Penellype's Allotment

[1Bee]

I have a green plastic one. It reclines. *bliss*

[rary]

You are doing a great job Penellype, its been a wee while since I was on your thread but what a difference you have made, I thought I would like you as a neighbour, but unless you were helping me I think I would get an ear bashing from OH about how you manage to do all that work andkeep your place so tidy. But great to follow this thread, thanks

[Penellype]

Thanks Rary - I think the proof of whether or not I can manage to keep it all tidy and under control will come in the summer when everything is growing like mad and needs watering every day!

[Penellype]

Went down to the plot today with the intention of putting up the new water butt, but having had a look at it I decided I really needed a couple more paving slabs to make the whole area level, and to try to place it so that I can move the original butt back a bit when it is emptier and still have room for another bin perhaps later near the hedge. I think if I just bung the butt in where I currently have the paving slab I will regret it later. As I didn't have my spirit level with me I abandoned the idea for today.

Put some of the coffee grounds down on the pea and onion beds. Moved the green compost bin into the compost area and chopped up some of the large pile of weeds so that it will rot down quicker and put it in the green bin. This is going to take some time, but will be better in the long run than just bunging the lot into the compost bin (if it would fit, which I doubt).

I decided the afternoon would be best spent getting seed potatoes and onion sets. I'd rung my favourite garden centre (Deans) last week asking if they had any Lady C seed potatoes and they said they had sold out but might be getting more this week, so I rang again. They said that the supplier has sold out, but took my name and number in case they could find any elsewhere. I decided to go across anyway (its the wrong end of York and requires navigating the usually gridlocked part of the ring road). When I got there I found that they hadn't any Charlotte either. I got 2kg Desiree and 10 Sarpo Axona and decided to hedge my bets with 10 Nicola. I got the onions (Sturon) without difficulty and also picked up packets of Romanesco and white beetroot seeds.

On the way home I called at the local garden centre (much smaller), and thankfully they had 2kg bags of Charlotte, but they don't stock Lady C. They offered to ring the supplier and did so, but as at Deans, they were told they had sold out. I made do with 10 Arran Pilot and 10 Maris Bard. At least I am getting a chance to try a variety of different potatoes.

When I got home I put them all out to chit in egg boxes, and just as I had finished the phone rang. it was Deans, who said that they had located a bag of Lady C at their Scarborough branch and could put it aside for me . I said yes please and I will collect it later in the week.

Quite where I am going to put 30 extra potato plants I am not sure. Its a good job that I have the allotment or I would be in real trouble!

[Penellype]

After a disgustingly wet and windy morning the sun came out this afternoon. It was still windy and quite cold but I went to see what I could do.

Surprisingly the water butts were not full, probably because the shed roof is sheltered from rain that comes from the south and west.

I chopped up a bit more of the stack of weeds and added it to the compost bin then decided to investigate whether it was possible to put down some more of the weed matting on the paths. It wasn't too bad so I pegged down enough to position the 4th bed along the east side, and put cardboard down inside it. That finishes that side for now as I have to dig the 5th bed for the fruit bushes and it is definitely far too wet to consider digging at the moment. Now I just need to get some more rotted horse manure at the weekend and bring some used compost from home and 5 of my 10 beds (including the hotbed) will be ready to use.

I also collected my bag of Lady C potatoes today (30 seed potatoes) and altered my garden plan to accommodate the extra varieties. It looks like I will have 10 or 11 buckets of potatoes at the allotment, some or possibly all of which may end up in the tunnel.

[Penellype]

Today was water butt day. I now have a sensible gutter down one side of the shed (instead of a folded piece of plastic crate) and 2 full sized water butts on firm standings, connected together. The original butt has also been moved about 18 inches back, meaning that there is now a sensible gap to walk between the tunnel and the shed.

The other side needs doing later, but that is less urgent as the blue water barrel currently catching the drips on that side is not so much in the way.

Thanks again due to Geepee for advice and help with this - much appreciated.

[Penellype]

Had a bit of a break today as the morning became unpleasantly wet and the afternoon was cold and windy.

I started early, taking 3 buckets of used compost down first thing and spreading it on the onion bed. This just needs covering with fleece, and I will plant the onions here during February unless we get a big freeze.

By the time I had mucked out the horses it was raining and I didn't feel like getting soaked walking all the way up the field to collect more rotted muck, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

[Penellype]

Today did not get off to a very promising start. Despite the forecasts all showing a dry day and the radar also showing us to be dry, it rained all morning, a misty drizzle which was surprisingly wet. It must simply have been too fine for the radar to detect a signal.

I mucked out the horses and decided on just 1 trip to the muck heap for rotted muck. I delivered it to the allotment and topped up the bean bed, put the rest in one of the other beds, covered the onion bed with a piece of fleece I'd brought with me, and went home for lunch.

By 1.30 I was thoroughly fed up. I had intended to use a warm, dry day to make a decent impression on a few jobs and it was still raining. The radar picture still said it wasn't, so it wasn't exactly helpful for predicting what would happen later. I decided to go anyway.

Today's job was to try to level the ends of the raised beds near the tunnel, where there was quite a step down part way along them. I managed to get this done reasonably quickly, pulling out some of the horsetail as I went. The rain stopped and I got the paths laid properly and most of the beds positioned, and dug over the bed for the blackcurrant and gooseberry, which had dried out enough in the wind despite the drizzle.

Although it doesn't look much different from this morning, I'm happy that I have done a decent day's work on it today after all.

[Penellype]

All I did yesterday (after a very wet morning) was tidy the wood shed, which was getting to the point where I couldn't get in. I wanted to sort out the various fence stakes, planks and pieces of 2x1 inch timber to see what I had got. There were a couple of useful items in amongst, including a heavy pointed metal bar presumably for making holes for fence stakes.

This is where things were this morning:





Today's job was to tidy up along the left side of the shed, ready for a new gutter and water butt. This area seems to have been used as something of a general dumping ground, with various plastic bags (harbouring slugs and snails), chicken wire, discarded plant modules, watering can roses and chunks of leylandii branches. There was also a generous helping of creeping bent grass and a large bramble. A piece of wire fencing was hanging out of the leylandii hedge at a drunken angle.

I decided that the best thing to do was to clear everything to the side, but having been snagged by the bramble, I got out my loppers and chopped it off. I hate prickly things! I then had a go at the hedge to cut it back enough to straighten the piece of wire fencing, and put a better post in to hold it in place. That end of the hedge is almost dead, and looking at it I thought I could probably straighten it up quite a bit with the loppers, so I did:



Apart from some big branches on the top of the hedge, for which I need a step ladder and even then could be out of my reach, the hedge to the right of the black composter is now "trimmed". The other side will require my hedge trimmer as it is much more alive.

I also managed to chop some more of the large pile of weeds and put them in the green composter. I am making an impression on the pile, but it is slow work.

Finally I had a good look at the hedge end of the mesh tunnel to see if it was possible to make a door at that end without disturbing the general covering of mesh. It wasn't as everything was pulled tight and secured except for the end of the top covering which was tied to 2 random stakes. I tidied that up a bit with a couple of cable ties and removed the stakes which really were not doing anything useful, and apart from a small hole on one side that could do with patching, that end of the tunnel is now fine. The road end entrance still needs a lot of work, and I am considering ways of making something a lot more like a proper door than the current higgledy piggledy arrangement of flaps and gaps.

[geepee]

All I did yesterday (after a very wet morning) was tidy the wood shed, which was getting to the point where I couldn't get in. I wanted to sort out the various fence stakes, planks and pieces of 2x1 inch timber to see what I had got. There were a couple of useful items in amongst, including a heavy pointed metal bar presumably for making holes for fence stakes.

This is where things were this morning:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]78430[/ATTACH]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]78431[/ATTACH]

Today's job was to tidy up along the left side of the shed, ready for a new gutter and water butt. This area seems to have been used as something of a general dumping ground, with various plastic bags (harbouring slugs and snails), chicken wire, discarded plant modules, watering can roses and chunks of leylandii branches. There was also a generous helping of creeping bent grass and a large bramble. A piece of wire fencing was hanging out of the leylandii hedge at a drunken angle.

I decided that the best thing to do was to clear everything to the side, but having been snagged by the bramble, I got out my loppers and chopped it off. I hate prickly things! I then had a go at the hedge to cut it back enough to straighten the piece of wire fencing, and put a better post in to hold it in place. That end of the hedge is almost dead, and looking at it I thought I could probably straighten it up quite a bit with the loppers, so I did:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]78432[/ATTACH]

Apart from some big branches on the top of the hedge, for which I need a step ladder and even then could be out of my reach, the hedge to the right of the black composter is now "trimmed". The other side will require my hedge trimmer as it is much more alive.

I also managed to chop some more of the large pile of weeds and put them in the green composter. I am making an impression on the pile, but it is slow work.

Finally I had a good look at the hedge end of the mesh tunnel to see if it was possible to make a door at that end without disturbing the general covering of mesh. It wasn't as everything was pulled tight and secured except for the end of the top covering which was tied to 2 random stakes. I tidied that up a bit with a couple of cable ties and removed the stakes which really were not doing anything useful, and apart from a small hole on one side that could do with patching, that end of the tunnel is now fine. The road end entrance still needs a lot of work, and I am considering ways of making something a lot more like a proper door than the current higgledy piggledy arrangement of flaps and gaps.

Goodness me.....You have been a busy bee....Again..

[1Bee]

You're amazing, Penellype.

[Penellype]

You're amazing, Penellype.

Ha, this is a breeze compared with looking after 50 horses and 20 siamese cats virtually single handed, as I have been known to have to do for a few days at a time in the past. That was over 20 years ago though...

[Penellype]

Today I needed to go shopping for a water butt and assorted bits to go on the left side of the shed. Currently water is dripping off the roof into an open blue barrel, but because there is no top the water is filthy and in summer will be full of mosquitoes. Problem - the butt the other side, made by Blackwall, has a slightly dipped lid with holes in for the water to run into the butt, but I can't find anything like that in the local shops. All have mounded lids positioned in such a way that the water dripping from the new gutter arrangement will simply run off the top. I gave up having looked in 4 different shops, and came home with 2 paving slabs, 2 dustbins and 9 tennis balls to put into the butts to stop them cracking when they freeze next week.

I'd been at home only a few minutes when a wheelbarrow I had ordered arrived. This needs assembling, and is completely beyond my capabilities. Help may be at hand tomorrow .

I took the bits of barrow to the plot to find 2 buses apparently fighting over the bus stop, causing traffic chaos. I think one of the drivers was probably wanting his lunch. My parked car was definitely not welcome, so I took it home and walked back. No sooner had I got there than it started to rain. I'd checked the forecast (dry) and the radar (showing showers moving away to the south), so I wasn't best pleased. I filled a trug with weeds and took them into the wood store to chop while I waited for the rain to stop.

I then decided to alter the entrance to the tunnel, which had been made in a very peculiar way. There were various gaps in the mesh and part of it was secured so that you had to bend double while squeezing past a large post which was attached to absolutely nothing and simply in the way. I removed the post and a piece of mesh which wasn't doing anything useful, bashed in another post further along and secured the door flap to that to make a fixed side. I then cut off the roll of mesh that was still attached (probably several metres of this) and attached the other side of the door flap to a useful metal pole which had holes in it using cable ties. I pushed this into the ground near the supporting post that forms the edge of the doorway. All I need now is some sort of spring clip to hole the top corner of the mesh onto a strategically placed cable tie around part of the pipe framework and its done.

[Penellype]

I now have proper gutters on both sides of the shed and water butts and dustbins to hold plenty of water, standing on level paving slabs. I've also got a nice new wheelbarrow which is no longer in bits - much better than the rusty, cracked old metal one that came with the allotment, which has some very sharp edges. Many thanks to Geepee for yet more help .

This afternoon I went back to the plot and removed some couch grass that was growing back in the tunnel, along with some annual weeds. I also cleared the last of the shallots from the tunnel and put some weed fabric down so both sides are now covered.

Very pleased with how things are coming along. I just hope everything doesn't freeze solid for weeks now!

[lottie dolly]

You are doing brilliant Pen,well done lass,