Work has begun on our Demonstration Allotment Site

Work has begun on a Demonstration Allotment site at Grampound Road Allotments. The project is the inspiration of Chris Jones who owns the Woodland Valley Organic Farm and is supported by Tamasin Battell, Gardener in Charge, National Trust Trerice.

On Saturday May 1st, volunteers Charles Mulwana a Ugandan farmer and Joe Morgado from Chicago joined Chris and Tam to begin the work of removing turf and digging in organic matter ready for planting.


By the end of the day two beds had been fully prepared and one bed planted up with brassicas spinach and leaf beet.


The ultimate aim of the project is to demonstrate how to make the most of the space in your allotment, including inter cropping, companion planting and use the space in 3 dimensions through the use of climbling vegetable and fruit plants. Paths in the plot are also designed to optimise the productive space.


Chris Jones explains "we also plan to incorporate plants that are essential to our diet, but perhaps not commonly grown such as maize and sweetcorn that provide valuable carbohydrates. It's true that some planting combinations work really well and benefit each other and we want to show how that works."



Best practice in water conservation and water use will be demonstrated through the use of water collection and storage and different mulching techniques.


Tamasin believes that this project will really benefit anyone that sees it. "I want to stress this is not about us saying do it this way. The aim is to give people permission to experiment. Really to personalise their own site, make it work for them and make the most of the resources that are available. We hope to encourage a really creative approach to allotmenting and efficient resource use."

If you would like to find out more about this project email tamasin.battell@nationaltrust.org.uk