The “Allotment”
One of our requirements when looking at properties was enough outside space to be able to grow our own fruit and veg. We have a long term dream of being self sufficient as far as possible so this was especially important to us. At our old house in Hove we had a small but productive veg patch then took on an allotment with friends a few years ago from which we enjoyed a couple of great years and delicious produce. We’ve clearly caught the growing bug and have learnt a heap of valuable lessons along the way.
Incredibly for us Mill House has an amazing set up. The previous owners stopped actively growing veg a couple of years ago but so much of the groundwork has already been done. There are several really large edged beds, brick paths in between (wide enough foe a barrow or our tractor trailer), a potting shed and a huge greenhouse. In addition there is a really large fruit cage already planted up with established raspberry bushes. We are also lucky enough to have water taps everywhere in the garden which will make life so much easier for watering.
On closer inspection the greenhouse looked pretty unsafe and we had a local joiner some to take a look who advised that as we thought it would need rebuilding to make it safe. Luckily we have come across a great company based in the north of the country who will make a bespoke greenhouse to sit on our existing dwarf wall. We need to set aside a few days to get the existing structure down (without smashing the glass!) and the new one will be erected towards the end of January.
We have made a good start by de-weeding the two main beds and have had several bulk bags of soil improver and mushroom compost delivered. We are aiming towards a mostly no dig so have spread a thick layer of the mixed organic matter over the existing soil and covered it now for the winter. The weather is starting to get worse now so hoping to get the majority of jobs finished over the next couple of weeks then sit back with my books and make plans for what to get planting in the spring!
