Day 49 - Everything is fit to burst

It seems we are now only a short time away from spring bursting out all over. We have everything just about ready, seedlings are coming along, potatoes chitting, seed packets lined up to be sown, we just need the warmer weather. At the end of today we had the glimpse of what I described to our lass as a late evening sun, it felt like eight in the evening in the summer but it was actually three thirty in the afternoon. With the clocks moving forward and the longer days coming ever closer this will remedy all our angst of lets get on with it. But you do feel as though you are awaiting the starting pistol, which won't have made a noise but instead burst open a daffodil flower or pear/apple tree blossom.

Today our lass had not only been busy mixing in compost and grit to help the soil to drain in some of the beds, our lass also removed the leaves from a bed and put them into our bench planter, forked and hoed the beds, but also came up with a great idea for the onion sets I had left over. "Why not plant them with the tomatoes?" Our lass said, A quick google search found that tomatoes and onions work well as companions with the onions odour hopefully repelling pest that like tomatoes. We will report back through the year, but it could be an interesting experiment.

Our bench planter, just needing some compost in the planting side. But looks as though it will be a good spot for the end of day sunshine.

Strawberry bed hoed and weeded

One of several beds attended to by our lass, with compost and grit to help improve drainage

Carrot bed now topped up and ready for seed.

The tomato plant will go in the middle of the four onions.

Onions the grandkids planted, now has a net over to stop the birds being confused with the shoots.

One wheel short of a wheel barrow, advice for anyone, if you choose a wheel barrow get one with a solid tyre, ours has got a puncture so having to seek a replacement wheel.

Tomatoes and aubergines coming along nicely.

Day 48 - Nanna and Grang-grads little helpers.

 Today was a grand day or as the grandkids might say grang, which makes me grang grad. It has been nearly six months since we have last seen the grand kids and although we could have wished for warmer weather we were greeted with warm hearts.

Onion sets were sowed, cauliflower / beetroot seeds put out in to trays, and the planks put to full use as a circuit for the kids to walk around. It is amazing how you can gain a childs interest in allotmenteering when you give them a small hand shovel and a home made watering can.

We have already received messages back having been asked by the grandkids if anything has grown yet, I concur with such impatience.

Very willing helpers to fill the barrow

Happy preparing the seed trays

Day 47 - We gotta have faith, faith, faith.

One thing our lass has been able to slowly but surely instil in me is a modicum of faith in myself. Yesterday a bench, today some planters from old tongue and groove. Before I would never have had the self belief but with the help of our lass, who knows what I could build next.

This faith, is also faith in that everything is going to grow. Our lass is currently disheartened by the performance of germinating seeds, currently around three have germinated in a whole tray, the argument seems to be, "Why not just go and buy the plants?" Which to be honest the same could be said about the fruit and vegetables we are growing. This could never be classed as a money saving exercise, but as a certain credit card would suggest "Some things are priceless".

Our lass potted on some lavender cuttings and in the Carol Klein style of gardening covered them in grit.

Three new planters for the front of the allotment, if anyone decides to nick them they are in for a surprise, as they have no bottoms....

Todays new work bench, the top of the compost bin.

Camera on a stick, see how the angle change affects the photographs

Onion bed being prepared

all the tubs ready and filled in the green house, just the buckets for the peppers.

Bench made safe by securing it to the flower bed

Day 46 - A chill wind is the benchmark

 Today down the allotment we barely got past four degrees but it felt so much colder, now having been up their in the snow, it seemed strange that today should affect us so much. Maybe it was the contrast of the warm sun of Sunday that hit us for six today.

We are also struggling with wanting to crack on and get planting yet this just seems another delay. I feel very much like a young child looking at all the presents under the Christmas tree with a week still to go and feeling as though it is an eternity away.

Our lass, I think judging my mood better than I judge my own let me do a folly of putting the scaffolding planks out on the potato bed, my autistic side wants order and it is a perfect way of dividing the six varieties we will have whilst hopefully ensuring I only walk on one particular part of the bed when hoeing. I had hoped the soil would be nearly ready, but it is at least one full dig over away.

So whilst our lass set away some more seeds, I got onto building a bench/table, having just come from one disappointment I seemed to rattle into another which climaxed with the leg falling off. Team work though meant we got this sorted and as you will see in the final photograph we have an end product sturdy enough to take my mighty frame. Then we will see in the future if that created any cracks.

Perspective doesn't help but they are equally spaced, but this is the general idea.

The chairs make a great work bench

We have all the parts cut roughly to size

Our finished bench, with a big thank you to our lass.

Day 45 - Women work 6 times harder than men

I am feeling much like your mobile phone does once you have owned it for a few years, remember when you first charged your phone it would last all day and a bit into the next, possibly two days if not used much. But then you get to the point that you can have your mobile fully charged first thing and it be nearly out of juice just after lunch. This is me just lately, our lass says that I am one of the non duracell bunnies. 

Why do I mention this, well, today I finally got around to doing the job I had been thinking about for a while, which was sorting the compost, moving it from one bin to another whilst adding some from the manure pile to make sure that is rotting down well, as well, once that was done I would make a few trips to add to the manure pile. I only did half a job and that was helped at the end by our lass. The compost though is finally, finely mulched, as the large roots and stalks had still been rotting down so today with loppers available broke them down smaller.

In this time though, our lass had dug over the potato bed, dug over the bed by the front fence, replaced an edging plank (I did bring the plank down though ;o), removed pansies from the front, put some slate down out front and sorted some seeds in her green house.

Before going to the allotment I did sort some seedlings out at home, but as our lass pointed out, I could have waited till in the week, as all I really managed to do was get in the way and the stuff is still set out on the dining room table. I do have a use, it is still to be quantified.

Aubergine and tomato seedlings potted on

The scene of my one job

Potato bed, fence bed dug by our lass and new plank

Last bit of slate sorted

Am sat in the shed looking out, our lass was off doing more jobs.

Day 44 - Trug? What's a trug?

The very thing which I have thought (not planned) would get done is still to be done which is to move some of the top layer from our horse/straw manure piles just see all is breaking down well, and mix it in with the other compost pile we have. But, going to the allotment and what you do there in, is not a fixed art. You really don't have to go with plans, thoughts or ideas, you simply be. Our lass reached this state yesterday, which is nothing more than you can really ask for. Well, we would like everything to grow and not be eaten by the wildlife, but to just be will be a great start.

We seem to still be on the tidying stage of the allotment cycle, maybe that process never ends, maybe that is it with allotments you forever tidy. But we are quite looking forward to the growing stage which is not too far away now, our lass set a range of flowers seeds away on their first journey of being put into seed trays, and the leeks have taken a little longer than first thought but have now germinated.

Our lass, forever a fan of digging, dug out hopefully one of the last strips of carpet and fixed the fence at the front, as for myself, I pottered readying the greenhouse for the first lot of compost to warm it ready for the tomatoes, aubergines and peppers. The taking of photographs is a must I have written this before but as you will see below there is always a big difference and a big help in seeing where you have come from to where you are now which helps you go further in the future.

Forever moving forward another bit of carpet gone and the fence looking good again.

How the greenhouse looked when we first took it over

How it looks today, getting ever closer to our first season of growing in the greenhouse.

Leeks coming through, I had almost written them off as they have been in for over a month.

Before

After, repurposed some shelving for in the shed, 

Day 43 - We must be barking

 I think I have mentioned this before but there has been many times when we go to the allotment with one job or jobs in mind and we end up doing another, today has been no different. Once on our site our walk to the plot means we pass the wood chip or manure pile. Today there had been a new delivery of wood chip so where I was going to sort the compost pile, we decided to get some woodchip as you will see in the photographs below.

Our lass also got to complete a job which had been bugging her for a while, which was replacing a multi cracked paving slab as we enter our plot.

Our lass did a grand job of sorting the paving out.

Before we brought the wood chip up the hill.

Step now blended in with the woodchip, really starting to look good.

Really starting to come together, much better than all the carpet and broken paving slabs we inherited

A much tidier corner

Our lasses greenhouse when we first took it over

Fresh wood chip down on the floor, but a lot tidier greenhouse for our lass.

Day 42 - Hoe di Hoe

The lord giveth the mice taketh away, I had only a few days ago put some pea seeds out in a drain pipe, and on opening the greenhouse today found everyone had been snaffled away. Plan B for the peas now, start them at home and bring them later onto the allotment.

Today was a day of potter, our lass hoed one half of the allotment, and between us we set out the scaffold boards so we had walkways and beds set out. It really does help bring forward that the season is almost upon us and it helps to bring into reality what you have thought out as ideas. Just can't wait to actually grow stuff now.

Our lass bakes some great biscuits

Hoed and ready to go

Almost ready, and yes you do really need to stake the corners in of the bed.

Wildlife camera had been out for three days, and it's always great to capture any birds in flight

Day 41 - Crates, Beds and Leaf Mouldabiles

 Okay so I stretched the heading a bit, but aren't we all allowed a bit of artistic license, as much as you are down your own allotment. One of the best things said to us on our first walk around the allotment site that we have our plot on, was "It's your plot, you can do what you like" (Well within the allotment rules). But basically don't get hung up on what other folks are doing or not doing.

Today would be the third straight day we have made a day out at our allotment, and it has felt good, even though our lass would think I had made a good job of hiding this fact. 

You will see below, we have finally found use and positioning for a large crate which was left in the plot, it now sits between the pear trees, and is two thirds filled with leaf mould so when we add the bought in compost it doesn't take a silly amount of bags, we should get away with two bags and then our lass has another bed for flowers.

We have found more trunks to line the dog roses, so that is coming together even more now and the crate which came from the same corner was going to be given away but is now lined and will store more leaves to create leaf mould, you can never have enough, compost, leaf mould or manure you will come to know.

Lastly, I nailed together four planks of the wood that we got a few weeks ago, it is to make a raised bed for the carrots, as the soil is quite clayey and is the reason why it looks like the onions have failed. but the bed frame is ready for next week when we will mix compost and grit together to put in it. It is also the right length to simply put the netting straight over to keep the carrot flies out. Considering a bag of carrots is around fifty pence, we are going for the priceless experience not a cost saving exercise.

Carpets on to stop the leaves flying off, but next step is to add compost on the top level

I know I have shown a few photographs of this corner over the past few days, but this is nearing it's ready for now stage, nothing is ever finished it can always be tinkered with.

You can never have enough leaf mould.

First use of the wood we got a few weeks ago, a bed for the carrots.

Day 40 Dig, Dog, Do.

I know a lot of the time is where I write Our allotment, but today I truly felt like it was our lasses allotment. Our lass did a lot of work today and all I did was barrow some wood chippings up the hill. Now I ain't fishing for credit, just in awe of our lass. 

The dog rose is all in place, and for an added touch our lass noticed some tree trunk/thick branch sections from a well established tree. So I brought them up with the wood chippings and our lass edged the area as you can see in the photographs below. The trench from yesterday was lined with blood fish and bone, the dog roses were then bedded in with compost mixed with grit. We also got a bonus as it seems someone from where got them from couldn't count to ten as we got eleven. Must have been a one more for luck.

Then when our lass had finished planting the dog rose, the potato bed was her next target and with the flash of a spade the lazy worms had the straw part of the manure turned over bringing it closer to them, so this will help more rot down for next month. 

I did also do a drain pipe of peas, in between the trips up and down the hill with the barrow and swept. but the star for today was our lass.

How this area used to look

And how it looks today

Our lass will be happy when the dog roses have grown up to cover the fence and block out the blue.

Can our lass dig it, yes she can.

Before