I have been thinking long and hard
what I would like to do with the plot, it is a lot bigger then an average size
allotment plot standing at 100 square meters in total. Now that is a very big
plot to have, the only unfortunate thing about having this plot is that there
is no water access on site. This means I need to collect as much rain water as
possible, which I really needed to take into consideration when doing my plot
planning for this year. Currently on the plot I have 5 sort of water butts full
to the brim with rain water, they were left from the previous owner who left
many months before I got the plot. In time since they left and I received the
plot, it must have rained a fair few days to fill them all to the top. Having
five water butts full is amazing but they are spread out all across the plot,
two catching water off the shed roof and three catching the water off the green
house roof. Me personally I would prefer to have all my water in one location
on the plot, as this way it doesn’t take up loads of little places across the
plot and it’s just one bigger space taken for water collection.
Moving all the water to one
location also means I need to have loads of smaller water contains running in
an overfill system, which means that the water would fill up one container
which is elevated higher then the container next to it. When this container
fills up to the top (or very near the top) the excess water would go down and
hose into the next container using gravity, it is a plausible system that I wouldn’t
see any issue with it not working. I would just need to make sure that the
first container is up high enough compared to the other containers, then make
sure the containers then dragged down in a sustained fashion so that the water
will travel freely down to the following containers.
The other option I have
available is to use an IBC, which is a 1000L water tank used to store anything
from just water up to hydrochloric acid (which can melt bodies, thank you
Breaking Bad). The main concern I have about an IBC tho is that it is quite
large in size, it probably won’t take up as much space as the previous system I
spoke about but it will take up nearly as much. Also the other concern I have
is the price, they can range from £15 each (used) all the way up to £150 (new).
Buying an IBC for £15 usually means that it has had some kind of harmful
chemical in that you don’t really want to have trace elements of on your
vegetables, sometimes you might be lucky and find one for that cheap that has
only had water in (highly unlikely). If you do go for an IBC as cheap as £15,
it means you will have to clean it out yourself or pay to have it done
professionally which isn’t cheap.
After having a long discussion
between ourselves and talking to many other allotment owners, we came to the
decision of going for an IBC over the overflow system. Yes they aren’t cheap to
buy but if you are lucky enough you might find one close to your allotment on
eBay, Gumtree or even Facebook. We haven’t been this lucky unfortunately, all
we seem to find is one for cheap but it is far away from where we live and as
we don’t drive it is impossible to collect. Luckily enough tho I have found a
company located not that far from where I live that sells used IBC’s
professionally cleaned for only £60 per container, that is a steal compared to
the others I could find and if I can find a man with a van to collect it means
I don’t have to pay delivery. The company is called toucan environmental based
in Kingswood in Bristol, they deliver all over the UK for £45 delivery charge
(which I am trying to avoid by collecting in person). Here is a link to their
site if you would like to take a look yourself, http://www.toucanenvironmental.co.uk.
From the image above you can
see the basic layout of the plot in its current state, this is the arrangement
of the plot when I first got my hands on the plot. The orientation of the plot
compared to the way the sun travels over means that the shed is in completely
the wrong location to me, it should be down in the bottom left corner and the
greenhouse should be where the shed is. This way the plot is more open to sun
throughout more of the day and won’t be shadowed as much as before, I also need
to remove some of the branches off the tress out the back of the plot. They
over shadow the plot during some points off the day which means they need to be
trimmed a little, unfortunately they do not belong to me and are technically on
national railway land which could be a problem. I don’t want to get in trouble
for going on to their land as that’s a £1000 fine (which I don’t have) but I
need them to be trimmed a little, so watch this space to see if we can work
anything out.
The plot needs a lot of work to
get it to how we would like it to be and in doing so we have set ourselves out
a big challenge to get it to how we would like it, the plan you see below is
what we have come up with.
It isn’t the most complicated
of plans but there was a more adventurous one in the works, it was one in which
we hid and IBC under the shed. Yes I did say under the shed, it would involve
digging a hole big enough to sink the IBC into the ground and run all the pipe
work needed to get the rain water down into the IBC. Then there would be needed
space for the pipe work and pump to get the water back up the surface, then
have a floor placed over it strong enough to hold the shed and all its contents
above it. Yes it would have freed up more space on the plot for raised beds or
fruit tress but it would have been so much work involved in digging the hole
and running the pipes, so we decided together to put the IBC to the side of the
shed instead of underneath it. Maybe in a few years when we are more
established on the plot, we might look into it again or maybe just leave it how
it is. Time will tell in this circumstance.
Anyways back to the plan above,
as you can see I have moved the shed and greenhouse like previously mentioned.
Then we have placed an IBC to the side of the shed and one behind the
greenhouse (if we decide to go for two over IBCs over one), our the front of
the shed I will make a patio area so when Dawn goes up the plot in the day she
has someone safe to sit with our newly acquired camping chairs. Running off
from the patio area there will be a path running up to the back of the plot
going in front of the greenhouse, then splitting off between the raised beds
and splitting off to the composting bin at the back of the plot. We are
planning to have three composting. Bins in the plot in total, one for making
leave mulch and the other two for normal composting.
It will probably take many
years to get the plot to how we have it planned, it will be a slow process as
it is a very dramatic change from the its original state.
This is the end of this post
which means we are now up to date with the blog posts and all blog posts from
now on will be weekly, informing you all about our highs & lows on the
plot. So keep checking back or even subscribe to the blog if you would like
(there is no obligation to)
Michael & Dawn
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