Winter 2024
My partner and I have recently taken on an allotment here in Canterbury. While I’m not totally new to allotments—my mum took one on when I was a teenager—this will be my first attempt without “supervision”. My partner has no allotment experience, but she grew veg with her father as a child. We’d like to grow some of the veg we enjoy most, and maybe some oddities which are hard to get from the supermarket.
What we’ve taken on
It is a half-plot, which measures 5 perch (125sqm), there’s some minor existing infrastructure from the previous holder:
- A completely de-glazed greenhouse frame
- An old poly tunnel frame which was used to net fruit bushes
- A strawberry patch constructed as a raised bed
- A pile of misc short bits of wood, metal, and a lot of plastic sheeting
The plot is overgrown with couch grass and raspberry canes. At the back of the plot there is a significant pile of plastics and waste. There is an existing small compost bin, but is very undersized for a plot this large.
The first task is clearing weeds and rubbish!
November progress
I’ve cleared weeds across about half the plot and dug over maybe 15% (including the greenhouse). The grass is quite difficult to remove, it sends out rhizomes underground which will sprout more grass if not fully removed. We call it couch grass. Every time I turn over a fork of soil, I then need to dig through by hand to collect all the spaghetti-like rhizomes. The rhizomes are very brittle and only a tiny bit will allow more grass to grow. It’ll probably take me a few years to get on top of it.
My partner and I have cleared out the greenhouse and dug it over too. Apparently, it was glazed with plastic which has not survived the winds. We have found we can probably get some used greenhouse glass cheaply on Facebook Marketplace, so we’ll re-glaze it with glass in the spring.
With the things left behind by the previous holders of the plot, my partner has made a couple of quick compost heaps.
My partner has cleared her way to the west boundary. We have filled 10 black sacks with rubbish to take to the local tip so far. Most of it was a poly-tunnel cover which had severely deteriorated in the sun/elements and was just festering microplastics everywhere. We also found an old air bed which we think was being used to suppress weeds. Allotments here have a strong ‘reuse and make do’ ethos, which I really like, but unfortunately it can sometimes go over the edge into just storing rubbish. We’re going to do our best to avoid plastics where we can, especially ones which will perish quickly in the sun.
We broke down the old strawberry patch, pulled up the weed proof membrane, and have begun digging that over too.
The soil from under the membrane is quite poor. It is very heavy clay with little life left except couch grass rhizomes, there aren’t even many worms. Hopefully this winter I’ll be able to mulch at least this portion of the allotment with well-rotted manure to improve the soil.
Plans for the immediate future
At home, we have a 5ft x 7ft (1.5m x 2.1m) shed, which we store bikes and gardening equipment in. It is in a part of the garden which is best suited for a greenhouse, and while we’re pleased that there’s a greenhouse at the allotment, we’d like one at home too. To that end, we’re going to get a smaller bike shed for home and relocate our 5x7 shed to the allotment where space has been cleared under west boundary. This plan will let us re-use our shed, make space for a greenhouse, and provide a shed at the allotment all at once!
I would like to mostly grow in raised beds, but I’m a little concerned about the costs. Timber prices shot up around 2022 with the start of the current war in Ukraine, and haven’t really gone back down. We’re going to try and buy used scaffolding boards to make the sides of the raised beds, but at about £15 per 3m scaffolding board, and with a desire to make 3x1.5x0.5 beds, it’ll be about £90 for the sides alone and another £20-ish for the corner posts, per raised bed!
As is the culture of allotment-ing, we hope we can wait around until a good deal comes up and make use of the function-over-form attitude which goes with allotment sites.