Re-roofing

The weather has been really bad here after a mild February and last week there were high winds and storms which battered our shed and whipped off most of the felt roofing so on our latest visit Peter had to re-felt the shed. I think we are going to get some bitumen paint to go on top just to seal it all in. I was also quite cross at the amount of debris that had blown onto our plot, plastic pop bottles that had been used as cloches and bits of old cardboard, lids off composters and waterbuts were littered everywhere, I really think people should do more to secure stuff on their own plot so that doesn't happen. In actual fact we hadn't done to badly in the bad weather as one shed had completely collapsed and with things getting busier on the plot now it's spring I wouldn't want to be re-building a shed.

The peas and beans now have lovely green shoots coming through which is great and my sweet peas are doing well. I can't wait unti the produce starts growing. I've also got some radish and some lettuce in now, not sure if I mentioned that earlier. My red onion sets have arrived from Thomson and Morgan and as we have a weeks holiday next week we are planning on spending some time at the plot. I'm hoping to build a sandpit for Mini to keep her out of trouble. Will also try and take some new pics to show our progress.

Planting

We are zooming ahead with progress on the allotment, we have now planted carrots, parsnips, broad beans, early peas, raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, basil and rosemary. Not bad going considering we only got the plot in January. We met some of our neighbours last week whilst we were their plot is attached to a Pupil Referral Unit and will be used to help children who are depressed and also those struggling with eating disorders, the idea is to help themj understand more about the goodness and nature of food and encourage them to eat well by being involved in growing the food. What a worthwhile project, they are also working with a local artist to design the plot and have wonderful animals and characters made out of reeds, I must admit it makes ours look a bit scruffy though I am pleased with the new raised beds I have built, they are only small but hopefully they will be very productive.

Mini is still enjoying coming with us, now the weather has dried up a bit it is a lot easier and she is getting used to her wellies and waterproofs. It can't be too long now until we start seeing some produce.

We finally joined the allotment society for a joint membership of £3, bargain or what, I also found myself volunteering to help the committe with IT stuff so I'll wait and see if anything comes of that. Looking forward to spending some time at the plot in the Easter hols and hoping for some good weather.

It's March

1st March already today, how time flies when you are having fun, and it's almost time to put in those long awaited potatoes. Last night it was so stormy, the windows were rattling and I could hear the swirling of the leaves, I haven't had a minute to go and check everything is ok today but I'm hoping it will be.

My tomatoes are coming up a treat on the draining board. My husband thinks that 20 plants is too many but we'll see, 10 are a bush type giving cherry toms and 10 are moneymaker a traditional type of tomato, we'll see how we go on, I love tomatoes in salads and we eat a lot of tomato based sauces with pasta, I also have a great recipe for tomato chutney so chances are there won't be many left even if we do keep the 20 plants and we have a large extended family who will welcome any that we can't eat.

That's one thing I am wondering about, because this is our first year it's hard to know just what sort of yield we will get, I suppose some things will be successful and others not, it's just a case of trial and error.

Am hoping to get to the plot tomorrow after church, it's my 2nd Mother's Day and I am hoping my husband has remembered to get at least a card. Then later in the day we have to go and visit our own Mum's, will have to find 10 minutes though just to check over the wind damage.

Making progress

This was part of the plot before we started today, (we've done more now) it's really making progress and just from cultivating some of the land the drainage has improved massively. The nice weather has also helped and my drainage trench at the back of the plot. We've been making small steps forward the last couple of weeks but looking at the photographs really helps illustrate just how much progress we have made. Mini is loving going down to the plot now and getting muddy, last week I had to stop her from eating mud off her spade, aren't kids lovely!?

So far we have broad beans and early peas in the ground and some new raspberry canes. I have parsnips and tomatos coming up in trays and the potatoes are spread out in trays to chit. I have prepared a large pot with peat so I can have a bash at growing some blueberries a much rated superfood so it would be good if we could grow some and I've also made up some large terracotta pots with compost ready to grow herbs.

I'm really keen to grow the things that we like to eat, it's pointless growing stuff we don't enjoy because the likliehood is that it will get wasted. I'm really getting into my cooking these days too and I'm really looking forward to when I can make things with our own home grown produce.

Our wider family has grown this month too with the safe arrival of our nephew, baby Ole James. Perhaps when he is a little bigger he will be able to come gardening with us but certainly by the time he starts weaning we are hoping to have some fresh delicious fruit and veg to serve up to him yum!

More seeds

Got some parsnip seeds and some early peas planted up this week, I've also covered the beans and peas with some mesh to stop birds and other creatures pinching the early seedlings. The forst part of this week has been amazing weather wise and we spent two full days down at the plot with picnics, one day we were all in t-shirts the weather was so fab. I think it is easy to start to think that it is spring and plant things that it's too early for in February, I am so desperate to plant stuff and see some early results that I have to be careful not to be over enthusiastic, as it is still february and hard frosts or snow are still very possible. The plot is looking great compared to when we took it on and I'm starting to see the real potential that could exist.

Mini has learnt a new game which was partly my fault as I sat her in the wheelbarrow when we were down there one time, now she likes to ride around it and when I take her out to try and do some work she just shouts 'more!' which is funny the first few times but then rapidly gets annoying. She has also started to eat mud if we leave her unsupervised with her little spade, aren't children delightful!

Planted our first seeds

Our broad beans went out in the ground today and it was quite momentous to put our first thing in. I completed building one side of the fence and have put the stakes and fence frame on the other side just need the mesh now to finish it off. The fence really defines the plot and I am secretly quite proud of my first attempt at fence building. The sun shone today and it was lovely and warm a really great day to spend outside. The roots bed is now also dug and work has begun on digging over the potato bed. The ground is atill quite wet but if we have a few more days like today then I am confident that it will soon dry up. Mini was good today, the waterproof suits are absolutely fab and I am so glad I managed to bag a bargain in the sales with them. My wellies are also a top buy, they were so comfy and practical today so I'm really pleased I bought them.

Potato seed

The potato tubers have arrived and it was with great excitement that I received the box from Thomson and Morgan, the new potatoes are one of the key motivators for me in growing vegetables because I just love them, I am so excited now about putting them in.
The weather here has been atrocious lately so we have hardly got down to the plot but we have a weekend off together coming up and I am on half term next week so can do a bit. I can't believe it is February already, work is really busy for both of us plus we have a little one to entertain, so time management, as I suspected, is going to be a real issue for us all and I'm very aware that we will need the longer spring evenings to get on top of things if we are actually going to grow much this year. Never mind as long as I get some yummy new potatoes that just melt in the mouth I will be happy, now that's not too much to hope for is it?

More ideas for kids

I've updated this section to include activities on the allotment for 11-16 year olds, any feedback comments welcomed.

Ideas for kids

I've started to build up some ideas for children to engage and interest them in your allotment, they can be found on my own website http://loweland.co.uk/benefits_for_children.htm
I will be adding to and updating them and at the moment they only go up to age 11 but there will be more soon. Any feedback and comments welcome.

Preparing the beds

This is what the tree looked like when we first went on the plot some of the very low branches were at Mini's eye level which wasn't safe and also caused a lot of shadow
This is the tree now I have pruned it and trimmed off some of the lower branches, this should raise the canopy a bit and make it safer

After many discussions about how we will lay out our plot and several different plans I think we have finally agreed this years layout. We've also been split between making raised beds which would be my preferred option and digging the ground, my husbands preference. So as in all things an element of compromise is required. We have settled that for this year the main four rotation beds will be in the ground with the other areas planted in raised beds and even some pots and compost growbags for fruit, salads etc.

This week it's done nothing but rain here, and it's been a busy week workwise and family wise so we haven't done much physically on the plot. The amount of water is amazing and after so much rain it is really collecting in the uneven areas, it makes me wonder about how we will get on next year if we actually have winter veg in the ground but I suppose it is trial and error. We have however made further decisions about varieties we want to grow and I now have a stack of seed catalogues. We visited our local plant nursery to take a look at some different fruit trees and we are planning to have one apple tree this year and some some raspberry canes, possibly some strawberries too. I'd also like a pear tree in the future and a few outdoor grape wines but you can't do everything at once. I'd also like to grow blueberries maybe next year but you need a specially prepared peat bed and with everything else we have to do in our first year this is a future development plan.

Been a busy week

With Grandma who was not amused by all the mud
All this work is very tiring!
The new path by the end of Saturday when we had to give up for the day and go home because the light was fading fast
The start of my new fence
Peter digging the legumes bed and the completed path

Mini helping Mummy in the shed
Saturday morning the path had collected loads of water where we had dug it out
I just love this pic she was having a great time being out in the sunshine
After her fall into the puddle, it was the first time the bath has ever been very dirty after she's been in
Telling Daddy what to do, note the new plot number I mounted on the shed

Well it's been a few days since I updated, we spent most of the weekend down at the alloment and then my daughter and I have been a bit poorly with the wicked winter bugs so I haven't had a chance to record our progress.

Saturday came and the weather was excellent, it was more like a good spring day than the middle of January, so after nipping to the DIY store to get some roofing felt we went straight down to the plot with sandwiches packed for lunch, we togged Mini up in her waterproofs and wellies which was a very good job as she quickly found the mud and the puddles and within twenty minutes had fallen head first into some very cold water, she was fine I was closely supervising her but it was one of those moments that go in slow motion, I couldn't reach her quite quickly enough to save her from falling I lifted her up and she continued playing with a mud streaked face and messy hair. It did highlight the dangers for a small child on an allotment, especially an unprepared site such as ours at present, water has pooled and collected in a few spots and it is vital that we watch her at all times, this also means that although there are two of us there we are not both working 100% as we always have to watch a young toddler.

Our colony has a members shed and shop where you can get hold of essentials at very reasonable prices, they also have a seed swap tray and other useful bits and bobs, it is only open at weekends and for 2 hrs on a Wednesday and is staffed by volunteers. We went in to introduce ourselves and enquire about membership of the allotment association which is a very bargainous £2.50, apparently the cost of membership is going to be reviewed at the AGM in February so until then we can't join. I found this slightly frustrating as it blocks our ability to purchase from the shop at a time when we are clearing our plot and this facility could be particularly useful.

The site was very busy on Saturday and whilst making enquiries about membership we learned that halfway up the site there is a bay where wood chip and straw mulch is dumped every now and then for any plot holder to use. We had already spied the collection on an earlier visit and discussed how useful it would be for our main path so we made the most of the free resource and gathered some to use. It was quite a trek from our plot and 14 barrows later we still hadn't quite finished the path. A friendly neighbour offered his larger sized wheelbarrow on loan so that we could transport more in one go, I thought that was really kind, there seems to be quite a sense of community and that excites me because living in a city that is hard to find.

Later in the afternoon my Mother and her husband came over to take a look at our plot, my Mum is not an outdoors type by any stretch of the imagination but it was good that they took an interest. She was quite concerned at how dirty her Grandaughter was which quite amused me. I took her for a run out to the garden centre because I needed to get some supplies whilst Barry helped Peter to strip the old felt off the shed and re-roof it with new felt. They also did some more work on the path and took down the plastic greenhouse which was getting into a bit of a state, they used the shelving in it to make shelves in the shed and re-organised all the stuff in there so there is now a lot more room. When we came back I started to build a fence with some wood offcuts and chicken wire to the boundary line to the west of our plot, my Mum is quite old fashioned about things women should and shouldn't do and I think it unnerved her to see me saw in hand chopping wood and building a fence, eventually we allowed her and Barry to go back to our house with Mini then Peter and I stayed on for another hour until the light went on us.

On Sunday we went to church so it was afternoon when we got to the plot, Peter's main task was to start digging the legumes bed that I had marked out using stakes and garden twine. It was very cold with a bitter wind and raining on and off so Mini and I dropped him off for a while and came back later to join in, I don't want her to be put off if she gets too wet and cold so we aren't overdoing it just now. When I got back our neighbours were on their plot, the couple who we had met last week who had told us about their Grandaughters. The woman and her son and grandaughter were there and amazingly we already know the son and his wife and their daughter was at our daughters birthday and vice versa because Jenna and I met each other at a postnatal group after our babies were born. We couldn't believe the conincidence and with just 5 days between them in age the girls will be able to enjoy playing together as the weather gets nicer. Everything that has happened with this allotment makes it feel like it's just meant to be and after my initial reluctance I am really enjoying it. While I was there Mini was in her buggy as it was afternoon sleep time and we popped her into the shed with the door propped open so she was sheltered but we could still keep an eye on her, this gave me the opportunity to prune the tree on the plot and take off some of the very low branches that would be dangerous to a small child, it looks loads better. Peter dug out the legumes bed as we are trying to prepare it to put in some Aquadulce Claudia broad beans by the end of this month. Things that I think in my mind will only be a quick job invariably turn into a much longer job, either because I have been unrealistic about the pace of work or because we have to rely on the weather and the land itself to co-operate but I am alreadys starting to see big changes in how the plot looks and I just want to be there all the time.

The other momentous event this weekend was the purchase of a pair of wellies for me, I haven't had wellies since I was a young child but I soon came to realise they were a necessity. At first I thought I would have some lovely fashion wellies with pink spots or something but on closer inspection I soon realised that although they looked nice they were by no means practical for actually doing any work so I purchased myself some red town and country ones, they feel completely different to how I remember wellies being and are really comfy, the first time I wore them on the plot was brilliant and they will be a permanent feature for me certainly in the winter months. I am amazed at how much my attitudes have changed since having a child, 2 years ago I would not have gone on an allotment site or wore a pair of wellies but then I also thought that I didn't want to breastfeed or use real nappies yet when the time came those things just seemed right, the allotment is already doing us good, we are outside enjoying the open air even in winter and we have a family project where we can achieve something together which will improve our diets, be of educational value to our daughter and make us spend quality together. There are loads of other reasons why it will be a good thing too, I just hope we have some success with our growing in the first year.

More digging please

Only tomorrow to go and then we can definitely get down to the allotment and do something. It has been so frustrating this week at work and even more so driving past the end of the road where the plot is but it is dark so early in January, at least I know the longest day has passed and it will only be getting lighter from here. We are both off this weekend so should be able to have a really good go at finishing the path and starting the main beds. Hopefully it won't pour down the whole weekend, with our current levels of enthusiasm we'd probably go anyway but it's not as easy as that when you have a toddler in tow because we can't confine her to the shed or have her out in the rain for a long period of time and of course her needs come first. I suppose we could rope in an ever-willing Grandparent but this is a family project, we want her to be involved and we want and need to spend time with her when we have been working during the week. This is the British winter but surely it won't rain solidly for two whole days... will it???

I've been surveying the house the last couple of evenings to see where I could locate some seed trays, to get some things started off the trouble is little Mini is into everything right now and I have visions of the compost being emptied everywhere or her trying to eat it. We have very few windowsills in our house as it has original sash windows so the choices for a sunny spot are quite limited, I think eventually we will work towards a proper greenhouse on the plot but you can't do everything at once, patience is not my strongest point and I want everything sorting now but I'll have to realise that this takes time and that's all part of the magic.

Obsessed?

Last night I was in bed reading seed catalogues at 11pm!!! My husband is concerned I have gone mad, six months ago I would have had a lot to say had he been reading a seed catalogue and trying to discuss varieties with me at that time of night but I have really got the bug. I felt quite cross that it was so dark tonight when I came home from work because I drive past the end of the road where our plot is and I would have liked to call in, roll on spring when the nights are longer.

It was the first day back at work for me today after Christmas and an opportunity to tell my colleagues about our new alloment, they were all surprisingly positive and one has even offered to help me scrounge a few pallets from somewhere she knows. She also told me that Wilkinsons and Poundland do some good gardening stuff at times so there may be a bargain to be had if you go at the right time.

Mini now has her own little toddler size spade, a metal one which is really cute, I haven't bought her all the other tools yet as she is only 16 months but she does need a few bits to keep her occupied and she loves to copy what we are doing at the moment so just walking around with her little spade will keep her happy, that's the plan anyway.

Our family have also been very positive about the new allotment, I don't know why I expected they wouldn't be really and they have been encouraging and quite helpful. My Dad and his wife have bought us a great allotment book and are very positive about Mini being involved, my Mum and her husband are coming to visit the plot at the weekend, that one really was a shocker when she said that because she doesn't like to get dirty but at least she is showing an interest and my husbands parents have also bought us a book that we haven't got yet and they've also offered us some stuff from their garage and shed. They're probably all keeping us sweet just in case we pull it off and actually manage to grow some delicious fruit and veg ha ha.

My plan for the allotment has developed some more after looking at the plot again and marking out with garden twine some 4 foot wide beds for the four main rotation beds. I also wanted to have an asparagus bed but I need to find out more about this and the difference between growing from seed or growing from 1/2yr old crowns, I sometimes feel I am making this up as I go along but I have sometimes felt that about my parenting since Mini came along and she's doing ok, so hopefully the plot will be the same.

Seed shopping

I'm quite sad, it was the last day of my Christmas Holidays today and I'll be back at work tomorrow morning but this afternoon Mini and I went seed shopping, we managed to find the exact same seeds that I wanted to buy off the internet at our local garden centre for the same price, less in fact if you minus the postage charge. We bought broad beans, 'Aquadulce Claudia, ' beetroot, 'pablo,' and some lettuce. The most exciting thing is that the beans can go in straight away as they can be sown in Jan/Feb so hopefully we will have the beds finished by the weekend and I'll be able to plant them in the new legumes bed. We took a flying visit up to the plot today just to check for any wind damage because it was really stormy here last night but everything seems to be ok. The shed windows have stayed secure and the plastic greenhouse is pretty much in the same state, the access road up to our end of the site was in something of a state after all the rain but still just about passable, we'll have to keep an eye on it though it's only a very thin access road up to the top car park and I'm not sure what chance we'd have of getting towed out.

We also went to the library today and I got 4 different books on allotments which so far I've only browsed through, the one that looks really good for us at the moment is the half hour allotment which is published by the RHS, it's got loads of ideas in there and is really encouraging for new plot holders who also have other responsibilities and can't spend all day every day on site. It's interesting to see all the different ways of doing things and the different ideas people have, maybe this getting back to nature business will help me to be more creative, we'll have to see.

I've been reading through a site about allotments the last few evenings when Mini has gone to bed at http://allotment.org.uk it is a really useful site if you need some help or inspiration to get started and had loads of information that I found useful, it's also really nice to see pics of other sites and plots and when you see lovely stuff that people have grown it is quite inspiring.

I'm dreading being back at work tomorrow I have really enjoyed this holiday because it has been so relaxed and we didn't overdo it with loads of entertaining. I've spent quite a bit of time cooking which has been really nice because it's normally a stress to rustle up something for tea at the end of a busy day but I've really enjoyed being in the kitchen and taking time over making things, I can't wait to have some of our own produce to cook with as then it will be even more satisfying, highlights over the festive season have been, baking bread flavoured with sun dried, tomato and parmesan, tofu stir fry which I only did to use up leftover veggies and it tasted gorgeous, home made pizzas, making the dough and tomato sauce from scratch which we took to a party and they were gone in minutes, lemon, grape and vodka bomb, the best dessert I have ever tasted and my Christmas Dinner duck with cranberry and orange gravy (I didn't taste it by the way I am a vegetarian but my husband does not compliment my cooking very often so I knew it must have been good.)

Stereotypes

I definitely have had in my mind a stereotype of the sort of person who has an allotment, they are 50+, working class male who wears a flat cap and is also likely to keep pigeons. I've already noticed that these days that is quite wrong there are more and more women, younger people and families getting involved as people grow increasingly concerned about living more sustainably and in a greener and more organic way. It's one of those things I am learning as I get older that the more sweeping judgements you make, the more often you are likely to be wrong and I'm also quite horrified that really I am a bit of a snob which I don't like one bit, I can see that this will be a learning exercise in more ways than one.

Kitted out

We haven't been to the allotment today, Peter is working and the weather is poor so I haven't braved it on my own with Mini, but we did do something that will be very useful, we braved the winter sales. Arghhh I hate sales and today was no exception it was heaving. Well what does that have to do with an allotment we wonder but actually we went to get some waterproofs for Mini and I got a great bargain, I got her two Togz suits which are waterproof, windproof, tear resistant, stain resistant and the best bit of all they are usually 22.99 each and I got them for 6.99 each. One aged 2 and 1 aged 3 for her to grow into. I was most pleased and now she will be warm and dry while she is playing about in the mud and I won't be worrying about her clothes getting wrecked and my ever increasing washing mound because they will just go over anything she is wearing and with little wellies too she is sorted. Just need a child size set of tools now and she will be fully kitted out.

Forgot to mention yesterday that while we were there we met the people from a plot neighbouring ours, they seemed really friendly, introduced themselves, thought it was great we had Mini with us and said they have Grandaughters who are 16months and 18 months who sometimes go with them so she might have some little playmates. This is definitely working out better than I first imagined.

We made a start

We are finally the official plot holders of Plot 3 and today collected our key and the signed copy of the tenancy agreement from the council offices. After picking up a new padlock to secure the shed and some stakes to mark our boundaries we headed over to the colony. Looking at the plot again I suddenly felt a great wave of disenchantment. The plot I thought we'd seen and I'd agreed to didn't quite resemble what in reality was there on the ground. I felt a little disheartened and was beginning to wonder if we had really done the right thing. We settled Mini in the shed in her pram and with some toys to keep her occupied as well as some muchies to distract her and set about driving in 6 stakes around the edges of the plot and using garden twine to mark out our site. As soon as we had done this I felt instantly better as you could clearly see where our plot was and it instantly looked smaller. We decided that our first plan would be to dig a path 3 ft wide from the shed up to the end edge of our plot this would mean we had a clear area to walk on and use the wheelbarrow on without compressing other areas where we would be creating beds. The soil looks quite good, fairly rich and crumbly but it is quite wet at the moment in parts so we will have to see how well draining it will be when the worst of the winter weather has gone and we have dug it over getting rid of the weeds, brambles and grass which are forming a basin for the water to sit in. We did fairly well with the path and also secured the shed, the windows needed some attention and we padlocked the door. We also secured the pvc small greenhouse thing on the side of the shed which will be useful for bringing on seeds. By the end of the 2hrs we spent there I was feeling quite optimistic and I can't wait to go again, it was cold and hard work but very satisfying and seeing the other established plots which are bearing winter veg really inspired me that this time next year it could be us going to collect our brussels, leeks or winter squash. We'll have to wait and see.

Not amused

It wasn't the positive start we'd hoped for today, an unhelpful member of staff at the council did not follow through on what she had promised in a phone conversation with my husband yesterday so although he signed the contract there was no copy for us, which is required before we access our plot and no access key. The poor receptionist who the papers had been left with seemed to know very little about it and we couldn't get hold of the designated by phone all day. It is so frustrating as while we have time off work it would have been good to go up there and start doing a bit and today was a lovely sunny day too which made it even more frustrating.

On the up side I have just placed my first order for potato seed, onions and garlic from Thomson and Morgan. This year we are going to try growing Red Duke of York as an early and then Charlotte potatoes because I just love them and use them a lot in salads and also Nadine as a general purpose potato. I have also ordered Red Baron onion sets and some garlic bulbs to plant. I am still going through the kitchen garden site to select those things that I will be growing from seed but at least I have made a start. It is confusing to a beginner the way that everything is grouped but I think I am starting to get to grips with it. I get so excited when I see all the things we could grow that it is hard not to get carried away, I need to remember that it is our first year and we must pace ourselves.

Hoping for a response from the council tomorrow so we can actually go down there and make a start but in the meantime I am sourcing things to help, I have advertised on freecycle for bits and bobs and this evening we are going to raid the sheds and garages at our parents houses to see what we can find to get our allotment going, scrap wood, chicken wire, netting, canes etc. We have loads of tools which my husband has cleaned and sharpened and we're hoping that the wheelbarrow left on site might be usuable enough to at least get us started.

In January and February we are going to struggle to get down to the plot that often because of poor weather and dark evenings, come the spring when the evenings lengthen we expect to be able to go 4/5 times a week which should be enough to keep everything going, I hope so anyway.

Just had good news!

After being on the waiting list almost 12 months we have just had the news that we have been successful in getting an allotment. It's on a colony in Chester and we are lucky as there is already a shed on the site and it's not too badly overgrown. There are mixed feelings of excitement and trepidation as we consider where this will take us in the future. My major concern at the moment is our 16 month old daughter and making the site safe and enjoyable for her but I'm also excited at the prosepect of the many educational benefits of gardening and the eventual prospect of serving up healthy home grown fruit and veg to her. We had the news confirmed on New Year's Eve which is rather ironic as we embark on this new project for the New Year, tomorrow my husband will go at 9am to the council offices to sign the tenancy agreement and then it's all ours.

We are relative beginners to all this but we have made some plans and I suppose that the test year will always be a trying one, in fact we don't hope to have the plot fully furnished for at least 5 years and it will always be a work in progress I suspose. We have read around on the subject and I can highly recommend the book, 'How to Plant your Allotment' by Caroline Foley, it is a great introduction and has many ideas to mix and match. We have an ambitious range of fruit and veg we are hoping to grow but we don't expect to do it all at once. In the first year we are hoping to get four 4ft raised beds going to contain the families potatoes, legumes, brassicas and roots, these will then be rotated around to help confuse pests and reduce soil bourne disease. Sounds good in theory doesn't it? I just hope it translates ok when we actually get on the ground. I'm also quite keen to grow some asparagus as I just love the taste of it and it can be expensive to shop for.

I have practically no experience of gardening, 2 out of the 3 houses I have lived in since being married including the present one have had no garden only a small yard, the middle house had a large garden but we were renting and it was fully laid to lawn so all my husband did was cut the grass in the summer months. Having said that I have happy memories of a time when my brother and I as children had a small section of my Grandfather's veg plot which took up most of his large back garden and we spent many happy times there planting seeds, watering and eating delicious fresh peas straight out of the pods. If we were having a salad when visiting he would go and pick the produce fresh and within an hour it would be served up usually with some fresh salmon or some sandwiches on hearty bread and followed by tinned peaches and evaporated milk, that was the life eh? Alright so perhaps this is a fairly romanticised view but I loved that garden the rich smell of tomatoes in his greenhouse and the onions strung up and drying in the shed it was an important and unforgettable part of my childhood. My husband has slightly more experience of gardening and has grown veg before, we have even tried growing veg in pots in our small back yard in the middle of a city whilst waiting for an allotment site to become vacant. This year we have successfully grown, all in pots, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce leaves and the herb chives, utilising a small cold frame in the back yard and our sunny windowsill, before allowing them to be exposed to the elements and grow outside in the weather but in the shelter of a walled back yard. Thinking about this seems so simple now compared with taking on an allotment which as I think now I recall being rather huge. It seems a rather overbearing task.

This blog is a way for me to chart our progress, we are growing for the future in so many ways with our family and friends in our jobs and our community and now with our fruit and vegetable on our new allotment site. Tomorrow we'll visit for the first time as official tenants of Plot 3, our only plan is to mark our boundries with short stakes and garden twine and to padlock the shed and re-attach the perspex windows, we can then assess fully what work needs to be done as we go forward.