My Plot

Plot 46, Burnside Allotments, Cambridge



Showing posts with label Digging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Digging. Show all posts

Monday, March 28, 2011

Done digging bed 5!

At last I have finished digging bed 5 - Hoorah!!
I am hoping to see Mike (3 plots along from mine) who has a tiller, as he said I could borrow it. I want to put a load of council compost on & till it to create a finer tilth ready for sowing. The trouble with our soil is that the clay, once you dig it turns into small, rock hard boulders, which are rubbish for sowing into. The frosts do break down the soil but unfortunately I can't wait that long. However it does have it's good points though in that it very fertile.
I again did some digging then some painting to rest my back, so also got the fruit cage completely painted. It now looks much better, rather than a load of old wood cobbled together.

Buddy, master of all he surveys....only thing is, he is surveying Wayne's plot not ours!
The carrot (Paris Market) seedlings that I sowed into the crate int he greenhouse are finally showing their first true leaves.
My lovely daughter Chloe visited me at the allotment after school and 'helped' with the watering - she got more water on the dog & herself than on the plants!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Digging

Started digging bed 3 - Very hard work & my back aches!
I hate couch grass even more than bind weed!

A little poem to cheer things up!

Spring is sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where the birdies is?
Some people say the bird is on the wing
But that's absurd -
The wing is on the bird!

Don't know who this was written by.

Saturday, March 05, 2011

Dig in

Had to make sure that I got to the plot in reasonable time this morning as I am off to Wembley with my daughter to see the X Factor Live (She likes one direction but I think Matt Cardle is great - if only I was a few years younger!) Any way, decided to try to get the digging finished on bed 2, which was easier going as I got towards the end of the bed.
I actually managed to finish it before I needed to leave which was a relief - Now I need to tackle the grassy ones which will be MUCH harder going, as I will need to take out all the couch grass....and there is loads of it!
As I was digging away Rachel came over brandishing what looked to unaccustomed eye, a load of twigs, but it turns out she was actually clutching some raspberry canes that she had thinned out from her plot & did I want them? Oooooh yes please! So I followed her advice & heeled them into one of the soon to be strawberry beds for the time being, until I can plant them into their proper place in the fruit beds once I have rotorvated & prepared the ground.......Mmmm that's another story!
Dominic & Andy were at their plot but were having bad luck with the rotorvator, as the first one they picked up wouldn't start and the second on was working OK on cultivated land but was just bouncing around & not digging in on the uncultivated areas, so They gave up and took it back & got a refund. Now we are on plan B - the options are to try to get a very hefty rotorvator from somewhere or dig the whole area.....What to do?
I really want to get the poly tunnel up and also at least have the ground prepared to plant the fruit bushes and trees, so that I can then plant out the bushes I already have and plant trees as & when I manage to get them. I wouldn't bother rotorvating but the ground is so uneven with great big dips and craters in it, if I want to have a grassy orchard area it really needs to be flat. It would lake me ages to dig, so still think It will be best to rotorvate, particularly as I need to focus the digging on the veg beds.
Oh well - onwards & upwards...

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Dig that!

Today, although much colder than last week, after a murky start, turned into a lovely sunny day. So I donned the wellies & headed off to the plot, laden with my camping stove that I had unearthed from the camper, replenished stocks of tea, coffee & biscuits and my freshly scrubbed out kettle.
I used to have the stove at the plot, but took it home to use when camping, and have since taken a flask with me, but last week I heard my plot neighbour's kettle whistling, which reignited my pleasure for making coffee & tea in my shed. The great advantage of this is you can always make cups of tea for allotment friends & neighbours, which is a great way of getting to know people & improving the community atmosphere, which our site could do with.
So tea making facilities installed, I got on with the main task of the day, which was to dig the next bed. Again this bed had been covered for over a year and all the grass had died off. The only thing with this one is that I don't think I weed killed before I covered it with cardboard then compost & black plastic & the couch grass roots were rampant, although fairly near the surface, whereas the previous bed had far fewer roots left. This is as far as I got, as I was trying to be careful about taking as many of the roots out as I could.
I was going to use this bed as a salad bed & nursery bed, but I am now thinking of putting more strawberries in here instead & intercropping the other main beds with salads etc. I start most thing off in pots & modules, so the need for a nursery bed is minimal. Once I have finished digging it I will put some more compost & manure in & plant up with strawberries.
My garlic plants seem to be doing well. They have grown loads since I planted them out, They have had a fleece shelter but I have now opened the ends up to harden them off more.
The Rubarb I bought from the garden centre, which was already potted up appears to have taken and is now putting out shoots.
As you can see, the sweet peas have now started to send out shoots from lower down the stems, which was the reason for pinching out the growing tips - I like it when a plan actually works!
The lettuce seedings I have had in the greenhouse are coming along and I will transplant them soon into a bigger tray - to carry on growing as indoor plants.
The broad beans I sowed in december are finally showing their faces - there are a few gaps, but I have some I sowed indoors that hopefully I will be able to slot in once they have germinated.
This is the other rhubarb plant that I bought. These plants were already potted up when I bought them, however I also bought 2 that were roots in bags & neither of these have done very well at all. In fact both went squishy, then they seemed to recover & I planted them out, and now they look very sorry for themselves. One has been dug up by something - probably the fox, and the rhubarb plants both looked chewed, strange that they went for the plants that came in bags rather than the ones that came in pots, which have not been disturbed at all.

Friday, February 11, 2011

A nice day at last!

After the lovely day we had on Tuesday, I was so disappointed when I saw that it was miserable on Wednesday. By lunchtime though the sun had managed to break through so off I toddled to the plot, with dog & waste veg in hand. I had only intended to take the dog for a walk & put the veg waste into the compost, however once I got there it was so nice I decided to stay. I added the veg wast to the compost heap, checked the beans & garlic - both growing nicely. The leeks & onions look slightly better & the sweet peas seem to be sprouting from lower down the stems.

I then started digging what will be the strawberry bed. It was fairly dry as it had been covered up and I only managed to dig out 3 buckets of bind weed & cough grass roots, and most of these were fairly near the surface. All I need to do with this bed is put in some manure & compost, then I will plant through some sort of mulch - Just need to buy the strawberries.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

January round up part 1 - Major post (internet & computer problems)

Finally received the garlic that I ordered from DT Brown - I think it got stuck in a snowdrift - My husband could not believe that I had sent over 7 pounds on it - he said I could have got from Sainsbury's - Doh...
All the garlic that I have now sown into pots and modules. My plan is that as I did not get them planted out before Christmas, they will get a bit of a head start in the greenhouse, then I can plant them out later.
I have covered up the bed that the garlic is going into - to make it a bit warmer as I am starting the garlic off in the greenhouse and I am assuming that this will help the process of moving it from the slightly warm greenhouse to the decidedly cold open bed.
This is a view of my plot from the right - a view that was previously obscured by the shed & brambles that have now been removed from the neighbouring plot
This is the plot to the right of mine. It was over grown and there was a rickety shed made out of doors just by my manure enclosure which as been taken down. It is amazing how bright & light my plot feels.
I rough dug this bed - it was quite hard going and too wet to get any of the weeds out.
Once I rough dug the bed I covered it in black plastic, hopefully so that it dries out enough to dig again & get out as much of the bindweed & couch grass as I can. I will also put some manure & compost in here as it is where my sweetcorn, courgettes & pumpkins will go.
This is the Bed beyond the one I dug, which I have covered with 2 layers of cardboard ready for a layer of well rotted manure & then a layer of topsoil. I am planning to put potatoes into this bed, planting through weed membrane. As you can see it was almost dark when I finished - time to go home!

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