Planning the 2021 Vegetable Garden – Laying out the Vegetable Beds

When we took over the allotment, one half of our current gardening space (the part next to the shed that gets partially shaded in the darker months, and gets some late afternoon shade even in the height of summer) was completely overgrown with grass and weeds. The only thing we were able to identify was some very obvious borage, and the only reason we knew there had been beds is because our plot neighbors told us so.

So we mowed it all and then I put my foot down and said that I wanted to develop that part of the garden organically, see what was there, and work around it… Continue reading

Heating the Greenhouse in the Freezing Cold

Because some US friends in a Facebook group who have been hit by unusually cold weather were asking, I took some video footage I had and made a video of how we heat our greenhouse (without electricity) in the winter.

So did the insulation and clay pot heaters end up helping?

Our greenhouse is very small, about 5 square meters or 50 square feet. It was very cheap and isn’t well insulated, so I add a layer of bubble wrap (also fairly thin because I couldn’t source anything more substantial). Continue reading

Starting out in 2021

Now in general I don’t have a defined “garden year”. We garden year-round, or at least we try to. We have plants in the ground at any given time and seedlings in trays or in small pots on the windowsill or in the cold frame on our balcony. But like with most people, our main focus is on the summer crops and since they are sown early in the calendar year here in the Northern Hemisphere, we tend to do our planning between Christmas and Epiphany (when I have time off from work). Also the winter solstice and lengthening days tend to motivate me… Continue reading

Mornings at the Allotment

Welcome to Mornings at the Allotment. This is a personal blog about my journey to a more peaceful, fulfilled, and sustainable life.

We – that’s myself, my partner, and my teenage daughter, have had plot 97 for almost two years now and are still learning. But already we have come to appreciate it more than we can say.

So why the title? I work full time with a very long commute and we live in an apartment – but working from home due to Covid has allowed me to spend some time at the allotment before work every morning with a cup of tea or coffee- the perfect start to almost every single day.