21st January 2006

I went for a walk around the allotments to decide which plot I wanted. Roger Williams, the site secretary gave me a tour and showed me the new plots that had been cleared. They didn’t really seem like the kind of thing I was looking for. I was taken a bit further afield where I enquired about a 10 perch (around 250 square metres) plot covered in brambles. It hadn’t been looked after for 10 years but it felt that if you did do something with the plot then you would have transformed it from it’s dilapidated state.

There were bits of stepladder, barrels, carrier bags, compost bags, carpet, mounds of rubbish and even a double glazed window hidden amongst the ten years worth of brambles and weeds. A metal bed mattress frame was buried upright in the ground at the bottom of the plot and there was a great big willow tree growing down there too.

These pictures show what we had to contend with. The brambles continued for the full 30 metre (around 100 feet) length of the plot. If only they were thornless. I was told that because the ground hadn't been worked on for so long that the earth would be good for growing veg. Fantastic!

It would be a challenge and there was no rush to clear the huge spikey mess, so I signed up! If I got half the plot cleared it would be an achievement!

28th January 2006

Feeling that the plot, as it was, was going to break me, I inquired as to whether anyone would be interested in going halves. After taking Tim to see the allotments on Sunday 22nd January I had gained a partner in crime. It is so much easier with two people because you motivate each other to work and you also get twice as much work done. It's also nice to hve somone to chat to because we still haven't bought a wind-up radio yet.

Tim brought with him a strimmer with a star-shaped blade for cutting through the thick growth. By the end of the day the plot had been completely cleared of brambles. Their roots were still at large in the ground but you could actually walk from the top to the bottom of the plot without looking like you’d lost a fight with a tiger. We had five bonfires of brambles altogether and discovered that we had a plum tree! We knew that we had a willow tree but Roger had volunteered to get someone to chop it down with a chainsaw. We wanted to keep the plum tree, though, because it would be great to have a fruit patch.

Jimmy, from a nearby plot, gave us a gooseberry bush. This is one of the nice things about the allotment. Everyone wants to give you advice, give you seeds or a plant or just have a natter. It's a really friendly community spirit at the site and one that is sorely missed having lived in a small town in Cornwall.