My Allotment

I got my allotment  after a 6 year wait at the beginning of 2010, 2 days before I went into hospital for major surgery that prevented me doing anything strenuous, including driving for some 12 weeks. During that time I busied myself  planting all sorts of seeds in readiness for the Spring, and ordering a variety of perennial fruit bushes.

The allotments are owned by our Parish Council, and have many wonderful characters,  my neighbouring allotmenteers include Ho, the lady who owns the local Chinese Takeaway; she grows veg for her chef. Peter, who is 96 years old and seems to grow nothing but potatoes and Gooseberries, but despite his advanced years, puts my labour rate to shame, and a couple of  retired teachers, who like to patronise help me.  My GP also has a plot, and its fair to say when I go and see him, we spend more time discussing the allotments, than we do my health! I like the community spirit, the shared moments, swapping produce and recipes, and advise on what grows best there. I always come away smiling, regardless of my mood when I went there. It is good for my health on so many levels.

The allotment isn’t very large, I think it equates to what would normally be regarded as a quarter plot; its 45 feet x 15 feet.I decided to divide the space into thirds, and gave over one third to perennial planting of fruit. Last year I put in 3 Gooseberry ‘Invicta’  3 Blackcurrant ‘Ben Conan’ 12 Raspberry ‘Autumn Bliss’ 3 Red Currants, 3 white currants , 24 strawberries and 6  blueberries, as the ground here is acid, and they succeed in my garden too. I inter-cropped this area with salads, dwarf beans, marrows, and a couple of small squashes too, it seemed to work well.

I took the decision to grow the tender crops at home, as my garden is south facing, and benefits from a 80 foot long 20 foot high white wall, that catches all the warmth and acts like a giant radiator creating a sheltered and warm climate for things like cucumbers, tomatoes and aubergines. I also grow the majority of the salad leaf crops at home as its so much easier to pop into the garden and pick a few for lunch, than to hike a mile to the lottie! Rocket, Mizuna, Lambs Lettuce, red and green Oak leaved lettuces, along with red and white salad onions, and baby beets, whose leaves are tasty too along with their delicious golf ball sized roots are all grown in recycled wooden wine crates lined up on the terrace nearest the kitchen. There is also a collection of old galvanised tin baths, which house a variety of herbs, one is full of a variety of thymes, others chives and savoury, and the largest has edible flowers too; Heartsease and Pot Marigold.

I also grow fruit at home, and have various apples, pears, cherries, quince, plum, damsons, and gages. I am trying to grow some red and green grapes which are reputed to do well outside; time will tell, they look great, but produced nothing in their first year.

Strawberry ‘Tarpan’ can be found growing in large hanging baskets. They are a very attractive variety, with crushed strawberry and cream flowers instead of the usual white, and fruit all season; I was still picking up until the snow hit in December. I also grow a number of tumbling type tomatoes in large hanging baskets and had huge yields from these.

I have a tiny lean to greenhouse. It’s not heated, but its invaluable when it comes to offering seedlings some protection and getting them off to a good start, ready for planting at the allotment or in the garden.

On the vegetable front at the allotment, I grew a variety of peas, beans, potatoes,  sweet corn, onions, garlic, marrows, courgettes, squashes, rhubarb, and brassicas. All but the brassicas did very well, and I shall only be replanting red cabbages this year, as the others don’t seem to like our acid soil, despite the fact I added lime. I included a few heritage varieties, which not only tasted great, they looked very attractive too.

You can see some photos of my first year here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=151953&id=554686794&l=36d877b017 , and I shall blog about my progress during the growing season.