My New BOL/Allotment Diary

[dannytsg]

Hi all,

So after over a year and a half of waiting, numerous different contacts of different allotment societies and council phone calls, we have finally secured an allotment for my wife and I to start trying to be more green and self sustainable with food. Being perfectly honest I am relatively new to the whole allotment thing, however we have been growing small items at home such as potatoes and strawberries and we now feel it's the right time to really get stuck in.

The allotment itself is about 10 minutes from our home and the site is run by an allotment society which isn't controlled by the council (however I do believe the council still have powers under some allotments act to enforce the use of said land). The allotment itself was a vacant possession as the previous owner hadn't done anything with it at all for months and despite numerous warnings finally gave the plot up and we got it. I came to a deal with the previous owner to buy everything on the allotment (that doesn't include the land) for £30 and I think I got a bargain as he just wanted rid. The ground rent is only £25 per year which give us 208 square meters of space.

The allotment comes with:
2 greenhouses
1 summerhouse (with sink and calor gas heating)
2 polytunnels
hose water supply
3 compost bins
fire bin
raised beds already on site
plenty of overgrown plants


The plan

First item on the agenda is to remove any rubbish that we don't need and take it to the tip. Then we are going to remove all the old plants, weeds and dead foliage, turn the beds over and make some running repairs to the poly tunnels and summerhouse ready for growing

I have taken some photos of it as it is now and will hopefully be able to update as time goes on to show what progress we make.

Thanks for reading

[dannytsg]

Sat 14/02 and Sun 15/02 2015

This was our first weekend actually working on the allotment and finding somewhere to start really posed some problems as there is quite a lot to do.

The plan of action first a foremost was to tidy out the summerhouse and remove all the broken glass and rubbish that had been accumulated by the previous owners and then get stuck into the simpler jobs to enable us to start growing relatively soon.

The two greenhouses needed to have old dead plants/veggies removed as well as one very very overgrown grape vine and the polytunnels needed all the weeds removing, soil turning over and some fixes to the actual plastic where time and the elements have broken them.

After completing 10 hours worth of work over the two days, we now have 2 greenhouses that are relatively clear all but for some plant pots and surplus potting materials as well as one polytunnel which has been repaired, weeds removed and soil turned over.

Polytunnel 1 before:


Polytunnel 1 after:

[dannytsg]

Sat 21/02/2015 & Sunday 22/02/2015

Further progress this weekend as we have now managed to clear out polytunnel number 2 and also refit the door and repair the holes. This now leaves us with 2 polytunnels to be growing in whilst we work on clearing the other beds. I also managed to fit new acrylic into the summerhouse windows as the glass ones were broken previously by vandals.

[jansman]

Looks to me like you and your wife got yourselves a very nice set up there! Thanks for sharing.

[Hamradioop]

That will keep you busy, you can no longer be bored. Nice job keep us updated.

[Arzosah]

Just found this thread today - thanks for posting! I love diary threads, and this is a great focus for one. I love before and after photos too, and these are exceptional I'll look forward to the updates

[Stasher]

Oh wow!

Thirty quid?

Bargain

You should be able to grow LOADS with this. Best of luck, look forward to updates

[dannytsg]

I have also done some other work with the summerhouse which I haven't yet listed but I will now.

The summerhouse itself was wired by the previous owner to be able to have electric powered by a generator, it has a kitchen sink which is plumed to drain outside and has a location for a calorgas input for a heater if required.

I decided that I wanted this not to just be an allotment but to also be a useful BOL/OTG location that is self contained. As a result I have purchased a 2 stroke generator with a 6 hour run time to provide electricity to the summerhouse as well as tools as required.

I also decided to make a wood burning stove out of and old calorgas bottle to enable me to heat the summerhouse using the green waste we procure when cleaning and weeding the allotment.

Here are some photos of the woodburner step by step:

Before I started I had a look on the Internet and there were many many different ways of doing this, some with elaborate welding and some simple. I decided to go for a simpler option to test it out. I do have an arc welder but chose to go no welds on this.

IF YOU INTEND TO DO THIS, REMOVE THE VALVE AND FILL THE BOTTLE WITH WATER FOR 2 DAYS. THEN EMPTY THE BOTTLE AND LEAVE UPSIDE DOWN OVERNIGHT.

I started by marking out my door using tape, drilling holes in the corners to start my jigsaw and then cutting out the door.



Once the door was cut I then marked the hinge locations and drilled the holes. The hinges were fixed to the door using M5 bolts.


Next was to drill the main bottle for the hinges and fit them along with the door.


Next was to cut a hole on the back of the bottle for the chimney/flue connection and drill vent holes under the lowest point of the fire to allow air in under the fire. I have decided to use a steel can as the flue point and will fit a flexible flue once it's sites in the summer house.

Once this was done the steel can was twist fitted into the hole. I intentionally cut the hole smaller than the can diameter to make it a very tight fit. A hammer is useful at this point and under heat, it heat welds itself in place

The finished article









Fired it up tonight and gave it the first run. Quite smokey at dirt until it got a proper burn and radiates the heat well, especially when left to ember down.

[Brambles]

Congratulations! I love my allotment. I have also kept a photo diary. This year I plan to keep a record of yield.
A word of advice. Have a wander round the field and find the old boys who have been there forever and pick their brains. Dont be too impatient to get things growing, allotments are a harsher environment. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

[dannytsg]

Congratulations! I love my allotment. I have also kept a photo diary. This year I plan to keep a record of yield.
A word of advice. Have a wander round the field and find the old boys who have been there forever and pick their brains. Dont be too impatient to get things growing, allotments are a harsher environment. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine.

Funny story but my brother has the allotment next to mine and he has been there 4 1/2 years and my sister has the allotment next to my brother and has had that for 1 year so we as a family have quite a large amount of allotment space and knowledge to use. The guy on the other side of us has had his for 28 years so I will be definitely picking brains