Last week we got a little closer to self sufficiency. There was a knock at the door one evening and a man said he’d noticed our enthusiasm for gardening and asked if we would like some allotment space! I don’t need to tell you what our answer was.
We were shown a couple of plots; one in the middle and one on the edge. We chose the one on the edge of the allotment because there was more space for a plot to plate BBQ and we can make mistakes without too many people seeing. He was very kind and gave us some rhubarb from his plot, spare seed potatoes and leant us a book about allotments. Anyway, let me show you our plot!
It measures roughly 8m by 12m – I still need to measure properly though. We plan to use a third of it for permanent crops like fruit, berries and herbs. That way we’ll only be replanting two thirds of the plot rather than the whole thing each year.
Although it hasn’t been left unused for long, weeds have made themselves at home. I discovered an article called Listen to Your Weeds ~ What Weeds Tell Us About Soil Structure which talks about identifying weeds to learn about soil type. This could be a useful exercise for us because we don’t know anything about the soil yet.
One of the plot owners is going to rotivate our space for us. Over the next few days I’ll continue to loosen the rock hard areas of soil and dig out certain weeds. I was told that if dandelions or dock leaves get chopped up and scattered about then loads of them will pop up. Larger docks are b@$t@rds to get out. Some of the roots have been as thick as a carrot and nearly 30 cm long.
I found a few gems hidden amongst the weeds and long grass. A patch of strawberries, chives, parsley, beetroot, potatoes and this celeriac. There are four of them so I’ve left them in for now to see what happens. They may end up edible, they may not. Or they may end up getting ripped apart by the rotivator.
The patch of strawberries is a good size. I dug out some of the seriously stubborn weeds and removed weak looking runners. Apparently they are in their second year so we might get quite a bit of fruit in a few weeks time.
5 hours and quite a bit of sweat later, the plot is looking good! I say good, but I really mean slightly less overgrown than it did a few days ago.
I’ll post an update when we have a bit more to show. If you own an allotment do you have any tips for us? It can be about planning, plants, anything! I’d love to know your thoughts.
How exciting! I wish someone would knock on our door with such an offer. You must be full of ideas now of what to plant on your new patch.
I know, we couldn’t believe our luck!! 🙂 We are going to try and grow the bigger things we can’t fit in the vegetable garden at home. Looking forward to digging up potatoes for roasting. Yummy!
AHHHH FAB NEWS FEB NEWS!
(totally caps lock worthy)
So amazing really looking forward to seeing your progress.
So exciting!!! And so much hard work done already! I have no doubt you’ll transform your plot and have loads of fun along the way 🙂
Thank you Catherine 🙂
Fantastic news! Such good fun and very rewarding, I love my allotment a lot.
Your allotment looks fantastic Emma, I think we’ll draw plenty of inspiration from your patch!
Your plot looks brilliant. It is so exciting getting an allotment. We have had ours for 15 years and enjoy every year growing all our vegetables and herbs for the year. We now have a polytunnel and small green house. I hope you get as much pleasure from your plot as we get from our 15 years on.
I also meant to say, keep a diary of sowing and planting and the weather. I look back at the start of the season to see where I was last year. Really interesting.