Next-To-Allotment News

The Barn allotment is not attached to the garden of the Barn, but is located just across a the narrow road which serves the five houses in this part of Roskhill. The land lies between the road and the River Roskhill, which flows in a virtually sheer-sided 10-metre deep gorge just here. The plot used to belong to a bungalow on the other side of the road, but was not being used, and we were lucky enough to be able to buy the unused land. We didn’t just buy the once-cultivated part of the plot, but also took over a large triangle of land which includes the tree-lined river bank, and a completely overgrown area, thick with gorse, wild raspberries (which don’t fruit) and other unwanted growth.

The allotment was separated from the wild area by a very tired chain link fence which appears to have been put there to keep rabbits at bay, though thankfully, I haven’t spotted a bunny in the garden since we have lived here. I have to admit to having largely ignored the wild area for the three or four years I have been gardening over there, but the raspberries, and now some bracken have been spreading into the vegetable beds, so I decided it was time to take some action.

Work in progress - vegetation cut and fence on the ground

Late last summer, I treated the whole area with a herbicide, in the hope of reducing some of the unwanted growth. Then, the other day, I fitted a brushcutter blade to my strimmer and hacked through what was still standing of the straggly vegetation, and also took out a few vigorous alder trees which were growing at the top of the edge of the gorge. We know from past years that there are hundreds of daffodils and bluebells in the area, so I will hope to encourage them, but plan to keep down the unwanted stuff. I have also planted a few baby trees (two larch, a spruce and a scots pine, all rescued from the sides of forest tracks). These have been placed to add to existing riverbank vegetation, and will not cast shade on the allotment – though it will take them a few years to cast any shade anywhere…!

More photos and reports to follow as the spring and summer come along…

The river flows in a gorge below the leafless shrubs and ivy.

The soggy ground is making it impossible to dig over the beds yet