This will be our third allotment as there is never enough space but heavens I have to start all over again ! LOL
My new allotment
if only there were allotments near me. :-(
Mark you have my sympathy. The distribution of allotments is clearly irregular. You would be in your element!
Wow..you sure have your work cut out there.Lucky you.....
My sister said she's go in with me for one, I could grow them from seeds,and sit there and supervise, while she did all the donkey work.
we used to have some just down the road from us,next to the railway line, that is until they built on them.Just think of all the plants I could grow on there...lupins,delphiniums, flowers for cutting..oh, and not forgetting the veg too...
i've always wanted to try potatos,the unusual types,I tend to grow just basics like onions, toms, lettuice etc.and a few cut flowers for the house
Sue there is no end of what you can grow on your allotments these days though I am not considered a proper gardener because I grow too many flowers.Here is a list of what we are growing on ours this year:
carrots
onions(red and white), garlic, spring onions
beetroot
lettuce,radishes,rocket
peas,sugar peas,beans (broad and runner)
brocolli,sprouts
salsify,hamberg parsley
corgettes,butternut squash,jumbo banana squash,mammoth pumpkins
sweetcorn
strawberries,redcurrents,blackcurrents,whitecurrents,gooseberries,huckleberries,raspberries,sloes,plums and apples.
The allotment also holds many of my hardy geraniums. Nearly all of my poppy collection (approx 50 types)foxgloves, grasses and my aquilegia collection which is approx 35 varieties. It also has two ponds which is excellent for frogs and keeps the slugs right down. It has been my on going therapy throughout my long illness. It helps to keep me fit and I would not be without them. Developers enter at their peril !!! LOL
you sure have been busy psilo, hope that you're on the mend now, or going through a better phase. Gardening does help,albeit physically or mentally. I don't know what i'd have done if I didn't have mt seeds to sit and sow or prick out...I think I'd have been sat in the trees with the birds twittering!!...LOL
My sister gave me loads of geranium seeds from her plants, and I've got all the seedlings potted up on my staging area down the side drive.Just got to try to identify them now, she says that she'll lend me a couple of her books to try to help.Can you suggest any good books for helping to identify types? the ones I see tend to be a bit general,I need one that gives good illistrations of leaves etc.
sue my own photo gallery shows over 200 hardy geraniums and I am in the middle of adding photos of the leaves too.
http://www.overthegardengate.net/garden/archives/category.asp?linkid=175&nm=Hardy+Geraniums
also A guide to growing hardy geraniums by Joy Jones and Trevor BAth is a good read with some good photographs. Beware though. you may not get an exact match for your geraniums as many of them do not come true from seed. However, you may could up with something new and interesting!
thanks psilo, got that marked in my favourites.Some of them look fantastic, hope mine turn out o.k. I think that I may have a couple of the madarense or something similar,as they have glossy leaves,and I know my sister did have one of those.
Your allotments look fanastic psilo - as does the list of the plants you're growing!
I considered applying for one of the ones round the corner from me a couple of years ago, but as things have turned out I haven't even been keeping up with my own garden, let alone taking on more! Oh for more hours in the day and days in the year - and the energy to go with it lol
My father used to have one, and my brother, who lives in Cambridge with only a small garden, has one where he grows vegetables organically, mainly Italian ones as his wife is Italian
YUM
WOW psilo, what an allotment!! You'll be able to charge entrance in a couple of years for that one, it looks like a park :-)
Best of luck with it, and happy gardening
Wintermoor
Today has been wonderful.The sun has been hot and for once I had the energy to handle a full days work!LOL My first two plots are side by side and this new one is directly opposite so it I stand on the track that runs down the middle all I see is my gardens all around me. It is a wonderful feeling. Today my husband brought on the BBQ and we sat eating and drinking bottled beer whilst watching the wildlife (which included watching a kestrel hunting at very close quarters) what could be better than that?
For the new plot I am planning a bog garden that is watered from an overspill from a pond for the wildlife.
Lovely allotment - masses of potential.
But uh, as one who is likewise afflicted with jungle-sized weeds, how do you plan to oust them? (Just don't mention Tumbleweed!) :-)
John I already have 2 fullsize allotments just like this one! and believe me they were much worse. I hate rotavating as the plots are full of couch grass,bind weed and nettles and it would only make the problem worse. Not a single drop of weedkiller has ever touched my plots and there is no substitute for hard manual digging. On this new plot I have already dug a very long bed. It is mainly couch grass but the roots surprisingly are shallowed and not too matted. The soil is also very dry and sandy so getting them out in one piece is quite easy. Plastic is used to cover areas that have yet to be dug to weaken weeds and surpresses such as carpets are put down on paths. Perseverence is I find the name of the game and after 3 years it seems to be paying off! :)
Here is a shot of one of my other allotments which houses much of my hardy geranium collection and other hardy perennials. It is 3 years old.
I forgot to add that the council have no such quarms with using roundup on ours paths, killing the grass and leaving the weeds!! :((