I’ve used those little rubber discs designed to raise plant pots above the ground and let water drain away for a very long time. I have to – I live on a boat and standing water causes paint damage and the boat to rust, but those discs are boring! So when I saw these Potty … More [Review] Jardinopia’s Potty Feet
Winter was tough on the plot and it’s only now, as spring unfurls, that we’re beginning to see what survived the storms and floods. The snake’s head fritillaries have done remarkably well in the wildflower orchard: The fruit trees are coming into leaf. No sign of blossom this year; hopefully next year will bring us … More Riders on the Storm
It’s been a while since I’ve blogged and that’s because I wanted to write about jobs as we completed them. Allotments, as it turns out, aren’t as ordered or linear as that – or maybe it’s just our concentration spans. We’ve been busy, that’s for sure, but I’m not certain we can officially tick anything … More The Perpetual State of Incompleteness
We have bee hives on the allotments again. The original ones were removed last spring as the beekeeper frequently made the bees angry and often tended them during the busiest times of the day. It all came to a head one fateful day in April 2017 when the unhappy bees stung a number of people, … More No Honey for Humans (and Trying to Make a Home for Nature)
Back in February I revealed my allotment plans for the year. I didn’t want to leave too much wriggle room as I was worried without structure I’d sow the entire contents of my seed tin (it’s a secret, overcrowded place where no one dares venture alone). My plans, therefore, had to be adhered to without … More Going Off Piste, and Other News from the Plot
Rabbit proofing is a never-ending battle, and one that we’re trying to keep up with as the rabbits outsmart us at every turn, but, and I mean-B-U-T- (that’s a tentative, and yet a big ‘but’), we think we’ve stopped them for the moment. We haven’t had an incursion for a few weeks. I know this … More Preparing for the Bunny Uprising, and Other News from the Plot
We pre-ordered a set each of ‘Ariane’ and ‘Mondeo’ asparagus crowns from Thompson & Morgan in January and thought it would give us plenty of time to build an asparagus bed. It did of course, but then it rained and snowed and rained a bit more, and as I recall we had even more snow and it’s … More The Not-Quite-Finished Asparagus Bed Adventure.
We did it, we made it through our first year of allotment gardening without killing everything or each other (excluding that time I nearly took Rob out with a ladder). Has it been a successful year? Well, we’re still on speaking terms and it hasn’t ended in divorce so that’s a pretty positive close to … More One Year on the Plot: Our First Year Reviewed
Intruders came on Friday, under the cover of darkness, and forced the lock on the main gates. They must have been on site a while because only a few plots escaped their attention. Plots on our snicket were raided – all the ones with sheds… Except ours. We know this because they left the gates … More Break-ins, Boobytraps, and Other News from the Plot
I started keeping an allotment journal after reading Richard Chivers’ post on the subject last year and it’s been an invaluable tool, so this year I’ve gone a step further and also made an allotment plan and spreadsheet. The plan and spreadsheet’s main purpose is to keep me on top of planting and sowing times, and … More Allotment Plans 2018
We have both had flu for the last couple of weeks and it has prevented us from doing any work on the allotment. It has, however, given me the opportunity to pull the rocking chair close to the stove and delve into a few gardening and allotment books. Three of these were Yule gifts, and … More Allotment Reading
Since we have only had our plot since March last year we are still trying to find our feet. Our philosophy in 2017 was ‘try it and see’, and this best sums up every decision we made, every plant planted, and every structure built. 2017 was about getting to know the plot (clayey, compacted and … More 2018 – Allotment Aspirations
We have been collecting pallets since April with the goal of eventually turning them into a shed and, as you can see from the featured image, we are nearly there. Our family worked enthusiastically and tirelessly (and without being put under any duress) to build our shed over a very cold weekend at the beginning of … More Building a Pallet Shed, and Other News from the Plot
I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed by the plot. I have no routine, I’m out of my depth, and I don’t fully know how the year affects the site. With the turning of the season into autumn I was left floundering and wondering, “what do I do next?” Luckily for me, that question … More Falling into Autumn with a Bump
If you have read any of my previous blog posts you will be no stranger to the fact that we have a rabbit problem on an industrial scale. There is a warren in one of the abandoned plots adjoining ours. The allotment association has no plans to tackle the issue and has left it to … More Rabbit Proofing Methods: Tried and Tested.
There’s a few things I’ve learned about gardeners since we’ve had a plot. They’re unbelievably generous with their time, knowledge, seeds, plants and produce, and they’re not keen on waste of any kind. We’ve experienced this generosity ourselves as at least three of our beds are planted solely from gifts and surplus from other gardeners. … More Food Charity
This week I’ve been digging a new flowerbed. I’ve been dying to get started on the area around the hazel tree near our gate. This end of the allotment has been neglected since we took the plot on in March. The ground is heavy clay and tough to dig, although there’s been plenty of thistle … More Starting the Flower Beds
I finished digging and planting the second brassica bed before the heatwave hit. We now have a little row of Savoy January King 3 cabbages and a row of All Year Round cauliflowers. They’re hiding in netted tunnels away from the prying eyes of rabbits. I had plenty of seedlings left over so planted 2 cabbages and a … More Brassicas, a Heatwave and a Summer Solstice Photo Tour of the Plot
We were lucky enough to have an extra pair of hands on the plot last Thursday when our friend Chris popped over for “a tour.” The inverted commas are because we waited until we’d locked him into the allotment site before breaking the news that we actually meant manual labour. Chris is an ex-florist and … More Gifts and Helping Hands
I drew the line in the sand today – except I didn’t because we don’t have sand and the clay is so hard there’s currently no drawing anything in it. What I actually did was yell, “JUST BUGGER OFF WILL YOU,” across the abandoned plots beside us, and, because my inner charm was flowing, “OR … More A Declaration of War
I arrived at the plot a few days ago to find another hole in the fence. Rob patched it today. I could’ve missed it on my original round of fence mending, but I highly suspect the rabbits are devious enough to wait until we leave before making a concerted effort to break in again. They’re … More It’s a Nature Conspiracy
Allotment groups on Facebook this morning were full of photos of frost damaged plants with comments like ‘…and this was inside my greenhouse under three layers of cardboard and some garden fleece.’ This made me nervous about what we’d find when we visited our plot. I tried to reason with myself that all the frost … More Fire, Frost, Angry Bees and Other News from the Plot
It’s been a busy week on the plot. Rob assembled the new greenhouse and I patched the fences where the bunnies snuck in. I helped Rob with greenhouse assembly where I could by propping things up and/or being too short to hold the roof frame at the required height. I mainly just got in the … More A Tale of Two Greenhouses and Other News from the Plot
A Whole Plotta Love 
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