Out of Order

Just a small notice to say that we are currently out of order.

Our laptop is broken so it is difficult to make  a post at the moment, but hopefully we'll be able to in the coming days...

We're having so much fun on the allotment and we can't wait to tell you all about it.

We're also missing not being able to read your blogs too!

Hopefully normal service will be resumed shortly...

Martin and Amy

Just an hour..

Not long after I made yesterday's blog post I felt very tempted to go and do a bit of work at plot 114. I knew that I had to go up at some point to water all of the seedlings in the mini greenhouse. I decided to do an hour and a bit of solid revision for my exam on Saturday morning, and then I took myself up to the plot to do something nice.

My Grandparents had given me a bag of red onion sets on Tuesday so I thought that I would spend just an hour or so planting out my onions sets. I already had some sets myself for brown onions and the red onion sets I had previously bought had a low count of quality sets, so it was good that I had the new stock to replenish them.

I wasn't going to grow shallots either, but one of the other allotment holders who was there on Monday gave me a bag of shallots that he had left over after planting his. I now had plenty of sets so it was time to get them in the ground..

The onion bed is right next to the patioed area. I am trying a slightly different way of growing them that I thought of myself after reading various methods of growing onions. I planted the onion sets in drills that I simply made from standing on the ground either side of the set. I then sprinkled some growmore in the foot imprinted areas and watered to dissolve the granules. I am then going to top up the foot imprinted areas either side of the drill with multipurpose compost which hopefully will be a good feed for the onions and should make hoeing really, really easy. Only inhereting the allotment in late February we haven't been able to feed the soil as much as we have liked so we are definately playing catch up in that regard,

I have planted the garlic cloves in a drill right at the end of the bed nearest to the compost bin in the hope that there won't be too much of a garlicy scent near to the patio area.

It was nice being there for just an hour and actually being able to get something in the ground. I have spent many whole days (8+hours) on Plot 114 clearing weeds and preparing beds and then thinking I still have so much more work to do which can be a tiny bit de-motivating. So this was a short and sweet change to that pattern. I also managed to get another freebie from another allotment holder, this time in the form of a gooseberry bush! One of my favourite fruits!! I already have 2 other small bushes looking for a spot on the allotment, so I look forward to getting those in the ground at the weekend.

Anyway, seeing as I said there wasn't going to be an allotment update until Sunday night, I didn't do too well did I? Oh well. I had fun and I still found time to revise.

I definately won't be making a blog post now until Sunday. Amy and I are watching 'Oliver' at the Birmingham Hippodrome on Thursday night and then 'Disney on Ice' at the NIA on Friday. Then on Saturday I have the dreaded exam.

Have a good weekend and Happy Birthday Mum!

Martin 

Our little friends...

Well plenty of progress is being made on Plot 114. All the beds have been dug over except for the pumpkin bed which is currently covered over with plastic sheeting to keep the weeds down until we are ready to do something with it. We're also still waiting to get a trailer full of well rotted manure on the brassica bed, but hopefully that might come to fruitition this weekend.

Anyway today's not about the plot itself but who we share the plot with. I've made several references in previous blog posts to the feathered friends who have been visiting the plot without fail every single day. There are a trio of robins who will sit on nearby posts, tubtrugs and wheelbarrows and watch as I clear an area or dig over the ground. As soon as  I move away then they are straight in, and let's just say the worms are straight out!

I haven't been able to get any good photos of them as of yet but my brother was down on the allotment on Monday and managed to get a few pictures with his special camera...

Being tied up with coursework deadlines is not as fun as being tied up in twine and brambles so this week there is going to be little progress on the plot, I sure can not wait for the Easter break. I have Sunday off from work so that is going to be a whole day of allotmenteering fun and adventure. Possible time to get the onions in, but I'm still not sure about the first early potatoes. We'll wait and see..

Over at one of my favourite blogs 'Purple Poddes Peas', Magic Cochin (Celia) is celebrating her 5th blogging birthday. She is hosting a live blogging day with regular posts and questions and answers. Make sure you head over there especially for the tour of the vegetable garden this afternoon.

Have a fantastic day whatever you are doing!

Martin

Skip to it...

As you may know when we took over the allotment a big chunk of the land about 1/6 of it was covered in carpet and the weeds rather than being surpressed had grown straight through it.

I rang the town council to see if there was somewhere I could dispose of it, however they said they were getting a skip soon and that is all they could say. They told me to put all the rubbish off the plot to one side and then they would ring me when the skip had been delivered.

Well I got a phone call today and they said a skip had been delivered at the other allotment site yesterday and I needed to transfer the rubbish myself.

Well, it's a good job I acted immediately because it seems that all of the other allotment holders had been waiting for the skip to arrive too...

It was certainly releaving to have rid of all the carpet and all of the rotten bamboo canes, plastic bags and rotten timber that had covered the allotment for the past year. The allotment is looking a tidier place today. I just can't wait to get up there and start sorting out that soft fruit bed. That is my task for the day so wish me luck!

Martin

Amy's area..

What a strange day we have had today weather wise. I was up at the allotment at 09.30 this morning and there was a light drizzle, but nowhere near enough to put me off a bit of a digging. Then within half an hour I suppose the inevitable happened and there was a terrible downpour which lasted about 15 minutes, I will be eternally greatful to our shed for providing shelter. The showers were on and off every 15 minutes which is really annoying since it was my day off and my main day this week I  had allocated to spend sorting out the allotment.

Dinner time came and I picked Amy up for lunch at my grandparent's house before returning to the allotment where there was CLEAR BLUE SKIES and SUNSHINE but a horrendous WIND blowing. The weather really was throwing everything at us today. But we did manage to get things done.

I finished off digging the 2 beds on the right hand side and I also spread some homemade compost from home over the bean patch. Amy pottered around in the shed sowing seeds for Kale, Kohl Rabi, Lollo Rosso and a a couple of courgette seeds in the hope of an early crop like last year. Amy also planted some raddish seeds in one of our salad raised beds that I filled with a bag of compost this afternoon.

Anyway, it's time to show you Amy's little area that she wanted..

It's not completly finished but the foundations are there. On Friday evening my Dad came down to the plot and helped me move the slabs in to place. We actually had the chairs out on it earlier but we put them away before I took the pictures. The 2 salad raised beds make the border for the slabs and I think this area will look great in the summer. We are going to get a table and put some pot plants in and around the area to make it a perfect hangout for those sunny summer days. Amy is pleased anyway so that is good!

It's nice to be able to show you another perspective of the allotment from the slabbed area...





You can see the beds on the right hand side which I finished today. One of the beds on the left is covered with cardboard to surpress weeds until we need to plant our potatoes out and the uncovered bed is the bean bed where I spread the compost today. The runner bean trench is also there and is now full of rotted manure, grass clippings, banana skins, apple cores, tea bags, shredded paper etc. A perfect mix for the beans to thrive. Again you can see at the back the tarpaulin covered area for the pumpkins and root beds. The soft fruit bed is being tackled tomorrow if I remember to take my gloves up with me.

It was definately nice to sit back today and reflect on how much we have done already. We can't wait for the seeds to start germinating now...

Thanks for reading,

Martin