Allotment

I've got an allotment. It's not an official one - so there are few rules, and no water supply at all. The rules are things like 'Always ask T. before you start a bonfine'; 'Don't lock your shed, it will only get broken in to'; 'Just mark the land you want with posts and string - that means it's yours'.

There is some amazing recycling going on. Plastic water bottles and pallets are used everywhere in various forms. Tennis nets are used to protect courgettes and squash from insatiable muntjac deer; green beans grow up goal netting; broken ladders are cucumber frames; old metal sport lockers are ivy-covered tool stores; cast iron baths store precious rain water; and blue plastic lime-juice barrels now serve as water butts.

My ambition is to have a few vegetables surrounded by a picnic area, a barbequeue pit, a hammock, and a beach-hut/shed worthy of Southwold with tea facilities, wicker chairs, and a front porch. I'm thinking of painting it blue and white. Hopefully I'll get the paint from Freecycle, where I got the corrugated iron sheets for the roof.

Fellow gardeners in neighbouring plots have been helpful with good advice. My favourite so far is: "You can never have enough chicken wire."