Help - Total Beginner

Hello Tim  ,First get yourself a good allotment book such as the allotment gardeners hand book by Allen Titchmarsh or something similar and a note book on what you did this year and put into it what worked and what did not .Start with some thing simple like raddish , letuce ,beetroot and so on .

Derek

And for flowers still time to sow and plant sweet peas, veryscented, lovely. An allotment book sounds good

PS welcome to the forum

A good book to start veg growing is 'Growing veg month-by-month' by John Harrison, it's very reasonably priced.  I'm not related, or on commission, but I found it invaluable when I started out.  Another tip is buy a cheap diary and make a note of things like the weather (late frosts etc), any areas of the allotment that are particularly wet/dry, what varieties of fruit and veg you planted, and how well they did (if they all germinated, if they grew to the size stated on the packet, how much you harvested etc), as it will stop you making the same mistake twice.  And of course, there are folks on here that have YEARS of gardening advice, who'll tell you if they think you've made a mistake, and how to correct it.  We've all made mistakes, and don't mind sharing our mistakes if it stops someone else doing the same thing.  A top tip from me is to wait until march before sowing anything, as seedlings need light as well as warmth, patience is sometimes learnt the hard way, sowing lots now and being devastated when a hard frost undoes all of your hard work in a single night - think that was my biggest mistake.  If you're further south,  then you may be able to start a couple of weeks earlier, further north, it might be a few weeks later, I'm in Sheffield, so pretty much slap bang in the middle of our island.

Welcome Tim   I see you're a Tractorboy   I'm from Suffolk and have family in Ipswich (although I live near Norwich now  so I have to be careful what I say). You've had some fantastic advice above - my best suggestion, to add to what others have said is 'become a regular on this Board', share your triumphs and your disasters and ask questions all the time - before long you'll find you're able to share what you've learned and help others too   And really, don't be too shy to ask .... even if you think it might be obvious .... we were all beginners once and no one on here knows everything (although some know almost everything ).  

I love the fact that you want to be able to take your wife some veg and flowers every week - that's allotment tradition that is - and we'll do our best to help

As Rosa says - if you didn't sow your sweet peas in the autumn (and I didn't - too much  stuff going on) now's the time to do it - I'll do mine this weekend (I'll start them off in pots or root-trainers if I can find where I put them  )  There's a thread all about growing sweetpeas somewhere - David K is the expert.

And Good Luck!!!

I was born in Ipswich, my grandparents came from Suffolk.

There's been some good advice above. Don't start too soon (cold weather coming!), sit indoors with a good gardening book. I draw a plan of my veg garden and what I'm going to plant where. When I sow I write the date on the plan and on the back of the page I put how good the harvest was or if something failed.

You can think about what veg you like and "Google" them individually to learn more.

Same for flowers, start the sweet peas early, buy some dahlia tubers, but don't plant them yet. If you have a greenhouse you can start dahlias in pots earlier than you would outside. When the weather is warmer March/April you can sow flower seeds, hardy annuals can go directly in the ground, calendula, love in a mist (nigella), nasturtiums (they can be planted next to broad beans, the flowers can be eaten in salads too) etc.

It is a really good idea to get to know the other allotment holders. I have always found most allotmenteers to be very generous with their advice to newcomers. Good Luck.

Hi Tim - good luck with your new allotment.  My experience as a new allotmenteer is that fellow gardeners will share surplus plants and seedlings (we always grow too many) so take whatever is offered and fill your plot and you will soon find out what does well, and what you like to eat.

If you set them in egg boxes to chit now you can start by planting Swift potatoes and may be eating your own new potatoes end of May.  Grow lots of salad stuff - some to feed the slugs to keep them off your ther crops.  Sow broad beans now in pots on your balcony and when they are past being palatable to slugs and snails (four or six true leaves) plant them out in your allotment.  Sow dwarf beans later and then sugar peas and runner beans. All should give you good results and get you eager to try tomatoes,greens of all kinds and beetroot, carrots, etc.  Ask your neighbours which crops suit the soil.  Grow White Lisbon onios for your salad donions and sow the whole packet so you can leave some in to grow into big cooking onions.  Ask your wife which flowers she likes.  Daisies are always welcome and easy and cosmos will last a long time in a vase or in allotment.  Most of all keep enthusiastic whatever the weather throws at you and get a shed and furnish it with a couple of chairs and a shelf for your biscuit tin and thermos flask.  Allotments need time.  Good luck and we are all here to help.

Hi Tim,Kate and i got our first allotment last year,it was 2 feet high in grass and weeds and we knew nothing about gardening or allotmenteering but Rainwater Fanatic is dead right because we got so much help and advise from the other allotment holders it helped stop us making many mistakes ,allotmenteering is as we found a sort of cluby type of thing help just seems to come from everywhere, if we were to start afresh we would still deturf the weeds and grass and stack it grass to grass in a corner and cover for 6/8 monthes it makes great loamy soil, iv just put ours back into the beds ready for this years planting, i see youv already got yours ready,then we would still do raised beds as once you have done them all the hard graft is done our beds are now just so easy to keep weed free and easy to plant into. Into  the beds again good manure, and try to have a spare pile of manure for the coming years as it rots down beautifully if covered up and left in a corner your not useing, we had to have11 ton of top soil but you might not need it as our allotment was a year before just a field hence the raised beds to protect from weeds and it does work, The sheds a godsend, waterbuts \(dairy farmers will give you ex disinfectant 40 gallon big tubs they use) just connect them up  and a hose and there you go all the rest just ask on here its great and free id better stop ther 

good luck Alan4711

good luck Alan4711

Hi Tim,Kate and i got our first allotment last year,it was 2 feet high in grass and weeds and we knew nothing about gardening or allotmenteering but Rainwater Fanatic is dead right because we got so much help and advise from the other allotment holders it helped stop us making many mistakes ,allotmenteering is as we found a sort of cluby type of thing help just seems to come from everywhere, if we were to start afresh we would still deturf the weeds and grass and stack it grass to grass in a corner and cover for 6/8 monthes it makes great loamy soil, iv just put ours back into the beds ready for this years planting, i see youv already got yours ready,then we would still do raised beds as once you have done them all the hard graft is done our beds are now just so easy to keep weed free and easy to plant into. Into  the beds again good manure, and try to have a spare pile of manure for the coming years as it rots down beautifully if covered up and left in a corner your not useing, we had to have11 ton of top soil but you might not need it as our allotment was a year before just a field hence the raised beds to protect from weeds and it does work, The sheds a godsend, waterbuts \(dairy farmers will give you ex disinfectant 40 gallon big tubs they use) just connect them up  and a hose and there you go all the rest just ask on here its great and free id better stop ther 

good luck Alan4711

sorry for the double something called outlook just took over my pc thing it seems to be ok now all the email looks different but i,ll struggle onward and all that cheers all

Alan

Hi Tim!

Firstly, Welcome to the wonderful, but very addictive "World of Gardening" 

Sound advice above, and pretty new to allotmenteering myself                             , (Got our's March last year) and as previously mentioned, your fellow allotmenteer's are almost overwhelmed to pass on advice/knowledge!

A shed is a must have, if only for somewhere to duck out of the rain, n Jeez, as we all know only too well, we had enough of that last season.

And one inspirational piece of advice I was given by a fellow allotmenteer was, Once you have cleared the ground, knock up a few raised beds, even if not for a permanent fixture, and plant it with veg you like to eat, as it will act as a little reward for all your hard work come harvest time and so help you becoming disheartened!  So that was one of the first things I did after siting the shed and an access path!

 They are definitely a timely process, but as you have said, if you don't mind "Getting down n Dirty" All the very best of luck with it!

I now love to finish work, go down there n potter! I Love it!  

Tim sorry i forgot to mention the timber for raised beds  most of us here use second hand scaffold boards for £4 each delevered and  our beds are one each side one cut in half for the ends, or half them whatever you wantso easy and quick.

good luck

Alan

Hi Tim, Good luck with your new allotment and your gardening journey. Like others have said once started it's very addictive and I believe you never stop learning.

Ask loads of questions as well as getting some books and research on the internet. There are loads of good people on here with some really good advice.

I'm only starting out on the veg this year with my tiny plot, but for cut flowers your are really spoilt for choice. Rudebekias, Cosmos particulary the white Purity type (free seeds with this months GW), sweet peas, snap dragons, Calendulas, the list goes on.

Hi Tim, I'm no expert but there's always something that you can try. Do you want fruit and veg or flowers, or both? Rhubarb is easy, no fuss and we love runner beans. Grow things that you know will be wanted and if your plot is a good size, raspberries are good, and strawberries. Problem is, if you start looking at the catalogues, you'll be like a kid in a stoy shop, "want that, want that, want that", it's very addictive! Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Hi Tim.

There is a web site -  www.allotment.org.uk that you might find useful, gives you month-by-month advice.

Best of luck with your garden, it's hard work but well worth it.

Chris

Hi Tim that www.allotment.org.uk  is really helpfull stuff  nice one matey 

Alan4711

Try and get yourself along to any school or church plant sales - that sort of thing - lots of plants cheap.  I was actually able to donate plants last year from my garden for a garden sale and from potting up 160 pelargonium plugs in spring I was able to donate about 30 individually potted.  Fun times...