On 12/05/2010 13:11, David WE Roberts wrote:
Just received a call from a nice lady in the local council to tell me I
have a choice of two allotments.

They are '5 rod' allotments (also known locally as half plots) but I
haven't worked out the square footage yet.
The council are currently splitting full plots down when they come
available to cut down the waiting list.
I have been on the list for about a year.

The plot I have chosen was reportedly neglected, and the council have
come in and rotovated it so at least I should have an easier start than
some.

Keep an eye out for any nasty invasive perrenial weeds like groundelder
or horsetails and hit it with glyphosate. Your neighbours will tell you
what to look out for.

Now the big question - what to put in?

I haven't prepared for this by growing stuff from seed and I assume that
the plot has not been fed recently.

That shouldn't matter.

I have already been given some seed potatoes (within 5 minutes of
arriving to look at the plot) which should allow me to get part of the
plot planted up and easily controlled.
The question is what to do with the rest.
Onions allegedly don't do well.

Even if they don't do particularly well you can still try some and/or
grow spring salad onions. If they are in the sun and not waterlogged
they usually do OK unless there is white rot around.

Pigeons go after brassicas.
Carrots probably need to be grown under fleece.

Peas and beans are resilient, pretty flowers and you can't plant them
out until all risk of frost is gone. You can still get a decent crop
planting seeds out now. And they add nitrogen to the soil.

Courgettes are easy and 3 or 4 plants is enough.

Carrots are tricky in rough ground. Brassicas can stand an amazing
amount of abuse. Purple sprouting broccoli is easy and fun, as are some
of the funny shaped cauliflower cousins.

Thoughts so far:

Buy some tomato plants and wait until the weather improves.
Courgettes.
Outdoor cucmbers if I can find them - so far I've only seen indoor ones.
Beetroot does well so perpetual spinach.

Worth going round any local little school/church fund raising events to
get a few seedling plants at low cost. First year round I'd be tempted
to plant the things that you can get hold of for low cost.

A fruit tree - have to be pot grown this time of year. A good number of
plots have fruit trees already, mainly apples by the look of them.

I'd leave the fruit tree until the right time of year and buy something
bare rooted from a nursery.

Lettuce and other salad leaves.

Perhaps some herbs?

O.K. - what have I forgotten and what won't be happy going in this time
of year or won't be happy without specific preparation the previous autumn?

Anything you are not using plant with spuds to break up the ground.

Longer term I'd grow rhubarb and soft fruit - again you will need to net
them or share most of them with the birds! If you have acid soil then
blueberries are worthwhile. I grow mine in pots.

Regards,
Martin Brown