The Gardening Register has an Allotment
Three weeks ago my brother, Allan, was allocated an allotment after being on the waiting list for just a couple of months.
The allotments are called Ashfiled Allotments and are situated round the corner from our mum's house in Knotty Ash. It is just a half plot but is more than big enough for what Allan and I want to do. Infact it looks very big when covered in weeds!
Last week we went round and measured the site in preparation to producing a plan; oday we went over to do some weeding. We managed to choose one of the hotest days of the year so it was quite hard work.
The half plot we have is on an area which was derelict, the area was cleared out and top soil bought in to make the plots workable. This means that we have quite good soil of a good depth and that there are not too many really established weeds on the plot.
As part of the regeneration the committee planted a hedge of Pyracantha along the line of the newly erected fencing; this is to provide a physical barrier to the outside and to make the fence look a little better. Our first job was to remove as many weeds as possible from the area around the Pyracantha and lay a weed suppressing membrane. Then we put a weedkiller down on about a third of the plot and covered it with heavy duty tarpaulins; these will hopefully help the weeds die off and keep new weeds from coming up before we have a chance to go onto the next phase.
Phase II is to lay bases for a shed, a greenhouse, water butts, compost heaps and the paths around the area. Following this we will go on to prepare the remaining area and build raised beds surrounded by gravel paths. Our aim is to produce a low maintenance plot which is easily managed. The addition of an irrigation system driven from our water butts will help this.
It is going to be a lot of hard work initially but hopefully not too bad for the forthcoming years.
You can see from the photographs how bad it looks now and I'll keep posting new photos at each milestone so you can see the improvement.
Similar Articles:
- The GR Allotment: Update - Allan also managed to get three raised beds built and ready for planting so our potatoes went in a couple of weeks ago. We are growing Anya, a second early and Maris Piper a late and our Mum’s favourite potatoe, great for chips, roasting and mash. Blog this! Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz ...
- Latest from the Allotment - Spent a few hours at the allotment yesterday with Allan and managed to complete one of the fruit cages and painted half of the shed. Allan also cut and fitted the plastic panels in the greenhouse door and I planted our Walnut tree, a couple of gooseberries and some strawberries. It is beginning to look like ...
- Busy day at the allotment - Allan (my brother) bought over his raspberries to plant on the border of our plot on the allotment. He got on with that while I sorted out the greenhouse. We decided to remove the remaining green tomatoes and compost the plants. If they ripen then great, if they don’t I’ll make some green tomato chutney for ...
Update: we’ve not had much time to spend on the allotment but we have managed to apply weedkiller and cover with tarpaulines to keep the weeds down. They are dying off nicely so that’s good news. We have also put up some netting to stop weeds from coming over from the woodland at the back of the plot. The next step is to have some flags laid as a base for a shed and greenhouse. I’ll let you know how it goes.