Introduction

Introduction

Welcome to Back On The Plot.  Let me explain a bit about my blog.  about ten years ago I was the proud tenant of a thriving allotment in Leigh, Greater Manchester.  Unfortunately I had to move and as a result unfortunately had to give up my plot.  Once in sunny Cheshire I promptly applied for an Allotment and was faced with a 50 year waiting list! I call this the Whittingstall effect.  fast forward 10 years and I find myself in very, very sunny Staffordshire and about to take over a very large allotment plot.  To say I'm excited is an understatement.  My wonderful wife has now developed an interest in allotment gardening and I have three fantastic children to share the adventure with.  The Whittingstall effect didn't seem to catch on here and I can get back to what I love doing, working the land.

The reason I want to write this blog is simply born from a passion for all things allotment gardening from digging, sowing, cooking and eating.  I want to write and photograph and share this experience from day one with likeminded and passionate people.  In addition I want to create an archive of information, inspiration and memories.

A little about the plot.

 As allotments go I've landed on my feet.  80% of the allotment would have been covered in weeds and left over crops.  However since the UK has had less than 1" of rain in the last 8 weeks its now 80% parched earth.  Not ideal growing conditions I know but not a lot of clearing to be done.  So what about the other 20% I hear you ask?  I am lucky enough to have inherited a shed containing a good selection of plant pots and a handful of tools as well as large mature bramley apple tree and a very healthy looking yellow plum tree.

What's next

 Over the coming weeks, months and hopefully years  I'm going to be writing and photographing allotment gardening as I know it from the planning and preparation stage into cultivating, sowing and growing right up to cooking, serving or preserving crops from the allotment.  I hope you'll stay with me on this journey.


Our mini orchard

A long way to go!



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflecting on week one on the allotment

Image
So today, Monday marks one week since I signed the tenancy on our new allotment and also one week since I started this blog.   It’s only been a week however I feel part of gardening is taking time to reflect. It can’t all be work work work!   This is what I’ve discovered so far. The plot has been given up only this year by the previous tenant.   Despite this said tenant decided he wanted to keep the crops which have been planted.   As a result, we have had to work around these “crops”.   As far as I can tell this consists of 10 withered cabbages and some rows of potatoes which haven’t seen a drop of water in over a month!   We have had to work around these “crops” but despite this we have made good progress. The main beds had not been touched in months and had a fair crop of dandelions and a plentiful supply of mare’s tail.   The fact that we had such a blank canvass gave us a decision to make as to how to approach the land in term...
Read more

Day two. A bit clearer

Image
So day two of the clearing is done and a weary family of 5 have retired for the evening.   The bean frames have been dismantled as even just walking past them made you feel you were in mortal peril.   This got me to thinking which manner of supporting climbing beans is best.   There were several disadvantages to the system installed by the previous tenant.   Although substantial is scale the frame I dismantled today took around 2 hours to remove.   Surely not conducive to healthy crop rotation.   The bottom to the frame was difficult to get to with a hoe which as far as I’m concerned is absolutely essential to good gardening and finally, the material used to put the thing together were a mix of timbers, rusty metal poles, stiff wire and duck tape.   As a family of 5 ranging between 3 and 6 feet there was a poke in the eye waiting for all.   The decision was taken to remove the frames and opt instead for long canes lashed together at the top with...
Read more

Stay sharp on the plot!

Image
As well as clearing more ground today the shed got a once over.   In my last allotment shed I had easily 50 tools many of which were stolen.   That got me thinking which tools do I actually need and which tools are designed to separate gardeners form their money as opposed to actually making the job easier or doing it better.   Not being able to keep anything in the shed due to thefts.   I have had to put together a bit of a grab and go collection of tools I couldn’t be without.   The first is without a doubt my digging fork.   Clearing a plot is tough at the best of times but when a plot has been left to the weeds there are often dandelions with roots in the bedrock of hell.   I don’t get preoccupied by weeds, they’re a fact of life.   Having said that there’s nothing worse in my opinion that putting a spade through the root leaving it to come back bigger and stronger. Second is the spade, the temptation with a spade is to get the big...
Read more