I suspect most visitors to the Allotmenteer.co.uk website will be familiar with eBay. After all it’s one of the most well known, and visited, websites in the world. Basically, eBay is the biggest car boot sale on the surface of the planet.

So, why would this be interesting to allotment plotholders? Good question! Let me try to come up with a few ideas that you might find useful:

• Have you ever had a clearout of your shed, and come across stuff that’s of no value to you but might be good for someone else? Do you grow more produce and plants on your plot than what you can use yourself? eBay could be your ticket to earn a few extra quid, selling off some of this “unwanted” stuff. By all means, still share with your fellow plotholders, but there’s only so much they’d want as well.
• Are you looking for a good deal on something you need for your plot. There’s more than a good chance that you’ll find it on eBay, and at a knock down price! As a matter if fact, you’ll struggle to think of something that can’t be found for sale on the site.
• Perhaps best of all - if you’re looking to grow some unusual plants and produce on your plot - eBay is a treasure chest of everything from seeds - over plugs - to mature plants, many of them very unusual.

These are just a few good reasons to take a look at what’s on offer on eBay. Below you’ll see a banner with some current offers relevant to allotment plotholders, and an option to make your own search. Have fun on eBay….

As I promised in my previous post, 2009 is going to be a year where a lot of things will take place here on Allotmenteer.co.uk, and the first visible result is the newly opened Allotmenteer Bookstore.

The Allotmenteer Bookstore offers a wide range of allotment books and allotment DVD’s that will help you to make the most out of your allotment plot. You’ll find everything you need to know, right from allotment handbooks and vegetable growing guides, over organic allotment gardening, to books on how to make the most of your harvest.

While there’s a number of allotment books on these subjects, some of you may be happy to know as well that there’s a good number of allotment DVD’s available, all of which you can find in a separate section of the shop as well.

The Allotmenteer Bookshop has been set up in co-operation with Amazon.co.uk, a trusted and reputable online merchant, who will take and process any orders.

I hope you’ll enjoy this new addition to the site.

Technorati Tags: Allotment Books, Allotment Handbook, Allotment DVD, Vegetable Growing Guide, Organic Allotment Gardening

Another year has passed and for many people, me included, it’s time to stop and take stock of the past year and make plans for the year ahead.

There’s no doubt about it – 2008 was a disappointing year for me as an allotmenteer – as well as a webmaster of this site. Things went badly wrong on my plot for the second year running, and so this site suffered as well, which is obviously not what I wanted.

In saying that though, I’m still determined to turn things around, and I’m still going to make a successful allotmenteer and webmaster. I’m hoping it’s a case of third time lucky.

So – having a look ahead – what can you expect to find on this site in 2009, and what do I have planned for my plot in the season ahead (or coming seasons for that matter)?

My plans for Allotmenteer.co.uk has always been, and still is, to create an online community for allotment plotholders, and vegetable growers alike. I get a lot of people looking by the website, many of them new visitors, for tips on how to plan an allotment plot, and how to prepare it for a new season.

I’m happy with this, but I find it’s time to start taking things to the next level, so what I’m going to do is this:

• Start building a library of “Info Sheets” for all allotment favorites, starting with the most popular vegetables.
• Dig down into the world of composting (essential for any allotmenteer), particularly the benefits of composting with worms.
• Start a forum where allotmenteers can sign up to have their questions answered, share their knowledge and just have plain fun.
• Report more happenings from my own plot.

In terms of things that I hope to accomplish on my plot this season are:

• To get a decent crop
• Get my plot freshened up, looking a bit more like a great vegetable garden.
• Build a worm composting facility (a real worm bed rather than just a few wormeries)
• Get a greenhouse built on my plot in time for next season.

As you can tell there’s enough for me to be getting on with, aside from the small matters of going to work and running a family, which for some people is enough work in itself.

Here’s to a productive and prosperous 2009 for all allotmenteers and vegetable growers.

Technorati Tags: Happy New Year, Allotment Plans, Allotment 2009