Taking a little step back though, here\u2019s a reminder of how the plot looked when we took it on in July last year (2020):<\/p>\n
![\"overgrown](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"overgrown](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWhen we took the plot on, it had been abandoned for some time and was completely covered in weeds. There was also a lot of rubbish on the plot, old carpet, rotten wood, tons of plastic (ugh!), a broken poly-tunnel, you name it. <\/p>\n
We spent a good 4-6weeks last autumn clearing the plot and then we covered it using some heavy-duty landscaping fabric to keep the area weed-free for the next several months, so we could start our growing journey properly this spring. You can see more photos and read more about everything we did to our allotment plot last year here<\/a>.<\/p>\n When spring arrived, we slowly started to get to work. Grant spent some time setting up a poly-tunnel (we planned to use this mostly for storage as it was MUCH cheaper than buying a shed and unfortunately hadn\u2019t managed to find one secondhand) and I started sowing seeds in the conservatory.<\/p>\n When it was warm enough, we uncovered the landscaping fabric and started marking out our vegetable beds using a string line and some pegs (photo below). As we were on a budget, we felt this was a better option for us rather than building beds which we really couldn\u2019t afford with the high price of wood at the moment. Our \u2018string beds\u2019 worked to some degree and I think would be a good option for testing layouts BEFORE building any beds \u2013 but a string line alone definitely wouldn\u2019t work for us in the long term and we still plan to eventually build some beds.<\/p>\n After our \u2018beds\u2019 were done, we started to plant our crop out. I suppose this is where the real challenge began! We lost a fair amount of crops (peas, sprouts, and carrots were completely wiped out!), we struggled to keep the weeds at bay and we also struggled to find time to overhaul and re-design the plot in such a way to make it as low-maintenance as possible. Things like creating paths, so we didn\u2019t need to de-weed as much would have been INCREDIBLY useful, but with a very young baby, time to do all these things just wasn\u2019t on my side. <\/p>\n We did have some great successes too though. We kept the asparagus we inherited with the plot alive and DAMN it tasted good! We also grew lots of sweetcorn which WASN\u2019T eaten by rats (apparently a real problem at our allotment site!) and we had bags and bags of potatoes, courgettes, and beans. In fact, you could say we had a little too much<\/em>.<\/p>\n All in all, it was not a bad first year I\u2019d say. And we learnt A LOT!<\/p>\n Having an allotment really does take SO MUCH time. No, it really does. I never expected having an allotment plot to be quick or easy in any way, but it\u2019s still a lot<\/em> more work than perhaps I initially imagined.<\/p>\n The weeds at our allotment grow FAST. Our garden at home is relatively weed-free and those that do grow, are slow. At the allotment, weeds THRIVE! New weeds appear daily and they grow like mad. If you\u2019re not keeping on top of them, they take over really quickly.<\/p>\n Most people at our allotment site say they need to come down a minimum of 2 days a week to keep on top of everything \u2013 that\u2019s not just weeding either. Having an allotment is definitely a hobby that requires a lot<\/em> of free time.<\/p>\n You can see how quickly our \u2018paths\u2019 turned to weeds below in a matter of weeks.<\/p>\n Even things like watering is a job and a half. We\u2019re very fortunate as we have access to water at our allotment site (I know some locations have nothing at all!) and our plot is also quite close to the water point too. However, even though we are one of the closest plots to the water \u2013 going back and forth to refill the watering can, really does take quite some time! In summer, we needed to come down every other day to water, so watering can really become quite a commitment on its own.<\/p>\n Okay so I\u2019m being a bit dramatic, but yes, your crop will get eaten! Obviously, we knew lettuces would be eaten by rabbits and so on, but birds will attack certain crops in their young seedling stage and even things like rats can be a problem too.<\/p>\n We only had 2 mesh covers when we began growing, so not covering enough of our crop was possibly one of our biggest initial mistakes. Next year, we\u2019ll be covering a lot more of our crops for sure! <\/p>\n Grant built a frame for our beans and covered it in netting, but in such a way so that the netting couldn\u2019t easily be removed and meant we couldn\u2019t get access to de-weed. I did point this out to Grant at the time he was covering it, but he assured me it wasn\u2019t such a problem. Nope, it was a problem.<\/p>\n Some plots use large \u2018cages\u2019 that can easily be taken on\/off crops \u2013 but this seems to only work if you have somewhere to move the cage to. A simple net placed over bamboo sticks and weighed down seems to be the most popular option, taking up less space when not in use and easy to remove\/recover \u2013 so we\u2019ll probably do more of this next year.<\/p>\n Another big mistake we made was not marking out the areas where we\u2019d sowed seeds directly into the ground well enough. It\u2019s a fairly rare occasion to find BOTH Grant and me on the plot at the same time. Often I would pop down and do some work then a few days later Grant would pop down.<\/p>\n On more than 1 occasion, I\u2019d sowed seeds directly into the ground and added some short bamboo sticks to show where these rows of seeds were. Whether it was forgetfulness or ignorance, the site of my sowed seeds ended up being either trampled or hoed over, removing any growth.<\/p>\n At this point I should say, we didn\u2019t have any beds or paths marked out, so the whole area was just soil \u2013 and quite frankly we found that really hard to properly navigate. Having a defined path, in the end, stopped up trampling our own crops, but next year, I still think we need to mark out the areas where we\u2019ve sowed seeds into the ground, in a better and more obvious way.<\/p>\n I mean, nobody ever said 12 was the magic number. Being complete notices at growing fruit\/veg, I had no idea how many of each crop we would need\/want. So I just did 12. Of everything. Turns out 12 courgettes is absolutely ridiculous unless you\u2019re feeding a family of 100. And 12 onions isn\u2019t exactly going to last long.<\/p>\n I think we now have a better idea of what we need and how much fruit\/veg you can get from one plant. I\u2019m sure getting those numbers exactly right is still going to be a learning curve for us for some time, but I imagine this is probably an unavoidable lesson to learn for most people \u2013 you\u2019ll almost always have too much of one thing and not enough of another. Experience can only teach you the perfect numbers I guess.<\/p>\n I obviously expected to chat to our allotment neighbours, but actually, you end up chatting to EVERYONE! I wouldn\u2019t say our allotment site is small either. There really is a great community \u2013 people wave as they come\/go, everyone is keen to lend a hand (or tool!), or offer advice when needed and we\u2019ve even been given a few plants too.<\/p>\n Being on maternity leave and generally not seeing many people or going anywhere, I have thoroughly enjoyed just CHATTING to people at the allotments. Everyone is so friendly, and it makes a really lovely vibe!<\/p>\n The negative to the social aspect, is that this in itself could prevent us from getting so much done. Sometimes I\u2019d just need to quickly get IN-and-OUT and I\u2019d stop for a quick hello which would turn into a 20-min chat and before I knew it, I had to ditch my allotment plans, quickly water as much as I could and leave as fast as I could. I guess this is probably my own fault though!<\/p>\n This one is probably pretty obvious, but I\u2019m going to mention it anyway.<\/p>\n In those early newborn days, Dylan slept like an angel at the allotment and we got SO much done. As we started to get into a slight sleep\/feeding routine, I\u2019d pop him in the pram for a nap, walk to the allotment and get tons of work, it was amazing.<\/p>\n But somewhere between 4-5months any outdoor noise seemed to wake him and pram naps just didn\u2019t work, I\u2019d spend all my time rocking the pram with a grumpy baby who\u2019d randomly woken up from the tweet of a bird in the distance. So I stopped going to the allotment during nap time. But at the same time, I also didn\u2019t want to go when he was awake either, as I\u2019d feel bad with him just being sat in the pram and as you\u2019d expect, he would get grizzly fairly quick without your full attention occupying him.<\/p>\n So for a good 3 months or so (somewhere between ages 5-7 months), I was unable to do very much at all. It just wasn\u2019t possible to de-weed\/sow\/do any proper work on the plot, so the only thing I managed was a daily walk to water before bedtime. <\/p>\n Dylan is now 9 months (where are the months going?!) and he now sleeps really well outdoors in his pram again, so I\u2019ve been able to get a little more done again in the last couple of months. But the future is unpredictable and who knows how things will be in a few months from now!<\/p>\n Like the great Jurassic Park quote, despite some inconsistent care for our crop, it still managed to find a way to survive. We didn\u2019t offer nearly enough tomato feed to our tomatoes or trim the plants nearly enough. We left our polytunnel unwatered during an incredibly hot period for more days than I\u2019d have liked and nothing we did was perfect. But, despite all our growing mistakes, many our fruit and vegetables still survived. I\u2019m sure we could have got MORE crop, or BETTER crop had we done things differently, but what I\u2019m trying to say is, despite our imperfect approach, life somehow finds a way to keep going. You can make all the mistakes and chances are, you\u2019ll still get something at the end. <\/p>\n So as I said, we weren\u2019t successful with everything we grew this year \u2013 we lost ALL the peas, ALL the sprouts, and ALL the carrots. But we did really well with others \u2013 leeks, sweetcorn, and potatoes. Others we had hit\/miss success \u2013 the onions grew beautifully but some rotted at the very end.<\/p>\n It\u2019s definitely been a learning curve! We\u2019ve learnt when to sow seeds for each plant, when to harvest, the types of problems each plant encounters etc, but there is still MUCH more for us to learn and of course the problems we have next year may be completely different to this years.<\/p>\n Despite losing a fair amount of crops and having mixed success with others, we were still really happy with what we did produce. I mean, we could have come out with nothing and that would have been a real disaster!<\/p>\n Unfortunately, we hadn\u2019t been able to get as much work done to our plot as we\u2019d have liked this year. We had originally planned to build some beds, but the crazy cost of timber held up back on that. Recently we\u2019ve managed to find some secondhand\/leftover wood to use as beds, but just haven\u2019t had the time to build anything, so that\u2019s on next year\u2019s to-do list.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve also recently picked up some free pavers locally, but they\u2019ve all got massive globs of mortar on the bottom which need removing so they can sit flat on the ground. And, we also want to redesign the front section of our allotment, which we didn\u2019t use at all this year.<\/p>\n So basically, lots to do, as always! I\u2019m looking forward to next year though \u2013 I think we\u2019ve learnt a lot and will be better prepared in many ways, although, it\u2019s going to be VERY different with a TODDLER running around and I don\u2019t think we can prepare for that!!<\/p>\n Anyway, I hope this shared some of the realities we faced on our first year with an allotment and perhaps a few things to expect if you\u2019re signing up for one. Any tips\/advice are always welcome \u2013 as I say, we\u2019re VERY new to all this and still have A LOT to learn!<\/p>\n And if you want to follow our allotment journey in real-time, don\u2019t forget you check us out on Instagram at @kezzabeth_blog<\/a> too!<\/p>\n![\"allotment](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
![\"marking](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-3.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/figure>\n![\"allotment](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-4.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nOur First Year With an Allotment: What We\u2019ve Learnt!<\/h2>\n
Maintaining an Allotment Takes SO MUCH TIME<\/h3>\n
Watering an Allotment is a CHORE<\/h3>\n
Pests Eat EVERYTHING<\/h3>\n
Coverings Need to Be Easy-to-Remove<\/h3>\n
Sowing Seeds Directly Into the Ground<\/h3>\n
![\"paving](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-5.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n12 is NOT the magic number<\/h3>\n
Having an Allotment is Incredibly Social!<\/h3>\n
Allotment Life With a Baby \u2013 It\u2019s a Challenge!<\/h3>\n
![\"babies](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-6.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nDespite Everything, \u201cLife Finds a Way\u201d<\/h3>\n
Our First Year Growing with an Allotment \u2013 Overall a Success<\/h2>\n
Our Plans for Next Year<\/h3>\n
![\"family](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-7.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
![](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n![\"our](\"https:\/\/twitsguides.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/our-first-year-with-an-allotment-what-we-learnt-9.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"