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.

Shed Refurb

Our shed floor has been falling in since we got the allotment 17months ago. It seemed to be dipping alarmingly in the back right corner. We dealt with this by ignoring it and piling lots of crap into that corner; we just didn't use it.

We knew it was a job for good weather (as we had to empty everything out), but last summer we were just too busy to get round to it. So this summer was the earliest possibility.

The other evening at about 6pm, after a full sunny day on the plot, we thought we would 'have a little look' to try and suss out what the actual problem was. The next two days were forecast to be rain free and we were available, so it seemed to make sense to suss out what problems we would be tackling.

It turns out that, as we see when we pull up the ply and broken floorboards, the people who built the shed decided that a single nail would be fine to hold each joist, and these joists are about 7 or 8 inches off the ground at the rear of the shed. Obviously without any support the joists have just sagged, the nails have just bent, the wood has twisted and broken, and the floor caved in.

So . . . we figured we needed to support the areas where the joists meet the wall, and at various points along their length. We decide breeze blocks are the answer, especially as the nearby B&Q has them at 91p each.

After a little work with a mallet and a cold chisel we have suitably sized lumps to fit underneath. While we have the floor up I throw some damp proof plastic sheet under there to try and keep the evaporation up into the shed to the minimum, and we get it re-boarded with some tongue and groove we salvaged from a local theatre company's store, when they were emptying it.

This gave us a good sound surface, but there was still a bit of movement. Without taking up all the floor we couldn't secure it all on blocks, but we decided that if we could board over the whole floor with sheet material it would secure it enough.

We have a storage unit with lots of bits and pieces we have collected over the years, so we went there to see what we had. We found some 'paintings' we had done for an exhibition in 2006. We will never use them again as they were site specific, so although they are technically exhibited pieces of artwork (created for an International Festival no less!) they are also bits of MDF with paint on one side!

We sawed them up at the storage unit into pieces 400mm wide (so we could fir them in our car) and 1700mm long, which is the front to back measurement for the shed.

And: Voila! A shed floor, complete with exciting decoration! It must be the most stylish floor on the site. And much more stable than it was. We then started putting furniture in. We had a drawer/cupboard thing already, which went in the formerly wonky corner. It already had a batten on the side of it, so we used some offcuts to fill in the space next to it as a desk.This would then become the 'kitchen', with our little camping stove, and storage space for the plates etc. We had also found a lovely gate leg table in the street in June, with the intention of it going in the shed, so that got added too. Along with some metal shelves, new hooks for all our tools, and a few rails and shelves for our bits and bobs, the new style shed was complete.

We have spent so much time in it since then! It has been quite humid here for the past few days, so it has been a case of do a bit outside, and then pop into the shed to have a sit at the table and read. Then back out again.

It will really be the biggest benefit in winter though, when it will make the prospect of going to the allotment much more desirable.

new greenhouse

Well all the plans from the last time I posted changed as we inherited (or re-inherited) some things which moved the greenhouse on.

A while (6 years) ago we designed an exhibition that had some 'leaning posts' - tall upright metal posts with padded cushions, so that people could lean back and watch an overhead projection screen. After the exhibition they went on a tour round various storage spaces and theatre companies and have now ended up back with us. So, greenhouse time!

It took us a day to load them and a load of wood onto the van and to the allotment (thanks to Sarah, and to Bard in the Botanics for the help). And then today we started building. We have ten of these posts and they are 1.5m wide and 2.3m tall. We are going to use 3 for the front and 3 for the back, and 3 for the roof. No idea what we will do with the 10th one.

They are going to go next to the current shed/greenhouse combo.



The walls are in and the floor is levelled, so just the roof to go.



We are going to clad it with transluscent correx. If we can convince a delivery company to send stuff to an allotment (tomorrow's task).



I think it is going to look great, the metal is powder coated in a teal blue which is quite good. And their will be loads of room for all our tomatoes, which are languishing in the cold frame at the moment.

June update

I've been hugely remiss in posting up what we are up to, so here is a little update and I'll try and be more regular with it from now on.

Since the last post our greenhouse produce has come on leaps and bounds. We now have tomatoes on the 4 plants we bought as little 80p seedlings, aubergines forming, chilies growing away, and now the cucumber is starting to produce flowers. This is all from the plants we bought, the ones we planted from seed are all doing well, but aren't quite at that stage yet.

Out on the plot the peas and beans are flowering and starting to form pods, the shallots and red onions look like they are doing well and so does the garlic. Early potatoes (Arran Pilots) have flowered, and the main crop are just starting to I think. We did have a minor incident where a bit of metal fence fell on the potatoes but it just snapped a few branches off and crushed a few plants, which have survived to tell the tale. I'm going to take up one of the early potato plants this weekend to see if they are ready for eating.

The one big bed below the fruit cage (see bottom right here ) has now been divided into 3 beds (north south) so that we can get into it, it was just too big to deal with before. In there are now purple sprouting broccoli, sprouts, lettuce, squash and some courgette seeds. Some of the courgettes have come up but not all.

Fruit is doing well, we have had plenty of strawberries and today for the first time some raspberries. Problem now is that we are spolit and can't go back to eating shop bought strawberries - I had forgotten what home grown ones tasted like. The gooseberries are getting bigger and some look like they are starting to ripen.

And we are overcome with weeds! Mare's Tail, Dock, Thistles, Nettles, Couch Grass. I'm considering glysophate, I'd rather not, but I don't know if we will ever clear it any other way. At the moment we are pulling out and drying or drowing weeds that are likely to survive the heap in the hope of exhausting them, but I think they are exhausting us!

Next plan for the plot is extending the greenhouse (to the right on the plan, making it twice the length it is now). We have 2 more of those window panes, but I think we could do a bit of jigging around with what is there already and with the addition of some kind of heat sink back wall to fill in the bit we don't have windows for it should work. Like so:

So that is what has been happening.

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?

at one with the land

MrUrban said yesterday "thanks for making us get the allotment" and I realised how much we have both been enjoying it.

In a way it doesn't matter if we even get any vegetables out of it (although we have already had salad and, of course, the rhubarb) - we are feeling fit and healthy; it is an excuse to be outside, and have barbeques; and it is just hugely pleasant to sit there noticing small things growing and watching our resident robin noseying at what we are doing (I'm going to try and get a pic of him but he flys off every time I reach for my camera).

It is also great to have people to say hello to, and somewhere to go. I work at home and have made a decision to try and get to the allotment every day. I really think it has helped me on a day to day basis, I feel a lot happier having that little patch of outdoors that I can go and visit.

Here's to cups of tea and plant watching.

Garden Action

I've been enjoying this website recently Garden Action. They have excellent herb, veg and fruit guides. Also good is that fact you can put your location in (in UK) and it modifies the advice to take into account your average last and first frost dates, and average local temperatures etc.

The advice is clear and simple too, really easy to understand. It says they are hoping to expand the number of plant articles they have soon, I'm looking forward to it.

Back after Easter

Wayhay! Things are still alive!

A little view of the plot before we went away - must take another one soon as it has changed already:



Compare and contrast from those few short weeks ago (from a different angle) here.

And here is the plan so you know what is what. The photo is taken with back to shed.

The bonus of going away to demolish your Mum's shed is also that she ends up throwing stuff away so we now have some biggish terracotta pots, abig piece of wood that will make a good potting bench, and the old shed window for another cold frame.

Easter egg-replacement gifts from Mum, aunt, and in-laws include a small watering can with a delicate rose for watering seeds and seedlings in the greenhouse, a pot of 6 raspberry canes and a tayberry cane,, garlic bulbs, some sunflower seeds, and a b&q voucher. I also got given a lovely old red tilley lamp by my granddad (which hasn't been used for 30+ years but seems in working order) and we bought citronella candles; a wasp jar; a smaller parafin lamp; some fruit netting; some watercress, cress, mustard and garden huckleberry seeds; and another little chilli plant and a 'burpless' cucumber plant. The garden centres in Lancashire/Yorkshire seem much more satisfying than our local ones - I don't know if that is just beacuse I kow where the good family-owned ones are down there.

So we have potted up the chilli and cucumber, planted the garlic, and sowed the hukleberry seeds and sunflower seeds.

And then went round so see what had been growing in our absence.

The radish has come up and the seedling as quite big. The beetroot is just peeping tiny leaves through the soil. the rocket is well on it's way and the perpetual spinach looks like it is sending up the start of some leaves. The spicy salad has several good leaves and I think will be ready for the first cut soon. The carrots have gained some true leaves.

One close inspection (nose to the ground) some broad beans are starting to germinate (must get the chickenwire out) as are some peas. The onions have sent up some green. The starwberries has formed some new leaves since planting, and I have harvested yet more rhubarb for the freezer. All the fruit bushes have new leaves.

In the greenhouse some more aubergine seeds have germinated, and three of the tomatoes have too - the 3 vintage wine seeds I think. Still only 1 chilli one. All the bought tomato/chilli/aubergine plants have grown. Gert's brassicas had not died.

And the previously sad looking broccoli had flourished! Loads of lovely long purple sprouts. So it was stilton and broccoli soup for dinner.

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.

Getting a lot done in a day

Today was a good day, the first long amount of time we have spent at Plot 60.

First we cleared a load of the rubbish and then we got down to one of the two main tasks for the day - the shed roof. That all went well, all we have to do now if wait for it to rain and see if it leaks.

Next came the fence, which was as easy as we hoped. The fence posts were mostly stable so we could just screw the panels back on to them. And then came one of those things that you do and it starts off a chain reaction. There was a piece of wood on the floor where we wanted the gate to go, and it was going to make it arkward to take the wheelbarrow in and out of the plot to the skip etc.

So . . . we tried to lift the bit of wood and it wouldn't come up. This was because the end of it was underneath a door that was lying on the floor. So we lifted up the door, to try and get the wood out. And it was still underneath something, quite what we couldn't see at first. Turns out it was a bit of heras fence with grass growing though and over it, which was fun to prise up, then under that? Pieces of glass, several wrought iron gates, and a big puddle with 2 toads and 4 frogs in it. We managed to drag it all out of that way and at least this now meant that we had several gates to choose from.

Later we put the greenhouse to use and laid the potatoes out to chit, and planted some sweet pea, carrot, and salad seeds.

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.