We get digging

Yesterday, between the snow flurries I popped to the plot with some tools. I cut down the raspberry canes until the cold bit through my gloves and I had to concede to the elements.
Today the sun shone weakly for a moment so we dashed there and made a start. For some reason we seemed to be wearing our 19th century Russian peasant outfits. - Always a good look when gardening.

H moved the compost bin...

 ... whilst I made a start on the weeding. Soon, soon, we too will have that dark, crumbly soil that crops will love and grow in with abundance. Monet's Garden is my inspiration, nasturtiums and marigolds amongst the lettuces. But some simple rows of carrots, beans and potatoes will be fine for now.. plus some courgette and squash plants in the old compost patch. I'm planing where the asparagus bed will be. Yum yum.

Bye bye plot 83... hello plot 31a

We weeded and tided up the old plot as best we could, laid down plastic tarps to suppress the weeds and left it for the winter. It was a long treck to get there, and my enthusiasm wained... I tried to love it, but it was an out of the way plot,  no charm, no zing. I longed for a closer spot, one nearer to our gate, nearer to the hub and buzz of the allotment centre. I asked the secretary to put us on the waiting list for another place.... one month passed, two, three, four... Then  last week I thought a cheeky phone call might be in order... Eric said he had me on the list... he was sure something would come up when the payment requests were sent out...

Yesterday he rang me. A plot had come up and this morning I went to see it.

Dah dah! Hey Presto and Alacazam!!! Its perfect. Right in the centre of everything. It has an old chicken coupe at the back; which we can grow a vine up and shut the dog in when she is with us so she doesn't disturb every one. A lovely shed, an old apple tree, lots of current bushes, raspberry bushes, a strawberry patch, and rows of leeks to pull now. Theres not too much weeding to do as the careful gardeners before us have just moved along a few rows to be next to their dad to help him with his plot. I met them too, great people, they even offered to rotivate the soil for me.

Behind the plot is a stream, to one side is the path to the wildlife area with a copse of fruit trees and a hazel wigloo hideaway for children to play in.. I can't wait to start. I am looking forward to drawing and painting there as the year develops... as well as the wonderful fruit and veg we are going to grow, hooray!

Attack of the Triffids

I was dreading going to the plot today as we have been away for a couple of weeks. In my minds eye the weeds had grown to triffid proportions, ready to spurt blinding fluid if we dared to even threaten to pull them out of their cosy, secure Eden. But it was not as bad as we feared. We had a pleasent hour. Hudge sorted out the rickety shed door and I pulled nettles. Not many roots I grant you, but at least its a bit neater now.
Jean from the committee, who kindly sends out e-mails, has the following advice that we plan to put into practise next week end.
"What a problem they (Weeds) have been this year. If you have plant material which you don't want to put in the compost bin - perhaps thick stems, weed seeds etc - a good way of using this material is to start a runner bean trench for next year.
First decide where your runner beans are to grow next year and then dig out a trench two spades wide and one deep. Put the soil at the side of the trench and fork over the bottom. The next stage is to fill the trench with compostable material - don't worry if there are weed seeds or thick stems such as sun flower stems (don't use the sun flower seeds as the birds like them), asparagus or sweet corn as they will quickly rot down. When the trench is full up mound the soil back over the trench and leave it over the winter. By next spring the ground will be level and ready for the runner beans. This type of trench can be used for the squash family who also like the rotted compost which retains moisture.

The only items you really need to put in the brown bin are diseased material. Even the nasty weeds such as bell bind, spear grass etc can be left of the surface to dry out and they can also be put in the trench.

The rotting down weeds and stalks in the bottom of your runner bean trench help retain moisture, something which runner beans need"

Who knows what else can grow well in that damp, rotting compost ....  we will see what next year yields.

yep we did,

More potatoes!!!! The weeds we had left to dry are now piled on one half of the compost space.  But they do have some roots attached, although these are now crisp as a bone. Hopefully they are well and truly dead.
Oh the weeds and nettles are daunting, my arms sting soooo much! I felt like just going home, but after a hour and a half we had cleared a little more. Most of the big roots we put in bags again to take to the dump. But some went on the heap. We have to decide the best way to tackle it is to mow it all, then cover it with plastic, then clear it bit by bit. Tedious but must be done.

Will we get there today?

 

lets hope so! Or will it take a hundred years to get our leeks looking this good?

August bank holiday

Hudge's dad, his sister; the lovely Beth and her two little boys came for a visit this week end and we took them to see our weed patch, soon to become a beautiful, abundant vegetable plot... well next year perhaps. The nettles had returned with a vengeance and the bees are still living in the compost heap. The kids found even more potatoes and took them home for tea. they enjoyed the community and children's area, with its living, willow cabin; was this what Viola dreamt of, to camp in at Orsiono's gate? and secret overgrown passage ways. When they visit next year they can plant things. I'm looking forward to bringing them.

The work begins in ernest.

Well, having been away for a couple of weeks I was slightly apprehensive about what I would be confronted with up at the plot. There was no need to be fearful. The pulled nettles had dried, and the weeds hadn't grown too much.

We cleared away the potatoes, and as well as being rewarded by a clean patch,

we gathered pounds and pounds to eat over the coming months. We will have to give lots of them away or we will be gaining pounds and pounds.

 I checked out a new website, http://www.allotment.org.uk/ to find out how to store them and promptly added the site to my bookmarks list.








The compost bin was a bit nettley, so H sorted it out. As he bagged the roots to take to the dump, he disturbed an ant hill, a bees nest and found an old glove and two plastic bottles, but when he had finished it was beautifully 'friable'... as they say. I have been reading all those books I bought.

Although I want to be strong and turn all the earth, I just cant bring myself to move the hollyhocks, and they are in the way of a neat path. So at the moment I am planing  to make the path criss cross at that point, perhaps have an arch or two, and a central bed. We shall see. That's the beauty of growing veg, its flexible. I'm looking forward to next week end.