Some days at the allotment you can toil for hours and leave with the site looking much the same as when you started (see the greenhouse days) and others you can leave feeling like you have made some real progress. Today was definitely the latter. After a week off for a trip to London we returned with a spring in our step (and a fancy new watering can in our hand) to try and finish some jobs off.
First up we had to dig the front of the plot over- this was the bit we liberated from beneath the gravel last week. Pilla was digging away pulling all sorts of rubbish out of the ground and now it’s looking ready to plant some flowers in. Whilst doing this I carried on digging the top trek out of the last three beds. It’s a long & slow process, but it’s finally done. We just need some soil to fill them in and they will be ready. I also dug through the membrane in the corner spot where the apple tree will be and dug over the soil underneath. This was also filled with a bucket full of things you wouldn’t expect to find in the soil.
We took a break from digging to stroke Tammy and then go and see Bob at the allotment store. This is in a spot at the other side of the site so we don’t get over there very much, pretty much just for allotment meetings and when we need something from the society. This was the first time we’d been in the store, and it’s a little haven of all things allotmenty. From compost & grow bags, to seed trays (which is what we were after), bee & ladybird houses, cleaning fluid, fleece, organic seaweed solution, if you need it on the site it seems that Bob will sell it, all at very reasonable prices. We are going back next week with cash in hand to get some goodies.
I then put up some very simple shelves in the greenhouse and finished the compost box. I’ve made it so all the front panels can be lifted out, hopefully this will make it easier to get to the good stuff at the bottom once it’s getting filled up which Pilla started with some horse manure at the bottom. We also got given some more raspberry canes and a solitary rhubarb crown from Debbie – we had some raspberry canes already, so the new ones are going to fashion a kind of raspberry hedge against the fence at one side. The rhubarb was one which she freely admitted may not take but it’s worth a go. It doesn’t really matter if it doesn’t survive as Bob has already promised us some of his rhubarb plants.
Once we’d planted that lot we had a bit of a tidy up – we have a big pile of wood at one end of the plot some of which had paint on it which is gradually flaking off, it was all getting very messy. I tidied about a third of it up and put it out of site behind the shed. I don’t know if we’ll ever need this wood, but once you have something on the site you are loathe to get rid of it.
We’ll maybe get some soil sorted this week, next week we have plans for building staging in the greenhouse and buying some goodies from the store to start growing in the greenhouse – it’s all getting quite exciting – in an allotment sort of way!
On a further note, my running is taking me past lots of houses being renovated which have skips. The slow speed I go at means I can have a good nosey so I’m always on the lookout for allotment things. I think I have finally found something useful – an old curved shower door. With a bit of a wooden frame and some hinges, it’ll make a really good cold frame. I tried to go and get it today but the owners weren’t in and I felt a bit weird taking it without asking so it’ll have to wait for now, but it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine 🙂
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