A new project

I have my name down for an allotment in Kenilworth... trouble is, allotments are more prized than real estate here, and it's been over 2 years and counting since I applied...

A section of the 'Odibourne' allotments in Kenilworth

I think a lot of people in the area have cottoned onto the good life recently, partly because of the current austerity; but also because it has become 'fashionable' again thanks to Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall amongst others.

OK - I admit, I'm a bit of a River Cottage fanboy, and Jamie Oliver's an Essex boy like me... so, austerity didn't get me here, put it that way...

Back to the story - recently Em's mum bumped into an old acquaintance - a lady called Maggie, who used to be a dinner lady at Em's school.

It turns out that she and her daughter have a wonderfully large garden with lots of raised beds, and not enough time to keep them all, and so they have invited me to take on as much as I want! 

I'm blessed, what can I say.

So, I have this new project... I've started the season comparatively late, but there's still an opportunity to get some growing done this year.

The plot before...

I've started small with a plot roughly 6ft x 12ft - as you can see from the 'before' picture left, it was overgrown with all sorts of grasses.

The first task was to clear it, break the soil up and get some air into it - I have Em and Anne to thank for their hard work in helping me do this.

A lot of the grass came out of the ground with great clods of soil at the roots - I spent most of the time shaking soil from root balls... I now know why one version of the single dig method just buries the grass rather than extracting it...!

...and after

Anyway, having finished, I was definitely pleased with the result. The soil is a rich loam, so hopefully that will make a good medium for growing all sorts of veg.


I'm in the middle of sowing the plot having divided it up into sections... in the next post I will tell all and explain the grand plan...