Time for some projects

We have been trying to free up some time of late to get some jobs done on the plot and getting the family involved to help do some clearing. For me my main aim was to take some of the timber I have collected and finally finish off the beds inside the polytunnel, by doing that it will also free up some space on the plot because at the moment I have too many pallets stacking up.

I started out my making a new plant bed on the right-hand side of the polytunnel to mirror the one on the left. This was a simple build, all I had to do was make a rectangle bed by stacking two lengths of pallet timber and screwing it all together. The base of our polytunnel is lined but I will also be lining the new bed, this isn't for weed protection, I find it helps to stop any soil leaking out of the bottom as our ground isn’t level so the beds never sit flush

At the rear of the tunnel, I wanted to create a potting bench and somewhere to store seedlings, but to make it a bit different I made two raised square beds in each corner. These are for salad and herbs. We eat a lot of these and as I have said this year, I aim to spend less at the shops by growing what we can. The main bench is made from an extra-long pallet I had; it was only 1ft wide but was 10ft long. Perfect for the job. All I had to do was break the pallet down, so it wasn’t as thick.

The last job is to fill the beds but I ran out of time to get compost for our allotment shop and to be honest the plants are not ready to go out yet so that buys me some time.

One of my next projects is making some 3 pallet wood compost bins, I really get sick of buying compost when I can make my own. Like most things it’s slowly getting more expensive.

Finally, the weather is now warmer, and we have got some plants in the tunnel, in the main bed on the left we have cauliflowers and cabbages and in the middle, we have tomatoes and a courgette for now. In the new corner raised beds we have put lettuce in along with radish, carrots and lettuce seeds. On the right we have put in rocket, basil, oregano and thyme seeds in.

Once we get some compost, we will have a couple of buckets for growing potatoes in the tunnel but this year we will be putting the main bulk of the potatoes outside and will see which one does best. Last year the potato buckets in the tunnel got swarmed with ants and their nests killed the roots which killed the plants.

We have a few things growing in the hot house that when ready will go in the tunnel. Sweetcorn, cucumber, onions and I would like to have strawberries in hanging baskets, I just need to find some sort of clamp or hinge I can use to hang them.

Once again if you're reading this, thank you for taking the time out of your day. I am not an expert; I am just sharing my experiences with you and maybe it helps in some way. For more on our allotment head over to our Instagram page @allotment102. We try to post a few times a week and we share everything good and bad