PortabelloBelle

When we moved home a few years ago, we applied at the local authority for an allotment.

We already had been growing on a plot near our old house, but it was a long way to go. We kept it on as a stop gap.

4 years passed.

Having had no information from the local council, we contacted them and discovered that while we had moved up the list, it would still be a long time before getting a plot with them. Meanwhile, a bit of research taught us that there are some privately owned allotments a short car ride away.

A week, and a few phone calls and emails later, we have a plot of 182.6 square metres. Which as you can see in the above photo needs a fair bit of work to get it under control, and looking nice.

There are some hidden gems in that small jungle, at least one gooseberry bush, a couple of red currant bushes, an as yet unidentified fruit tree, I suspect it’s an apple, the photo below is some of the fruit on the blackcurrant bush that is still surrounded by weeds.

Here is the plot after we spent a few hours there today, there’s a lot of rubbish, and we’ve discovered some raised beds, which will need replacing as they’re made from timber, which is quite rotted now, and a pond.

When I say a pond, it’s really just an old round container, sunk in the ground, and filled with water. It is not suitable and will be removed, and a new pond will go in at a different place. I’ll look at where it’ll go, so as to be a stopping point for birds, beasts and bugs, it’d be cool to maybe get frogs there, to help with pest control, since we’re going to do things as naturally as possible.

We have a provisional plan:

Which is subject to change.

It is worth noting that the site is on a gentle slope, it’s not going to need to be terraced, as it’s not steep enough to be a problem.