Priory Cottage Allotment II

May 2016. This is the view from the top of the allotment towards our house. Whilst the previous tenant had grown some vegetables the land was disorganised.

This is the view from the bottom of the allotment nearest the house. This half of the allotment had not been cultivated for several years. We were in fact unable to start on this area for several months due to a family of blue tits nesting in the concrete blocks!

Initial work involved laying a base for the summerhouse and brassica cage and covering the raised bed area in polythene.

We also started to mark out the area for the greenhouse and the raspberry beds

..... and the orchard area.

First priority was to move the summerhouse from our old allotment. I replaced the felt roof with polycarbonate and the plastic windows with glass which totally transformed the feel and the heat!!

November 2016 saw the polythene removed so that the whole of the raised bed area could be rotavated and levelled......

,,,, prior to constructing the raised beds.

12 raised beds constructed....

..... before being raked and levelled,

Each bed divided by a path comprising weed retardant material covered with wood shavings from a local stable.

The beds were and covered with polythene to keep the weeds suppressed until ready for planting......

...... and completed by the end of 2016.

Fruit beds were lined with weed retardant material and individual pots inserted. Fresh horse manure was used as a mulch...

..... topped off with leaves.

Bushes and trees were transplanted into the orchard area in early 2017

Area excavated for greenhouse surrounding fruit beds.

Greenhouse assembled in early April 2017

Planting took place in Spring 2017.....

... with neat crops all in a row......

...... with turf laid between each bed to add a finishing touch..... as well as providing plenty of grass for composting.

The orchard blossomed in our first Spring but further improvement took place during the summer along with work on the chicken cage.