This offer is closed per lilygrace (the OP) Newbies...please be sure and set up email links so you can be reached when you respond to posts. There are several in this thread who have no email addy links on their Member Page, thus no way to be reached. Please see addressing newbie and newer member issues for complete instructions on getting your email links set up, as well as a location in your Member Profile. Thanks! Sue

Yes, Katamari is the rolling stuff up game. Its really addictive for such a simple game, and theres three of them. The part I like the most is the amazing effort they put into the music. I found some of it on youtube and it ranges from techno to jazzy lounge music, swing music, Im pretty sure someone even snuck a gospel peice or two in there. While Iw as writing yesterday I stumbled across someone who had done an orchestral version of one of the themse that made my jaw drop. Video game music is constantly impressing me with every passing year. But anyway, back to gardening... Part of my problem with the space issue is theres a movement out here for the "Grow Biointensive" system. While I'm interested that they've managed to do so much with such small topsoil space, I've noticed all the beds dealing with the system need at least two feet of soil, dug down or in raised beds, and thats not what I have. My mum has been trying to push me in that direction, but I dont feel confident with it at this time since I wanted to get more of a feel for the general gardening situation since its my first time and all. Some plants still got pushed closer together than I would've liked but then none of us had seen some of these plants actually growing before. The cukes are doign better than I expected for being about 6 inches closer to each toher plant than I really wanted them to be, but we had such a huge amount of plants to deal with that I did the best I could. I think the funniest part about all this is while it is my first time growing a real garden, I've been growing virtual gardens since I was abotu 19, playing an online game called "Final Fantasy 11", which had a really complicated planting/gardening system most people didnt know about. That game system is actually what got me really focused on the seasons, when to plant, where to plant, when to fertilize, what plants grew better in what geological areas, and I even had a little notebook for a long time where I'd record the weekly cycle of my virtual plants in relation to the moon phase and exact time I made any modifications to the planting space. Even the gamers thought I was nuts, but I loved it! They'd even die off or give terrible results if I neglected them for too long, or give off better results if I got proper gardening tools, workbenches, and diffrent planters had diffrent effects too. Im getting better results with a real garden than I was in my virtual gardens though... Except for that one time I accidentally harvested 122 virtual onions. I can tell you, the cooks sure were happy with me.

'I was going to remove the turf on the first Sq. metre today. and then as I soon thought where am I going to put it? (is there anything I can do with removed turf? or should I just forget it?).' As pnbrown says do not discard the turf. Either compost it or put it at the bottom of the double depth trench. Look again at instructions for double digging. Find pictures of couch grass. If your turf is couch grass you need to shake off the soil and remove the roots. Don't dig them in or compost them because they will regrow. You can put them in bin bags and let them rot completely then put on the compost heap. Or burn them. Or bin them. If the turf is lawn grass just dig it under. Regarding 'first frost/last frost/frost dates', etc. All that really applies more to US gardeners who are working in much more clearly delineated temperatures than we are. I gardened for several decades before starting on these forums and never heard any of those terms until I came on here. You need to look up each plant you want to grow and follow advice for it. Don't assume there is a single rule. We could have one frost in September and then no more until Christmas so there's a lot of leeway. You can plant trees and shrubs all through the winter whenever the ground isn't actually rock hard. Broad beans and peas for overwintering need to be in when there is still enough warmth for them to germinate or they'll rot. ) October/ November is fine. Garlic can go in at a similar time. If your sister has access to manure, lucky you. Pile it up for 6 months before you use it or get it from the stables' oldest pile. Do use other allotment holders for advice. They'll be very pleased to see a youngster taking an interest, I'm sure. But you are still fixated on planting. Soil preparation is your top priority at the moment. If you can get say a third of the plot done this winter you can really get growing next spring. Meanwhile bash on with the rest of the plot prep.

Boy, all that sounds familiar. I remember starting out years ago and not having everything I needed to give them a good start. You have to be very patient, not water them too much or too little, learn to look for bugs, diseases and deficiencies, and deal with them, and accept that you'll lose a few plants in the learning. Sometimes plants can surprise you with their resilience. They could be doing terrible inside, and you think they are going to die, then you put them outside, and one day BAM! they all of a sudden get their mojo and grow like mad as if they had no stress at all. It's quite a sight to see. If you keep the interest up, you'll eventually add a little more to your set up and understanding, and will have more and more success, as you start to know which factors you need to deal with the most, not overdo corrections, and you'll learn to "read" plants. At this point, you start having far less problems, higher germination rates, and higher yields. It becomes less stressful and more enjoyable. Then you'll start experimenting with new techniques and find methods that work great for you in your situation and climate. It's all a process. I hope you enjoy it and continue it. It's very satisfying when you get close to self sufficiency in fruits and vegetables. No one can take that away from you.