This weekend I've been excited and daunted by the prospect of sharing an allotment with a couple of friends. Actually it's half an allotment but is looks huge to me. It may have looked bigger because it's an overgrown wilderness of foot high grass, thistles, thorns and mystery weeds.
We had a look on Friday, the four of us plus one baby standing in the grass looking a little lost before trying to figure out how to tackle it. The consensus: cover most of it in plastic sheeting to kill everything off, test the soil, weed, feed and dig a corner of it and try to get some late cropping potatoes into said corner to break up the ground.
It's going to take a lot of work and I'm sure at least one of us will put their back out at some point, but I'm looking forward to when we've got the space cleared and the soil up to a good standard, ready for planting. With it being so neglected we'll have a blank canvas to play around with and when we actually start growing our own food it will feel like a real achievement, especially as gardening in an allotment is a step into the unknown for all of us.
Next steps? Get a pair of dungarees and headscarf for the Felicity Kendal look and decide who's car to use to fetch manure from the local stables...
By the way, we'll be blogging about our allotment at Don't Know Allotment.
We had a look on Friday, the four of us plus one baby standing in the grass looking a little lost before trying to figure out how to tackle it. The consensus: cover most of it in plastic sheeting to kill everything off, test the soil, weed, feed and dig a corner of it and try to get some late cropping potatoes into said corner to break up the ground.
It's going to take a lot of work and I'm sure at least one of us will put their back out at some point, but I'm looking forward to when we've got the space cleared and the soil up to a good standard, ready for planting. With it being so neglected we'll have a blank canvas to play around with and when we actually start growing our own food it will feel like a real achievement, especially as gardening in an allotment is a step into the unknown for all of us.
Next steps? Get a pair of dungarees and headscarf for the Felicity Kendal look and decide who's car to use to fetch manure from the local stables...
By the way, we'll be blogging about our allotment at Don't Know Allotment.
Sounds interesting but it would be a shame to not grow anything other than potatoes whilst the black plastic does the trick. Have you all thought about marking out a small area - say 5 metres by 1 metre (or less! you want to mind your backs) and dig it through and weed it well. You could then grow in that whilst the black plastic begins its work. Quite a few vegetables such as carrots, salad things don't need much fertiliser.Climbing beans you can get away with for one year by digging a hole larger than the plant needs and put in some good compost just into each hole. As and when you feel like it, you can roll the black plastic back and tackle another area?
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