New Beginning
My friend Kate and I have had two small plots of land at the allotment and today we have taken the plunge and added a full size plot, Plot 82. This blog will follow as we turn the plot from it’s initial state into what we hope with be a very productive and beautiful plot that will help feed our families. I should point out that I am not a natural writer but hope this blog will help me improve.
Most allotments in the U.K. have a waiting list and we waited about a year to be given a plot, a few plots were available on site and we took a tour of the whole site to view and select our plot. Two plots were very shady and a couple had solid clay soil, so we discounted them right away. We then looked at a couple of more diggable plots and chose this plot as it has been dug over recently, has a nice shed and 2 mature cherry trees!!!! I love cherries. The new plot is around 10 poles, which means it's about 250m square and doubles the amount of growing land we currently have.
Here is what it currently looks like
So not in terrible condition but a bit weedy, the wooden borders from the beds are starting to rot so will have to be replaced or fixed. In my back garden I have some now unused breeze blocks which I'm hoping to bring up at the weekend and see if these are suitable to replace the wood.
The plot does go beyond the cherry trees, there are some raised beds and a shed.
Here are the cherry trees
These will need a good bit of pruning and opening up as they seem to have some sort of leaf disease. Apparently a robin nests behind the compost bins, so we will try not to disturb him too much.
Here is the shed which is nice and dry inside, also came with a few bits inside like some winter fleece. We have since added a compost bin and some water butts next to the shed to collect rain water. These came from the site, as there is an area of 'potential useful stuff' that plot holders can help themselves too.
These are the raised beds which are in fairly good nick so will last a few more seasons. The bed on the right has strawberries in and the bed on the left has herbs and self seeded parsnips. These beds are shaded a bit by the cherries and by the shed from the plot next to it but should still get a fair amount of sun.
I have my eye on the left bed to turn into an asparagus bed and Kate wants to put Jerusalem artichokes in the right bed. I'll leave my thoughts on that particular vegetable for another day.
The lady who has the plot before us loved flowers and planted lots of bulbs, so as we dig we might find these and will try and replant them in a designated flower area. Will be interesting to see what grows! The plot also has some fruit bushes and raspberry canes, we might remove these to the fruit plot we have to keep them all together.
We also had a nice chat with the fellow on the plot next door, I think his name is David. He was very pleased to have us as neighbors and gave us a pointed cabbage each. So even though we haven't done any thing the plot is already helping to feed our families. Littlest pickle will be pleased, she loves cabbage.
Most allotments in the U.K. have a waiting list and we waited about a year to be given a plot, a few plots were available on site and we took a tour of the whole site to view and select our plot. Two plots were very shady and a couple had solid clay soil, so we discounted them right away. We then looked at a couple of more diggable plots and chose this plot as it has been dug over recently, has a nice shed and 2 mature cherry trees!!!! I love cherries. The new plot is around 10 poles, which means it's about 250m square and doubles the amount of growing land we currently have.
Here is what it currently looks like
So not in terrible condition but a bit weedy, the wooden borders from the beds are starting to rot so will have to be replaced or fixed. In my back garden I have some now unused breeze blocks which I'm hoping to bring up at the weekend and see if these are suitable to replace the wood.
The plot does go beyond the cherry trees, there are some raised beds and a shed.
Here are the cherry trees
These will need a good bit of pruning and opening up as they seem to have some sort of leaf disease. Apparently a robin nests behind the compost bins, so we will try not to disturb him too much.
Here is the shed which is nice and dry inside, also came with a few bits inside like some winter fleece. We have since added a compost bin and some water butts next to the shed to collect rain water. These came from the site, as there is an area of 'potential useful stuff' that plot holders can help themselves too.
These are the raised beds which are in fairly good nick so will last a few more seasons. The bed on the right has strawberries in and the bed on the left has herbs and self seeded parsnips. These beds are shaded a bit by the cherries and by the shed from the plot next to it but should still get a fair amount of sun.
I have my eye on the left bed to turn into an asparagus bed and Kate wants to put Jerusalem artichokes in the right bed. I'll leave my thoughts on that particular vegetable for another day.
The lady who has the plot before us loved flowers and planted lots of bulbs, so as we dig we might find these and will try and replant them in a designated flower area. Will be interesting to see what grows! The plot also has some fruit bushes and raspberry canes, we might remove these to the fruit plot we have to keep them all together.
We also had a nice chat with the fellow on the plot next door, I think his name is David. He was very pleased to have us as neighbors and gave us a pointed cabbage each. So even though we haven't done any thing the plot is already helping to feed our families. Littlest pickle will be pleased, she loves cabbage.
Yay! Go you! Look forward to seeing what happens next. (PS. Rod not pole.)
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