Preparing the ground for Spring

The biggest job ahead of us this Autumn is preparing the unloved plot for the Spring. As it's not been used for so long it has become really overgrown. There are even still some old forgotten potatoes in the ground... My job for today was to turn over the ground to the right hand side of the plot and cover it with black plastic sheeting in preparation for our sections and planters.

So I picked up my shovel and started turning the ground. I started by digging a trench along the top section of the plot, then worked in lines just in front of the trench so that every shovelful I dug up was turned and placed into the trench. As you work along in rows, the ground you dig and turn gets put into the trench dug by the previous row. It makes turning a lot easier and my OCD was happy with the neat lines I was digging through the soil. I also removed closed to 100 potatoes that were still sleeping, I don't think I'll risk eating them. I felt a little pang of sadness that the previous plot-holder didn't get chance to dig his potatoes up (the gentleman had passed away around a year ago).

I stopped around halfway for a breather and a drink, only to realise that my water bottle was empty and I didn't know if there was anywhere to get drinking water on the allotment. Digging is thirsty work. At least I know for next time to bring more water!

The section I worked on today is around 3m by 6m and it took me just under two hours to turn, which I think is quite good going for someone as small as me! I really should invest in a rotavator.

Once the ground was turned, I dug a trench all around the outside and then laid the plastic sheeting. I bought a roll off Ebay for around £50 for 4m by 50m which I think is pretty good value. The plastic will act as a weed barrier and hopefully kill of most of the roots under the soil until we're ready to use it in the Spring.

I did borrow my brother's battery powered strimmer with the intention to clear more of the long grass but as the sun had hidden behind the mountain by 3pm I called it quits. It gets really cold when the sun goes in.

Now to have a hot cuppa and a shower. Phew!

Square foot gardening. What it is and our success with it.

We’re going to be using a method called square foot gardening on our allotment. It was created by gardener Mel Bartholomew in the USA in the 1980's. I've got a copy of Mel's original book and it's a really refreshing read. It's a whole different approach to the typical "empty a pack of seeds in a row and see what happens" approach.

The theory is simple. You divide your growing area into square foot squares and grow a different fruit/vegetable in each one. The amount of plants you can grow in each square depends entirely on the plant and its needs.

The idea is that you prepare a large section of ground and then divide it. As the plants grow and mature you harvest them and then use the same square to grow a different plant. No square stays empty for long and it ensures that the land is in constant use and you’re not inundated with hundreds of the same plant.

It’s an effective way to keep your garden manageable and your crop rotation straightforward. If you'd like to read more about the origins of the method, here's the Wikipedia link.

Square foot grown celery next to a 5yr old sapling

Square foot grown spring onions

L shaped planter

We've used this method in our small courtyard garden at home and it was the success we had from this that has spurred me on to use it on the allotment. It really is a fantastic way to get a garden going. Last year in our little garden we built a 2 metre by 2 metre "L" shaped planter and sectioned it off into squares of around 25cm (which is less than a foot) and ended up with 14 growing squares. In those squares we grew broad beans, runner beans, carrots, radish, pak choi, spring onions and most surprisingly celery. According to veteran gardeners, celery is apparently one of the most difficult to grow. We ended up with 6 very healthy celery plants (3 per square) and there are still two in the planter ready to be pulled!

Now, don't get me wrong, the quantity of produce we grew wouldn't have fed our family for long BUT we really thrived on seeing our little garden bloom and produce some really high quality produce. As an example - from just 8 runner bean plants we had two carrier bags full of beans and they flowered earlier and continued to produce beans much later into the summer than my grandfather's plants. And he planted 100 or so already grown on plants which he got from a garden centre. He was inundated with beans, so much so that we still have bags of them in our freezer!
The quantities we grew were so much more manageable and we didn't have to give anything away because we couldn't eat it fast enough...

We've already measured and drawn up plans for our allotment and an ever growing list of what plants we're planing on putting in. So far we have drawn up plans for four 4x4 foot squares with paths in the middle, four 4x2 rectangles for fruit bushes and two 8x2 rectangles for beans and peas.

Clearing the way

At 11am yesterday, we dropped the kids off at my parent's house, eagerly packed the car and went to spend our first morning at the allotment. The rain didn't dampen our enthusiasm as we parked up and set about unloading the car. Our first job was to cut the locks off the greenhouse and shed (we'd bought new bolt cutters especially) to give us somewhere to dump our stuff and take cover from the rain. To aid us with our job of clearing we hired a beast of a machine, a bit like a petrol powered circular saw blade on the end of a long stick. It was an unruly beast and noisy as hell but it sure did the job. And I managed to cut a lot of the bushes back while I raked and gathered the cuttings.

Left : before - Right : After using the brush cutter

Before long we'd cut everything down to around 30cm in height and then we fired up an old petrol lawnmower my dad kindly gave to us. He said he had two mowers and that this one he had bought for 20 quid, so he was happy to give it to us. We gratefully accepted and got to work with getting the grass right down. It was really hard going on the uneven ground and the mower kept getting snagged on piles of mud and stone in the ground. We also discovered that the 20 quid mower also had a buggered drive shaft so it didn't propel itself. It needed to be shoved around the grass, adding to our exertion.

The mowing was my job as Andi had been weilding the petrol brush cutter for a few hours.

I'd just finished mowing our planned out 8m section when I decided to mow the quite overgrown path on the left hand side of the plot. I stuggled pushing it over the clumps of grass when suddenly the mower got caught on some stones. Cue lots of clanging and trembling from it when suddenly bits of metal flew at my face. Thank Christ I had a visor on (it came with the brush cutter) or no doubt I'd be blind. Turns out, the top of the mower was totally rusted and the churned up stones had totally penetrated it and blew it to pieces. I immediately stopped the mower and inspected the damage. It was bad. The whole metal section holding the motor was rusted, as thin as paper and that it now had a few rather large holes in it. This meant that everything the mower cut would now be propelled out of the top (and towards my face)!

Needless to say our gardening session came to an end... The above picture is before and after. The ground is now ready to be turned over and raised beds added. We gave ourselves an almighty pat on the back and revelled in our hard work. It was so lovely to be productive, outside and together child-free!

Tomorrow, we're going back with the kids to try and turn over some of the ground and maybe borrow my dad's better (more expensive) mower to cut the bottom half ready for covering with plastic sheeting.

I know I'm going to sleep well tonight!

The Beginning

Our first mission is to clear the area closest to the greenhouse, an area of approximately 8m by 8m. This is the land that was obviously worked last as it's where multiple rows of potatoes are buried. I dug up a small section of it this morning while showing the kids around and most of the potatoes are totally unviable. Surprisingly there were some that were in good condition. But, as I know very little about potatoes they will sadly be dug up and discarded as I have no idea if they're edible!

Today is an exciting day, we took over our new bumpy, weedy, overgrown allotment plot in the South Wales valleys. I've got the be honest when I say that just looking at all this land and grass gives me the collywobbles. The ground hasn't been worked in 2 years and it shows. It's a mixture of tall grasses, brambles, leftover plants and debris. Underground there are potatoes that hadn't been taken up and roots and masses of bricks and stones.

The plot is 8m wide and by my guess around 25 to 30m long. It's a twisted mixture of soil, paths, gravel and goodness knows what else...It also came with a substantial greenhouse and a shed. Both full of the previous owner's stuff.

Our plan for this plot is to work the ground nearest the greenhouse by building some raised beds and using the square foot gardening technique for growing. It's a method I've used in our small kitchen garden at home with some pretty good results. So, we'll start with what we know and take it from there. We'll be able to get four 4ft by 4ft square beds in a row near the greenhouse and hope to get them in before the spring.

The rest of the land will be covered with black plastic sheeting (once the grass has been cut) to act as weed control while we work on the rest of it. We're also planning to build an area for the kids to use on the right hand side of the plot - next to the hedge, so they are contained while we work (and hopefully stop them running on to the plot next door!)