Starting out

[glallotments]

We have lots of frogs, toads and newts on our plot. One particularly large frog spent the season in our strawberry bed and was particularly welcome. There are always lots of toads hibernating in the compost heap and I think some frogs live under our shed. I'm forever transporting amphibians to a safer part of the plot when we are digging.

Our sunflowers are always loaded with bees but don't sow pollen free varieties as for nesting blocks for solitary bees making your own is a cheap option - we made a few from a piece of ash log. It's here if you are interested http://glallotments.co.uk/MakingaBeeMotel.aspx

[Geoff]

I cannot understand the modern idea that the first thing you do when you start vegetable gardening is build a raised bed. In my view they are just a waste of resources of time and materials building them and if you have to import material to fill them that is even more waste. You say you have impoverished ground because you have been removing old shrubs, I guess this means the soil can at least be broken up as it has the fine roots of shrubs through it. Much better to use wood to build a good set of compost bins and money to buy manure to improve the soil. Start with traditional double digging. Not as hard as it seems once you learn how to dig. No need to turn over a complete spadeful at a time. Put down a line and use the spade to make a vertical spade depth slit along the line. Dig a spade width at right angles to the line taking as much as you can comfortably manage at a time until you have your first trench. Loosen the bottom with a fork to its full depth then fork in at least half a barrow load of compost or manure to each 10' of trench. Continue by digging the second trench to fill the first and repeat! If you are doing this in the Autumn to prepare for next year you could also mulch with more manure, when you fork this in in the Spring you will have improved the soil texture no end and have created a deep moisture reserve. When you start planting next year (and probably for the first three years of using fresh ground) assume there is no worthwhile food in the soil so add fertiliser at the generous levels suggested in "Know and Grow Vegetables". Examples for fertiliser containing approximately 5% each of NPK are Swedes 4 ozs per square yard, Early Potatoes 9 ozs, Brussels Sprouts 15 ozs. It doesn't matter what form this is in, Growmore is usually cheapest but if you want to latch on to the Organic Myth you could use Blood, Fish and Bone. When you have created fertility by using the ground and annually adding organic matter according with the common rotations suggested you will be able to use considerably less fertiliser. Vegetables are hungry things and many people seem to set off with the half baked delusion of being Organic and sprinkling a few Chicken Pellets (look at the analysis and work out the weight required from the above guidelines) and expecting big yields from the first year. Get the soil right to a good depth then almost any regime will be successful.

[Mike Vogel]

I started growing veg by following the advice of Dr hessayon "The Vegetable and Herb Expert". Then I decided to convert the allotment to raised beds because I thought I would be able to control the weeds better. No such luck.

I have found raised beds to work well for garlic, carrots [especially if protected against carrot fly], celeriac and parsnips. I think avoiding compaction is good for these.

They have not worked all that well for potatoes, which need more room and longer rows, and brassicas, which rather like compacted soil. That said, I believe the spuds should have been given much more manure/compost and some brassicas, such as purple cape and sprouting broccoli, have done well.

My conclusion is that it is the TLC you put into the growing which pays the dividends and not the particular method. I will continue with my raised beds because the more I build themn up with compost and mulch, the better they will be.

[Elle's Garden]

Good luck with your venture, you sound like you are where I was last summer, and I have been so proud of my harvests this year from my new raised bed - it has been hard work but very satisfying!

Thank you Glallotments for the link to your bee motel, I shall try that as a summer activity with my boys, and it will be ready for next year .

[Primrose]

Regarding your query about a greenhouse being essential or not, I don't have enough space for a proper one, but if I did, I'd certainly opt for one. After many years of raising seedlings from seed on windowsills, it would be nice to be free of that hassle every Spring, but there's also an issue that even an unheated greenhouse can be too cold at night in early Spring to allow some seedlings to survive and thrive, so they still might have to be taken indoors overnight. For the last couple of years I've had one of these mini plastic four shelved greenhouses (firmly anchored to a house wall to stop it being blown over in unexpected gusts of wind) and I've found it an invaluable half-way house for hardening off seedlings before it's warm enough to plant them outside, so this or a cold frame might be an alternative for you if space is short.

I've never been totally convinced about the benefits of raised beds unless you're getting older when tending them means slightly less bending and easier access for weeding and planting out. I think getting the soil well dug and in good condition with the addition of humus and manure is probably far more important. I've intensively grown a fairly small vegetable patch for 30 years now simply by keeping the soil well manured and dug, so all the expenditure of wooden edged beds is unnecessary, and from a financial viewpoint, will have cost you a lot of money before you save a penny from growing your own crops.

As far as wanting your garden to look good, as well as profitable, I have two side garden borders, apart from the vegetable patch, where I grow climbing beans, tomatoes & other vegetables dotted amongst flowers such as geraniums, and other low height periennials. The varied mixtures of foliage textures and flowers works well for me, and surprisingly, Im rarely overwhelmed by insect damage - I think the bugs get a little confused with the ecclectic mix of everything thing jumbled up together.