Town Farm Allotment – Plot 68 My first allotment

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Well, my first year is almost up and I would like to show you what I have achieved. I didn’t get to grow much in my first year due to the fact that I was always digging and weeding.

WE BUILT A NEW SHED!!!! It Looks great.

I did manage to get some Onions and potatoes planted and also some Leeks and Sprouts. Our family eat all the spuds and onions, but the leeks are doing rather nice if I say so myself – not to mention the sprouts in time for winter!!!! Check out my Leeks!!!! First time I have ever grown Leeks.

Sprouts and Onions – going well!!!

My sprouts are really going well now and cant wait to taste them!!!!

I still have a long way to go and even have a full half of the allotment to start on, but I am really looking forward to it. I don’t have any plans to plant anything new for the remainder of this year, just concentrate on digging and getting the land prepared for the next growing year.

AND FINALLY – THE COMPOST HEAP – LOOKING BETTER I THINK

Looking like a proper compost heap now.

I have completed a full page gallery with lots more pics of my first year – something to look back on when I am proper up and running.

Another day and a bit more progress. Managed to get a few rows of spuds in and the ground sieved and weeded before I planted them. I have started to dig the opposite patch – slow and steady, not just turning it over this time, bur painstakingly taking out all the couch.

Just a few pics of what I did today for the record.

Started digging and turning over the opposite side – working the soil and forking out all that couch grass.

Well, my plot has now dried out enough for me to get down onto the land and start digging it over again. I started with an hour of burning wood on the part I am digging and turning the soil over close to the fire, weeding at the same time and throwing the weeds onto the fire. I plan to keep burning as I dig.

 I know it dont look like much at the moment, but at least I have now made a start and between work shifts and lighter nights, I hope to get something into the plot to grow. Possibly fill the whole place with potatoes which will help me to break down the soil.

Will keep you all posted as I continue.

Well, days off and here comes the snow!!!!! Visited the plot today and thought, too cold to and ground too hard to turn over. But on the plus side, I have just got a nice 8ft X 6ft apex roof shed to be erected on the plot. Ho well, here are the pics I have taken of the ground – looks clean and tidy under that snow dusting.

Too cold to dig!!!!

Still too cold!!!!

Well, I was wanting to start work early in this new year, but the weather has been terrible. Rain and more rain has left my plot soaking wet and waterlogged. A let up in the rain and the bad weather has meant that I have finally got to start turning the ground over again. Not a lot to see, but at least its a start – finally!!!

2012 finally gets started!!!

Well, I didnt get to do any work on the plot in December like I said I would. With work and the bad weather and the copious amounts of alcohol during the holiday period, I feel I am now looking at 2012 to get the rest of the plot dug.

I am looking forward to getting back to it though!!!!! CANT WAIT!!

Well, I have made my last visit to Plot 68 for November as I have other commitments at work. I have been working hard weeding and digging and basically tidying the plot up a bit as we head towards the colder weather. Its gonna be real hard to get a lot of digging done when the colder frosted ground arrives.

I have uploaded the last pictures of the latest work to be done in November 2011 and this is my final visit.

Third squire!!

The progress made by Matthew digging out this third square was amazing!!!! He is going to get the whole thing dug over ready for the winter frosts!!!! Well Done!

Next visit will be December and onwards. Hope you like what progress I and Matthew have made so far with Plot 68 – Enjoy!!!!

Fire!!!! I have been using fire to burn off the weeds on the top. Whilst moving the fire along, I have been digging and weeding the ground what has been burned.

This advice was given to me by another allotment holder and to be honest, it has got be be one of the best bits of advice I have been given. After the fire has been on the ground, I can feel the difference in the texture of the ground whilst digging it over.

Below is a number of pictures showing the latest progress with the plot 68 areas whilst burning off the top.

Its been hard going and to be honest, I was getting a bit sick of smelling like a bonfire every time I visited the allotment. I am glad though that I continued with this process as it has certainly made a lot of difference.

Well, here you have what was once a compost heap, possibly when this allotment was first taken over. When I took ownership of this allotment, I thought I would leave this compost heap till much later in the year, or even next year 2012.

But with some fantastic advice from other allotment owners, I was well advised to get this thing rebuilt and to start filling it up. This will be beneficial to me later when I have the ground ready and compost is needed.

Leaves a lot to be desired!!!!

The picture shows the well ruined compost heap as I found it and this will be an ongoing project in between digging and weeding the plot. I will post before and after pics when I am finished rebuilding it.

Looking a bit better!!!!

With a bit more work on the Compost Heap, I think it is starting to take shape.

Well, we seem to be making ground now.

At forst when we started this plot, everytime we stood back and looked, it seemed that we were not really getting anywhere – it all still looked like it did at the start.

But we have been getting stuck in and digging the square sections – no paths or anything yet, just still digging and weeding!!!!

Looking better now – Phew!!!!

Matthew starting on a third square

The third square

This third square was started by Matthew and he has been digging it out on and off since starting it. I aint taken any more pics yet, but I am hoping that progress will be shown when I upload for the next visit/post.