Riverside Allotment - both the allotment and it's webpage are still developing - slowly!

BELOW: January, 2018, the new project, as left by the previous tenant. There are only 4 plots in total, and at one end is the Parish Council offices. At the other end lies a patch of woodland. To one side flows the River Caldew and the road on the other. Our daughter and grand daughters are suggesting what to grow, and have visions of us doing the growing and they will do the eating - blueberries and strawberries feature on the list.

BELOW: Easter, 2018, was very early and saw some serious weather. Having lived on the fells, we were used to being effected by winter weather, but this year shops and schools closed with transport chaos because of heavy snowfalls even on the Solway Plain. The Devises to Westminster canoe race, of which my friends and I are usually part, saw red warnings on the upper Thames with cautions about the Devises canal as well, causing our crew to pull out. Consequently, we didn't really start on the allotment until April when we had some glorious weather. We put in wooden edging, improved the soil, and removed some of the old permanent planting. A bench was an early addition, of course - somewhere to sit, have tea, and doze is an essential.  It also has storage underneath for tools and stuff. One large planting area was divided up to make beds for the grand daughters to have in the future.

BELOW: 2019, the garden - allotment has a legal definition, so Parish Council keen to ensure it is correctly called a garden - came on okay, but not as well as we hoped. Before the growing season started we managed to secure a good deal from Jenkinsons in Penrith, sacks of well rotted farmyard manure mixed with composted wood chippings. Seemed to very dry and didn't appear to add much in the way of nutrients as our crops didn't thrive - except for runner beans.

2020: Coronavirus. With the onset of this terrible virus, we received advice from the National Allotment Society, via the Parish Council, about safe distancing, etc., while in the allotment area, which is very small and with narrow entrances. As I'm well over the 70 year old age marker the Government used for self isolating/shielding, and Jean is classed as vulnerable as she was suffering from a form of pneumonia, we decided to not only self-isolate at home, but also to mothball our allotment for this growing season. I undertook my permitted exercise via a bike ride in the early hours, which allowed me to occasionally call to check on it, but apart from that, we covered up the beds as much as we could, and look forward to 2021!