PlotDaze | An inner city allotment

January 20, 2026
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

January 2026!!

It’s been eleven months since my last post on this Plotdaze blog. ELEVEN! It’s been much too long, there have been a few problems, but all will be up and running from now on. I have missed writing for the blog but I’m very happy to return.

2025 was a year of small changes that made big differences. If you have a look at the Plotdaze Instagram (@plot_daze) you can see the work we completed in the orchard – trees were thinned out and cleared. They can now breath, allowing for better airflow. A new, higher level planting bed has been constructed behind it. The salad bed by the greenhouse, was left fallow mainly because we were so shaded everything struggled to grow despite the good summer 2025 brought. The greenhouse itself was also very shaded BUT we have a new neighbour on the site who actually wants to be there – he has worked his garden and thinned out the trees on his land. It’s a treat to have someone, an old allotment acquaintance really, who actually wants to grow plants etc and not turn it into a playground or visit once and leave it to become dilapidated as previous ‘allotmenteers’ have.

Enough of the moaning. The salad bed is going to be brick lined. The wood lining it now always has to be replaced and rots quickly. It’ll look better also. The greenhouse has had a glow up. It’s had some new wooden staging made and had a good old clear out ready for the season. The poly tunnel has had the same, new wooden staging and in the next couple of weeks a new cover. Hopefully Babs ( the grape vine who likes to grow across the top of it) may actually produce some fruit this year.

We’ve cranked up making our own plant fertilisers this year., sounds weird I know but, the challenge is to see just how much we can make and use before resorting to shop bought, which is becoming ever more expensive. We’ve decided that at least we know what’s going into our plant fertiliser and what we’re putting on our produce, so we’re not eating loads of unpronounceable chemicals. So let us begin the new year with … alpacas.

We have been watching the YouTube channel @LIFEISCONTENT – two fellow allotmenteers – Debbie and Dave have been using alpaca manure on their site and by the looks of their produce it works well, so we put out the call in our local area and purchased some. It was a treat to visit the farm where they live, the staff were great and very helpful. The manure has the advantage that you can add it right away without having to let it ‘settle’ for a while like horse/pony manure. And the alpacas are very cute! The above photo shows all the ladies with their leader, Mim! (centre). The fellas were kept in another field so the women could have some peace. Very wise. We bought fifteen very reasonably priced bags, which came to about £40. The car just about made it home.

In the next few days we begin seed sowing properly. Despite my constant objection to grow lights – I have been given some ! So, swallowing pride, I will use them to try and start off some onion seed, maybe some flowers, definitely my chillis and aubergines.

It’s nice to be back. Happy plotting. X

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YouTube @LIFEISCONTENT Debbie & Dave , allotmenteer channel.

February 9, 2025
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

February 2025 Cold

We’re just beginning to warm up now! After spending the day (Sunday 9th) outside the chill gets into your bones. Your fingers start to feel numb despite the gloves and your feet never seem able to warm up properly. Still, it’s better than sitting inside all weekend. We get so much done, in the one full day we can spend there in the week – work allowing. If only we lived nearer, like a lot of the other allotmenteers do – and had the luxury of just pottering about for an hour each morning/evening.

The bulbs have really begun to put on growth. We filled the half barrel planters with daffoldils – huge bags of bulbs were on offer a couple of years ago – so we filled each planter and they have not let us down. We have put a Hot Lips Salvia in the centre of each one so when the daffodil colour passes, the red and white of the Salvia will take over.

There are also some hyacinth and – we think – alliums, even though its far too early, beginning to break the surface.

The spring bulbs are beginning to come up in the boat also. The sedum, which you can just see in the corner in the right hand photo, had to be thinned out last week, it had almost taken over the whole bed. The crocus, Decorum, really is one of the most beautiful flowers. It often gets overlooked as it’s one of the first to bloom of the spring season

The Japanese quince we bought a few weeks ago was potted on. Literally within a couple of hours it seemed to bud up and some flowers opened. It’s going to be trained up against the back end of the poly-tunnel, next to the pear trees.

We had a delivery. We had never ordered from Farmer Gracy nurseries before, but their offers were good and we had heard favourable reports about them. Sometimes you can order plants/bulbs/ etc and they can arrive dried out or damaged. Not these. We had ordered some roses – Everglow Ruby – a climber, came in a pack of three – and some dahlias. All of them were in excellent condition, the roses even had some growth on them. We potted them up and did the same to the dahlias. Hopefully we can get them to break dormancy a little earlier so we can get some cuttings. Always greedy for a free plant!

There was also a lot of painting – creosoting – the shed and fences. there are a lot of repairs this time of year. The winter winds really hammer the wooden beds, it seems like all we do as spring is nearly upon us is replace anything wooden on the plot!

Happy plotting!

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February 2, 2025
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

February 2025 Chilly

Yay! It’s February! The longest month of the year is over. I know some people hate January, I don’t mind it too much, but we’re getting nearer to Spring and the longer sunnier days. Hopefully we’ll have some frost – just a bit, to help kill off any predators, like aphid eggs- as opposed to the damp wet weather we’ve had.

The parsnips have been sown! Hooray! They have been sown in the bed by the garlic, where we had success with them a couple of years ago. Last year was a bust. Never got any. This year we’ve used seed – sown thickly – that is older. The second row was with brand new seed. Apparently that is the best way. We shall see.The new variety is Hollow Crown and the older is White Gem. They may be a bit too close but here’s hoping we get some parsnips in a few months.

The straggly leeks were pulled today and surprisingly quiet a few of them are perfectly good to clean, chop and freeze for future eating. They were planted last summer, and while not the biggest, they’ve survived a lot of bad weather. The smell of them was amazing, even thought they look like big spring onions.

Bought some Honeyberries for the fruit tunnel. They came from B&Q and were £13.99 for a pack of 3. They arrived in good condition and with some growth on them. We potted them into slightly bigger pots just until the weather gets better. The variety is Balaleika. We would order from B&Q again.

We’ve been picking up some dahlia tubers, just in case the ones that are asleep under the soil and wood chip decided not to return … and because we can’t resist them. Some are cheaper, while other more expensive varieties will be delivered in a few weeks from the various nurseries they’ve been ordered from. No doubt they will all be lovely, and we’ll take cuttings from them because we can’t resist it!

The days are – very slowly – getting longer. The soil is warming up, even though it is a bit claggy. Have a good week everyone.

Happy Plotting

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January 26, 2025
by Plotdaze 5 Comments

January 2025 Windy!

Storm Eowyn has been wreaking havoc across the country over the last few days. Thankfully we seem to have got off lightly. The fence that came down after the previous storm, stayed up as did the newly repaired fruit tunnel. Phew! It’s as though we don’t have a proper winter now, just a storm season. Some allotmenteers hadn’t even finished repairs on their plots from Storm Darragh a couple of weeks ago.

We had been given a couple of small (baby!) decorative Christmas trees and had brought them to the plot to pot on. Tabs the allotment cat gave them her approval. We have a row of them each of varying heights and varieties, where we’ve brought them to the allotment after the Christmas holidays. Eventually we should end up with a hedge!

Went for another visit to a garden centre – Lady Lever in the lovely village of Port Sunlight – and, of course, came away with another tray of winter pansies and some potted bulbs, a variety called ‘Jimmy’. We put the pansies into some old hanging baskets, we just needed some colour around the shed. The tulip bulbs we potted on – good job – into a bigger pot. Look at the roots!

The strawberry bed was in need of a good weed and some maintenance. The wood around the bed and the gate next to it had collapsed a bit, not because of the storms, just age. We repaired the wood and gave them a quick lick of paint before any rain fell. We also had to attach some netting to the strawberry bed because certain tabby cats like to use it for their ablutions – ahem! It looks a bit sparse but all the beds seem a bit like that at this time of year.

Progress was made on the new brick beds around the pear trees. It’s just to smarten this little area up really, and make more space for the herb pots. We managed to scrape up some fresh wood chippings from the remnants that had been left by the other allotmenteers. The site gets a delivery every so often. A huge pile is left and it’s every allotmenteer for themselves to get some for paths etc. It’s wheelbarrows at dawn!! Think we missed the last delivery, that’s why our paths look so muddy at the moment. Anyway, this little area is beginning to spruce up a bit!

Looks a muddy mess now, but come spring & summer it will be lovely. Guarenteed!

We hope you are all doing ok and getting through all the horrendous weather that is being thrown at us. Everything seems so unsettled at the moment, what with the winds and floods, fires and snow in Florida! Still, it’s nearly February, a new month and nearer to Spring and longer daylight hours.

Happy Plotting!

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January 19, 2025
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January 2025 Muddy

The letter informing us of the annual allotment meeting arrived yesterday (Saturday 18th). Prices have stayed the same for us except for the water bill. It’s risen A LOT. Seeing as we have about 15 water butts on our plot to catch and use rainwater, while certain plots don’t have one and are happy to just use the hose pipe for hours ( exaggeration !) seems a bit unfair, but what can you do???? When we popped in yesterday to feed her majesty Tabs the cat – there were quite a few allotmenteers there tidying up which is always a surprise as you don’t really see a lot of other allotmenteers from about October. The letter always brings them out!

We began today with some repairs – a fence needed new wood across it to keep it upright and a lick of paint and it was all good. The ground is very muddy through the thawing of the snow, there hasn’t been much rain but everywhere just seems damp.

Beneath the dried out sweet peas that were found last Sunday in the greenhouse, was a pot of gladioli corms. They had been planted last spring in a huge pot, but had not done as well as the ones in the soil, so they had been dug up … and forgotten about! They’ve been replanted in the bed next to the Chillian Guava, hopefully not too late. They had so many baby corms attached to them and they seemed to be in good health, so they should be OK

The wood around the pear tree bed, bit the dust. It had been there for years, and was laid when it used to be the broad bean bed. So, despite the mud and random bulbs, we decided to try something different and arranged some old bricks around one of them. Hopefully, as they bed in they won’t look so odd. We need to add some wood chip or fresh compost inside the bricks to smarten it up a bit.

Spent quite a lot of time moving self seeded seedlings ( that’s a mouthful!) around. There were a lot of lychnis seedlings, all of which were moved to the entrance of the plot. They give such a great burst of pink colour in summer. There were a lot of digitalis seedlings also. They’ve been replanted by the old barbeque area.I love free plants!

Had to get the hellebores outside. Something was nibbling away at the flowers, so we made a little winter display with some pansies in a bucket! A bit of colour always cheers you up.

We did so many repairs today as well as a proper tidying for the oncoming season. There are more bulbs to be planted – even though it may be a bit too late but they’re better in the ground. We emptied the composters – Coco and Carl – onto the bean beds. The compost was amazing, very rich, better than any you can buy. The bush beans should be a bumper crop this year.

Stay warm and dry. Happy plotting!

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January 12, 2025
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

January 2025 Freezing!

We’ve had the lowest temperatures here than we’ve had for a few years. It got down to -5 at the plot over the last couple of days. Good for the garlic bulbs who like to freeze for a bit but not for a lot of plants, which we think we may have lost but won’t know for a while. This is what happens when you have very mild winters for a few years – you get used to leaving the more tender plants outside or just shifting them somewhere more sheltered instead of moving them into the greenhouse or poly-tunnel.

Went for a visit to Ince Blundell Nurseries garden centre just to have a walk around. It’s an excellent garden centre. It just deals with plants / seeds etc rather than selling candles and clothes like a lot of plant nurseries now do. Anyway, we saw this particular shrub/fruit tree and could not resist. Think it was the colour of the flowers that attracted us. It’s a Japanese Quince. We don’t know where it’s going to go on the plot but when it thaws out – it was frozen rock solid – there’s a nice bigger pot for it to go in, so it can be moved around. Apparently you can eat the quince that fruits but it has to be cooked.

The fruit tunnel took a battering during Storm Darragh, and then the following snow storm caused its collapse. It looked like the bendy plastic poles had twisted, so we had to find a new way to keep the netting up and off the fruit bushes. Eventually – the job took longer than expected – we used the expandable metal poles that you use to keep washing lines up, with square plant pots on each corner. It raised the netting up a lot, but it’s stronger and hopefully will withstand any more snow storms.

While sorting out the greenhouse, we found a load of dried sweet pea pods. We grow them up the side of the fruit tunnel and they do well. So well, that we kept the pods – just wish we had remembered where we had (too safely) stashed them! They’ve now been podded and some will be sown very soon. We don’t sow them in November, they tend to go straggly because of lack of light.

After a trip to West Kirkby – the beaches are beautiful there – we bought a couple of hellebores that were being sold outside of a veg shop in the village. Think they were left over from the Christmas sales. Thing is, the ground is too frozen to get them in some soil. They’re very pretty though.

We hope you’re staying warm. Spring is on the way, the daffs are popping up. Happy plotting!

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January 5, 2025
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January 2025 SNOW!

Some of that white stuff has fallen from the sky and the country has come to a stand still. Remember when we were kids and it would really snow! Yes? Happy days because the school boiler would always pack in and we would all be sent home, and there was always one kid who couldn’t find his gloves so wore a pair of socks on his hands!

So I was going to write about the orchard, and the plans for it. It really comes into its own in the spring. There are a lot of bulbs planted as well as the hellebores, corydalis and clematis that grows up each fruit tree. Today though, my plans have been scuppered by the snow. The photos below are of the apple trees, and a plum tree which we had to cut right down, but is slowly returning. It was covered in a type of greenfly, that had spread throughout the allotment site. The pear trees died and were replaced in another area of the allotment by the poly-tunnel.

We used to always sit in the orchard, and spent many a happy summer evening in there watching the birds. The bench and table is covered up although the odd plot cat likes to hid underneath them. We’re going to make a lot more use of the orchard this year, its a lovely spot on the allotment.

Sad to see the poor old fruit tunnel! We had repaired it this time last year from the snow, and the same happened again this year. Those bendy pipes just don’t seem to be able to stand up to the white stuff, so it’s more repair work on the cards.

After last week’s pruning and clearing session, we could see more of the daffs poking through the soil. Spring is on the way folks! These daffodils were bought in a huge bag as end of line stock from The Range a couple of years ago, and they’ve never let us down. Always the first to display a beautiful show. The rose bed is completely covered. Some bulbs were planted there last week – I had forgot about them and found the bag lingering in the greenhouse. They’re red coloured iris, I hope they survive the cold. Unlike me, who had to return home earlier than planned because my fingers were going numb!

Stay warm everyone. Happy plotting!

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January 1, 2025
by Plotdaze 5 Comments

January 1st 2025

Happy New Year!

We hope you had happy and safe new year celebrations. The weather was awful here in England and many of the celebration/ firework events were cancelled due to the very strong winds. The rain has also caused a lot of problems. We decided to visit the allotment today to wish it a happy new year – as you do – and was struck by the amount of flooding on the actual site, not just our plot. There was some surface flooding on ours but nothing to get too worried about. On others, well put it this way, they would not be able to walk around their plot without wearing wellington boots, and would maybe be better suited to growing rice! Something needs to be done about the flooding, but it seems that it is just being allowed to get worse and allotmenteers should just ‘put up with it.’ Hmmm.

The plot does look bleak this time of year. Last week we had a good clear out of the poly-tunnel. It was full of leaves from the grapevine and bags of compost. The squirrel – my nemesis – has not found his way inside …yet, but we moved our supply of pumpkins and squash just in case. The garlic is still caged like a prisoner, but every clove we planted has begun to shoot.

The green house, despite housing our fruit trees – peach and cherry – is also home to our resident guest, Tabs the Tabby cat, who has made it her place and now has her own cat flap to get in and out. We joke that the greenhouse is now her conservatory! Anyway, the fruit trees, bubble wrapped and cosy, seem to be OK, apart from a small kiwi we bought last summer. I’m nervous about taking the bubble wrap off it, in case it’s gone to the great fruit tee farm in the sky!

We also took some cuttings from the peach tree prunings in late autumn. They seem to be thriving. Even if just one sets roots then that’s a win.

We bought some seeds from Real Seeds, always optimistic for the coming season! They include seeds for the North Georgia Candy Roaster – we saw it on Instagram – it was recommended as sweet tasting, roast with the skin on and you can grow them up poles, for space saving. Looking forward to them.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this little post and some of the pics that were taken around the plot. The final part of the year at the allotment was a bit, shall we say, eventful and not in a good way ( apologies for the click bait type mystery ). Allotments would be great if the people there, really wanted to be there and not just take up a space that others could use especially in these difficult times, with the rising prices of vegetables and fruit. Anyway, enough of the moaning. It’s a new year! New Adventures and most of all, HAPPY PLOTTING!!!

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August 21, 2024
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

Summer 2024

It’s been a long summer … sort off.

Our plot is now very shaded by our neighbours trees on either side. Some crops have failed before Summer even got started. Due to the poor weather at the beginning of the season we have no peaches, grapes (lack of sun, lots of leaves though) cherries and salad stuff – lettuce & cucumbers mainly.

We do however have a lovely black cat who visits us! Tempted by nibbles, she likes to argue with Tabs the tabby who lives by the plot. The pumpkin you can see next to her is called Racer. They matured very early. We have already had to pick some of the pumpkins – Jack- o- Lantern, because they were huge! Not complaining. The butternut squash are beginning to come through also.

The beans – french, climbing borlotti and Greek – have all done really well. We’re leaving them to dry out on the nets a bit before we pick them to save for autumn/winter. You can see how much thinner than usual the french beans are due to lack of light. ( I know! Stop moaning!) The root bed – it was a strawberry bed – has been amazing! There are lots of turnips, swede, beetroot as well as celeriac and parsnips still to be cropped. It’s safe to say it has been a success.

The staple crops, have been excellent. The onions grew well in their new bed – another old strawberry bed – and the copious amounts of rain at the beginning of the season seemed to help. Same with the spuds. We mainly grow them in tubs now – we planted some in a spare piece of soil and will dig them up this weekend to compare. The tub spuds have been excellent croppers. The spare beetroot that were sown in the salad bed were a nice surprise, especially when you forget that you’ve sown them there!!!

In spring we planted a hollyhock that we had grown from seed – underneath it somewhere are some Honesty plants – not expecting it to flower this year. We have been delighted to see it slowly bloom! It’s huge! well over 6ft and such a glorious dark red colour. A nice surprise to what has been a bit of an off summer season.

There should be another post very soon, showing the fruits and flowers that we have managed to grow this summer.

Take care and happy plotting!

April 30, 2024
by Plotdaze 1 Comment

Spring 2023

It’s spring … no really it is. Not just ‘winter lite’, but spring. It’s the end of April and the air is still mostly cold, there have been frosts, sharp winds and rain rain rain. The weather is unseasonably horrible and trying to grow in it has been difficult at times BUT it’s not all doom and gloom. Let’s begin with some blossom. Always a pleasant visitor to the plot.

The apple blossom seemed to just pop out very quickly, after waiting so long. The orchard is always at its best in the spring. We have had the cherry for about two years, and it’s only now that it seems to have become strong enough to put on blossom. It’s very pretty and we hope we get a decent crop from it. Unfortunately the peach blossomed way too early. It was still in the poly-tunnel under some fleece when we noticed it had already begun to blossom. Despite us trying to hand fertilise it with a very soft make up brush, which has worked before, the blossom did not set. No peaches for us this year. No worries, let the tree have a year off.

The cover of the poly-tunnel had more holes than cover after such a harsh winter. We bit the expensive bullet and bought a new one. On the first non windy day we whipped the old one off and in true comedy style managed to get the new cover over the bare bones of the tunnel. Please excuse the mess, but the grape vine ( Babs) is looking good and right now is about to begin her growth spurt for the year. Hopefully we should get some grapes!

The boat, HMS Liverpool, is beginning to look grand ( if a bit ramshackle ! ). The old boat had eventually collapsed so we added bits of wood and gave her a coat of paint. We even added a spot at the front ( aft? Stern? ) for a pot of flowers. The spring colour from the saxifrage, tulips and hyacinths etc have produced a beautiful display. The obligatory bunting has been added.

The onions were started from sets in early March. We have turned one of the old strawberry beds to the onions. We’ve added lots of rotted vegetation and compost to give them a boost. The second photo is a few weeks later. As you can see, the white onions are romping away, and were ready to go in the ground. We put them in, covered them up – the pigeons had their beady eyes on them – and had to wait a couple of weeks for the red onions to catch up, which they did. They’re all very happily co-habiting and have not yet become bird food!

This seasons broad beans have just left home – the greenhouse – and have been planted in the soil. They were very strong seedlings and seemed to need potting on within a couple of weeks of being sown. Last year we began them way too early and they grew quite stunted at first but then caught up. This year, not even a late frost damaged them despite only a thin gauze covering them. Just shows you. They’re even in the same spot where we had them last year. Looking forward to a good crop.

The peas were sown a few weeks ago. The germination has been a bit patchy, so we’ll sow some more in the ground to fill in any gaps. The mange tout all germinated and are doing really well, but not one sugar snap popped up. We’ve sown some more, maybe it’s a problem with the packet?

The runners were started under the supervision of the allotment cat, Tabs. They seem to be doing well and will soon be growing their way up the canes. This time seems to come around quicker every year …

We used to have two strawberry beds by the shed – we had to move it to the far end of the plot where we have much more sun, so the onions got one bed and the other is going to be used for some root crops. As you can see, a frost got to them. Good job we have some spares. There are three varieties of beetroot – we like a lot of roasted beetroot in our house – swede and turnip. A row of parsnips have been added even though it’s probably too late, but hey you’ve got to try. Hopefully when the warmer weather eventually comes the seedlings may perk up a bit. Fingers crossed.

Some salad crops have been sown directly in the soil. Lettuce, spring onion and radish. We always leave some twigs and branches on the surface to deter the local cats from using it as a litter tray or the allotment dogs from deciding to dig it up!

The sweet peas are in the ground! We decided to plant them in the fruit cage again. This gives them lots of growing space for them to climb up. Last year there was a great display. Most of these seeds sown were saved from last year’s blooms. Nothing as lovely as the smell of a bunch of sweet peas in the house.

Phew. That was a lot. Haven’t even mentioned the flowers and fruit … or herbs … or brassicas.

We hope you are well and looking forward to the change in the seasons ahead.

Happy plotting !

X @plotdaze @view_shed

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	June Lorraine Robert… on January 2026!!
	June Lorraine Robert… on February 2025 Cold
	June Lorraine Robert… on February 2025 Chilly
	June Lorraine Robert… on January 2025 Windy!
	Plotdaze on January 2025 Windy!

	June Lorraine Robert… on January 2026!!
	June Lorraine Robert… on February 2025 Cold
	June Lorraine Robert… on February 2025 Chilly
	June Lorraine Robert… on January 2025 Windy!
	Plotdaze on January 2025 Windy!