Allotment, March 2015.

I have had my allotment for a few years now. It started as a piece of wasteland, covered in nettles and couch grass and over the years it has become a proper vegetable patch. Some years it gives us plenty of fruit and veg. Other years it ticks by. Last year was a quiet year. The weather was grim and I wasn't inspired. This year though, is different. Having had a year of keeping the allotment tidy and ticking over I plan on growing lots. The thing with allotments is that they take a lot of work. Little and often is a good idea.

allotment

 Since I started with my allotment it has been interesting to see people come and go. Of the 12 plots on our site there are only 5 of us who have kept going. Four of the allotment holders have been there longer than me and the other seven plots have been taken over and given up several times over the last few years.

rhubarb, garlic and fruit bushes

 If you start an allotment you need to realise that its a long term commitment... Once the initial enthusiasm has worn off you need to keep plodding along. You never stop learning and some years are better than others.

onions

I went up there a couple of times last week, planting garlic and onions. I have Charlotte potatoes chitting in my kitchen, ready to plant this week. I love having everything neat and tidy and there's nothing better than having veg fresh from the ground.

When the weather gets warmer I shall plant pak choy, lettuce and beetroot, as well as French beans and cabbages. I shall start reading through my books too, to give me ideas as to what I might fancy trying to grow this year.

At the moment my rhubarb is starting to sprout... All is good!!

rhubarb

Summer on the Vegetable Patch.

I am sad tonight. But I am not going to bore you with the ongoing saga of teenage bolshiness. Instead I am going to bore you with share with you some news of my vegetable patch. There you go.

We are currently bathing in the delicious warmth of a summer sun I thought had gone away forever. With the grey skies and cold temperatures banished for now my allotment is waking up and beginning to flourish.

Not long ago the earth was hard and cold, hostile to seeds and seemingly sterile. With the glorious summer weather the soil has turned to rich, warm chocolate that nurtures new plants and smells of happiness. I tell my husband that I have to go down there to water or weed or plant. I guiltily make it sound like a chore ... but really its a joy. The vegetable patch is the place I go to be alone with the sun and the breeze and the birds and the bees.

Especially the bees ... how many types are there? There seem to be so many. Just behind my compost heap is a bees nest now. I don't know what type of bees, but they live in the mound, bumbling in and out of tiny tunnels and buzzing drunkenly to the raspberry flowers, oblivious to everything but their love of nectar.

I have learnt so much this year so far. I bought a pot of leeks from the garden centre, planted them, but realised something was wrong. Having spoken to my allotment angel Len I learnt how to set them. (That is a technical term I like to drop into a conversation ... setting seeds, setting leeks ... ) 

I dug up the big clumps, separated them and then pinched out the roots and stems. Then I laid them out as you can see above. With my dibber I made a hole, held the leek in it, poured water onto the earth around and there it was, bobs your uncle, planted.

The scent of leeks ... oniony and rich was delicious. I can't wait for the time when they will emerge from my oven, bubbling in a cheesy sauce, sweet and tasty.

One of the clever things Len has taught me this year is how to make a cheap frame for my netting. He looked at my neat, garden centre bought hoops that cost a fortune and suggested canes and hose pipe ... I tried it for my Brussel Sprouts ...

In the net tent above I didn't have enough netting to create a box shape, but the canes still allow for a much higher enclosure than hoops. This gives the plants more room to grow. You just use a short length of hose pipe to connect canes as you can see above. Its so very simple!!

Autumn Gold raspberry ... yellow when ripe ... sweet & delicious.

red currants

Everything is starting to look tasty. My fruit bushes are heavy with jewel-like redcurrants and raspberries and the gooseberries and blackcurrants are starting to emerge shyly from the foliage.

Lettuces and courgettes are green and succulent, while my sweet corn and butternut squash are just beginning to wake up and think about putting on a show...

As I said, going to my allotment gives me peace and time to think. There is something about dipping my watering can into the trough again and again, plodding up and down the grassy path to water my plants, that gives me great satisfaction. I took my son down there the other afternoon and we worked together watering and weeding. It was wonderful. I cherish moments like that. I just wish they came more often.

My allotment before ... and after.

Its been a little while since I talked about my allotment on here. Some of you may be relieved about that ... However, I think the time has come to shake the mud from my gardening gloves and do a little bit of typing so that you can see how its coming along.For those of you who are not into gardening, allotments, vegetables ... well, what's wrong with you??? Pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of wine/ cup of tea and prepare either to doze off or ... well, probably just prepare to doze off really.

Just to remind you, if you haven't been here before, or if you had forgotten, this is what the allotment plot looked like when I took my husband to see it in August 2010. Needless to say, he thought I had lost my mind.

I, however, had a picture in my mind of how I wanted it to look and we are beginning to get there. 

We started by chopping everything down as far as we could. Then we covered it so that the couch grass and nettles died down. When that was done we slowly began to dig over the plot in small sections.

That first year I really didn't think we would be able to grow anything, but we did. The other allotment holders were wonderfully supportive and generous and before long I had been given Autumn fruiting raspberries, blackcurrants, strawberries and lettuces. An elderly gent, L, who has spent his whole life in the countryside and who could definitely be called a rough diamond/rogue has adopted me and without him I would be way behind where I am. He and I spend the happiest afternoons together, digging, chatting, planting ...

Last year the season was dreadful and hardly anything grew. I lost a bit of impetus really. But this year? This year I have renewed enthusiasm!!

This is what the allotment looks like today ...

This photo was taken from the same spot as that first one. We, well, my husband, has made raised beds and we have put down weed mesh and gravel pathways. You can see in the foreground my herb and rhubarb bed. On the left of that I have leeks and cucumbers.

Behind that bed is one with beetroot, lettuce and more leeks, all interspersed with French Marigolds.

On my big flat bed I am growing summer cabbages under netting. I have sussed how to net my produce this year! In previous years it has been somewhat disastrous!! Around the top sides of the plot are my fruit bushes. The pigeons tend to come and sit on the branches if you're not careful so I spent a lovely afternoon creating a Heath Robinson-like netting cage to protect redcurrants, gooseberries, blackcurrants.

The top edge of the plot is full of raspberry canes. I have Autumn fruiting ones which are yellow when ripe and beautifully sweet. There are also Summer fruiting which I put in last year.

This long bed has strawberries growing down its side, but will soon be full of climbing French beans which are currently in my little stand up green house at home. In the background you can see my blue water butt which will soon be full of liquid feed. My lovely L ( my gardening guru) has told me to get a little bit of horse manure or maybe some chopped up rhubarb leaf in a netting bag suspended in the water and liquid feed will ensue!

Here you can see my summer raspberries and then in the earth I have planted Charlotte potatoes. I am hugely late with these, but they will either grow ... or not!! In the netting are my Brussels Sprouts, again given to me so kindly by another allotment holder. Hopefully we will be able to eat them this Christmas!

This is the view from my raspberries with sprouts on the left, cabbages on the right. The first bed on the left has a courgette plant, as does the second bed, this time donated by my lovely sister-in-law. At the end is a bed with a marrow plant and a butternut squash.

From here you can see my courgettes on the right and marrow on the left. Both will grow massively soon ... I hope!! On the left you can just see my composter, made from pallets I got for free from a timber yard.

When we first got the allotment there was so much rubbish to dig out, amongst which was this old broken wheelbarrow. This year I have filled it with compost and planted nasturtiums. I plan to add salad leaves too.

I cannot tell you how much I love being down there. Spending an afternoon alone with my veg with only the sun, the breeze and the birds for company is wonderful. Some days I get down there and the lovely L is there doing some weeding, some digging. He is over 80 now, but the most amazing man - so interesting, so full of knowledge. We often work alongside, bantering together.

If you had said to me 5 years ago that I would have an allotment I would have laughed at you. It always seemed the realm of old people!! Maybe I am getting old ...

But there is something magical about turning a neglected and rubbish strewn plot of weeds into a thriving vegetable garden. I started knowing next to nothing and I still have so much to learn, but every day, every season I learn more and more. I still can't quite believe that I can actually grow things to eat!! I just wish my house looked as neat!!

The Allotment in May 2012

I spent some time at my allotment today. I took some photos for you so you can see what's growing. I went down there expecting to have to work very hard clearing weeds. However I was somewhat gobsmacked to discover that my Fairy Godfather Len had been down there and he had worked wonders. I had left it nearly two weeks ago looking pretty good, but today it was still looking lovely so I spent my time watering and planting French beans and peas. Have a look!

beetroot, lettuce, garlic and spring onions - potatoes - peas - fruit bushes - French beans

The allotment latest.

I went down to the allotment today and put more gravel down on my pathways. I also planted some herbs ( sage and thyme ) in what will be my permanent herb bed. Then I planted a few more Charlotte potatoes in one of the big beds.

Everything is in the quiet stage, just before the whole place starts bursting with growth and greenness. I sat on my bench and surveyed my grand estate with much satisfaction!!

I have planted runner beans which await germination on my window sill and there are carrots in my big blue tub. Not long now and the allotment will be thriving with greenery. Fab!