Selfsufficientish.com

(Mostly taken from my blog)

I went to see my new plot for the first time today!
It’s quite small and overgrown, but with a bit of elbow grease I’ll get some veg out of it. Maybe not so much this year as I may just concentrate on clearing the ground and getting it ready, but I’ll plant some potatoes and leeks for sure.
The plot has been vacant for a few years so there’s loads of weed and grass to clear. At the end of the plot my neighbour has placed a shed of his and a water butt. Apparently he hasn’t been about for a while but I don’t want to go assuming things this soon! At the side of his shed and water butt there is some land that needs clearing too. It has a tree smack bang in the middle and a huge overgrown bramble bush to the side. ‘DR’, the guy who showed me around the allotment, suggested I bought my own shed and put it there but I think I’d like to put decking or similar there for Indi to sit/sleep/play on while I work, and the brambles I’ll cut back then train so I can harvest the fruit.
There’s a possiblity my neighbour may not return, in which case I may request to take over his plot. But I don’t want to jump ahead of myself just yet!

I’m still trying to figure out how I’ll cut back the weeds and grass in the next couple of weeks while having a ten month old hanging on to my legs or attempting to walk across bracken! The route to my plot isn’t exactly pram friendly so I can’t push him to sleep and get on with it.

First job will be sorting out a bit of space for potatoes and leeks and making a baby safe area.
Hopefully will be there tomorrow, so I’ll take a few photos & post them up. (Fingers crossed it’s not raining!)

I can't wait!!

good for you penny lane. hope you enjoy the graft! is there anyway that you can claim 'squatters rights' on the neighbours shed/waterbutt??

Thanks pumpy!

The shed has a lock on it but I don't see any harm in using water from the butt.
I do need a shed really as it's quite a walk from home but there's not enough room... Will have to figure something out...

congratulations , i remember getting my first allotment and its an exciting time . if i could give you the benefit of my experience which i found out the hard way. Dont over face yourself , unless your allotment is already in really quite good condition id recommend covering part of it over with black membrane to keep the weeds from growing , it will help keep the soil ready for when you want it. and that way you can just tackle it a bit at a time until you have tamed it . im sure you will have it all up and running in no time .

as for water butts often your water company will advertise cheap ones these adverts come with your water bill , or consider freecycle . you can never have too much water