ascorbic

Hi, I’m Matt. I’ve had an interest in gardening since I was a little kid, when I’d help my mum with her grow bags of Gardener’s Delight and was fascinated by my dad’s explanation of why we had to plant a crab apple along with the dessert apple in our garden.

For the past decade I’ve mostly lived in flats or houses with tiny, paved yards, so my gardening was minimal. However, last autumn I finally got to the front of the waiting list for an allotment around the same time as our friends got theirs. This means that the past six months or so have involved lots of planning, digging, fruit cage building and soil sieving, getting ready for spring.

In March, my fiancee was unexpectedly offered a job that would involve us moving to the countryside. This was quite a shock, as she’d applied without really expecting to get it. Suddenly we had to abandon our allotment and move over 100 miles away. We weren’t quite ready to abandon it properly though, as it would break my heart after the amount of effort, time and money we’d put into it. So we decided to keep it, and try to make it as self-sustaining as possible. The job is an 18 month contract, so if it’s not renewed we’ll be back next year anyway. We’re also back in Bristol every few weeks, as it’s where my friends and family are. I installed a drip irrigation system and hoped for the best. It’s going ok so far.

Our new place is a little bit of heaven. For the same amount we’d being paying to rent our little flat in the city, we have a beautiful house on the banks of the River Tamar , surrounded by woodland, with a large terraced garden out the back and huge barbeque-friendly patio in front, overlooking the river. It’s amazing, and opens up loads more possibilities. It’s exciting times for this city boy, who’s never lived beyond walking distance of the city centre.