Allotment ideas

Evening all,
The weather here is changing and for me its log cutting for the next few weeks,
Its one of the things about country living i like as the more logs i can get now at todays prices the cheaper the future house heating bill will be,

But once you start getting ahead of yourself with that many future log piles you need to think about storage and a place to put them as it takes approx two years for the wood to dry out enough to give a good heat off them.

It was today that ive been getting the verious tools ect ready to get on with this task that i was thinking about my own future allotment and the different ideas ive seen for making the area into sections for the verious plots,

One idea one of my french friends has done cost nothing and will last for years,
He's used old car tyre's to build a sort of raised bed, 2x tyre high and he's filled the tyre's with earth and he grow's all kinds in these trye spaces, like raddish, onions, pea's the list goes on, inside this wall all around his plot he's growing the normal root crops plus salads, & fruit.

As this tyre edging idea is on his own allotment the look of a tyre walled area is'nt a problem and it works, the garages are more than willing to get rid of the old tyre's and as he told me they just dont need anything doing to them ref looking after from one year to the next.

It's a thought!

I myself like the edging of all the plots and path area's marked out with hedging, both privet and roses and all filled with bark.

Photinia if kept trimmed makes a nice hedge, it always looks warm and welcoming.



I also like the old bath on the allotment for cleaning the veg,

This year i intend to start to put logs inside the boundry hedging, It's the ideal storage area and a good place for splitting the wood on those nice summer days.

I think the old allotment i had in england is the only thing ive missed since moving here to france, But not long now and i'll be able to spend all my time sorting this "new allotmant project out" and i can't wait to be doing it.

I was due to have a farm trailer load of manure delivered to the allotment site but its on hold for a few weeks as the farmer is holding back because of the cold spell he said is coming in the next few weeks, the manure in these huge sheds keeps the amimals warm

Well im no farmer so i'll take his word for it,
Im not bothered really as i'll be covering most of this manure up for the next 12 month anyway but its a big load and when it was offered i just couldnt say No.

 

I grow some silver birch which is ready to burn quicker (plus other longer term stuff), and I fell/coppice it so I then get pea sticks like these (1.8 - 2.4m high) from 2nd year coppice every other year: