The Start Of Something Beautiful

[insy]

Todays Progress Reports & Pictures: Day 2 ( Ill try keep updated as much as possible )

Heya thanks for all the input and this is going to be like a journal ill keep updated as much as possible, i started yesterday afternoon which were the pictures i posted yesterday before i started i have a couple of progress pictures today ive done endless amounts of digging today and will do more tommorow the roots in this soil is horrible go about 4-6 inches deep at least.

So pictures i have for you today are:

1. pictures of the allotments progress and hole ive dug
2. picture of this fungo i have no idea what it is and looks deadly
3. picture of this plant that looks like its self seeded from previous allotment holders

Also could do with some advice on how to tackle this tree/bush on chopping rest down and digging roots what way would you do it, also could i use weedkiller to kill the gress on main foot paths on outside of plot as i dont want the roots creeping back into my plots ive dug over?

I did a PH soil test today with some cheap b&q kit it went to a really dark green colour which means its alkaline or something which i believe is high in nutrients/nitrogen/potash is this good or bad for planting?

Pictures

Fungi:



Hole Dug:



Tree:



Plant Growing:



What you think?

P.S i may need to resize pictures if so ill edit in a bit

regards
ben

[chris]

I've dug so many stumps out like that, from my garden - it's hard work. I'd even thought about hooking one up to my car and pulling the thing out... but then I went and bought a pickaxe, which made breaking the roots, and tap root(s) easier... Infact, I'd recommend borrowing one for the job

I start by digging perhaps a foot or so around the stump to expose the roots then levering the roots out until they snap, or I saw/cut with bolt croppers (no idea if that's the correct name for them).

What have you done with what you've dug out?

When I double dug a bed, I dug the turf back in (upside down).. alternatively you could stack it in a corner somewhere, eventually it'll break down into a lovely loam.

No idea what the plant is, leaves look a bit like a cabbage, or sort of brasica - maybe it's been on some of those mushrooms.

[Nicos]

Please Do not eat any of those mushrooms unless you are 100% positive what they are

[insy]

Day 3:

chrismarks thanks for advice all taken on and i have a pickaxe and axe waiting for me when im ready to hack this baby down, also the dirt i have dug out ive places on the extra large tarpaulins in background along with the dense grass and roots off top. If you look at my trench intodays pictures which i will upload you can see my first trench is fully dug, what ill be doing now is going another fork depth but not taking it out only loosening it once all loosened i will place the dirt back in hold wheelbarrow at a time sieving out all stones and roots/weeds so i have some nice fine soil

nicos i wont touch any of them dont you worry the combination of my lack common sense and my rubbish knowledge on shrooms/fungi/plants of all kinda it would be a deadly combination for example my common sense problem haha. Year or 2 ago i was with my grandad ripping out and fitting a new kitchen for some lady we ripped everything out to bare wall and wires and the wires were all hanging out. grandad said " what ever you do dont touch the wires even tho ive switched off by the mains " so my stupid thinking and common sense didnt kick in so i picked up the electric watt testing screwdriver and poked the main live wire ( grandad has turnt electric on at this point ) and BANG! smoke came out the handle of screwdriver and the screwdriver blew up infront of my eyes literally the metal screwdriver blew up and shattered. lucky me hehe

Ok todays progress my first trench/plot dug second one started aswell, started cutting back brambles and vines aswell i also met 4 new neighbours and i made a friend who was playing with my strings i was using to mark out the trench outlines haha. Ive also designed a quick diagram of what im thinking for my allotment

Pictures:

[Sanjo]

By the look of all the hard work Insy, you could probably save on the gym fees! Now your diagram, have you planned it according to where the sun is? Will the shade from the Fruit trees eventually affect your veg/fruit plots. They may start off small but they do grow Insy. Is the place allocated to your mini greenhouse in the sun? Best to think of these things before you go too deeply into it and commit yourself to a whole lot of new work re-organising it all. Good ~Luck.

[msflocks]

As for the digging, you can cover part of the ground with old carpet, thick cardboard or something similar and the weeds and grass under it will die off. Will then be much easier to dig. That would give you time to do a bed at a time which will be much easier than trying to do the whole lot at once.

I agree, I got a plot 8m x 30m a year ago, worse than this and we're not all dug yet!
but we are harvesting from first half so looking good!
In my experience you're better digging/weeding each area wholly than rushing through to see it all dug.

Hope you do well I'm enjoying mine at 27 yrs old!

Zoe

[Nicos]

OMG!!!!...you dug up a cat????






Tis looking fantastic!!

[insy]

Hello guys/ladies

Thanks for all advice and replies i havent done much today due to the fact i went thorpe park for the day to just chill back and have some fun, but i got back about 6ish played the xbox and decided why not cycle to allotments and get a hour or 2 of digging done beore it gets dark. So i did alot of hard work in them 2 hours no joking havent got progress pictures because it was dark by time i packed up lol so tommorow ill eb back down there after work/gym and ill take some progress pictures, but i roughly the patch that was dug in the latest picture this new hole is same depth but just under half of that other hole so awesome progress today hopefully ill be starting my 3rd trench by end of day

The lady is someones local he just comes over and plays with my string and slept next to my bags and played about

Also when leaving today i did notice there was many bats about looks like wildlife all round here

regards
ben

[chris]

Oh yes, on the advice of others from here I also buried old newspapers (on top of the upsidedown turves) - watered them throughly - a reasonably thick layer, then backfilled with earth and compost. I've not had to water that bed this summer, my other beds though I have had to as I'd noticed the plants in them starting to wilt... I'll definately do this again as I plan to build my beds up to around 3' high when I re-do the garden.

Looks good so far though

[insy]

Day 5:

I am very happy with todays progress, also i met a new neighbour who is the most active person on the allotments he has some stunning brussels







Dont know if ill be down there tommorow yet depends how i feel after gym in morning

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi Insy, welcome to the vine!

Looks like you are making some great progress, well done you, and well done for taking on the challenge of looking after a plot!

The orang fungus isnt one to eat, tho it wont do any harm to the ground, its called 'orange peel fungus', we had some of it in our greenhouse a few years back! Apparently its not very common either!

[insy]

Thanks for the reply and about the fungus do i dig out and seperate? or can i just bury in soil/compost/manure when i refill the holes?

how far will 1000 litres of compost get me when mixing it with the sieved soil from holes when filling them back in do you reckon?

regards
ben

[Mrs Dobby]

Dont worry about the fungus, just dig it in, it wont matter if it comes back, but if you are working the soil it probably wont!

1000 litres of compost, well, if you are mixing it with seived soil, then you should get 2000litres worth at least, so probably enough to give a good layer for each of your beds. Are you lining the bed edges (to save the grass from encroaching on the beds) or not?

[insy]

I was thinking of doing that but i have no clue yet on which stuff i should use plus i am double digging so them holes have yet another fork depth of loosening soil before manure/sieved soil/compost goes in

what would you recommend? and that path you can see between both holes i will dig a little down just to take the major roots off then re build and maybe place slabs or something as i really dont what them paths to be coated in grass like that

regards
ben

[Mrs Dobby]

Probably the best thing for edging beds is old scaffolding boards, they are decent size and last ok, but not too cheap! We got 20 at £5 each recently, but a lot of our beds are edged with stripped down pallets (which can be had for free), take a look at the piccies on our blog and you'll see how we've done it!

Double digging is hard work, but definitely worth it! We took our plot over 4 years ago, 8' deep in weeds, brambles and mess, took 6 months to completely double dig it (removing the weed roots as we went) but definitely worth it, we got a Very Highly Commended at this years Allotment Judging (although it doesnt look like it should get anything at the moment, too much rain + processing harvested crops + beekeeping and extracting honey + working full time = plot fillled with weeds!! Lol!