Year Zero

Having taken on the allotment so late in the year we knew that this year was not going to produce a great abundance of produce. As such we have come to think of this year as Year Zero, next year of course being year one.

This year we have grown a few crops that have let us gauge a few things about our plot.

First is that our tree definitely produces apples, and as I found out today they taste rather nice. The tree is there for assured a place to stay. Its beautiful and productive, just what I like.


We get a lot of sun and warmth, we know that by the mini peppers and sweetcorn growing well. Although the sweetcorn has been decimated by the local wildlife. Which leads us to another thing we learned, we are going to need a fence around the plot. The plots on either side are both enclosed and now we understand why.

And just as a bonus we also have pictures of some purple dwarf beans and tomatoes, also going strong. 

But really this year is all about the ground work and soil improvement. Something we where soon stopped from going when the weather dried out the soil and made digging too hard. Now we are entering Autumn (according the calendar at least) we have hopes of getting back to the digging. 

Having started with a lawn being invaded by raspberries and brambles the plot needed a good digging, a double digging to be precise. Its hard work and getting 4 square meters a day dug is a good day. We managed to get the bed to be know as bed one plus most of what will be the fruit cage dug before the weather stopped us. 

With both me and Bill (my stepdad) being big fans of rhubarb we tucked a cluster of 4 plants into the bottom of bed one. I call it bed one, but at the time we hadn't worked out how many beds we would have. The plan has only come together lately, we hadn't at first though about a fruit cage but we realised that the family are very fond of fruit. 

This week we mapped out the beds, agreeing where the paths would go and how big each bed would be. On the allotment will be our first three beds plus the fruit and cut flower bed. With a further 4 beds taking up Bills garden where there will also be a small green house and a grow house to start our seedlings.

So now we wait for digging weather, plan our crops and dream of the next years abundance.