18 November

Day 147...

Ok, so my phone doesn't cope with low light very well. However, you can see the three cloches and the black plastic keeping the weeds down. Today was a quick chance to keep the weeds down and get the covers on before the heavy frosts next week.

The whole family helping out!

Made the last cloche in the twilight. And yes, my three year old now knows how to use a staple gun. Sue me.

The little man really enjoys helping out. "Daddy, thank you for the adventure!" as we left the plot!

Mid November and I was very happy to walk away with a bag of kale, two lettuces (the first of the 'radichio' lettuces) and 2 pak choi (however that is spelt). Not a bad haul considering there is more of each of them and I didn't take any spinach (which is what I went for!).

7 October

Not long since my last post but an afternoon of digging today. Hurt the wrist unfortunately so might be my last digging for a while!

Dried the spuds off outside and bagged them in paper bags. Not a bad haul - not exactly going to see us through winter, but the above I estimate about half of what we took. Not bad considering the season was so restricted between getting the plot and the abrupt end from blight!

A few shots of the family this time. The bean eater above - always enjoyed himself. The mud eater below, and the wife trying to get the mud out of her mouth!! (Sshh... don't tell anyone)

Yes... Mud on his finger...

The two shots above show the trenching method I chose. I just can't dig the whole plot with muck and break up the clay, so I'm going to try to dig as beds. I marked out some beds, dug out a trench of about a fifth of the bed, and put in a barrow load of compost. I forked this in, then buried it with the soil from the next fifth. Each bed starts by filling the back of the last. I dug 2 this way today. One for over winter brassicas, one for winter lettuce. I've got some fleece, mesh and piping so this weekend hopefully I'll build and plant! Will be ready for winter then.

EDIT: Just had dinner. Fish fingers (not home grown!), spinach (beet), chipped potatoes, cos lettuce and tomatoes (cherry and usual). Plus an apple and blackcurrant crumble to look forward to. Amazing! Thanks go to the wife (who doesn't read this ;) ) for making good use of everything. Thanks also for giving us a squash / bean break...

5 October

The blight cometh!!!

I thought I saw some brown patches 6 days before this. The next day I came down and sprayed the lot with Bordeaux mixture to see if that held it off. The thick foliage was reduced amazingly to the above - mere soggy sticks! The fact that any earth is visible is remarkable considering how thick the foliage was a week ago :(

Anyway, I lifted the lot. Four carriers of spuds on top of 3 I lifted earlier in the week. I'm amazed how quick they all grew.

A bag of spinach and a cos lettuce as well. Not a bad harvest although pretty hard work for what I took away!

Got  a humble reminder about the difference between digging with a spade and a fork today. Tried to break up some of the clay under the spud bed. Think I did a gd job but it was hard going. Must remember to dig with a spade first when breaking up soil in future. A fork was a waste of time until I'd cleared the bottom of each trench at which point the spade was a waste of time!

Only one thing to do with the foliage...

The plot itself looking nice. Was gd to take a lettuce off - will have to see tomorrow how bad the slug damage is. It didn't look bad at all.

30 Sept

Days are getting too confusing (although this was taken on day 97!), so I'm switching to normal dates. The plot is doing very well - great in fact - but starting to see a few problems.

First off, there's bean rust on the runners. I'm not that fussed as the beans are nearly done. Apparently it can be made worse if nitrogen levels are too high - I can't believe that's the case as I hadn't enriched the soil (and noone else had!). However, they did get a dressing of growmore. Thankfully its usually a problem which develops too late in the season to damage yields (as seen here!), but it does mean burning rather than composting all the leaves.

Secondly, and much more serious, is potato blight. Its there in small amounts across the whole patch. Again, I'm not really worried as there is a crop under the soil. However, I thought it meant lifting the lot. Thankfully I spoke with an old hand (John) who suggested I did what he did this year, which is to just remove the foliage and to leave the potatoes in the ground till needed. I might do that to start (again, burning the leaves), as it will let me leave the undamaged foliage a little longer, and give the potatoes a chance to grow. That said, if the rain gets heavy, I'll have to lift the lot.

So here it is! Main changes since last shot are growth in the lettuce leaves, some tidying of paths (I trimmed down the amount of grass) and some clearing at the back ready for the compost heaps to move (which isn't really visible). Soon the strawberries, squashes and potato leaves will be gone, the small compost bin at the back taken down and eventually the compost heap will move.

Week 12

Delighted by the plot developing. Mid-Sept now so not much new to go in. Just some winter protection, sets for onions / garlic which I'll consider, broads (although I'm not convinced I'll bother!) and HARVEST HARVEST HARVEST!!!

The last haul really was a bit of everything. From the front and clockwise: Blackberries (with a couple of strawbs!), runners (2 carrier bags...), kale (for piggies), french beans (I harvested about a fifth of what we had), spinach (baby - for salad), potatoes and a courgette.

Didn't make much of a dent on the plot with this lot. I spent ages picking beans but there are loads more. I really don't want them to get stringy. Pleased with the spinach as that's a real cut and come again salad crop. Will look forward to trying the french beans - I've never let them get that big before so I'll be interested to see if they're good!

Blackberries are a little sharp - crumble fodder :D

Week 10

Plot looking good so far, but the big news is... HARVEST IS HERE! Well, not exactly masses, but there's loads of beans ready (dwarf and french). 2 months since planting - not bad! Helped by a combination of lots of water and the heat / sun we've had recently.

Above - lots of beans all growing well. Below - today's harvest. Left most of the beans as I've guests coming soon and will take some to share out.

Week 9

Just a quick update this week. Finally cleared that scrappy bit at the front (with a bit of help from the wife!). Also put in some random leaves (first bed on right, halfway down). A range of different things - cos, radishio, pak choi - just to see what grows well and what the family uses. The beet leaves sown direct are coming along well, but the lettuce is not - neither here or sown at home. Bit disappointing! Generally I'm finding the rate of weed seed germination is swamping that of my seeds. That's fine, but when sowing lettuce that looks very much like the weeds, its hard to pick them out and weed around them. Currently I'm just relying on my string-marked rows and will hope that my lettuce (if there is any in there) outgrows the weeds. If they've not come up at home, might just be slow to germinate, else seed might be naff (some of it is several years old). I'll buy new for next year anyway, and I've bought some this year already. Still feels easier to raise from seed in trays and transplant for the delicate lettuces.

Left side all looking good. Used Bordeaux mixture on the potatoes to help keep blight away as its starting to rain now after a very dry July. Nice rates from the seed potatoes - not one hole in the rows!

Kale continues to come strong under the netting. The black kale and cabbages I put in the middle doing ok (although may get covered by the kale in due course!). Next year I'll do it the other way round - a few kale plants in the middle will be fine, with some more variety on the outside.

The first runners! Must be within 2 months of planting the small shoots. Split the first one with my son - no string and lovely taste. Am keeping the watering heavy on the beans but really need to make sure I do more of a trench next year as some water is running off the slight mound.

Still thinking about whether to get a second manure load or not...

Week 8

Late night hoe-ing! All lookin gd but getting hard to get down to the site after the kids are down.

Delivery of manure this week. Its been in a pile since Feb apparently and a mix of cow, calf and goat. I got it from the dairy play farm my son visits regularly (£45 for a trailer load - that went to the guy with the trailer who also has a digger to dig it out and load it under agreement with the farm).

I'm in half mind to get a second load and to leave it in a mound. I managed to shovel and barrow all the manure into my 2 pallets, integrating the fresh-ish manure with the mass of turf and weeds I took off the site. I could leave that and use it as an excellent mulch next year, then use the newer stuff to generally enrich the site. Left hand pallet is pure manure and the right is the mix.

Above and below shows the before and after (yes, before is above, you just can't see the pallets behind the beans!). Its a fair amount of manure - perhaps I've got all I need but the pallets are bigger than I thought! Its a reminder of how much work I've had to do - I 2/3 filled a pallet from the weeds, and the above mound is about 1 pallet load.

Week 7

Today was the last of the digging days! Well, not really, but the last time tackling the overgrown beds for now! A big final 2 days to push through the last bed.

Today (10 August) I planted a few leaves to get some green going late in the season. With any luck also winter hardy. Winter density lettuce, lambs lettuce and perpetual spinach. All well spaced in case fleece is required.

Next week I get my first manure load. Fresh I think so plan is to cart it to the back of the plot and mix it with the weeks I've been taking off the plot. Should be a gd mix and should burn the weeds to make sure they are dead too.

Above shows there is still some tidying to be done, but all beds now largely clear and mostly planted.

Potatoes doing well - troughed up and grown out the top.

Beans also filling out. Not setting very well and I've had some questions about how well mine have set, so I presume several people having that problem. Now there are a few more flowers hopefully more pollinators will come. Certainly lots of bees today. Also still lots of ladybirds!

That was today's bed - all done this week and mainly today and two days ago. Will be gd to see how quickly everything comes through - might start looking like a proper allotment soon!

Week 5

Been pushing on. Lots of digging and starting to get more in the ground. First spuds have come through - they will need protection later but who knows, spuds for Xmas? Good ground cover while I work on the rest of it.

Had my first fire today. Cut down a large branch in the back garden so took it down to the plot. It had a burner when I got it (see Day 1!). All went ok - bit stupid to start the fire so close to my beans but I think I got away with it.

Things starting to look good - only a month on! The runners are shooting up and the dwarf beans bushing out. Courgettes have been productive - taken at least a half dozen and a few coming a week now.

Big job I did today was the new cloches. I put some netting over the bed a few weeks back - some stuff I had from my old beds in the back garden. I bought a reel of thick outdoor piping from B&Q and constructed the hoops. I'm really pleased with how they've turned out-  the hoops even push outward . The netting is just laid over, but there are wooden strips stapled to the netting at the sides. Easy to lift off, and holds the net down. Height should be fine for any brassica - pigeon proof and, hopefully, cabbage white proof! So far I've had a few nibbles from pigeons - I nearly lost 2 plants - and I've got some holes from a small caterpillar.

Hopefully the netting is small enough to keep stuff off the kale, but the plan was more just to try it out. Over winter I can switch the netting for fleece and just keep going on through - fingers crossed!

I'm slightly annoyed that I choose the below angle as the one to monitor progress on the plot as all the stuff I've done is not/barely visible!

Day 21 - Week 3!

Time to start moving to weeks!

Been quite slow since the last post. Tick bite they think gave me Lyme's disease so I've been on anti-b's for 2 weeks - the latest ones have the very strange requirement to stay out of the sun as they make you very photosensitive. Unfortunately we're currently in our 'once in 7 yr heat waves' so the sun has been burning down! However, I did get the lime down (5 kg for the brassica plot) and planted out the kale. Today just popped in to water and hoe but in the evening slipped back at 8pm, dug another metre and planted some donated spuds.

I've got moles! Very cute I'm sure, but I can seen that the buried plants and the water breaking through into tunnels (so being wasted) could get annoying. Still novel at the moment though...

Potato troughs. The second was dug today, the first was populated!

 Day 21 - not much light but you can see the extra bed growing from the last shot

I think the sky should look like this every time you leave the allotment! If the light isn't failing, why are you going home ;) (Because you're knackered, sweaty, out of water, want to see the family all valid excuses, but you see my point ;) ).

Next time hopefully finish the potato plot and plant up the last pots. Then its onto bed 4 - the misc bed...

Day 13

Less than 2 weeks from weedville and living the dream already! Popped down to the allotment society shed to pick up some growmore and lime for the kale. Really wanted to get the kale bed up and running and get on with the potato bed digging, but far too hot. Popped down at the end of the day to water - nibble of a strawberry, water the new beans, watered the courgettes (some now need taking). Used the comfrey leaf tea Carol said I could help myself to. Even put a can on the strawberries.

Next goals - get the lime on and kale in, sow some french beans to finish the legume plot, and get the potato space started. Tomorrow is a Monday so with a bit of rest from this ridiculous heat, I'll get that lot done while J is at pre-school.

Day 12

Took day 11 as a vegging day (me, not plot related!). Let the sunburn die down and take it easy. Really was a hard dig on day 10!

Day 12 was a catch-up. Got some timber and delivered. Strengthened some pallets and sunk in some creosoted baton posts to support them. Result was 2 huge (and I mean huge) compost bins. Moved the massive pile of weeds in, layered with guinea pig sweepings, lime and soil layers. Plenty of water and covered in carpet. Reckon that I might manage to fill one bin by the time I've cleared the whole plot.

Lets see if I can run it hot!

Also put up my bean poles and planted in some runners that I bought as small plants.

That tiny strip in the back left in front of the beans is the bit that broke me a few days ago! Compost heap is in the back left behind the canes.

Small crop of strawberries being shown off in front of the courgettes which have taken very well.

Below is a close up of today's work. The closest bin is the one about a third full. Need to remember to tie the netting at the top a bit more - currently just hooked in at the corners.

Day 10

Dug one strip today - took me longer than I could believe. Ground was in terrible condition and clearly the bit I was digging had once been a path. It was very heavily compacted. Took longer than I expected too and I had no suncream. So... I got lobsterised. Damn it!

Can also see the bite on my left arm - much better now 

Day 9

I'll start with the final picture. Its been a week of digging. Hard digging! Strimmer and mower used to clear the paths a little more, back plots attacked in earnest and, as a morale booster, I bought some courgettes so that I actually have something growing. Felt good putting them in, even if I am cheating.

Above: the courgettes against the weeded out strawberries. Plot dug first, no enrichment before planting (I'll drop dress with growmore in due course but for now I haven't the time, nor the compost, to dig.

Below: a few small fruits showing themselves when purchased.

Above: the weed pile generated by the clearing of the 3 plots (courgette bed and the back two plots shown below an nearly finished).

Day 7

Great. Nature bites back. Got a tick on the back of my arm. I didn't see it so didn't remove it properly. Now I'm on anti-b's and you could fry an egg on my elbow.

Ho hum.

Day 6

Left the plot for a while to let the weedkiller sink into the plants, and to do the whole 'work' thing. Met more people on site, one of which has routinely left a somewhat communal petrol mower in the shed I am now inhabiting. That means I get to use it - not great as its reeeeally blunt. I also couldn't remove the blade to take it home to sharpen - somewhat annoying as would be fine if the blade didn't just chew everything.

Day 1

Tough day. Been at it with the strimmer and dropped the height of the weeds by about 2 feet. Looks better though - finally able to differentiate between paths and weed beds. Found some strawberry plants, what might have been a rhubarb and leant against the bean canes - they disintegrated...

Introduced myself to everyone I saw. Got plenty of carpet, loans of black plastic and some buckets donated to the cause. Also found a decent fork in the shed (nice and long handle - a little bent but ok) an the dustbin turned out to be a burner - now tucked into the back of the shed. I didn't notice a wheelbarrow during my first visit but another little plus. Rusted badly but still solid enough.

Sprayed the 'beds' with glyphosphate and covered them up. I found 6 distinct areas but I'm guessing only 2 of them had been recently worked. Some of my neighbours suggested the plot had only been tinkered with a few times in the last 3 years. Amusingly the council rotavated the plot for the new tenant and I could still find furrows. That said, most of the ground hasn't been walked on - its in surprisingly good heart.

Day 0

Ok. So its not day 0 (24 June 2013). Its about day 12. But on day 0 I wasn't sure whether I was going to go through with the whole allotment thing, let alone start a blog.

Got my letter from the council Sunday morning. Signed the documents (site unseen) Monday morning - figured I'd take the site whatever condition it was in. I hadn't looked into whether they typically rotavate the plots for you, or whether all plots are typically passed from the previous user in a usable condition. Wrong on both counts!

On thing about the plot is that I need to be careful with the time commitment. 2 kids and a tough job balanced against recently having gone part time so having a 3 day weekend. So when I first saw the plot I was really disappointed and discouraged.

First thing was to phone the council to confirm that they would give me some time to sort it out. There is a penalty point system and if they were going to play rough, I needed to make a fuss. It seemed they would take into account the original state of the plot.

First photo I took. Did a little weeding first just so I could see the '9'. The shed, old canes across to the dustbin burner on the left are 'mine'.

Second shot just an example of what it looked like. Buttercups (so assuming wet and acidic soil) across everything and my biggest concern.

So, to get motivation back on track I didn't touch the plot but went to B&Q for some boys toys - glyphosphate, a sprayer and a petrol strimmer... Brruuumm brrruummmmmmmmm....