I was offered my allotment in early October 2014. I was to meet the site manager on the Monday morning, so on the Sunday morning my wife drove to the site so we could have a sneaky peak.
Well I never expected it to be immaculate but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for what I found. The weeds were waist high, there was a pile of rubbish at one end that would have nearly filled a skip and it was obvious that this plot had been neglected for some considerable time.
rubbish pile
Of course I saw all this and it was slightly off putting, but I also saw the potential. To my way of thinking if the weeds could grow waist high so could the vegetables, also I had been waiting two years for a plot and now here I was looking at the one that had been offered to me.
Across the middle of the plot running from left to right (imagine a net on a tennis court) were a row of Raspberry canes all in full fruit (the variety are Autumn Bliss), there were also some spinach plants and some Jerusalem artichokes.
So after the council agreed to clear the rubbish, I set about clearing the jungle. It took me six months just doing a little at a time. I kept the raspberries and the artichokes but composted the rest.
It was hard work but my son helped when he could which wasn’t often as he has a full time job and a wife and four children and he moved just after I took on the plot to a house with a massive garden so he was quite busy turning that into a vegetable plot so I didn’t like to ask him too often (he also runs half marathons for fun!!!!!). I also have a friend who works for a community garden where I volunteer and he came and gave me a hand as well.