The Plot: |
HistoryWhen we moved into our house during the autumn of 1992 we soon discovered a somewhat neglected vegetable plot languishing behind a cupressus hedge at the bottom of the garden. The hedge blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the plot and it soon became apparent that if we wanted to have a go at growing veg then it would have to go. Over a period of several weeks the hedge was reduced to a row of stumps. We were then in a position to get the plot dug over and get some veg in. At first we used traditional methods. The plot was dug over each year and we walked across it to gain access to the rows of veg. Although this got us started it soon became obvious that we were not getting a very high yield. The next problem to be sorted out was the "small" Christmas tree in the middle of one of the plots. It was obviously a survivor from the previous occupant's Christmas celebrations and must have looked quite nice when it was planted. Since then it had grown into a thirty foot high monster robbing the plot of both light and water; this too would have to go. The hedge had only been about eight feet high and not too much trouble to remove, but a thirty foot high tree was a different matter - help would be needed. Ian's dad Geoff was persuaded to pay one of his weekend visits to lend a hand. The lower branches were lopped off with a bow saw starting from the ground. Soon a ladder was needed to gain access to the higher branches. Ian then had to climb as far up the trunk as possible to attach a rope. The plan was to cut a wedge from the trunk on the side we wanted it to fall towards which was almost a third of the diameter of the trunk. Another larger wedge would then be cut from the other side just above the first wedge and the tree should then topple in the required direction. The slight problem was that two decorative borders had been planted at the front of the plot and the tree would have to fall between them. The gap was only six feet wide and about ten feet from the base of the tree. This is where the rope and Geoff came in. Once the first wedge had been cut the rope was laid out up the garden and tied around Geoff's waist. As the second wedge was cut Geoff lent back to give added persuasion to the direction we wished it to fall in. It worked a treat and the tree fell right in the middle of the gap. That just left the problem of removing the stump and getting rid of all the wood. The stump had been left about six feet high on purpose (the felling cuts had been made from the top of a step ladder). We dug down around the stump for about three feet and then cut through any remaining roots with a small hatchet. The stump was then rocked back and forth to expose more roots which were also cut through. We were left with a hole six feet across and three feet deep. Using some of the smaller branches a small fire was lit in the bottom of the hole and more and more wood was piled on to form a massive bonfire. The fire burned for the best part of a week and the wood was reduced to ashes. Once these had cooled they were spread across the plot and the hole was filled in. By 1995 we had a veg garden... of sorts.
Our next experiment was to use raised beds. Our first attempt was to divide the plots into long strips about four feet wide and the length of the plot. The soil was dug over and then the soil between the strips was piled back into the middle of each row to make mounds. Lots of compost was dug in during this process. The trenches had house bricks dotted along their length in an attempt to form "stepping stones" so that we wouldn't get too muddy as we accessed the plot. The veg was then planted very closely together on these mounds; this is supposed to suppress weeds. The following year the mounds had compost spread on top and hoed in. There was no digging needed as the mounds had not been walked on, so the soil had not been compacted. This did give us a better yield and involved less work; no digging and less weeding. However the paths were far too muddy, despite the bricks, and we had to keep mounding the soil up from the paths back onto the beds as it kept washing off in the rain. The other problem was that the beds were far too long; when tending the crops from one side you could reach as far as the middle of the bed and then you had to walk all the way round to continue tending the same row of crops. This is how it looked in 1998...
The next thing that happened to our veg plot was the addition of a "Potting Shed". We chose a fairly large shed with a balcony on the front because Ian fancied sitting under shelter on rainy days admiring the plot. At the same time that this shed was being added we had some building work done in the garden to create a workshop and vegetable store. This meant collapsing and storing an existing shed. The only suitable place to store it was on the veg plot. The new shed was sited on one corner of the plot over two halves of existing raised beds. The old shed was stored on two other raised beds and so the plot was not worked that year. The foundation for the new shed was dug out and back filled with six inches of compacted rubble, three inches of builders' sand, and then topped off with slabs on three inch thick dabs of mortar. The soil that had been excavated was piled up in front of where the shed was going to be situated. A soak away was put in in the middle of the back of the shed for drainage purposes. The foundation was completed in 1999.
The shed was built on the slab base and painted by the end of 2000.
At this point our lives became a bit complicated and the whole thing got put on the back burner. The complication was work and hobbies. We simply did not have the time. Things remained like this for about eight years with our nice new shed gradually looking more neglected behind the mound of earth we had dug out for its foundations. Our once productive vegetable garden disappeared under a carpet of weeds. Then we got the chance of a year away from work in late 2008 and we leapt at it. After some work on the house, the work on the plot was resumed in early 2009. |
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