Lottieversary

This past weekend it was a year since I signed for the allotment.

The weather hasn't been nice enough to do much the last few days but we did have a walk up yesterday and reflected a little on what we need to do (which is a lot)

Our plan was just to grow on the bit that we had cleared last year and we achieved that - not hugely successfully but we did get things growing. 

My plan of covering some of the plot with cardboard to smother the weeds paid off and I will be putting some more down over the top and cover some more sections over the coming weeks.

The one thing that has really annoyed me is how little, if anything, the council do on this site.  You can see on the above picture the state of the path that runs alongside my plot fence.  There are two overgrown empty plots to the side of the path and then a farmers field.  The field has now been sold off and houses are being built on it.  The farmer hasn't planted anything for the last two years  because he was in the process of selling it so the weed seeds have taken over.  Even to clear the pathway wouldn't make much difference to the spread of those weeds.   I planted a lot of hedgerow plants on my side of the chicken wire fence we erected during the winter. They have really struggled to become established with the weeds.  I have a battery strimmer which has kept the plot under control to a degree but when you are faced with such an overgrown jungle at the side it is disheartening.   My plan for the coming year is to try and either buy or hire a petrol strimmer or brushcutter and get the immediate area next to the fence under control.  It will die off soon anyway so next spring I will be prepared (hopefully) with the big guns to try and stop the spread onto my plot.

I did a bit of a photo collage of before and after looking up and down the plot.  It doesn't look like much from the photos but we have put up the fence, cleared one side and planted, planted some fruit trees/bushes, had a decent strawberry harvest and probably lots I've forgotten about.

One thing I'm happy with are the rosa rugosa bare rooted plants I bought in the winter.  They have produced a lot of red rosehips.  I've harvested a few and will sow them in the coming weeks and have left the rest for the birds.  Hopefully some will self seed.  I may try some on the other fence where the bad weeds are because these have flourished even with an invasion of nettles.

The one thing I set out to do when I got the allotment was having homegrown sprouts on Christmas day.  I don't have a photo but they are on their way to being ready and that makes me happy.

Spalding Bulb - Red Apple Tree Performance

When we first got our allotment I applied to join the Spalding Bulb bloggers club.  They sent me a pack of spring bulbs and a red apple tree. 

We planted the tree during the dormant winter months and waited for mother nature to do her stuff.

February

 

May

June

and yesterday (29th September)

 

 

I'm very pleased with the growth in this first year and can't wait to see what happens next year.  I'm very tempted to try training it while it is still young.

 

Spalding Bulb have a lovely selection of fruit trees and I'm definitely to try something different once they turn dormant again.

Spalding Bulb Company

I recently signed up to the Spalding Bulb Company bloggers club.

As a welcome they sent me my choice of plant and a pack of 100 spring bulbs. I chose a Bay Marisa apple tree. It is also known as Tickled Pink and I'm quite excited for it to crop after looking at photos on the internet of the red flesh.




I had to wait for the ground to thaw at the allotment before planting. I found a small window of opportunity and enlisted the help of a teen (he's mine not just a random one off the street lol)
Between us we dug a hole and planted the tree.




We planted a few of the bulbs around it and sprinkled a few slug pellets around. Some other bulbs I planted have already been a meal for the pesky slimy pests.
In the same window of opportunity we also planted some rosa rugosa near the fence we put up a couple of weeks beforehand so we planted some more of the spring bulbs randomly around the planting area. I'm looking forward to seeing how they work out.




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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.

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.

Allotments

I think I must be getting old because I really want an allotment.

I put my name down on the waiting list a while ago but the list is so very long.

A friend of mine told me of some empty plots on the site where they have an allotment so I contacted the man in the know at the council who told me there will be some coming up there soon with a wait of months rather than years.  OK so it might be after the main growing season and will more than likely be totally overgrown with all kinds of undergrowth, weeds and god knows what else but I don't care.

So why do I want one.  I'll show you why

This is our outdoor space. We have no grass or soil just a yard with broken bits of tarmac and concrete and a few pots because that is all we have room for.  I want to be able to grow pretty flowers and organic fruit and vegetables.

Fingers crossed I will be able to start doing all that soon and next summer I will have some produce to show you.