TWO'S COMPANY

Finding themselves on adjacent plots and with lots in common, Nathan and Daniel decided to join forces and so nathanielsallotment was born

- Nathan and Daniel

How long have you had your shared allotments?

We have had our allotments for more than five years. With both backing on to each other we decided to join them in a rare opportunity to maximise our output. Of course, we want to use these plots for our personal growing but also to share the positive messages about growing your own fruit and vegetables to people across the world.

What made you decide to share your experiences on social media?

We decided sharing our journey on social media would be encouraging to many different people up and down the country. We found we inspired a lot of people and they came to our social media pages to show support, and likewise, they inspired us to do more! It allowed us to also find out what did work and what didn't work and share those experiences.

We started with a Facebook page which has kept growing over the past year. It recently reached more than 10,000 followers from various areas of the globe, which is amazing. It's also interesting that other countries don't have allotments - they have different names for them and different rules on their sites. Not only do we aim to inspire a new generation, we are also finding the generations are inspiring us. We have expanded our social media on to Instagram and recently Tik Tok.

You took on another plot after your first. Did it take lots of work to knock it into shape? 

Yes. We acquired two plots which required a lot of work. In total it took more than 16 van loads of tip runs to get them usable but with good soil practice we have begun the process of recreating biodiversity. We have many before and after photos of this process and this can be found all over our social media pages as we progress through the year.

We notice you use raised beds - are they no dig?