Bitterly cold couple of hours today, rigging up the IBC totes to harvest rainwater from the shelter roof. There is a bewildering array of advice online about how best to do this, so today’s rig is a temporary version. Eventually, we want to daisy chain the tanks together so that one downpipe feeds them all, whilst allowing 4 gardeners to fill a watering can at once – and for that we need more pipes and flanges – and a less bone-chilling day! We’ll also need to decide which method to use to keep the tanks out of the sun to prevent algae growing – but at least we’ve made a start, and with rain forecast for the coming week, we’ll be able to see how well it works before building something more permanent.

We also assembled the first couple of raised beds today – these will allow people who don’t have the time or inclination to cultivate an entire plot to join the allotment community and start growing their own food in one or more beds. We worked out the spacing and positioning and, once the first two raised beds were assembled, we put a layer of cardboard in the base of each, followed by a layer of woodchips – soil and compost will come next.

The beds are 1m 20cm / 4′ square. If you’re interested in renting one, two or four beds and joining our allotment community, please do get in touch!