Changes on the allotment

Plot 10b

Things are changing at the allotment this year. Helen has decided that with all her work and family commitments she can no longer give enough time to working her plot (Plot 10b) and so will be giving it up at the end of the year. She will still be around though, helping me on my plot (Plot 8) when she can.

As we worked on both plots together and shared everything, we are gradually moving the things over to plot 8 which we want to keep.  Things like tools, pots, pea and bean frames and also plants.  There are quite a lot of fruit bushes on Plot 10b but not so many on plot 8.  Earlier this year I  moved three blackcurrant bushes and planted them in the fruit bed on Plot 8.  In the autumn I want to move the gooseberries and some of the rhubarb. There won't be enough space in the fruit bed on plot 8 to transplant all of the rhubarb, but I will be moving some of it.

Then we need to sort out the shed.  There is quite a bit of useful stuff which we will take with us to Plot 8.  This means we will have to improve the storage space in Plot 8's shed with hooks to hang tools on and shelves for larger items. I like to keep the shed reasonably tidy so that we can work in there on the potting bench and also make a brew (very important!)

   

Plot 8 shed

Behind the shed on Plot 8 is a very untidy area where we have dumped things which might come in useful one day.  We need to tidy this up and get rid of anything we don't need.  Richard has a plan to build a sort of storage shelter where can store large items like wood and growhouse frames, which we seem to have a lot of on both plots.

The mess behind plot 8 shed

    

The big decision was what to do about the greenhouse on plot 10b. It's not a proper greenhouse but a timber framed structure which Richard built and covered with polytunnel material.  Richard felt it wasn't worth trying to dismantle it and move it over to plot 8. It didn't cost much to make as all the wood was recycled. It is also too big for Plot 8.  So as we can't afford to buy a proper greenhouse he is planning to build another of the same type on Plot 8. It will be smaller, but that won't matter, the other one was quite big. He's started work already on building the base for it.  This is in the area where the old pond was.

Because Helen and I had shared both plots, we did consider which plot to give up--Plot 10b or Plot 8.  But we decided to keep Plot 8.  It might seem a bit daft to get sentimental over an allotment plot, but we do like Plot 8.  It's secluded,  has a good feel to it, lots of wildlife, a woodland area where the grandchildren can play and the best shed ever--another of Richard's creations.

This year we're not doing much growing on Plot 10b as we start to wind down. We're using the greenhouse and just keeping up with the weeding. We worked really hard to get Plot10b into a workable allotment and some people have said it's a shame to give it up after doing all that work. But we don't mind that. We've enjoyed the challenge of transforming a piece of derelict land into a good growing space and hope that the new tenants will look after it. It was hard work looking after two plots so we're already starting to feel the benefits of having just one plot to look after.

Shed love

I have to admit to being a bit of a shed lover.  There's nothing I like better than to visit a garden and peer into the shed to see how it's all set out. I love to see how other people use their sheds. Sheds have all sorts of uses these days, for offices, studies, hobbies rooms, places to write, rest, retreat to etc.

One of our local bishops when he was first appointed and moved into his Bishop's house had a shed put in the garden to use as a chapel. He needed a quiet space away from the distractions of the telephone which he could use for his regular morning and evening prayer.  I had the privilege of seeing his shed once. Fitted out with a small altar and a few chairs, icons and christian symbols, the shed had a quiet, prayerful atmosphere, it was a very special place.

At our allotments there are some 'interesting' sheds made out of old doors, windows, fence panels, corrugated sheets. They are really ramshackle looking places, but great examples of recycling.  They are places to store garden stuff, sit and drink tea, shelter from the rain, but they are also well loved places.

At the RHS garden Harlow Carr there is a shed which I drool over whenever we go there. It's a lovely old fashioned Victorian gardener's shed. I'd love a shed like it, but, it's probably a bit too showy, too neat and tidy for me. My shed could never be so tidy.

 

This is a quirky sort of shed we spotted on a walk whilst visiting our daughter in Bedfordshire.

It's often said that men love their sheds and it seems to have started at an early age in our family because our 6 year old grandson, ever since he could walk, has had a thing about our shed.  Whenever we were out in the garden he would (and still does) make a beeline for the shed and would emerge brandishing mine or grandad's tools, much to our horror! Now he has his own tools in there and is a bit safer.

So what about my shed?  It's not very big and we have a lot of stuff to store in there, so it can get untidy.  But it fulfills all my organising dreams with hooks to hang tools on, shelves to store garden stuff and a bench to work on.   It gets an annual clean up in the autumn and then it's ready for winter projects, like making Christmas wreaths. 

I would love to have a big enough shed to be able to sit in and use for other things, like reading gardening magazines and drinking tea.  I think I really need a summer house!

Because it's not so big, outside of my shed is also a very special area.  That's where my potting bench is. It's home made by my husband out of an old kitchen table and it's perfect.  It's where I sow seeds, transplant seedlings, pot things on. But it's also a place where I can escape to. I can sit there in the sunshine with a mug of tea, listening to the birds singing, looking at the garden.

Are you a shed lover? What's your shed like?