The Progress of Plot 3 aka A Glutton for Punishment

[Muddy_Boots]

Plot 1: Final task to paint the fence a nice shade of green on both sides so my new neighbors aren't feeling left out..... jd

Plot 3: Covered the front and other side of bed containing onions, shallots and garlic with old and new thick plastic to suppress anything wanting to grow I haven't planted. Emptied the compost bin further down so I can relocate it later and so I can progress further down with the digging.

Pictures for you to see the progress:

[Muddy_Boots]

Day 2 in the big brother house and MB has been working on Plot 3.

Covered more of the plot with the new thick black plastic and started preparing for a path between Plot 2 & 3 by re-bagging the wood chips ready to make a start later.

Have discovered 2 tree stumps where the wood chips had been placed originally so I will be having a bonfire over both to ensure they are dead stumps and can be removed later as one is quite a size.

[Muddy_Boots]

Only small progress today on plot 3 and no pics as still re-bagging the wood chips ready for the planned path and moved some of the well rotted manure to the front of the plot ready for digging in later so the ground is ready for the planned brassicas to be sited there. More work for tomorrows planned path related area and plot 2 will need work so that the path can be started soon after.

Soon as the chips have been moved then its BONFIRE time to the two tree stumps, got some rockets still from November 5th so plan to make an evening of it and let them off and put some tatties in foil in the embers to roast them, have my own bonfire party.

[Muddy_Boots]

Hi Folks

Not posted for a while as I have been busy getting Plot 1 and 2 ready for this season and done a few things on Plot 3 ready for the big push this next week.

Plot 1: Peas have been staked up further and I have noticed I now have flowers forming, another row to be sown next week. Had to cotton protect my emerging Broad Beans as its either Magpies or Jackdaws that have pulled about 4 out the ground and just left them on the surface. The rest of the plot has had a rotavator on it and is ready for any planting.

Plot 2: Further digging done and tidying up, Carpet found which will need removing and burning on the next bonfire on Plot 3.

Plot 3: IBS bought (cost £35 from fleabay) for 1,000 litres of rain water that will be collected from the runoff of the man cave/shed roof on Plot 2, bottom of plot 3 started to be cleared and hill removed and leveled for the site of the IBS and compost bin.

Pictures following:

[Muddy_Boots]

Just produced a batch of 5 Pigeon protectors for my peas, these will be screwed onto stakes and hammered into the soil at each end of a row of newly sown peas. Then black cotton will be wrapped around each nail and stretched to the corresponding nail at the other end of the row, this produces an invisible barrier that the pigeons won't cross and attack the pea seedlings as they appear. Its surprising but so far its worked with the first two rows I have sown for this year, the peas are not netted and have remained untouched, I will tell you if they remain un-attacked and give you the progress of the rest of this years crop.

[Muddy_Boots]

Right I'm reviving this thread as Plot 3 is still a work in progress and until I get there in my NEW car on Saturday and assess what needs doing on ALL 3 plots I won't have a clue which way I'll be going with Plot 3.

At a guess Plot 1 will just want digging over, thats an hours job, plot 3 will also just want digging up to the black plastic which will probably be another 2 hours. Plot 2 will be the biggy as its fruit and alot happened that meant its gonna be a messy and hard slog to get it back to the normal state. Wish me luck, I will need it.

[broadway]

Hello MB

I didn't realise you were on here, I came back to the site about a year ago, big respect re your videos on yt fella

[Muddy_Boots]

Right first day back on the job and it doesn't take long for me to assess that Plot 1 and 3 want just digging over and shouldn't take long, Plot 2 just needs a tidy up and then digging over when time allows until its back in shape.

Did some digging on Plot 1 for a couple of hours, will be back tomorrow to carry on.

[Muddy_Boots]

Was down the lottie on Sunday talking to Granville (f,f,f,f,f,f fetch yer cloth) and yes that really is his name and he was saying I didn't miss much over the last 2 months as its been so cold and wet, trying to dig the ground has been like trying to dig rice pudding. I've managed to dig another 3 rows and covered the back end with black plastic to weaken/kill the weeds.

Got 40 winter brassicas in plastic cups to transplant but can't at the moment but they haven't even grown any more and just seem to be dormant still sitting outside my back door in 2 old mushroom plastic trays. Barry another lottie guru told me he had only put his winter onions in last week and he says its still ok to plant them now so will attempt to get those in asap together with the summer ones as well.

Another picture of plot 1 with slight progress being made, with the rain yesterday and last night its going to take a bit longer to get plot 1 and 3 dug over.

[Muddy_Boots]

Further digging progress has been made today as its stopped raining for more than 24 hours.


Dug 8 more rows yesterday, not much being done today with the heavy constant drizzle.


Plot 1 dug, done with the rotavator and ready to be planted.


Plot 3 now started to be dug, all like plot 1 with the annual weeds being buried by being rough dug over, I'm ensuring any persistent weeds and their roots are removed. Notice the first row on the top above the start of the dig, this is to create a trench so the next row can be cut and turned over burying the top weeds st the bottom to die with no light and another trench being created for the next row. I will be carrying on down until the whole lot has been dug but after about a week I will rotavate the first half to break the soil up so planting can commence.