by Philippa | Mar 16, 2009 | Allotment
At one stage this afternoon the plot looked like a murder scene out of Cluedo (“Who did it?”, “Miss Philippa, at the allotment, with the water butt.”) but fear not Neil is alive and well and as a result of his hilarious endeavours we have tried and tested taps on both water butts. We realised these were pretty necessary as our watering can does not fit into either water butt, something we only noticed once they were all hooked up and two thirds full! So Neil had to do some siphoning of water back and forth before he could fit the taps!
I was getting on with some greenhouse planting as it suddenly seems like time is getting away from us. We received our seed order mid week which was ridiculously exciting. We had to go through the packets to see what needs to be started in the next couple of weeks. This is pretty difficult to decide as whilst the packets give instructions of when to sow you have to account for the regional weather variations which can affect this timetable. So there are some seeds which say they can be planted in March which we are delaying until April to ensure that they are not adversely affected by any cold spells that may be on the way before then. We have a mixture of collected pots, seed trays bought from the allotment store and paper pots made from my paper potter birthday present! The latter are an excellent way of planting out for minimal cost and environmental impact. We are starting a production line at home to churn out enough of these for our seeds. We will end up looking like we have spent the afternoon down at the local police station with the amount of newspaper print that ends up on our fingers! Today I managed to plant broad beans, parsley, red cabbage, purple sprouting broccoli and all of our sweetpeas.
Neil carried on the DIY theme and built (and then partially filled) a manure bay next to our compost bin. This is so we can keep a store of manure on site to rot down as the manure deliveries are always of fresh manure that doesn’t hang around for long before being used by somebody.
Some further generous gestures to report. Firstly some chives, mint and lemon mint from one of Neil’s colleagues Mike. He has been an avid listener of Neil’s allotment tales and brought us some cuttings on a recent business trip. We cut the bottom off a few of the black bins and sunk them into the soil as we are told that both the mint and lemon mint are voracious growers and are likely to spread if left to grow freely. We then received two garden chairs from a man a few plots down who incidentally has the neatest plot I have ever seen and of which I am extremely envious. Unfortunately, when we came to eat our lunch the sun was briefly behind some clouds so we didn’t get to use them today, but I bet it won’t be long before we do.
Finally, some exciting updates on what is growing. We really noticed a difference since last week, particularly with the rhubarb which is so much taller, but also the strawberries which are putting out some new leaves and the garlic I planted only three weeks ago has now sprouted. We are taking bets on what will be the first produce to be harvested. I think the rhubarb is a clear winner at this stage while Neil is putting his money on lettuce, which has yet to be planted but grows quickly.
by Philippa | Feb 22, 2009 | Allotment
Well this weekend (plus the bonus afternoon on Friday) has been jam packed and full of generous gestures. After moving the soil on Friday we wanted to make a start on a few little jobs that have been on the list of things to do for quite a while.
First on the list was planting the trees that were such a bargain from Aldi. Yesterday we realised that we were still in need of a few containers for our trees and also some to use as water butts. For some time we have been asking around friends and family and it just kept getting pushed further down the list. But having bought a plum and a cherry tree which needed planting asap this suddenly became a lot more pressing. We took a walk around the site to ask people where they got their containers from and we ended up with some very useful gifts! We got a big grey barrel for a water butt from Chris which had apparently enjoyed a previous life at the Robertson’s jam factory! He also donated a metal bin to match one that Bob kindly offered us which are perfect for the trees:
It took a surprising amount of time to fill two of them deep enough for planting! In fact, so much time that Neil was very productive in building some greenhouse staging. Neil’s dad provided lots of metal shelving which we adapted for the base and we bought 2m wooden batons to lay across the top.
Neil completed two sides and now only has one more to finish. We think that this will be sufficient for this year’s seedlings and one advantage of DIY staging is that we can take some or all of it down if we find we need more floor space for pots and growbags. We also added an old set of Ikea shelves that had been hanging around at Neil’s dad’s house since they were used in various university flats. I was a bit worried that all this activity in the greenhouse might have frightened Tammy off but she was around for most of the day and getting very friendly at times!
In order to catch up with Neil’s productivity I set about planting our garlic that arrived a couple of weeks ago. It comes in large bulbs which you have to break apart into cloves to plant just under the surface of the soil. Unfortunately for me whilst this again took some time to complete, all my efforts are now under 3-5cm of soil so not very visible-you will just have to trust me that there are now 30 cloves lined up between the canes waiting to grow into big juicy bulbs! Neil did some planting of his own on Friday as during our soil shovelling he found a lonely little unidentified bulb that is just sprouting a green tip. He rescued it and put it in our front border. We have a bet on as to what it might grow into. My money is on it being a crocus while Neil thinks it is a daffodil (as if!). We also put in a tangled cluster of strawberries that Debbie gave us-thanks Debs!
Finally, we popped to the store to buy some seed trays and some Jeyes fluid which we plan to disinfect the greenhouse with before sowing and Neil connected some spare drainpipe to the gifted water butt so after a few rainy Manchester days we will be able to water our fledgling plants without using the tap. All in all a good three days which has made it very hard to summon up sufficient enthusiasm for work on Monday morning!
Neil would like a special mention for the newly hung plot number which now adorns the gate. This was made out of a broken piece of pallet which Neil chiselled and scorched the number into. Very homely 🙂
by Philippa | Nov 30, 2008 | Allotment
No pictures of the work we did today. Not because we didn’t do any but because we forgot the camera. It was a lovely allotment day today, in the wintery sense. The skies were bright blue but it was very cold with frost on all the plants. We saw some amazing spider webs that were all silvery with frost and dew, they looked just like Christmas decorations draped all over the place instead of baubles. Real shame we didn’t have a camera to capture them.
Although we still have a couple of smaller beds to build we don’t have the wood as yet. There is a backlog at the recycled timber place so we are waiting for some scaffolding boards to be delivered, hopefully in the next week. It meant that there wasn’t too much to be getting on with today. The most pressing job is building the shed. It was delivered to Mum’s mid week and so we collected it yesterday. It almost didn’t fit in the car, but thanks to Neil’s military like packing (and taking all the bits out of the box!) we managed it. Without the scaffolding boards we are using as part of the base we couldn’t put it up today, but Neil did some digging and levelling of the ground so that the frame he built last weekend sits slightly below the surface. It is as level as it is ever going to get I think. We will then put the boards over the frame, construct the shed and fasten it to the base so that it is secure. Neil has made a start on putting some smaller pieces together here in the flat but the rest will have to wait until a dry and unwindy day!
The picture is of one of the many allotment cats. She is called Tammy (but I like to call her Lottie as she is my favourite-apart from our two at home of course). She is a big softy and always comes along for a tickle. There are about another four cats over on our side of the site who we see most days we are there. They are all strays but they are very well looked after. They are neutered and vaccinated annually by a local vet who does it for free. There is an old guy called Chris who is in his eighties (and a very snappy dresser- a bit of a ladies man I think!) who comes on site every day to put food out for the cats even though he doesn’t have a plot. One of the other plot holders also feeds them so they probably get more than most house cats and you can see why they stick around! I had a word in Tammy’s ear last week and she is now keeping guard of the strawberry plants.
Hopefully the next couple of weeks will see a real transformation on the plot with the shed going up and the greenhouse underway. We better watch out, it’s all starting to look a bit professional!
by Philippa | Nov 23, 2008 | Allotment
Is that a round of applause we hear? Yes, we have actual things growing in the soil that we seem to have been shovelling in a groundhog day-esque way for the last month or so. We planted the strawberry plants that Bob kindly donated. They need a fair bit of space as they tend to grow low and wide so we have used half a bed already. It certainly looks good having some greenery in amongst all the soil. We didn’t need to water them in as the good old Manchester weather provided plenty of showers whilst we were there. That combined with us both still feeling poorly meant that it was pretty hard work today so it’s nice that it is all starting to pay off.
We did manage to get some jobs done that we can cross off the list. We ignored a few strange glances in the city centre this morning and went leaf collecting! Funny how this time last week there were loads of leaves all over the place (so many that there was a man with a leaf blower over on the university grass pointlessly blowing them around) yet today they seem to have disappeared. We managed to fill four large bags to take with us to the plot which is pretty impressive considering we are in the heart of the city. This was to fill the leaf composter that Neil made yesterday in true Blue Peter style using some wood offcuts and chicken wire that his Dad had been saving (though I think he had forgotten what for!). This should mulch down over the next year so it can then be used directly on the beds or be added to the compost bins.
We made the final full size bed and filled it with the usual soil/manure mixture and this used up the last of our soil pile-the place almost looks a bit empty without it! Neil then began making a wooden frame which will form the base for the shed. Now we are just waiting upon the shed being delivered and a call from the timber recycling man about some more scaffolding boards and we can start building our shed. It will be a relief to have somewhere to store our things as our car boot has been rattling with a random selection of tools and miscellaneous bits and pieces for far too long. I think a valet of the entire vehicle will soon be required so that we can offer lifts without a lingering sense of shame.
by Neil Wilkinson | Nov 21, 2008 | Allotment
Sniff. That has been the sound of our house this week. Both of us have been ‘got’ by a cold that we think started out from Russ and the babies, and it has not been fun. We did manage to use some of our poorly time to figure out what we are going to grow, fill in our seed form and plan what we need to do next. So here is the list of jobs we need to get done:
- Build shed base (we are using scaffolding planks and wood taken from Russ’s house. Its quick, easy and doesn’t use concrete anything. It should last for ages.)
- Build shed (it’s been ordered, it should come by the end of next week)
- Build greenhouse base
- Fix greenhouse to base
- Fix glass
- Clean greenhouse (it’s a mess)
- Finish building the beds, and a nice surround for the fruit tree.
- Build compost bin
- Sort out a pond
- Buy apple tree
- Plant tree, asparagus, strawberries, redcurrants, garlic, onions.
- Build leaf composters
- Collect leaves
Odds on us getting it done for christmas?
Recent Comments