Summer time project,

Gardening takes all sorts of ideas to help make the rest of the future gardening better and this is we're my summer project comes in.

As ive said before i bought a field 5 mins walk away from our house and i intend to make my own allotment But as ive an very old house to do up "The house and all the work had to come first" and as this house was unlived in for 25 years except for mice, birds and the deer did use it for shelter, but you may have an idea of all the work that was needed to get it back to a better home than it once was.

But i do believe you have to take the cards life deals and when my neighbour asked if i wanted to buy the field her late husband gardened,? I jumped at the chance knowing it would be a few years until i could spend the time i know an allotment needs to make it really work But it would also need a few larger tools to help the future gardening be better for our new life style living deep in the countryside, ie deer being a nice sight but they can eat you out of all you grow if you dont fence the growing area off, and so i decided to buy an old farm tractor trailer and its this old trailer thats the summer project (when im not finishing off the last house jobs)

Again this trailer has sat in an old barn for "again 25 years" so im told (maybe 25 should be my lucky number)
But having got the trailer and started to make it track worthy ie wheels turning, brakes working, tyre's replaced, and a new cover for weather protection,

Im now at the stage of cleaning all the metal work "flaked old paint off" and the wooden removable sides to be sanded and re-painted and all electrics sorted.

So im looking forward to those long hot days "T" shirt and shorts, and the work getting done bit by bit until the day comes and i can look at whats now a very tired looking old trailer "but very strong" and see a re-vamped bright looking trailer that will give me many years of service and will be a very big part of both the allotment and the other work such as bringing the cut logs out of the woods,
and all the twigs tobe chipped for the pathways on the allotment.

So as i said gardening can take all kinds of projects for all different needs.

 

Best of luck, it seems you have given yourself a lot of work . Perhaps you can show us some before and after pics.

 

nice one! ....

if you are not going to utilize the whole area for some time, look at offering some of the land to folk who want to do some allotment gardening... (from what I have read, there is always a waiting list for allotments)

the people who use the space will rotivate, and fertilize sections of the land

 

Hi strongylodon,
Thanks for your reply,
I bought a all weather cover from an irish company in northern ireland and they also have asked if i'd take before & after pics so your on,
When its finished i'll put both pics on and you can judge and let me know what you think.

 

Hi Dim,
the only thing wrong with that idea is that land is so cheap here that anyone who wants to do their own growing is doing it, the french are known for their corner plots here there and all over the place,
I did ask two ex-pats who we do see from time to time if after they kept telling me that bought tomatoes and lettuce dont taste anything like the ones i was giving them if they'd like to share the land with me?
Never heard an other word ref gardening from them

If you we're here and you could see the amount of plots of land just doing nothing i think you'd understand, But thanks for the point.

 

That is the difference in the size of France compared to here, they are queueing up for them here and sometimes on a two year or more waiting list.

 

Are the planning laws different in France? - because in the UK you can't simply 'buy a field' and use it as a personal 'allotment' AKA garden extension.

 

Hi scrungee,
We live in dept 23 and its all farming around here, we dont have much if any other industries, This area really is like going back 30 odd years ago, hence the french old way of life is continued daily as it was many years ago,
We offten see old ladies driving tractors or walking the cows from field to field,
see french people picking what we'd think og as weeds "for thier caged rabbits"
And just about every home has a peice of land to grow food on,
As this area is all farming the laws ref allotments are not strict, and as long as the food is for private and not commercial use, no body takes any notice, I pay 30euro rates per year for my field and im allowed to grow veg/or put animals on it,

When i bought the field the legal cost to register it was more than i paid for the land,
its all in my name, registered in paris, and I had to say what i intended to use the land for and i said as an allotment,
I recieved the land reg/docs with the use of the land on them and thats about it.

If you saw the amount of fields in this location you'd understand the amount that are not used "wasted really".

 

Here in UK (England & Wales at least) it's completely the other way round - agricultural land is only for commercial use and not growing stuff for your personal, private consumption.