New year on the plot

Our first visit to the allotment since early December was on New Year's Day. Well that's a good start to the new year, but it was very cold and  too cold to do any work. Nothing much had changed since that last visit in December.

But we didn't go to do any work, we went to dig up some leeks and cut some parsley. 

It was a good chance to check around and make sure everything was ok. The rhubarb is showing signs of new growth.

The fruit bushes need pruning and weeding needs to be done in the cages.

We had cleared most of the beds in the autumn and spread compost then covered with membrane, so it was looking fine.  

There are winter jobs to be done, repairs and cleaning, but they can wait for warmer weather.  The cold frame collapsed last year and needs repairing. The greenhouse and shed both need cleaning out.

Since that visit we have had plenty of bad weather, snow, rain extreme cold, so still not gardening weather.

Stormy weather and winter jobs

 It's quiet on the allotments at the moment, we hardly ever see anyone else down there. Not surprising, with all the storms and snow we've had in the last few weeks it's not been fit to do any work. We've managed to do a few short sessions since the start of the year, taking advantage of the odd fine weather day. Fortunately in the autumn we got most beds cleared and mulched and the greenhouses cleaned out.

I don't do any planting in the ground yet and I don't usually start sowing seeds in warmth until early March. It's surprising though how many other jobs we find need doing. This time of year is a good time to tackle repairs and  maintenance jobs. The high winds blew over some of the fencing so that needed fixing back in place, the compost bins need  repairs to some rotting wood, and the heavy rain upset our drainage system. 

An old land drain runs down onto our allotment from the plot above and when we took the plot on years ago Richard put a drain in place to divert the water down, into the pond, onto the lane outside and into the woods. It works well most of the time but after any really heavy rain the drain overflows and needs clearing of silt.  Well we've had our share of heavy rain in the last few weeks and last week after more rain there was water running down the paths and it had also got into the shed. So Richard has had quite a job on trying to sort out the blocked drain. This week he thinks it's sorted at last but we are left with a very muddy mess.

One job I didn't get done in the autumn was pruning the fruit bushes and that's what I have been doing recently. It's taking me longer than I thought to get it done. I have to work at a slow pace because  the pruning aggravates my arthritic hands and bending and shoveling compost hurts my back. After I've pruned the fruit I've been giving them a sprinkling of chicken manure pellets and a mulch of home made compost. Nearly done now, just have the blueberries to do. Those I mulch with the shredded branches of our Christmas tree for the acidity. The rhubarb is growing fast, it's pink shoots seem to increase so quickly. Every time we visit the plot it seems to have grown much bigger.

Finding the shed floor covered in water I had to sweep it out, but it reminded me that the shed needs it's annual clean out. It needs a fine day to do this so I can move the contents of the shed outside before I can give it a good clean out. This is my least favourite job as I never know what wildlife I will find once I start. For the time being I can put that job off, but I really want to get it done soon so I can have a clean start to the growing season. What we need is some drier weather then we can really get a move on.

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Chippings, mulching and clearing beds

 We've had  a spell of dry weather recently with the occasional frosty morning.  I always get quite restless when the weather is fine but can't get out. There's not always much can be done in the garden at this time of year, but down on the allotment  there are winter jobs which we can be getting on with, so we did a few visits there in the last week or two. When the weather has been fine we have managed to get down there about twice a week.

We get a lot of leaves falling from the big tree at the top of the plot so clearing these from the paths was one job to get on with.  Then a good sweeping and swilling with Jeyes Fluid to stop them getting slippery.

I cut down the asparagus stems, a job I hadn't managed to do in the autumn. In the bed next to the asparagus had been annual flowers which I grow for cutting. I cleared all the dead stems from there too. On the asparagus bed I spread a mixture of manure bought from the garden centre and home made compost. Another bed which needed clearing was the sweetcorn and beetroot bed. The sweetcorn stems were quite hefty and needed a big tug to get them out. A mulch of compost finished the bed off nicely.

There was a delivery of bark chippings at the dump so Richard did some barrowing and started topping up the paths and non growing areas with the chippings. It always looks so clean and tidy after we have done this.

I made a start on pruning the fruit bushes by doing the gooseberries. I gave them a mulch of  a mixture of home made compost and manure. The rhubarb is starting to grow again so that got a mulch too. Then we spread a layer of bark chippings over.

The seating area is well used, for rests and cups of tea and to sit and admire our work or decide which jobs to do next.

There seem to have been a few new tenants on the site recently. A lot of people don't realise how much time and hard work is needed to keep an allotment going and soon give up. 

We're hoping they will stick at it.

Getting ready for Spring

We've been going to the allotment a couple of times a week recently when the  weather has been fine enough. Some of the beds were cleared and  mulched in the autumn, so I have been sorting out the other beds. As winter vegetables were gradually harvested I have been able to clear any debris away, then hoe the weeds and lightly work the top surface of the soil. I don't dig the soil, just clear any weeds and then mulch with compost or manure. The worms do the rest of the work. Its been a few years since we have been able to get any manure for the allotment, so I have been using home made compost, which is as good. Sometimes we buy bags of manure from the garden centre and mix this with the compost.

Now the beds are looking tidy and are just waiting for the soil to warm up enough to plant or sow.  But there are other jobs which we have been getting on with. This time of waiting in the winter and early Spring is a good time to get on with  maintenance jobs around the allotment. Our allotments have been kept supplied with plenty of bark chippings from a local company. I have been using these to cover the non growing areas of my plot after weeding. They help to keep the weeds down and  make the place look tidy.

The pond has been needing a good tidy up and as soon as the weather improved I got my rubber gloves and a scoop and got rid of some of the mud and silt which was building up. I cut back some of the plants in the little garden around the pond and then covered the ground with some of the chippings. No sign of frog spawn yet, I just hope I didn't frighten the frogs off with all my work.

The greenhouses needed cleaning out and that's another job I leave for warmer weather. Once they were done I put the staging back in and I'm now ready to fill it with all the plants I'll be starting off from seed in the coming weeks. Already in there are sweet peas, broad beans, onions and peas sown in guttering. There are more seedlings at home which I'll gradually bring to the plot for growing on in the greenhouse.

Richard has been making a new fruit cage for the blueberries.  He bought a metal shelving system which he saw on offer and worked out that it would be cheaper than buying a proper fruit cage. He likes a project and this has kept him busy for a week or two. It's finished now and is great, its higher than the old one so I can stand up straight inside it which is much easier on my back.

The days are getting warmer now and work on the allotment will increase as I start to plant and sow in the ground. Its good to know that we are well prepared on the plot as we start the growing season.

Winter jobs on the allotment

After a busy December when all work on the allotment stopped, I have been wanting to get back to work on my plot. December is always busy at home and I don't think I ever get to do any allotment work during that time. We have managed to do a couple of visits since the start of the New Year and it's been a case of carrying on where we left off.

cabbages looking messy

When we arrived for our first visit we were greeted by a strong smell of rotten cabbages.  The cabbage bed still had two or three cabbages left in, but they were very slimy and slug eaten. I got rid of them and weeded the bed.  The rest of the bed has kale and purple sprouting broccoli growing and they looked quite healthy, but not ready for harvesting.

the asparagus bed in need of clearing up

Next I tackled the asparagus bed, cutting down the dead foliage stems and weeding. There were some Rudbekias which had kept on flowering well into November, but had finally gone over, so they got pulled up and thrown on the compost heap.  At the other end of the asparagus bed are some rows of leeks.  I weeded and earthed up the soil around them.  The bed looked very clean and tidy after all that work.  All the beds which I had weeded then got a feed with chicken manure pellets.  We normally put a layer of well rotted horse manure on the beds during the winter once they have been cleared, but our manure bins are empty.  We need to find a source of manure so that we can start storing it again.

a tidy seating area overlooking the asparagus bed

Down the lane some bark chippings have been dumped for the allotment holders to help themselves to.  Richard brought a few barrow loads of the chippings and spread them out where our table and chairs are.  It looks much tidier now and will help to keep the weeds down.  There were also some bags of leaves on the car park so we helped ourselves to some of those and put them in the leaf bin to rot down.

After clearing the vegetable beds my next job was to start weeding the fruit beds.  I made a start with the rhubarb and apple tree bed, but there is still the blueberry and blackcurrant beds to weed yet. I was pleased to see the rhubarb showing new growth already.

the rhubarb bed

There are plenty of jobs still on my to do list and the list never seems to get any shorter.  But as the days start to lengthen we can spend more time on the plot.  The weather has turned cold now and we have had snow in the last day, so we can't do any more work at the moment.  We look forward to better days.