14 Sept 2008

Winter Brassica.

We put the winter Brassica in.

Sprouting Broccoli----Claret
Sprouting Broccoli-----Late white
Cabbage Spring -----Excel
Cabbage Spring-----Hero
Cauli-----Mayfair

27 Aug 2008

Chickens on the Plot


I wish.

I've had to settle for some at home.

26 Aug 2008

Okay Okay.


So I've been a bit busier on the plot than on the blog.

The nights are starting to draw in now so maybe there will be a little more posting.

Updates - Tomatoes a mess.
Potatoes are great.

I should of planted more potatoes and peas and onions.
I don't know how we'd of coped without the green house.

Here's the new gate.

10 May 2008

Tea Time.


It doesn't all have to be hard work on the plot you know!!!!

5 May 2008

Chitting Sweetcorn, Marque and a tastey morcel.

The first attempt at starting the sweetcorn failed due to low light conditions and damping off.
It may be a little late now so to get as good a chance as possible I'm going to try chitting it. The brassica is now in with a little lime, collars and a nice home for the first week or two. We are now on our second nibble crop. Spinach was first now the radish. Yummy.

Getting there!











It finally feels like we are getting there. Quite where there is I'm still figuring out.
The first picture is less than 7 weeks ago.

27 Apr 2008

Don't throw stones

What a weekend. It took a day to clear the erea and sort out a base then a long hard day to take down and erect the frame and half a day to glaze it. It also seems like we have grown a dog!

25 Apr 2008

Holey Moley

Two kinds of holes actually.
It looks like we have moles. I'm not sure what damage they do or if they are welcome. I'm sure we'll find out.

The second kind of hole is the welcome kind. Alan let me play with his spud planer and gave me some kestrel spuds so they went in last night. It's good to be able to take advantage of the warmer later nights. This week was very pleasant. If some what wet. Thanks to the generous people on freecycle I have the offer of a 8x6 green house. I did a bit of rearranging and planning on a 7am trip to the plot this morning, it was nice and sunny just before the rain.

20 Apr 2008

Seed order.

I've been contemplating putting in a mail order seed order for some of the more exotic seeds I fancy growing. The average price in he Garden centres seems to be £2.50 - £3.50 per pack. To expensive for me. I just received a cd-rom from Nicky's seeds and was pleased with the selection and prices.

I'm looking forward to receiving the following.

1 x H223: Herb. Rocket Sky Rocket. = £0.85
1 x VEG904: Vegetable. Lettuce Gourmet Mix 1000 seeds. = £2.25
1 x ALT112: Alternative Salad Oriental Vegetable. Siamese Dragon Mix 500 seeds. = £1.25
1 x VEG532: Vegetable. Carrot Cosmic Purple. = £1.10
1 x ALT057: Alternative Salad Oriental Vegetable. Vitamin Green. = £1.50
1 x ALT008: Alternative Salad Oriental Vegetable. Mustard Green. = £0.90
1 x ALT052: Alternative Salad Oriental. Mustard green in snow. = £0.90
1 x ALT050: Alternative Salad Oriental. Komatsuna Torasan. = £0.90
1 x VEG071: Vegetable. Swiss Chard Bright Lights. = £0.95 (incl £0.14 VAT)

Freecycle


When I was organising beds on the allotment I had to sacrifice a gooseberry plant and a rhubarb crown or two. I like some rhubarb and gooseberries but I much prefer veg and stuff. It's normally the type of things you can't give away unless you find a new plot holder with lots of space. Seeing that the committee split all the new plots being let to 1/4 or 1/2 plots then space is at a premium for most.
The Solution. Freecycle.
One email to the Warrington Freecycle group and the next day I had a young family from an allotment a couple of miles away turn up for the orphaned plants.

Yesterday I collected several hundred paving bricks and some 18"x18" flags that were listed by a local shopping mall.
This morning I asked for some comfrey and had a generous reply within the our to offer my some in a week or so. (thanks)

19 Apr 2008

Cold, Wood, Panorama, Labels and Planting!

I found a neat function on my phone. Panoramic shots. So here's one of the plot.

The weather's been cold again this week so not a lot to do on the plot. Last weekend it was raining so nothing got done then. This morning though it was clear skies. Jane wasn't too impressed when I talked her into coming down the plot at 6:00am but at least we got some sun before it clouded over. I've found a few piles of wood chippings left behind by a landscaper near work so I've been filling a few buckets each morning. It's doing nicely for the paths between the beds.

The plants in the dining room are not doing wonderful, the weather will not permit everything to go out but I need to risk putting some out so we don't loose them. I put a tray of beetroot out and Alan gave me some cauliflower so I have put them in one of the raised bed with fleece over them. Apart from that the Garlic has started growing and Jane got exited when she saw ann actual radish rather than just leaves.

17 Apr 2008

Neighbours


One of the good things about an allotment is the community spirit. It's not a very busy time at present so I've not seen much of the community Spirit. This Allotment has a committee, John the secretary seems very pleasant and helpful.
Our two neighbours are friendly. There is a young family with half a plot on one side and Alan on the other. Alan is very experienced and helpful. He's had the plot for many years and used to be very successful in the shows. I think he doesn't do many now.
One of the tips he gave me was to use old window blinds for for plant labels.

7 Apr 2008

On hold due to weather

Most of the bed edges on the bottom plot are now done. The Parsnips and wild flowers seeds were planted on Friday but the weather forecast suggested that it wasn't wise to plant anything else. One concession was the broad bean plugs that are under fleece. The onions and radishes that are peaking through are also under fleece. A start has also been made on the cold frame for the tomato raised bed. My mum is starting most (All) of the seedlings but due to a trip to Italy they are migrating to my dinning room for life support. Apart from the fruit trees blossoming and a million weeds poking through, not a lot else is happening.



31 Mar 2008

Wood

I managed to get a few hours on the plot on Saturday before the downpour. I've been stripping pallets to harvest the wood, It's so expensive from the DIY places.
I also started on a cold frame using a couple of window frames scored from a little dumpster diving and some parts from an old plastic green house. I'm using most of the woods from the pallets to make borders to define the main beds. Sunday morning was glorious, I'm not sure what temperature it was but It was warm enough to take my shirt off whilst I was digging. I got round to levelling the last part of the plot. This will be used for for wild flowers.





Sandra whilst doing a bit.

Sandra after doing a bit.

24 Mar 2008

Last day of the long weekend and we had a flutter of snow.
Today, child labour and tidy up.

23 Mar 2008

New raised bed

The raised bed for the tomatoes is part done and a new path is part done. I have been dumpster diving and found 6 scaffolding planks in my local area. I don't think I'll be lucky enough to repeat that any time soon but I'll keep my eyes peeled. Two where 3m which fit in my van, the other four 4 I had to cut to get them in.
The tomato bed is 3m x 1m.


Moved the Shed


We've moved the thing we call a shed to what is becoming the utility area.

This has allowed us to clear the bottom of the allotment and opened up the view nicely

22 Mar 2008

New beds ready

I was on the plot at 7am this morning.

The bottom plot is now ready for planting.
This morning I levelled the soil and marked out the beds.

Bed one is now full of potatoes. Bed two will have runner beans, french beans, broad beans and peas. I also planted another asparagus I found in pot from the old plot and a couple of purple asparagus. More onions have been planted and I moved one of the fruit trees to clear a send path between the upper and lower plot. My Mum planted some more onion sets.
All in all a good mornings work.

21 Mar 2008

Bank Holiday Weekend

Getting there. The new compost bins are done. the bed digging is done. The fence has been fixed. Lots happening ready for the planting.



17 Mar 2008

Another mornings work

Another mornings work on a spring morning sees around 5 meters of the lower allotment turned over. Frosts are forecast over the next few nights.

16 Mar 2008

An Attractive plot.

This is neighbouring allotment at my old plot.
It's one of the neatest plots I've seen with a very attractive flower garden.

More digging

I've done another session and dug around a third of the plot.














My dad shovelling shit. Better than the Gym Jim.

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