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Hi everyone!
As the forum is called 'Introduce Yourself' I guess I should start with that...
My name is Ryan, I live in rural Warwickshire with my wife and 3 children and having seen the rewards of a successful allotment first hand over the years through my own father I decided to jump at the opportunity to take on a plot in our village when one came up as available.
I suppose the first thing to point out is our allotment site is a little unorthodox given that it was only a couple of years back that the local farmer (upon being approached by village residents on the subject) drew up a contract and leased out the field where out plots now reside.
The field was originally part of a larger field and was cut off when a new road into the village was built 10 or so years ago and is probably best described as a steep right-angled triangle in shape, which the village allotment committee has marked out into 10 roughly equal plots.
In proper allotment terms (at least as I understand them?), each 'plot' probably equates to a half plot in size.
There is no water on site other than a small stream and anything you can use as water storage on plot (A landlord friend has a 1000l Intermediate Ballast container (IBC) going spare which I am going to use to collect rain water off the shed roof).
I spent 6 hours on Sunday afternoon (I have the blisters to show for it!) rotovating a bed about 8ft x 20ft having strimmed and killed off the weeds over easter.
A neighbour who was having his fence replaced has donated me several lengths of gravelboard which will give me enough to create 2 x 6ftx6ft raised beds in addition to the large bed mentioned above.
I've also used his old fence posts to create a 6ft x 4ft base for Dad's old shed which he and I plan to move over in the coming few weeks.
I need to pick up some muck from a lady friend who keeps horses and then go out and buy some compost for the raised beds and spend another few hours giving the bed a good going over with the rotovator again to get the soil as fine as possible.
In the meantime I really need to start thinking about what crop I want to get in the soil...
The soil on the plot is clay based, however prior to the field being isolated when the road was put in, it was used for many years to produce crop (although I'm not sure what).
The intention of the raised beds is to give me options in a different soil type.
Aside from starting my allotment adventure I am a keen runner and also enjoy playing football and spending time with my kids.
I look forward to talking and learning with you all!!
Thanks!
Ryan
My name is Ryan, I live in rural Warwickshire with my wife and 3 children and having seen the rewards of a successful allotment first hand over the years through my own father I decided to jump at the opportunity to take on a plot in our village when one came up as available.
I suppose the first thing to point out is our allotment site is a little unorthodox given that it was only a couple of years back that the local farmer (upon being approached by village residents on the subject) drew up a contract and leased out the field where out plots now reside.
The field was originally part of a larger field and was cut off when a new road into the village was built 10 or so years ago and is probably best described as a steep right-angled triangle in shape, which the village allotment committee has marked out into 10 roughly equal plots.
In proper allotment terms (at least as I understand them?), each 'plot' probably equates to a half plot in size.
There is no water on site other than a small stream and anything you can use as water storage on plot (A landlord friend has a 1000l Intermediate Ballast container (IBC) going spare which I am going to use to collect rain water off the shed roof).
I spent 6 hours on Sunday afternoon (I have the blisters to show for it!) rotovating a bed about 8ft x 20ft having strimmed and killed off the weeds over easter.
A neighbour who was having his fence replaced has donated me several lengths of gravelboard which will give me enough to create 2 x 6ftx6ft raised beds in addition to the large bed mentioned above.
I've also used his old fence posts to create a 6ft x 4ft base for Dad's old shed which he and I plan to move over in the coming few weeks.
I need to pick up some muck from a lady friend who keeps horses and then go out and buy some compost for the raised beds and spend another few hours giving the bed a good going over with the rotovator again to get the soil as fine as possible.
In the meantime I really need to start thinking about what crop I want to get in the soil...
The soil on the plot is clay based, however prior to the field being isolated when the road was put in, it was used for many years to produce crop (although I'm not sure what).
The intention of the raised beds is to give me options in a different soil type.
Aside from starting my allotment adventure I am a keen runner and also enjoy playing football and spending time with my kids.
I look forward to talking and learning with you all!!
Thanks!
Ryan
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