Downsizing from allotment to back garden

Last year we were evicted from our allotment for not being productive enough. Well, we weren’t exactly evicted, but the message from the allotment inspector was clear. As a result we have now ‘downsized’ to our back garden. An exciting challenge!

My husband was on the allotment waiting list for 8 years (since before we met), so it was lucky that he was still living in the same area when his name came up. It was a busy time for us (we were just moving house and we both have busy jobs) but we thought this could be a great opportunity to test out ‘the good life’. The plot was beautiful and we managed to produce potatoes, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries and some herbs, and we started growing a rhubarb plant.

But just getting to the allotment often enough was difficult, as it wasn’t all that close, and with busy jobs we only really made it once a week. Cucumber and carrot seedlings were attacked by slugs or birds, or just dried out because we couldn’t water them enough. In summer we had some wet and warm weather which meant the weeds shot up suddenly, making the whole place look unkempt and neglected. It was then that the allotment inspector decided to make an unannounced visit, then sent an official letter telling us to be more productive or be out….We decided to make a more-or-less dignified exit, and focus on re-applying our new skills to our own garden. 

The big lesson from our allotment experience was that you need to be able to tend to vegetables daily (especially in dry weather)!   

We had a head start in the back garden with our fruit trees - cherry, pear, plum, fig, damson. The trees make the end of the garden shady in summer, which we love, but is not great for growing veg, and we also like having flower borders. But we set aside one of the flower beds and decided to do the rest in pots. I got a mini greenhouse for nurturing seedlings. We were all set!

Even last year we had our first results. We managed to coax some delicious cucumbers from struggling plants we had brought back from the allotment. They seemed to grow well both in the vegetable bed and in pots. At that point we really started to get a thrill from growing our own food in the back garden!

We brought home some suckers from the raspberry bushes we’d planted on the allotment – they now seem quite strong and produced some fruit even last year. They are growing well in pots, supported with stakes against a side wall. We brought the rhubarb plant back as well, but it’s had a bumpy ride. It was squashed flat one night, perhaps by a fox or a cat sleeping on it; then it started to grow, but then bolted – it grew a big flower then appeared to collapse - probably due to stress. But it has started to grow more strongly now and we look forward to rhubarb crumble next year ...

We’ve planted a gooseberry bush, which is doing well, though hasn’t fruited this year (I didn’t expect it to …). A friend of mine recommended blueberry bushes as the leaves turn a beautiful red in the autumn, which makes them doubly attractive. We got two (for pollination), and they appeared to be doing well, but withered in a dry spell, despite watering. I realised the vegetable bed had a slight slope and the soil was easily compacted, so there was a lot of run-off. I dug the bushes out, put them in pots and cut them down to size and now they seem to be recovering. I’m going to put them in larger pots (with peat-free ericaceous compost) and I’ll keep watering and monitoring them. We're also planning to make the vegetable bed into a raised bed to improve the soil quality and ensure an even surface.

We planted (early and main-crop) potatoes in potato-growing bags, which means we don’t have to give up loads of space, and we can change the compost in the bags each year when we re-use them (so no need for ‘rotation’). I also experimented with various other containers, including large round pots and old compost bags, as well as a mix of pure compost, soil and compost, and plain soil. So far, the best yields have come from large round pots with soil/compost mix, but we’ll continue to experiment!

We grew peas against the fence, protecting the young plants with netting, which also gave them something to hang on to as they grew taller. We had a good harvest around May/June though none of the peas saw a pan or even a plate, as we ate them all straight from the pod (the healthiest way to do it apparently)!

July/August is definitely courgette season. We never knew how much we loved courgettes, but having to eat them on a regular basis means exploring new delicious recipes. The courgette plants in the flower bed are huge. The ones in pots are growing less vigorously (possibly because the pots aren’t quite big enough), but they’re still producing those large beautiful yellow flowers, with some nice courgettes emerging behind. We have had less success this year with cucumbers, but each year is different and you have to chalk it up to experience.

We grew some carrots in the veg bed and in pots. The ones in the veg bed got crowded out by the courgettes, but the ones in the pots have grown quite well – they are nice and sweet, but I think we’ll go for deeper pots next year for larger carrots. We’ve grown rocket and mixed salad in pots. But garlic has been less successful – I’m not sure why. We planted cloves in pots and in the flower bed, including among the roses (to ward off rose-pests). They initially produced some leaves, but not one garlic plant has matured. I think some didn’t get enough sun, but I’m not sure about the others.

To make use of vertical space, we hung baskets up on the fence for strawberry plants. These have produced quite well, but required a lot of watering in dry weather because of too much drainage in the pots. We also tried out a hanging strawberry bag, but that was less successful; again it was quite dry even when watered regularly. We have an older strawberry plant in a big pot which has been the most productive of our strawberry plants (and is in fact the mother of all the others).

This year we have had extremely good harvests of cherries (June), plums and damsons (July/August). We are exploring all kinds of ways of cooking and preserving plums at the moment, as well as giving them to neighbours. Our pear tree is also now weighed down with pears which are just getting to peak ripeness. I tried a poached pear recipe for the first time the other day, and I think we might be on to something!

We failed spectacularly on mint this year. Like garlic and rhubarb, this is a plant that is supposed to be ‘very easy’ to grow. I think the problem was lack of water and not enough sunlight, so we have started again and will keep a more watchful eye out. At least with pots of mint (or anything else) you can move them around until they seem happy.

All things considered, we’ve had a much more productive time in the food garden this year, without any inspectors. With the garden outside the back door, as we both work from home, we’ve been able to protect enough of our harvest to enjoy plenty of it.