Your attention, please!

I have an announcement to make.

It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve decided it’s about time I got on with writing about things and finally come clean with the “big announcement” I promised… last year.

It appears that Sam and I have taken on a second allotment.
I know! I was surprised too; but that’s exactly what happened.

There I was, minding my own business, when a relative told me about a place where I could get free, well-rotted horse manure. At the time it just so happened that I needed some manure for my potatoes (yes, this news has been that long coming) so off I popped to the stables.

“Hello,” said I, to the first person I saw – and who happened to be the stables owner “I believe you’ve got a load of manure.”
“How many tons* do you want?” she asked.
Unsure if she was kidding I replied “About an allotment’s worth.”

Then it all started moving a bit quickly.

“Would you like an allotment?” she said.

Oh dear.

Skipping over some of the less significant conversation that followed, mainly dealing with the muck heap of gargantuan proportions, the conversation turned to the piece of land they were turning over to use as allotments. All grass, lots of weeds and never been dug (or at least, not any time recently)… but allotments none the less.

I think this was about the point where I said I’d take one.

No payment needed for a while so I talked it over with Sam – who asked some rather pointed questions about whether I thought we could handle the extra work, if I was rushing into it too soon after taking on our first plot and so on. I convinced her (or rather, convinced myself) that all was well and that it was a good idea and so, when the time came a few months later, we paid our money and the plot was ours.

I think now it’s probably safe to admit that I thought it was a bit more work than I could handle… sorry Sam. Honestly I don’t think I had her fooled for a moment – but she’s quite tolerant of the numerous schemes I come up with (and usually underestimate) so I don’t think I really needed to convince her. That didn’t stop me trying though.

Still, last years growing and harvesting came and went… winter set in along with the lack of motivation I had (and wrote about)… and then came spring. The ground softened somewhat and we got to work.

Progress is slow – the soil is very hard – but we are getting there.

It’s a lovely site too.

There are weeds, but I’ll let the photo of the site as it was in August of last year tell you all you need to know about that:

Brand new and never been dug (as far as I can tell). Covered in grass and wild flowers/plants ("weeds" now it's an allotment) and lots of them. Then there's the tree saplings, blackberries (which will not be staying put... though I may move them if I feel like using up some space) and assorted roots which put up a real fight when you try to get them out.

Over the next couple of days I’ll write a little about the progress made on there so far… and the promised news of a “new adventure” will be included in that.

* tons for you non-metric types… but then, she could have been using imperial, in which case I should have said “tons” earlier… unless you’re reading this as a speaker of American English, in which case it’s ton or ton either way.
Clear as mud!

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It’s *growing*!

Apparently the seeds are a lot happier this time around. They are sown in a layer of coir over compost (the compost to make sure they have nutrients available in case I miss a seedling for a bit – they shouldn’t starve this way) and have not seen so much as a drop since the initial watering.

Today I’ve potted up 1 Red Robin, 1 Tigerella and 1 seedling of unknown variety.
When I was trying to figure out what had gone wrong I dug out the cells that had seeds and put the compost into empty ones as I removed it. Well, one of those unlabeled cells of discarded soil has produced a shoot. It could be a Greyhound cabbage, Red Robin tomato or PattyPan squash – but as I’ve never sprouted any of these things before – I really have no idea which it might be. Fun!

Last weekend I spent a bit of time on the plot. Recently I’ve usually there alone, but Sam came this time and was a huge help. We’ve sown up almost a full bed (the second of 8 ) with potatoes, 3 varieties of carrot, a single fennel, some parsnips, some Matador spinach, 3 varieties of onion and one spring onion.
With her supervision I was able to get plenty more done too.

I’ve pulled up about 15 miles of mint roots that were spreading out from the patch I’ve inherited (and intend to keep), pulled out a fair few weeds, become a wee bit disheartened about the vast number of horsetail poking through the top of the small pile of manure and soil I need to shift and am generally starting to get more on top of things.

More news on the seeds and seedlings as the story develops.

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2⅓ down… 5⅔ to go!

I said I’d start posting pictures – well, get ready for a picture-overdose!

I didn’t quite get to spend a couple of full days on the plot as I’d hoped, but it has still been a productive weekend, and if I’m being totally honest, I might have struggled to do much more anyway!

The last time I went to the plot I started double digging my second “square foot” bed (in the 15’x4′ layout I’m using) but after it got far too dark to keep working I left it part finished:

As Square Foot Bed #2 looked when I arrived at the plot on Easter Sunday

I had managed to fork over most of the second spit* of the bed before night stopped play last time so that’s how it was to begin with, and this is it all nicely broken up.

Second spit of bed 2 all nicely dug over. As you can see - the sun came out!

To return the top spit of soil to the bed I used a fork to break up the mound, scraping off a small section at a time (which let me pull out a whole load of nasty roots like dandelion and horsetail – some of which seemed complete, so presumably quite young) making a pile of nice, crumbly soil which was easy to pile into the trench.

I’m going to have to move ahead with my plans to put some kind of edging around the beds to stop it all spilling out though, breaking it up has made it stand quite a way proud of the hard packed paths either side.

Now for a time lapse of the bed being back filled. From the picture above to the finished bed took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. It’s hard to guess what a ton of earth looks like, but going by the 3 bulk bags of topsoil I helped empty a while back, I’d guess that mound contains about 1.5 tonnes of soil. (That’s British tonnes, not American ones which are smaller than ours by 109kg or 240lbs.)

Breaking up the mound of soil using a fork.

Shovelling the broken-up soil into the trench.

Almost done.

Bed 2, as good as finished.

After finishing bed number 2 on Easter Sunday I popped back for a few hours today (Monday – this post will be marked as Tuesday) and dug out the top spit of bed 3. Another visit should see the bottom spit broken up and the bed finished on the visit after that.

In case you’re wondering, my plot actually goes past the row of concrete flags buried at the end of the beds. It goes all the way to the thin line of grass just beyond them. That’s where the path used to be. The soil over there is full of stones so I’m going to leave it until I’ve made a riddle; then I’ll dig out the flags, riddle the stones out and dig the soil over as extensions to the main beds. I have a feeling that soil might not be as productive as the stuff that’s not spent the last few years under a path, but I’m sure a bit of TLC will see to that.

It’s nice to see some progress at last… now I’ve just got to finish number 3 and then dig another 5! (…then the fruit patch, the seed bed and more still!)

* For those who’ve not heard the term before, a “spit” is the depth of one shovel head. In double digging you break up the soil to a depth of two spits. It’s a bit of a “country” term, so some allotment/gardening types will look at you like you’re using made up words, but I like it.

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A productive few days.

With the exception of Friday, I spent a little bit of time on the plot every day last week. I also spent both afternoons of the weekend down there.

If you look at the picture below, you’ll see a patch of low green weeds around the middle, a bath near bottom of the plot and if you squint, a load of rubbish near my neighbour’s greenhouse at the top.

The weeds are gone. The rubbish is gone. The bath had been emptied of all the soil and weeds that were growing in it and relocated to the top where it shall remain until I decide what to do with it. It’s been a productive week.

Oh yes, and the small matter of the path has been resolved. Apparently my neighbour had paid someone else at the site to lay the path up the middle, between our plots. I’d moved all the flags from where you see them in the previous post’s picture to the middle and they were laid by the time I arrived the following afternoon.

Jobs for the coming week are to mark out and properly dig the beds, clear some more weeds, build a large sieve to remove a load of stones from the beautifully rotted manure that’s left at the bottom of the plot and from the soil that was under the original path (between the bath and the narrow strip of grass), get my seeds ordered and start putting some things in the ground.

Whether I’ll get even half of that done by next Sunday, I don’t know. I’m certainly looking forward to getting started though!

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A picture!

So far the only picture of my allotment has been the one at the top of the page. Taken in September it’s showing everything in full leaf (most of it weeds) and looking very, very healthy (good soil!).

Now, for your enjoyment, here’s the plot as it was on Monday.

Plot 79, hard (wet) soil, cold, weedy and lots to do.

I’m not totally sure yet, but I think the shadow at the bottom of the plot should become less and less of an issue as the season rolls on. All being well that’ll be “full sun” until the days start getting long again. I really need to keep an eye on it and see what time the shadow comes onto the plot. Then again – maybe I just need to start planning to put shade loving things down there. We’ll see.

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A decision made, I think.

Yesterday I paid a visit to my local library. After settling up my tab (read: fines for books I forgot to return before going on holiday) I took out, among other things, “Square Foot Gardening” by Mel Bartholomew.

Before I even reached the end of the first chapter I had pretty much decided to use that method on the plot. Something about the economy of seeds, of space and lack of formal rows really appealed to me. I may even take another step away from rows when my first growing season is out of the way, I’ve heard good things about a book called “The Ornamental Kitchen Garden”. I’ll be doing my homework on that when I’m under a bit less pressure to dig the soil and get things in the ground.

For now though, I’m considering the plot as broken up into 1200mm x 1200mm* blocks each divided into 300mm x 300mm** squares. I’m not sure how I’ll mark it out yet – probably with jute twine to begin with – but I’m open to suggestions.

I’ve been drawing up a few layout ideas for the plot since I got it, and think I’ve got a way to incorporate the square foot method and maximise the amount of plot available for things like soft fruits, rhubarb and the likes… hopefully I’ll be able to get enough of a surplus of some things to store for the winter too. Which reminds me, I wanted to tweak the plan to leave room for a potato clamp.

I’ll show my plan in a new post in the next day or so.

 

*    = That’s 4′ by 4′ for the non-metric types… I actually work in imperial most of the time, but when planning I use metric. No particular reason, that’s just the way it happens.
**  = That’s 1′ square.

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Digging, levelling and a discovery.

Today Sam and I had a reasonably successful couple of hours at the plot.

Sam took on the digging duties and made some good progress digging out some of the deepest rooted weeds we’ve seen so far. A few others were about the same size earlier in the clearance, one of the dandelions reached a good 2 feet (60cm) before she found the bottom of the root – and all out in one piece too!

I took some of the time freed up by not digging to cut down the Jerusalem Artichokes. They are all down to about 1 foot (30cm) tall so I should be able to find the tubers and the difference it has made to the plot is incredible. It looks HUGE now without all the extra shade at the top end.

Opening up that end has led to a nice find too. When I spoke to the allotment holder who has given up this half he told me there should be some berries at that end of the plot too. Today I found a couple (there should be more somewhere) of very small stems with some savage looking thorns on them. I believe someone strimmed them (that’s a weed whacker for any Americans that might be reading this) when clearing the plot a while back so it’s nice to see them growing – and I’m really looking forwards to seeing what grows from them come next year. The one problem is,  at least one of the thorny canes is right in the line of where the path needs to go, so I’ll have to move that one.

Speaking of the path, today I lifted a couple of flags off the old path (they are a lot heavier than they look!) ready to move them to their new home. If you look at the picture at the top of the blog you’ll see a row of Brussels Sprouts on the right. The path will be moved from its present location (just behind the bean fence) to the middle of the (original) plot, right over the top of the last Sprout on the row.

I’ve levelled the earth at the entrance to the plot ready for the path, but it looks like we’ve not cleared enough weeds yet so need to dig up a 1 foot wide strip the whole length of the plot before they go back down.

Moving all the flags is going to be a back-breaking day’s work… but I’m quite looking forwards to having the plot laid out properly so I can finally start digging the beds and putting a few things in.

All in all a couple of well-spent hours.

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Blood everywhere!

I was half thinking about not posting this bit as no doubt the stupid people in charge of this country would use this to pad out the “knife crime” stats if they caught wind of it.

My neighbour on the plot kindly donated a cabbage from his side, so yet again I’ve had a tiny harvest before I’ve so much as started sowing. Like an idiot though I managed to jam the edge of my knife into the end of the index finger on my left hand. I thought it was just a scratch at first, then Sam pointed out the small issue of the steady flow of blood dripping from my finger… then the splat marks on my other hand… then I saw blood on the bag for my pop up bin… and on the outer leaves of the cabbage.
Not quite carnage but a fair mess.

Note to self:
As you well know, you keep your knife very sharp, in future don’t cut yourself with it you dolt!

If anyone is wondering, I’ve got a Svörd Peasant as made by Bryan Baker of New Zealand.
www.svord.com
As knives go it’s about as basic as they come, is a good size (though at a scratch over 3″ it’s not legal everyday-carry under our nonsensical laws in the UK) feels fine in the hand, holds a savagely sharp edge if you’re so inclined (and why wouldn’t you be? Sharper is always better with knives.) and is so cheap it almost feels like robbery!
www.svord.com/pages/catalog/PK.htm
Or if you prefer, you can get it with a plastic handle in a range of colours.
www.svord.com/pages/catalog/NEWPK.htm
The knife can come open if it’s just languishing in your pocket (though not if you put it in the right way around and have made sure it’s properly closed first) so if you want that extra bit of safety you can get a simple leather sheath for it too.
www.svord.com/pages/catalog/PKS.htm
I’ve got no connection with Mr Baker or Svörd other than being a very happy owner of one of his knives.

So, not a huge amount to report on the allotment front.
With a bit of help from my girlfriend (and not just by getting the first aid kit out and stemming the flow of blood) I’ve made another sliver of plot weed free. In the process I picked a few more French Beans off the fence and found three spuds.

I’ve drawn up my seed order from the Garden Organic catalogue and will be placing the order just as soon as I can get the price down a bit. I’ve written a list that’d allow me to sow and plant everything that’s due to go in now but I doubt that would leave much space for the things going in come the new season. It’s up at £45 right now, I expect I should be able to get at least £10 off that before the order goes in.

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An update…

The on the weekend of the 26th of September I went to the plot for a spot of digging, which went well. With the excpetion of the part around the bathtub (yes, really – you can see it just to the left of the picture at the top of the blog) and the mint that’s in beside it I’ve cleared everything from the right hand side of the french beans fence (middle of the plot seen at the top again) to the main pathway at the bottom of the plot. Now I just* have to do the top third, which is the worst of the lot – though thankfully more docks than dandelions – and it’s done.

* Just… apart from making out, levelling the ground and then laying a path between my plot and next door… and double digging all the hard packed soil.

Speaking of next door, I finally met the man who’s given up the plot I’m now taking over. He still has the other half and the very top of mine. I can definitely use his shed, which is handy. I’m also pleased to report that he’s a really nice guy, noone wants a grumpy neighbour. We had a good chat and he seems quite happy to only have half a plot “to pootle around on” now.

He’s given me some of his unwanted produce and I’ve got a cabbage on his side with my name on it too.

I had some French Beans off the fence which were cooked up at home and were great, though I’m sure they’ll taste nicer when I’ve grown them myself! Something about effort seems to make things that bit sweeter.

So, some more digging to go, a seed order to put in, some planting to do, a greenhouse or polytunnel to build and I’m ready to get started!

The elderberry wine I’ve just got started is chugging along nicely too. Some day in about a year or so I’ll be drinking a drop of that on the plot. Sooner still I’ll be warming myself with some sloe gin or sloe whiskey.

Things could most definitely be worse!

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Slapped wrist

I popped down to the allotment for about 5 minutes over lunch today, on the way in I saw John, the allotment secretary, who asked if I was down to make a start. When I told him I’d cleared a good chunk of it already he wandered over with me to take a look. The first thing he said when we got there was “you can’t leave weeds on the paths” – so my plan to dry out the weeds and then compost them has been scuppered.

Not defeated though, when I started to clear them up I noticed that they felt remarkably warm. I’m guessing they were starting to compost even in the thin layer they were in. Rather than move everything up to the communal tipping area, I took the heat as a good sign and started my own compost heap. Along with about half a barrow of mulch (which smelled like chipped christmas trees actually – there was a lovely pine smell coming from the pile) I’ve made a small pile. Alternating between a thin layer of mulch and some leaves – dandelion, dock, brussels and similar things – with a bit of soil mixed in (I didn’t have any compost to hand as a starter) and a quick wetting with a hose I’ve now got a little pile. The rest of the stuff – horsetail and some other really knotty looking things and ones that had gone to seed – went on the communal tip. I’d thought about burning it but John just told me to chuck the lot up at the top so that’s what I did.

I met another neighbouring allotment holder too. A couple of plots over is an Italian who is in his 80s, not that you’d know it looking at him! He has “the best allotment”. Apparently he won a competition this summer. It’s no wonder too – his plot looks absolutely fantastic!
He gave me some advice, confirmed a few things that I’d been told are worth planting now, told me a good nursery to get seeds, sets and plugs from (more on those terms in a later post if you, like me, are so new to this kind of thing you need a definition) and offered some very welcome advice about weeding.

We’re having some rather damp weather at the moment – lots of the experienced allotment holders lost most of their tomatoes this year – so I’m hoping things clear up a bit by the weekend. I’ve got a lot to do down there to get ready for planting.

With clearing the path , making the heap and chatting with people, the 5 minute trip to the allotment turned into about an hour. OOPS! Back to work now though.

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