The friend of the lady who I went to see about stuff for the allotment is a professional gardener and allotment owner herself, I was all ears to glean any advice and tips. She suggested I YouTube a guy called Charles Dowding on the “no dig” method which she wholly recommended especially for a newbie like me. Well after checking him out I realised I would need cardboard.............lots of cardboard. The idea is you lay down the cardboard it suppresses the weeds and eventually breaks down into the soil placing the raised beds on top of it, seemed like a good way to go to me.
Feeling the need to work smart not hard I wondered the best way to get cardboard. Going through neighbours brown bins didn’t seem ideal so I called our local electrical store and Halfords, they should have large boxes, to ask the random question if they had any cardboard and if so could I have it please. They were quite happy for me to collect. The guy from the electrical store was quite bemused as to why I wanted all of his large pieces of cardboard. “Its for my allotment” and clearly he’s never heard of the Charles guy as I could see in his face there was no correlation for him for cardboard and allotment. Halfords couldn’t give a shit why I wanted it they were just glad to offload and put it in my car, which was helpful. I can at times play the hapless, helpless woman when it suits. My local pizza shop saved his boxes from his deliveries for me, a round robin email to all branches at work and a colleague who had just moved house all contributed. After a week of collecting cardboard like some demented person I hoped I had enough to make a start.
My new go to are selling and free sites on faceache and I was delighted to secure a shed for fifty quid. I then messaged a lady who was selling 20 flags stones for a tenner. OH and I had a bit of a "domestic" about this, his argument was how would we get them and it would be easier to order some to be delivered straight to the allotment. Trouble is I do like a bargain. Saturday morning he said tell her we’ll have them and we can go collect them in two cars. I’m very grateful he’s on board. Someone else on a selling site had some plants, cucumber, tomatoes, rhubarb and a gooseberry bush! I do love a gooseberry crumble which doesn’t seem readily available nowadays. Opening the gate into her garden was like stepping into a horticultural grotto it was amazing.
The weather has been abysmal. I know my mam always said “Don’t cast a clout until May is out” but jeez its been wet preventing getting anything done on the allotment. We’ve managed to make a start when it’s been dry. To be fair OH, T and her boyfriend have done most of the donkey work whilst I’ve been at work, dismantling the raised beds and bagging up the compost to put back in them when put in place. Between us we’ve managed to get four raised beds in place and two other beds all planted. I’ve found it quite satisfying removing the bracken from where the fence is, you can see where you’ve cleared and how it opens it all up. I’ve got bruises, had bracken in my hair and wrapped around me, that stuff gets where water won’t! You know those aches you get when you’ve done some manual work out in the fresh air, its a kind of nice ache and nothing an Epsom salt bath won’t sort.
This weekend there’s been a bit of a buzz up there, beds being created, raised beds put in place and sheds going up. Passing the time of day with whoever’s up there. A few of us have decided to hire a rotavator between us for a weekend which massively spreads the cost. I’m looking forward to the better weather and having our little allotment community. Going up there, being outdoors away from everything and the only thing to think about is planting, the feel and smell of the earth literally is a breath of fresh air.
Like any new love it’s a little obsessive and all consuming and I’m pretty sure we’ll have our ups and downs but for now, I’m just a little in love.
Sha x
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