The Start Of Something Beautiful

[winstonwobble]

great to hear from you again glad you are still at the lottie

[insy]

Thanks yer still got the lottie i wont give it up hehe it will be mine forever lol, necks killing atm due to burnt from todays nice weather :P.

My main goal atm its to clear all trees and brambles, next will be to take top layer of allotment off (grass and root layer) and place in 1 HUGE pile until i dig another depth then ill start placing the heaped soil back in without the grass.

Going to take some time, looked into hiring a digger for the day will cost about £76 for the day i think but thats last resort

[chris]

I know how you feel - I've taken about 8 trees out, and maybe 20 odd clumps of roots similar to your last pic. Nightmare. Now I've about 3 tonnes of soil to get rid of. Is worth it at the end of the day though - once you taste the difference in your home grown produce, you'll see why

[insy]

Hello Guy/Ladies

I am still working at it but unfortunately progress is slower than i liked ... anyway ive had a change oof mind on having loads of seperate beds as in the long run im wasting alot of land in paths thats arent needed. So im digging it all over into 1 big patch (except my onions for now).

I have many pictures for you lot which i will upload tommorow of progress on holes, and progress on my onions and shallots and general other allotment work.

I have a question tho i know potatoes should eb planets in a well manured ground, but ive been double digging and hand sieving all couch grass roots out and bind weed by hand and the soil is looking nice. Now what would you do? keep the soil covered still with cardboard and weighed down to hold off weeds until i finish digging the whoel plot over or plant some late charlotte spuds in the dug over ground as it is just for fun?

People at lotties think i shoudl chuck in some spuds but i like to keep covered to keep weeds at bay, plus its not manured.

What you think people? plant or no plant?

Like i said many pictures coming tomoz so be ready

[insy]

OH! i forgot to mention the trench im slowely digging round that tree/bush thing, well im half way round the tree/bush thing now and it looks like honey bees have made holes in the trench soila nd constantly flying in and out (LOADS OF THEM) i think the damn beggers have made a nest in my soil inside trench :P i thought was wasps at first but i risked getting closer and it looks like honey bees for sure defo not wasps.

Ideas?

[Mikey]

I know how you feel - I've taken about 8 trees out, and maybe 20 odd clumps of roots similar to your last pic. Nightmare. Now I've about 3 tonnes of soil to get rid of. Is worth it at the end of the day though - once you taste the difference in your home grown produce, you'll see why

Could you not create some raised planters with the earth Chris?

[Comfreyfan]

I'd get some spuds in Incy. The greenery provides a lot of cover for the ground and combined with earthing up the weeds don't get much of a chance. If nothing else has been grown there for a while they'll probably do ok and for the price of a few seed potatoes you may end up with a really nice crop! If you really want to keep the soil covered you can plant the potatoes through black plastic or cardboard, then you don't need to earth up.

[insy]

Ok so ive just ordered myself approx 30 potato tubers of the Charlotte Salad Variety hopefully theyll arrive and i can get them all in at the end of this month, i have a couple of questions

1) I want to try keep the plot covered whilst being planted so how do i do this? dont they need light to grow like other plants?
2) Woud u recommend finding somewhere that sells some well rotted manure and buy some quickly to place over?
3) any other tips on growing these would be most grateful ive neever gornw a spud before :P

P.S photos coming end of today when im back from lottie

[insy]

Heres most of the pictures ive promised (only one that missing is the long stretch of digging ive been doing this week.

Onion


Fresh Hole from yesterday just digging a little deeper and ill fill it back in and move on :P


Shallots


Shallots


Onion & Shallot Patch


Im dissapointed in red electric onions theyve done poor but them my onion patch was completely waterlog'd in winter so for anything to survive was amazing I may try different red onions next time.

[chris]

I don't have the room now Mikey - the chickens are in that garden - one of my beds is buried by all the soil!

Don't get disheartened insy - it's only your first time growing! First time I grew stuff, they were all dug up and promptly pooed on. Gotta love cats

[insy]

lol cats are a nightmare usually, when i first started the allotment they kept ripping up my compost bags and either making a mess or taking a dump here and there. But now me and the cat have a understanding he comes over i give him a bit of attention and belly rubbing and he leaves me earth alone haha.

The allotment keeper said i cannot disturb that tree trunk anymore as the bee nest is honey bees and there apparently protected so now i got to wait for the little rotters to move out, squatters rights suck :P.

Charlotte spuds not arrived yet soon as they do i will plant as many as i can, how far apart should i plant the charlotte spuds and how deep should i bury them since i havent the manure to heap on top?

thanks
regards
Insy

P.S looking forward to these onions, i dont really like onions to much but i have to taste them as i got a feeling there going to blow my mind hehe. You watch how many chillies i grow next year :P ill be making spicey sauces, salsa, chilli pastes an anything else i can have some fun with .

[insy]

Another question would onions react well to a nice splash of seaweed fertiliser solution diluted of course? If so i may invest in some hehe just to give me onions some organic steroids to help them along even thot hey seem healthy enough.

Anyone planted chillies outside in there allotment? How did they get on? Ive only ever grown them in greenhouses.

Regards
Insy

[BigShot]

Insy - if they are honey bees there's absolutely nothing to stop you getting them into a hive.
Depending on your tennancy agreement you may be able to keep a hive on the plot. Otherwise you could always get a beekeeper to take them away. Some are absolute chancers and will charge for the service - others are glad of the bees and will do it for free.

Where abouts are you? One of the keepers on here might be near or know someone who could get shut of the bees for you.

Don't count on honeybees moving out. If they are a successful colony they'll produce swarms starting from any time between now and a month or so away (depends on where you are). Each swarm will see half the bees up and leave while the other half stay behind and raise a new queen.

Feel free to PM me if you'd rather not put your location up on your profile or in a post.

[insy]

I was thinking about the bee hive thing, my grandads father just passed away and he had like 60+ of them wooden bee hive boxes. Dunno if my grandad sold them all yet i might make some enquiries but tbh its alot of work for someone who has noooooo experience at that sort of stuff even tho it would be fun

Im in the essex area and the problem with trying tog et the queen out and into a hive is there in the ground, how the hell would u get them out without the risk of doing damage with the equipment used?

[BigShot]

You don't need to worry so much about getting the queen out - get as much of the nest as possible out from under the stump and into a hive/box and if you've got the queen, the other bees will join her. If you've not got her they'll all fly back to the original place to get back to her.

If your great grandad kept bees, there's a VERY good chance your grandad or dad might know enough to help you get started.

Unlike a swarm, which can sometimes be handled without much protection, you'd effectively be raiding a NEST - and in that case you really should have a full bee suit on as they will NOT be happy to have the roof ripped off the hive and the comb pulled out.

This is assuming they ARE honey bees, of course.