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Took the plunge, tips welcome!
Dan-C
Posts: 30
in Fruit & veg
Hello all and happy new year! So this year I've took the plunge and gave myself a bigger challenge... I've took on an allotment plot. Couldn't tell you what size it is exactly as I haven't measured it yet but I do know on the particular allotments they class the size of it as being a 'half plot'. There's quite a bit of preparation work to do on it, i.e some parts are a bit overgrown and the bottom of it where there's a metal link fence is over ran by all sorts so I know I've got all that to sort out before I can have a go at turning the soil etc. I already have plans to erect a poly tunnel after I've done the prep work but it's just everything else about owning a plot I'd like tips about. Like what I should grow, should I bother with making raised beds and putting them in or should I just stick with planting straight in to the ground for now? Just any tips of the trade would be much appreciated! Thank you.
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Hi Dan-C
Congratulations on beginning a great adventure! You might like to have a look at this thread http://www.gardenersworld.com/forum/talkback/new-allotment-omg/220407.html started by Zoomer when he'd just taken on his allotment
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Dove - I'm a she
Bit of a slip there Dove!
Excited to get over there and make a start ????
welcome to the site Dan, lots of info here for your new lottie, I havent got one but I sure you will get lots of tips, ask away, someone will help.
Whoops! I knew that
Many apologies - I'll plead this rotten head cold 
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Great to hear you have taken the plunge Dan, lots of hard work ahead, but lots of satisfaction and pleasure too!
I started a veg plot in the garden last year for the first time. OH had done some veg in the past but I had very little experience at all.
Some newbie tips,
Raised beds, I find them almost as much work as simply digging the lot over. They can be good for drainage, but a soil with a good tilth drains well too. I'm on the heaviest clay imaginable and happy to work the soil directly and it is very fertile and grows huge veg. Having said that, it will depend on the soil, what you fancy doing and there is nothing wrong with putting in raised beds if you want to.
When going direct with the soil, it is all about improving it, but it can't be done in a day. I found it just as good to get some stuff going for the first season and worry about improving the soil in the first Autumn. Putting on compost and digging it in never does any harm, some research on manure is worthwhile though. You don't want to manure the whole lot in one go. Some veg like it, some don't and will benefit from soil that was manured a year or two earlier. That's getting into the whole thing of crop rotation which is another area to research a bit for the future.
What to grow? My rule is if I don't already eat it, like it and buy it often, not a lot of point in growing it. Added to that is the stuff I hadn't seen in the shops much like marrows and rhubarb which my dad grew.
My plan for this year is to make sure I get a better spread of veg across the year, I've no greens at the moment, just lots of carrots and parsnips left and the stored potatoes. But in all the best way is to get going with it, clear the soil, get it dug over and cultivated. Add some compost if you can (or make a compost heap so you have it in the future) and get growing. Just getting in your first spuds and roots like carrots and parsnips will go a long way to breaking the soil up and improving things.
You'll get no end of help on this forum with specific things if you get stuck or run into problems.
At least 3 compost containers is a must on a large patch, you can then rotate. Start of with 2 wooden ones about a metre cube size, then it can be shifted into dalek types or farm containers. Scrounge anything you can from your neighbours, there not much goodness or feed in it, but it will give your soil a good texture, start now for the Autumn spreading.
Check you soil for acidity, cabbages and the like wont be any good in acid soil, so you will need to sprinkle some garden lime in. Lime likes to be added on its own, so dont lime and compost/manure at the same time.
There will be lots of tips here, just ask.