Welcome to my allotment blog.
I'm a first time allotment holder and veg gardener and I'm going to be writing about my trials and errors getting my plot into shape and growing fruit & veg.
I've had my plot for 2 months and with a little help from my nearest and dearest it's starting to take shape, but this is how it all began.....
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Progress so far - Part 1
On 21st December 2007, before starting any work, the plot looked like this:
A bit daunting but still better than most of the potential plots!
I chose it because it had good soil, a light, dark loam, unlike most of the site that has heavy clay (and by the number of nettles it seems to be quite fertile), it didn't look too badly infested with perenial weeds and it had a ready made double compost bin and a shed. The shed roof does come with a "skylight" thanks to a fallen branch but it is otherwise solid. The biggest plus is that the water supply tank is right next to the plot, some plotholders have quite a walk.
On the downside it is north east facing and has tall trees planted at the south west end that cast quite a bit of shade this time of year. But I'm told it gets plenty of sun in summer and it will be nice to have somewhere cool to rest then. I've also been told that this soil needs watering more than the clay does, but it is so much easier to work and with the water supply close I can cope with that.
I started, with the help of my partner, by clearing the rubbish and dumping it in the communal skip. The plot had been partialy and half-heartedly worked last year by the previous tenant so there were some remains of crops. I got my partner to start digging these up and I sorted out the compost bins so the vegetation could go straight in. I cleared some space in front of the double bins and emptied out the contents. They were a bit compacted and both had a mixture of made compost at the bottom and stuff still cooking on top. I discovered that the bottom 2 of the centre boards were rotten and replaced these with some from my stockpile of allotment supplies. I then put all the good compost in one bin and the half rotted stuff in the other and gave it a good water and a carpet lid. The crops we discovered were sweetcorn, some smashed squash and a very old and woody collection of turnips.
I decided to keep the mystery dwarf fruit tree but I cut down the tall spindly apple tree. I also chopped down the brambles and overgrown fruit bushes and dug out the worst offenders.
I then dug over the back of the plot, where I plan to have a family area and work space. I removed as much of the weeds as I could then leveled the ground and compacted it. I plan to cover this part with weed control fabric and bark chips which are delivered free to the site from the local council's tree pruning.
After the first month we had made good progess. Here are before and after shots taken from the same place:
Next time I will bring my progress up to date with Part 2
