Allotments 4 All

The old shed is no more, and I'm now left with a patch of very dry ground between the new shed (useable but still unfinished, and yes it is supposed to be wonky!) and my raised beds. I'm not sure what to do with it now! I was thinking of having a runner bean row (after improving the soil of course!) parallell with the fence in order to screen where the slabs are, as I'm used to having a bit of privacy from that side.......or perhaps a tree or two....or a pond?! Open to suggestions!

This is the space....




To put it into context....

Several ornamental wigwams of beans for the September open day...
;D

Trust you! I've got a load of them earmarked for the end of plot 120! ;D ;D

Can't have too many, we could even sell the beans!!
::)

A herb bed,With a nice border around it :)

You could put a trellis against the fence and grow a clematis or climbing rose.

I love the look of the wonky shed, is it wonky to add character? Do tell and show more pics!!!  ;D

To screen the area, what about Jerusalem artichoke? Ours grew to about 10 feet and provided lots of privacy.

Dahlias, mind you I 've just sown dozens so they are on my mind.

How about loads of gladioli, dutch iris, cosmos, stocks etc.

Whats wrong with extending it with a greenhouse and door coming from the shed.

How about a little hidey-hole garden "room" with walls of vines, maybe Cardinal Climber (15 feet tall) which gets scarlet blooms with white throats followed by beans or other pole beans making sure you have some going across the top on strings or poles to give a fairly open ceiling. Could mix in some morning glory and moon flower for afternoon/ evening flowers- assuming these all grow ok in your area. Then some pots around your chair with flowers and herbs that can take part shade.

Hi Deb. Are you putting a window in the middle were the light coloured board is? A small pond would be nice so you could have wild life frogs/toads etc  natural predators Eh! with plants etc.  But if you do- make sure the edges slope gradually so hedgehogs can get out safely in case they fall in. Or a trellis at fence end for beans/vine/clematis/roses to grow up to screen that side (could do that if you put the pond in i suppose) and also create a flower/plant area  for some colour and some herbs maybe. Or if a door is going in the centre what about a deck/veranda seating area(still with the trellis at fence end) with pots/plants. Compo  8)

Quote from: glosterwomble on April 14, 2008, 19:40:19
I love the look of the wonky shed, is it wonky to add character? Do tell and show more pics!!!  ;D

Yep, the shed is deliberately 'wonky', OH is a carpenter and says it is harder to build wonky than straight! He wanted it to look like it had been there for a while, and have a bit of a 'Willy Wonka' air about it. At the moment it sticks out like a sore thumb but the outside is being clad in strips of logs from our local 'proper' timberyard (who thought we were nuts when we explained what we wanted!) so it will blend in to the background more but be really solid underneath. There are double doors to the left side (you can just see where one side is open in the pic), and there will be a fixed window, currently boarded up, to the front under the eave. I've had to restrain OH from fixing the window at an angle (even though it won't open) or else I think it is in danger of looking like a Disney project! The roof is going to be covered in some wooden shingles OH is making. I'll post some more pics when it is more complete!

Thanks for all your suggestions for the currently blank area, I like the idea of the herb area as the patch is very sunny and herbs would not mind the currently poor soil as much. The idea of a trellis or some sort of structure with vines etc growing over, that sounds very appealing too! I'm not so keen on JA's, (they do not agree with me!) although sunflowers would do the trick. I've never had a pond, so I'll have to do a bit more research about it before going down that route. Lots to think about, thanks a lot! ;D ;D

I think it's a really great idea to do a shed with character, I have a love of allotment architecture and I think ones that look a bit different are fab, much better than an off the peg one. I will wait with bated breath to see the finished result.

That shed is bigger than my house ;D

You seem to have plenty of planting space for veg. I would have a nice patio area with container plantings of herbs and annuals, a bistro table and small chimnea style bbq/heater.

A lovely fruitful fig tree, as described on the trampoline privacy thread..... Trained against one of the more solid trellis structures.

I'd love to build a shed something like that on my lottie, but we're only allowed basic 6x4 sheds - have yet to apply for permission for mine!!!