Jun 4, 2007

Allotment Diary 2

It took several weeks to clear the plot. It was covered with brambles - some 6ft high, as well as some very impressive nettles. Once we cut these down, we started to get a better idea of the size of the area we had to work.

It's much larger than we expected - plenty of room for all sorts of salad crops, to make fresh Italian salads; as well as onions, carrots, potatoes, even sweetcorn. Once we'd got rid of the brambles we discovered lots of fruit bushes, that had been hidden away beneath them. Some hadn't survived, but others had managed to cling on and started to grow vigorously once the blanket of bramble was removed. We found several blackcurrant bushes, some raspberry canes, a few gooseberry bushes, and a lone redcurrarant.

We left them where they were, and began to lay out the other beds and pathways. We found old bits of wood and used them as edging - and then started digging. And digging. Week after week we'd go down there, dig out the roots of various weeds, turn over the soil and try and prepare it for planting. The organic way of thinking is that you feed your soil, not your plants - so you want to get plenty of nourishment in there. We dug in some well rotted compost and were eventually able to get in our first crops: potatoes. We had already 'chitted' them - which means you leave the potatoes in the light to let them sprout (egg boxes are good) - and this gave them a good start. We put in some onions too, and sowed carrot seed in between the rows - the idea being that the carrot fly pest doesn't like the smell of onion and so keeps away from your crop.

No matter how much we dug the other beds, each week we'd go down and find bindweed popping up in the freshly dug soil. It's an extraordinary plant and seems to spring back if even the tiniest amount of root is left in the ground. (I'm sure scientists should investigate its potential medicinal properties.) It looked as if we were winning the battle, and planted some swede, beetroot and spinach seed. Lettuces and tomatoes we sowed in trays indoors, to start them off.

And then, after a sunny (rather too dry April) - came May. And it rained - and rained. Day after day. It was virtually impossible to do any work on the plot. And when we got back - there were waist high nettles, flourishing bindweed, and some rather vigorous brambles. It was back to square one. But at least the potatoes were doing well.