A new plot

Hello dear readers and apologies for my very sporadic posting; turns out I can do the day job, decorate, garden and move allotment sites sometimes concurrently but not keep this blog up to date.

This post will bring you up to date with the transfer of growing space from Cole Park to Groveley Road. I spent most of 2022 giving myself reasons why I should stay at CP; it was after all my plot of dreams with space for a small flower farm, two polytunnels and a wendy shed – surely I could make it work. Well no, the heatwave of 2022 and the early hot, dry spell this year really underlined the madness of what I was seeking to achieve, and I wasn’t spending any relaxed time there, not keeping up with weeding etc and spending at least 45 mins driving there and back. Time for a rethink.

This council lease 5 rods plots and GP is a 10 minutes walk from the Gulag and there were vacant plots in February. Time to act.

Predictably, the available plots were all overgrown. I settled on 11b as it was the most open – many others had large self-sown trees or huge buddleia bushes. I also took the plot behind it as it was being used as a dumping ground by other plot-holders, which eventually would irritate me to the point of eruption, and growing is supposed to be a relaxing past-time!

I signed the lease in February, just in time for the neighbours to have one last bonfire.

Then there was the obligatory rubbish pile to be made.

It wasn’t all gloom – the shed only filled up one rubbish bag and is sturdy. It also comes with an extension that I’ve christened the ‘germination station’. The roof edges need attention – the previous tenant didn’t extend the roofing felt – who knows why… The shed is also equipped with a flag pole – maybe I’ll find myself a Barbie flag to fly.

Then to the clearance. I went with the mini-digger approach again, although this operator wasn’t as skilled as the previous one, it got the job done. This is half way through. Do you see the colour of the sub-soil? It’s best described as sandy ballast. I’m going to need a lot of compost!

Once the mechanical digging was complete, I could start hand digging to get out the roots. Did I mention this site comes with the full set of bindweed, couch grass, ground elder and horsetail. I’m surprised about the horsetail given how free draining the soil is, maybe this variety didn’t get the memo.

I decided to divide the plots into distinct areas. The most overgrown plot I completely covered with weed membrane and built a 3-bay compost area from pallets. Typically for me, once it was built I decided it was in the wrong place, but it’s staying put and I’m making it work. I’m slowly lifting and transporting the paving slabs from CP to cover this area and make a base for the tool shed and potting shed.

I picked the top left corner and dug about m2 every other evening – dashing to CP on alternate days. It started well but then the sun shone and it stopped raining and the ground turned to concrete. It was brutal. You can see how little progress I’d made in two months.

Then it rained. I may be the only person who is still pleased that it keeps on raining. I’m now just over half way and it feels like I might be ready to start transplanting this autumn and getting ready to create beds for permanent plantings in spring.

I’ve started to mark out beds and bash in the post holders. Along the right side of the plot will be the cordon pear trees and raspberries. I’ll move the roses and peonies from CP and they will go along side the pear trees, then the next row will be asparagus, then a bed for rotating vegetables: potatoes, brassicas, legumes.

The site has regular deliveries of wood chip and manure and I’ve been taking advantage of both.

The polytunnel and greenhouse will be in the back garden. The frame for the tunnel is now up, just juggling time to get it finished. I had plans to run electricity to the greenhouse but that was before the price trebled.

I’ve also built a new fruit cage which is next to the compost bays. There’s been shenanigans with getting the thing level and braced but now ready for the door. I’ve been moving the potted blueberries one at time in the car, that’s been fun.

That’s me digging and building for the rest of this year.