I received my allotment in December 2007 after only a 2 month wait!!

It is 50ft x 27ft and I am very very lucky to have inherited a sturdy shed (6 x 4ft), a wheelbarrow, a rake, a spade, a pre built timber compost bin, a plastic compost bin, 3 gooseberry bushes, 6 raspberry canes (not sure if summer or autumn fruiting), a harvest of x2 parsnips ..... oh ... and a healthy growth of couch grass and thistles....

Keen to get prepared before spring, I have managed to start off my compost with old plant cuttings from the allotment and home compost material and shredded paper and some leaf mold. I have painted the shed and timber compost with timber preserve. I have enlisted some well needed help to clear much of the couch grass by digging it out and disposing at the local green municipal tip.

I am committed to a healthy and ethical lifestyle and am vegetarian so I hope to maintain an organic allotment....... Athough to date I have only managed to achieve this by installing a bird box and a log pile but it is a start!

The master plan is to make the plot as low maintenance as possible .... and I hope to use the no dig method as I understand this is achievable on an organic allotment.

I aim to install x16 raised beds of 10ft x 3ft which works out as x8 on each side of the plot using untreated timbers.

Well there is a lot to do this winter but I hope to have the plot ready to plant in spring!