Grapes Allotments - Before And After

[HeyWayne]

Not really my allotment - and no "after" photo, but the attached gives you an idea of my growing experience/prowess before this adventure started.

My garden (previous house) 4 years ago.

Picture 195 gives you an idea of the size of garden (just under 10x4 metres).

[zazen999]

Lottie day 1 and 2

We had our lottie last April, 2008; and it had been unused for a few years - so the council lovingly took all the rubbish away and rotavated it. It is in the middle of 3 plots that were all rotavated at the same time.

We came back from a short break to find it had been rotavated a few days earlier than we had been told.

Step 1 was to get weed fabric down and make paths.

Step 2 was to get potatoes in

Then began the hard work of planting out beds, covering those we weren't using or and working out which had bad weeds and which didn't.

I found also that the plot's composition changed - nearest the photographer was clay, then it changed to hard hard unworkable clay, then softer, then a bit sandy, then back to clay.

[zazen999]

2009

Then we have the plot in August, and again on the Winter Solstice. The bed just behind the Winter Solstice bad is full of leeks and swedes! No idea why I didn't take a photo of that.

[zazen999]

June 09

I've added photos of the plot as it was yesterday

Onion bed, middle and closest to the shed

Potato bed, left hand side, closest to the shed

Pea/bean/tomato/squash and the last of the autumn sets, right hand side, furthest from the shed

Pea and beetroot beds, middle, furthest from the shed

[zazen999]

And flowers

chives and white/pink poppies in one seedling bed [can't bring myself to pull these poppies out]

cheap packet of alliums from b&q planted in one corner, in front of poppies

salvias in the sweetcorn bed with some winter squashes, and a piece of pipe I found on a roundabout which will be filled with sand and carrot seed sometime this week

leeks for seed, nasturtiums, one french marigold, red cabbage and onions in a seed bed, and a quaking grass that I put in last night. Plus a shallot that went to seed the looked ever so nice so I will see when the seeds do once sown later this year. Leaving the shallot to see if it produces flowers again next year.

[susieq100]

Here's mine

The first image was taken in July 2008. I had taken over the allotment about 3 weeks before but was going to use the summer holiday for some 'serious digging'. The shed you see in the background is on a neighbour's plot.

In the second image you can still see the neighbour's shed (it's the one in the middle with the green roof, but is almost obscured by my little shed - E Bay bargain).



Hope that I've done this correctly - first time!

[Storming Norman]

Is this the smallest allotment ever?

Hi Grapes,

For what it's worth here's my plot as it is now. I took it on in early May 09, and it's nearly fully planted now.

I did not take any before photos - there were no boundaries anyway to identify it and it was basically all hedge and trees - it was unworked for 10 years. It was only when I had cleared the perimeter for the council to access that it was measured and marked and I lost a chunk to my neighbour [others had this size but apparently I did not]. I still have the scarred arms.

The raised beds are courtesy of B&Q's decking offer, Mr Norman's handiwork, and allaboutliverpool's ideas for how a plot should look - if only I could achieve that scale of perfection though.

It's tiny - the wheel barrow and tool store in the pictures are on the neighbours plot.

The rest of my plot is a potager in my garden - you might like to see this as well. I will post this separately. I developed formally last year and was so pleased that it gave me the allotment bug.

Do you love allotment gardening? I do.

Ann

[Storming Norman]

No2 post - Garden Plot

Following on from my tiny allotment here is the garden plot - a potager in my garden.

I also have container beans by the green house, container herbs, toms & carrots on the patio, & toms & aubergines in the green house. The peas were really good this year but a lot of them are out now as they were getting very scruffy.

Ann

[SarzWix]

They're both lovely SN Thanks for sharing.

C'mon the rest of you, where're your pics?!!

[WillyNelson]

I'll post a quick 'before' pic now and you can have an 'after' one when I get home.

[NeilW]

Hey, i've been reading for a while but this thread inspired my to show off our plot and sign up. Be gentle with me!

We took on this 'plot' in late August 08:



Yep, no soil. No anything really. With a lot of hard work, 11 months later it now looks like this:

[susieq100]

Wow! Fantastic. Well done! Have you grown it all in containers and raised beds?

[NeilW]

Hiya, yep, the beds are all made with scaffolding boards, but we dug down through the gravelly surface to get more depth to them. We then got a big batch of old desk bins from my work and hunted around for some bigger bins too. Touch wood, everything seems to be growing really well and we have an added bonus; no weeds!

[SarzWix]

Wow Neil! I'm really impressed!! It must take you hours to keep up with the watering?!

[NeilW]

Thanks! It slightly took over our life for a while whilst we were rushing to get it done before the growing season, feels worth it now though! The watering pretty much takes care of itself - we're in Manchester - not exactly famed for it's long hot summers!