Grow Your Own Magazine

Snadger · #1 (**permalink**) 17-03-2007, 08:21 PM

Here's a few pictures of progress on the two allotments.
I gave up an excellent allotment for these two derelict ones purely because they were side by side!
I am trying to adopt a Potager theme which has a central herb wheel and eventually edged formal beds.
It's come a long way, but there's still a long way to go!
It's been three month of graft up til now, every night after work and full weekends!

carlseawolf · #2 (**permalink**) 17-03-2007, 08:35 PM

I Like It ! It's Good To Be Diffrent For A Change , And A Lovely Layout.

Pottypotter · #3 (**permalink**) 17-03-2007, 09:05 PM

very impressive

Prickety-prackety · #4 (**permalink**) 17-03-2007, 09:17 PM

Looks good Snadger, you are very brave taking on such a mess, good luck with it. PS where do you all get your barrels from ?

bramble · #5 (**permalink**) 17-03-2007, 11:04 PM

Gosh Snadgar, you have really put in some hard work there. Its shaping up great. Keep us posted with pics updates

madderbat · #6 (**permalink**) 18-03-2007, 09:43 AM

Well done Snadge, but I didn't know we needed so many barrels!

Earthbabe · #7 (**permalink**) 18-03-2007, 09:48 AM

That's looking great Snadger.

Mrs Dobby · #8 (**permalink**) 18-03-2007, 09:53 AM

Wow! Looks great, and certainly a lot of hard work gone in on there! Keep us posted with piccies please Snadger, I want to see it in all its glory!

Snadger · #9 (**permalink**) 18-03-2007, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madderbat

Well done Snadge, but I didn't know we needed so many barrels!

I inherited a lot of barrels stashed away at the back of the plot! Pigletwillie once mentioned about having barrels dotted around so you don't need to walk so far with a watering can! I will incorporate them into my design but will try and tone down the fourecent blue somehow! (they could even be sunk halfway into the soil!)
As the plot is on a slope I should be able to link them together to a shed or greenhouse roof and let gravity fill them during the winter. Something to think about for the future!
The main outlay we have to contend with as plot holders, apart from the site rates, are metred water rates which last year were £600 for a 40 plot site. Averages out at £15 per plot, which is half of the rent!
If we can educate everyone about the use of mains water, i.e. don't use it unless absolutely necessary (and hopefully I am setting an example by using water accumulated during the winter months!) we can possibly lower the plot rent, which must appeal to everyone!

PS I might even try and get some of the square 1000 Litre water containers as well!

Gosh! This was a long reply, never mind, why use a few words when 600 will do!

dexterdoglancashire · #10 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 01:14 PM

Gosh, well done Snadger! You have certainly put in a lot of hard work and effort - your plots look super! I'm looking forward to getting my beds finished and dug over ready for planting. Hopefully going to call at the lottie enroute home from work to do a bit of digging - hopefully it wont be too cold, or snowing! LOL! Looking forward to seeing more photos of your efforts!

DDL

*Feather* · #11 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 01:59 PM

Wow! That is very impressive Snadger. I love the potager theme with the herb wheel in the middle!
You are an inspiration! Yesterday morning I was trying to put some weed control membrane down in my paths battling with the wind and later on the hale, and wondered... why do I do it? My allotment is still far from looking like a proper allotment, but looking at what you've done to yours has really inspired me to keep going!

muckdiva · #12 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 08:02 PM

Looking good Snadger. Lots of inspiration there for the rest of us

pigletwillie · #13 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 08:16 PM

A quality shout Snadger. Keep us posted.

mrskp · #14 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 09:34 PM

Top stuff Snadger. Really impressed and as Feather says, inspirational. it has certainly given me something else to thinking about when I get my plot.

can't wait for more pics.

manicorganic · #15 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 11:31 PM

Nice pics, but as a Canadian I'm only guessing at what you call an allottment. Can you please inform me?
Thanks

Two_Sheds · #16 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manicorganic

as a Canadian I'm only guessing at what you call an allottment. Can you please inform me?

Hello! First Canadian on the Grapevine?

Allotment: allotted garden. For the dispossessed peasants to grow food on, after the landowners had stolen their land off them and ringfenced it as their own.

(sorry, past my bedtime)

Two_Sheds · #17 (**permalink**) 19-03-2007, 11:44 PM

Hey Snadger, lovely pix, and what a lovely ordered plot you have. Still, I rebel against straight lines! Maybe its a man/woman thing...there ain't no straight lines in (mother) Nature

Snadger · #18 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 12:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two_Sheds

Hey Snadger, lovely pix, and what a lovely ordered plot you have. Still, I rebel against straight lines! Maybe its a man/woman thing...there ain't no straight lines in (mother) Nature

Yours is a nice plot also!

There are geometric patterns in nature though, have you ever looked at a snowflake for instance?

Two_Sheds · #19 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 12:12 AM

Snow, wassat? Global warming here mate! (actually it snowed today, but it melted before I could get a look at a snowflake)

Snadger · #20 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 12:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two_Sheds

Snow, wassat? Global warming here mate! (actually it snowed today, but it melted before I could get a look at a snowflake)

Just look at the frost on the car window tomorrow morning then!

Two_Sheds · #21 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 12:16 AM

Wassa car?
Gotta bike, me. (2 wheels good...blah blah blah)

wellie · #22 (**permalink**) 20-03-2007, 06:19 PM

Snadger,
Having turned our garden into a Potager, from a weedy and aquilegia-infested mess, totally redesigning it too, I can appreciate what hard work it's taken you from the first photo stage to the last one! Absolutely fantastic, and no wonder you're as pleased as punch.

I'm not quite sure what you meant by 'half sinking the water-butts' into the ground, but why not wrap them in plastic trellis and grow annual climbers like sweetpeas, Cobaea, Black-Eyed Susan, Purple-Bell-Vine etc. around them to disguise them, and attract beneficial insects too? Would look really pretty.
Even a wigwam of something like Borlotti beans that won't be picked until the Autumn, would give you a really attractive and productive feature to take away the 'blues'!