So This Allotment Thingy

I've been guilty of fair weather gardening and as a result we were heading back towards where we were in October on day 1 of our allotment experience with the weeds. The speed the dandelions took over wasn't anticipated (yes I know I'm naive).  Then I noticed some other things coming up and innocently I put a photo of them onto a Facebook group page about allotments because I like to know what stuff is. The verdict was hogweed - nasty stuff which causes awful burns if the sap gets you. 

I decided the only way forward was a chemical route with a product which can be planted onto after just a week. Yes I know! I can hear the lectures forming about chemicals in the garden. I honestly didn't have another clue what to do. My phone has spent more time connected to google recently than anything else. Anyway it seems to be slowly working. 

I bought a battery strimmer yesterday. Bargain price in Homebase with an extra 15% off this weekend too. It wasn't a decision taken lightly I can tell you but I think it will make such a difference to the plot. Going to try it out tomorrow. 

So where are we at:

The bulbs we planted have started coming through and flowering. I've planted anemone de Caen so many times in pots over the years at home with no success at all so it was nice to see them coming up. 

Grape hyacinths are showing their heads

I've got 4 veg beds sorted out so far. The top one has a couple of wigwams ready for runner beans and some Monte Cristo French beans I have been lucky enough to trial before they go on sale. They have been growing at home so will be hardened off this week and I will probably plant them next week.

The next bed has some broad beans my mum grew for us. They've been in about 5 weeks now and have started flowering now.

The third one has some meteor peas planted a few weeks ago and some asparagus I bought yesterday for 20p from Homebase. For 20p I'm taking a chance on it even though it is late to plant it. 

The last one I've got ready I planted with carrots and beetroot today, I also put some marigolds and nasturtiums in to see if the companion planting thing works. 

This is the view looking up at the four beds (rustic rather than messy lol)

Unfortunately this is the view looking down from those beds. Lots of work to do before the brassicas, sweetcorn and other bits and bobs I've got growing at home can go in. 

Sometimes I go there and think its all way too much and I'll never get there but then I remember how bad the weeds were when we first got it in October and slowly we actually are getting there. The council gave us the first year and a half rent free because it was overgrown so it is still early days. Hopefully the strimmer will make a difference. I have read somewhere that weeds don't like to grow close to sunflowers so I might grow a few of those. 

My apple blossom is guaranteed to cheer me up 

Apple Blossom

I'm chuffed to bits that one of our apple trees at the allotment has blessed us with some blossom in the very first year of planting.

 I don't care whether we get any apples this year or not. I'm just SO HAPPY that it has blossomed. Nothing except a few leaves was expected for at least a couple of years. 

Allotment Update

It's been a while since I've updated anything about the allotment so here is a bit of an overview of the last couple of months. All pics are from my phone so not particularly clear.

We planted a few rosa rugosa

and planted a few fence posts

there was a fair bit of cold weather

I couldn't resist going there for a walk in the virgin snow.

the rosa rugose started to rear their heads.

we almost finished putting up a chicken wire fence. We ran out of wire and then the weather wasn't particularly favourable so there is a section or two still not fenced in. Hopefully this weekend we will get it done.

our next door neighbours got some professionals in to put a proper fence around their plot.  It looks so much better. Puts our higgledy piggledy chicken wire and reclaimed council fencing to shame but hey ho it all does the same job.

I asked the workmen working on the estate the allotment is in for some pallets and also got some from my hubby from work and constructed a compost area. 

A lady I know from school, whose husband has a plot nearby, gave us some strawberry plants that were threatening to take over their plot.  I found a spot that didn't need a huge amount of digging, removed the weeds, dug it over and planted them through some weed control fabric.  We found a few bits and pieces to weigh down the fabric.  I've no idea whether I've done it right but they are in the ground so we will see what happens. 

these daffodils sprouted out of the ground in random places so I'm being very careful not to stand on any until they have given us a nice yellow display.

this spot of the plot is my next project once it dries out a bit.  Weeding all those dandelions (they came from nowhere) and digging over and then maybe we can think of planting some seeds.

 

 

 

Introducing The Dog To The Allotment

I introduced one of the dogs to the allotment earlier this month. It was a very frosty morning and I did question myself many times walking up there with a dog who, despite being nearly 6 years old, still pulls like a puppy on the lead.
Anyway we got there without any mishaps of the slipping kind.
Crazy hound decided he would roll himself over and over on the frosty grass in our plot. Screw loose I think!




Linking up to Camera critters

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Higgledy Piggledy Fence

It's higgledy piggledy and what started off as going to the allotment to attach those two fencing panels I mentioned the other day actually turned into quite a few more.

We went from this

to this (excuse the thumb in the top of the shot) down the side.

There are still a few panels to play at piecing together but that's a job for another day. Not enough for the whole length but we will cross that obstacle when we encounter it.

The top is now enclosed on our side apart from one gap which will eventually have a gate (yes very higgledy piggledy). The neighbours have yet to make a start on theirs.

I also put string around the remaining sides to mark it off and what a difference it made to be able to see the proper size of the plot and know that it is ours to do with as we choose.

The littlest one was a great screw and nail holder looking very festive in his TEXT SANTA hat

We are almost the same size in the shadow haha

and one of the two of us (jeez that double chin needs to be history!)

First Planting

I can't believe I forgot to blog our first planting at the allotment.
I ordered an apple tree from Kitchen Garden magazine called Lord Lambourne and since the ground wasn't frozen on the weekend it arrived I decided we would plant it.




We also put some snowdrop, bluebell and tulip bulbs in the hole.

I need to investigate which sort of apple trees it needs to pollinate it. I am told a crab apple within the vicinity will work.

Girl Power

Girl power at the allotment.....I dug the hole on Sunday and this morning, with the help of my daughter, we fitted one panel of the allotment fence. Yes it's only one and it did have a fence post already attached but we concreted the post in and nailed the fence to an existing post.




Next step is taking the drill up there and putting some pilot holes in so we can add another panel at the side of this one and try a game of tetris with other panels on the other boundaries. I love that they are snagged freebies from the workmen in the estate who are replacing loads of the stuff from the council houses. Gotta love a freebie.

Allotment Update

Quite a bit of a change from the last time I spoke about our plot.

One husband now incapacitated and unable to do a huge amount of anything let alone gardening until he sees a consultant next month to arrange surgery so it's all down to me now for a while.

Anyway I've dug a trench for our chicken wire fence which needs burying a few inches down to prevent rabbits digging their way in.





Which brings me on to the main development - see that pile to the left hand side? Well that is what is left of next doors dilapidated pigeon loft plus our bonfire pile. Our visit on Tuesday this week was perfect timing as a council man and his digger were just finishing off putting next doors rubbish on that pile so I asked him if he would take our rubbish pile too. The weather hasn't been particularly good for bonfires and we would be waiting a long while for it to dry out anyway.




It was mentioned that the pile would be there for a day or two and if we wanted anything else removing then we could add it and they would take it away.

The rest of our plot is overgrown grass because we've done the hard bit with digging weeds (most of them anyway). Those nettle roots are crazily long and I have every confidence they are going to take a long time to totally remove. There was a corner though at the top that needed clearing of yet more nettles but more importantly rotten wood. I couldn't let the opportunity pass by to have it taken away and got to work.

This is before



and after



this is what it looks like from the top now the pigeon loft is gone



Much better but I was a bit miffed that the council man had dug over next doors plot so I asked the council why I couldn't have mine done. I got a message yesterday to say that a team had been in and it should have been done. We went up today and I'm actually quite glad they haven't done it like next door. They do look to have done something though. Just not dug it over. The most likely explanation is they have driven over it while they were removing the rubbish.




We had a walk round to the bottom allotments on our way home and a couple of plot holders who signed up when we did had hired a man and a little tractor and their plots were looking good. I'm not sure what sort of machinery the tractor man was using but it made the soil nice and fluffy and level. Definitely not like the deep ruts the council has left our neighbours with.

So I've arranged for a gardening company to have a look and quote me for doing something similar and I guess we'll take it from there.

Next door were there aswell today and they are talking about going halves on a proper fence put up by professionals. Not sure we can afford that! I'm guessing we will be sticking to our original chicken wire and hawthorn idea. I really love the idea of a hawthorn hedge.

Clearing The Patch

So last saturday we signed up for our allotment and then on sunday we spent a couple of hours clearing.

Before I left on Sunday I sprayed a bit of weedkiller on some of the big offenders (the kind that becomes inactive when it hits the soil) and then crossed my fingers that the rain which hit in the middle of the night had started after the specified six hours on the container.

I paid another visit on Tuesday in pouring rain and high winds, mainly to see just how much wind hit it with it being on the end and next to a farmers field and also hung up a bag of bird seed on a hook and checked the weeds. Not much sign of imminent death.  Turns out there are two big trees which shield the wind a bit and I hadn't even really noticed them.

Talk was of hiring a strimmer and getting rid of it all to see what the blank canvas looked like.  We decided against it because there is a dilapidated fence down parts of the boundary with next door but under the grass and lots of hidden metal wires which I really didn't fancy hitting me when they were strimmed.  My decision was to get a pair of long handled lawn shears. B&Q had a 20% off weekend so I wanted to wait and buy them plus some other bits including chicken wire for the fence at a cheaper price. 

The little man had a day off school on friday so we spent an hour digging up some weeds between a fence post and then dug up some thistles.  Still not much sign of dead weeds.

Saturday with newly purchased lawn shears in hand we embarked on a 2.5 hour clearing session.  The husband dug all the way down the length of the fence posts ready to dig a trench and bury the first bit of the chicken wire fence  to prevent rabbits etc.  That's a job for next week.

I took the shears to the big grass and weeds on the growing part of the plot. 

Got lots of roots to dig out this week but I needed to get rid of the gazillion feet tall nettle stalks first.

Then we managed to pull up most of the rotten boundary fence with the help of the shears cutting the very overgrown lawn as we went.  Those hidden metal wires were a proper pain to get out. 

Yesterday we had another 2 hour session and hubby tried to dig\around the rubbish heap so we can eventually burn it all.  He found what we can only presume is part of the roof of that flipping pigeon building next door hidden under the weeds.  It looks lots better for clearing that bit and will look lots better once this pile is gone.

He also spent a bit of time pacing out the boundary.  We put some string up to what we thought was level with the post the council had put up for marking the plots out for the meeting.  I then spent my time with the shears trying to define a line. Found some daffodil bulbs growing there so they should be nice in the spring.

So after a week this is a then and now piccie. 

Of the other people at the meeting I have so far only seen evidence of one of them doing anything active with their plot.  I don't know if our neighbours are just waiting for the pigeon loft removing before they do anything.  I'm hoping they will be around soon so we can talk fencing.

The Overgrown Allotment

I've mentioned being on the long waiting list for an allotment before. A few weeks ago I got a letter from the local council inviting me to a meeting at the allotments because they had cleared some overgrown plots earlier in the year and were now in a position to reallocate them.  The letter said there were 14 people on the waiting list and I knew from asking earlier in the year that I was number 5.  Turns out the full 14 people didn't turn up and actually the 4 before me gave it a miss so I was top.  Yeehaw (erm yeah we'll get to that).


If I'm honest I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a ready to go plot with minimal work, fenced in with a shed full of tools and seeds? Not exactly but I certainly wasn't expecting (given that the letter said plots had been cleared of undergrowth) just how overgrown and out of the way of the tended plots these ones would be.  From the start the council man said there would be no money for anything at all and we would be renting them as they were but with no rent to pay until 2014. I didn't expect anything less with the current budget cuts etc.


There were 6 plots out on their own down a dirt track next to two already established plots.  Very overgrown and on closer inspection one of them had a nice little den under a tree with lighter gas canisters, cushions and, in the words of my 8 year old, vagina magazines.  Definitely wasn't having that one. They were all pretty much of a muchness with overgrown brambles and almost head height weeds. The main turning off point of this lot of plots, apart from the den, was that there is no water and although the man from the council was going to see about it being turned back on after it had been capped off due to a fractured pipe he couldn't say when that would be.
This was one of them:

Then we looked at 3 plots closer to the main community of the allotments. Still very overgrown and the middle one had a decidedly dodgy looking dilapidated building that most likely once housed pigeons.  Very quickly we decided that we would be choosing one of these plots rather than the others.  One of them had fence posts already in down the exterior side so we went for that one. The council man signed me up and then went to chat to the other people waiting.


This is where we get to the erm yeah bit I mentioned above.  As we were walking away past our plot he caught me up and said another couple had expressed an interest and were above me on the list.  Fair enough I thought because despite him saying I was top of the list they could have arrived after that.  We then set off looking at whether the middle of those plots would be worth trying to restore or remove the dilapidated pigeon loft or whether the one on the end of the three would be better despite being the worst overgrown with massive rambling brambles. 


The council man walked past again so I stopped him and just double checked whether there was anybody else above me before I set my heart on something else. He got his paperwork out and with a puzzled embarassed look said 'actually you are top of the list' and went to tell the other couple.  I was relieved but very nervous about how they would take the news.  They seemed to have a chat with the council man and then looked at the plot next to it with the pigeon thingy. The man came back to me, said the original one was mine and they were having the next door one.  I was very nervous about how they were going to be about it but we had a nice chat and he said the council man had agreed to have the pigeon loft removed.  They were talking boundaries when we left.


So this is what we have got

Plot number 19

When I got home I had a look on google earth knowing that they pictures on there are a few years old.  In 2009 it looked like this (it's the one on the end with the lines of veggies)




Looking at that picture triggered a DUH!!! of course moment.  This is one of the very few plots visible from the road and I walked that way a few times in summer 2011.  It was tended back then because I remember being a bit jealous of the owner for having an allotment when I was stuck on the waiting list.  So only just over a year of weeds.  As you can see on the picture a lot of it was lawned. 


We got to work the next day and spent a couple of hours seeing what was what and pulling up a few weeds. My husband spent his time digging inbetween a couple of fence posts and clearing a bit of land.


A lot of what we were pulling up in the first instance was just overgrown veggies.  We found carrots and beetroots and plenty of seeded onions.

My dad came with us that first day and spent a fair bit of time talking to the allotment owner just opposite about how it used to be when all three plots were active.  Sounds as if it was lovely and hopefully we can make at least our plot that way again.  At the very least I want to grow some veggies and leave the lawned bit so the kids can kick their ball about.