Catch up

I've been so busy at work lately and with just starting to get lighter nights with the clocks changing i haven't had much time on the allotment.
Saying that though I've taken a week off work, tagged them to the Easter break to catch up.

My suds have been chitting nicely and I've moved them to my greenhouse ready to be planted this week.
I've bought extra to cover the issues farms will have with coping with the floods earlier in the year.
My seedlings are growing very well.

So while i have been off i have dug 4 large beds ready for planting.

I have manured one of them and just need to do the others.

One large one is for my first early potatoes and salad potatoes.

I have just one large bed left to dig and my herb bed needs a good weeding.

Garlic at top doing nicely and the rest of this bed is onions all planted up

First early and salad potatoes are going in here,
the bed at the top is the large one for the remaining potatoes

This bed is my fruit tree bed, I've used it for my spare onions for this year and next year it will be mulched and covered in wood chips.

The trees are a little close so ill adjust that after this years growth.

Before i can crack on with the greenhouses to get them ready for planting i needed to move my shed, this i did yesterday and it took me 6 hours to empty, take apart, rebuild the floor as it wasn't too good and then re-assemble in its new home, here's before and after pic's.

New base using fence concrete posts to keep the shed off the wet ground

Sheds old home

Space left after moving the shed, this will become a fenced area for my dogs to come to the allotment with me and ill put a pergola over it so my grape vines can grow up and over it, it will also be a great BBQ area

Sheds in its new home, I've two clematis growing well to grow up the side of it

I'm left with just the felt to fit to the shed and its all done.

The area to the bottom right of the shed was the old plots compost.

I've used it for all the excessive weeds i removed so ill burn this all and clear the compost away and it will leave me a new area for moving my fruit tree's further apart and then i can plant wild flowers to attract wildlife, like bee's, butterfly's and birds. The ashes ill use on my onions garlic and fruit trees if there's enough.

My Plum tree is flowering well and just behind it is my mini pond which i was clearing the other day but the pot and twig that had blown in there is full of frog spawn so i let them be.

After all this catching up i need to get seed planting in the greenhouses and i'm left with the area where the shed was to tidy and make into an area for my dog's to play and down the back or my large greenhouse i have a 10' cold frame which needs a path making along it so ill get cracking on with that too.

Oh and weed, weed, weeding....

New Vines

On Sunday i managed a few hours in the morning and got quite a lot done in that time.
I started by removing my old raspberry canes and planted my 3 new vines in that area which is just for their first year when ill decide their permanent home then.
Its the bed just in front of my shed shown here (the shed is due to move leaving a patio area for my dog pen or BBQ's).

Then in the bed just in the front of this picture i replanted two blackcurrant bushes, these will stay here until i remove a weed compost area then ill move them to there, the 3 trees in this pic are pear, plumb and apple so they will take up a lot of space when they grow.

Next i dug over the bed that the blackcurrants were removed from which ill let settle and keep raking it so its nice and ready for my peas and beans.
I have decided that my weekend job this week will be to weed the big bed on the new plot side as the grass growing there has long roots and even though i dug out a lot of it there is still a lot in there.
Then ill plant my spuds in there so its well dug over after they have been harvested.
its the top bed on the right of this picture.

I also got a nice surprise digging the bed when i came across two parsnips one rather large, i thought i had dug all these up, they were promptly eaten with Sunday tea.

And my last job was to move the strawberry runners that had now established well, these have now filled the blank spots where i had older strawberries, so my bed is all the same type.
A quick water of the strawberries in the greenhouse planted in a hanging basket to get early fruit, my parsley that has overwintered well and a Rosemary cutting then i was on my way home.
We have the yearly AGM meeting this Saturday at 11am so that will be interesting because we are being asked to manage our own site with minimal council interaction due to cost cuts.

potatoes potatoes potatoes

I have decided to go a little potato mad this year.
a plot neighbor mentioned the floods and the point that the crops will suffer this year so potatoe onion and other crops may be highly priced.
so i had the previous spud chitin and decided to buy a full pack of maris piper and 3 small packs of other spuds to get in the ground next week.
I've also got extra garlic and onions.
Also this week i had a shopping spree and bought new soft butterfly netting for my brassicas, extra glass clips for the greenhouses, epsom salts to make my own feed, and 2 new grapevines, i was given an extra one as a freeby so i got 3.
Tomorrow ill be planting the vines and moving my strawberry runners that have taken well.
light nights are coming and im getting my green fingers going again.

New Season and new beginnigns

I haven't posted on here for a while.

This was due to several things but mainly due to achieving receipt of the other 3rd of the plot which was used by an old chap called Eddie, he decided to give up as he didn't have time or effort to continue.

The plot was then handed to the next guy on the list who appeared to be a builder who decided to let it overgrow while he stored building items on the plot.

After a long wait for him to be evicted i asked the society to let me take it back to a full plot once again promising to keep it up to scratch.

So after a long process (ridiculous red tape) i received the notice my plot was to become a full plot once again.

Now this was a lot to take on due to the state of the plot, and i was determined to get it up to scratch as quickly as possible so i could turn the beds for winter weather to break down the soil.

Here is a few pic's of the before and after.

I also got planning permission to move my shed (yet to do) and build a full length cold frame behind the inherited double greenhouse.

My next big job is to move my shed to be back of this greenhouse and then to rearrange the area where it comes from for my two jack russell's to have a play whilst i work.

At the moment i have my garlic planted and im chitin my potatoes.

I'll get some seeds going soon and start off mt onions in pots to give them a head start.

Four generations gardening

My mother, daughter and granddaughter were all at the plot on Sunday helping me to get my legumes in and pot on some plants and fit the roof to my new fruit cage.
We planted out the pea's iv'e grown in pots and also placed a few beds from seed.
Also the last of my beans which are french, borlotto and runner
That's four generations including me, all enjoying the lovely weather.
All three seemed to enjoy it and we caught a tan as well.
After all this i put my Brassicas in the cold frame to get ready for planting out at the weekend weather permitting.

Also my tadpoles are growing and their mum still hangs around in the pond.

mulch

Its not much but its effective.

3 Barrows full and a patch of compost later.

That should keep the weeds at bay and the mud off my boots.

The manure patched bed is my purple asparagus.

Weed weed weed

I spent the morning digging up my leeks which are now simmering in the pan to make soup with.
I then removed my plants from the same bed which is going to have my wall rebuilt next week.
Once i had completed the plant removal i weeded out the perennial weeds which were very big and very deep but i got them all out and left them on the path to dry out in the afternoon sun.
Next i decided to weed the lower asparagus bed ready to cover it with manure and then wood-chips.
I also harvested my first Rhubarb so a nice crumble is on the cards now mmmmmm.
Just before leaving i checked on my Tadpoles who seem to be loving my little pond.
And my plumb tree is in full bloom with new leaves following on.

All i need do now is add the manure and wood chips.

They are small but you can just make them out.

I hope the bee's have been busy pollinating the flowers.