My Unofficial allotment

[Eutow_Intermedium]

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Now that it is the cacti rest period over here in the UK , I thought I would finally declare the Guerrilla allotment that takes up so much of my time.

In 2009 I discovered a spot in my local town in my ends that I thought was in need of some regeneration. The location the Allotment is on Transport For London land , but they let the towns local authority use the land for a public park. The short section that was known as Phase 3.

I went to Primary and Junior's school nearby and also at that time my Mother used to be Secretary of a Structual Engineers office just above the Ex Rail/Road bridge. So this location goes back a long way with me. When the railways from Addiscombe and Selsdon joined here , there was a triangular parcel of land in between that was used as Railway allotments. I remember them well but can't say I ever saw much of the land in active use at any time.

The Selsdon to Woodside railway closed in 1983 and the Addiscombe to Woodside and Elmers end branch closed in 1997. In 2000 Croydon Tramlink made use of the old Railway Track bed of the Selsdon to Woodside line , and the land where the allotments was raised greatly with topsoil brought in, and a public entrance way from Black Horse lane was installed along with a long ramp making it's way down to the Tram stop at Black horse lane. Trees were planted either side of the path. More so on the former Addiscombe railway side.



I started digging out a rectangular bed on the Up side towards Woodside in 2009, and dressed up like Che in all cammo I soon attracted the attention of three of the local PCSO ladies, of who walked down the mud gap of which would eventually become a metal stairway.

They initially started with the usual " Ello ello what have we here . But it all ended in a laugh and they soon walk off back up the way they came.

Before construction of the park had reached Black Horse lane, phases 2 & 3. The ground underneath the Ex Rail/Road bridge was very wet and stony with bricks and much rubbish. After landscapers using bulldozer had finished depositing topsoil , they had raised the ground under the bridge by up to 3 feet and also thrown up soil on the Up side of which my Guerrilla allotment is now.

I found the topsoil there to be from one to two feet deep which was good, and the deeper I went I was bringing up ballast from the railway, slag, bricks and concrete of which I removed.

Soon the patch went from one bed to two and then to two and a smaller bed in line. This was followed by dirt paths all around those three beds and then a long bed along the length of the Green fencing behind. An open compost heap erupted at one end of the allotment and the Big power in the Local authorities parks dept gave me a couple of Green compost bins. She loves what I am doing and some time back had said to me that I could expand the allotments reach , of which I did so.

Standing on top of a 6 ft fence, on a thin knife edge. I was cutting branches off of an overhanging Sycamore.



In the last two years or more I have reached my limit by coming up against the trees on the left hand side of the picture taken from up on top of the Rail/Road bridge. I can't go any further as there is not enough topsoil and way to much mess and rubble in there under the trees.

From ontop of the Ex Rail/Road bridge at Black Horse lane. Looking over the wall at the allotment below

Nov 2013



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A slightly closer look

Nov 2013



For the last three years I have been adding mulch to the paths. the first lot was from the land adjoining the Ruined sports centre at Anerley , and this was coarse wood chips. This was followed by two speadings of Ex Christmas tree shreadings in 2011 and 2012 in january of them years.

Spring/Summer 2012 April 2012



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Broad beans ( left ) Wallflowers and Tulips ( right ) April 2012



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A clump of fresh nettles May 2012



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The two former Rail joint welding pots that I converted into Lavender pots. Picture May 2012

These are steel and filled with fire proof concrete like stuff inside. I rubbed them down with a wire brush , then painted rush killer onto them. Primed them before spraying them with a Smurf blue Ironlak aerosol paint tin



This year I was lucky to find two small piles of fine Wood chip alongside the tramline system not far from Harrington road tram stop, and I have been loading up Green recycle bins for the last week or more and transporting them with my Bicycle and trailer and spreading them on the paths. As good as this stuff looks it is however fine wood chip and it won't last as long . But if anything next year I hope to see some interesting Fungi growth on the paths around the allotment . But in January 2014 I will be doing the usual and shredding up Ex Christmas trees to further mulch the patches again.

2012's tree shredding are almost but gone and these fine Wood chipping will make a fortuitous additional path covering until I begin again in Jan 2014.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

25th-27th Nov 2013

Some left over potatoes I dug up while turning over the bed in front of the Native hedgerow that vaguely resembles horse shoe shape. I also planted a couple of Apple trees in there over the 2012/13 winter and spring period.

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And I also planted small group of Broad Beans at one corner of the Guerrilla patch, before the cold set in and held back my second tray of Broads that I had sown. Looks like I will be planting those next spring now.




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2nd Dec 2013

The Cherry on the corner of the slope on the right finally turns colour. The autumn ( fall ) leaves on the floor stand out well against the Dark green grass.



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The slope opposite the Railway Park allotment I look after. The cherry tree on the corner has turned , the one further up that had slightly more reddish leaves had already dropped. Shame I didn't catch it at the right time.

Earlier this year I planted pots and pots of IKEA daffodils or Narcissi on this slope under the trees. Unfortunately the start of the year was very warm and dry, will have to wait till next year to see if the Tete a Tete and Jetfire daffy come up, as well as the odd Spanish Bluebell.



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December 2nd 2013

Looking from the middle of Phase3 towards the Ex Road/Rail bridge and past the Guerrilla allotment on the right. My mother used to be a Secretary in a Structual engineers office just up there at the back in one of those buildings in the 80's to 90's. Also I used to go to the Primary and Junior school just under the bridge and to the right over the wall there. So I have always had a strong personal tie with this particular area



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7th Dec 2013

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A portrait view of my Unnoficial community patch on the local park. All the paths are now covered with reclaimed fine wood chip, except maybe right at the front at the base of the conifer. I have been taking what loads I have left down and laying more down to fill low area's or just make the walking surface a bit deeper.

I have also been raking leafage like a goo dun. This started with Field Maple of which I added to the open compost heap. Then the two Hazel's strted to drop as well as all the other trees around and on the slope to the right. Then today I emptied a recycle bin full of Birch leave's onto the pile that came from out the back of my communal yrd. Before going round with the nackered springbok rake agin and throwing another load on the heap. So it's looking pretty big that heap now as you can see .

I also took a scrap of Grey masonry paint down there last week and gave the two block seat a good coat of paint to tidy them up , as well as a few random concrete blocks at various corners of the patch. The Guerrilla allotment is looking pretty tidy now, and it will just be a case of keeping it through the winter.

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A closer view as of 7th Dec 2013



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The Field Maples ( Acer Campestre ) are down to their last handful of leaves.

I am in possession of a couple of large sections of tree trunk, these came from the same location as the wood chip. Track side at Harrington Road not far south from the tram stop. I plan to use these sand obtain some more to line the front grass and Primrose boundary on the Guerrilla allotment. As you can see the pieces of wood that are there the moment are either a bit small or have lost but rotted way. I may collect some further loss of Woodchip from the second Track side pile at a later date.

Since my Cacti collection shut down for the winter freest period, this community patch is one of the activities that keep me active.

Tommorow Sun 8th is our monthly Friends group working parties, when we do selected job on the park that need some time.

Regds

Eutow_Int*

[Daniel]

That looks great! If I did that around here I'd have a hefty fine for vandalism...

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Nothing wrong with a spot of Guerrilla gardening and planting of Veg and flowers within the community.

Only the other night I planted an Acer Sacharhinum tree that I grew from seed, onto the back of another Croydon Tram stop. I already have one that I planted back in 1999 before the Croydon Tramlink system had opened. That was an Acer Cappillepes at the Addiscombe Tram Stop.

News : I dumped another load of wood chip on the paths, but there isn't really much to do now. Today I hung up a couple of Bird fat balls in the immediate area.

I returned to certain spot at Black horse lane , not far from the allotment and Ex Road/rail bridge , to turn over a small area of ground at the top of a slope to remove Plastic wrappers, bagging and broken glass, to lessen the chances of children from the nearby school from cutting themselves if they should climb and slide down the slope where they shouldn't go really.

Found another 1950's Pepsi Cola bottle, larger than the last one but the printing on the front was dirty and very brittle. A to of the white area's were flaking off and I had to fill in those gaps with a White Posca pen. I found an old Tizer bottle but it was missing it's top, so I added the glass to to the stuff in the recycle bin.

An old Green wine or port bottle emerged with the remains of the cork still in the top. I will use that for holding a candle this christmas.

And best of all I found a Green glass, ribbed Hexagonal 7 inch tall poison bottle with not to be taken moulded on to the side. Again this had the remains of something inside , probably the separated remains of Palamine lotion and the remnants of the cork in the top.

A couple of Carbonite stoppers

A couple of days before was when I found the Pepsi bottle along with a Clear glass round inkwell and a hand sized clear bottle with a screw top that looks a little bit like an Owebridges of Hull bottle but plain and without the moulded lettering. When I washed it out, the residue that was in the bottle turned it green and the Bottle brush turned yellow when rinsed. I's say it had contained food colouring.

Oh yes and not forgetting the tiny Iron Pony shoe ^_^ So cute !

I can just imagine the little fella.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Update :

I managed to pick up two more loads of fine wood chip in the last several days, they are sitting in my Kitchen in recycle bins, waiting to go in the trailer behind the back of my bike. But it's coming up to Christmas now, and after Christmas is normally when I start collecting up old Xmas trees and snedding the branches off them with a Staffordshire Billhook, before putting the branches through a shredder.

In early January I normally start spreading Ex Christmas trees on the paths of the Addiscombe railway park allotment. It keeps me busy while my collection of Cacti are sleeping. But with all the reclaimed wood chip down, do I really need to do this ?

Had another dig at the top of the bank at Black horse lane to remove more old broken glass and plastic. Not much plastic wrappings came out this time, further along the wall. But I still filled three small carrier bags with smashed glass. Half of it being broken shop painted window advertising signs.

What did come out from under the two sleepers was a good small cluster of brass items from the beginning of the 20th Cent.

A coat hook. A hook with three hangers that was screwed in to the roof, maybe a wooden beam.

Two strange brass hinge things

A Brass tap ( very small )

Three picture hangers, one in the shape of a cross and various other items.

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The time before I found a Meat paste jar with tar or bitumen in the bottom, containing a Three Pence coin dating to 1943. Thats the second Three Pence bit I have found in so many weeks. My guess is somebody had a mini stash of coins , including the two Two shilling pieces. That may have started in the pot but worked their way out and into the ground over the many years.

I find it strange that the Tizer bottles and Pepsi Cola bottles from the 1950's where placed under the two railway sleepers.

Maybe around that time kids used to gather at the top of the bank to watch the trains and drink Pop. The railway was electrified from early on in the 1920's but Steam engines could still be seen on freight working from Addiscombe to London and back, up until the 1960's.

As to wether the telegraph pole that down side of St Johns lane bridge at Black Horse lane was still there in the 50's, I do not know. But this small corner of the Railway Park is proving to be very interesting and full of hints of past life.

Also I dug up the rusted remains of what can only be described as a metal and hopefully a childs cap gun. Only the shape remained, the condition was horrific indeed. I find it hard to believe this the real thing from the 1940's

[Onzuka]

Please keep the updates coming, Mr. Eutow, I love to read them. This old country of ours needs more people like you!

For anyone living outside of the UK, and I guess that's the majority of our readers, it must be difficult to figure out what's going on here. Just ask your questions and someone will give you the answers. It's a noble thing to be doing.

Steve

[Brunãozinho]

That something really nice to do with that space, thanks for sharing this!

[CactusFanDan]

That's a really cool project! I'd love to find those kinds of cool bottles and stuff too. If I didn't already spend so much money/space on collecting cacti, I'd probably collect vintage glass bottles. Any pictures of your findings?

[Eutow_Intermedium]

I spose I could post up some pictures of the items I have found nearby, not far away from the Addiscombe railway Park allotment.

Up until it rained so much before Christmas I had been very busy down there, spreading loads of Fine Woodchip for mulch on the paths, and generally tidying up the patch.

I then started on a job that I felt needed doing nearby. Removing litter and broken glass nearby at the other side of the Ex Road/Rail bridge.

While I began removing plastic bags full of various Chocolate, crisp and food wrappers and glass. I hypothesised that this location could very well be an excellent location for a spot of Bottle digging at the same time. I had found smaller pop bottle on a previous occasion, which hinted some time ago that there could be some history buried at the top of the embankment.

Here are most of the items that I have found from that very small spot.



An old Green glass wine or port bottle embossed with Y B co Ltd Yates Bro's , still at the time retaining some of it's original label and cork. This was quite deep at the bottom of an old ( victoria ) pink concrete wall. That particular spot unlike the area to the left near the old Iron wall tie was very dry.

A Three Pence coin dating to 1942 of which I found

A three hooked coat or shoe hanger of which I don't know what kind of metal. It has three small screw holes. It may have been used inside a wardrobe or even screwed into a wooden beam above.

And the best find being a ( Green ) Hexagonal glass Poison bottle, with the familiar vertical moulded ribs and the words Not to be taken on the side

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The hexagonal poison bottle came with the remind of it's original stopper and separated and dried contents. My guess is that what was contained was in fact Calamine lotion.

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Cleaned out an scrubbed down



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And the photo of the entire group of what else was found. This doesn't include the two Three Pence pieces. I later found a second one dating to 1943. It was in a large and basic meat paste jar that was badly chipped, the coin was inside stuck into a tar like substance. this could have original been a miniature horde left by Children in the 1950's.

This picture also shows

a 1950's Tizer bottle top left

A larger 1950's Pepsi Cola bottle of which the printed label started to crumble off after handling and light cleaning. So I gave up cleaning and had to repair what was missing with a white Posca paint pen.

The earlier found and smaller Pepsi Cola bottle also 1950's

Left a tall and very finely moulded Meat paste jar, quite clean in fact. This was found at the same time as the smaller Pepsi Cola bottle.

Then what my old man seems to think is a small Whiskey taster bottle. This wasn't actuly found at Black Horse Lane near the Bridge or Guerrilla allotment but actualy elsewhere on the park.

A Round clear glass plain ink well.

To the right a rectangular screw top bottle of good condition that at the time of cleaning had the remains of something blue or green , dried up on the inside . On filling it with water and going some with a small bottle brush, it rapidly turned the water green. My guess was this was Food colouring or possibly ink.

The small bottle below is also screwtop, not too old

One of the more interesting finds was a small Iron pony show ^_^ aww. I can just imagine a scene of the little fella in days of long bygone on the street above, in front of what would have been then , four shops. maybe something for the local children of the Area. Woodside School nearby. Or maybe the old Cherry Tree cottage with the sloped roof that I heard used to be an orphanage at some time in the past.

A small brown glass screwtop poison bottle ( oval ) in shape.

Two brass door knobs of which are quite fragile, as well as two Carbonite beer bottle stoppers.

The two largest coins at the front in the cluster are a pair of Two Shilling pieces dying to 1947 and 1961. The other coins were actually dug up from the beds on the Addiscombe Railway park allotment.

The largest being an old Edwardian Penny of 1906
Then a Half penny of 1919
A small Silver Six pence of 1966 &
Dark looking victorian Farthing of 1901 ( good condition ). I'm pretty sure Queen Victoria died that year.

This selection doesn't include the 3 inch Bullet I found opposite the place where I was clearing up wrappers and glass . I found that two or three years ago. I don't think it's big enough to be the bullet from a german fighter plane from the Second World war that shot up the roofs of the houses above. More likely a Rifle bullet. And just to say it's complete and unfired with a crack in the shell.

Also what I thought was a Childs ( metal ) cap gun. It was in truly atrocious condition and only the shape gave it's identity away. I tried to knock some rust off and the end of it snapped off

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And also a selection of old Edwardian brass fittings that came out from a small cluster area underneath the two Railway sleepers laid flat on top of each other. Including two funny hinged objects. A coat hanger hook and three Picture hooks. One of them being a bit fancier and cross shaped. Plus a very small brass tap

I don't think thats a bullet as it's hollow inside and has a thread internally .

[Eutow_Intermedium]

And the Guerrilla patch as of New years day 2014

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All the Reclaimed and reused wood chip is down now. The recycle bins that were in the flat are all done now. There is more at the side of the line at Tramlink ( harrington road ) , but I don't really need any more now. Soon it will be the start of Ex Christmas trees.

Due to the horrendous weather that started way before Christmas itself. The ground on parts of the Guerrilla allotment is even wet on the surface of the soil. It just can't drain away quick enough , and there just doesn't seem to be any end to the foul weather

In fact the Wide Asphalt path that goes under the Ex Rail/Road bridge and alongside the school, is in part flooded and resembles something like a canal.

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I haven't been over my Official allotment since I was there with my Cousin Stuart, sticking up bubble wrap inside my Greenhosue, containing the other half of my collection. It's likely to be even worse there than it is here on the Railway park. At least this little corner is somewhat on a raised area of soil.

My Propper allotment is on ground derived from the sticky London Clay. Although the ground is worked, it doesn't drain to well.

[CactusFanDan]

Those are some nice bottles and trinkets you've found. Makes me want to go exploring and digging somewhere around Manchester.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Manchester with all the Industrial history. I can't think of a better place to start really.

Try looking either just in or at the side of the banks of rivers, in meanders or small rivers for Glazed pots or glass bottles, pref slow moving or upstream and near sites where old mills or factories were. It's a good thing to do while out for a walk out one day with your camera…

Also check out the Video that I put up in another Topic.

: In search of Codd

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I was down there agin the other day and found an old brown glass beer bottle that took a carbonate stopper, too recent to be moulded glass though. I had to scrub it with a Brass bristled brush to clean it up. I then added a Carbonite stopper to it that I had found in the same spot.

Also found a 1950/60s Chocolate Milk bottle ( small ) That also took some scrubbing too.

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No more further news on work done on the Guerrilla allotment i'm afraid.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Today I passed throughout the local park that I am a volunteer on . I dropped off 1 and a half recycle bins of Shredded Ex 2013 Christmas tree branches. It doesn't look like I am going to finish all the paths this year as I really didn't get into it like I did the last. And prior to Christmas I had been loading up trailer loads of reclaimed fine wood chip from the T side of Tramlink. I intend on receiving one more Xmas tree and that will be it for the year.

I had placed a Wanted : add on Freecycle but surprisingly got no offers =^~^=

Next it will be moving the cut sections of tree trunk that I have several in my flat to the Railway Park allotment and set them down as a new border with the Grass verge, and the Primrose and Crocus bar. I will probably go back to Harrington Road ( tramline ) T side and get a few more.

Also I can cut down and stake the Spruce trunks left from the shredding process. I can use these to keep the logs in place, and use them elsewhere on the Guerrilla patch where wooden branches separate path from soil.

I used Secrteurs to remove selected small branches from low down on sapling trees, tidy up the native hedgerow and cut back two native Cornus shrubs, as well as cut out a few whips of Brambles. General pre spring tidying up.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Photo's of the Guerrilla Allotment as of 03 02 2014

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Looking toward the Composting area.



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Looking across from halfway up the stairwell slope next to the road.



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And the usual view from the rod and over the side of the bridge.



As you can see the paths look a bit on the irregular and patchy side. If I do top up the parts with no shredded Xmas trees, I might pick up the last of the wood chip . Might be interesting to see if the different mulches affect the type of fungi that might come up. Unfortunately I didn't get to finish the job this year as I spent most of my time focusing my efforts into catching up on decorating and tidying my flat.

Another half of the reason I didn't do the Christmas trees is because my girlfriends ankle has been consistently bad nd I cnt expect her to drag old spruces through the streets for me, all the way home. Although she will pretty much do anything I tell her to do.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

Also today I went to the location past the Road/Rail bridge to the top of the low cutting again for a look around. I looked into a hole in the roots, the rain had washed out a small clear glass bottle and that started me off again digging towards the left. Terra Incognita.

I soon came up against something made of iron and the more I dug around it, the larger it seemed to be getting of which was bit worrying. Trapped at the front left side by roots and the above right buy an overhanging root I spotted the top of a milk bottle of which I guessed to be another 1960's example. I tried to dig some soil out of the iron object to free the milk bottle that was sitting vertically inside it , but at this time it wasn't coming out past the overhanging root.

I dug some more to the right and back of the hunk of iron to find the back of the object was gaping a rusty hole due to years of moisture doing it's thing. I removed some soil from the front and above and the Iron hunk remained stuck fast even with me pulling at it. So began the proper excavation to the right hand side. And on going down and removing clean soil with my gloved hands I removed a simple clear glass bottle that would have had a cork stopper.

A bit further and things really started to get interesting, when I caught a flash of dark blue emerging through the soil. A bit more digging around with an old rusty piece of metal poker maybe , revealed a Cobalt blue ridged ( poison ) bottle that would have had a cork stopper. I had expected a bottle the size of the earlier Green hexagonal poison bottle, but was charmed to see this little thing in my hand.

Further digging down with my Bruised rib still playing up slightly I got excited about another larger bottle. But bending over at this stage was proving to be uncomfortable . It turned out to be a small clear glass, R Whites bottle. But unfortunately the neck and head were sadly missing. I left digging the right side of the Iron hunk just there.

Eventualy I managed to pull out the Milk bottle from around the overhanging root to find it full of muddy water

Then it got grim and the rotten poker started stabbing at the ground around the hunk of which finally ran out on the left and I knew what it was anyway. Killing me almost with the pain of my right side the lump emerged what I thought it to be

A dirty great old Victorian Iron < < toilet cistern > > Oh the joy.

The contents were wet dirt and further broken clear glass. But the cavity it left behind and the soil beneath excite me for another day. I may be able to do a small mount of further exploratory digging to the left and right, but not much. It will mainly be down from now on.

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Here is what I found

03 02 2014

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When I first caught a flash of Blue glass



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And what eventually popped out



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Later after cleaning

No flash



With flash on my iPhone



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That blue poison bottle is positively minting And the other two basic bottles are pretty much spot on too. I'm beginning to think that all these items were planted here rather than thrown over the wall , considering their condition. But it's at the side of an Ex Railway.





Eutow_Int*