Pomps Patch #2

Helloooo, welcome to my newly named and new regular feature 'Pomps Patch'. Here I will share tales of our allotment, our progress, produce and all other nerdy allotment related things. 

Last week Rich and I had our first weekend 'up the allotment'. I'll be honest, we have NO idea what we are doing, so we have set ourselves a few missions to get going, the first being to clear the existing raised beds. We took advantage of the dry weather, donned our scruffiest clothes & wellies, and got stuck in with pulling up everything (minus the Asparagus, Rhubarb and Strawberry plants, which we will be keeping). I've definitely had to grow a pair after getting our plot. I really really hate spiders but there are so many creepy crawlies that you have to just suck it up and get on with it. 

One of the perks of having an allotment is making new friends as different people appear to tend to their crops. We're pretty lucky to have two experienced gardeners, Jenny and Cathy, next to us so it will be handy if we need a bit of advice. We even bonded with a couple of slimey looking creatures, Francine and Francoise frogs. Whilst pulling up some grass, Francoise had a good old chuckle and jumped at me, I screamed, Rich caught him, we took photos and set him free, only for another frog, Francine, to appear shortly after and do the same to Rich, twas brilliant!

We also experienced our first bit of scandal... when you acquire an allotment everything that was left by the previous tenant becomes yours. We were very lucky to have a shed and some raised beds, some of which had come apart and the wood was stacked up ready for rebuilding. Whilst in the midst of weeding we realised that the pile of wood had been stolen. After a tip off from a neighbour we went for a nose and found them a couple of plots away from ours. As we were 100% certain that it was our wood, along with the tip off, we quickly took it back and locked it in our shed. Obviously we do not condone taking anything from another plot unless you have proof, and we did inform the allotment manager before we did anything. It was pretty disheartening that someone would steal from us in our first week, but we got it all back and hopefully it will be plain sailing from here.

I'm also really excited that I can share allotment life stories with Anna, a lovely friend, blogger and fellow plot owner. She has very kindly donated a big bag of magazines and seeds to help us on our road to home grown goodness.

If you're of the green fingered persuasion I'd love to hear any tips you might have. 

Sarah
xx