New Allotment

[veggiechicken]

I couldn't when I replied but can now...............

Sometimes, I just feel like giving up and going home..........then I remember I'm home already

[Sheneval]

A quick trip up to the allotment today with eldest grandson just to let him see progress since his last visit. One new plotholder was just leaving as we arrived as ground was too hard, and another arrived to do some quick harvesting just before we left. brrrrrrrrrr. :-)

[Sheneval]

Paid a brief visit to the allotment yesterday and returned again today for an hour or so and emptied the compost bin, which I have been using for storage of various bits and pieces, and refilled it with 5 barrowloads of woodchips from the front gate which had partially rotted down since it was dumped by the Council some weeks back.

[Sheneval]

Managed another couple of hours on the allotment today in between baby sitting duries, Put another couple of loads on woodchips into the compost bin using my new sack barrow, which is much less effort than a wheelbarrow.

[Sheneval]

Went up the allotment today and repositioned fleece that had been blown out of place.

Had a chat with one of our younger members who has plot adjacent to my grandkids - she had her 2 young children with her and they were gathered near the fence and the young one aged 4 was upset.

She advised me her dog had bitten a squirrel and it was in a bad way although still alive and she did not know what to do - After a quick look, I told her to take the kids out the way and after she did so returned to the body where a further examination revealed it had expired thus saving me an unpleasant task. I disposed of the corpse in a suitable place outwith the site.

I had intended to put up a wigwam for the runner beans but another two friends arrived on the scene before I could start and we had a walk round the site and settled in the shelter for a chat which lasted for over an hour so the wigwam will have to wait for another day.

[veggiechicken]

Sounds like another busy day at the Plot

[Sheneval]

My friend likes to survey his Estate - he used to play in this area when he was a youngster and we were admiring the geese flying overhead - place is great for wildlife, we heard a woodpecker and there are usually buzzards and rabbits are too numerous for our comfort as are mice.

[Sheneval]

Spent nearly 5 hours at the allotment today constructing a wire mesh cage for use on one of the beds to protect crops from rabbits, squirrels, birds etc.

Will need another two, one 3ft high for the brassicas.

[Sheneval]

Spent an hour at the allotment today digging out a number of docks and other weeds not properly cleared during original digging/weeding operations - interesting to note that the half of the plot cleared using handfork on hands and knees had no weeds of any description. I will point this out to my fellow allotmenteers who found this method somewhat amusing and offered the use of digging forks to speed matters up

[Sheneval]

Took a bale of straw, 20 8ft canes and 3 bags of 20L compost bags up to the allotment and planted 2 rows of garlic and 1 row of Alium flowers on Bed 1. I had intended to use the straw as a mulch on the garlic but my friend Jim advised this should not be necessary.

I was later advised that the straw was a good idea so put a layer down with fleece on top.

When checking for signs of the garlic yesterday was delighted to find some shoots about 2 inches high under the straw and fleece - I think the covering was a good idea as my friend Jim who planted his earlier then I did on 3 Jan still has nothing showing.

[Sheneval]

Planted 12 Gladiola and 1 Dahlia today - I have ordered a trenching tool and will put in maincrop potatoes when it arrives.

Weather still low temps and cold winds but pleasant when the sun shines as allotment site has some protection from the surrounding trees.

[Sheneval]

Planted 15 Crocosmia and 50 Peacock Orchid todayso hoping for a nice display this summer

Weather sunny but cold winds.

[Sheneval]

4 hours at the allotment today - shared a beer with one of the new plotholders who has only been here 4 weeks and already has his plot in good shape - must be great to be young and it

Planted 6 strawberry plants today - 4 of them had 5g Biochar and 2 had a similar amount of rock dust.

All 6 had a handful of compost and they all had plenty of straw surrounding them.

pic to follow.

[Sheneval]

Today I dug the remnants of the seaweed and straw into the bed to be used for potatoes. Daughter brought the 3 gkids to the site and no.2 spent about 20 mins helping me dig it over. They also partially filled the water barrel. No.3 added a scarecrow to one of the plots.

[Sheneval]

Spent 5 hours at the allotment today with grandkids in attendance for 2-3 of these.

Great time had by all

Returned for 30 minutes to set mice traps as I have caught one each last two nights and my friend Jim caught two last night - other neighbour has also set them as he reckons he has lost 10 onion sets to them over the last week or so.