Today, a vacant plot. The sad thing is that vacant plots are never left in a good condition, unless the tenant moves to another city in the middle of the growing season. People – understandably – never really want to give up their plots and we’re all prone to believing we’ll do better next year. And so vacant plots become overgrown and, by the time we are able to show a new prospective tenant, we’re presenting them with an overgrown patch and a huge clear up before they can grow anything.

Today we made a start on trying something different. This plot has been vacated slowly and reluctantly due to ill health. We have a long waiting list, so will split this plot into two half-plots, with a shared shed and rainwater store. We want to start the new tenants off positively – so today we set them up with 3 daisy-chained barrels and some guttering on the shed to collect rainwater. We’ll get this plot strimmed and clear some of the rubbish so that – hopefully – the new tenants start off without feeling they have to battle nature to get started.