January 2017

Our first month is nearly done. Yesterday (Sunday) was the first time since taking over that we haven’t come home caked in mud, and throwing our clothes straight into the washing machine. It was nice to just visit the plot, tidy the shed, have a coffee and a chat with our new neighbours and bimble about, as you do, without panicking about getting the allotment ‘ready’.

There’s still a lot to do, we need to tidy up the orchard (yeah we know it’s only a few fruit tree’s but we like to think big!!). The woods rotted around the trees and needs replacing as you can see from this aerial pic ie someone balancing on some fencing to take the pic.

Just see the boat there …

Another angle, without too much wobbling!

You can see the fruit bushes still in their buckets, about to go in. We’re making a taller fruit cage to go over them, a walk in as the knees are not up to much crawling and stooping at the moment. We we’re thinking about keeping the gooseberries separate. There are only two,  both a dark red variety and they do fruit quite a bit, but the thorns are a right (literal) pain to contend with when you’re trying to scramble past them to get to other bushes.

The raspberry canes were cut right down and we’ve leaf mulched them, the rhubarb bed next to them doesn’t look like it’s doing much compared to other one we’ve seen on other plots but we’ve planted three new crowns grown from seed so maybe they will become stronger soon.

So we just need to finish plugging up the leaks in the greenhouse and finish painting the shed then it’s all go with the planting. Can’t wait. And here’s a pic of the new kettle, for any allotmenter you know how important that is especially on freezing days like these! Essential kit.  Happy plotting!

January 2017. MUD!

So much rain! We wouldn’t mind some frost, would love it actually, but the heavens seemed to have opened over the Christmas and not stopped. The paths are so thick with mud that we have begun to walk on planks. There’s a delivery of wood chip coming soon so we’ll definitely be first in the queue with our wheelbarrow !

We have been fixing some of the beds as best we can. The wood had rotted on a lot of them and a trough that had been leaning against the old bbq area finally bit the dust. We’ve turned the ground into a small bed for our Lychnis,a favourite flower that never disappoints, thrives all season with lots of deadheading, but more importantly is a magnet for the bees.

We’ll have to leave a gap by the brick … another job!

Hopefully in a few months the Lychnis will be like this,

The ramshackle bed in the left hand corner is going to be our new strawberry bed. It’s just screwed together old bits of laminate. The strawberry bed on the old plot was filled with all kinds of compost, manure and coffee grinds to deter the slugs. We even threw in some rotted seaweed. Hopefully we’ll get the same yield from this one. It looks a mess at the moment though. We have to keep reminding ourselves that it’ll be different come the spring!

There was a huge over grown tree, brambles and weeds around the back of the shed. After much wrangling we liberated the water butts. The connections need fixing … another job.

Freedom!!!

So, after a warming Chicken cuppa soup, we decided to get some seeds on the go. We started some Aubergines, which were a huge success last year, and some chillies; the usual Cayenne, Hotscotch, Rosso and the Sweet Peppers of course. were also growing some Sweet Boneta which we grew after receiving them as a freebie from a gardening mag. They were lovely and hopefully they’ll be as good this year.

They’re all warm in the heated propagator now…

The annual meeting went off without any hitches which is always a bonus and lots of nice new people have arrived at the allotments, so it should be a good year. Happy plotting folks!

January 2017 A NEW PLOT!

Happy New Year!

Well after some ups and downs (the removal of a chicken coop and shed deliberations) we are finally moving onto our new plot. A full one, a biggie, the biggest we think on the the allotment site. We have been clearing it and our old half plot for about the last month and now finally as the new season is about to begin we are ready.

It was strange saying goodbye to the half plot. We had been on there for five years and it held some memories for us. The shed is ramshackle and held together with ‘No Nails’ and laminated flooring, the green house has old linoleum on the roof to stop leaks and they have both served us perfectly well. But it was time to move on. Thank you old plot, you’ve been great! xxx

Last weekend, New Years day & bank holiday Monday, we shifted everything to the new plot. It was a beautifully cold day. The ground crunched when we walked on it. A gorgeous start.

An early start.

As you can see from the pic, its huge. There is a greenhouse, large shed and a tool shed (get us!) and a boat … yes a boat. The plot had been run by a charity some years ago, a boat had arrived and was used for bedding plants displays. We love it, a quirky add on and somewhere to fly a flag!

There is a small orchard area; plums, apples and a cherry, perfect for a secret garden. Lots of fruit bushes and some from the old plot waiting to go in, hopefully mean we won’t go short of berries this summer. There is a perfect salad bed right by the greenhouse and an old brick bbq.

From outside the greenhouse. Anyone want a watering can?

There is so much work to do, and it is daunting, but we’re looking forward to it. Yesterday I had one of those, ‘It’s great having an allotment ‘moments. Something that we haven’t really felt for a long while due to one thing and another. I was sat in the new greenhouse, coffee in hand, it was just beginning to become dusk and there was a slight mist beginning to form. Despite the traffic in the distance and the surrounding houses, everywhere became quiet. Silent. Then two magpies flew down, landed on the rose arch, had a good look around and flew off (no doubt I’ll be shouting at them in a few weeks!) but at that moment it was magical. We’re very lucky having an allotment, especially this one.

Happy plotting!