Allotments
 

Thinking of renting an allotment next year, but before I do I'd like to hear from people who have/had allotments and what they think positives/negatives are?

Thanks, and Merry Xmas to everyone

Kieran

Allotments
 

Hi John, Your first major problem will be getting one! I live in Fingal and the list has been frozen for a number of years because there is so many people on it! Maybe the other CoCo's will be different. Did you watch Hugh Fearnley Wittenstall (Chef on tv) in his Autumn show? He was starting up this campaign to free up free land. Groups all over the uk were growing fruit and vegs in waste land all over the towns and cities. He was also setting up a website that matched people who had space in a garden with those looking for somewhere to grow. If you know anyone with a garden that they don't use you could cultivate it for them in return for some veggies or payment if you wish!

I know that they have been doing this in Cuba for decades and it looks fantastic, great idea about using garden spaces as well. It's through a farmer down here in East Cork [cost 300 E per year] , the Co Co's are a useless bunch here as well as there, I contacted them last year and spoke with what i thought was the relevant person, and she did not know what an allotment is, never mind have any forward plans......

allotments
 

hi!
we just put our names down for an allotment yesterday! Will watch this thread with interest.

There are an awful lot of useful websites around - google "allotment" and you will see several sites people have made about their own allotment experiences. Plenty of pictures and even videos. And calendars of what to do when.

I think it is a lovely community activity that deserves a bit of a revival.
Although, from reading around on the web, it seems that there are plenty of people very interested in allotments - there is no lack of enthusiasm there - it is rather the county councils that need a bit of a push to realise the potential

Reebok

Point taken....It would be good to have some form of Local Authority recognition that there are people out there who want to try and reclaim some land for positive purposes....I have looked at the website etc but i feel that it would be good to have a 'live' discussion with people who have gone before us to 'planet allotment' to see how they felt about it and to point novices in the right direction [don't want to end up with just spuds, if you know what I mean!]

allotement
 

yeah thought about that too, but i can t find any information on the kildare county council for this area, i would be willing travel to have one, but obviously within reasonable distance...

so far managed to grow in my back garden :
lettuce, parsley, mangetout and green beans ( or runner beans depending what you call them), they were very good, but again with my little novice experience left it too late to put the sticks and it was very tricky to detangle them ( the peas anyway..., so never really got peas as such...)
the luttuce worked great but planted too much too soon and had way too much, couldn t eat it all, and then had none... he he he..
tried tomoatoes but didn t get any luck with those, planted them too late i think.
i also had some green peppers ( dwarf variety) but they didn t get very big ( lol i know the name says dwarf, yeah thought they would be a tiny bit bigger so i left them in the soil too long ). they should work next year..
also have some cabbage at the moment but they are attacked by slugs so not sure how long they ll last (trying to be organic).
i d love an allotement to try potatoes and carrots and some other veggies, ( you need more than a back garden for spuds)...

will try again the back garden next summer again before i tackle a big allotement, as it is a bit more manageable for me i think..

everyone needs to remember though that the allotment will take more time than you think... so you need to have a bit on your hands, water everyday if sunny, put poles for the climbing stuff and for pruning...

all the best

cascais

Cascais, try crushed eggshells or seashells around your cabbages as slugs don't like crossing them hopefully this will save them for you. Also coffee dregs if you use real coffee or teabags (broken open) good for the soil too.

thanks
 

thanks smokeyeyes, will have to try the eegshells over the weekend ( tried the coffee before, but really onoly works for a few hours, so you need to be a very good coffee drinker ...),
hopefully there is still cabbage left ouy there to save !

all the best

cascais

I AM - I COULD DRINK COFFEE FOR IRELAND. LOL!! Would say I keep Brazil/columbia in business at this stage. I drink it by the pot, not the cup!! Ah the eggshells, or seashells if you live near beach will defo work. If they don't you must have SUPER slugs where you live Heehee

allotments
 

there is a guy in killkelly i think thats mayo giving land for allotments in the Buy and Sell in the freebies section

And here's a link for anyone interested in looking

http://www.buyandsell.ie/home

cascais
 

You can grow potatoes in a bucket or bin in your garden. Also somewhere on Jumbletown someone is offering motorbike tyres and say they can be grown in them, I would like to try that as I guess the tyres could be painted first to look attractive. If you use seashells to keep slugs at bay was them well first as they will have salt on them.
Keep us up to date with how you do!

But Toddler it's all the better if they have salt on them, cos slugs hate salt too.

I waged war with slugs for two years, to no avail. They seemed to think that my veg patch was an 'all you can eat buffet' and left very little for us. This year I discovered 'nematodes' in Mr. Middleton in Dublin. Apparently nematodes are a naturally apearing parasite that live on slugs (there just isn't enough to deal with all the slugs). It's a powder that you dilute and water the ground with. This year I got weeks of slug free gardening. I'm in Galway but Middletons do mail order if required.

For fellow novices I get a magazine called 'grow your own' which I find good as it's not too technical and has great tips.

Hi Kieran,

I was brought up 'growing' with my old gran in Kent, UK & used to spend holidays on a smallholding on Isle of Wight.

After the kids grew up & I had time... and the inclination & time, I got an allotment a few years ago..... we're now in a position where we've bought a house & are about to transform one of the gardens into my home 'allotment' area.

Tip 1: The BEST book you can ever, ever buy is 'Grow Your Own Vegetables' by Joy Larkcom - I'm on my 2nd book - the first one was that dog eared & dirty! It really is my gardening bible - tells you all about crop rotation even in a small space & what companion plants to grow alongside your veggies to control the unwanted creepies. If it doesn't tell you everything, it gives you an idea of exact issues to google for.

Tip 2: RAISED BEDS!! Is the very best way to go wherever & whatever you grow. If crop rotation is difficult, then the soil in the raised beds can be changed each year. Carrots do better in higher raised beds.... the different beds can be given variable amounts of additives to alter the pH of the soil & of course can be cleared again at the end of the growing season.

Tip 3: Get a copy book or 2 or 3.... Plan, make lists, make lists of lists..... Keep a page for each item you grow - note the strain of seed you plant, note the date you plant, the date you harvest, what results, what you did with the soil..... etc etc - This will prove invaluable as the years unfold, Trust me!

Tip 4: Do NOT grow potatoes in the ground! Grow them in barrels, or in tyre towers - you can discard the soil at the end of the season which will guard against blight.

Tip 5: Enjoy it! It's hard graft, well worth it - the mental satisfaction from seeing a freshly dug bed, or the start of the seedlings, the basket of fruit & veg... Priceless!

Julie.