At The Allotment

Why have an allotment

We believe that all our food should be grown organically. Both me and Pam believe the chemicals in the food we eat greatly increase chances of cancer and other health issues. Buying organic in the shops is expensive and the choice of food is limited, this has become even more limited over the past few years. Having a keen interest in gardening it made sense to grow our own and an allotment is the perfect place for this.

Getting an allotment

I put my name down for an allotment plot a couple of years ago and have been very lucky to live near a site that had availability in a relatively short time frame. To increase my chances of getting a plot I did put my name down at several sites, with one telling me there was at least a ten year waiting list. The allotments where I have my plot was my ideal choice of what was in the area and is only a twenty minute walk from home. I was offered either a half plot that was relatively clear or the full plot, which I took, I was told it was the worst plot on the allotments (I assumed they meant for being overgrown). As you can see from the image there are plenty of trees, in fact we have taken out over 50. There is even a shed hiding in the back of this plot, though I did need to replace this. So how do you get a plot - Well for me it was a case of looking on the council web site, there they had a list of allotments within there council boundary and contact details for each site. Some were email contact and others telephone numbers. I sent out emails to all the ones I thought were within a reasonable distance and asked to be put on their waiting list explaining what I wanted a plot for. Over the coming months I will be showing the progress of the plot.

Polytunnel or Greenhouse?

For me there was a simple answer to this… Polytunnel. Because we would like to become as close to self sufficient with our fruit and vegetable as possible we do need indoor growing space for crops such as peppers and tomatoes. On our site you are allowed a larger polytunnel than you are a greenhouse that and because we already have a greenhouse at home made a polytunnel the obvious choice. Over the coming months I will be adding the build of our polytunnel.

Composting

Compost plays a major role in improving the soil and as such down on the allotment we have six large compost bins. These have been built using 3ft x 2ft concrete flags slotted into concrete posts on three sides and wooden slat fronts which can easily be removed to access the compost within. We are lucky down on the allotments because we get free deliveries of wood chip, these are piled at strategic places around the site and are available on a first come bases. Many of us on the site add this to our compost bins for use on our plots. This takes a while to decompose but will be used as a top dressing around fruit bushes and on the vegetable beds.