The FastDay Forum

I'm trying my hand at an allotment this year, and we don't really know what we're doing so just seeing how it goes! I'm hoping the veggies will help with fast days and general healthy eating.

We're a bit late, though it hasn't really been all that warm until maybe a couple weeks ago, so not sure we could have gotten anything in the ground too long ago anyway. Last week we did potatoes; today peas, beans, chard, carrots, beets, and leeks. I've got peppers, basil, and coriander in modules, and waiting for our high tunnel to go up so I can transplant. We're also still hoping to do cabbage and kale outside, and tomatoes, strawberries and courgette in the high tunnel. It's very ambitious, and it could all completely fail, but it's been some worthwhile (and exhausting!) activity and fun to boot!

I gave up fighting back the jungle and now just have flowers and herbs in pots.

That sounds great - all those veggies plus a bit of hard labour should help the weight loss, general health - and probably the purse, once things get going.

I miss our allotment which we had to give up cos OH wasn't well but I still have a greenhouse where tomatoes are doing fine, about 1' tall. I grow climbing dwarf beans in a giant flower pot, and courgettes now. Our best crops on the allotment were leeks and chard or perpetual spinach. We also had quite a lot of raspberries which did well. Potatoes we never bothered with, too much trouble and cheap in the shops - but you are in Ireland aren't you? You win some and lose some when it comes to growing stuff.

To our Aussie friends - do you have allotments?

There are some community gardens in Melbourne but out in the suburbs most folk have enough room to grow whatever they want. I used to grow my own veg but as a single person I always had a glut. These days my garden is mostly whatever survives without watering! It's a mix of natives and exotics. I have quite a few roses as they are quite tough and like my clay soil. I always get excess tomatoes from friends anyway without any effort on my part!

That sounds great - all those veggies plus a bit of hard labour should help the weight loss, general health - and probably the purse, once things get going.

I miss our allotment which we had to give up cos OH wasn't well but I still have a greenhouse where tomatoes are doing fine, about 1' tall. I grow climbing dwarf beans in a giant flower pot, and courgettes now. Our best crops on the allotment were leeks and chard or perpetual spinach. We also had quite a lot of raspberries which did well. Potatoes we never bothered with, too much trouble and cheap in the shops - but you are in Ireland aren't you? You win some and lose some when it comes to growing stuff.

To our Aussie friends - do you have allotments?

I am in Ireland, so I think it's considered blasphemy to not grow potatoes. I am actually surprised at how many people will grow! But I think they have families with kids, and the Irish eat potatoes 4 times a day.

I'm actually American and recently transplanted here (my OH is Irish). We have community gardens in cities, but they are small, expensive, with long waiting lists. People actually do have the space once they are out in the far suburbs in some cities. Or if you live in a townhouse/brownstone, you might be able to rig something on a rooftop or front steps, or if you are lucky you can have a backyard (in downtown DC, there are not a small number of townhouses).

I happen to live in the suburbs in Dublin, with no space for growing anything, but it's possible for most people. The allotment is quite large though (bigger than my apartment in America!) which allows for a fairly large high tunnel. I'd like to grow my own corn.

[carorees]

Potatoes are good for conditioning the soil we find. We have a fairly large garden and a small veg plot which we expand a bit each year. We put the potatoes in the new bits and find it helps to develop a reasonable tilth.

I don't think we get enough sunny days here for sweetcorn! I've tried in the past but then we don't have a tunnel or greenhouse. The greenhouse has been on our shopping list for a while but as we have a football mad son, we've not yet summoned the courage to get one!

We grow leeks, chard, runner beans, mange touts, lettuce, tomatoes, pumpkin, courgette, rhubarb, gooseberries and currants. We also have a mini orchard with apples, pears, plums and cherries. Our main problem is that our freezer is far too small!!

I would love a mini orchard! That would be wonderful. The place where we have our allotment has some space for trees. We are thinking about it... you can get some varieties of apples, etc, that fruit in a year or two. But I'm hoping for strawberries in the high tunnel, and we might put up some blackberries or blueberries now, for next year.
It's definitely not warm enough here for sweet corn (compared to where I grew up at least), but several folks are trying it in the tunnels, so I'll be watching with interest. At least one other allotment holder has hers outside. Will see how it goes!

Caroline, have you tried canning/pickling to save freezer space?

Our blackcurrants and gooseberries did very well, right from the second year of planting, and don't seem to get eaten first by anything else ( slugs, wood pigeons etc). I tried drying apple rings in the oven last year and it worked pretty well. Has anyone tried a de-humidifier, or whatever they're called?

I haven't heard of anyone trying canning in the UK but you can get Kilner jars and bottle things. They aren't exactly cheap, and neither are the rings you have to renew each year. When we were really cash strapped I used 2 lb jam jars which had an intact seal on the lid - it worked 90% of the time.

I make jam - CALORIFIC And chutney but we don't get through much of it. Quite good for giving as presents tho'.

I had to give up my allotment - family issues + illness + lack of time due to work.

I'm currently exploring Vertical Gardening on my verandah! Anyone else?

ooooh, would love to hear more about vertical gardening? i have some friends back home who are trying that.

I'm moving to a house with a big roof terrace on Saturday, so I'm well up for experimental gardening!
I want this summer to taste like the summers of my childhood, with strawberries, raspberries, all the other berries I don't know the name of, and eventually blueberries...
Will also try and do some herbs.

Now I have to buy pots! Lots and lots of pots!!!

I'm moving to a house with a big roof terrace on Saturday, so I'm well up for experimental gardening!
I want this summer to taste like the summers of my childhood, with strawberries, raspberries, all the other berries I don't know the name of, and eventually blueberries...
Will also try and do some herbs.

Now I have to buy pots! Lots and lots of pots!!!

check out square foot gardening - you might be able to get away with raised beds instead of pots!