Day 1 - 19A

After registering for an allotment in June 2012, I must admit I had forgotten about it. I had emailed a couple of times to check where I sat on the waiting list but overall it had slipped my mind. It wasn't until Christmas when I received a copy of The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely, that I remembered that I was even on the list.

So when I received a phone call on Saturday night from the Allotment Association Secretary; David, asking me down to the site on Sunday morning I was quite excited. 

I must admit I had no idea what to expect as David opened the gate and invited me in. As he showed me round the site I was thrilled to see staples of every allotment; sheds, greenhouses and lots of piles of compost. I couldn't help but marvel at the well maintained plots, with their uniform raised beds, elaborate rain catching devices and weather-beaten scarecrows. 

Dotted in amongst these plots though were a few that weren't as well looked after and the odd few that had "been let go" according to David. These were quite sorry looking patches of land with bits of old mouldy carpet and rotting vegetables laying about amongst mountains of weeds.

Our quick tour ended at Plot 19A, a 5.5 perch plot that had been recently given up by an elderly Gent due to ill health.

Plot 19A

With a nod of his head towards the plot David said "This is the one, it's yours if you want it..." 

After establishing that I did indeed want it and getting the paperwork out of the way, David said his goodbyes and left me to survey our little bit of land.

19A - The Patch

As you can see, the plot is overgrown (a little wild in places) and needs some serious TLC but I know that with time we can make it into something. There is a hell of a lot of work to be done, but rather than dreading the hard work, I'm really looking forward to it. 

This Blog will follow us through our time working on the plot, documenting the changes in the patch and in time what we grow.