New Year, New Plot?

Potential

As I mentioned in a previous post, the low level rumblings and consternation regarding the future of our allotment site became real and pronounced just before Christmas, as The Freemen finally made clear to the current committee that their plan is to shut the site. Bah humbug. Although there hasn't been any communication (to us at least) about when this is to take effect from, and for how long the site will be closed, we've started making enquiries into the availability of plots on other sites.

We've done this with limited expectations and an open mind, even considering taking a year out of the allotment game; it's a hell of a lot of effort and we've got a lot of weddings on this year, so we told ourselves. We could spend more time looking after the garden at home, maybe try and grow some bits and bobs of veg here, we told ourselves.

Well, today we had a look at the first potential new plot, and most of those thoughts went a bit by the wayside.

There's an allotment site just a few minutes walk from our house, with a waiting list. However, through the back of the site is a collection of Pigeon Huts, one of which has been turned in to the most fantastic garden by one of our neighbours. Would we be interested in doing similar to one of the others huts he asked? Well, yes, maybe we would.

Infrastructure

The plot comprises a patch of ground, maybe 15m by 6m, and a collection of sheds. The sheds have got the potential to be converted into a pretty phenomenal greenhouse (a task which would comfortably outstrip our current DIY skillset, but what the hell...) and look pretty well built and solid. There's a load of brambles and assorted detritus strewn all over the place, but most of it looks suitably flammable. A large patch of it has been covered in plastic which has then been weighted down with paving shingle. We poked around underneath this, wondering whether we'd find paving slabs or concrete, but no: here's the money shot...

Yeah!

 Crumbly, dark, rich-looking tilth. It broke nicely apart under just a bit of pressure from a garden fork. There's apparently been nothing happen on this part of the site for a couple of years, but I reckon a couple of days full graft and you have some rows of spuds planted in here.

We haven't decided whether to take it on yet, and we're waiting to hear back from some other sites, but: it's 5 minutes walk from our door, it's got some serious sheds, it's south facing, there doesn't seem to be great amounts of any really pernicious weeds, the soil looks, in parts, almost ready to go... we're extremely tempted.

After the slow-motion death rattle of the allotments at Nunsmoor, it felt great to have a look at somewhere new that has for us none of the depressing associations of our soon to be previous patch. We're not daft enough to be blind to the fact that there will be some serious graft needed, some strange and unwelcome things turn up in the soil, and some proper DIY skills to learn, but what the hell. It felt great to look around and think "sod it- yeah, we could so this". We shall see.