When will it stop raining? I’m sure the same has crossed many minds this winter and spring. It’s been relentless.
But finally, on the occasional dry spell in March and with longer days, it’s starting to feel a bit like spring is really here. Time to push on with our newly acquired allotment.
At first sight, the aspect doesn’t seem great. It’s on a north-east facing slope here in the south-west, a stroll away from the sea.
But we’ve now realised that when the sun finally appears, it’ll be on the allotment from dawn to dusk. It tracks round the patch, warming it early and keeping going all day long. Great for much of the year but likely it will need frost protection during the cold winter months especially when there’s a ‘beast from the east’ icy wind.
To be fair, the patch was a bit of a mess when we first took it on at the end of February. It’s probably the same story across the country. The previous owners may have found the allotment a bit too much work in their later years, begun to neglect a few areas so concentrated on the easier and nicer bits, and eventually, likely with quite a bit of reluctance, gave it up. Who wouldn’t! It’s natural.
So, first things first. It’s been a bit of a mammoth exercise to clear the plot of the considerable piles of rubbish. In our case, not one but two defunct wheelbarrows, a trolley, what appeared to be a bathroom towel rail, corrugated iron roofing and a considerable quantity of glass jam jars buried deep in the extensive couch grass lurking round the edges.
Not to mention a shed-come-greenhouse, imaginatively bodged over the years and in our view, in need of annihilation. But with some pressure from the Council who thought rather differently, we’ve set about a loving revamp.
First though to the growing plan
Which areas for what plants and how?
Growing veg of course, is absolutely key. There’s nothing as good as digging up your own staples: potatoes, carrots, onions, leeks, beetroot etc. And summer wouldn’t be summer without fresh peas, tomatoes, courgettes and in our case, our absolute favourite, borlotti beans, plus a cornucopia of herbs and salad leaves.
The key criteria here are:
- Companion planting (plants, flowering and in some cases edible that attract and divert pests from precious veg but at the same time, attracting important pollinators to the plot, eg bees)
- Rotation planting for year on year success
- Getting the most out of the aspect – the good bits and the not so good
- Making sure there’s great produce throughout the year.
What about the soil?
Well it’s somewhat mixed! There’s an underlying alkaline base lacking in structure and on the heavy side but also the odd patch of acid based soil. How’s that possible? Maybe we should ask a geologist or perhaps the green magic of the previous occupiers.
The alkaline areas we can tweak with additional acid ingredients. Sulphur is one method but it’s expensive so we’re adding Ericaceous compost. The idea is to get the pH down from 7.0+ to 6.5 which would make for a very nicely balanced workable loam, good for most plants. And then the addition of seaweed over winter should improve the condition no end.
We’re establishing quite a lot of soft fruits too. They generally prefer a slightly acid soil. Black and red currants as well as gooseberries, the latter to be treated lean and mean for best results but we’ll add a bit of compost and feed this year and see how they get on.
We’re very lucky to have inherited a few well-established fruit trees on the plot. A plum, a very happy fig and a couple of pretty old apple trees. We’ll need a few weeks to be sure those old chaps are happy.
And so to the Greenhouse/Shed
The original plan was to build a framework to support the existing structure. As the saying goes though… ’no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy’. So true!
Much of the original building materials were completely rotten or broken. As it was stripped out, it became clear a total rebuild was the only solution. It’s work in progress and in a hurry to make the most of spring and the need to push on with seed sowing, propagation and planting out.
