Allotment Blog: Busy Beginnings – Groundwork

We could not have picked a better week to start the work on the garden than Mental Health Awareness Week. A team of five lovely chaps joined us from J. Parkers led by Richard, their landscape expert. Leaving their usual jobs behind (which varied from accounts to Garden Centre management), they were all happy to get out in nature and stuck in to the build.

The first job was clearing the space and removing all organic matter from the area. The ground was levelled, and a barrier was added along the edges using timber. Then a weed textile was placed down to help keep the gravel clean. Then covering the site with hardcore.

Two tonnes of hardcore were delivered and had to be wheeled from one end of the plot to the other. All good and well with suitable wheelbarrows, which we did not have!

Whilst we waited for one to arrive from J. Parkers, two of our awesome plot neighbours Ava and Jo came to the rescue and lent us theirs! Community spirit at its best, that really is a perk of allotment life – always someone ready to lend a hand or some advice.

At least 50 walks of the barrow later and a lot of progress was made. We cannot believe how much was accomplished in one day.

At rest times we had sandwiches and talked all things mental health and garden design. Sharing common ground (pun intended) in all working for organisations which value our wellbeing and mental health. They likened J. Parkers to a big family, they said they all feel safe and like they have each other’s backs. We love that, we value belonging and building kind relationships and it is lovely to know J. Parkers do too.