It is one year this weekend since I got my allotment and what a steep learning curve its been.
It is interesting to look back at the photos I took a year ago (see above), even I had forgotten how rough it was. Just a ploughed bit of field full of perennial weeds and with a good smattering of stones. A year ago I was having a real dilemma about taking on the allotment and doubting if I would be able to manage. A year on I can safely say I have become a real edible grower convertee.
As you can see I have been busy mulching the bed with green waste. I am still battling with the perennial weeds but I think I am more on top of the weeds than the weeds being on top of me. I stuck to my guns at the start and didn’t use weed-killer or have the plot rotovated which is the course that has been taken by many of the other plot holders. I don’t like using chemicals if I can help it and I think whilst rotovating gives you a finer tilth at the start it does cut up all the weed roots increasing the problem in the long-term. So I have doggedly weeded week after week removing bags of couch grass and creeping thistles.
Despite having a lot of help in the first few months breaking the back of the work there is still one bed which needs dealing with. One end has had an initial dig so I could plant some spare squash plants in it but to be honest the whole bed is a mess. My only excuse is that by the time I got to dig this bed we hadn’t had any rain for weeks and it was like rock so I have had to ignore it. However, we have had some rain this week and there is more forecast so hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can set to.
The biggest disappointment has been the decimation of my leek crop by leek moth. You can see that there are still some in situ. I cut the tops back and they are regrowing, I don’t know if they will be worth harvesting but I couldn’t bring myself to dig them all up. In the middle are some chinese cabbage plants that I put in to fill the gap left by the really attacked leeks.
The soft fruit area is coming together. I have decided to use the fruit bushes along the left hand side of the plot as a loose wind break. This will mean that the beds will be smaller but I will gain space where the bushes are moved from. This extra space is going to be used to create a raised bed for salads which will then be replaced with strawberry plants in a year’s time when I need to introduce fresh plants. The other area freed up is going to be planted with perennial vegetables such as globe artichokes. Given that the majority of the crops are only eaten by me I tend to go for small crops of lots of different plants and varieties as I don’t want to be overwhelmed with gluts.
Whilst I have struggled, like others with white fly and lost my pea crop early due to pea moth I have had more successes than I thought I would. I remember being told a year ago that I should spend this year clearing the site and I wouldn’t have any crops this year. I have had onions, shallots, garlic, raspberries, salads, potatoes, kale, broad beans, mangetout, runner beans (Mums), beetroot, parsnips, spring onions and today my first cabbage.
I have kale, purple sprouting broccoli, cabbages and parsnips to harvest over the winter. There are cauliflowers, chinese cabbage and raddichio coming on but I am unsure it these will be ok over the winter and harvestable in the spring? I have over the last month planted out overwintering japanese bunching onions, two varieties of garlic and shallots. I also have some more raspberries and a blackberry on order.
I think the best decision I made was early on when I divided the plot up into beds. Back in the winter/spring when faced with a large area of basically mud I was really wondering what I had taken on. You could dig for an hour and it still didn’t make much difference. By dividing the plot up into manageable chunks it meant I could clear a bed and plant or sow a crop and this was a far better approach for me mentally. I think you need to find the best approach for you and that you need to have realistic and achievable goals. You also have to ignore what others are doing. I work full-time and my allotment time is limited so my plot will never be as pristine and bountiful as those of some of the retired plotholders. I have stopped worrying about not keeping up and have just doing my own thing.
What will next year bring? Well as I’ve said a raised bed in the new area, hopefully the fruit bushes will crop this year, earlier planting of peas to avoid pea moth, new crops such as celery, celeriac, globe artichokes, carrots and much more. I need to consider using some mesh to protect leeks and peas despite hating the stuff and having managed so far without it – cabbages have done well unprotected.
I wonder what my second allotment anniversary post will be reporting?