Lottie News! (Allotment Information)

If you love gardening.... if you love fresh, crunchy, sweet vegetables at a price you could never find in any market then read on....!

There's nothing like growing your own vegetables and fruit.  The satisfaction of picking (and eating!) what you have toiled over and watched grow is indescribable!

There are allotments everywhere... phone your local council for details if you are unsure of your local site.  The price of renting a lottie for a year is soon paid for by the savings you make at the supermarket. (Mine is £37 a year... what a bargain!)  You will also meet lots of like minded people, who are always ready to share their growing tips with you!

Here's a picture taken on 17th March of my lottie - Plot 99!  I took the plot over in October last year (2001) and am making progress preparing the soil and creating raised beds.

Having a shed on the allotment is a bonus.  Tools and materials can be kept at hand and not lugged back and forth every visit!

The nice new coat of blue Cuprinol is thanks to my daughter Katie - not into gardening herself but a dab hand with a paintbrush!

The area around the shed is very weedy.  I shall remove any weeds that are flowering or seeding and then cover with old carpet until there's time to dig it over properly, removing any remaining weeds etc.

This end of the plot will be used for a greenhouse, cold frames, compost bins and a seedbed eventually!

The plot is approx. 90ft by 30ft or, should I say, 30 metres by 10 metres!  Now that's a lot of weeding!!  So, to make life a little easier long-term, raised beds are being created out of gravel boards.  Psychologically, weeding wont be such a chore, as each bed can be concentrated on in turn, rather than having the whole plot looming!

Having a bed system will also make rotation of crops simpler.  Most beds will run on a three-year rotation, with root crops followed by veg. from the brassica family,  followed by 'others' including legumes & onions.

If you would like to know more about crop rotation, why it is done and what crops belong to which groups, please check out the pages listed below.