A day of sunshine!

I took advantage of the first dry sunny day we have had for ages and descended onto the plot;


This is the back of the shed, with water butt in situ, guttering re-arranged and all the canes etc hung up...nice & neat.


This is the usual view down the plot



I went to the plot with the aim of clearing all the top growth of the brambles that had taken over the bottom end.

This was similar to how it looked before hand;

This is how it looks now;

I have manage to clear all the brambles, all I need to do now is dig up the roots strim the grass, then I am going to transplant the 2 smallest gooseberry bushes into pots for the time being, dig up the oldest 2 gooseberry bushes and the blackcurrant bush because they have been there forever and are in the wrong place, they never crop very well and I think it would be good to get a couple of new ones for the new fruit beds.

Once I have done this I will rotorvate the whole area, put in the beds, plant the fruit bushes and then mulch around the bushes and cover and bare soil with weed proof membrane.

I know that rotorvating will encourage the couch grass & bind-weed to regrow but I do not have the time to dig the whole area over as I want to get the fruit bushes in this year & need to get them in whilst they are dormant.

I also plan to do the same with the trees - plant then mulch then cover the whole area with weed proof membrane. They will prefer this anyway as they will not have any competition from weed growth.

These are the two huge piles of brambles waiting to be burnt;

I did also manage to plant something... on the right garlic and on the left in loo roll inners, broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia)

It does feel nice to actually sow something at last!

Plot update

Over the last couple of weeks I have managed to get to the plot a few times even in the freezing ice & snow....

So far I have started digging one of the small beds in readiness for rhubarb which I want to move into it. I have covered the other small beds with black plastic to prevent further weed growth.

I have now moved everything off the other plot so it is now available to be re-let, apart for a very large pile of cut brambles and rotten wood which I will burn as soon as it is dry enough.

I have cleaned the greenhouse and replaced all the weed membrane under the gravel.

The green house looking much tidier..

Yesterday I started clering the brambles from the bottom of the plot, just cutting the top growth at present, leacing the roots in the ground with enough stumps so I can see them when I come to dig them up. Luckily 1 bed had carpet covering it and the other had black plastic on it so hopefully once the brambles are cleared it should not be too difficult to prepare as I want to put soft fruit in them.

Reading Material

Was browsing for books to spend the vouchers I received for Christmas on and found these....


Unfortunately I am a sucker for a book with lots of pictures and not alot of writing and these fitted the bill nicely. This is also my benckmark for a great blog! lots of lovely pictures of people's allotments and not too much talking!

The first book has lots of practical projects for building on the allotment such as raised beds, bean frames etc and the second is a guide on what you should be doing on a month by month basis - I really like this book.

Anyway...happy reading!

Wordle

This is my wordle for 'Losing the Plot'

Robin

This little fellow was checking out what the flurry of activity was.
I took this photo from about 1 metre away.

Shed shifting 2

This is how I moved my shed;

I unscrewed the base from the walls, added handles to all 4 corners of the shed, took out all the windows and took off the door, and hey presto...

Shed with handles...

I replaced the door & windows, I just need to adjust the guttering, reattach the shed to the base, put the water butt in the right position and away we go!

Ihave to say Ireally thought this was going to be a mammoth task but it turned out be be fairly straight forward with all the help.

So a big THANKYOU to everyone who helped with the shed move.

Shed shifting

My husband arrived home last night announcing that he had organised some extra muscle in order to move my shed, so today I met Roger at the allotments whilst OH went to collect 'Harris'. A little time later OH arrives with no 'Harris' Apparently he had had a little too much sauce last night rendering him incapable of getting up before 10.30am!

We were just about to give up and rearrange for another day when I spotted allotment man (Chris) and considering it was his bright idea to move the shed in the first place managed to get him to help us.

Now I know what you are thinking - why does it require 4 people to move a shed? my shed, although not large is very sturdily built, and is heavier than others of a similar size. So needed alot of muscle!

Any way once all muscle was organised the actual moving of the shed was quite easy - heavy - but straight forward.

And here it is in it's new position...
And a photo taken from the access track down the plot...

In the foreground is my pile ofwood (which I need to sort out), a compost bin made from palletts and a load of water pipe which I use as a framework for cloches.

Base area for shed

I have managed to put the paving stones in place ready for the big shed move. I levelled them and made sure they were level with each other.

I have now also used planks of wood screwed into the sides of the shed to be used as handles.

All I now need is some strong men to help me move it....Any offers?

Oh my goodness!

I have just had a look at my old posts and reaslised that it was January 2008 that I last put anything in here - I think that means that it was then that I last did anything on the plot - that is seriously scary!

I must never let that happen again! - I am feeling renewed enthusiasm, particularly as giving up one of the plots means that although there is some serious work to do in reclaiming the plot, the majority of it is already raised beds and I had the foresight to cover most of them with black plastic to reduce weed growth. So nothing that a few days armed with a strimmer & incinerator will not cure....

Now all I need is for the snow to clear...

Snow patrol

I braved the wrath of allotment man and ventured to the plot with the dog, and this was the scened that greeted me - in fact not alot different to the previous picture of the plot apart from the snow!

The dog enjoyed playing and sniffing around in the snow whilst I managed the move of all the stuff from the shed.

Having looked at the shed I was still very unsure of how to move it given that I don't have an army of men available, and once I got home was browsing other people's allotment blogs and came across an ingenious way of moving the shed...

You unscrew it from the floor, screw some posts across the inside like bars to hold onto, the you go inside and lift it up like a sedan chair and walk it to where it needs to go.

Here's the link; Thankyou very much earthwoman - This has given me hope!

www.earthwoman.co.uk

Oh my poor plot...

Went to the plot today

The last time I went was in February of this year - 10 months ago! Yes I have been seriously neglectful.... Managed to move all the stuff out of my shed into my greenhouse and also moved the palletts etc that I had erected as compost bins.

I only have some timber to move which was to be raised beds and the shed....

I erected the shed on site so am not sure how I will manage to move it without completely dismantling it, which is something I really do not want to do!

The allotment guy said that I should get a bunch of strong men together and I would get it moved very quickly - This sounds great in theory but in practice I need to move it by the new year and there appears to be very few people knocking around the allotments at the moment.....

I will need to ponder this one further....

Nearly lost the plot

Oh hoe is me....

Had a call from the allotment committee guy who said that he wanted to know when I was going to move all my tools as they wanted to re-let the plots! ~Considering that I had heard nothing from them since the BBQ in the summer this came as a slight surprise....

Although I know that I am definitely guilty of neglecting my plots in the past year I have been so busy with new job and college work that I just have not had the time.

However the thought of losing the plots left me having to really think about what I wanted to do and what I realistically have time for.

I had actually decided togive up the plots until the night before last.....and I eneded up having a nightmare about losing my plots and never being able to find one again!

I woke up having completely changed my mind and contacted the allotment committee guy and managed to do a deal - I have managed to retain one of the plots - the one with the greenhouse and raised beds and have agreed to give up the one with the shed.....although he suggested that I move the shed (I'm not sure how to do this as I built it in situ).

I feel better about this as I think I will mange one plot - having two would have meant that I couldn't keep up with them both and would end up being at huge risk of losing them both, particularly as the allotment society is taking a tougher line regaring their use.

So now I need to get all the stuff out of the shed and move it into the greenhouse and then work out how to move the shed.

Pruning

After visiting the plotI discovered that the hedge at the bottom of my plots was so overgrown that it had bent over on top of my fruit bushes. So armed with a saw, lopper and secateurs I attacked it. I have now got very scratched and sore arms but a neater looking hedge. I did not want to hack it back too much as it serves as a very prickly deterrent to the undesirables that break into the site on a regular basis.

I have also pruned the gooseberry bushes and black currant bushes and put a mulch around all their bases as well as a mulch round the bases of the apple trees. I am not too sure how to prune apple trees, so will need to read up. I have 2 bramleys seedlings so far and plan to add some more apples, plums and greengages. I would like a mini orchard with wild flowers growing around them which will give us somewhere nice to sit and contemplate.

...something like this

Through the undergrowth.....

You can spot a dog --- this is just about the only thing you can spot though!

Where have all my raised beds gone?

Mmmm I think I might have a bit of work to do...... Now where shall I start?

What a scary sight - or site! This was the depressing view that awaited me upon my 'return' to my plot, waist high with weeds, all of which will have seeded themselves everywhere, just ready for the spring -Oh how I hate weeds!

I then took a walk around my little bit of britain and discovered that the beds I had actually managed to cover up last year with plastic sheeting and with cardboard topped with council compost had survived. Underneath the mulch there are hardly any weeds and those that are there are easy to pull out. This cheered me up and gave me the motivation to clean up the greenhouse.

I am going to tackle the strawberry beds next as they really need planting out - they have been stuck in the pots for a year, they do seem to have survived though - luckily strawberries seem to be fairly resiliant.

Oh the shame of it!!!

I have a confession to make - I have not been near the plot for ages now

- I do have excuses though, I have been doing another course (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) which involves me having to write loads of essays, read loads of books so that I can pretend that I know what I am talking about etc etc....

I have decided to collect a load more free compost from the council and put it on all the beds then cover them in thick plastic, this should hopefully then make the soil easier to work and cut out the light to the weeds so they all die off, I only think I will manage to plant a few beds this spring. At least covering them up will keep them in good condition until I can do something with them.

I am going to visit the plot and will take some photos just to show how bad it has got!

Seeds at home..

I finally got round to sowing some seeds at home including tomatoes - sungella, sungold, alicante and moneymaker.

Chillis, melons and cucumber - burpless

The problem I will have though is that they will need to go into a much lighter place than my windowsill and if the weather stays like this it will be too cold in my greenhouse for them - What to do, oh what to do....... any advice?

In the bleak early spring time...

What a difference to last week! bitterly cold with intermittant hail, snow and rain - Why does all the horrible weather come at the weekend? -Despite mini blizzards I did manage to get to the plot for a while and finished digging the bean trenches - filled them with last years compost and topped off with soil. I then mulched the whole bed with newspaper and council compost. Erected the bean frame - somewhat sturdier than my previous attempts, which hopefully will not collapse under the weight of all those beans I am expecting - well I am being optimistic!

I have also planted my very pathetic looking globe atrichokes - they are pitiful specimens compared to my italian plot neigbours but I am hoping that they will compare themselves get jealous and grow like mad!

My outdoor planted broad beans are looking reasonably healthy.
And my rhubarb is finally coming along with lots of buds promising lots of lovely rhubarb crumble.
I am going to dig this lot up once the season has finished and split the root so that more plants can be made - I plan to fill the whole bed with rhubarb as not only can you make rhubarb crumble but rhubarb and fig jam is to die for, and of course the leaves are great for the compost bin.

Warmer weather at last!

This weekend I made the most of the lovely weather (it actually feels like spring!) and managed to complete a bit of construction and did some planting of raspberry canes - So far I have put in early, mid and autumn - the late variety (octavia) came in pots so I repotted them into larger pots and they are in the greenhouse.












I made a sign and have stuck it on the shed - I wonder if anyone will google it from my allotment site?








I have finished painting the shed and have planted lavender either side of the fig tree .









These are the final leeks which I have dug up and made more leek and potato soup with - I pot it up and use it for my lunches at work and college. It tastes particularly lovely with crusty bread and butter! MMmmm...

Bramley's Seedling

At last I've planted something!

Went to B&Q and bought 2 Bramley's Seedling apple trees, 6 lavender plants and some gutter bits. Then went to the plot and planted the trees at the bottom of the plot, planted the lavender either side of the fig tree against the shed and also planted the garlic plants which I had started off in the greenhouse. I now feel like a gardener rather than a construction worker!

I also finished off the guttering on the shed - it now runs into a waterbutt very nicely indeed. Now all I need is some rain - perhaps I should watch what I wish for!

I measured up the bed which will eventually have a fruit cage around it and have started putting up the support posts for the raspberries. I have also dug a trench for one of the lots of raspberries. I have 4 different varieties ready to plant - early, mid and late season and also autumn fruiting, so we should have a long raspberry season with luck.

At the bottom of my plots there are some very old gooseberry pants and some blackcurrant bushes aswell as some smaller gooseberry bushes which I propogated by laying branches - I am going to get rid of the very old ones, try to propogate the blackcurrant bushes and dig up and transplant the younger gooseberry bushes. I plan to plant some more trees in this space after.

I'm cream crackered!!

Got up early this morning and went to the local industrial estate. I got 4 large pallets, 2 small pallets and 4 square wood things that look sort of like gates. I then had to lug them halfway across the allotment site as it was too wet to take the car in.

After lots of re-arrangement (I am a woman - it's got to look right!) I got compost bins, muck enclosure, leafmould bin and waterbutt all in their correct places.

I was also asked whether my shed was going to be a cafe or a bar - someone else asked whether it was going to be a ladies loo - little do they know - it already is!!!
Set out two beds for the strawberry plants and started digging one of them. I also potted up the strawberry plants - all 45 of them! I have got Honeoye, Florence and Cambridge Favorite (the last being an obvious choice)

I also planted the fig tree and potted up the Octavia raspberry canes. I have put the other three varieties into water ready for me to pot them up tomorrow as I have not got any idea where I am going to plant them yet!

I want to build a fruit cage on one side of the plot with the raspberries, gooseberries and currants. I would also like to plant some blueberries in there but will need to dig a hole and change the soil for ericacious compost.

At last my broad beans are starting to sprout

A view across my plot. you can see where I've planted the fig - just in front of the shed. I have had to enclose it with mesh otherwise my stick loving dog will pull it up. It does not matter whether the sticks are growing or not, he's not fussy.

Talking of stick loving dogs here he is - very tired after a long walk yesterday and an afternoon at the plot - Just before this photo was taken he was snoring very loudly!