by Neil Wilkinson | Feb 15, 2009 | Allotment
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 🙂
by Neil Wilkinson | Feb 1, 2009 | Allotment
We had a few jobs to finish off or get started with this weekend. The main task was to neaten the front of the plot on the outside of the fence. The top trek layer came right up to the edge of the path but didn’t have a straight edge and in some places was wearing thin. Given the time we have spent making the plot itself look lovely we thought this part needed some TLC. We hope to put some flowers and pots there once the time is right for planting. Neil bought some thin batons of wood to make a defined edge but first we had to scrape up the top trek and then cut away the membrane. This was quite a good job for us after the seemingly never ending greenhouse saga as it didn’t take long at all and it makes a big difference.
The next pressing task was planting. Exciting! We have had a good week for deliveries and some of our parcels contained bushes that we had to leave in tubs of water until today. We went via the garden centre as the blueberry bush needs an ericaceous compost (an acidic soil) and we also picked up some multipurpose compost for some of our other tubs and a couple of healthy looking rosemary plants. We have ordered rosemary seeds but some of our research seemed to indicate that growing from seed can be quite difficult and therefore using cuttings or an established plant is more successful. So we planted the rosemary, blueberry and blackberry bushes and the raspberry canes (which incidentally look far too dead and withered to ever bear fruit, but I’m told that’s what they are supposed to look like!)
A really good allotment find came in the form of the black tubs you can see above. In their previous life they were wastepaper baskets at Neil’s work. In a bid to become more green they were all replaced by large recycling bins. And they have sat in a darkened storeroom ever since. That is until Neil liberated them after a bit of tough negotiating! He brought about 20 home and there are plenty more should we need them, which at this rate we most certainly will.
In case you are thinking that this is all we did today, we also attended the monthly allotment society meeting ( nothing much to report there) and started digging the last two beds. Unfortunately, our progress was halted at about 3pm with a flurry of snow! It had been snowing on and off a couple of times this afternoon but it didn’t really come to much and after a brief respite in the greenhouse we were back out again. However, this downpour looked set to last and so we decided to call it a day. Lets hope the plants we put in today are hardy enough to survive the cold snap.
by Neil Wilkinson | Jan 25, 2009 | Allotment
Phew. After what has probably been about four or five weeks the greenhouse is finally done. Today was the last push to get the remainder completed. Neil’s OCD and greenhouse related insomnia meant that he ended up changing a few panes around yesterday so that they were in the ‘right order’ and I have to admit that it does look better for it. When we arrived today the first job was to make some extra pieces out of some thin hardboard to cover those areas that had broken glass or we had run out of panes for. In the event we were only short two small rectangular pieces and Chris from the allotment opposite gave us some polycarbonate sheeting that we cut to fit. We then patched two very small areas of broken glass with some hardboard cut to fit. This is just a temporary job as we have kept a few sheets of glass that are a bit broken but still about 3/4 original size so pieces can be cut out of these at a later date. Neil had a go using a glass cutter but needs a bit more practice so we might ask Bob from the other side of the site to cut them for us as apparently he is a bit of an expert.
We have deliberately left a small opening at the back of the greenhouse as it is just the right size for Tammy to get through. In fact Neil found her asleep in our greenhouse when he arrived yesterday. She seems to be making herself at home.
Another job we made progress with is the building of the remaining beds. We had two left to build which are smaller than our standard beds so we have room by the gate to get things in and out. Neil did some nifty angled cutting and recycled some nails to build them. Next week we will build the last smaller bed to go round the base of the fruit tree we are planting and we will have to do some more digging through the gravel surface so they are ready to fill with soil once it has been ordered.
So it really feels like we are ticking some major jobs off the list now. Once these last beds are filled with soil we will tidy up the ground in front of the fencing so we can have some tubs of flowers out there and then sort out some staging for inside the greenhouse. Then it will be planting, planting, planting!
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