A twist in the (allotment) plot

Last week I introduced you to our new allotment plot. Obviously we couldn't wait to get started and thankfully Sunday brought with it some rare sunshine. Mr JibberJabber made his way down to the plot early before I joined him with flasks of tea, snacks and our two little 'helpers'. When I got there he told me that George, who we had met the week before, had been down to see him...

George had led Mr JibberJabber to see another plot. He said it had become vacant the week before. Mr JibberJabber asked if the tenant had died to which George replied, “I hope so because they cremated him last week!” He said this other plot was really good and if we were interested in swapping we should ring the council in the morning to register our interest. The potential of this plot was obvious. There was already two great sheds and greenhouse in place as opposed to the open fronted former chicken shed and the chicken poo filled shelter. One of the things we have already planned is to have row of runner beans and this plot has two very secure frames in place.

Seeing the rows of leeks, purple sprouting broccoli and the redcurrants and raspberries on the canes it's clear this is a very fertile plot. There's a great use of an old boat as a raised flower bed. At the very end of our plot there is a similar boat but is has been discarded. I'm not sure where either of these have come from as you couldn't get an area more landlocked. I couldn't help feeling like we were vultures circling round but I'm sure any allotment holder would rather have their plot taken over by people who will genuinely care for the plot rather than literally letting it go to seed.

Of course all this left us in a state of limbo. We know other people on the site have moved plots but the council could still turn around straight away and say no. Also if they did say yes it could take months for any paperwork to be sorted. So work continued on our plot and by the time I arrived Mr JibberJabber had already cleared and dug the front section of the plot. I started on what is one of my abiding interests – weeding.

By the time we left in the afternoon I had cleared the ground of weeds and Mr JibberJabber had managed to dig over half the plot. If you have read some of my gardening posts on here you will know how much I love a walled kitchen garden and as this is the last plot on the row it does have one side with a wall. I also feel this plot is much more open as there is only a neighbour on one side and there is another piece of unused land at the top.

Whilst we were still feeling enthusiastic it does seem our tools are distinctly unimpressed. The hoe has already snapped in two without even visiting the plot and now the fork has gone the same way. You just can't get the tools anymore!

We had an extra reward for our hard work as we started turning over potatoes and I can confirm they were delicious with our roast dinner later in the day. 

As for the other plot Mr JibberJabber rang the council on Monday morning and found out they didn't know that the tenant had died (whoops) and said they would need to offer it to the next of kin first. If they didn't want to take it on then we would be top of the waiting list. Obviously this could months to sort out so it was a good job we started on our plot. Of course if the plot is offered to us by then we may have done so much work on our plot that we may not be prepared to give it up. Being an allotmenteer is already far more complicated than I imagined it to be!

Hosted by Gemma Garner