Thursday 1 March 2012

Our New Home - Plot 114

If you've been reading our blog over the last few days you will have joined us on the rollercoaster ride we've been on. We had an allotment. We had 2 allotments. Shall we have both. Let's just have one. Which one?

All of those questions and topics have been discussed in the previous blog posts, but today's blog is designed to give you an insight in to our new home.

Why did we choose Plot 114 over Plot 16?

It has the contradicting type of soil. (Retains moisture, but has good drainage) - We felt this was far better than the chalky/dusty soil on Plot 16. I took advice from my Grandad the allotment guru and he said he'd rather have 1 allotment like plot 114 than 10 of the plot 16 because you'll probably grow the same amount of produce with less work. Our winning soil was definately one of the winning factors.

Plot 16 had a massive apple tree as it's only feature. Plot 114 has a shed in mint condition. Inside this shed is tools a wheelbarrow and lots of other nifty neceseties like netting and poles. Outside this shed is a composter and 2 water butts. Where Plot 16 had apples, plot 114 has raspberries. 2 whole rows of the things.

Ok, Plot 16 was closer to the water supply. But Plot 114 isn't too far at all from the site water supply and is definately reachable by a hose. With the two water butts too we should be able to use some of our own water harvest if it ever does rain again this year.

The really cool thing about Plot 114 is I can even park my car right next  to my shed! At Plot 16 you have navigate down a narrow alley in between 2 houses to get there, no good for carrying heavy things. At Plot 114 I can park up and transfer heavy and odd shaped things with ease.

So thanks for reading, here are the photos!

Here is a view from our lovely shed! You can see that it needs a bit of work but it definately has a bit of potential. This place is covered in 'useful junk' such as stakes and small raised beds which would be ideal for sowing salad...


The allotment goes up pretty much all of the way to the shed in the background minus a few ft.

At the end of the allotment there are 2 rows of raspberries and blackberries followed by a strawberry bed. Here is a view from the alternative end...


You can see how the soft fruit area is a bit overgrown and is in desperate need of pruning. You can just about see my car poking out from behind the shed too. (Advice regards pruning and mulching raspberries would be greatly appreciated.)

Walking back down to the shed, we meet these two little fellows who were watching us the whole time...


The pair or Robins did give us a good source of entertainment for a while.

Reaching the shed, it's time for a peak at what is inside...


2 hoes, a spade, fork, 2 rakes and a few planks of wood are on the left hand side as soon as you walk through the door.


Well Plot 114 is certainly going to take some work, but we believe we've made the right choice.

We're now feeling a bit better and can't wait to share our adventures with you. From planting the onion sets in a couple of weeks to harvesting pumpkins in September.

Thanks for visiting us and reading our blog we really appreciate it!

Martin and Amy x

9 comments:

  1. with your raspberrys you need to find if they are autumn or summer fruting is autumn then cut them all back now to the ground if summer then just tidy them up as they fruit on last years growth autumn fruit on this years growth.
    they plot looks great and i have a little bit of shed envy! after a lick of paint it will look grand.

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    1. The Shed is great, I can understand your envy!

      Thanks for the advice regards the raspberries. I've removed any dead wood and it seems that there are fresh buds on the remaining cains.

      Martin

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  2. That sounds like the better plot. Do the tools belong to someone else?

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    1. Hi Linda.

      Thanks for reading.

      The tools belonged to the former tennant, but they are now ours. They had one month notice to clear anything, but apparently they have moved away so all the tools, shed, waterbutts etc are all ours.

      Martin :0)

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  3. It sounds like you've made the right choice. Good luck with plot 114.

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  4. Hi I just wanted to say I enjoy reading your posts and want to nominate you for the ABC Awesome Blog content award. You can fund out details on my blog, but thank you for your posts. i love hearing about your exploits

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  5. You jammy little devil you - landed on your feet with this one, shed, tools, raised beds, parking, and raspberries!

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