...and so it begins

For some time now I have been thinking about getting an allotment near to home.

Up until a couple of years ago I used to farm a plot with a friend of mine, and I had a few raised beds and a greenhouse in the garden at home. When I moved in with my fiancée (now my wife!) we got a little westie called Dexter and it looked like my home vegetable gardening days were over. The plot had also proved to be very wet and difficult to get on at the beginning of the year which meant that we were perpetually trying to catch up, plus it was a 20 minute drive from home so was fairly impractical.



Anyway, to cut a long story short, I had a look on the local town council website and saw that there were 5 allotment sites within the town. I emailed the general council address early on a friday and within an hour had spoken to the Allotment Officer who explained that there was a free allotment less than 10 minutes walk from the house that I could take over instantly! The next week, with signed contracts and cash in my hand, I walked in to the Town Council Offices and back out again 5 minutes later with my key to the gate.

Plot 6 as it was at the start

I had already visited the site the previous Saturday morning and had a look at my patch of 'grass' so I knew that for some time I would just be digging it over and removing weeds. This had to be done by hand, as using a rotavator risks breaking up existing weed roots and making the situation worse and it also requires me to own a rotavator which I don't!

3 hours of hard work on a Saturday afternoon...

I have now been down to the allotment two or three times, and have dug over more than a third, so it is time to start planning what I'm going to attempt to grow this year and in the future. I will start with potatoes, beans, beetroot, leeks, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and the evil (according to Jo) brussel sprouts. Next year I hope to start an asparagus bed and get some raised beds going. I am using an online planner that I have tried in the past, but if experience is anything to go by I know that I will end up just planting things and hoping for the best.

This may look neat, but I am fairly certain that the end result won't be anything like this...

That's it for now, as I have proper work to do, but please keep an eye on this blog if you are interested as I hope to post regularly and also add a few recipes for the produce.