booyaa and i have acquired an allotment. we put our names down aeons ago and were told to expect a two year waiting list, but, less than a year later and we got a phone call from a gentle soul, apologising for things outside of her control, and inviting us to visit and choose an allotment.
we went down after work (it's a five minute bus ride from where we live) and she pointed out the available plots. we'd requested a half plot, figuring that we wouldn't know what to do with a whole plot. we are now, of course, wondering if we shouldn't have gone the whole hog. there would have been space for a patio, barbecue (not for me, i hate barbecues. where's the fun in eating half raw/half charred food with ash on it? beats me.) and, we have learned, more space between plants for ease of watering and weeding. anyhow.
our allotment was a jungle of evil weeds when we took it over. luckily joe swift is a few weeks ahead of us on gardener's world, so we're learning the tricks from him ;) we also chose a plot which is surrounded by ubergardeners. we have lionel on three sides. he works for the council services who look after the allotments and has been gardening for over 20 years. then along and down one there's malcolm, who used to show (hushed reverence) and between them they are keeping us right. and giving us spare plants left right and centre!
starting out
so what do you do when you get your allotment? we don't yet know if we've done it right, but this is what we did and it's working so far.
we bought a couple of spades. a fork would have been more useful. we dug up, in metre square patches, all the weeds. shook off the soil and worms and left the weeds to dry in a big pile in one corner. that took days of solid weeding. back breaking, frankly. why didn't we just get a rotavator? because then for each weed there would be a dozen weeds - pernicious little blighters like the mares tail we've got on our plot will grow anywhere, anyhow. as malcolm said "if it's got two ends, it'll grow." so you need to pull them out and keep them away from your soil and they can't be composted either. fun! so we dried them out, burnt some and are going to take the rest to the tip.
we rescued a dilapidated shed and bought a few more tools (now we had somewhere to store them.) meanwhile, at home, we ordered seeds and started germinating as many plants as would fit on windowsills. right now, prior to anything actually producing food, so it may be a little early to tell, i have a hunch i'm going to love the real seed catalogue produce more than anything else. however, nicky's nursery has an amazing depth of choice and thompson & morgan are cheap and do 'sundries', not just seeds, so you can get a big delivery of all sorts of stuff in one go. i also recommend woolies for cheap compost, garden lights, picnic gear, chairs etc. check out your council website for half-price composting bins, too. we've been saving our compostable stuff in a big bag next to the shed, and are hoping the real bin arrives soon before we go biohazard... every fruit and veg container and houmous tub has been repurposed as seed tray and germinating pot. booyaa has made newspaper pots based on a video on youtube. and honestly, if for nothing else, this whole process has decreased our rubbish and kerbside recycling by half. good stuff!
we've had great pleasure so far, preparing the ground, planting potatoes, germinating tomatoes, peppers, flowers, all sorts. it's so peaceful. it's very hard work. i've got no nails, stained hands (the soil just doesn't come out!) burnt shoulders, backache and scratches and bruises all over legs and arms. but it's relaxing, rewarding and infinitely superior to spending the weekend in front of the computer/tv. we've taken 'picnics' and had lunch sat on the grass verge, admiring our work, so we've spent the whole day there at weekends. plus, it really does get us on the road to our slow revolution. (did you spot the blog tagline change? more on that later.) we're learning all the organic/green/groovy methods we can, and i'm becoming a budding expert on companion planting. rule number 1 for companion planting: plant marigolds. they'll protect your crops from just about everything ;) i'll post our designs, crop rotation plans and companion planting scheme once i've stopped changing my mind.
so far, besides windowsills full of seedlings, we have three potato plants throwing up leaves, which is very exciting. other plants which went straight into the ground as seeds have yet to show signs of success. slightly worrying at present but we'll give them another week before deciding they just didn't like the position/soil/... and buying 'ready veg' from the organic veggie people we got our tomatoes off last year.
booyaa took lots of photos of befores and afters on various days, but the truly amazing before and after is from the first day we went to dig and the photo he took today. awesome!
lottie 19 april 08 lottie 13 may 08
lots more images chez booyaa on flickr.
Comments (2)
Maybe the ongoing photo-journal could be called 'Lottie Continua'. Just a thought :-) A xxx
Posted by Alison | May 14, 2008 8:41 PM
Posted on May 14, 2008 20:41
Hi Loulou
Congratulations on completion of your juice feast. Enjoyed having your link up on my blog.
Good luck with your gardening!
I've basically turned into a serial juice feaster. Just figured out that since March 11 I've been juice feasting 45 days - though not consecutively. I have a lot of weight to lose, and the green juices really seem to help with emotional issues - so I'm going to keep doing it in spurts for awhile. When I get moody, my husband now tells me I need to drink more green juice.
Anyways - best of luck with your gardening. That's awesome that you have experienced gardeners nearby! I'm really floundering with my gardening efforts some days!
Maryyx
Posted by Mary | May 17, 2008 10:10 PM
Posted on May 17, 2008 22:10