Our new house backs onto a large area of allotments, and in a fit of madness Camilla signed up for half a plot - about 60 sqm - last weekend.
This is the view from out bathroom window, looking south over our back yard (and shed) towards the East Ward allotments. Our plot is to the right of the bluish greenhouse above the right side of the shed.
The previous renters hadn't done any work on it for a year or more, so it's a bit overgrown - mostly grass, but some blackberries. But it's a flat piece of land with good soil. The neighbouring plots are really nicely done up and give us something to aspire to.
our allotment
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the neighbours on one side
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and on the other
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We brought some specialists - a botanist and a no-dig gardener - all the way from Australia to give us advice. Now I just have to get my nephews to help out with the weed-clearing!
You are soon to have an extra mouth to feed. Get cracking with tilling of the field.
We put in a compost bin today, and cleared away some of the blackberries.
That's a start. You need to do more. You better round up your mates and harness them to pull a plough before the weather gets really cold and the soil hardened.
You remind me of myself like 20/25 years ago.
Good luck!
If we get six degrees of warming by 2100, and higher rainfall, our grandchildren may be able to use it as rice paddy.
Weren't the blackberries the productive part?
Yes, blackberries can be thought of as a crop as well as a weed, but there's only so much blackberry jam one can eat!