Allotment in planning.

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Allotment in planning.

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TimNeo

Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 636
Location: Ashingdon, UK

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 11:27 am Post subject: Allotment in planning.

Fortunately for me, I'm now looking to move out and get my own place.

Unfortunately this place will not have a garden - ï¿½130k doesn't buy much more than a flat these days.

Fortunately just 10-15 minutes down the road (by car) is an allotment with plenty of space. To reduce my own costs I'm hoping to produce year round food for my table by investing a few hours down an allotment.

Currently I'm looking at building myself a small low lying 'shed' or allotment cupboard to store the kit in (as I couldn't store it in my flat) with a compost heap and a modesty closet next to the compost heap to provide it with er... regular watering ;- )

Am I right in presuming that 'water' waste on a compost helps breakdown the compost quicker and can be used on root vegitables too?

I'm going to dig in four standing logs next to the closet which will house my mushroom collection. I'm hoping these will grow in a freestanding upright position, but I've been told it's better to lay them down. Next to the mushrooms I'm hoping to scavenge a greenhouse or similar to grow plants throughout the year (my peppers etc).

On the south side of the greenhouse I want tomato and runner bean beds, and a small raised bed for herbs. Next to the herb bed I'm looking to plant three tyre type potato towers. On the north bramble bushes where possible. I'm fairly disappointed there are no fruit trees on the allotment.

To prepare the soil I'm going to put down cardboard over the wonderful 6ft high grass to mulch down before laying the beds over the top.

Any comments, suggestions etc?

LynneA

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 11:35 am Post subject:
Go for it, but make sure you allow for your own water butts (in case drought orders turn any piped supply off) , and somewhere to make tea or coffee.

TimNeo

Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 636
Location: Ashingdon, UK

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 11:39 am Post subject:
Hadn't thought about tea or coffee - but was thinking about trickle charging a 12v battery on the roof of my box-shed using a ï¿½9.99 solar battery charger from maplin. Then just plug in the small kettle and off we go... Or perhaps bring a thermos in backup ;0 )

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 11:40 am Post subject:

Site preparation will take more than cardboard over the ground and will not be ready by next spring. Unfortunately it's hard to avoid the hard work of clearing and digging.

Your greenhouse is not heated so year round crops will be limited but in winter it should still provide some salad leaves. tomatoes and beans may shade the greenhouse too much depending on variety. They'll alos need to be moved around as part of your rotation.

Be prepared for your stuff to get knicked if it's left there, so buy cheap tools.

How big is it? Get an overall plan and work towards it but don't expect to get it all done straight away.

TimNeo

Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 636
Location: Ashingdon, UK

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 11:50 am Post subject:

I've er... cheated a bit

My friend runs the permicultural society back at my uni (some hundreds of miles away) and we've done a cultural swap - I've given them the benefit of my five years of home brew for his.

I'm hoping to install a similar system to the 'it's not easy being green' heatsink.

I've been gardening with great sucess since I was about 5 (growing mainly non-edible crops) so this is just a progression. I won't want to turn the soil much this year and am thinking raised beds with the exception of the tomato plant area.

And yes, cheap tools. I intend to make my box-shed secure and lockable though. The allotment is in the middle of nowhere (the village is very small and yobs non-existant)

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Nov 29, 06 12:00 pm Post subject:
That's handy/interesting/lovely! Clear and area and get your raspberrys in now for a harvest next year. Get three varieties, early, mid and autumn. My autumn varieties have just given up now.

Sally Too

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 2511
Location: N.Ireland

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 06 7:26 pm Post subject:

Have you any photos of your project fallscrape???

I would be very interested in how you progress.

I have a greenhouse here (8x10 up about 18months now

) and if you look on my other thread you'll see some photos of some new beds I'm creating.

Last year I dabbled... now, like you I hope to grow loadsa veg next year...

Indeed I have just spent a very pleasant hour (glass of home brew nettle wine in hand) sorting packets of seeds, browsing the dobies catalogue & generally scheming for next year.....

Dobies has a nice veg growing chart on page 3 too.....

Good luck.....

Sir Boodle

Joined: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 28
Location: The Shire of Spires and Squires

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 06 7:41 pm Post subject:
Good to see that I'm not the only one that is just about to take on a plot and only has a small idea of what thet really want to do Good luck old chap! I've been told that it's been so mild that you could just about get your garlic in still. Talking of plot size, I've been told the plot I'm looking at next week is 6 polls in size, what the hell dose that mean?

oddballdave

Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 259
Location: Telford, Shropshire

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 06 8:20 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Talking of plot size, I've been told the plot I'm looking at next week is 6 polls in size, what the hell dose that mean?

From Wikipedia

A rod is a unit of length, equal to 11 cubits, 5.0292 metres or 16.5 feet. A rod is the same length as a perch[1] and a pole. The lengths of the perch (one rod) and chain (four rods) were standardized in 1607 by Edmund Gunter.

And from Kitchen Gardens

The size of an allotment is measured in poles and rent is paid per pole. A standard size plot of 9m x 27m (10 x 30 yd) is equivalent to 10 poles.

But the best explanation is:-

My allotment is nine poles. But how much is that then? And is it always the same? And why is it a pole?

The pole was the ox-goad the medieval ploughman used to control his team of eight oxen. In order to reach the leading pair he had to have a long pokey thing which had to be sixteen and a half feet or five and a half yards long.

This becomes particularly interesting when you think that each ploughman had a pretty standard measuring pole. A mediaeval ploughman with a team of eight oxen was required to till one acre a day. That was a furlong in length. Obviously a "furrowlong" was about the most four yoke of oxen could pull steadily through heavy soil before they had to rest ï¿½ 220 yards.

An acre (4,840 square yards) is one furlong in length and one chain in breadth. A chain was 22 yards. OK but whatï¿½s that got to do with poles? Well itï¿½s 22 yards ï¿½ or four poles. Such a convenient length as the pole allowed easy assessment at any time in the day of how much had been ploughed of the width of the acre.

Interestingly the dividing markers between the acres were very narrow strips of unploughed land which, over the long years, as the land between them was worked and in consequence sank a little, appeared to be raised. When crop rotation allowed land to lie fallow, any games played on its rich grass would be dictated by those markers. So you might push some stumps in and throw balls at them, on a wicket 22 yards long. Gosh letï¿½s call it cricket.

Looking down the furrow, to where the oxen turned and rested, one acre butted up to the next, and small mounds rose from the ground. They were called butts and were utilised, as butts are today, as protection for those who stood behind the archery targets. And how long was a furrow again? About 220 yards. A good distance to be deadly accurate with a longbow.

HTH

Dave
who has a 'full' plot which is more than enough work

Sir Boodle

Joined: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 28
Location: The Shire of Spires and Squires

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 06 8:36 pm Post subject:
Cheers OBD that really has cleared alot of things up, So is that bigger or smaller than my bedroom?

oddballdave

Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 259
Location: Telford, Shropshire

Posted: Fri Dec 01, 06 9:54 pm Post subject:

Sir Boodle wrote:

Cheers OBD that really has cleared alot of things up,

So is that bigger or smaller than my bedroom?

Depends how many pairs of Oxen you can get in there!

LOL

TimNeo

Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 636
Location: Ashingdon, UK

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 06 10:43 am Post subject: Allotments

Cut a long story short, I lost the house and the new allotment I was preparing would be too far away for me to get to. Got quite annoyed by loosing the place I'd set my heart on, however got a call yesterday and a local allotment has become available. I've only been on the waiting list for about 3 years so it's a big bonus for me!

Will be starting work this saturday! soooo excited!

At present it is very overgrown at present. How do I best deal with the overgrowth?

I'm going to buy a scythe and just lop it all off onto a compost heap with plenty of cardboard and teabags from the office = ) Then the remaining I'm going to dig over and cover in cardboard. Anything wrong with that approach?

LynneA

Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 4893
Location: London N21

Posted: Wed Dec 13, 06 11:20 am Post subject:

As I said before - go for it. Before you cut at everything down, look at what is growing - weeds & all. These will give you an idea of the type and state of the soil. There may also be some potential wild food (brambles - keep if at very edge and use for security)

When you've done that, decide where the compost bin and shed are going to be. This may seem odd, but if you're goind to be moving everything you cut down to the heap, you'd be better off working out from that point, and raking back to it.

Then stop and work out your rotation - allowing for perennials. Work out where the first plantings are going to be (probably potatoes, but think about fruit as well) and that will be the first area to be dug. Then cover everything else and dig those in the order they will be needed.

And get safe paths in place early for your own safety. Depending on the size of the plot, you may want to have water butts on more than one corner of the plot, to avoid carrying cans too far. Get those in place soon to take advantage of the Winter rains.

TimNeo

Joined: 06 Jul 2006
Posts: 636
Location: Ashingdon, UK

Posted: Wed Jan 03, 07 8:26 am Post subject:
No wild food except a little bit of spinach and nettles. 's all :- ( Started on Sunday (new years eve) Got 6 pallets, knocked 'em apart and started building the fence. Ho-hum took a lot longer than I thought - even my girlfriend was saying 'lets dig the plot!' lol Well I'll start taking pics soon - plenty of beaten down nails sticking out of it though!

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