Beechwood Allotment Diary

Beechwood Allotment....What's Growing On The East London Plot By The Railroad And Close To The Green Garden

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    May 2007
    So we decided that it was time to grow our own veg. We sauntered down to our local allotment plot by the railway track. We found that there were plots available, but they were going quickly. We were lucky and had a choice. So Ellen and I decided that one at the quite end away from the hustle and bustle was for us. There was to be no fierce competition for us with our next nearest neighbours. Ellen took these snaps you see here. Everything there was a winderness and some plots had been unused for 15 years. Our one was not too bad, but still needed much work to clear and dig up.

    • Here I am planting out the first crop on the plot. Anyone want a potato?

    Here I am looking at the patch where our first crop of potatoes were planted. You can just see them breaking through the soil.

    June 2007
    Things start to appear. Potatoes were first bringing a smile to my face. We were still surrounded by much wildness here in London. Other people started to appear on the scene.

    July 2007
    We toiled on, clearing all our plot and planting out onions, french beans, peas, broad beans, tomatoes, leeks, beetroot, carrots,baby sweetcorn, squash, and pumpkin.


    Time to provide some shelter and so I built the potting shed and Ellen painted it with vines, as can be seen in the picture below.
    Me and shed....


    ....and those Potatoes

    August 2007
    The potato crop was ready after about 12 weeks and so a bottle of beer was the right way to celebrate as we had 120lbs.

    The sky is always dramatic at the Beechwood allotments.

    Summer drifts on, and there is much rain and floods across the country but Beechwood thrives and so do most of our crops.

    Pea soup says Ellen...Why not, I reply.

    Life at Beechwood seems timeless. A kind of woodland therapy exists there.

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    Every plot at Beechwood is now taken.

    September 2007
    Here we are. As you will see there is much growing and we now have many new neighbours.

    Time for afternoon tea in the green garden.

    A selection of the crops which came from the Beechwood allotment during our first year of 2007. Pumpkins, red cabbage and beans. The cabbages were purchased fron the market at Columbia Road in Londons East End.

    Deserted December digging on the winter plot.

    Where have all our felow plot holders gone ? We toil on through the long cold winter of 07. And what about that Credit Crunch ?

    October 2007

    Nomember 2007

    December 2007

    To Rotate Beechwood:-
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    • Snow covers the plots....


    ....and Beechwood looks dark.

    January, February, March and April 2008

    Much work is undertaken at Beechwood to prepare the soil for the next season. Horse muck and compost are delivered by the lorry load and my time is spent digging it all in and turning the soil.

    The winter crops that we had were brussels and cabbage.

    Over the winter period people come and go.

    And the next allotment become free. So we took over in April and to the right is a picture of it when we took it on.

    Time to start planning for this years crops.

    May 2008
    Work begins on the new plot.

    June 2008
    Me working on new plot.

    July 2008
    And me drinking on the new plot.

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    August 2008
    A selection of our crops from the 2008 year. Farmers were having trouble with their corn due to wet weather and were looking to the government for assistance. Our Potato crop was down slightly and peas did badly. But the other crops did well in a difficult climate.

    September 2008, and we win two allotment awards


    We win first for the longest pasnip and 2nd for largest beetroot.
    We were as pleased as punch.

    And year two potato crop.

    Our second year draws to a close and we are still harvesting our crops of carrots and pasnips and then our winter crops starting with turnips.

    October 2008


    November 2008 December 2008
    We end still harvesting the winter crops and planting out spring broad beans and peas.

    Plot Plot And Don't Forget The Plot :-

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    • And The Plot Won't Forget You.

    This is the very pasnip that won 1st prize.

    End of year two at Beechwood. Another good harvest and crops in store for winter consumption. Pickled Onions kept well.
    Coming up next year...the building of the greenhouse and bad news when the allotments are raided. Coming soon.
    Beechwood will be back in 2009.
    Join us once again when we take you to the green open spaces hidden away in The Big Smoke called London Town.

    January 2009, and the year gets off to a bad start at there is a raid and all the sheds are broken in to. Our fellow allotment holders loose their power tools and our beer money is stolen. Good job we don't allow any form of powered tools on our plot. There is much trouble over the incident. Police are called. Fingerprints are taken but no one is caught.


    What else is in store for us in 2009?

    February 2009
    March2009
    April 2009
    And it's a cold start to the year.

    May 2009

    This year we decided to grow flowers too. Here you see some of the results.
    After a cold winter things started to heat up by April and May.

    June 2009
    The view of the plot again from the top of our shed.
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    July 2009
    It's looking like 2009 will be a good year on the plot. So far the weather has been good for the production of veg and flowers, with the right amounts of sunshine and rain.
    First we had a good crop of broad beans. Pictured here left are peas, beetroot, courgettes and patty pan squash and below you will see the trog loaded with red onions.

    		•

    August 2009
    190lb of spuds - 70lb more than 2008.

    September 2009

    Finds some empty pots.

    October 2009

    Catching the light
    and some tea in the shed.


    Pictured to the right
    me and the sprouts
    on a cold November day.

    November 2009

    Above a snow covered Beechwood in December 2009.

    Into a new year and a new decade. 2010 and Beechwood people pose for a calendar to rase money for a new meeting shed. Here we see the layout for 2010. And to the right close up pictures of Beechwood Allotment People. Meet the faces behind the fence. Top right is the January picture and bottom left the Feburary picture.

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    January 2010
    More snow covers the Beechwood restricting any activity.
    The winter of 2009-2010 was the coldest for many years.
    People were snowed in and I too spent time in the shed
    waiting for the snow to melt and planning out the plot for 2010.
    But there wasn't much point so I too abandoned Beechwood
    to the elements.
    February 2010
    March 2010

    April 2010
    Pictured here the church allotments.

    May 2010
    Inside the greenhouse.

    Yes there is now a wating list of people to get into Beechwood, with up to a year to wait. Part of Beechwood is on a ten year loan to the adjacent church. The ten years is nearly up. What will happen to them? Stay tuned.

    After 2010 gets off to a bad start with cold and snow April then a mini heatwave and then May kills of the beans with frost. What next.

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    • June 2010
    Summer on plot and we
    have plenty of marrows.
    We didn't plant them.
    They just appeared.

    July 2010
    The plant competition.
    But we didn't enter.
    This year our summer crops
    didn't look that good.

    August 2010
    But Butter Squash
    did well.

    So did the spuds.
    We had 150 Pounds.

    September 2010
    There Is More To See:-
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    		•

    October 2010
    Summer continued into October.
    November 2010
    Winter greens.
    December 2010
    Snow covers Beechwood again
    starting in November.
    Coldest winter since last
    winter last year.
    Christmas dinner with
    sprouts and other
    veg from Beechwood.

    It's that time of year again. One year ending and another starting.


    Which can only mean one thing - Time for Beechwood people to pose for
    the calendar

    What a fine year we all had at Beechwood.
    And I don't think anyone died this year.

    The snow fell the day of the Beechwood Christmas
    drinks and so we didn't get together at the pub.

    As The Year Draws To An End
    There Is More:-
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    Bad times around the corner
    Beechwood is raided again
    in January.

    Pictured right - Beechwood 2010
    		•
    January 2011
    February 2011
    March 2011

    Bad start to the year - another break in.
    No more snow but a cold winter.
    The quite time of year at Beechwood
    But we had our winter crops. After the pasnips and cabbages were finished our first spring crop were the broad beans.
    April 2011
    May 2011


    Things are starting to take over now.

    June 2011


    A good year so far.
    A dry year to start but then the rain came saving us from watering every day.

    July 2011
    Digging up the early crop.

    Lots More On Crop Rotation:-

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    August 2011


    A lot of colour in August. Most things are doing well by August. Flowers too. Meanwhile the homemade compost is taking shape.
    And so to the veg competition.

    As you can seen the competition was stiff,
    And the competition ended up in winning all the top awards.
    Our runner bean entry.

    And here is our entry as this
    year we only had runner beans.
    Maybe next year we will win.
    But things are getting harder.
    It's much more competitive now.

    If you want to grow your own then why not get hold of a copy of "The Allotment Book", written by Andi Clevely and Published by Collins. As it says on the cover it is "A practical guide to creating and enjoying your own perfect plot". Also on the cover it quotes Kim Widle "On your first visit to the allotment site if you take with you only two things, let them be a packet of seeds and this book."

    Beechwood Allotment....The Plot Goes On....Call Back Again For The Latest Crop News