Monday 1 April 2013

Easter time at the allotment

24th February 2013

Popped down to burn some of the rubbish I'd dragged out previously. Whilst that was burning I cleared a spot for some more wild flowers which i planted. Also started clearing an area between the new wild flower bed and Elderberry tree for us to sit in the summer and marvel at our allotment.





Pulled out some monster bramble and nettle roots. So, despite burning loads i now have a similar sized pile of rubbish again

2 March 2013

Couple of hours down the lotty today. Little bit done. Burnt off some more crap.

Start clearing bed number 8 and dug out another batch of brambles around that. Not far to go before one half of the plot has been cleared now.

Met the other plot neighbours yesterday. About the same age as us, maybe a few years younger. They kindly offered me a bunch of Strawberry plant runners which i happily took off their hands so they are now in.

Been trying to get a greenhouse off ebay, missed out on one for under £40 because i was out on Friday when the auction ended. Not desperate for one but will try to stay on the ball with ebay & freecycle to acquire a bargain.

Need to do something about the fencing as well because most of the wooden stakes have rotted away and i've got wood propping up most of the corregated steel stuff now.

Pics from today



Strawberry Plants
 

 
1st April 2013
 
Nearly a month since i last got down the allotment. Getting difficult now as the Ironman training intensifies, not to mention the increase in weekend run distance ready for the London Marathon in three weeks time. Still, I have a week off for Easter so plan too get down there two or three times this week.
 
I have started off quite a few seeds in the conservatory and have a good batch of stuff ready to go in. Weather has been grim though which has held up planting out, we are still getting snow in the UK.
 
Good progress down there today. Arleya planted out the Basil in the herb bed. She also moved a load more garlic over to our garlic bed.
 
Arleya planting the Basil

Garlic
 
Seem to have more cauliflower coming through now from the first bed and seeds we planted. Helps that i can now recognise what it should look like. Also planted the Radish seedlings out. I'll probably just chuck the seeds straight in for the next batch now i know what the seedlings look like.
 
Radish
Also planted my first load of tomato seedlings, not sure how they are going to do with the current cold but we will see what happens, i have covered them & they have been outside a few times to harden them up.
 
I also started work on my recycled plastic bottle cold frame which is currently being built over the tomato's. Pleased with how thats going although i ran out of bottles before being able to finish half the bed which was a shame. If anyone has any empty 2 litre plastic bottles they would be appreciated.
 
Cold frame construction out of recycled two litre plastic bottles
 
Also fixed the fence in a few places by digging in some hefty wooden posts that were lying about.Glad to get that done as the corregated iron that kept falling down was starting to wind me up.
 
So. all in all a very productive day.
 
Have some more stuff to plant out later on in the week. Carrots & Beetroot next. I also have another tray of tomato's, some onion & pepper seedlings that are nearly ready to go out.
 
cheers
 
Andy
 
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