Time to Chit……..

Posted on January 21, 2012 by Adam

What is it with the weather? A week of savage frosts has been replaced with mild spring time but it’s still only mid January. It’s hard to know what to do or what to expect. I have therefore spent my time looking through a few catalogues and ordered up a few different things to try out this year. Taking advantage of the Gardener’s World subscription offer I’ve ordered up my potatoes for the coming year along with some peas and beans to try out.

I have ordered the following which I aim to grow this year. Firstly the spuds. I have gone for 3 varieties to test out. I have chosen “Rocket” for my early crop, “Charlotte” for the 2nd earlies and “Cara” for my main crop. Next I turned my attention to the legumes I wanted to grow this year. Deciding on runner beans and peas. I’m going with “White Lady” for the runner beans and “Hurst Green Shaft” for the peas. Although I already have carrot seeds I thought I’d try out some “Flyaway F1 Hybrid” to see how these compared and for 20p I could hardly miss the opportunity to try out some “Sungold F1 Hybrid” tomato seeds.

So with all the veggies sorted I thought I’d grab a packet of “Russian Giant” sunflower seeds to add some colour and character to the plot and also as a way of getting some other people involved in growing. We’re going to have a competition to see who can grow the biggest. A bit of fun to have with the kids too.

All of these were ordered online at Thompson & Morgan and with the magazine offer came to a wapping great total of £16.53. Everything was delivered in about a week and the spuds have all been set into seed trays to chit before planting out in about 6-8 weeks time. 

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First signs of life……..

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Adam

Stuck my head into the study this morning that is currently doubling as the nursery and to my enjoyment the cauliflower seedlings had started to emerge

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Experimental Times……..

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Adam

Want to try something new? Want to be a bit different? Yeah I do. I want to bring something new to the local allotment table. So I’m going to use this http://oxfordbiochar.com/ and see if I can make a name for myself amongst the old guard.

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All Strung Out………

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Adam

A mild Saturday morning in January and it’s time to get back to laying the ground work at the allotment if we’re going to be ready to start planting our veggies this coming spring. After a brief chat at the gate I grabbed the tools from the boot of the motor, laced up my boots and headed on over to the plot. Having spent a number of evenings over Christmas drawing up my plans it was time to start marking these out in the ground. This was not going to be a job done and finished in a day but rather more of a continuation of works already started and a signal of intent to start turning the plans into something real.

First things first was to finish digging over the ground in the areas between what had already been done. The recent heavy rains and unseasonal temperatures made for easy going and the fork slid through the ground with great ease. This completed the circuit as it were, where three of the four main beds are to be located. Each measuring approximately 6000mm x 1500mm and can be subdivided as necessary to suit the number of different crops being grown. Once dug the soil was raked to even it out and then covered with weed suppression fabric as had been done previously. To stop any perennial weeds that may be lurking in the soil from re taking hold between now and planting time.

With the outer beds dug and covered it was time to turn attention to the how to get around the various beds. On the plans I had drawn up this was going to be via a pathway of some kind although the make up of the path is still to be determined. In the spirit of making the allotment pay for itself and to be done for as small a budget as possible. With this ethos I mind it was time to start making use of the many bits and pieces that had been left by the previous tenant. I therefore entered the empty fruit cage and proceeded to untie lengths of orange nylon twine. These would do to string a line from one side of the plot to the other and mark out the edge of each bed and also the line of the pathway. I needed something to tie the twine to. It didn’t take much to find some old metal poles. These sank into the fertile ground with ease. Now for the path. I scoured the pot and managed to find a number of complete paving slabs. These will do nicely. Not enough to form a complete path but enough to make stepping stones and mark the route. With this done it was time to take a break. It was lunch time after all so I paid myself with a well deserved “Ginsters” and Scotch Egg all washed down with an energy replenishing Lucozade. Job done I stood back and admired my handy work. Not bad for a morning. Things are starting to take shape nicely.

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Plotting the Association……..

Posted on January 7, 2012 by Adam

Today I met John. Irish fella responsible for wanting to form an association (voting forms form the council came through this week). Chatting with him by the car he informed me of why he wanted to form the association and take control of the allotment away from the council and into the hands of the plot holders. He informed me that allotment associations have access to various grants that can be used to purchase equipment such as rotavators that are not available to council run plots. He also vented his anger at the councils decision to raise the rents – doubling them from £52-£104 annually for a full size plot. He certainly conveyed a passion for his allotments.Most of what he said appeared above board and worthy of merit.

Being a new plot holder though I do still hold a slight reservation that associations may indeed be less than true when it comes to how the plots are managed and given out. Are they more likely to give a vacant plot to someone they know rather than to the person who has been on the waiting list longest. Because of this reservation maybe I will consider being an activ member of the association. Possibly taking on an administering roll so as to ensure the continued fairness in how the plots are offered. In order to obtain association status an 80% majority is required in the vote which I imagine will be obtained and the association will be formed.

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Plant the seed………

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Adam

Well, here we go. January 2012 week 1 and it’s time to plant those first seeds (indoors that is). Lets see if we can get a few in early and starting to germinate ready for planting out down the allotment in a couple of months time. Let’s face it, I’ve still got to get the plot in order and ready for the seedlings so I’m in no rush at at this point but it does help by adding some sort of pressure to get things done. I’ve been keeping myself busy these lst few days going over and over my planned layout for the plots making slight little revisions trying to make it work in what I think will be the most effective and manageable way. I think I’ve cracked it now. Enough waffling about that. back to the sowing of seeds for our first crops. Taking guidance from the gods of growing the Royal Horticultural Society (http://www.rhs.org.uk/) of whom I now have an allotment notebook (birthday present from my darling girlfriend), an allotment journal (a present from my good friend the lovely Layla) and now an allotment handbook (Christmas present from my dear Ma) we have taken the first steps on our years journey to growing our own.

Before planting we filled a tray containing 40 seed pots with compost which at this stage is still shop bought, the type you get in a patio grow bag. The first 15 Seed pots into which we planted 2 cauliflower seeds from the variety “All The Year Round”. We added to this 25 pots into which we planted onion seeds form the variety “Ailsa Crag”. A Further 18 slightly larger pots the type typically used for planting on we planted leeks “Lyon 2 Prizetaker”. The reason for planting more seeds than we required was in case some don’t germinate and if they all do by chance then we can either pass them on to someone else of just add them to the compost we are currently making at home. So with the first seeds of the year planted its back down the plot tomorrow (Saturday 7th Jan 2012) to get the rest of the digging done and to make sure that nothing got blown away by the recent gales and storms that have been battering the country.


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Rain Rain Go Away……..

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Adam

Well The New Year has arrived and after the celebrations I was really looking forward to getting down to the plot today to finish off the digging while the temperatures are still favourable. This though was not on the cards as I awoke to the sounds of lashing rain and howling winds. Wanting to do something with my day I therefore pulled up the sky plus planner and watched all 3 episodes of Great Expectations while I waited for the weather to clear. It did so by about 2pm by which time my own expectations was that any work done today would only result in me taking a mud bath. Back to work tomorrow so the action plan now is to get down to the plot this weekend to finish off the digging. The wet weather did however prompt me to install a weather widget on the website so not all has been lost.

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I love it when a plan comes together……….

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Adam

Having taken a break to enjoy the Christmas festivities I thought it was time to start making some preparations for the coming year (it’s only 5 days away now). This has involved sitting around on my bed in my pants browsing through a shoe box of seed packets and the RHS’ Allotment Handbook (Christmas present from my Dear Momma) while the sounds of 1815 try to distract me on the TV. The epic Waterloo on BBC4.

So trying not to let possibly our greatest military victory distract me from the task in hand I have developed a plan for the allotment. What I think will be the most effective way to set out each growing area or bed if you like and what will be planted in each. One of the things that i have been vary cautious about is the size of each bed. My allotment plot has a main growing area that measures 7.5 metres wide by 6 metres long between 2 existing fruit cages. My first thought was to just divide it equally into 4 equal beds that could be easily rotated but this would then require each bed to be planted with a variety of different crops. I then also figured that trying to manage a bed of this size was impracticable as I would not physically be able to reach it. I have therefore arranged a series of beds 1.5 deep around the perimeter of the plot with an internal ring path approx 0.5 metres in width – enough to give me room to manoeuvre and also to kneel where necessary. Within the path will be a single large bed measuring approx 2.0 metres wide by 5.5 metres long. This is going to be the area given to growing that stable food crop potatoes. I will probably sub-divide this bed up into 3; 1 for earlies, 2nd earlies and main crop varieties.

What this gives me is 7 good sized beds for growing a variety of different veg and the larger bed for the pots. I need this to act as my master plan to help me plan my crop rotations and also how best to try and utilize the space available. I have sketched the plot out on paper so that I can make sense of the size of each bed and calculate approximately how many plants of each vegetable variety I will be able to cultivate. Having now established this will also enable be to get another page on the Plottingup website/blog sorted. My Veggin Out page.

Something else that doing this plan has enable me to see is that I will get rid of the two fruit cages that border the main growing area. This cage at the bottom end of the plot is currently sitting empty and as it is just taking up room and I am not in a position at present to utilize it as it stands. The 3 fruit bushes in the top cage have been pruned right back and therefore do not require such a large structure. There is also a 3rd fruit cage that will be dismantled at some point although I do not know when.

I now need to go and liberate some pallets from the industrial estate across the road to build my compost area. Something I plan to have done by new year. 

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Can You Dig It Part 2/Strange Fruit……..

Posted on December 18, 2011 by Adam

Well the weather is certainly turning colder now. There was even a flurry of sleet and snow Friday and the car has been a ice cube in the mornings. These things however are not going to deter me from my quest to get the allotment in order. It’s Sunday 18th December 2011. Having dropped my “Little Monkey” at work I headed on down the plot to carry on with the work started the previous weekend. It was cold and damp but there wasn’t the lingering frost like we had the weekend before. I remembered to bring the rake this time. Should make things a little easier once the ground has been turned over. It wasn’t as hard as I was expecting. A bonus there. Want to try and get as much done as possible before the real cold weather sets it and ground freezes solid.

I arrived approx 10:30 unlocked the gate and parked the car. There was no one else here again when I arrived and I started to think that maybe I’m the only one who’s got this type of work to do to there plot. Knowing that I missed the first few weeks since taking it over. I thought less about it, put on my boots and gathered my tools from the boot of the car. Not being able to face a whole morning of digging I decided to start with pruning the bushes in the fruit cage. There are three bushes in side and all I know is that one of them is white currents. I’m not sure what the other two are and will have to wait now until they fruit again next year.

Secateurs in hand I proceeded to prune in what in my head was a quite a surgical like manner. Looking for signs of new growth and ensuring the lowest bud was left on the stem/branch before making the cut. The process was repeated until each of the three bushes was a no longer a mass of tangled twigs but a neatly cropped stump.

I removed all the trimmings to an area at the bottom of the plot that is being used as a rubbish pile. This reminded me that one of the most important things that still needs to be done is to build a proper set of compost bins. Ideally a row of three that will enable me to turn the contents easily from one to the other. I’ve bookmarked a short video on gardeners world website (http://www.gardenersworld.com/how-to/projects/basics/how-to-build-a-compost-bin/87.html) where they make them out of wooden pallets which seems ideal as I’ve noticed a lot lying around the industrial estate near where I live.

With the pruning done it was time to get on with the digging. After all this was the main reason for coming down today. Following the same principles as before I started with a trench at one end and then followed the line of the trench with the fork lifting and turning as I went until I had dug over a small patch approx 2 metres x 4 metres. Covered this with weed suppression fabric and weighed that down with some bricks and concrete blocks found lying around at the bottom end of the plot.

Just going to finish off to days entry by saying that I met another tenant today. I think he said his name was Dave. We have the plot one over from myself on the other side of Pete’s. Older fella. Swears by the use of seaweed for his brassicas. We chatted for about 10 minutes until it stared to hail and he headed for the shed while i went to get my coat from the car. As I was returning he showed me a book he kept in his shed called “Adams Garden” which looked like it had a picture of some Amish farmer on it and Dave made a passing comment about how it could be me saying that i had the beard and all. He seemed like a nice guy and obviously knowledgeable so one to keep in with I think for tips.

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Can You Dig It………

Posted on December 13, 2011 by Adam

Well, I’ve finally got round to getting down to my plot to start digging over the soil and getting it into some sort of shape ready for planting in Spring next year. Thought I’d left it too late as the temperature has really dropped and the frosts have started. It was with slight trepidation that I loaded the new fork into the car and headed down to the allotment. The weather was bright and brisk and there was certainly a chill in the air. I unlocked the gate and parked up. Boots on, tools out and down to the plot to face the frosty ground. It was about 11:00am on Saturday 10th December 2011. At this time of day at this time of year even on a bright sunny day the trees that line the river mean that the majority of my plot was in shade and the frost was lingering like a bad omen. The allotment was also eerily quiet. Udtiratlila . I was expecting to see at least a couple of cars parked up on my arrival but the place was dead. I thought to myself that as the newbie I’m obviously behind and that everybody else is well into there preparations knowing that the frosts were on their way. Well it needs to be done so no point dwelling on it.

I decided to start at the top (road) end of the plot as this was where most of the sunshine was and the frost had receded. I started work by digging a trench with the spade across the entire width of the plot (approx 7.5 metres). The trench was the depth of the spade by its width. My plan was to dig a trench and then using the new fork turn the soil by digging directly next to the trench and turning the soil into the trench. I repeated this process until I had dug an area approx 2 metres wide. The soil from the original trench was then deposited into the new trench on the far left of where I started. This area took me about 2 hours of digging. In order to prevent weeds from re-establishing themselves over winter I covered the area of dug soil with weed suppression fabric.

A few people did turn up while I was working. A lady with her dog popping by to harvest some leeks and an old fella got out his chainsaw. I couldn’t see what we was doing with the chainsaw and for the life of me can’t imagine what he needed it for but hey each to their own.

Will have to get back down next Saturday and get as much as I can done before Christmas. Maybe Santa will bring me a Rotavator to make things easier…………….

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