Penellype's Allotment

[penelype]

Penellype, you post a lot of pictures. Could it be that you have used up all the allocated space (62mb I think) in your attachments folder? Perhaps you need to delete some old images.

I think that is highly likely. The trouble with deleting old images is that they will be on posts somewhere, but maybe that doesn't matter.

[broadway]

I think that is highly likely. The trouble with deleting old images is that they will be on posts somewhere, but maybe that doesn't matter.

Good find morhhawk!

It does look like the images are sorted in date order so the oldest could be hived off Penelype or go with the new I'd and reference the old?

[penelype]

Good find morhhawk!

It does look like the images are sorted in date order so the oldest could be hived off Penelype or go with the new I'd and reference the old?

At the moment I'm trying to get the post count up on this new account so I can try to post the pictures. Its harder than I thought because I don't want to post a lot of silly posts that nobody wants to read!

[penelype]

Yesterday I didn't get to teh allotment at all, so it was jsut as well that it wasn't sunny, meaning I didn't need to open the cloches.

Finally a little more time today so I've taken half the 2nd lot of peas down (the other half to go later today) and rearranged the shelves in the growhouse to accomodate them. I've also put up the cover over the potato bed and moved 4 buckets of compost into it to warm up slightly before I plant the early potatoes. I think this year I may try the buckets on the soil rather than importing horse manure, and see if it makes any difference.

[penelype]

Yesterday I didn't get to teh allotment at all, so it was jsut as well that it wasn't sunny, meaning I didn't need to open the cloches.

Finally a little more time today so I've taken half the 2nd lot of peas down (the other half to go later today) and rearranged the shelves in the growhouse to accomodate them. I've also put up the cover over the potato bed and moved 4 buckets of compost into it to warm up slightly before I plant the early potatoes. I think this year I may try the buckets on the soil rather than importing horse manure, and see if it makes any difference.

Being a new forum member is very very irritating! It won't even let me edit out my spelling mistakes, which I always make large numbers of!

[penelype]

It also won't let me read my notifications, of which I have 19 unread!

[penelype]

It also won't let me read my notifications, of which I have 19 unread!

I am therefore going to continue posting little posts until it does.

[penelype]

Finally I can see my notifications and I don't have to tell it what colour a carrot is in order to post. Now to see if I can post the photos I took on 1st March...

And the answer is no, I can't. I still get a database error. So it isn't that my account has used its allocated space, unless the software is clever enough to link 2 accounts with similar names but completely different email addresses, or unless it recognizes my computer or the photo I tried to upload!

So, I'm sorry, I would love to post photos, but I can't.

[self-contained]

I can only post photos if I shrink the size to less than 2MB first, and then only a certain number per post. I wonder if there's a thread limit.

[Penellype]

I can only post photos if I shrink the size to less than 2MB first, and then only a certain number per post. I wonder if there's a thread limit.

I don't think its a thread limit as I can't post them anywhere. All the photos I have tried to post are less than 2MB, and the limit is 5 to a post. I can post screenshots of photos, which are much smaller, but someone suggested the problem may be something to do with Apple devices - I use an iPod.

Worryingly, when I tried to upload 5 screenshots to the calendar thread the 5th one crashed Chrome, and I had to reboot my computer in order to get rid of it. That (and lack of time) is why I haven't yet posted the pictures I have on this thread.

[Penellype]

A nice sunny day yesterday so I decided to plant the Lady C potatoes. There are 4 buckets of these, under a plastic cover. I also walked round the whole plot and removed all the weeds I could see. No doubt I will have missed plenty. The seedlings in the growhouse needed watering, a job I haven't quite got used to doing again yet.

Today was less sunny but pleasantly mild. There wasn't all that much to do at the plot but I had to go down twice to open and then shut the covers. I brought home 4 decent stalks of forced rhubarb from the bucket under the dalek.

[Penellype]

Wednesday was dire. It was damp and drizzly for most of the day, which matched my mood completely and I didn't make it to the allotment. While I am not self-isolating (yet), after posting a Mother's Day card that I should have been taking by hand, the realization that I will not be able to visit my Mum for the foreseeable future was beginning to sink in. Normally when I am fed up I turn on the TV and watch the racing, which has been my "comfort blanket" for over 50 years, but all the racing is off at least until May. I tried to busy myself with housework but found that only added to the feeling of gloom. Work, which is basically customer service for subscription based software related to sports betting, consisted mainly of cancelling people's subscriptions which didn't help at all. The only shred of normality was seeing to my horse in the evening, the empty stable next door still a stark reminder of the one that is no longer there. I'm aware that many people have far worse problems than these, but that is never much help when you are fed up and on your own.

Yesterday was better in that I spent a lot of it on the phone (replacing the normal meetings) and the better weather enabled me to go to the plot to open and shut the covers and harvest some brokali.

[Penellype]

Friday was quite busy and I didn't get much time for the plot, although I did go down morning and evening to ventilate and water the covered beds (which I am now doing every day while it is sunny) and harvested a leek and some PSB.

Not too much time (or energy) on Saturday either after filling the hotbed at my friend's. Yesterday I planted out the earlier sowing of Meteor peas in the bed next to the growhouse and harvested some bits of calabrese (which are very small now but still edible) and some rhubarb.

Today I walked round the plot removing as many weed seedlings as I could find, then trimmed the long edges of the grass. I will need to get the mower out again soon. I harvested most of the beetroot as my friends at the stables had expressed an interest in it and I'd already decided I wasn't going to eat it. I also harvested some brokali for tea.

[Penellype]

Tuesday - first day of lockdown. Unsure of what is allowed, and very worrying because I need to visit the allotment at least twice a day, to open and shut the covers, preferably 3 times as I prefer to do jobs in the middle of the day, not when it is too cold and everything is damp first thing or when I am tired and need to be cooking tea later. Very tricky to plan. I decided to go down first thing to open the covers, collect anything I wanted to eat, then stop in the car on the way to the stables to shut the covers in the evening.

The first part went fine - it started cloudy and I went down mid morning to open the covers when the sun came out, watered everything and pottered about a bit making a list of jobs that needed doing. Then I picked some rhubarb and a small florence fennel and went home.

During the day it got fairly windy. I was worried the covers might blow off and onto the road, and by tea time I felt I couldn't leave it any longer, so I walked down again to shut the covers, which had thankfully stayed mostly in place. I'd spoken to my neighbour in between, and she reassured me that nobody was going to object to me walking a couple of hundred yards to the allotment, especially as there is usually nobody else about.

Yesterday was much sunnier and as soon as the frost had melted I went down and opened the covers. I then spent the rest of my gardening time at home, just going back to water and shut the covers after tea.

[Penellype]

Thursday was another glorious sunny day, and with no meetings to prevent me from gardening I should have been able to enjoy it. However I am acutely aware that I'm not supposed to be nipping out several times a day, and this is very limiting.

By 9am it was already approaching 10 degrees and I had to go down and open the covers. I took a packet of beetroot seed down with me and sowed a row next to the peas, which I covered with bubble wrap, lifted off the soil over some small hoops. This is as much to keep the cat off as to keep the seedbed warm. First thing in the morning is not a convenient time to be at the allotment for ages, as I have work to do, so having done that I went home.

In normal times I would have gone back down at lunchtime to plant potatoes, but with it being so sunny I would then have had to go back a 3rd time to shut the covers. I therefore stayed at home and did some jobs there (mowed lawns and planted a couple of buckets of potatoes). As always by evening I had run out of energy, enthusiasm and time to do much so I just watered everything and shut the covers.

Yesterday started with freezing fog and as a result it wasn't so hot under the covers. I managed to delay going to the plot until about 10.30, but as it was still rather chilly I didn't stay long. I took my loppers with me to cut up some old brassica stalks, something I have been meaning to do for a while.

I went back down mid afternoon, taking the seed potatoes with me and got on with planting them using compost from the compost bin which has been rotting for over a year. I was a bit disappointed that it was still full of lots of bits of sticks but hopefully there is enough composted stuff for the potatoes to grow in it. I added plenty of bfb as well. The buckets went under the cover with the Lady C I planted earlier and I noticed that one of those buckets has a leaf starting to emerge.

The 2nd lot of Meteor peas are growing well and I decided to plant them out as this will mean one less batch of plants to worry about overheating. That done, I felt ready to go home, but I wanted to get the grass cut so I got on with it. I didn't do a great job but at least some of it is being kept under control, but I need to attend to the trickier bits like near the daffodils.

Before I went home I harvested the last of the parsnips and levelled off the bed (which had a pile of compost from the hotbed at one end), then watered the hotbed and shut the covers.