Getting organised

Yesterday was an organising day - not exactly intended, and with the weather being so gloriously sunny would have been better spent on the plot BUT - sometimes you just have to do what's in your mind to do. With summer arriving (though hard to believe with yet another frost on the ground this morning) and activity becoming more frantic and haphazard; a look at the shed situation seemed justified - though to call it a 'situation' is perhaps a little over dramatic!

Andrew would say this ritual is an annual pleasure for me and is dreading the words "its no good - the shed will have to be moved!". Well not this time - but the hoard of garden paraphernalia had to be shifted around and humanely culled or relocated to accommodate the huffing lawnmower that is currently residing in a friends shed due to us not being organised! A seemingly simple task but as these things go became a right faff! Anywho - I managed in the end and feel better for it so rewarded my order and efficiency by planting the sweet peas I sowed back in November(?).

I sow sweet peas in square pots (9cm) with four seeds to each pot. In most cases, they all germinate and I have a lovely full pot of well established peas to plant out. I never bother separating them as most sources say they dislike root disturbance and this way I have much quicker coverage of my chosen supports. This year I have some stems from a coppiced Cornus perhaps 5 1/2 ft tall which I wombled from a pruning job I was doing. It's great when you can think of practical uses for garden waste products and it's fast becoming my mantra for the allotment!
Although reasonably sheltered in our back yard and the peas have been well hardened, I am perhaps a bit premature in planting them out (last night's frost proves it). Rather than risk failure after such loving attention, I cobbled together a makeshift 'rocket' cloche, with some corrugated plastic sheet (re-using again) and the help of an oddly impressed husband!

And here are some pics of the completed greenhouse.....

....the first salad crops sown ....

....the beginnings of my plant minions!

Grow progress!

Wow, what a rubbish pun! I've just got back from my first trip down to the allotment in a few weeks, and Emma has been really busy digging squares for the fruit stick things she got for her birthday.


I decided to reassert my manliness on the shed by fixing a new hasp that can't be broken off with a child's toothbrush like the crappy old one.


I also attached a wee storage thing that I found in the loft to the back of the door and fitted some lovely blinds that I also found in the loft.


The real work of art this time though was the guttering, I need to 'womble' a bendy bit of pipe from somewhere so it's not quite done yet, but that seems to fit the general theme of having an allotment, there's a lot of things that aren't quite ever finished. Emma wants me to trim the guttering so that it actually fits the back of the shed, seems like a bit of shame to me!


The black thing that looks like a squarial on the side of the shed is the solar panel for the free light that came with the shed. It's gloriously useless as we're never down at the allotment at night, besides it's about as powerful as a child's toy!

Shed day - hooray!

Yipeeee! Very excited that we have finally received our shed!
Despite an unpromising start amid wind and rain we began our shed raising trial. Like an Amish barn raising it was not. Tempers were fraught, frowning was deep and swear words were ...well some - so not quite like the scenes in 'Witness'. However, wife and husband did not maim each other til one of us was deaded despite a rather heated debate on supporting the base (turns out we hugely misunderstood each other!)
The instructions said it MUST be built by two people - Pish! I think four would have been conservative as the elements were against us! But triumph we did.
It may not be entirely square or level and the door is a little on the 'huh' and the roof felt looks savaged by a dog.....in places, but it's up! And even though it has not been lovingly hand crafted from wombled materials it begins to acquire character and looks a rather handsome sentry of our grassy field with a strawberry patch!

Oh look - there's a rather handsome fella. A man at one with shed!

Now it's wet!

A complete change from yesterday and has forced us to review our plans for today. Tisk! I was hoping to prepare some ground for a low hedge of hyssop. We have a dozen to plant along the front of the plot and after the under gardener strained his back extending the strawberry patch last Sunday I was hoping to plant those last four plants too. Ah well - when working in the great outdoors it's less frustrating if you can be adaptable. There are other things to get ahead with when the weather becomes challenging, such as documenting last weeks efforts!
With the increasing pressure to keep control of our grassy plot (whilst gently bringing it into cultivation) we decided to invest in a rotary petrol mower. The under gardener was very excited about the prospect of creating a lawn fit for bowling - I fear he may be disappointed!
What is important is maintaining the grass to prevent it becoming wild and ultimately harder work for ourselves. This was so with a strimmer - good for trimming round the edges but far more tedious than strolling up and down with a lawnmower! So while he did that I began our no-dig mulching experiment.
I started by strimming the grass as short as possible, then took a large cardboard box, flattened out (tape and staples removed) and covered it. Next a layer of grass cuttings, followed by a layer of mushroom compost both several inches deep. Finally a bit of treading to consolidate the surface and hey presto looks like a well dug and prepared bit of land. Whether it works, we have yet to see. Hope its not all taken off in the wind!

Andrew, after injury, retired to the car to listen to the radio while I dug out the new site for the shed. Why he asked? It's a design thing I said. He groaned. I shrugged and got on with it.
Illogical or not I decided I didn't want it crammed in the corner like everyone else and besides it's not time wasted as the old site will be the comfrey patch instead.... as long as I hurry up and weed it.Coming soon in the next few weeks - shed building, hyssop, strawberry, comfrey and redcurrant planting, echinacea, foxglove and forget-me-not potting and most inevitably - weeding. Also looking forward to apple tasting days at Ken Muir to decide what we want to grow!

A Strimming we will go......

We have bricks - kindly donated by the allotment in-laws! As they have been weighing the back of the car down for the last two days - we thought we'd best do something with them before we start to wheelie. They were intended for a raised bed on the home patch but we decided a shed base at the plot was a bigger priority as already it's a little weakening carting tools backwards and forwards, and I don't always remember everything.

To solve this little frustration I've made a checklist in my notebook of things always needed (water, gloves, snacks, camera, phone etc) and also a list of likely tools to consider. Seems to be doing the trick so far.

Once we - (yes we! Despite a tricky hangover the dearly beloved was a brave and determined little soldier not to let me down on the arrangement) had moved all the bricks (which took minutes) we scratched our heads a bit and decided to make a start on the strawberry patch. Andrew cut the turf into rough squares and i began forking them out.

With some gentle persuasion he then tooled up with the strimmer, safety visor and ear plugs and started slashing about in the long grass.

An impressive vision of manliness - I'm sure you agree!

We are now agreed that a mower is the way to make lighter work of this situation - so far 'freecycle' has not yet come up with a neglected machine that could use a new home, but we also have our network of friends and family keeping an ear to the ground for such an opportunity. If we are no nearer to acquiring said item before mid September, we may have to consider purchasing one - nothing fancy just a pretty basic machine that does the job. Mr Culture has volunteered himself (with some enthusiasm) as chief mower - a happy arrangement for me and good exercise for him. We just need to watch out for all the forgotten debris of plot owners past.....such as this!

Ou est la shed??

After feeling considerably guilty for not getting to the allotment this week - today I went in earnest determined to finish clearing, levelling and measuring for the shed. And this I did.

Whilst there, it gave me the opportunity to survey the area that will blossom into our allotment garden. Since the initial scalping, and subsequent rain it is now very clear what 'undesirables' have had a fresh flush of growth. I see we have a number of bramble patches, nettles, docks, brier not to mention the bindweed and a clump of horseradish, oh and did I mention the dreaded couch grass. All these will have to be removed by hand on a regular basis, as we clear and cultivate along with the various rubbish that has been buried under this neglected plot for many years.

We aim to make life as easy as possible for ourselves by keeping the grass cut and only clearing areas we intend to use immediately - ie the planting of fruit, herbs and over wintering onion sets and garlic.

As a bit of an aside - look at this huge potato I grew at work. It's a monster!

It was enough to feed two people!!