r/Allotment

Am I wasting my life? Should I be doing young people things?? But then again this does sort of interest me?

Luckily this happened minutes after my allotment neighbour left this afternoon. Decided to cover a couple of areas with sheeting for turning into beds later and grabbed a bit of decking to hold the plastic down. Unfortunately the red ants who were living there took revenge by jumping en masse down my dungarees and bit me all over my leg and arse, so I had to strip down to my pants to brush them all off. Anyone looking would have seen a mad woman with her dungarees round her ankles, slapping her naked legs and swearing incessantly!

In good news I finished digging out a new bed and am ready to take my potatoes down tomorrow.

We have a water butt/tank on our plot but the plot was left unattended for a couple of years before we took it on. What’s the best thing to do with all the water that’s been sat in the tank please?

Hi all! My baby just turned 1 and I’m itching to get back to our poor neglected allotment. We have a bit of time this weekend to uncover, weed and get some plants in. What would you put in now that would be the lowest maintenance / greatest chance of success? I think it’ll come into its own when he’s a bit bigger but right now he puts everything in his mouth.

Bonus points for any general tips on having baby there safely. Thanks!

Up until now (approaching 10yrs of having a quarter plot), I kind of bumble along and things happen organically (haphazardly).

Yes, by mid summer, it kind of comes together in a naturally forgiving way, but I know it could be so much more.

I really need to get more organised and think about my space so that I can optimise it and make managing it um, manageable.

I've measured everything and am thinking about using this season to get ship shape for next year.

What's your approach?

I'm moving / saving a blackcurrant from a neighbouring plot to mine. It already has small leaves, so is definitely not dormant.

Any tips?

It was the rhubarb post that triggered this memory. I remember going down the allotments with my grandparents, and always coming away with rhubarb to dip in sugar, and Damsons for jam. We never see damsons or damson jam… Anyone else feel the same?

Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been doing on your allotment lately. Feel free to share or ask any question related to it. And please mention which region and what weather you had this week if you've been planting or harvesting.

My spouse and I just got an allotment last month. As an American with some farming experience, the first thing we did was order a home lead testing kit- I say this because I get the sense that testing for lead is kind of an unusual thing for English people to do, but was totally standard back home.

We also got straight into digging and seeding and prepping beds in the mean time, naively assuming it would be negative or low levels given everyone else has been eating the veg they grow here for decades.

Yesterday though the tests came up a clear positive, for over 400ppm in all 3 places we sampled.

I’m sort of at a loss for what to do now- surely we can’t be the first people to test? Why is there such a lack of info on what to do now? In the US sample readings this high would be an EPA contamination zone. Do we warn people? Tell the council? Pay for tons of commercial dirt to fill raised beds?

Has anyone else tested their soil or heard of similar situations?

So over the past few years I (F42) have accidentally planted one too many courgette plants. Now my husband (M42) didn't mind the first year as it was a first time run but asked the following year to reduce the plant population by half due to how many we were getting; and I did to 4 plants, and the following year to 2, then to 1. Now, last year I couldn't seem to germinate a single seed (I still suspect sabotage to the packet). So this year I have said I'm going to germinate at least 4, and I am shocked to admit there was a mention of more than 1 plant was grounds for divorce thoughts. So I ask the wider community, how many courgette plants does it take to end a marriage? 🤔😉

It's long been a dream of mine to have my own garden and work towards self sustainability.

I'm a long way off, but today I got my very first garden and I've decided to document my introduction to the insanity of nature-first crop gardening. Taking an already lovely garden, and turning it into a food production powerhouse (whilst respecting the bees)

Come along, give it a watch, let me know what you think?

I heard fennell will inhibit the growth of other plants. I'd like to know other gardeners experiences of this. I use permaculture methods and I usually plant in a large mixed bed. I'm guessing I can't put the fennell in there? So do you usually have a bed solely dedicated to fennell or do you use pots? Also, Is there anything it will grow happily alongside?

Hello, I have had my allotment for a couple of years but frankly have neglected it really. It is actually tiny, and due to this I turned the majority of it in to one long bed, that is about 7m x 3m. It is clay soil - there are some big clumps of clay, although most of it is actual soil rather than clay. I have a few questions, that I can’t really seem to get answers for…..

1. I thought one large bed would maximise the space. But now I’m worried that I will be impacting the ground when I am on it as I will have to be to sow, water etc. will this be ok? What can I do to reduce this?

2. The soil has lots of big clumps. Not of clay so much, more just big clumps of soil. Should I taking this to break it up, or something else?

3. I have a personal horse manure factory. I know I should just be able to heap it in a pile until it’s rotted, but I kind of want to contain it somehow. Any suggestions for this?

Thanks, I am really hoping that this will be my first successful allotment year!