Family Gardening

and today we went back to see him!

 After various discussions and confusion about which plots were free (we were originally told we could have a particular plot because the lady couldnt manage it any more, only to find 3 weeks ago that someone had been working it.

 After a call to the council (not particularly helpful since the lady wanted to tell me about how incredibly busy she was and that she hasnt managed to process any applications since November), and a revisit last weekend to the allotment site, we established that there were two plots left.

 Now, these two plots….the first one we were shown that the site manager said was “the best” one was thoroughly overgrown. Mostly with brambles. It’s a corner, curved plot. I don’t yet know how many poles, but I’d guess that it’s about 7 poles. (A pole is a square yard, or, 2.4 square metres). The bonus with this plot is that it has lots of fruit already established there. You could say too established! There are raspberry canes around most of the perimeter, and, there are several good sized currant bushes (blackcurrant I think). I also think there are gooseberry bushes, but, I’m not entirely sure. But, these are all things that will provide a crop this year, albeit unquantifiable. The remainder will need razing to the ground, all rubbish removed and completely cultivating.

 The other plot offered is a basic rectangular plot. It’s size, again, is an estimate of about 8 poles, possibly less. This plot is far less overgrown. It has some grass, some crops from last year or the year before that have overgrown, and, some nettles. No brambles though! But no compost bin, no existing plants or bushes of use. It would need some basic clearing/raking, and then cultivating.

 So, my husband and I, after much thought, decided on the corner plot. We already have a brush cutter, and will hire a cultivator to go over the remainder of the plot left after removing all the brambles. The plus of this plot being the fruit already in situ.

So, we went to the site manager this morning, and looked again at both plots. After thinking about it, I suggested to my husband that we take both plots. Amazingly, he agreed to this. This way, we’ll have a plot devoted to fruit, and non-rotational crops such as asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb. We’ll have the other for the vegetables and salad crops. Because of the condition of the rectangular plot, we can start planting things almost straight away, and we’ll have time to fully prepare the fruit plot.

 So, we paid our deposit, and the site manager seemed quite pleased that he no longer had any plots vacant. We had brought our garden tools with us to get started straight away. A rake, a hand cultivator, secateurs and our brush cutter.

 We took a plot each and my husband took the brush cutter to the fruit plot, and I took the hand cultivator to the rectangular plot. Our two children ‘helped’ by clearing rubbish, and trampling over the inside of our car! After an hour and a half of raking, the rectangular plot is now ready for a small bonfire and then cultivating with a petrol digger that we will hire on Friday.

 The fruit plot took much more work. My husband did really well. Most of the brambles were cut down, and I cleared a fair amount of rubbish. I think we have about 6 gooseberry bushes, several metres of raspberry canes, and 6 currant bushes. It will need raking over and removing of the dead stuff and debris. We are going back tomorrow to do this. We found a few scaffold poles whilst clearing which will be great for either making cages around the largest current bushes, or, creating a framework for beans.

So, tomorrow we go back, and, if time and weather permits, I may even dig over a small section of the rectangular plot and put my seed potatoes in.

I can’t wait to get started with the growing!!!

I will update further tomorrow.