A couple of years ago we decided to get an allotment and were quite surprised at the conversation it generated in class - we also found out that some of you had allotments yourself!
We wanted a plot for multiple reasons many of which might become apparent over the course of these diaries but mainly it’s because we don’t have a garden and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to trust your food.
The council only give out half size allotment plots now, and depending on what you get you might end up with quite a small plot - which is what happened to us with our first plot. Fortunately we could apply for a plot each which we did about eighteen months ago. We found out we were getting another half plot the week before Christmas.
We decided (since so many people seemed interested in the last one) that it might be nice to keep a bit of an allotment diary on our website, especially while we clear the new one and bring it back to life. We started clearing the new plot on 24th December and worked most days over the break (including Christmas Day and Boxing Day!!!).
Click on images to enlarge.About the Plot
The plot had only just been given up by the previous owner but she let it go a bit after some recent personal issues. It was pretty overgrown and had quite a bit of Astro Turf down on the path to help suppress weeds and quite a bit of old plastic covering. There’s a shed in pretty good condition that just needs a few nails in some panels and a few coats of paint but we’ll do that when the rain stops. The plot is also quite large for a half plot, which makes up for the size of our original one.
Clearing the Plot
We started clearing the plot on Christmas Eve as we wanted it done before classes start back and it seemed we had a window of opportunity with the weather - we wanted to make the most of the time we had off. First we pulled up the Astro Turf and the plastic sheeting which was a bit of a pain, then we broke up the raised beds and kept the good wood.
We also tidied up the compost area. There were some pretty deep roots here and there from various plants/weeds and also some big rocks and bricks along the sides of the plot - we tried to remove as many as we could before we started digging. We managed to do all this in one decent day.
Digging It Over
We wanted to get the whole plot “turned over” before January so we made a start. The last plot was hard as concrete a few years back and very hard to dig, Vicky thought she wouldn’t be able to help with the digging but luckily the ground seems to have been well worked over the years, and with the weather it was soft and really quite easy to dig - there was just a lot of it to get through.
We marked out sections to dig so as not to get bogged down and then cultivated and raked each section after we’d dug it, pulling out loose weeds (especially bind weed) and big stones as we went along. With Vicky helping we managed to dig the whole plot over almost twice as quick and amazingly we finished digging on new years eve!
What's Next...
Now we've dug the plot over as far as we want, we want to run a rotavator over it all. We treated ourself to a small one (rotavator) as the earth on our first plot is a bit clumpy and while digging is actually good exercise, quite good fun and rewarding it's hard to break the soil down nice and fine at times. We will also have a bonfire soon too to get rid of some of the bind weed and rotten wood we've accumulated over both plots. As the weather gets better we will look to put up a greenhouse next to the large water container as we’ll need more space for germinating seeds as Spring approaches. We will also use the wood from the raised beds to make a little herb garden next to where the greenhouse will go…
Our Original Plot
We got our original plot in July 2022. It was really overgrown with weeds and the ground was very very hard. It had two apple trees, two pear trees, gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes and a shed that needed a few coats of paint.
We managed to clear and dig it all over within a couple of weeks and even managed to grow some vegetables that we harvested late in the year. Overall we were really pleased that we managed to even grow anything!
We had our first “proper” year on the plot this year, and while we had some failures we did well, growing plenty of courgettes, butternut squashes, celery, beetroot, sweetcorn and quite a few white and red cabbages (the red cabbages were delicious!).
We’ve already dug this over in preparation for this year, and learned plenty that we can take onto our new plot which we think helped us clear the new one so quickly.
We hope you’ll quite enjoy these as we get ready for Spring…