Cleveleys Avenue Allotments – Plots of the Year 2011
There have been allotments at Cleveleys Avenue for just over 100 years and this year an old tradition was revived with the Plots of the Year Awards.
The aim is to promote good practice on our allotments, to encourage involvement with the community and recognise great growing! It is open to any plot holder at Cleveleys, with awards for Best-Kept Established Plot and Most Promising New Plot
Competition was fierce for the best-kept established plot category as there were 64 individual plots to choose from.
Best-Kept Established Plot – Winner Plot 36B
Maggie has had this plot for only two years after waiting a long time for one. She had never grown much herself but her mother is a keen grower and Maggie was used to eating home-grown produce in her childhood. Her mother’s practical help and advice proved invaluable when Maggie first got her plot but now Maggie is flying solo and her mother comes just as an honoured guest.
This small plot is brimming with over 20 different varieties of vegetables, herbs and fruit mainly in raised beds (of which Maggie is a big fan) surrounded by paths, covered with woodchip to suppress weeds. She makes her own compost, grows comfrey to make liquid fertiliser and is currently planning how best to collect rainwater from her shed roof.
Maggie is very keen on companion planting and would particularly recommend planting French marigolds with broad beans. She has had no blackfly on her broad beans this year although neighbouring plots have!
Another top tip is to plant potatoes through black membrane which keeps in moisture, suppresses weeds and avoids the need to earth up the potatoes.
A neighbouring plotholder grew scorzonera last year and, after tasting it, Maggie liked it so much she decided to give it a go herself this year. In fact, the single best thing about the allotments is, she says,”Chatting to other plotholders, swapping ideas and getting advice.”
Runner-Up Plot 5/6A
Three friends with three adjoining half plots made big decision a few years ago and decided to cultivate their plots as one large plot, sharing the work and the produce. They say that a particular advantage is that it makes it so much easier to rotate crops.
They grow a wide range of fruit and vegetables and have on-site composting. They already collect rainwater and are hoping to set up a system to collect run-off from their greenhouse soon. An outstanding feature of their plot this year is the very large bean arch – made (in the best allotment tradition) from an old child’s swing.
Naturally, if you are thinking of following suit you would need to get on really well with your allotment partners. It certainly helped that Steve, Helen and Paula already knew each other before they got their individual allotments way back in the days when the waiting list, if not exactly non-existent, was much shorter than it is today. But sharing has certainly worked well for them and they would recommend it to others.
Most Promising New Plot – Winner: Plot 51A
2011 was a very good year for people on our waiting list with an exceptionally high number of new plots available, thanks largely to the newly reclaimed area which provided six individual plots (as well as the communal plot) out of the grand total of 13 new plots. The standard too was exceptionally high, so much so that the committee felt it was a great pity each of the newcomers could not be awarded a prize.
The single most amazing thing about this plot is that Marc has only had it for a little over four months. In that time, mostly single-handed, he has taken an overgrown piece of wasteland and created an allotment which is a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach!
He was so pleased to get the plot that he started digging the very next day. He says that he has enjoyed every minute of it so far, despite it being back-breaking work at times. One day he dug out more than 60 house bricks, most of which now form his signature winding path.
Marc’s parents were part of “The Good Life” generation and he grew up with goats, chickens and growing all their own fruit and vegetables. But, he says, “I never thought I’d have a chance to cultivate my own plot in the city until recently.”
Four months later almost all the plot is now under cultivation. In a shady corner at the top of the plot is the latest addition – a salvaged corner bath which is now a wildlife pond. The next step, he says, is to install a shed with rainwater collection facilities and to plant some fruit trees on dwarf-rooting stock.
Runner up: The Communal Plot
In just under 9 months an enthusiastic and energetic group of 13 people have transformed their share of the wilderness which was the newly-reclaimed area into a productive model allotment producing over 30 varieties of vegetables, fruit and herbs.
In the autumn and through the depths of the winter they laboured hard removing rubble, bricks, plastic and glass, some of which had been buried there years before. One of the group estimated that they removed over 100 barrow loads of rubble. And not all went to the skip as they were keen to recycle as much as they could so, for example, all their paths use bricks dug up on the site.
As well as all the usual plants, they have also experimented with less common varieties such as winter purslane and asparagus peas. They have installed a shed and a greenhouse (now full of tomatoes, aubergines and peppers). They have added water collection systems to the shed and greenhouse and have set up their own composting facilities.
So enjoyable has the experience been that all the group plan to stay on for a second year!
