Cold

Well it was really, really cold, but we still went to the allotment. Richard wanted to put some drainpipes into his dug out drains on plot8, Helen and I wanted to do other things.

 I still have restricted movement in my wrist so wasn't able to do very much. I just watched and acted as director of operations. Helen put some staging in the ploytunnel on plot 10b and sowed some carrots in a tub to grow in there.  She also dug up the gooseberries and blackcurrants and put them in a new border which we had prepared along the front of the plot. We had originally planted these bushes in the autumn in another border, but felt that there wasn't enough depth of soil. They should be quite happy in their new border. Helen dug over the old bed after we had moved the fruit bushes.  It will be fine to grow veg in.

We also went over to plot 8 to see how work was progressing with the drains. We investigated the pond and to our delight we found frog spawn!  Hoping that means lots of frogs to eat the slugs.

 

Draining plot 8

We made a start on plot 8 our new allotment last weekend. We didn't really know where to start, there is so much rubbish and it has been very neglected. We sorted through broken plant pots and seed trays, managing to salvage some big pots which would do for growing potatoes in. We started to make a pile of bricks, there seem to be hundreds of them all over the plot, but they will be useful. There are lots of other stones and rubble lying around which again will be useful, especially as we are needing rubble to lay the foundations of the paths on plot 10b. The very flimsy raised beds still had the  remains of dead plants in them, which we cleared.  They seem to be not very deep, lined with membrane and filled with compost, but we can use them this summer as overflow beds for plants from plot 10b. We noticed that there were two small beds with strawberries in so we will leave those, give them some TLC and see if they produce any fruit. The whole plot seems to have had membrane, bits of carpet and wood thrown down in an attempt to suppress the weeds.  I don't think it has been dug over in years.

Down one side of the plot, part of the boundary fence has a conifer hedge, which we could tell had not been cut in a long time and our neighbours confirmed this.  They keep their side well maintained. Richard made a start on cutting it back. Although he has cut into the wood which means it will not grow again on our side, we have probably gained a few feet of extra space.

 

As  we worked with our clearing up Helen's husband David got a fire going on our other plot to burn the debris and hedge cuttings. We still finished up with a big pile of rubbish which couldn't be burnt.

All the work  was made more difficult because of the water running down the plot. Some areas are very muddy, making it very slippy. So Richard has also been tackling the drainage problem. He has dug out a drain from the top of the plot where the water source starts. This is channelled down to the pond and then out to the bottom of the plot onto the lane.  He intends to put some drain pipes into the dug out areas to make proper drains.  This is the most important job at the moment on the plot. We can see some improvement already as the path and steps into the plot has now dried out and we can enter without worry of falling over in the mud.

As we spend more time clearing up our new plot we are forming a plan in our mind of how to lay it out.
We've a lot of work ahead of us though.

Not completely useless

Here I am recovering from a broken wrist. I'll try not  to dwell on it too much, but sometimes I feel useless. I'm trying to get back to normal, I'm told to do things to exercise my wrist but then I suffer with pain and I'm told I'm doing too much. What I really want to do is dig the allotment, but I know that's a long way off. The very thought of digging makes me want to squeal in pain.

So, longing to get out in the garden and do things, I've been thinking about what I can do in the garden, gentle things which don't overtax my wrist. I 've been able to do a little bit of tidying up in the borders, clearing away dead foliage and a bit of hand weeding. I enjoyed that. I  chitted the potatoes. That was an easy job. At the allotment my daughter Helen and I planted onion and garlic sets in modules. That was a nice gentle job, it didn't hurt.

At home I have been sowing salad seeds for micro greens and baby leaves. I can manage that. I sowed pea seeds for pea shoots, rocket, radish, mustard, mixed leaves, kale, cabbage, beetroot. All these can be sown at this time of year for baby salad leaves. They grow quickly if sown indoors and are kept on a windowsill. They are great to cut and add to salads and sandwiches. I even got the grandchildren involved one day when they got home from school. I filled a big tray of compost and brought it indoors. I then found some recycled plastic food containers to use as seed trays. I let them choose what they wanted to grow. The fact that they were going to grow salad leaves was of no interest to them, as they said they didn't like salad. I suggested that mummy would like to have some, but the thing which really grabbed it for them was that it was a messy job. They dug their hands into the compost, got dirty and made a mess.

So in the end they enjoyed their after school activity and they had a tray of newly sown seeds to take home. Their mum was pleased. I just had a lot of mess to clear up afterwards. It was a bit painful, but I managed. (ouch!). Hopefully they will get more interested when they start to see the seeds germinate.

 

Seeds

We're always ready to grab any free seeds, so when my daughter and I heard that there was going to be a stall on the market with a seed giveaway, we went along to see what was on offer. The event was organised by a local environmental charity group called Prospects who have a food growing project working with allotments, schools and other community groups.

I wasn't really expecting too much, maybe just a couple of packets of free seeds and lots of promotion for the group. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find the market stall had boxes of seeds set out containing many different varieties of  all sorts of vegetables, herbs and salad crops. Not only that, we were allowed TEN packets each!

Needless to say we had a good old rummage through the seed packets. Although we had already bought our seeds for the new growing season, this was an opportunity to try some different varieties.

Our haul included:
turnip, cabbage, pumpkin, yellow courgette, purple podded pea, beefsteak tomato, pepper, runner bean, broad bean.

There were plenty of varieties of salad leaf which caught my eye and since I have been taking part in the
52 week salad challenge I'm always ready to try something different.
We picked out:
Swiss Chard--bright lights, Mustard Pizzo, Orach Scarlet Emperor, American land cress, Mizuna, Perpetual Spinach, Rocket --discovery, Pak Choi crunchy mix, and a frilly leaf salad mix.

That should keep us very busy this year and now we have two allotments to grow on we should have plenty of space. Can't wait to get sowing!

Plot 8 a new allotment

 When my daughter got her allotment last year,  we agreed we would share the plot but I decided to still keep my name on the allotment waiting list. We worked hard last year getting her allotment in shape ready to grow food this year.  As we were planning what to grow in the different raised beds I did wonder if we had enough space, after all we are growing to feed two families.


Last week however I got a letter from the allotment officer inviting the first seven people on the waiting list to view three  plots which were available. They would be allocated in waiting list order if there was any interest. Two of the plots were quite big and overgrown, the third was next door but two from my daughter's plot and just big enough to give us the extra space we needed.  Although it did need a lot of work doing, we felt it was a project we would like to take on.

I put my request in for plot 8 and a few days later I was delighted to hear that I had got it! My own allotment!  Once we had got the key we went to have a proper look at it, as we had only been able to look through the fence before.  The plot has a problem with drainage, there is water running down from the top and out the gate, so the first job will be to sort that out. My husband has already made a start digging out a drain. Halfway down the plot next to the fence is a small pond. We were told that it has frogs and frogspawn which should please the grandchildren and we will be pleased if the frogs eat the slugs.

There are two very rickety sheds which will have to come down. Inside the sheds we found tools and all sorts of other useful stuff as well as loads of rubbish.

There are a few small raised beds, which need weeding and topping up with manure or compost, then we might be able to grow something there this year. Eventually I think I will get rid of them, dig the whole plot over and build some better beds.

There's a lot of rubbish lying around which needs clearing up and taking to the tip. The place is littered with old plant pots, weeds and brambles. The whole plot seems to be covered in sheets of membrane or carpet, so it's impossible yet to see what sort of soil is there. Perhaps it's hiding something bad or was an attempt to soak up all the water.

We are going to continue to share our allotments and produce. There is still work to be done on plot 10b, Helen's plot,  and I would like to get the important jobs finished this year, before we start to concentrate on sorting out plot 8.

Looks like we've got another busy year ahead of us!

Spring clean at the allotment

Now my plaster is off I can start to exercise my wrist. I have been told to start using it, but it is still painful and sometimes just won't move. But I have been longing to get out in the garden. When the sun shines it's difficult to stay indoors and sometimes I want to do more than go out for a walk.

This week we have had some lovely weather, it was half term and my daughter Helen was off work to look after the children, so we decided to spend some time at the allotment. It's still early for planting or sowing seed here in east Lancashire, so we decided to do some tidying up on the plot.

There was plenty of rubbish still to clear from when we had first taken on the plot last June. We filled bags of glass, wood, plastic, metal and rubble. My husband loaded the car up and took the rubbish to the tip. Next job was the storage shed which gets very dirty and untidy.  It needed a spring clean, we made a start but there's still much to be done there. This is my husband's shed  where he stores his tools  and other stuff, he's very untidy. The potting shed  is mine and Helen's area and is always fairly clean and tidy, no one is allowed to mess it up!

Another job was to fill up the bed alongside the front fence with compost. Here we will plant the blackcurrant and gooseberry bushes which are at the moment in a temporary bed.  Meanwhile my husband was sorting out rubble which is to form the base of the paths between the raised beds.

As we worked the grandchildren  played on the plot and along the lane. They got very muddy but really enjoyed themselves. I couldn't do very much with a poorly hand so I just supervised and provided drinks and biscuits. It was good to be out there in the sun making a start for the new growing year even if it was just cleaning up.

Allotment plans

Last week I was feeling quite down. Trying to do things with my left arm after breaking my right wrist, and coping with the pain is quite tiring. Another result of my fall on the ice, that of a back injury is now becoming apparent. My emotions have ranged from tearful to angry to just plain miserable. Don't anyone annoy me for I might just whack you with my plaster cast!

It's quite frustrating not being able to do the things I want to do, especially when I read about all the things I could be doing in the garden right now. I have to remind myself that up here in the north it is still too early to be sowing any seeds. In a few weeks hopefully I will have more movement in my hand and then the time will be right for sowing seeds.

We checked through our seeds the other week and decided what we want to grow this year. This will be our first growing year on our new plot, so it's quite exciting. Our allotment association are doing a seed order from King's seeds, so we have put an order in. We also need to buy some potatoes, onion sets and garlic yet.

In the meantime as I can't garden, I have been thinking about our plans for the allotment this year. My daughter and I went down to the plot the other day to see how things were doing. We were pleased to see that the daffodil bulbs which I planted in the autumn are showing signs of growth. I'd put one lot under the holly bush and the others in front of the grow house. The soil is very heavy clay in these areas and I wasn't sure if they would grow. The garlic hasn't shown any signs of growth so we will have to plant some more in the spring.

Our plans for this year are: 

•  Do the paths between the raised beds. There is a lot of rubble around the plot which we can use as hardcore before putting some gravel down. The pathway up to the grow house and beyond may need steps. It is a sloped area and being clay soil gets very slippy when it has rained.

• We also want to lay some flags  to create a little patio area next to the shed. It will be somewhere to sit and eat our lunch, have a brew or for the grandchildren to play. There are some paving flags which we have found around the plot which can be used.

•  Dig over and improve the soil in the growhouse with compost, then make a path of some sort. This depends on what we can salvage from the stuff that we have found lying around.

•  Have a good tidy up of all the 'stuff' which is lying around the plot, like pieces of wood, bricks and rubble. These can all be recycled to use around the plot or stored somewhere safe. Other things which are of no use need taking to the local tip.

• Move the fruit bushes. These were given a temporary home when we moved them from the old allotment. We now have a long border along the fence which has a good depth of soil and has had soil improver added. It just needs some compost adding.

So those are the main projects for this year which, all being well, I will be able to be involved with in some way. If I can't do any physical work then I shall just have to stand and watch, giving orders and cracking the whip!