Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

Thanks Mr H - that is an interesting idea. I'd need to find somewhere to put the dalek - I tried to fit it between the fence and the wood store this morning and it is too wide at the bottom.

[Penellype]

Another absolutely gorgeous day yesterday after the early frost melted. The first thing I did was take my camera down and take photos of the new fence and the gap underneath it. I then spent some time assessing what would fit where.



There is 3-4 inches of soil etc piled up under the fence - the brown stuff is mostly grass cuttings that has been put there by the people who live in the house at the back.



The fence line showing the gap between the shed and fence (about a foot wide) and the new storage box.



The gap between the shed and fence from the other side, housing sticks about 4ft long.



The gap between the wood store and fence, nearly 2ft wide, housing longer stakes and the white piping, pea mesh etc.



The compost area as it was yesterday morning.

While I was wandering round looking at things I decided to trim a bit more off the hawthorn hedge to the left of the compost area in the last photo. I chopped off several branches that were sticking out too far in the middle section of the hedge, and chopped them small enough to store in a trug for the next trip to the tip. While I was doing this the man in charge of the allotments and one of the local councillors (who also has one of the allotments further down) came to look at the new fence. I mentioned the gap and he said they might or might not put some wood under it, but it wouldn't happen any time soon. I also asked about painting/preserving it and he said it is treated larch and should not rot and therefore doesn't need any sort of painting. He does not want people to paint it as it will look like a patchwork if people do. That's fair enough, but I'll believe it isn't going to rot if its still in good condition in 5 years time!

When I had finished chopping the hawthorn I carefully snipped off a load of lettuce and spinach seedlings from the hotbed to thin them out a bit (more thinning needed later). This gave me plenty of microgreens to make a nice sandwich for lunch.

After lunch I decided I wanted to make a start on shifting the daleks so that I can see what sort of a job I will have digging out horsetail at the road end of the compost area. There is weed matting down under the compost but the water bin at the road end is not on it - this was deliberate planning as I knew I would want to lift the matting this spring. I therefore needed to move the black dalek (part full of shredded leylandii for use as a mulch later) and the green dalek (covering the bucket of rhubarb, which is about ready to start eating).

There is room for 2 daleks at the shed end of the compost area if I move the water bin that is currently there. I don't want to move this yet as the logical place for it is in one of the corners between the shed and fence, but I want to retain access until I've dealt with that gap. So I decided to put the bucket of rhubarb in the corner and cover it with a dalek, which just fits alongside the water butt. I can move this easily when I need to.

I moved the green dalek to the shed side of the square bin and then transferred the leylandii clippings into it. I put the cover (an old plastic covered tablecloth) back over and tied it on - I don't need to get at the leylandii very often and it has been a pain to have to untie the cover every time I want to check the rhubarb as it is awkward to replace securely. I then used the empty black dalek to cover the bucket of rhubarb in the fence-shed corner. This isn't ideal and I will probably change things round again but it sorted things for now at least.

Given that the council might or might not eventually decide to put wood under the fence, I don't want to spend more than I have to on something to block the gap, but I also don't want to block it piecemeal with anything I can find, which will look dreadful. So I decided to get some of that plastic lawn edging that you can get in 6" width. Its very cheap and bright green, which I may not like at all, but at £4 for 10 metres of the stuff its not going to break the bank. The plan is to put it in place and cover as much of it with soil as possible, and see how I feel about it.

[Penellype]

A few more photos of the plot, with a lot more sunshine than there used to be!







Taking photos from most angles was nearly impossible because of the very bright light.

[Jungle Jane]

Looks very sunny,it’s good you won’t need to cut that bit of hedge ever again

[Penellype]

Well, my idea of putting the lawn edging at the bottom of the fence didn't work at all. It was far too floppy and wouldn't stay in place and I very quickly decided attempting to put it there was a complete waste of time. I can use it for something else, so it won't be wasted, but its back to the drawing board as far as the fence is concerned. I dare say that there will be plenty of people on here who will be thinking "I thought so", but as I have said before, I am not good at DIY.

Next job is to dig the area where the daleks were and remove as much horsetail as possible. This was going to be a summer job, but as the soil is reasonably dry I might as well get started. I folded back the weed matting and collected up about a dozen slugs, then started digging. I was expecting this area to be full of tree roots and was prepared for the possibility that I couldn't dig it at all, but actually it wasn't too bad. I got about half way down it before I had to stop because I was too hot, and also felt that I really should have brought a hat!

I will continue the digging after lunch and hopefully get the whole area dug today so I can put the weed matting back. The eventual plan here is for probably 3 minarette fruit trees, one of which will be the cherry that is currently in a pot the tunnel. Whether I bring the apple and pear from home or buy 2 more trees is not yet decided.

[Mr H]

Well, my idea of putting the lawn edging at the bottom of the fence didn't work at all. It was far too floppy and wouldn't stay in place and I very quickly decided attempting to put it there was a complete waste of time.

How about some reclaimed bricks?

[Penellype]

How about some reclaimed bricks?

I did think about bricks, but it would probably need about 125 of them, and if I could find enough they are heavy to transport. Also as the ground is not flat it would be difficult to keep them in place, particularly as they would probably need to be 3 rows high in places to fill the gap.

[geepee]

Lawn edging wont stay in place unless its got something solid behind it !!
you have enough wood on your plot to do that i think ?

[Penellype]

Lawn edging wont stay in place unless its got something solid behind it !!
you have enough wood on your plot to do that i think ?

I've got a lot of bits of wood but whether they are big enough or the right shape I have no idea...

[Penellype]

I did finish digging the area near the compost bin - it took me another hour or so. I put the weed matting back and swept up the bits of soil then went home as my back had had enough.

No gardening time today, which is probably just as well!

[Penellype]

Not much happening at the allotment at the moment. On Friday I took down a couple of buckets of compost to top up the bed next to the hotbed ready for cauliflowers. I need a bit more so I will have to sort out another bucket that I don't need for carrots or potatoes at home.

Yesterday I went round most of the plot including the tunnel removing any weed seedlings and dead brassica leaves. I harvested some PSB, but that was about it.

Unlikely to be able to do much today due to very likely deterioration in the weather this afternoon.

[Penellype]

As I suspected there really wasn't much I could do on Sunday as by the time I had finished mucking out it was already turning wet and windy. All I did was nip down to harvest a couple of small beetroot and some lettuce thinnings from the hotbed for lunch.

Yesterday wasn't much better as it turned rather showery. I went down in the morning and put the rain water from the bin lids into the water butt and searched under various bricks etc for slugs. There were quite a few, clearly enjoying the damp. I spent the rest of the gardening time at home where I could dodge the showers more easily.

Today I was expecting more of the same, but the showers disappeared by lunch time and it turned into a gorgeous afternoon, so I went down to the plot for a good hour. I tidied out the shed and put some of the nets etc in the new storage box (I'd wanted to wait for rain to check it was waterproof first!) and lined the potato bed with cardboard which has been waiting in the shed. This should get nicely wetted by tonight's rain.

That done, I had a good look at the brassicas in the tunnel. The PSB is superb, but the brokali and calabrese really didn't look happy. The brokali has some new growth near the bottom which may become edible, but the tops and leaves are very brown in places. The calabrese was even worse, with nothing looking remotely edible, so I decided to remove it. I have one plant of the same variety at home which is much happier (I ate some of it yesterday), so its not the cold. Maybe it doesn't like the whitefly and aphids, both of which attacked it badly last year. I dug over the area and removed some tree roots and horsetail.

Removing the calabrese means that there is now nothing growing in the west side of the tunnel, so all of that side has been dug. Hopefully I have got most of the horsetail out - I will soon find out.

I harvested some PSB and a couple of sticks of forced rhubarb from under the black dalek for tea.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was pretty much a write-off. I walked down in the morning to check all was ok, and tipped the water from the bin lids etc into the water butts, which are now full again. I had a quick look around for slugs, but it soon started to rain so I went home.

The weather was forecast to clear to sunshine and showers, but in fact it "cleared" to mostly showers and showers, with thunderstorms not far away, so I stayed put at home.

No gardening today apart from a quick trip to the allotment this morning to pick some PSB, when I again managed to get wet.

[Penellype]

Yesterday morning was reasonable weather-wise, but it was clear that rain was on its way for later. I was intending to plant the potatoes at the weekend, but as the forecast is not great I decided to start while the going was good.

The first job was to put about 4 inches of fresh horse manure on top of the cardboard I put down earlier in the week (which was now nicely wet). This entailed 2 trips to the stables for a total of 8 trugs of muck. By the time I had finished this it was almost lunchtime so I went home for a quick bowl of soup.

The difficulty with planning for potatoes has been that I hadn't a clue how much rotted compost I had, and whether or not there would be enough for 10 buckets of potatoes. I want to use the allotment compost for the potatoes as it is certain to be full of all sorts of weed seeds etc as it is made from what I cleared off the plot last winter. I therefore don't want to spread it about where I have cleared away the weeds. I needed somewhere to put the fresher stuff from the top, so I emptied the smaller bin (containing the filling from last year's raised beds that I'd emptied to dig) into the bed next to the rhubarb. I then turned the top half of the big compost bin into the smaller one.

The bottom half of the bin was very solid, half rotted and wet and sticky. Potatoes will grow in most things, so I planted 4 buckets of Nicola in this stuff with some bfb added, and topped the buckets with a couple of inches of the stuff I'd moved earlier. Hopefully that will act as a mulch and keep the worst of the weeds down. I put the buckets in the potato bed and put up the fame and cover over the top. By the time I had done this it was starting to rain so I went home.

I think I have plenty of compost left for the rest of the potatoes, I may even find that I have used some of the less well rotted stuff when I had no need to. Any that is left over can hopefully fit into the smaller green bin, and I can start a new heap which will contain far fewer weed seeds (as I don't let weeds flower if at all possible) and use the compost in the smaller bin for next year's potatoes. That's the plan, anyway.

[Penellype]

As expected, the weekend was not particularly helpful from a weather point of view.

On Saturday I called in on my way back from the stables (having already mucked out 2 horses and planted 2 buckets of potatoes in my friend's greenhouse) to harvest some baby lettuces from the hotbed for an early lunch. I went straight back to the plot after lunch, finishing digging out the bottom of the compost bin, which was packed really solid. I planted 2 buckets of Maris Bard potatoes, which went in the potato bed, and filled 2 trugs with the remaining compost, which I stacked in the bin to stop it from getting waterlogged. I have 4 buckets left to fill and I'm now happy that I will have enough compost available. The Lady C potatoes could do with bigger chits before I plant them, so I will wait a bit longer before planting those.

By the time I'd finished that and mended a couple of small tears in the cover over the potato bed I'd been there over 2 hours and I was very tired. I wanted a parsnip for tea and was horrified that it took me about 10 minutes and a real struggle to get it out of the ground - at one point I thought I was going to have to leave it as I was completely exhausted, but I got it in the end. I sat down for a bit and then had to walk home.

The rest of the afternoon was a real tease - the weather was lovely but I had already done more than enough and couldn't possibly manage any more gardening.

Yesterday was a completely different matter. The morning was cold and wet and I was glad to be able to get home after seeing to the horses. The rain turned to sleet and then sunshine and showers by lunchtime, which appeared to be clearing away. I decided to walk down in the afternoon, with the intention of doing a bit of weeding. I'd not taken the wind into account and by the time I got to the plot I was frozen, and the nice blue sky had turned a threatening black. I had a quick look round, grabbed a couple of stems of rhubarb from under the black dalek, and went home as fast as possible. I just got back before the worst of the driving sleet set in and I decided that gardening was off the menu for the rest of the day.