Welcome
Throughout my teens, I worked weekends at an Arboretum, helping members of the public with their tree and shrub purchases. Summer holidays were spent working for other nurseries, growing chrysanthemums or trees and conifers. Finally, I spent a year after school propagating and growing herbs and alpines at yet another nursery. There are lots of nurseries in Sussex!
I then attended art college to pursue a degree in graphic design, after which I worked in central London for a few years before striking out on my own in 2002.
Back to gardening. In 2014 I inherited four sweet Hinnonmaki Red gooseberry bushes and I realised how much I enjoyed growing fruit and veg. Since then, kitchen gardening has become a major part of my life, keeping me sane on numerous occasions!
And that’s about it, I now have two allotments, a polytunnel and a greenhouse to help feed my family.
Like you, maybe, I didn’t expect to be doing this when I was younger but life seems to be made up of circles and I’ve found it more enjoyable when I go with the flow and see where they take me.
The Allotments
Allotment 1 – 20 x 10m
2014 TO THE PRESENT DAY
This was my first allotment and it became available just as we moved into our new home. We live across the road, so it’s very handy and I now treat it as an extension of our garden.
When I took on the plot, the ground was in very poor condition and empty, with no structure or raised beds. I created all the beds by double digging and adding horse manure to each one.
Back in 2014, I hadn’t heard of ‘No-Dig’ but the beds have always been a version of it, i.e. I don’t dig them, just add more compost, pondweed and manure when I can.
The layout works very well for me, but I plan to split one of the vegetable beds as it’s too large. Some of the soft-fruit bushes need replacing, so there’s still plenty to do.
Allotment 2 – 17 x 10m
2016 TO MARCH 2022
The great thing about my second allotment was that it’s next to the first! Basically, the previous tenants couldn’t give it the time and handed back the keys in 2016. As there was no one else on the waiting list and I couldn’t bear looking at all the weeds, I offered to take it on.
All my allotments are based on the principle that I’m usually quite busy and don’t enjoy spending hours weeding or cutting grass. I’d rather be sowing, propagating, planting or picking, hence my use of raised beds, weed fabric and no-dig.
Allotment 2 now has a new owner and I have moved all the fruit bushes and globe artichokes to allotments 1 and 3.
Three allotments was too many, believe it or not!
Allotment 3 – 23 x 10m
2020 TO PRESENT DAY
My latest allotment (Church Allotment) is part of our local allotment society’s site. It’s a glorious spot, up on a hill with wonderful westerly views out over the Cornish countryside. Luckily it gets full sun all day but the downside is it’s open to gales blowing down from the moors and in off the Atlantic!
The odd shape is due to the fact that my plot is on the edge of the site and runs parallel with the field boundary. The strange rectangular cutout on the top left was a space reserved for patients from the doctor’s surgery who might use it for rehab gardening. However, I was informed in July 2020 that the space is now mine so I shall update this plan when I’ve decided what to do with it.
As I only took on this plot in late 2020, I’m still working out what grows best and what fails miserably. Only time will tell, but already I absolutely love the location and will be concentrating most of my efforts on developing the plot over the coming years.
The Garden
Garden – 30 x 8m
2014 TO THE PRESENT DAY
When we moved into our current home, the garden was a blank canvas and mainly laid to lawn. However, the previous owners had terraced the garden into three very usable sections and left behind their greenhouse.
The top section contains the greenhouse and two raised beds surrounded by grass. The next section is a lawn with a fence on one side and rough hedging on the other. This hedging will be removed one day and be replaced by a fence. This is where we relax and muck about with the children
The last and lowest section of the garden had a chicken run in it but as I have no desire to keep chickens I removed it when we moved in. In 2020 I converted this section to a polytunnel, raised bed, hanging basket and hammock area. This is my favourite area of the garden and where I spend most of my time.
Greenhouse – 6 x 4ft
2014 TO THE PRESENT DAY
I used to have a small greenhouse in Sussex and sorely missed it when we moved to Cornwall. However, we moved again in 2014 and the new house came with an identical greenhouse to the one I’d left behind, so I guess I’ve come full circle!
If you enjoy growing fruit, veg or flowers, having a dedicated indoor growing space enables you to grow plants that would be almost impossible in our UK climate. I’ve grown everything from cape gooseberries to big fat juicy watermelons and raised 1000s of seedlings for both the garden and allotments in this tiny space.
The only thing I’d change about this particular model is the height of the door frame. It’s far too low and I’m always banging my head on the top bar! Having said that, I wouldn’t be without it.
Polytunnel – 6 x 3m
2020 TO THE PRESENT DAY
During the first lockdown in 2020, I decided to convert the last section of our garden into a dedicated polytunnel space so I could grow a variety of different crops throughout the year. Covid-19 and the lockdown made the decision so much easier!
I started out by removing the hedging, turf and filling in a shallow drainage pond. The area was then covered in weed fabric and 5 tonnes of Cornish stone. The polytunnel is built using scaffold poles, water pipe, timber and commercial polythene. The tunnel runs from east to west with a door at either end with two main raised beds at 4 x 1m and a smaller central bed 3m x 30cm.
We’ve grown so much extra fresh and pesticide-free food since 12 June 2020, that I see it as a wise investment.
