Today's visit to the site was mainly involved with clearing vacant site 16a for the association. I brought my trailer down and, again with the help of my grandson, Jake, loaded a mass of metal junk headed for the tip. We left some straight poles and lengths of Dexion as they may be useful to someone and, anyway, the trailer was too full to take it all. We squeezed some rubbish from a newly cleared and rearranged plot 88 onto the trailer before taking the lot to the tip leaving a huge heap of rotten wood burning in a clear space with the smoke going safely over onto the field at the back.
Having got rid of the metal we sorted some of my own rubbish before trying to put a final seal on a roof joint on the Special Needs plot greenhouse. Unfortunately the tube of silicone sealant I had found in my workshop at home was too old and had gone solid. Given the weather forecast I will probably have to wait a few days for the joint to dry out again before I can finish that job! I was going to start digging over my potato patch ready for the seed potatoes chitting in my spare bedroom but we ran out of time and left the site with noone else there so we locked up on our way out. Having got back from my visit to family in Yorkshire, I made a quick visit to the plot to check if everything a was o.k.
I took my grandson, Jake, with me as he is staying with me for a week or two and will be very useful as he enjoys helping me with some of the heavier work. Having added some kitchen waste, pumpkins that had gone off, and some grass cuttings to the compost bin, we found a medium size cauliflower and some Brussels Sprouts to take home. I also made use of Jake's muscles to load a few slabs into the car to lay as paths round my new greenhouse at home. I do need to get ahead with my sowing programme! At least get a set of Broad Bean seeds sown in toilet tubes. Having lost a load of seedlings to the mice/rats in November/December I plan to grow them on at home before planting out. I spent a large part of today on the allotment. It was a lovely day, cold with a chill breeze but the sun was warm and my main task was shovelling manure into the trailer and then barrowing it onto the plot, all of which kept me warm. It took a lot of fiddling around to reverse the trailer up to the manure heap until I tied my sledge hammer into the back corner so the handle stuck up in the air so I could see where the trailer was behind me. My first load was from the long bin at the far end of the site and was spread over next year's pea and bean patch. I get about 10 barrow-loads from each trailer load, just about enough to cover a 4m by 3m patch. The second load I took from the heap on the corner behind the Trading Hut. I had hoped to take manure from where it has spilled onto the track but I couldn't get my trailer into a position that did not block the track while I filled it. However, I did manage to get some from that stack that was already partially composted. That load was spread over next year's Brassica patch. As I think I have said before, the woodchip in the manure is not very good for the soil as it uses up Nitrogen while decomposing. I therefore use it as a mulch and avoid just digging it in. If I have to dig it in I carefully bury it deep hoping it will stay out of the way soaking up what is washed down from the top soil. I plan to scrape the mulch aside to sow/plant my crops leaving it to cover between plants, locking in the moisture and providing a clean walking surface. When that was done I dug out 3 barrow-loads of compost and spread it over half my strawberry bed where I plan to plant my new plants I have ordered on the internet. I have ordered earlies and drought resistant varieties to supplement the summer plants I currently grow. Checking the rest of the plot I noticed that all my autumn sown peas have disappeared, probably eaten by slugs or mice. This is despite them being protected under a net tunnel all through the winter as in the photograph. I also checked my cauliflowers. While two plants have leaves wrapped round a lump, there is no sign of white curds yet. As I had quite a bit of rubbish to take to the tip I loaded that in the trailer and set off - only to get there 5 minutes after closing time, so I will have to keep it at home all night and take it to the tip in the morning. The last three days have been spent erecting the new greenhouse for the Special Needs Plot by the gate with the help of John Lack and his friend Mark Merritt. It has been a labour of love. We have endured rain and hail and biting wind as well as tiny nuts and bolts that refuse to engage and screw up tight!
Today we sorted out the door and finished the roof. The structure is complete and fixed down but the floor inside needs screeding to make sure tenants can move around inside without tripping over.
It has been a rough week weatherwise and I am pretty busy at home but I got down to the plot on Sunday, mainly to collect my onion and seed potato order. As always I have ordered far too much! I have 6 kilos of seed potatoes when 4 kilos is probably enough. However, I wanted to try out a range of different sorts of potato. I have 2 kilos of Sarpo Mira as a backup if we have a bad blight year, though I am pleased to find that last year's crop is only just beginning to sprout, whereas all the other types I grew have long shoots already after the very warm autumn we have had. I have a kilo of King Edwards (my wife's favourite), Pentland Javelin (my first early), Cara (for Baking potatoes) and Charlotte (My favourite). As I read somewhere, I shall alternate the rows as a way of trying to limit the way blight spreads. In the meantime I shall be chitting them all in trays in the (cool) spare bedroom next to the window. Once I had collected the bags of spuds I went on the plot and pruned my soft fruit. My gooseberries and blackcurrants are very neglected. A standard gooseberry had multiple suckers growing from the rootstock which I had to cut off below ground and dig out. I then pruned the tangle of branches, removing any broken or crossing wood and anything that sags down to the ground. Then I trimmed leading shoots by about a third and side shoots by more. The blackcurrants were trimmed a bit but the main job was to remove about a third of the old wood, choosing anything growing awkwardly or close to the ground. The finished standard fruit bushes. The gooseberry needs a proper stake! All netted against birds pecking the buds.
I went home with some leeks, some purple broccoli sprouts, a small cauliflower and some small turnips. I decided that today, Monday, I would concentrate on constructing the framework round the asparagus bed. It is to be a slimmer version of the one round the strawberries; just 3 feet wide.
I needed 3 more 3 metre gravel boards from In-Excess and another Arris rail from Wickes, both cheap sources. I'm not sure why but the process was much less simple this time and I made a few mistakes. But I managed to finish it just after sunset as it was getting gloomy and, with the help of my young neighbour, I got it into position. Next time I go down I just need to dig in the 'arris rail' positioning pegs o fix it in position. On the way out I came across the two parsnips I thought I had taken home last night! They were lying where I had left them after digging them out! It was a good thing we didn't have a frost last night! |
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May 2023
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