Spring bank Holiday

So what to do?

Well everything is growing with wild abandon!!

This weekend needs to be cut everything down...........plant everything out....................sow everything in...........no time for anything else!!!!!

some more views and and a test hole dug to see what type of soil we had..........

As you can see  - clay, and all that means



taken from one corner - across to the top. Didnt know at the time but the field had been used as a menage - so under the grass was a layer of sand, and a carpet like cloth - which has been a pig to dig out



Same view a year later - soem of the cloth removed and some crops attempting to grow - fairly unsuccessfully

A further year later - the polytunnel has bene brought forward a year and is being built in the corner - the war with the cloth is over, and the sand has begun to break the clay up into a easier mix in some part. However pasture weeds are still trying to take over

Early this year - polytunnel up and running, a yew hedge and anti-rabbit fence built around the patch - and hopes for full production this year

An evolution of a pasture- bringing it up to speed

We moved from having two allotments to a smallholding that had no set aside area to grow veg - we needed to alocate an area, so we chose the pasture to the side of the house - it was closeand had easy access - and it was also next to oour designated chicken filed - so both areas were servicable by the house

It was used as a pony paddock and had become a bit wild...........

shall we ever get this off the ground???

I'm going to try again to get this going - lets see how we go!! Now I have sorted out how to put images in etc - I'll start to update - below Spud - a little taste of things to come

Spud

Spud - a month old!!

and this time we are not going to make the mistake of not documenting the whole process - pictures and words!!

seems we have a mountain to climb!!

OK

So that didnt go to well then did it - and seeing as i have lost all the photo's, not likely to be caught up on!!

Anyway - here we are - plot 1 - up and running - beds - fruit - minarette fruit trees - newly acquired plot 14 - raspberries, aspargaus - more rhubarb then you can shake a stick (of rhubarb) at.

but......................

we just got a small holding!!!! 7 acres of paradise - this blog is now up and running again!!!

Early days - this season we are mainly growing plastic

So what did we really start with back in July 2006 - and why didnt I take any photos????

Well we finally convinced the parish council we wantd a Lotty after 2 months of being told about waiting lists etc - I think it was a way of filtering out those that were not serious. Plot no 14 was 10 by 50 metres, and waist high in weeds - bramble, bindweed and couch. The council had maintained it by ploughing most of it every year - it was out of use for about 5-6 years - so they ploughed and rotavated it again for us.

And yes - all those nice bindweed and couch grass roots - boy didnt they have fun!!!

Step 1

Planning - we wanted a focused appoach to maximise time and energy spent - plus we wanted to go organic and no dig - so first steps - bit of paper and some scribbled ideas.

As to the photos - well it was bloody hot - we had a lot of work to do - and we were overawed by what we wanted to achieve - so tough!!

A start? 24/9/2007

OK starting point, Sept 07- 14 months on - the Lotty - Really should have started from the beginning - but hell I have never been that organised - I want to show the thoughts gone into getting this, and more, all together - the whys and hows and the results - so perhaps retrospectively this is better.....we shall see.

So what am I trying to prove? Well that you can dig yourself to victory!! And what is victory? Being able to support yourself with no compromise.

So here goes...............................