A load of BS

About a week ago we ordered a load of muck from Alan. The drop off was arranged for today, and Doug had kindly agreed to let Alan dump the load at the front of his plot (you can't drive onto ours) from where we could shift it to it's pallet bay home. We arrived mid morning to find the steaming pile waiting. It was massive, and after a few minutes shoveling we realised that the bay Ben had made for it wasn't going to be big enough. So, we dug up the two pallets that were the fence at the front of the plot, and picked up another one from the hut - enough to extend the bay and make a door for the front. Ben got on with this while I sorted out the flower bed at the front of the plot - digging over, replacing the pallet fence with some old posts, and planting poached egg plants, Love-in-the-mist, flax (linum rubrum), french marigolds, and sunflowers from RHS Wisley via Kate.

Once the muck bay was done it was back to shovelling. it took hours! But by the end everything was looking neat, and there wan't much trace of the pile left on Doug's plot. We're planning on leaving the pile to rot until the autumn/winter when we'll apply it as a mulch to keep the weeds down and to be dug in in the spring. In the mean time We'll try planting a few squashes directly into it.

Ben gave the Compost heap a turn and we mixed in the mucky grass clipping raked from where the pile had been, and the goosegrass we'd cleared from under the plum trees.

The other big job for the day was weeding. Ben tidied up the carrot beds (germination looks to have been pretty succesful) and I removed the grass that was growing up around the lavender bushes.

We picked a mammoth harvet of purple sprouting broccoli (some for dinner, the rest for the freezer) but left the small side shoots to grow some more. And John gave us some rhubarb, so the 6 hours spent working felt well worth it.

Rockets Away!

After work, yet again, to finish planting the sweet peas (they are everywhere!!) and also to plant a row of Rocket and Golden Beetroot towards the front of the plot. The endless and thankless job of weeding continues unabated.

Plant transplant

Another quick visit after work today to plant in our Broad Beans and Sweet Peas that were planted in loo rolls at home. Dug a hole, sprinkled a little FBB (Fish, Blood and Bone) in the bottom, filled half-way with water, then bunged in the loo-roll-bean. Flo organised and planted the Sweet peas, 10 in each bean-support area.

Just a little on edge....

A quick visit today, finishing off the path edging that I started yesterday - it really helps to define the beds and paths. A very pleasing result!

Allotmentfest 2006

We started the day with a Bond Street breakfast at the cafe before heading over to the plot for some serious work. Flo and I started work weeding pretty much everything that is currently in, including the onions, carrots, asparagus etc. I then, rather naughtily, ran of to play some Frisbee for an hour. However, I did manage to recruit two volunteers to help when I got back! yay for Mike and Nicky... Flo and Nicky worked on planting the rest of our maincrop potatoes (Sante and Pink Fir Apples), whilst Mike and myself worked on putting up the netting around the fruit cages. Mike planted another row of Carrots whilst Flo planted 6 spare summer cabbages that we gratefully received from Ron, our plot neighbor. Flo and I planted our sunflowers and cornflowers that did so well last year. Finally, I worked on defining the path by using a straight-edge spade and cutting a 3" deep trench along each side, defining the boards nicely - up until this point, it had all looked very undefined and shabby (in my opinion). All in all, an excellent day on the plot, catching up for the week that we were away...

The return...

After a lovely Easter break in Scotland, we had a few more days off to get on with some allotment work.

Wednesday was spent at home; installing our new water butt, adding to the salad patch and planting more things in pots in the shed.

We erected the other half of the polytunnel in the back garden and planted a row each of Land Cress, Little Gems, Rocket, Spring Onions and Golden Beetroot. We mad a rather smart path between the two beds out of part of a old pallet.

On the planting side we put 8 more sweetcorn in loo rolls, two of the squashes that Bernard gave Ben for his birthday, more french beans, and a big pot of parsley and coriander.

The tomato and basil that we'd put in pots in the airing cupboard before we went away had gone a bit crazy - germination was very successful, but the time spent in the dark was far too long so they had all become ridiculously leggy. At least we know it works to get things started though.

No photos for a while unfortunately - the camera is in for repairs...

Get by with a little help...

After waiting all morning for a package to be delivered (grrrr), I headed of down the plot. It turned out to be somewhat of a quiet day, spent methodically trimming dead ends from fruit bushes and re-postitioning them on their stake and wire supports. Alex, yet again ever helpful, turned up and we worked together on sifting and de-stoning the carrot bed. We then set about planing said carrots as well as some more leaf beat, beetroot and leeks. That was about it today...a little showery and rainy.

Spud-u-like

Potato Day! That exciting time of year when the spuds are thrust purposefully into their cosy, ground-based compartments that will see them go forth and multiply over the coming months. We planted 14 earlies (Arron Pilots) and 6 each of the main crops (Sante and Pink Fir Apples). We dug over each part of the plot, forked in a barrow-load of beautiful rotten leaf mould, raked and dug each potato its own hole. Plop! In they go, cover with soil and hey presto! you have yourself a potato planting. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that they don't surface too quickly and get nipped by a late frost - we might have to get some fleece for them. We also threw in the last of the onions (the red ones of which variety I am not sure). A quick-fire visit today - we had to head to frisbee practice....