The New Allotment

The story so far… in June 2009 I went on the waiting list at St. Ann’s Allotments. I chose this site as it’s central, it’s big (huge in fact) and it’s got a lot happening there, including long-abandoned plots being renovated, so I hoped I’d get a plot sooner than some other places closer to home.
October 2010.
I wasn’t far wrong; a year and four months later I was excited to open a letter inviting me to view several allotments with a group of prospective tenants. Eight of us spent two hours looking at a very varied selection of plots. I made notes and took photos, looking for a plot or two which fitted my criteria: a smallish, facing south(ish) with a view, not too overgrown and not too shaded. We all went back to the STAA offices and were asked to make our choices in the order on the waiting list – I was third down and after a slightly nervous couple of minutes got my first choice. I was so excited to at last have my own allotment that my hand shook a bit as I signed the forms!

I was now the tenant of a 264 square yard plot: sloping more east than south, shaded by a tall but skinny hedge and with a couple of patches of Japanese knotweed, but with most of the ground already cleared and with its own SHED!
So, to work. First measure your plot to get a base plan. Preferably take a friend and get them to clamber into the difficult corners. Draw out the plan and start planning where the beds are to go, the compost heap, the water-butt, the picnic bench and the fruit trees… then go back and have another look at the waste land that is the bottom half of the plot and realize that it’s not time for garden design just yet. Help was at hand in the form of the left-over black plastic from the NOGs allotment. I could now forget about the bottom third for a few months, and Rob, the STAA Partnership Worker, arranged for the Japanese knotweed to be tackled.
November
My first day’s work. I did some digging and found lots of couch grass roots. Rather demoralizing, as it took me over an hour to dig over less than 2 square yards – how long is it going to take me to dig 264? On the other hand I met my neighbours, who all seem very nice, and one has attacked part of the hedge, revealing a view across Sneinton, Clifton and beyond.

As the month wore on I got into the swing of couch-grass removal, and the time-scale I need to be thinking about. The soil seems quite good – it’s basically on clay but the plot seems to have been gardened well until recently so it’s actually not bad. I started to move things into the shed – a rake, an old fork, my favourite ancient red goretex and some elderly walking boots. Now I can come here and garden at any time.

I started pulling ivy out of the hedge: pull, cut, chuck behind. Repeat ad infinitum... I realized that the avenue was a source of valuable leaves and chippings and finished each session with a stint of raking.

December
No chance of further couch-grass-digging, it was under several inches of snow. However I pulled huge amounts of ivy out of the hedge, and used it for Christmas wreath-making. Marc, the Garden Support Officer from STAA helped me to cut down several ash and sycamore trees from the hedge. I now covet a ‘Silky’ Japanese saw. I’ve also got some very useful big poles which could be used to create a shelter. I had fantasised about doing a lovely laid hedge but reality is that I’ve not got the time, and it’s 25 years since I did any hedge-laying.
January
Hadn’t seen the plot for about a month when I finally managed to get over for a couple of short sessions: raked the leaves over the soil to protect it, pulled more ivy out of the hedge, and started cutting up the wood from the tree-felling. I brought a picnic stool from home, so now I can sit and admire my terroir. It’s going to be a long job, I can tell, but I’ve fallen for the place already.
(This blog post first published in Nottingham organic Gardeners' Winter Newsletter 2011 and STAA website).