When I took my plot over 18 months ago, I was faced with brambles, nettles and ferns, very much the standard allotment mess! During the first year I reopened 3 of the original beds whilst deciding what I wanted to do with the site and how I was going to achieve it. Having decided on a plan of action, I started work in the October of last year and by March, I was fully ready to sow and plant out 95% of my site.
I say 95% because there is an area at the front where I have the composting area which had become a dumping ground as I cleared the whole site. Over the summer, this area has become an eye sore and is now becoming entangled in brambles, as are the two compost bins. Further up from the compost bins is an area where the brambles and nettles have been virtually eradicated. This is where I have been growing my potatoes this year.
All of this forms a line up the left hand side of the plot starting at the front fence then the rubbish, compost bins, potato area, 3 off 1.8m x 1.2m raised beds, a ‘patio area’ and the finally the 1000 Litre IBC container and the back fence.
The plan is to move the compost area further up the plot to the location currently occupied by the potatoes. The rationale behind this is twofold. Firstly, the new position would be more central to the whole of the plot. Secondly, the area that I want to move the composters to has already been cleared of all the brambles and nettles, there is just a small holly bush to remove.
Moving the compost bins will allow me to remove all of the brambles and nettles and tidy up this area of fencing. The whole length of the dividing fence from front to back has been added to over the years and there are now approximately 4 layers of fencing giving the bramble and nettle roots plenty of places to thrive. The fence from the back to the composters has already been done.
There are other projects that are under consideration but nothing as yet has been firmed up. Starting with the area in the vicinity of the shed/relaxation area. In the summers mornings, once the sun has moved from behind the shed (South is the bottom right hand corner), it becomes too hot to sit in the area, yet there is a good shadow provided by the shed.
One thought is to move the bathtub bed from the side of the shed to the patio area, then create a covered seating area outside of the front of the shed. Whilst it would be a pain the empty the bathtub of soil then relocate it and refill, it would move it to a sunnier area.
Another idea is to create a covered outdoor working space which would double as a seating area, almost as an extension to the shed roof. Because the shed door faces the IBC container, to create an effective cover would require partially covering the IBC container as well. The main consideration is one of cost and ease of construction.
Under consideration is the construction of a fruit cage in the area originally used by the composters and rubbish area. The two main considerations here, are the absolute removal of all the brambles and nettles from this area and the costs of materials. At least with a fruit cage the scaffold netting is cheap enough, it’s then just a case of scrounging the timber.
Even the Polytunnel does not escape the winter makeover with changes being made to the raised beds. Currently, there is a long bed 820cm wide down the left hand side of the polytunnel, and a 1m x 1m square bed at the far end. The plan is to reduce width of the of the square bed to match that of the long bed to allow me to more easily reach to the back of the bed. A very small change but significant in the ease of gardening.
Hopefully, the final change on the drawing board affects beds 1 & 2 at the very front of the plot. This area has an issue with overhanging hazel trees that are dropping nuts on the beds from July onwards and generally offering up shade from mid afternoon onwards. Whilst it has not had an adverse effect on the crops harvest, it does look very untidy during late summer.
The landlords have some very strict and somewhat quirky rules regarding trees. I am not allowed to trim or prune the branches overlapping my plot, if I wish to have them cut, I have to go to the Parish Council to task their groundsman. Unfortunately, his attitude is that this is our responsibility and not the Councils or his!
In addition, I was never too happy going straight into veg beds immediately on entering the plot. I felt that there had to be some form of transition area to welcome people into my plot. The current thought is to lift beds 1 & 2 and turn this into a wildflower area each side of the entrance path with maybe a fruit tree in each side. Local rules allow for fruit trees on dwarf stock so will not impact on the hazel.
This summarises the thoughts and ideas that I have had throughout the years on how I can improve the layout and functionality of the allotment plot. There is a good chance that the compost area will move and the polytunnel bed reduction will take place, but for the rest – we will just have to wait and see. With the resurrection of my YouTube channel coming up very soon, there will be plenty of social media opportunities to show you what is happening.
Doddy's Allotment 