attract weeds, so cover it with something, be it plants or cardboard/weed membrane etc.

Also, I found that the first few years of sowing in allotment gave zero results - they get eaten by all manner of passing wildlife/weeds etc, so grow what you can elsewhere/in improvised shelters etc. TO minimise handling of roots, I tend to plant seeds in loo roll centres full of compost, as you can just plant them direct in the ground


don't forget to enjoy it...

[elsie-scot]

Welcome
Great work in clearing so much already. Don't forget to plant some flowers, they could be in pots. They will be great to see while you are hard at work. A lot of supermarkets etc have some good deals. I picked up some super cheap discounted perennial ones yesterday in Morrisons, there was nothing wrong with them just a little tatty looking.

[rary]

When I first moved in to my house the back garden was quite similar to what you have and I was fortunate enough to get the loan of a paraffin weed burner, and that saved a lot of work, if you could borrow one of those it would give you a good advantage, I don't think the gas weed wands give you a high enough temperature to clear ground that is thick with weeds. Oh should have said, welcome to the Vine

[blackmore]

The helpful advice keeps pouring in!

I keep forgetting about buying plug plants! I'll definitely do it for the courgettes and maybe the beans and then try growing the rest in trays before they go in the ground.

We're going to pick up some black PVC this weekend and cover everything we're not immediately working on If I can source enough cardboard we'll potentially cover half the plot with carboard and manure and deal with it later in the year.

We're having the big clear out this weekend to get rid of all the left over rubbish and then can start making the place a bit nicer, a few flowers would definitely spruce it up a bit

Thanks again everyone, it doesn't feel like we're just winging it any more and have got a proper plan to start tackling it

[nickdub]

sounds like you've got a workable scheme there now - good luck with it all.

Don't forget one man's trash is another's treasure, so if you come across some unusable by you metal objects, have an ask around before throwing them away - they might be just what some-else is after :-)