Signed up for another year!

Well I went and signed my missives and handed over my association fees this Saturday just gone, so we are signed up for another year.

I didn't really do anything at the plot, apart from empty the green house of some mouldy dead plants, re-attach a downpipe on the shed guttering, and tie our shade fabric canopy back up.

Oh and brought home mouldy leather gloves to wash. It has been very cold in that shed, it is all going to need a really good clean now that it is warming back up again.

But the plot didn't look as disheartening as I expected. It is a big mess, but all that work in previous years to put some structure into it means I can still see hope under all the weeds!

It is do-able - one bed at a time.

snow

Yesterday was a beautifully snowy day. I walked through the park whilst there were a few flakes whispering down but when I got to the allotment it started in earnest. I tried to light the stove but there were so many snow flakes coming down the chimney it kept putting it out.

I tried to do a little movie to capture it on my phone, but it doesn't really do it justice.

Today of course it is all gone, just a bit of slush here and there to confirm we didn't dream it.

Back after another break

I know, it is all holidays with us.

This time our friend L came into water and harvest for us, she more usually resides in London and has her name down on a very long list there, so this was an opportunity to pretend she had an allotment of her own.

Most stuff seemed good when we got back, apart from the courgette and the beans. All the courgette's leaves had gone brown and flopped over (the squash was similar) and the leaves of the bean plants (way over the other side of the allotment) were floppy and brown too. I've taken all the leaves off the courgette as the rest of the plant still seems healthy, but I'm not sure what to do about the beans, they are only small plants and if I remove the brown leaves there won't be much left.

It has been wet so I don't know if it is some kind of rot. Any ideas as to what is going on, and how to deal with it, welcomed.

more produce

This time shallots. They are drying on a old metal grid thing in the greenhouse.

and also the peas are now giving up a harvest every few days, here they are with the broad beans behind them and the onions in front. The bed behind is the potatoes.



The peas are lovely and sweet, and the potatoes (Arran Pilots) have a fantastic texture.

We have also planted some purple beans, and some more courgettes, in the random hope of having later season stuff. About 5 mins after I had planted the beans the Gardener's Question Time tip for what to do now was 'plant beans to try and extend the season', so I live in hope. They are in a bit of guttering in the bath (previously Bath'O' Salad™) so that they should be a bit easier to transfer once the time comes. I think we will put them against the east fence (the one behind the peas in the previous photo).

Rainy Days and Bank Holidays

Generally the same thing it seems. We hopefully took the tools along and started on the cold frame today but the rain soon got the better of us. So we retreated into the greenhouse. Consequently the aquilegia got potted on into bigger pots; my Mum has warned me about aquilegia, she says hers self seed everywhere, so I'll have to keep an eye on them when they get planted out and maybe try and pick them as cut flowers before they seed. I don't want to annoy our neighbours.

Next week we should meet a few more plot holders, we are having a work day to cut the hedge that overhangs the public footpath and to tidy some of the main paths in the allotment site itself. And then a BBQ - we have volunteered/been asked to do the BBQ, must look out some kebab recipes to supplement the burgers and sausages.

I wonder if you can BBQ rhubarb?

Rain, rain, go away . . .

. . . until we have another water butt.

Our new guttering system is now so efficient that both water butts are full to overflowing. We now need several overflow butts, and a nifty selection of overflows, so that we can stock up while these April showers are around. I think I may have to hit freecycle with a 'wanted' request.

Earlies

The Arran Pilots are showing their faces. I had started to get worried about them, but here they are.



Also new on the plot this week is our all new singing dancing 2 compartment compost bin. Constructed from 'Chep' pallets. MrUrban must have moved a tonne of compost (1m x 1m x 1m) from the old heap to the new one. He aches now.



New guttering on the shed too - just in time for the rain.

Wet Plot

Yesterday we went on a shopping trip to Lidl to take advantage of their garden specials. We cam away with 9 different kinds of seeds, a spade (with long handle), 5 fruit bushes - raspberry(2), gooseberry, blackcurrant, and redcurrant - and 3 packs of weed control membrane.

We also had a van so we went to pick up a few things from our storage container. One being a 2m x 2m x 2m metal cube frame. We had it made for an exhibition we did a few years ago and now it is going to be turned into a fruit cage.



So now one bed is cleared, membrane down, and the frame set up on it, with our 5 fruit bushes planted inside it. MrUrban's dad can get us net from his work so, later in the year, we will do that. We might get some strawberries for the other half of that bed.

It was sooo wet though, we couldn't really get anything else done. The stove wouldn't get going, or the incinerator, and we constantly had huge bricks of mud stuck to our boots. So we did that one bed, hung up some shelves and hooks, and then went home.

Dry Shed!

Although it has been throwing it down the new roof has done it's job and kept the rain out.

I popped up today, checked that out, checked out my seeds, and hid my chitting potatoes a bit more from direct light - my newspaper screening had flopped over, so now they are under the table.

Hope to get the Arran Pilots in next week, the pink charlotte firs a bit after that. But first I'll have to hack away at the beds to expose them.

Roofs and walls

The next big task is one that was a condition of us getting this plot. We were told we could have it but we had to get the fence sorted asap. The fence had blown down in the high winds in January and it has been lying on the ground ever since and, given that most people have to walk Plot 60 on the way in, is making the place look a mess.

The fence is no problem really, all the posts are still in but the fence is quite tall and wibbly so it has just wrenched itself of the posts in the wind. It should be the work of half an hour to screw it back to the posts, but I have a feeling that it will be a regular job after every bout of bad weather. However we are thinking of rearranging where the gate is, at the moment it is a corner one at the top of the plot but we want to move it next to the shed. Fortunately among the free gifts left by the previous plot-holder were two tallish fence posts and a wire mesh and stainless steel panel. It has something growing up it at the moment, but I'm going to disentangle it and turn it in to a gate.

So today is fence day, but also roof day for the shed. We really should re-felt it, but given that it is still wet at the moment, we are just going to go for a short term solution until the weather improves and we can dry out the whole roof a bit. We have some damp proof membrane, which is big enough to cover the whole roof in one piece, so that will be going up and getting nailed in place. Once we get up a ladder and have a look at the roof we can decide whether we will take off the felt before doing that, or just stick it on over the top.

And I thought we had enough DIY to do at home!

The clear up begins

We have plot No. 60, and it already has a shed with a greenhouse lean-to attached so we are very happy about that. It even had some tools in it, although it also had wet carpet and collapsing bits of furniture and floor as it seems to have been leaking in for some time. And best of all it has a stove - a rather ingenious homemade one consisting of a metal barrel with a door cut out, and then hinged back on, a flue, a paving stone for a base, and some metal sheets between it and the shed wall as a heat shield. Which will help dry out the damp once we get the place watertight.



On the actual plot there appear to be some beds laid out already, although it is very overgrown, and we think we can see some paths laid out of bricks under all the grass. We have spotted carrots, leeks and garlic that look OK. There were obviously some marrows, but they have died off and we may have some broccoli going on.



Yesterday was mainly about getting the worst of the rubbish to the skip that is on site for the next few weeks. Mainly chairs actually, so far we have found 13, I don't know if this person had a lot of friends, or if he was just hoping that he would make a lot of friends by having that allotment.

It was also a day of showing our faces and saying hello to a lot of people. I have to say there seemed to be a lot of folk that just happened to be walking past and then casually pausing so that they could say hello, but I don't blame them. I would have done the same. Hopefully they will be glad to see the plot getting cleared up which will give us some allotment karma points.