Back in 2024 I ventured into the world of veg growing and very swiftly took over the family garden. At the time, it just started as fun to see what I could grow but as I learnt very swiftly, it's amazing to watch things grow from just a tiny seed! So as summer started to progress, I decided to add myself to the allotment waiting list.
Fast forward to October 2025, after completely forgetting about even signing up, I get the email 'available allotment plot'. It had begun! I'd arranged a viewing with the allotments manager and 2 members of my family. We were lucky enough to be shown 4 allotment plots. 3 were overgrown messes that had not seen a spade in what looked like 2 years. The 4th was still being worked due to the current plot holders moving from a half to a full size plot, however it wouldn't be available until January 2026.
After many conversations, we decided to take on plot 11A as a family member. Our wonderful plot is next to the railway fencing, close to water and it had an intact shed. We officially got the keys to our plot at the very beginning of November 2025. When we came to assess what was going on, we truly had no idea. It was 4ft overgrown with dock, bramble, couch grass, some other unidentified weeds, and did I mention the bramble! (There was a lot!)
Over the past 2 months we have strimmed, chopped, strimmed again, turned dug and burnt a lot of old cuttings. Whilst we had planned to compost as much of this as we could, we've burnt most of it so far because of those unknown pesties so that we don't spread rhizome growing weeds across the plot so that they come back again.
After 2-4 hours on a weekly basis, including christmas eve and new years eve, we are finally here. Most bramble chopped, 4.5 out of 6 beds dug. A cold frame, wheelbarrow, wooden structures, a mound of doom and 3 compost bins discovered. We are still clearing but we are very close and now have a space that we can get sewing!
The mound of doom is a mild personal nightmare at the moment. It is a lot better than it was but it is just a mound of dug soil from the lot that is gathering grass and weed growth and just looks messy.
I’m currently digging bed 5 and once this is finished, we will have the pallet compost bin built and in the mound goes! We’ve also just finished planning our growing season this year and I am beyond excited to get things into the ground.
