July 2010
This summer things have been going pretty well - with plenty of hot sunshine things are certainly growing but it has meant the group having to have a tight watering rota to prevent wither and wilt. But with some new members on board we're covering that pretty well. Unfortunately we lost some of the potatoes due to problems that developed early on but we've managed to get a few of them out and they were very tasty.
As the summer progresses we're getting lots of other tasty organic veg and fruit from the plot including onions, garlic, peas, spinach and salad crops, raspberries and courgettes, beetroot and more. See the pic opposite from a small selection of one of our member's pickings...
End of May 2010
OK, we've not yet put up the greenhouse(!) - but we have been busy busy. After a bit of a lull in earlier in the month, we've kicked into high gear for late spring. We've cleared a lot of overgrowth and cut all the grass on the site. We've done more planting of peas, salads, carrots, tomatoes, squashes, parnsips and more.
We've started a big push on getting more of the plot into cultivation, digging out new beds and expanding some of the existing beds. Thanks to some volunteers and new members for helping with that, not to mention a certain good nature conservationist friend who helped with the grass and scrub clearance. We're planning on digging over the new beds and doing more planting in the next work sessions, and getting some fruit bushes into the nettly area at the top of the site.. watch this space...
Early 2010...
We've been making new beds, planting up potatoes that we've been chitting, we have some runner bean and pea seedlings coming on, and we've had a new member join the group and a few more volunteers come along to workdays who might join soon.
We have rescued a greenhouse from a kind donor and we are going to start trying to put that up probably at a work session in April - it's probably going to be a bit of a challenge as none of us saw it assembled... anyway, we'll give it a shot. We are also planning to improve the pond for wildlife this year.
We've got plans for rainwater harvesting and making a shelter and some benches so we can eat lunch in comfort on the site and maybe have meetings there in the summer...
2008-2009: Season one
All in all we had a great first season, and big thanks go to Nick who was probably our chief grower through 08-09 but who has now moved up north (and we wish him all the best). We had lots of tasty veg and some fun finding our feet. We had talks and workshops, including such things as how to build a rocket stove. We've had a film crew down on site and we've featured in the Transition Movie. We've had some new members and volunteers, we've built a composting area, we've shovelled and barrowed tons of lovely poop and compost, we've met some of the other plot holders and the allotment cat...
We'll probably get more of the archive stuff on here eventually, but for now if you want a quick romp through the project's history have a look at our Facebook page here
July 2008: In the beginning
Emma started the ball rolling and did the initial negotions with the council. Later on, 7 of us met up at Bedminster Down ‘C’ to have another look around. Due to the torrential downpour that coincided fairly neatly with our arrival on site, we kept the visit brief but it was still very inspiring and ideas abound, not to mention madcap ambitious mega plans!
The next step was for us to get hold of exact details of the boundaries of our plots from the Allotments Team, and then organise a meeting somewhere dry & warm for everyone to chip in their ideas and dreams, and come up with a ‘Phase 1 plan’ to get the place a bit more tidy & manageable. Details were sent out via the online discussion group and our little project started taking shape...
