Sweet Peas & watering

Another beautifully warm day today - Went to the plot with the aim of finishing off bed 3 but it was so hot I couldn't face it so built the other two arches for the sweet peas to climb up, then put them in their final positions & planted some sweet peas at the bases. Husband & son arrived just at the right time armed with lovely cold beers & also got on with some watering - my son slightly more grumpily than my husband!

Seed sowing fest

Got up ridiculously early today thanks to OH who took someone to the airport at 05.45 and was not at all quiet when he was getting ready. Cleaned kitchen, cleaned fridge out & hung washing out, then hot footed it to recycling centre to pick up another load of council compost. Got halfway through unloading it & the rain came - retreated into the greenhouse & potted on the rest of the tomatoes. Also sowed some more lettuce (Webb's Wonder), leeks (Pandora & Musselburgh), sweetcorn (Sundance), poached egg plant, butternut squash & courgettes (Zuchini, All Green Bush & Romanesco). By the time I had done all this, the greenhouse looked like a seedling factory & the rain had stopped.

So ventured outside and watered the raspberries - these are the ones I dug up from under the shed & they are nearly all sprouting. I am not exactly sure that they are actually raspberries & might be blackberries - time will tell.....

The strawberries have started to flower & I am looking forward to eating some with cream..... Mmmmmm

The Apple tree I recently planted has just started to flower & what a lovely colour!

The last thing I did today was build the bean frame. I have put enough canes in for 10 runner beans & 10 climbing french beans. We all love beans so if I think I need more I can always put a wigwam up for them.

Of course Buddy had to make sure he was in the photo!

Pecking order

The hens are settling in & have been laying eggs - not in the nest boxes of course!

These eggs will be te ones that were in progress from being at the battery farm, I have read that ex-battery hens often go off laying when they have been re-homed until they get used to their new surroundings.

The only one that has got a name so far is this one - she's called bossy & spends most of her time charging around chasing the others bossing them about.

There has been the odd squabble but on the whole they have settled down quite quickly. I have made sure the hens lower down the pecking order can get out of the way and as there are 2 food & drink stations, they can also get enough to eat & drink - even bossy can't be in 2 places at once!

This is the house & run. I will move it round the garden every few days or so.

I put a good layer of bedding inside the house & when I checked them this evening, after they had put themselves to bed I thought I had lost 2 as I couldn't see them, so fetched the torch & found all 4 squeezed into one nest box -I know they like to be cosy but that was taking it to the extreme!

I prised 2 out of one box & put them into the other, but I don't know if they will stay there.

I will try to teach them to perch as it means that their bottoms stay clean & they will not poo in the nest boxes so much. They have spent all their lives in packed cages so have never done what normal hens do so this might be a challenge!

Welcome to our home!

Well after a short time thinking about where to get some hens from (my brain does not work well over long periods of time) we decided to rehome some battery hens, so contacted the British Hen Welfare Trust. The whole process was very quick & I was told that the next delivery date had been filled so would probably need to wait about 6 weeks before collecting some hens, but I could be put on the waiting list if I wanted to - The date was a week away so jumped at the chance & only a couple of days later received an e-mail offering me some hens on the earlier date if I wanted them. As I had everything already prepared I decided to go for it & today collected 4 very bedraggled looking hens.

The process was very slick & only took us about 10 minutes from arrival at the collection point to departure.

What a sorry sight!

Once home the hens were put into their house to settle in & after a while I let them into their run three of them managed to work out how to get down the ramp & one decided that it would sit in the entrance watching & refusing to budge - even when it was dark & the other three were wanting to go to bed this one resolutely refused to move, creating a line of hens up the ramp!

I decided to leave them to it & returned later to find the other three inside but this one was still sat in the entrance.... I had to shove it inside so that I could shut the pop hole!

I was very surprised that they put themselves to bed, particularly as they have never been outside before now.

New additions

My daughter got a new hamster today, and whilst collecting it mentioned that it would be great to have some more chickens.....So I have been scouring the internet & trying to decide whether to get point of lay hens or ex battery hens.

Whilst trying to decide I have been giving the hen house a revamp - Had to repair some bits & the whole thing needed a paint job.

And here it is...the house that Emma Built - all ready for it's new inhabitants.

Please note that I didn't just use blue paint this time!

Planting out

Arrived at the plot after I had taken a trailer load of rubbish to the tip and collected a load of council compost. Spotted Mike who let me borrow his rotorvator to break down the soil in the legume, root & onion beds. I had put a covering of council compost on each & rotorvated this in. Once I had done this I planted out the broad beans I sowed in loo rolls & poundland shallots.

Broad beans

Shallots

In the greenhouse the radishes have sprouted.

All the onions (Stutgarter Giant).....

And shallots have started to sprout also. I will harden these of over the next few days & then plant them out.

I still have loads to do including more digging (groan!), seed sowing and planting out of seedlings & so it goes on......

Raspberry relocation

I was going to carry on with digging bed 3 today, but once I got to the plot I completely lost all digging willpower - Had a bit of a tidy up at the side of the shed & found what I think are some raspberries growing there & rather than cut them back I dug them up, especially as they were all sprouting.

As I had dug them up I then needed to plant them, so got on with digging a couple of trenches in the fruit cage. Once I had dug the trenches I refilled them with soil, first taking out all the weed roots and mixed in some compost and feed.

I then planted all the raspberries in to the trench, although once I had planted them it became apparent that there are too many to fit into one trench. In the other trench I planted all the raspberries I previously dug up from the next door plot.

There will be two more rows, one of the canes that Rachel gave me which are an autumn variety and another of the 'under shed' variety. The only problem is that I do not know whether the 'under shed' or 'next door' are summer or autumn varieties...only time will tell I suppose!

Last but not least, I took a peek under the cloches and found that the perpetual spinach has just started to sprout....Hoorah!

I love growing things, but I am never too sure about what I am doing - it is all a bit trial & error, so it is always cause for a celebration when it actually works!

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!

Multi tasking

Now I know why I am an advocate for the no-dig system.... I hate digging & any one who says that they like digging can come & do mine any time! I have tried to get the dog interested in digging but he just went to sleep instead.

As my back has been through alot over the past few days I decided to do 3 things in turn, so I dug a strip of bed, painted a section of fruit cage & set out & planted the potatoes. The theory was that I would be able to give my back a regular break from digging and be able to stretch it by reaching up in order to paint. this worked quite well and I have now managed to dig about 3/4 of the bed.

The potato bed with all the potatoes set out ready for planting.

Potato bed on the right, bed 5 on the left and behind, the fruit cage half painted. As you can see, I only have blue paint!

All the seedlings that I have been hardening off ready for planting outside.

Andy & Dominic's plot with weed membrane down for paths

Today I have been mostly....

Digging.....

Still carrying on with bed 5 & it seems to be taking an eternity. It was cold & dull today which was a bit of a let down after the past few days of gorgeous sunshine & I soon got cold & had to take refuge in the greenhouse. Sowed some more cosmos, stocks, marigolds and nasturtium. I also sowed some gladioli & triteleia into the front flower bed. Once I had done this I had to go home to defrost.

Yesterday I was mostly.......

Getting on with the fruit cage

I have put in the corner braces and finished off the top rails. It feels much more sturdy and not about to fall over!

I also did a little more digging of bed 5

This is my neighbour Wayne's plot

A few days of plotting

I have had a few days off work this week and have been keeping myself busy up at the plot. The weather has been beautiful and it has been wonderful to be able to wear a T shirt and feel the sun on my arms. The sunshine has also brought out plenty of bare chested men, unfortunately some of these really ought to remain covered up! There area few specimens however that really are a sight to behold and can carry on wearing no shirts as far as I am concerned - Vegetables are lovely to look at but it is nice to have a bit of variety!

I have been to collect a couple of trailer loads of free council compost, which is great for lightening up the clay soil and for mulching. I put a load into the front flower bed, & will mix some topsoil in with it before planting anything in there. I put a thick mulch onto the long Rhubarb bed and I am hoping to grow sweet peas over the arch.

I also mulched the strawberry beds. If you put this stuff on thickly it helps suppress the weeds, conditions the soil, helps retain moisture and provides some nutrients.

I covered the potato bed with clear plastic in order to warm it up in readiness for planting the potatoes this coming weekend.

I met my new plot neighbours this week - Juliet & Stephen. They have been hard at work clearing their plot, and managed this much in one day.

Today I have been working on the fruit cage, and have nearly finished it. I just need to fix the braces to make it sturdier, and get a few more lengths of wood to complete the top rails. All that will then be required is the netting, which I will order via the internet.

I also thickly mulched all the fruit bushes & trees.

The view down the plot

Seedlings galore!

Nearly all the seedlings that I sowed recently have come up...

The broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia) have all germinated and are ready to go out.

These are the beetroot seedlings that I sowed as Monty Don suggested, in clusters in modules.

Cosmos seedlings.

Tomato seedlings

And finally - poundland shallots - going great guns - so far well worth the pound that I paid for them.

I am hardening off the shallots & broad beans at the moment so that they will be OK when I plant them out.