Bed 3 Finito!

I finally finished off digging the 3rd bed on the plot, this one is for the second lot of potatoes which are looking very sad in my spare room at the moment. I hope they actually grow after all this!

The weather was fab here today, the car park at the allotments was almost full! My son had a good run around the plot and got thoroughly dirty, and of course ran across most of the stuff I'd planted, but I don't think he did much harm! He also had a play with the child's rake which was one of the 3 kids tools left in the shed by the previous occupiers, I thought it was the least dangerous for a 2 year old to run about with!

The broccoli has gone mad, it looks like a tray of cress now. I will wait a little bit before thinning it (I hate thinning, I always feel awful that I grew something and then killed it). I also have cauliflower up and the basil is starting to poke through so all good news there.

We didn't stay too long as I was supposed to have a tetanus shot this afternoon, I thought it best to top it up due to all the junk I'm pulling out of the ground at the plot. However by the time I got out of the shower little boy had crashed out in bed and I didn't have the heart to wake him so I will have to make another appointment.

So, as long as the weather holds the second lot of spuds will be in the ground this weekend and the next bed begun (a day or so ahead of schedule no less!). That is if I can get the bloody edging to stay in the ground, I actually had a rage today at it as it just won't stay put, I will try again tomorrow at the start rather than at the end when I'm tired, I think I will have to dig it in a bit. Once that's done the path can go down and I will have to save my pennies to buy more bark as that will be the end of what I have in the shed.

Hope everyone is having nice productive sunshine! I promise I will try and remember to take the camera over the weekend!

Back Yard Gardening

I've not made it down to the plot so far this week, I am hoping to tomorrow if the rain holds off, we'll see!

I have been working away in the back yard though, we have a small walled area as wide as the house and about 10 foot deep and for ages it's just had a few sad looking plants in it! Normally around this time of year I would hit the garden centre with a list of how many empty pots I had and buy some flowering plants and brighten the place up, but the year after I had my son I didn't do anything with the yard (I had bought the plants before I had him, 2 years ago yesterday(!) but once they'd died that was it!) and then last year I was overtaken by courgette and tomato plants and very little else.

On Monday I replanted all of my larger trees and plants that were screaming for more room and did a general tidy up and throwing away of bits and bobs. Yesterday morning my box of plants arrived from Jane Lane so when all the Birthday celebrations were over I planted up the herbs and they now look like this



We still have a coriander to come which will go on the second row, and more Basil which will go down to the plot.

Today I planted up the tomato plants, 10 Roma and 3 Red Alert



and



In the background in front of our purple wheelie bin (Liverpool CC's colour is purple) are my 3 pots of garlic, and before you ask I do know that garlic doesn't grow up canes, but I have 2 cats who like to use my tubs for other things, thus the canes to keep them out and stop them digging things up (but not eating the top of all the plants...).

I also planted up 2 tubs with Unwins Organic Moneymaker tomato seeds and 3 hanging baskets and 3 small wall baskets with Unwins Patio Garden Pearl tomato seeds, so we will see how they all do. Lord knows where I'll be putting them all if I do get a good batch of plants, last year we had tomato plants 3 deep in places!

The strawberry plants that Frank gave me are planted up and next to the grow bag stand so we will see how those do. I am also wondering where the hell I am going to grow lettuce, I think it will be in pots again rather than grow bags as they take up less space, but where I'll put them I don't know. I could really do with another stand, I will have to look about for one as the 3 I have were all presents!

Anyway, it's all progress and after the short break from the plot I feel more ready to go and do a bit more digging, even with these days 'off' I'm still on schedule, I have until the end of the month to finish the 3rd of the bed that's left.

Plod Plod Plod

I spent some nice sunny hours down the plot this afternoon, but didn't really make much progress in terms of digging, I still have a third of the bed left to do and it feels like it's taking forever to do the one bed, more and more buckets of weeds coming out but very few feet of nice cleared beds appearing.

I filled up the water butt by walking back and forth with a big watering can I found in the rubbish heap on the plot. I am using a black rubbish bin as my water butt as it was there and I can't afford another one! I figure that the weather will only get warmer so it was best to get water onto the plot while I felt like it, I can't afford a hose long enough yet.

I watered the leeks, parsnips and all the bits in the shed today. The broccoli has gone mad, there's tons of it up now, not sure what I'm going to do with it for a month as the bed for it isn't due to be dug for another month!

Frank did leave the strawberries and I did bring them home, I will put them in some pots where I can see them so I remember to give them water. I also need to plant my tomato seeds and sort out pots for the plants that should be arriving soon from Jane Lane.

So, besides a small bit of digging, water carrying and some general pottering that was it for today. I hope I get another burst of enthusiasm and get more beds dug soon!

Slowly Making Progress

I managed a few hours on my own down the plot today, the weather wasn't bad, not too hot but not cold enough that I needed a jumper on.

I have finally completed the rhubarb bed and planted the Leeks. They are Carentan 2 from the Unwins Organic range. I put down the edging and then did the second path so that bit looks all neat and tidy. I have to admit that I didn't dig up any of the weeds under the weed control fabric, just slapped it down and put the bark on top of it, hopefully it will be ok.

I then did the end of the second potato bed, I'm just under halfway with that bed, but the next bit involves clearing big clumps of grass away, I will tackle that next time.

There are actually tiny little broccoli plants coming up in the seed tray in the shed, I was really shocked that they came up so fast!

Frank, the Site Secretary, popped by as well to see how I was getting on. Apparently the weeds from hell that I have been digging up are Mares Tail which is annoying but not much I can do but keep digging it up. He has offered me some strawberry plants which is very nice of him, although I have no idea where I'll put them as I don't have a bed planned for them or time to dig another one! I wonder if he'd think it rude if I took the plants home and put them in the back yard, that way I can water them and pick them more regularly. He also offered some broccoli and something else but I politely declined as I have mine already. He seemed quite impressed by what I had already planted, I guess I'm not doing too badly but I just hope that I can keep the weeds down and at least some of it grows! He said that I should be sieving the soil and getting the roots out to burn rather than dumping the whole lot into a big pile. It's a great premise and would no doubt be the right thing to do, but considering there is only 1 of me and I want more than 3 beds on the plot this year I really don't have the time. Over the winter I will work my way through the pile and reclaim the soil and burn what I can, but for now it's all dig dig dig.

Hopefully I can get a few more hours up there tomorrow and finish that potato bed, that way I can start May's beds early, only 2 more months of digging to schedule and then I can just take my time and finish the rest as I feel like it!

I will try and take the camera on my next trip and get some shots of what I've done, hopefully comparing new shots to the original shots will make me feel better, at the moment all I can see is how much more I have to do, I finish one job and then get right on with the next one (after a 10 minute tea break of course!), so it's more a case of hard graft rather than pure enjoyment at the moment, hopefully the enjoyment will increase as the number of beds left to be dug decreases!

Hard Graft

I made it down the plot for anther hour and a half yesterday (again no nap from the little fella) and worked some more on the rhubarb bed. I hope to god that this bed isn't an indication of how bad the rest of the plot is as it's incredibly hard work. For each square foot I dug over I was removing a bucket and a half of roots and weeds... I still have about a quarter of it to go as well, I can't believe how long this one patch it taking, especially considering that half of it was already dug over earlier.

Why is it when you dig and believe you'd done it well and not missed anything that if you stick your fork in anywhere in the patch you've just done you will uncover *HUGE* big roots of some plant or another that you somehow missed? And why when you have dug one bit do the roots in the next bit always lead back the way you came? How do you miss them when you've literally just dug that bit?? I was a tad frustrated... I think what also frustrates me is that I know that although I'm doing a not bad job and am pulling out everything I can without digging down to Hades to find the end of the roots that the buggers will grow again and next year I will be doing the same thing, just on a slightly smaller scale as I won't have to remove the top layer of turf as well...

Anyway, I got the parsnips in, a whole packet of them, although of course they'll need thinning out when/if they come up. I used Tender and True which came from B&Q so we'll see how they do.

I also ordered 10 Roma tomato plants from Jane Lane along with 3 bush tomato plants and about 3/4 of the herbs that I want to grow in the back yard in pots. The prices were a little lower than I have seen herbs around here and I was impressed with the quality of the aubergine plants I got so I figured I would go ahead. Even with postage it was a very reasonable figure of around £17 for 13 tomato plants and 10 herbs.

No digging today for a couple of reasons. 1. I am hoping that the weather will be good over the weekend and I can get down the plot for longer periods each day than I have managed this week. As I'm knackered I want to rest today so I can use that time better rather than wearing myself out totally and wasting the time. 2. I went to the Drs this morning and he injected my wrist with a steroid to try and help with the carpel tunnel which is getting worse. At the moment my wrist and hand ache so I'd rather not use it at least today to give it time to start working. It can take up to a fortnight to make any difference he said and if it doesn't then I could be off to the Wrist Surgeon, I'm tired not having full use of my hands....

Here's hoping for a nice rain free weekend!

Little Bit of Progress

I did make it down this afternoon but only for an hour and a half as young sir decided that no nap was needed this afternoon and he'd just sit and yell at me after the first hour instead...

I did make progress though which is nice and I feel better now and can see a difference which is always good! I got the onions in, I have Unwins Red Baron and Setton by Prins. I also planted the 3 aubergine plants that came in the post this morning (lovely looking plants actually, was impressed) and that variety is Baby Belle from Jane Lane Nursery.

I have finished the parsnip end of the rhubarb bed so I just need to give it a good rake over and wait for it to dry a bit. I also need to dig the rest of the bed so I can get the leeks, but that shouldn't take too long I don't think, just another couple of hours.

Looking at my plan I'm actually on schedule still to get everything in that I wanted to by the end of the month which is nice! I have a third of the second potato bed dug so after I'm done with the rhubarb bed and the paths around it I will get that dug and then lay some more paths. However, it appears that I have 3 beds that need digging in May and then minimum another 3 in June (depending how many squash and pumpkin seedlings I get!)so I hope we get some good weather!

I'm on an Italian kick at the moment, coming from reading a book called Extra Virgin about 2 sisters who go and live in Italy. I wouldn't like to go without water and other basic necessities (they had a well) for as long as they did but the idea of a lovely terraced garden, my own little olive orchard and fresh tomatoes and basil just sounds lovely, especially when our weather is like this. Add to that the fact I'm also reading my way through a new Italian cookbook I bought and I am off to look for some plum tomatoes that might grow in my back yard, and I'm taking a big tub down to the plot to plant more basil in the shed!

Pray for more nice weather tomorrow please!

Bloody Weather

Wednesday already and I've not been down to the plot yet, and looking at the sky now (it's rained all morning but stopped for a bit) I'm not sure I'll make it down this afternoon...

So no progress at all and I really need to get the onions, leeks and parsnips in as well as finish the bed off for the second lot of potatoes which I want to put in next week. If the sky is clear after lunch I may give it a go, although I've got a teething toddler screaming away, but perhaps the fresh air will calm him down!

The aubergine plants arrived this morning so I want to get those in too, I also need to plant my tomato seeds, lord knows where I'm going to put those as we have a plant eating cat (the tops off all the garlic in the tubs in the back yard are only half the height they should be and very chewed) and no windowsill wide enough to hold any trays. Looks like my sewing room might continue to double as an indoor greenhouse (sowing room, lol), not that there's much space in their either.

I'm feeling very frustrated...

And Yet More Rain

Sorry for the lack of posting on here, there were only 2 afternoons suitable this week for going down the plot and of course both of those I couldn't make it, the rest of the time it's been raining and raining and raining and raining...

Today was much the same in the morning, but I had most of the day free from husband and son so I was determined to make the most of it. I started off by going to Homebase to pick up a few bits and bobs. Note to self, next time you need compost don't think 'oh I'll go and buy it while it's raining and I can't get on the plot' because it weighs a freaking ton.... I got some plastic lawn edging as well, will look for cheaper sources of that though as 1 roll for £5.99 isn't long enough to go around 1 of my beds and I have 6 down just the one side of the plot... I also bought myself some wellies finally, I wanted the pink polka dot ones but at the end of the day they were £24.99 and the plain green ones were only £9.99. I did buy the pink polka dot gardening gloves for using in the back yard when I do the herbs and tomatoes (which I must start this week really) as my other gloves are now at the allotment.

So, after lugging everything down to the plot I got to work on the list and plan that I worked on for ages last night after having a look about to see if it would actually work. The rain was still falling so I had a tidy of the shed/greenhouse/shack first and moved stuff about. I think having a shed is a bit like moving house. You put stuff where you think it will work best and then realise a few days later that if you leave it there you will trip over it all the time and kill yourself. Of course it took moving everything twice before I got it right (for now), I mainly needed to move the chairs out from where they would get wet when I do watering, although 1 of them will still suffer but as I'm normally there alone and only have 1 bottom that won't matter!

I now have a hanging thingy on the wall of the shed with basil in it (Suffolk Herbs Organic seeds). The package says not to grow it outside up North and last year I got 1 inch plants outside (not one to follow directions blindly!) so I'm hoping that inside I will have more luck. Over the course of the afternoon I planted up 6 small seed trays with the following (as and when it was raining or I needed a break)

Waltham Butternut Squash - seedfest.co.uk
Spaghetti Squash - seedfest.co.uk
Small Sugar Pumpkin - Unwins Centenery
Scarlet Red Bell Pepper - seedfest.co.uk
Orange Bell Pepper - seedfest.co.uk
Roguelands Yellow Bell Pepper - seedfest.co.uk
Sprouting Calabrese Broccoli - Alan Titchmarsh Organic (2 trays)
All The Year Round Cauliflower - B&Q (2 trays)

The peppers will stay in the shed but the rest will hopefully get planted out. Most of it could have been planted direct but as I don't have the beds ready for it, starting it off in the shed will give me time to do the digging while they get growing. I've also got a growbag in there ready for the 3 Aubergine plants I ordered off Ebay today, figured if I've got the space I may as well use it!

I also got four rows of carrots in beside the potatoes. I decided not to use all the back bed for spuds as then I will have to fill about 3 beds with them next year, this way I can move one lot to the other end next year. I have 1 row of each of

Scarlet Nantes - seedfest.co.uk
Early Nantes - B&Q
Sugarsnax - Thompson and Morgan
Purple Dragon - Thompson and Morgan (yes, they are purple!)

I used up all I had of 2 lots of those so I can pick another 2 varieties to try out when I plant another 4 rows in about a month's time. I don't have any room for more than 8 rows at the moment so I figure planting them a month apart will give me the longest crop I can hope for until I, you guessed it, dig more beds (see a theme here?).

Between the planting in the shed I worked a bit on the rhubarb bed which is a third done and I want to put the leeks and the parsnips in there asap. I put the edging around one side and the end of the bed and then I did the path up one side of the bed just to see what it would look like. I admit I'm not weeding the paths properly, I'm just churning up the soil and pulling out any big bits and then putting the weed suppressant fabric down with the wood chips on top. The path looks really nice, of course it's taking more bark than I thought it would. I've also churned up and leveled most of the middle path, I hope to finish that up tomorrow and perhaps start putting the fabric and the bark on it.

I've decided that I won't put a path up the side of the plot, I can access the beds well enough from between them and the side path will take up a lot of time, effort and fabric and bark, so I am extending the beds and paths right to the edge of the plot.

So, tomorrow besides the path I would like to finish off the Rhubarb bed and plant the seeds and then plant the onions which are going in the other side of the back bed. After that there are another 5 beds that need digging, so not much left! I'm so tired now though, so I don't know if I will get anything done! :o)

Rain Slows Progress

This week has been quite wet, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if my main job at the plot wasn't digging, and digging ain't no fun when the soil is wet and heavy so I've not had many trips to the plot this week.

I did make it up the plot on Friday for 3 hours in the afternoon, has to rate as one of the oddest afternoons of my life. There I was planting my first lot of potatoes and listening to the commentary on the loudspeakers at Aintree Racecourse which is very close to the plots, and then it started to snow.... Hopefully they will still be ok, I have planted 1 bag of Arran Pilot (I think, too tired to get up and look), they're labeled as earlies that are good for boiling, roasting and mashing, an all rounder.

After the potatoes I worked a bit on the next bed down and the paths as I was bored of working on the back bed. I did about a quarter of it and it was hard work. I am onto the ground that wasn't covered which means that the weeds are much thicker and there is a lot more root clearing to be done, bucket after bucket of rubbish onto the big heap that keeps getting bigger.

Yesterday we went and bought 5 bags of bark for the path, they were £15 in Wyvale Garden centre which I didn't think was too bad. I also picked up some pea netting and a packet of seeds for some purple carrots. I have decided to cover the paths with weed suppressing fabric and then with bark so that they're more even and safer for a toddler to run about on, now I just have to do it!

Today I was the first car in the car park at 9.45am! I wanted to get up there early as I thought it might rain in the afternoon. Seems I'm no good at reading the weather as I got it the wrong way around. I started working on the other end of the back bed and was so into it that I didn't actually notice how hard it was raining until one of my friendly neighbours shouted over asking if I was mad! I took a 10 minute break and had my coffee in the shed and the rain had slowed down enough to work again. By the time I left at 12.30 I had finished the back bed off, found and laid bricks to mark the edge of it, raked in a tub of seaweed into the newly turned earth and stirred some straw into my compost heap which was almost all greens and in dire need of some browns to get it going.

I am happy that the bed is done and that something is in the ground but I have to keep reminding myself to look back at how far I've come rather than looking around at what is left to be done.

So, plans for next week are to clear and dig over 2 beds plus the half of the rhubarb bed that's left, maybe plant some onions and decide what else to plant in the second bed that will be cleared. I also want to do the paths around those beds and down the middle of the plot. That's far too much and I'll never get it all done but I need to keep myself aiming high as there's still so much to be done!

Marking Out

Sunday I managed to drag my husband to the allotment to help me out removing the covering that had been down forever and a day. I had pulled a lot of it up but I couldn't manage much more it as it was very heavy with weeds growing through it and as I couldn't cut or rip it the piece was just getting bigger and bigger. It took less than an hour to finish removing the back and find a few other pieces here and there and remove them. It turns out that the previous owner covered a path right down the middle of the plot which is where I want one so that is now pretty clear, although I will turn it over with a fork and remove the roots from it before covering it again somehow to make my final path.

Today I spent about three hours at the plot, my son was kind enough to have his afternoon nap in his pushchair so I worked away. I was actually glad when he did wake up as my back was starting to hurt! I have turned over two thirds of the back bed now and put some seaweed into half of it. I just need to keep my motivation up and finish it off now!

I also marked out the beds down one side of the plot. It took a lot of sticks and just over 2 balls of string! I now have a nice neat layout of 6 beds 4 foot wide with 2 foot wide paths between them, plus the 7 foot deep bed the width of the plot at the back. The rhubarb bed is actually in the right place as well, I was expecting the plants to end up in the middle of a path, it would've been just my luck! I am happier now that I can see where things will go, and also surprised at how many beds fit in, it makes me think that perhaps I won't get around to the other side of the plot this year.

I'm still undecided about what to do with the paths, I need a cheap option that will keep the weeds down, I'm still thinking bark over some sort of covering, I need to go to B&Q and Homebase to see if either of them have a deal on any, price will be the deciding factor (that and weight, I can't carry bags of stone to the plot and can't afford a wheelbarrow just yet). I have found some free weed stopping fabric on Freecycle which I am going to organise collecting soon so I will see how much is there and decide whether to cut it for paths or use it to cover the side of the plot not in use. I want something that gives my beds a definite edge though and I worry that bark won't give me that, but I can't afford paving stones, bricks or wood. More thinking and reading required.

I'm a little worried about the corner of the plot which I'm using as a rubbish tip, I don't know whether I'm allowed to do it and whether I'm encouraging vermin etc to the site by having it there. I guess if it is a problem I can move it a bit at a time, that can be my winter job! At the moment I can't take stuff off site or have a fire on site due to having my son there, I never know how long I'll get to stay on the plot and I can't leave him while I go back and forth to the car.

Next time I'm at the plot I will dig the rows for the potatoes and carry on with the digging of the back bed. I also want to plant the basil and take that down to the greenhouse/shed to get going and check the sowing dates for the peppers which I also want to grow in there. It looks like I will have half the width of the rhubarb bed free as well, that will be the next bed I finish as half of it is already done. I am thinking perhaps the peas can go in there as they require upwards space rather than ground space, I need to read up in my new Joy Larkcom book about growing them to check though and re-read the potato section so that I feel more confident about planting.

Dreaming

How sad is it to have a dream about your allotment? Last night I dreamt that I was digging my allotment and the weeds had all died away totally and it was covered in bright green grass. That wasn't the case when I got there today though unfortunately. The weeds have died quite a bit but it's still uneven and rough and hard as hell to work over.

I managed to do more clearing of the back bed and I now have a 7ft by 12 and a half foot bed dug over and ready to sow. It's hard work doing it on my own though, I need a bit of help removing the covering that's been down for years and years. Basically the weeds have grown on top of and through the covering which makes it very hard to pull it back and also very heavy, add to that that the covering won't rip and I also can't seem to cut it and you have an extremely large and heavy bit of fabric that needs to be pulled back over another 12 foot of ground....

I think that I will get 1 lot of my potatoes into the bit that's dug and then the second variety in after I've dug over the rest. I am not sure if I will have enough room for the onions in with the potatoes, we'll just have to wait and see.

I don't mind the hard work or the slowness (of course I'd like it to go faster but I knew it would take forever!) what gets to me is the uncertainty. I seem to race ahead and get lots done and then have a terrible lack of confidence and wonder if I'm doing it right or not, will it work, should I be doing something else that I've not thought of etc??? Maybe I will feel better when I actually have something in the ground, who knows.

The other thing I've been wondering is whether I should cut the paths next rather than just doing another bed. It's very uneven ground and it would be easier to walk about the place if I actually had paths to walk on. I am not sure what to use to make the paths though once I've dug up all the weeds and leveled it off a bit. I was thinking cardboard covered with bark chippings but I'm not sure about that and not positive that I can afford it either. I can't really have grass paths because of the couch grass... Guess I will think on it a bit longer.

Only spent about 2 hours down there today and I'm shattered, think I lost any fitness I may have gained in the first week while I've been away!