The first post....

Well, here it is - at long last! Of course, if you are reading this you have no idea that it has been a long time coming - but trust me .... it has!

The Church Lane Plot came into existence when I took over the lease of the allotment plot a couple of weeks ago. It's a fairly basic site - not one of your "up-market, hot-and-cold running water, wifi-enabled glamorous plots. It's more your "there's a hedge, some bushes and some soil" kinda place. Salt of the earth. Dirt under the fingernails.

First view of 'The Church Lane Plot'

So here it is in all it's naked glory. Admittedly, there isn't an awful lot to say about it in it's raw state. When I first arrived it was much larger than I had been led to believe, which was certainly a good thing.

The previous incumbent had not been using the plot for the best part of a year, so it has been left fallow. No bad thing I should imagine. Although there was a light covering of leaves dropped from the mature sycamore tree, the plot was fairly clear. A fair amount of couch grass to be dealt with, mainly around the fruit end of the plot, some digging and weeding to be done, and a bit of 'maintenance' to the surrounding hedgerow - but other than that it's a clean slate.

The row of 15 blackcurrants

Perhaps THE most exciting discovery was the fact that, at the end of the plot that adjoins my neighbours plot, there are rows of various fruit bushes - and they are mine! (Well, I have inherited them from the previous chap, which is as good as the same thing!) There are two rows (about 20ft long) of raspberry canes, and a row of 15 blackcurrant bushes, and various other bits and pieces thrown in... some gooseberries, some blackberries and some loganberries. Not a bad haul - and allegedly, they all fruit very heavily. So I will be looking forward to seeing if that prediction is correct later on in the year.

I have lots of plans for the plot, but also lots to do to get it ready for planting. Some of it I have managed to get done already, so I will do some updates in the coming posts.

Thanks for reading! Much more in the pipeline...

Stephen
on The Church Lane Plot