Random Stuff

Allotment | All dug up!

Saturday, April 10th, 2010 | Allotment, Environment, Money Saving | No Comments

Well I was away at Easter for a week and on my return I found a fully dug over allotment. My dad had been down working hard and done all the donkey work.  We’d been to collect some horse manure the week before I went away and not only had Dad dug the plot over he had also dug in the manure!  So guns blazing we went all out and got our first lot of produce in… The potato. First Earlies, Second earlies and main crop (three rows) all in and ready to go!

The potatoes

The strawberries were weeded and had some time to breath and fourish. As you can see from the picture below the raspberries and strawberries take up a fair section leaving only half rows to the left.  Not the best use of the available space!

Breathing Strawberries

The full plot turned over weeded and manure dug in… Just begging to be planted up now!

Ready for planting

While we were at it we decided to make use of some wood chippings that had been left for general use by the gates… Just really to tidy the area up under the tree. Looking a lot better don’t you think?

Tidy tree

Just behind the tree we made a patch of allotment especially for the little one… we planted some Creepy Crawley flowers to attract the good garden animals, a potato and a sunflower. There is room for more at a later date.

The little ones private allotment

Time to get some seeds in, Parsnip and Spring onions.. All that we had time for today, but the next plan of action is to get some onions in!

Three rows of Parsnips, one row of Spring onions

Tags: Allotment, potatoes

Allotment | Digging has begun

Saturday, March 27th, 2010 | Allotment, Environment, Money Saving | No Comments

Along with my little helper the digging has begun!

The little helper

I’ve decided to dig it over bit by bit and plant as I go,. I think this year it will be a case of just getting stuff in the ground, and the I can start planning properly what I want to grow where. the first bit will be for the potatoes.

The first section

There are quite a few weeds growing, clumps of grass etc.. but it all seems to be pretty free and easy to pull up.  The strawberry’s need a weed and today I weeded around the raspberries and pruned off the dead wood.

Raspberries and Strawberries

For some reason the Raspberries seem to have been planted down one side of the allotment. This isn’t really very good, so I am planning on moving them so that they go across the allotment. I also have some Raspberries in the garden that I will be planning on moving over. I need to read up on the best time to do this, which I assume will be winter when the canes are dormant.

To the right of that picture are the strawberries and again they go down the plot rather than across, I have left them in place this year, but in winter I will move them so that they too go across the plot. My plan is to have three rows, due to strawberries having a productive life span of three years, which I can rotate and replace the old plants with the new runners.

Tags: Allotment, raspberry canes, strawberries, Strawberry

Allotment plot reserved

Saturday, March 20th, 2010 | Allotment | No Comments

Finally after waiting all this time, well it was  the 24th November 2008 that I applied. I have been offered a reserved plot, number 38a. I got the letter this morning and I got so excited!

I’m going to go down to the council office on Monday with my Mum & Dad to get the key, £5 deposit needed! and go and have a look at the plot… I’ve already google mapped it, but you can’t really tell as the maps are fairly old.. and in that time a jungle could have grown! watch this space!

Tags: Allotment, self sufficient, vegetables

Work in the garden

Monday, October 12th, 2009 | Environment, Gardening, Money Saving | No Comments

Well it’s Autumn now and all the summer fruit/veg are dying off so I decided that I would spend some time in the garden today and have a tidy up. Not to mention that the compost bin had come apart so I needed to get everything out of it and put it back together properly before putting the stuff back in. I think to make it secure I’ll have a go at it with the hot glue gun! So here’s what the garden looked like with all the plants dying off:

The befores

The befores

The old rasberry canes needed chopping back and the new ones tied in for next summer. I think I will look into getting a nice trellis to tie the canes into as it will look much nicer than the current bamboo canes and string! Will keep my eyes open over the coming months for reduced items that might be suitable.

The tomato plants were all pretty much dead so I picked the last few tomatoes and then dug them out of the hanging baskets. Two of the bucket ones looked to be getting a second lease of life so I just pruned them back and will see what happens. though it is getting a lot colder now. the other buckets have been pruned and are sitting waiting to be emptied somewhere! not sure where as I don’t really want to put them into the compost just in case there is and blight spores in the soil.

The strawberries are producing hundreds of runners and even though I’ve had two goes at pruning and given loads away on freecycle they are still coming! The cucumbers were finished so I’ve removed them and left the grow bag to dry out a bit before emptying into the compost bin.  The courgettes are still flowering and although I don’t think there will be any more fruit I decided to hold onto them a little longer to enjoy the flowers. Most of the other stuff just needed a tidy up and a re arrange to get the best out of the sunshine this time of year.

Grow bag drying out

Clearer decking

The sunny corner

In the third picture the black bags at the front are the leeks which will be over wintered.  My chilli plants at the back are still gong strong.. in fact so strong I don’t know what to do with all the chillies I’m getting! to the left are my 3 blueberry bushes, they are doing ok and there are signs of fresh shoot and leaves coming through so fingers crossed there will be a crop next year. I do need to find out if they will survive being outside over winter or if I need to bring them in.

I also have a few onions under the cotton easter tree which have started shooting again so I leave those to over winter as well.. there isn’t much too them to warrant pulling them up so if nothing comes of them it’s no big loss.  I still have a bunch of spring onions to lift as well and I think some of them will be used this week in meals.

So a much tidier garden and a fixed compost bin, just need to mow the grass now!

Finally, I have news that I have climbed the allotment waiting list and now reside at 19 on the north and 21 on the south lists. With November  the 1st being the rent year, things will hopefully mean I get a bit closer and possibly get offered a plot. Fingers crossed!

Tags: Allotment, Garden, grow, grow y, Grow your own