This is new to me
Hi, my boyfriend has got me an allotment, for valentines day.
i have been after growing veg for a bit now, the allotment is new, so it has never been used for anything yet,
any help and advice on how to start, and what to do with the soil, planning and planting would be so very excepted. thanks .
I'm now in my 3rd season at my allotment and my initial advice would be this:
1.Don't try and do everything at once, use old carpet or a lawnmower to keep the weeds down until you're ready to start planting; just work a bit at a time.
2. Get advice from your neighbours, most people are friendly and will normally be happy to stop and talk instead of digging, they will have the best local knowledge.
3. Do a little bit every week, don't leave it, especially in summer. When I started, one of my neighbours said the thing I would need most of is time, and he wasn't wrong.
There are lots of online places for advice, the BBC, the Telegraph and the Guardian all have quite good gardening blog sections that tell you what to do and when.
Enjoy!
I haven't much spare time myself, and I only spend about an hour a week on my allotment - I'v had it for three years now, and its surpirsing how it has developed. I have found that the best thing to do is to divide it into beds a couple of metres wide and about 4 metres long (depends on the shape of your allotment obviously) - I'v used old planks to define the beds, and left narrow paths between them. Decide how many beds you think you can dig this year, and don't stress about the rest - cover them up with high quality weed-control fabric (the cheap stuff is pointless, the good stuff you can use over and over again) - some sites have regular dumpings of horse manure for free - if there is some, then you could cover the spare plots with this and then with the weed comtrol fabric, and it will rot down over the year. You will be SO glad you did this when you come to dig later - NB avoid walking on them or they will be like rock. Each week (or whenever you can) dig one of the beds you have decided to use (or half of one), and focus on these this year. This year, I'v almost dug all my beds, and I'm now laying down weed control fabric on the paths and covering it with bark chippings. As for planting - you could get some garlic and onions in now, and set some spuds off chitting for planting in a few weeks time.
Have fun!
Sue