In April 2008, I got an allotment with my partner. It has always been an ambition of mine to grow my own food and this has led me to want to be as self sufficient as I can.

The Start

My partner and I took the last plot on the site, which we later found out, had previously been rejected numerous times. It is a triangular plot, sized at 250m². When we started it was 6ft high with brambles and that were all twisted and knotted into each other.  It took us a couple of months to clear, we used a pair of loppers to cut to ground level. Once we saw the size it was time to start digging out the roots. We managed to get 4 or 5 working beds which mainly grew potatoes, turnips and spring onions. We tried a few other crops, but either lack of experience, bad soil conditions or a combination prevented much else from growing.

We did not cover the weeds with anything so they crept back up, and we had had to tackle them again. We read that if they are covered with a material that blocks out the light the majority of weeds will die, one suggestion was carpet. Although a few crept up hear and there in the worn areas, it definitely had a positive effect. Brambles were still an issue, but no where near like they were.
We did not get much produce out of the first year, but it was totally worth it. The escape it offers, the exercise and the difference in the produce is so worth it. I was not aware that potatoes had such a nice taste until we tried our own. And we discovered that when we could taste a home grown turnip, we did not like it.

Our Second Year 2009

The start of our second year we dug our heals in, literally. We managed to cultivate about half of the plot by the beginning of the growing season and had about two thirds in a productive state by the end (around September). Through this time we grew:

Potatoes
Carrots
Lettuce
Onions (Red, White and Spring)
Radishes
Peas
Dwarf French Beans
Courgettes/Marrows
Butternut Squash
Pumpkins
Parsnips (pulled in the winter)
Leeks (pulled from winter to spring)
Strawberries (unsuccessfully)
Rhubarb (unsuccessfully)
Various Flowers

At home we started off many of the above until they established themselves, and we also grew:

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Peppers
Basil
Parsley
Chives
Mint
Coriander

During this year we learnt a lot, with reading monthly magazines and stuff online we developed new ways of doing things and overcame many issues, but as it is a huge learning curve we still had many issues that we still have to attempt this year.

Our Third Year 2010

2010 was a slow start, due to other committments we were not able to do as much as we would have liked, and so sowing for many of our crops were late. Also, due to the cold winter everyone was delayed, but we were more so.

June saw our first shopping bag harvest. We managed to take home potatoes, salad leaves, radishes, onions and garlic. With this we managed to put together the majority of a picnic.

July saw the arrival of our shed, built for us by my sister and her partner out of reclaimed wood, it was given the life expectancy of 22 years. I am so excited that it all seems to be coming together.

During the remainder of 2010 we built caged structures to house the purple sprouting brocoli. In hidsight, it would have been heavy enough not to have sunk the posts into the ground. We used plastic green netting to cover, but again in hindsight we should have gone straight for the chicken wire. It did last until March 2011, but with a tear here and there. We plan to take it up and rebuild as a moveable structure with chicken wire.

We had a good winter, plenty of Chard, Spinach, parsnips and Purple sprouting once it was ready. Although it did taste nice, we only had a few weeks before it was all in flower, so we are not sure we will grow agin for winter 2011.

We kept busy over the winter, doing as much as we could before and after the snow. It was often too cold to do more than an hour or so, but I think it paid off well.

2011

We started the year well, built a raised bed for the strawberries, complete with detatchable cage top (chicken wire) to fend of the birds. This is in addition to the strawberries we have in hanging baskets either side of the shed door.

We have a couple of current canes coming along nicely, next to the rhubarb, potted blueberry, potted tayberry and strawberry bed, and nice little fruit section.

Only the beginning of May, but have many of the beds underway. We are trying the three sisters plan this year; Peas and beans supported by sweetcorn, with squashs and pumpkins offering ground gover.

We have also planted out onions, beetroot and carrots. We did not have a supply of toilet roll tubes this year due to a change in work place, and so we are having to rely on dibbering and filling with compost. I cannot wait until the ground has improved enough for straightforward direct sowing.

A bit of thinking outside the box... We purchased a new mattress over the past few months, and rather than sending the old one to the tip we thought we would try our hand at reusing, we stripped off the cover and padding and have used the frame as a support for the cucumbers and loofahs. The padding we have saved in the loft for future craft wadding.

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, we are growing loofahs this year. We did try last year, but didn't quite get round to it. But the seedings are in the ground and I am watching over them like a mother to a baby!