52 Week Challenge - week by week through 2013

[Sheneval]

Week 35 challenge - print and bind replacement publication books and burn new CD's following very good sales at last Saturday's History Fair at Motherwell.

VC - Pleased to say week 35 challenge completed but still haven't got Broadband completely sorted.

A new load of well rotted free manure has just been delivered at the allotment so challenge for week 36 is to get enough, (about 12 barrow loads), to cover the potato beds on my own and daughter's plot before it all vanishes

[bearded bloke]

Finding & fixing the fault on Mrs BB's cabriolet's electro-hydraulic roof.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Week 35 Challenge

Re-chipping the Allotment Paths

When I made the raised beds at the Hill about five years ago, I laid weed suppressant between the beds, which (is supposed) to stop the weeds growing, and then piled on as many woodchippings as I could get my hands on, which means that even in the depths of Winter, you don't get your feet muddy on the plot.

Brilliant!

The woodchippings rot down in time, and every two or three years they need replacing or topping up. It involves a strenuous session with a flat shovel scooping the remainder off the paths and chucking it on the beds at each side.

If this is done in January, then the next step is to collect replacement chippings, in the form of chipped Christmas trees which can be collected from the park a couple of miles away where you fill up any containers you can find, load them into the back of the car and take them back to the Hill. It takes many such trips, and is a tedious chore.

Occasionally, we do have woodchipping delivered to the Hill, though - and a great pile will appear and be pounced upon by all, as this is by far the softer option to carting chippings from the park.

This week was one such occasion! Once I'd cut back all the plant growth impeding the paths (squash and courgettes in the main), and pulled any weeds on the paths, I got busy with a big bucket, a shovel, and the chippings heap.



It took two sessions and I lost count of the bucketloads, but here is a thoroughly spruced up plot - and my week 35 Challenge - completed!

[Hazel at the Hill]

...and my Challenges to date look like this ...

wk1 update blogs
wk2 sort out photos
wk3 sort out attic room
wk4 participate in a seed swap

wk5 visit a cathedral
wk6 complete a jigsaw
wk7 complete a quilt
wk8 buy a pair of glasses

wk9 make bath bombs
wk10 tidy fabric stash
wk11 paint the toolshed
wk12 go for a bra fitting
wk13 smarten up clothes/shoes

wk14 repair mini greenhouse
wk15 clean the windows
wk16 give credit where it is due
wk17 have a beauty treatment

wk18 swim in the sea
wk19 read a classic novel
wk20 make alterations to a garment
wk21 clean the car

wk22 - run in the great midlands fun run
wk23 - clear out the kitchen cupboards
wk24 - go round a maze
wk25 - celebrate the solstice
wk26 - de clutter the wardrobe.

wk27 - Join in with the Work Party
wk28 - Make a Scarecrow
wk29 - Make a batch of Jam
wk30 - Re-arrange the Wine Rack

wk31 - Clean out the Fridge
wk32 - Enter an Allotment Show
wk33 - Draw a Picture
wk34 - Get a Full Week's Sleep
wk35 - Re-chipping the Allotment Paths

[veggiechicken]

Week 35 challenge - completed.
Make a herb bed alongside the GH.

Looks a bit bare at the moment but I'll add more herbs to it and scatter calendula and borage seeds around the plants. Maybe a lavender alongside the door.

[veggiechicken]

Week 1 : Make a Grow Light box out of bits and pieces without spending any money
Week 2 : Plant a Tomcot Apricot tree and 12 Autumn Bliss raspberries
Week 3 : Clear the garage to make room for the car ahead of the snow
Week 4 : Make friends with celeriac!
Week 5 - Remove all F1 seeds from my stash (70 packets )
Week 6 - Go to a Seedy Saturday organised by Real Seeds and meet Marchogaeth
Week 7 - Plant a peach tree
Week 8 - Make yoghurt.
Week 9 - Stop running the tap while brushing my teeth.
Week 10 - Visit Raglan castle
Week 11 - Plant 2 hops on St Patrick's day
Week 12 - Start on the new fruit garden - planted rhubarb and blackcurrants
Week 13 - Plant 2 apple trees; announce the start of a massive redesign of the garden
Week 14 - Count and list my fruit trees - 36
Week 15 - Sow 13 Varieties of kale
Week 16 - Go to the RHS Show in Cardiff and meet some new Grapes
Week 17 - Make a raised bed from a pallet and some junk
Week 18 - Take a photo with my phone
Week 19 - Go to an Unusual Plants Fair
Week 20 - Make a Bean frame from a rotary clothes line.
Week 21 - Make another raised bed from a pallet.
Week 22 - Go on a Fungi Cultivation course and use an electric drill for the first time.
Week 23 - Learn about Herbal Myth, Magic and Medicine and make Incense
Week 24 - Get a Dog - adopted Lily, Dog No 3
Week 25 - Sort my drawers
Week 26 - Make nettle and comfrey liquid feeds!
Week 27 - Clear a space for a hammock
Week 28 - Fit a Bath lift chair for my 93 year old Mum (not a success )
Week 29 - Cook a meal in an Electric Wok
Week 30 - Accept the offer of a greenhouse and make arrangements for its removal.
Week 31 - Get rid of a Kiwi fruit vine and put a greenhouse in its place
Week 32 - Planning layout of GH
Week 33 - Help a Grape adopt a puppy from West Wales
Week 34 - Take a friend to a castle
Week 35 - Make a herb bed

[veggiechicken]

Week 36 - 2nd - 8th September

Two thirds of 2013 gone - autumnal third approaching!! What you going to do this week Grapes?
Well done to those of you who have stuck with it so far!! You could take on an extra big challenge of listing what you've achieved (apart from Hazel - who is soooooooo organised!!)
Don't worry about missing weeks I don't shout!!!

[Sheneval]

Mt Challenges to date:

Week 1 - Toasted my new Allotment on site on New Years Day
Week 2 - Limed 2 beds on my Allotment
Week 3 - Fitted a tap to my Allotment water butt
Week 4 - Taught my friend to research his Family History
Week 5 - Created a book from the Prestwick Burgh Records, covering the period from 1470 through till the late 1700s.
Week 6 - Bought seed potatoes for the first time ever - a total of 60 consisting of Rooster, King Edward and some Pink Fir Apple.
Week 7 - Started chitting potatoes.
Week 8 - Made a new allotment sign out of a bit of old tree trunk .
Week 9 - Built the first of a number of wire mesh cages to keep off the rabbits, squirrels and any other nuisances
Week 10 - Sowed Sweet Pea and Leek seeds indoors.
Week 11 – Tidied Garage to allow access to freezer.
Week 12 - Joined work party maintaining allotment site common ground
Week 13 - Made a Fire and burned all scrap and waste wooden material on allotment common ground.
Week 14 - Prepared bed for potatoes and planted same.
Week 15 - Cleared the 4 Family History cupboards in the library reading room to allow a new carpet to be fitted.
Week 16 – Won chess game which enabled us to win the match.
Week 17 – Helped on my daughter's plot and sowed peas, beetroot and carrots on my own.
Week 18 – Planted Onion sets, sowed some more pea seeds and netted cabbage plants.
Week 19 – Erected walk in greenhouse and helped layout daughter’s plot with paths, beds and sitting/storage area, also 4 Blackcurrant bushes planted.
Week 20 - Built a cage for brassicas.
Week 21- Erected protection pens for various vegetables planted on my daughter's plot.
Week 22 – Had a go at using the Allotment Site's Strimmer.
Week 23 – Covered brassica on all sides and across top with debris netting.
Week 24 – Finished off all my summer bedding and basket/tub planting.
Week 25 - Updated Family History Website.
Week 26 – Sorted through all my Hunter ancestry papers to enable me to respond to query from an Australian Historian.
Week 27 – Carried out Monthly Inspection of all Allotments - my first time carrying out this task
Week 28 – Lifted overwintering onions
Week 29 – Sampled blue potatoes from my Wolverhampton/Birmingham friend’s plot.
Week 30 – Week 30 challenge - replaced plastic cloche covers with debris netting.
Week 31 – 1st week’s Boating Holiday on the Norfolk Broads
Week 32 – 2nd week’s Boating Holiday on the Norfolk Broads
Week 33 – Entered veg in Allotment show for the first time - I got 2 x 2nds & 2x 3rds.
Week 34 – Catching up on work on allotments and garden
Week 35 - Printed replacement publication books and burned new CD's following very good sales at the Motherwell History Fair.

[Sheneval]

Week 36 Challenge: Get enough barrow loads of manure from free supply to cover the potato beds on my own and daughter's plot before it all vanishes.

Challenge completed just in time

[veggiechicken]

Well done Shen!! That's an impressive list

[Sheneval]

VC - thanks - just realised that whilst I said what I was doing for weeks 27 and 28 and even posted some photos for 27, I never actually followed up and confirmed I had completed either of these challenges. oops

The overwintered onions have nearly all been eaten but I still have the completed forms for the allotment plot checks

[Tripmeup]

Have yet to post pics of my last challenge but this week's is to supervise a gang of kids for my daughter's fourth birthday party tomorrow.. Including bouncy castle duty!!

[veggiechicken]

My Week 36 Challenge has just presented itself!!
I've been asked to carry out a Home Check on someone who wants to adopt a dog from the Sanctuary that let me have my 3 dogs. I'm going there tomorrow morning
Apparently I have to decide whether the house is safe and secure and whether I would be happy for one of my dogs to stay there - nothing difficult about that
Wish me luck - I really hope its a lovely home.

[Tripmeup]

Think this could be two weeks overdue Miss VC, so sorry.. Challenge was to use some of my jalapeños and make cheesy nacho plate for the family.. Tasted very nice and jalapeños were nice without being too hot..

[veggiechicken]

Week 36 Challenge completed
Went to visit a lovely welcoming lady, we sat in her garden, drank tea and discussed the sex life of ferns (apparently that's all they were taught in private school) - at least my education included the Amoeba and Hydra
I recommended her as an adopter and as far as I know, she picked up the dog, a 2 year old Miniature Schnauzer, on Friday. She has promised to invite me back to meet the dog - I'd like that I'm sure it will work out well and I'm really happy to have brokered it.