Will the recent cold snap result in a reduced slug population in the summer or is this wishful thinking on my part?

Hi all. My Jerusalem artichoke/ sunchoke tubers have arrived already. Mixed advice online but is it ok to plant them now? Have the bed prepared but weather staying cold a while (South Wales so hovering around 0 but we haven't yet had hard frosts up the allotment - which is almost costal and very exposed to sun).

Also - terrible idea to plant in the same bed as asparagus?

I’m desperate to get out to my allotment this weekend by the high of 0 is giving me pause. Will anyone be braving it?

I’ve got a few jobs I could get done. Repair the pallet compost bays and shift some compost and wood chip. Not sure what to do!

The biggest success of last year on the plot was growing gigantes beans for the first time, as I’m vegetarian I’m looking for any recommendations for any interesting beans to grow in addition to the gigantes, broad, runner and borlotti beans

I tend to prefer beans you can pop into as chili / stew / casserole etc.

Tidying up the whole allotment I've managed to generate a huge amount of wooden waste. Rotten planks and pallets, branches and trunks of trees cut down, amongst other wooden bits!

A decade ago I would of burnt the lot, but loathe to do so nowadays for carbon reasons. I don't have machinery to chip it.

Any ideas of what to do with it all?

Pile it up and let creepy crawlies move in?

Thanks!

I have been given a free box of this stuff and it seems like it ought to be organic but it doesn't actually say it is, which makes me wonder if it has something else besides those three things in it. Is it good? What should I use it for?

Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been doing on your allotment lately. Feel free to share or ask any question related to it. And please mention which region and what weather you had this week if you've been planting or harvesting.

I got a plot on an allotment in Lewisham in April (after four years on the waiting list)

Around half of the plots are derilect and despite a waiting list of 70 (I can see through the council site) the council idle to assign to new people.

Has anyone experience in creating an Allotment Association to fake over the assigning of plots and waiting list?

This may be a bit odd, as personalisation is well, personal, but how do I do this?

I've never had to "decorate" an outdoor space, so just wondering where do I begin.

I've only had a plot a few months and got all formal with it, beds, compost, lines and work. I want to make it a bit more... fun.

I plan to put in a wildlife pond in late winter/early spring.

Any personalisation ideas? I mean do people put in garden furniture? Garden ornaments etc?

Hi all. Have had my allotment a couple of years (just) and this year think I need to focus on building up the beds. I have ten raised beds I inherited - some taken up by perennial fruit: gooseberries (though not a very productive bush tbh), rhubarb and raspberries. I have two for flowers (in theory - bit weedy at the moment) So I have 6 beds currently I want to put to work.

I want to revitalise the beds before putting in more perennials, self seeders, and some easy crops. They are pretty weed blighted - marestail and bindweed are rampant - so I'm trying no dig after an initial weed/ turnover, with cardboard laid down. My question is about the material on top, and how to build it up without going bankrupt.

I have my own compost heap but it barely generates enough compost to cover one bed. I will have to buy some but I'd like not to spend a fortune on filling these beds - they are c.1.5m x 1.5m each and about a plank deep (though the planks will need replacing soon I fear). They are low on volume as well as nutrients at the moment.

For free, I have access to:

• wood chip - some is new (Christmas trees, smells divine but very fresh) but some is old - we are getting the remains of some older trees which have fallen in recent storms, and so much less fresh/ closer to breaking down
• horse manure - takes 3 sacks to cover one raised bed a couple of inches (and that's all I can fit in my boot in one trip)
• cardboard - almost limitless
• kitchen scraps - I am saving all the coffee, fruit, and veg waste I can (and occasional wood ash). At the moment I dump it on my compost heap.

Any suggestions for how to bulk up volume and nutrients in my raised beds?!

Thank you in advance.

I've got a empty window in the spare room and looking to start something from seed. Is there any suggestions on this group?

I’ve been given an additional half plot that was all brambles. I’ve dug out the brambles and the whole plot is now newly dug earth. I want to end up with several 1m20 beds with 60 cm grass paths between.

What’s the best way to end up with grass paths whilst still working the plot without having to stay off newly sown grass next year. Current thought is to use wood chip and let that rot away and grass should self seed onto it over time . I am worried the wood chip will just blow/ fall into my new beds. I don’t want to invest in a physical border to the path (eg a plank). Anyone done this or got better ideas.

First time post - we have taken down our allotment due to the damage that has happened in the winds over the Christmas period.

We are looking to replace the greenhouse but stay away from glass, Andy advice would be great

Hi everyone

I took on a full plot (25ft x 100ft) earlier this year and I’m using the winter to come up with some ideas on how I can use the space to support the local biodiversity. I’m trying to think outside the box in terms of how allotments are generally used so any different ideas would be appreciated!

Essentially though, id like it to be a mini sanctuary for as many species as possible. The allotment will also be used for growing veg and will house some ex battery chickens arriving in Spring.

So far I’m planning:

• Bottom strip (25ft x 10ft) sectioned off for a wildflower meadow to support pollinators & attract insects for bats, birds, mice etc
• Two ponds (one big, one small and boggy)
• Bat boxes, bird boxes, insect hotels, hedgehog houses
• Plants grown specifically for birds e.g. sunflowers, teasel
• Bird feeders

Any other suggestions? Specific plants I should grow for any specific species? Particularly anything endangered?

TIA

*EDIT

It seems the first species I’ve managed to attract with my wildlife sanctuary is the Allotment Police, so before I’m shunned I’ll clear some things up.

1. My allotment is not going to be exclusively left to wildlife. As mentioned above im going to grow veg too. The 25 x 10ft strip for the wildflower meadow is located under two hawthorns, and has been overrun by brambles for years. Even with the pond, wildflowers and chicken run, I’m still left with 70%+ of bare earth to grow veg with.

2. Ponds are allowed, as are wildflower meadows. So are rescue rabbits and bees (on the agenda for 2026).

3. Putting up bat and bird boxes is not going to detract from the allotments ability to produce vegetables.

4. Encouraging biodiversity is absolutely not going to result in me being riddled with pests and diseases as some have suggested. I’ve been gardening for 10+ years, including professionally, and in my experience the best pest control is achieved through encouraging a range of natural predators to common pests (e.g birds, hedgehogs, owls, mice, frogs, bats). Using this approach in my own garden has meant zero slug damage, no aphids, no bird damage etc, with no poisons or even netting required.

5. The other allotment holders on my site are lovely, most have bird feeders and ponds themselves, the plot to my left uses theirs solely for birdwatching (almost no veg growing), the plot to my right is the site manager who is ecstatic that someone is finally making use of a plot that has been neglected for years, the wait list was less than a month as I’m in a “well off” area where most people already have large gardens without the need for an allotment, so I’m not depriving anyone of cheap food sources. Excess produce will be donated to shelters, a local donkey sanctuary, soup kitchens etc.

This is my first post on this subreddit and I’m surprised that supporting nature is such a polarising topic. Allotments can provide so much more value than the “traditional” idea of rows of carrots and potatoes, and imho, as the UK only has 50% of our biodiversity left, we have no excuse not to help out where we can.

Thank you so much to everyone with helpful suggestions. I’ll definitely be posting progress pictures through the year to hopefully inspire others to use their allotment in a similar way :)

Please use this thread to discuss whatever you've been doing on your allotment lately. Feel free to share or ask any question related to it. And please mention which region and what weather you had this week if you've been planting or harvesting.

I'm in the market for a new pair, and my current system of buying whatevers on offer near the till at the garden center hasn't worked out the last couple of times. My last pair had a horrible strong rubber smell that didn't go away even after 3 or 4 washes. The smell also lingered on my hands after I used them and I had to wash then a few times for that to go away.

So, any gloves you swear by?