My allotment

It was a lovely end of the day so I thought I'd show a photo of the allotment, and tell a bit about it.

Basically this is just one part of the allotment.. we (me and my dad) have three parts all together. One is vegetables, and one is fruiting trees (Pears).. however the area I'm going to talk about is my sole creation.. it's a specimen ornamental and fruit area, with the ornamental plants being specifically planted to aid pollination. There are two zones to the ornamental plantings, at the back there is an area set aside for weed growth - this might seem bizarre, but 'weeds' are vitally important to pollinators, and I want to keep it that way. Next zone is more rare plants from around the world, so plants such as Grevillea, Cordyline, Citrus, Callistemon and Echium - plants with rich sources of nectar. These are interplanted with peppers and Chili pepper varieties.

There are then, on the main allotment plot, five square beds, holding warm climate plants which are both potentially productive and ornamental. These include; Pineapple Guava, Fig, Chilean Guava, Calamondin citrus, Ornamental Bananas, as well as a Pomegranate, and Strawberries (including alpine) interplanted.

I have a three tiered long bed too, divided into 3.. the highest tier contains Cucumbers and Cucamelons, the middle tier contains Tomatoes, and the lower tier contains Mediterranean herbs and Blackcurrant Sage.

Thats pretty much it.

 

Sounds and looks wonderful Stephen ... look forward to following yur progress. Will catch up with you soon. xx

 

It's lovely! And full of promise - I'll look forward to seeing more pix in due course. I've got a dwarf pomegranate here in London, which regularly fruits. It's growing with some other plants in a disused cistern, in a sunny sheltered spot with a wall behind it, and has survived some hard winters now. And I have a blackcurrant sage which smells divine but has a tendency to take over - it doesn't seem to mind being cut back hard though.

 

I really love the none symmetry to the plot, although I'm sure this wasn't a rushed, throw some raised beds anywhere kind of job, but instead well thought out.

The varied sizes and shapes really look like they work in terms of using the plot not just for the sole purpose of filling it with a load of future glut to harvest. Great job mate, I'm looking forward to seeing how it's shaping up!