A New Plot Before I Lose the Plot

Andrew Oldham looks to recycling and integrated growing to make the most of what you have

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When I first started on my micro-smallholding on the South Pennines I dug it all over and manured the whole quarter acre. That may be chicken feed in term of acreage to some of you reading this but there are not many smallholdings that are on a hillside, and those of you that do have one on a steep slope, will feel my pain. Access to the plot at the start was via a back lane, which was overgrown (and yes, I cleared it so the farmer could get down with the manure), and then over my lovely neighbour's immaculate lawn. This was my journey back and forth with ton after ton of manure. I did this for two weeks in winter from the back lane to my plot. I couldn’t get machinery in and frankly I couldn’t afford to get machinery in. I dreamt of manure most nights, the walking over a never-ending lawn that stretched into infinity in all directions woke me with a shudder. It was, and still is, a mammoth task I did and I doubt now whether I could do it.

It wasn't the top of the hill that was the problem, that was by the back lane, the real pain lay in taking the wheelbarrow to the bottom of the hill. The weight of a full wheelbarrow and gravity meant that I was often just along for the ride. I can lay claim to testing the first manure ski slope in the world and judging what was caked on the bottom of my boots at the end of every day I would have won a gold medal. Like many new to smallholding I over did it. Like new allotteers, I over did it. Like the new gardener faced with a wall of weeds, I over did it. I didn’t have a plan. I just had a lot of manure.

MOVING THE PLOT - AND THE NEW GREENHOUSE