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Allotment Diaries, part one

Preamble

Black thumb, I has it. A big part of this is a lack of interest in actually growing things, but as it always is with me, the production of offspring has made me want to experiment with gardening — just so my children can see how food is produced. Well, not industrially, which is clearly how almost everything we consume is grown and processed.

2018

Autumn and preparing for spring

Our plot predecessor had, according to a neighbour, "the most alternative plot on the site". It appeared to have been divided into two — one half is set up for raised beds (pretty dilapidated), and the other contains youngish fruit and nut trees and shrubs.

I am lazy. There is a school of thought called no-dig gardening that appeals for that very reason. Cover the ground up, let the lack of sunlight do its job, then you plant.

Good thing we moved recently and have a surfeit of cardboard boxes.

I wasn't sure what to do with the fruit tree side, then my friend (someone genuinely interested in gardening) asked me to take a look at a forest garden. Very cool. I am all about not following instructions and rules (I actually can't help myself, being told things have to be done a certain way is guaranteed to make me seek my own path), so I'm taking a more experimental approach, planting perennial herbs and other edibles here and there, hopefully complementing what is already there. I have had some very generous donations from friends and acquaintances, so the plot has already acquired the following cuttings: raspberries, strawberries, Chinese artichokes, oregano, perennial kale. I have also been using my kitchen scraps to re-grow vegetables, and my dry goods to sprout legumes.

2019

Almost spring

I've decided to concentrate on the more forest garden-like part of it at the moment. Building up a symbiotic, self-sustaining food forest is very appealing to me, so I'm willing to do the work now and try things out, and reap the benefits later — well, I hope we will be able to harvest some food for ourselves in the future.

A wee crocus is our first success

The winter has been spent spreading well-rotted horse manure (I still can't believe I went out early one Sunday morning with a very kind friend and spent an hour shovelling shit) and old wood chippings over parts of the plot. I will take whatever I can get for free, so the plan — if you can call it that — is part no-dig (as per Dowding) and part hugelkultur. My allotment philosophy is very loosely inspired by these permaculture, no-till or -dig methods. See above about following instructions

Money has been spent on: soil, bulbs and seeds, and a bare root rose (the latter being the largest single expense so far). I selected a species that is supposed to produce nice rosehips. I got small plastic pots for starting seeds off from Freegle, and I've realised, I am now interested in making this work.