Plot 6B - The NUGs Allotment

Being an urban gardener I have been used to making the most of the space I have. I am lucky to have a 'growing wall' in the garden,we fixed coir troughs to the wall. This gives us plenty of space to grow all the herbs we need plus extras like tomatoes, strawberries and courgettes. So when my friend kindly offered to share her allotment space with us I was super excited for NUGs. Now we could really document our growing story. I was also a little nervous. I was like a kid in a sweet shop. There are so many things I want to grow, things I have never grown before, my head was in the clouds.

Then I fell back down to the ground. There's the preparation and planning. In most things I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal! Which is one of the many reasons gardening is good for me. It teaches me to be patient, to get organised, oh and you get food.

First job - Weeding

We've been lucky to inherit a plot that has recently been tended to, therefore we have a shed, a mini-green house and even a fabulous fruit cage already in place. The soil should be in pretty good condition from recent love too, but, of course, it was overrun with weeds.

It can seem daunting and laborious but many hands make light work and there is a satisfaction that comes at the end of a few hours having your hands in the earth.

Second job - Preparing the soil

Many gardeners wait until Spring to feed their soil with nutrients but we find if you start it in the Autumn months before the ground gets too hard it has all that time to breakdown and work it's magic in the winter months so by the time Spring arrives you should have a head start.

We mixed in our now famous 'NUGs Soil Mix' that's Biochar, Biohumus, Neem Fertiliser and Seaweed granules. This will really give your soil and plants a natural organic boost. We then covered the plot with fleece for the winter months.

Third job - Planning what to grow

It was just before Chritsmas when Michael and I met with our fellow plotholders to discuss what we did and didn't want to grow. Thumbing through our various growing bibles we scribbled notes of timings, when to sow, when to plant out, when to harvest. We discussed companion planting, starting a compost, getting a water butt - it was mainly giddy talk of our new lives of sustainable living. Happy days.

Find out what we did next in the next installment of Plot 6B.

Rachel xxx