Allotment Up-Date

Monday 23^rd November 2015

Much progress is being made in Project Allotment. We have now been clearing and even planting here for about five weeks.  It is very hard work as those of you with an allotment or even a garden will appreciate. I can manage about two hours of work if it’s digging, which it almost always is.  The earth here is medium-heavy, with some clay but also a fairly fine structure once you have worked it over twice.  It will be good for brassica.  My soil here, just half a mile away, is much finer, less ‘strong’ and in my past twenty five years of gardening, the soil was sand-based, so it is a long time since brassica growing has been possible. But we have now also reached the sowing stage and the first crop went in about two weeks ago.  Broad beans that can withstand the winter and crop early in the following summer.  They are already through.  I also sowed a few in pots to fill any gaps and these, growing in the shelter of the shed wall, are thriving. About half the main plot is now dug over.  A pincer movement is underway with most digging coming from the top end of the sloping plot, which is west, and some activity at the bottom end, to clear space for rescued plants – mainly oriental poppies.  I want the plot to have a good mix of vegetables but also some flowers. It will be interesting to see what colour these poppies will be. If they are orange they can stay at the allotment; if they are lovely mauves and soft pinky greys as some can be, they can come and live here. When we went to the allotment yesterday, on a cold but sunny, dry and still day, there was a huge pile of wood by the gate with a notice saying it had been left by one of the plot holders and it was free, to make compost bins or raised beds.  We snaffled enough for three raised beds.  There is masses of it, and I think many of the plot holders will not need any as several have raised beds already and everyone, including us, has about eleventy-nine compost contraptions. The first one is up, and filled with the loamy soil from one of our many compost deposits. These will go at the top of the plot, which is a bit illogical as raised beds need more watering than earth in dry weather and this is the furthest point from our water tank.  However, the logic is that they are sited on a bed that was very overgrown, far worse than the rest of the plot, so it saves digging, we can just level it.  And, behind here is a long and high earth/loam mound, on which is growing a verdant crop of long rank pasture grass; this I can remove and then shovel the soil underneath directly into the raised beds. And then we have a picnic after our work.  Win-win. Did I tell you that when we took it on, the lease had only one year of a five year agreement to run?  Well, it looks as if the farmer whose land it is, is likely to be willing to give us a further five years.  This is such a relief, mainly for the plot holders who have been there for four years.  It also means we are more likely to dig it all over and really make an effort, and it determines what we ‘invest’ in terms of structures such as brassica cages etc. Last night I see we had the first frost of the winter.  I am going down there today for a few hours as it is sunny if very cold, and I have no actual deadlines for the first time in well over a year.  This combination feels so good.  I am about to plant two more lines of broad beans and then the garlic – 60 plants.  I use shop-bought garlic and you just break up the bulbs into cloves and pop these in.  They need a winter, ideally, and some frost.  But first I need to clear a bit more land.  And on Saturday, weather permitting, Colin (who is the lovely chap who donated the timber for raised beds, and who has the most adorable golden retriever) has said we can rotivate some of the plot.  But first I must clear it of weeds.  Very motivating!