Goodbye Plot 14A...

I'm sorry to see my plot 14A sign go, but secretly pleased with its punk-style replacement

... Hello Plot 25!

 Were you fooled, even for a little bit? No, I've not lost or given up the plot - we were given new numbers just after we paid our fees last year. Going from Plot 14A to 25, shows you just how many full-size plots were divided up to meet the town's demand for allotments.

This approach, plus 2012's poor weather brought Chippenham's waiting list down substantially. However, I see over 40 new people were added to the list before the end of June 2013, showing demand is still strong here in Wiltshire.

A new number isn't the only change on our site. The grassy slope where Threadspider and I used to have our coffee and biscuits is no more. I was surprised to find a man and his digger opposite my plot one day late last year.

He's levelled the slope and added hard core to expand the parking available. I'm eyeing up the mound he's left behind at the back and contemplating using some of the wildflower seed mats I've been given to trial on there.

Have you had any changes made to your plot recently? Or perhaps you have your own special plans to do things differently this year?

Comments

  1. CJ8 January 2014 at 09:57

    When people vacate the older big plots at our site, they are often divided into two. When I got mine, I was given only half of the original plot. I happened to mention to some allotmenteers that it was such a shame I didn't get the whole plot, especially as the other half had a lot of mature fruit, which a newcomer would probably rip out to have room for vegetables. And miraculously the Lady with the Clipboard rang me and offered me the other half as well. Someone put in a good word for me, I was very lucky. Other than that there aren't many changes, although people are very good at maintaining the site. The stone wall around the outside is rebuilt in places, and the paths are re-done when they collapse sideways into the plots. There's a big waiting list for your site, but it's good to know that growing your own is still popular. Did they divide the plots when they were vacated, or did they take half away from existing plotholders?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:33

      It sounds like you fell on your feet plot-wise CJ!

      They did both - plots were divided when given up or if plot holders fell short of standards at inspection time. I battled to keep my other half of the plot for a number of years as I regularly fell short of what was required. However, I realised one day that caring responsibilities away from home were not going to go away in the short to mid term, so my optimistic reassurances I would be able to look after a full size plot weren't going to happen. So I gave up half of my plot and I'm pleased to say I have a great new neighbour. She's a Ghurkha army life and it's so interesting to see a different way of cultivating vegetables - she models hers on her village's system in Nepal. I've also found my half plot is more productive than my whole one as I now have time to look after it properly.

      Delete
  2. LINDA'S8 January 2014 at 12:24

    Apart from waiting to replace the broken panes of glass from the storm recently . The greenhouse is slowly starting to fill up with new seeds still working out what we going to grow but hopefully lot of things in small amounts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:33

      Sorry to hear about your storm damage Linda :(

      Delete
  3. Margaret8 January 2014 at 15:11

    We've got lots of plans for our 2 plots this year, one of which is to make some paths to stop us from slipping about when the soil is muddy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:35

      Funny you should say that Margaret - the pre car park grass bank was v slippery in the winter. I once slipped and my shoe fell off and landed on my muck heap!

      Delete
  4. Liz8 January 2014 at 15:49

    I've just had my plot number had my plot number changed from 45 to 44 so all change here too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:35

      Hi Liz - I'm intrigued by your number going downwards...

      Delete
  5. Pauline8 January 2014 at 18:13

    So glad you have still got your plot, it would be awful having to move to another plot after you had been improving the soil over a number of years.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:38

      Indeed Pauline. The talk this week of the value of ancient woodland reminded me of how precarious many of our allotment sites are. You're supposed to be given a new site, but they're usually so much poorer because of all the years of cultivation. Off-setting woodland won't work because it has also been managed for such a long period of time.

      Delete
  6. Anna8 January 2014 at 22:14

    Was rather concerned there VP but only for a minute :) I wonder if waiting lists will grow further when 'The Great Allotment Challenge" comes to our screen. No changes to my plot as far as I'm aware - too wet to venture down at the moment. Our allotment association is hoping to bid for further grants this year to improve a woodland area, improve access roads and to enable outside groups to use some of the facilities.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP10 January 2014 at 20:39

      I wonder Anna. Your association sounds great - good to hear of a site being 'invested' in for the future :)

      Delete
  7. Sue Garrett11 January 2014 at 09:48

    I think our waiting list is falling off now - we also have uncared for plots so maybe our bubble is bursting. Some are given a plot and soon realise this alotment lark isn't as easy as they thought

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP13 January 2014 at 21:09

      Our waiting list was around 130 at one point. Sarah Cundy from Wiltshire Food Champions told me Wiltshire's waiting lists were almost wiped out after the summer of 2012. Looks like we have quite a few tempted to have a go again. How many will stick at it remains to be seen...

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more