What I did today - 2017

[Dorothy rouse]

'Planted' 400! Yes 400, summer flowering bulbs!

In the end, I just threw them in the ground! Assume they'll turn themselves the right way up!

[Baldy]

Moved final 6 big slabs into place - I'm almost tempted to put slabs over the entire plot and then grown everything in pots and MFBs! The look on the faces of the other committee members would be (almost) worth it.

[Jay-ell]

Been working in the New Territories today.

Dug out more bits of the old bed, leveled the ground and put a fourth bed into the space. This is a small bed at 8x4 foot, the other 3 are 4x14.

OK, that's one of the old Beds done, 4 more to go.

Planted out the onion sets - almost filled the 14 foot bed, got littlest of space at the end where I can pop in some elefant leeks I've been growing over winter.

[bario1]

Dug about 4' of drainage trench to take water away from my plot. Added a binbag of coffee grounds to the leafmould bin - also noticed it had gone down by a foot or so, so I added another barrow load of leaves.

[Guest]

Tickled 'a lot' of nectarine flowers, they all seem to have opened at once. Got rid of a few odd trees to a neighbour. Now debating what to do while girls are asleep (it was a very abrupt 4 o'clock start this morning ) Saving seed sowing till this afternoon as oldest has already requested it.

[Baldy]

Fashioned some staging for the plot GH using the cast iron back of an outdoor bench and some 2 be 4 s ;0
Liberated some strawbs from an abandoned plot.
Argued the toss with the person who drafted the lot constitution. They are of the opinion the the local council *can* rule against hen keeping on our council owned site - I'm firmly of the opinion that the allotment act "trumps" them and explicitly allows hens n wabbits... tsk tsk.
At home potted on a good number of toms and chillis. Was a lovely day weatherwise and Id booked the day off work! Huzzah!

[Snadger]

Fashioned some staging for the plot GH using the cast iron back of an outdoor bench and some 2 be 4 s ;0
Liberated some strawbs from an abandoned plot.
Argued the toss with the person who drafted the lot constitution. They are of the opinion the the local council *can* rule against hen keeping on our council owned site - I'm firmly of the opinion that the allotment act "trumps" them and explicitly allows hens n wabbits... tsk tsk.
At home potted on a good number of toms and chillis. Was a lovely day weatherwise and Id booked the day off work! Huzzah!

Our small site which is council run allows hens. A much bigger council run site up the road doesn't allow hens. I suppose it could be that the on-site committee have over ruled any byelaws because the site is next to a housing estate and a crematorium?

[Chestnut]

Cleared and dug over a 6x4' patch of bramble/couchgrass, tidied the greenhouse, and had a chat to our new plot neighbour :-)

[Cadalot]

Today before the builders arrived I made another modification to grow Station 2. I had a signboard that was left on the green in front of the house by a paving company trying to drum up work, not that they were actually doing any work around here. The council come and remove such advertising so I took the correx off the pallet before the council took it away. It's now offering a little insulation to the back wall but more importantly it's reflecting light.



A careful measure and cutting of the hole to go around the power socket and the correx board is supported off the wall and by the power socket.**

I have a couple of estate agent signs also made of correx that are currently on Mill Green allotment that I will have to bring home. I acquired them when vandals uprooted them further up the road on their way home from the*local tavern one night, and then decided to deposited them once again on the green in front of my house.

I'm a sucker for recycling or re purposing materials, and the backs of the estate agent signs will be white and will line the wall in the left and I can rig something up to go on the right to reflect more light onto the plants.

[Jay-ell]

Fashioned some staging for the plot GH using the cast iron back of an outdoor bench and some 2 be 4 s ;0
Liberated some strawbs from an abandoned plot.
Argued the toss with the person who drafted the lot constitution. They are of the opinion the the local council *can* rule against hen keeping on our council owned site - I'm firmly of the opinion that the allotment act "trumps" them and explicitly allows hens n wabbits... tsk tsk.
At home potted on a good number of toms and chillis. Was a lovely day weatherwise and Id booked the day off work! Huzzah!

For chucks and bunnies the act basically says that you have a right to keep them unless you are told you can't, with other livestock you have no right to keep them. This means that unless you have been told you can't keep them you don't have to ask for permission.

What does it say in your tenancy agreement?

[Jay-ell]

Today it's been mostly about burning.

Rebuilt the fire pit, chopped up some of the old wood from the raised bed surround and carted it to the firepit to burn. Kept doing that to keep it topped up.

Alo dug and moved soil about.

Sat with my head in a bush for a little while. Ah, the smell of black currants

[veggiechicken]

Crazy idea No 1:-
Planted up my permanent Allium bed with all the leftover garlic cloves, shallots and onion sets.
The aim is to let them grow free, not to harvest them when ready but to pull one whenever I fancy a bit of garlic or a tiddly onion. If I don't lift them all by autumn, I'll leave them in the ground to set seed or multiply or whatever takes their fancy.

Crazy idea No 2:-
I put the chooks in the compost bin - not a dalek but a pallet bin. The idea being that they could turn it over and eat any creepy crawlies as a reward.

Crazy idea No 3:-
I'd weeded a lot of buttercups and docks and, normally, I'd send these off to the council waste. Today, I threw them all into another pallet compost bin for the chooks to play in. Hopefully, they'll keep turning the weeds over and they won't have time to root in the bin (the weeds, not the chooks).

In case you're wondering, the chooks were really happy playing in the compost

[Root66]

1) Constructed a coldframe using disregarded fence panels, and conservatory panels. Not quite finished off as I need a piece to fit the left side and add hinges for easy access, but very pleased with it. Even on a cloudy day with the incomplete roof it was much warmer underneath.

2) Weeding in the fruit cage. Let it get a bit out of control last year, so bit of a mess. Actually mainly grass, which I find as bigger problem as standard weeds, probably from the manure.

3) Planted onion sets and some strawberry runners.

[Baldy]

For chucks and bunnies the act basically says that you have a right to keep them unless you are told you can't, with other livestock you have no right to keep them. This means that unless you have been told you can't keep them you don't have to ask for permission.

What does it say in your tenancy agreement?

At present it says no chickens - but I believe that it unenforceable as we're a Council run site and from what I can find on the t'internet Section 12 of the Allotment Act 1950 means that Council's can only stop chickens/wabbits if they have a very good reason - vermin or similar nuisance. Anyhow - its more a case of the other plot holder getting on my nerves . I've printed off a few bits and pieces and will carry the printout with me. Might even pin it to their shed if I'm feling obnoxious....

[susieq100]

Just spent a very pleasant hour putting the staging back in the greenhouse, potting on the aubergines and planting some more seeds in trays and modules - beetroot, leeks, oregano, cut and come again coriander, cauliflower and some Cape Gooseberries (these are an experiment ... need to have one experiment every year!).