After dashing out to feed the chickens in the dark yesterday morning before work, the walk to the allotment in the warm autumn sunshine with a hint of a cool breeze was just what was called for.
As I was waiting for the boiler man to come and fix our leaking boiler, I decided that this was marvellous excuse to just feed the chickens and quail, soak up some sunshine and set the world to rights with other allotmenteers. It is remarkable how many of the worlds issues can be solved whilst sitting in the sunshine with a mug of refreshing liquid.
Equally, it is delightful to sit and relax on site knowing that the hard work of the summer is nearly over and the start of several months of dashing to the allotment in the pouring rain to feed the chickens is still a little way off.
The winter months, depressingly dark and (in this part of the country) wet with seemingly unending rain allow time for next years plans to ferment in the noggin. I have decided trees are the best way to deal with the low lying nature of the bottom plot – fruit trees with deep roots should help to funnel the excess water into something productive rather than turning the soil into a waist deep mudhole.
The Good Life Crewe 
Fruit trees are great, i’ve got 6 on my plot and another 7 coming for my new plot. Low maintenance and highly productive. Just what we need
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We have four trees coming – an Apricot, an Almond, a Victoria plum and a Nectarine tree arriving the end of next month. It should help dry out the damper patches on our bottom plot which is prone to getting water logged
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Sounds good. I’ve not grown Apricots, Almonds or Nectarines, but have had masses and masses of plums, so good luck with them. My current trees were planted in something resembling a bog and now the ground drains beautifully, so you should see something similar too. By the way, I love your chickens! We’re not allowed any on our site which is a shame.
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Neither have I but the allotment holder next to us has an almond tree which has done well and a guy down the other end of the site has a cartload of apricots every year. I think the key thing will be to find the boggiest places and put in the trees. We love our chickens – its a real shame when a site doesn’t allow you to keep them. Have you thought about keeping them in your back garden?
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I’d love too but our garden’s too small really. Plus we have two enormous cats who’d spend their entire lives attempting to nab a chicken!
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We have cats too but they are rather pathetic and would run away from our chickens! The advantage with having chickens at the allotment is they get more coop space
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