Since the AGM in Febuary I have had a free reign to design and execute hard standing, patios if you will, on the community orchard. The community orchard is the name given to the odd space plot at the end the allotment proper. I decided upon three circle diminishing in size. The orchard being an elongated triangular in shape. Several people suggested that an area should be reserved for a BBQ. I choose the smallest patio for the job given that it was down wind of the larger patios, supposing the prevailing wind is blowing. Then I thought that he BBQ patio should be square-ish for all the BBQ parafinalia.
In the weeks leading up to the patio laying, Dave a plot holder wheel barrowed thirty odd loads of hardcore in to he areas in had marker out. I raked them out and Dave dropped some more on the areas. In the meantime I had laid some new decking at home which yielded twenty odd 2x2 foot paving slabs which were destined for the big patio at the allotment. Sand and cement was ordered and delivered to the plot from the local Builders merchant. Steve another allotment holder helped move the slabs from my house to the allotment. Steve also sourced another dozen or so flags from Freecycle.org. Saturday came along as did the rain. Not enough to stop the job but enough to make it miserable. The weather bucked up after lunch and Steve turned in. In the morning I had been able to compact and level the hardcore on all three patio using a whacker plate I borrowed from a friend. I also was able to lay a dozen flags on the large patio. In the afternoon it was just a case of laying the remaining flags to complete the large patio. Steve was keen to have a square edged patio but since it was my design I kept to my idea of a circle. I had a Stihl saw [a cutting disc powered by a motor] to trim the flags. However the flags wher no yielding to the blade. The final act of defiance was that the drive belt for the Stihl saw snapped. That was an end to the patio laying. I will finish the edges off once I get a new belt.
I only intend to get the big patio ready this weekend. When I take up the next bit of the home patio I will do the next allotemnt patio unless Steve comes up with more freecycle slabs. Some wag has already christened the patio the "Heli pad".
Sandra, Dave and Judith have taken up the challenge to dig over and plant up the remaining area of the orchard with flowers. By the end of the summer it should look great. Perhaps I will be able to find time to sit on a comfy chair, on the heli pad with a cool beer as a respite.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Spuds planted at last
My inability to find time to plant my main crop potatoes [Cara] has weighed heavily on me. The Sunday of the Bank Holiday weekend was my self imposed deadline. I reserved the whole day to planting. The area that was to be my potaote plot is the last area of my plot that has not been cultivated. I had dug out and cut back the worst of the dock when I took the plot on. When I had the second flush of dock I weedkillered them and covered the area with black plastic. That was 18 months ago. I rolled up the plastic and examined the soil. There was not race of any big docks in fact no trace of any vegetation. I dug a trench one spit deep, dropped in half a barrow load of manure and then the seed potatoes. The seeds potatoes had chitted to perfection whilst being carried about in my van for the last few weeks. Having set the seed spuds I raked the soil back into the trench breaking up the bigger clods as I went along. I set the rows about 18inches apart. This is closer than you would normally plant main crops but my intention is to use the spuds to break up the soil for next year. My plan is to do the first earth up from the soil between the rows in the normal way then to "earth up" the second time using a thick layer of straw. The straw with breakdown over the few months it is in place and act as a mulch to boot. At harvest I will dig in the straw in which will add humus and bulk for next years root crops.
The Cabbage family plants and Sweet corn are growing away and looking magnificent except you can not see them under the fleece. I will take the fleece off the Sweet Corn but will have to leave it on the Cabbages unless I am happy to feed the Pigeons. The Peas are going well but I must get the pea sticks out for them to climb. The swede and turnips have germinated and are progressing. However there is trouble in the garden at home.
The Greenhouse is full and work at the allotment has meant that I have not potted up those plants that need it. How the spuds are in I should be able the plant the other items that have been held up, namely the sunflowers, gerkins, pumpkins and various flowers.
My big win this past week has been the erection of the posts, wires and the wind netting round the plot. It had made a big difference to the look of the site but also the amount of wind shade. I am one eye bolt short to finish the left side but I get that this evening from Massey's. Massey's is an old fashioned ironmongers, a good stock and knowledgable staff. Once the side is complete I can put the netting over the top. This netting is quite open. I do not ant to stop the little birds getting into the plot but I do want to keep out the bigger once that cause me trouble, Pigeon, Corvids of all sorts, Geese, Pheasant, Quail and Partridge. when the netting is over a can take the fleece off the Cabbage bed which will, hopefully allow the plants plenty of head room. At the moment I feel the fleece which is often blown down on to the cabbages might be damaging them if not discouraging the upward movement.
The Cabbage family plants and Sweet corn are growing away and looking magnificent except you can not see them under the fleece. I will take the fleece off the Sweet Corn but will have to leave it on the Cabbages unless I am happy to feed the Pigeons. The Peas are going well but I must get the pea sticks out for them to climb. The swede and turnips have germinated and are progressing. However there is trouble in the garden at home.
The Greenhouse is full and work at the allotment has meant that I have not potted up those plants that need it. How the spuds are in I should be able the plant the other items that have been held up, namely the sunflowers, gerkins, pumpkins and various flowers.
My big win this past week has been the erection of the posts, wires and the wind netting round the plot. It had made a big difference to the look of the site but also the amount of wind shade. I am one eye bolt short to finish the left side but I get that this evening from Massey's. Massey's is an old fashioned ironmongers, a good stock and knowledgable staff. Once the side is complete I can put the netting over the top. This netting is quite open. I do not ant to stop the little birds getting into the plot but I do want to keep out the bigger once that cause me trouble, Pigeon, Corvids of all sorts, Geese, Pheasant, Quail and Partridge. when the netting is over a can take the fleece off the Cabbage bed which will, hopefully allow the plants plenty of head room. At the moment I feel the fleece which is often blown down on to the cabbages might be damaging them if not discouraging the upward movement.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Hedgerow wine
There are a few of us at the Allotment Society that like a drink. On our last outting the a Wine Society was inaugriated. The main criteria being the the wines are not made from fruit and have to be ready for Christmas.
With the rules in mind I have two demi-johns of Dandeloin and one demi-john of Rhubarb wine bubbling away in the kitchen. The Dandelion changes colour every few days from green to yellowish and back again. However the Rhubard remains a constant "bubblegum" pink. The Rhubarb was slow to start fementing but now it looks like Lemonde with the amount bubbles running up the sides of the bottle. Neither one shows any signs of slowing down so it is time to be patient and figure out where to get some more Rhubarb for free.
The Society is to have an outting on Friday evening so we might find out what other people have bubbling away. I have a hankering for Nettle wine. It will be some to do with the extensive supply of nettles growing round the edge of my plot!
With the rules in mind I have two demi-johns of Dandeloin and one demi-john of Rhubarb wine bubbling away in the kitchen. The Dandelion changes colour every few days from green to yellowish and back again. However the Rhubard remains a constant "bubblegum" pink. The Rhubarb was slow to start fementing but now it looks like Lemonde with the amount bubbles running up the sides of the bottle. Neither one shows any signs of slowing down so it is time to be patient and figure out where to get some more Rhubarb for free.
The Society is to have an outting on Friday evening so we might find out what other people have bubbling away. I have a hankering for Nettle wine. It will be some to do with the extensive supply of nettles growing round the edge of my plot!
Backs are a pain
The rain stayed off all week which meant I was able to get some more digging completed at the allotment at least that would have been the plan if I had not tried to stop a heavy item falling out the back of the car. Result one slipped disc. It was not that bad as you have first expected. I was given some anti-inflammatory tablets by the Doctor which eased the pain. Sleeping is the worst bit. I just could not get comfortable. At work I had to resort to putting a big box under my computer keyboard so that it was usable whilst standing up. Sitting was un-comfortable. Each evening did the light jobs at the allotment. The movement helped to ease the pain as long as I did not stretch.
The back thing was "quite good" if a back problem can be good in as much as it forced me to lay off the heavy work. I has an opportunity to plant all my brassica, sweet corn & chick peas seedling. My broad beans and pea seedling took off since they where moved outside. I second planting of beans and peas have come through a treat. I still have not planted my main crop spuds but that is on the "heavy work" list so I have, at least, a good excuse.
On Saturday 13th May I had to go to my Aunties birthday in Carrbrook near Manchester. I caught up with some a the family we do not see very often. However it kept me away from the lottie and house. On Sunday after a late start I finished off the last couple of planks on the decking. Over lunch H and I discussed how we would deal with the remainder of the lower garden. We have settled upon a design so that is now on the list of things to do.
H and I had a pleasant couple f hours pottering round the garden. I tried up the Herbs bed. Well it will be a herb bed once they grow. It is more of a Potager since it has a couple of lettuce from the greenhouse, a few Garlic plants as well as the Chives and Mint.
The next job is to get the gherkin, Courgette and Pumpkin plants installed at he the lottie and the main crop spuds.
The back thing was "quite good" if a back problem can be good in as much as it forced me to lay off the heavy work. I has an opportunity to plant all my brassica, sweet corn & chick peas seedling. My broad beans and pea seedling took off since they where moved outside. I second planting of beans and peas have come through a treat. I still have not planted my main crop spuds but that is on the "heavy work" list so I have, at least, a good excuse.
On Saturday 13th May I had to go to my Aunties birthday in Carrbrook near Manchester. I caught up with some a the family we do not see very often. However it kept me away from the lottie and house. On Sunday after a late start I finished off the last couple of planks on the decking. Over lunch H and I discussed how we would deal with the remainder of the lower garden. We have settled upon a design so that is now on the list of things to do.
H and I had a pleasant couple f hours pottering round the garden. I tried up the Herbs bed. Well it will be a herb bed once they grow. It is more of a Potager since it has a couple of lettuce from the greenhouse, a few Garlic plants as well as the Chives and Mint.
The next job is to get the gherkin, Courgette and Pumpkin plants installed at he the lottie and the main crop spuds.
Monday, May 08, 2006
An Orchard for the Community
From the inception of the allotment site there has been an odd shaped area at the top the the regular shaped plots called "The Community Orchard". It is not big enough fr more than half a dozen trees. The soil is really poor and quite wet. We divides the area last year and let the larger and better portion go to one of our ladies who had out grown the quarter plot she had taken on. The new area was larger than her old plot and since she was growing flowers she did not necessarily need high fertility. This meant the community orchard was much smaller but still a neglected space.
At the Society's AGM I put forward the idea that I should be given free rein to design hard standings on the community area. The reason was that in the two and a half years of the Society we had not done anything with the area. Sandra and Judith had already volunteered to plant up and maintain the "soft" areas. I knew that I had access to the the heavy tools for the job and twenty odd paving stones, my patio. I knew that, if given my own timetable, I could build the three patio. The new chap, another Dave, said he would weed the areas I had marked out and drop the road stone on the areas. This was a great help. Dave is retired and spends a couple of hours a day at the lotties. True to his word the road stone pile is surely but slowly being transferred to the would be patios.
Now that I have made a start everyone is getting on board. Each time I go down a little more stone has moved and a little more of the area that is to be beds has been turned over. I have installed my new decking at home and the flags which it replaced are stacked against the wall ready to go to the lottie. I have a couple of spare bags of sand so I just need some cement. The blokes of the allotment are getting together on the Saturday of the late May Bank Holiday to whack the stone into a foundation layer and hopefully lay the available flags.
The word is out so we will see what happens.
At the Society's AGM I put forward the idea that I should be given free rein to design hard standings on the community area. The reason was that in the two and a half years of the Society we had not done anything with the area. Sandra and Judith had already volunteered to plant up and maintain the "soft" areas. I knew that I had access to the the heavy tools for the job and twenty odd paving stones, my patio. I knew that, if given my own timetable, I could build the three patio. The new chap, another Dave, said he would weed the areas I had marked out and drop the road stone on the areas. This was a great help. Dave is retired and spends a couple of hours a day at the lotties. True to his word the road stone pile is surely but slowly being transferred to the would be patios.
Now that I have made a start everyone is getting on board. Each time I go down a little more stone has moved and a little more of the area that is to be beds has been turned over. I have installed my new decking at home and the flags which it replaced are stacked against the wall ready to go to the lottie. I have a couple of spare bags of sand so I just need some cement. The blokes of the allotment are getting together on the Saturday of the late May Bank Holiday to whack the stone into a foundation layer and hopefully lay the available flags.
The word is out so we will see what happens.
What has happened in the last three weeks
Where does the time go. Work on the house has stopped for the time being. The juggling of renovation work, family life and allotment is a constant series of compromises. The compromise is always about time. Quality is always foremost wheever a job is being done. If I could give up work I would be just about able to fit everthing in comfortably into a 40 hour week. As it is I only have the evening and weekends to shoe horn the 40 hours of work into.
I had to go to Manchester for a friend birthday. As luck would have it I got four tickets for Manchester City v Fulham. I sent my Dad, Brother, Wife and Daughter off to the match. It was H & L first game. They were delighted, even if there was alot of swearing. I got the afternoon to play out on my brothers motorbike with the pretext of tuning the suspension. Whilst I was out and about I bought a lot of yeast for wine making. We saw some friends on the Saturday night and stopped over with them. We had a pleasant dinner and sunk a few beers by the fire outside. The ladies stayed inside sipping wife in the their nighties. Then onto the party on Sunday afternoon. Once that was done it was back over to my brothers to pick up a load of scaffolding planks to make the borders of the fruit beds at home. It being the Bank holiday weekend I had the day off on Monday to go to the lottie. Another chunk of the " camomile lawn turned into a black seed beds. I planted two rows on Pink Fir Apple potatoes. I must get the main crop of "Cara" in the ground.
The other day I managed to get some time to myself in the evening to go to the lottie. I had a pleasant couple of hours weeding the brassica bed. It is now raked out flat ready for the Hispi, Pak choi, Sprouting Brocolli, Swede, Tunip, Spinich and Beetroot. The red cabbage and Robinsons and second sowing of Hispi are only just germinated.
The gerkins and pumpkins are ready to go out as are the sunflowers. I finally got a chance the get the grow bags from Newall. They are now in the greenhouse with three Shirley's and three Gardeners Delight tomato plants. The automatic window arm I bought off Ebay works a treat opening a closing the window on the greenhouse.
The timber fo the decking arrived on the Tuesday after the bank holiday. The weekend just gone 5/6 May saw me turing a pile of timber into the decking outside the Dining room. It all worked pretty much to plan except I was a couple of planks short to finish the job compeletly. I could not have done more a I was interupted by rain several times during Sunday. We had friend round.on Saturday evening for diner so I was a bit fragile on Sunday morning. we did get out a little to take and collect the daughter from her friend in a vilage several miles away. It is alway nice to have a drive out, even a short one, just to break up the unrelenting pile of work. I was at a loose end after diner on Sunday so I went to have a look at the lottie. I could not help myself. I did a bit of hoeing. Every thing is coming up, even the early potatoes which have really taken their time to pop up.
I could not help myself and found myself compeled to rake out the piles on hardcore that had been dropped on the hard areas of the community garden. [see the next blog - An Orchard for the Community]. It was with great satisfaction that I pushed and shoved the piles into flat pans ready for whacking down into firm bases for the paving. Hopefully Dave and Sandra will pile some more stones on the plot for more raking and levelling. The bank holiday at the end of May is supposed to be the day we do the job of levelling compacting and maybe even laying some paving.
I had to go to Manchester for a friend birthday. As luck would have it I got four tickets for Manchester City v Fulham. I sent my Dad, Brother, Wife and Daughter off to the match. It was H & L first game. They were delighted, even if there was alot of swearing. I got the afternoon to play out on my brothers motorbike with the pretext of tuning the suspension. Whilst I was out and about I bought a lot of yeast for wine making. We saw some friends on the Saturday night and stopped over with them. We had a pleasant dinner and sunk a few beers by the fire outside. The ladies stayed inside sipping wife in the their nighties. Then onto the party on Sunday afternoon. Once that was done it was back over to my brothers to pick up a load of scaffolding planks to make the borders of the fruit beds at home. It being the Bank holiday weekend I had the day off on Monday to go to the lottie. Another chunk of the " camomile lawn turned into a black seed beds. I planted two rows on Pink Fir Apple potatoes. I must get the main crop of "Cara" in the ground.
The other day I managed to get some time to myself in the evening to go to the lottie. I had a pleasant couple of hours weeding the brassica bed. It is now raked out flat ready for the Hispi, Pak choi, Sprouting Brocolli, Swede, Tunip, Spinich and Beetroot. The red cabbage and Robinsons and second sowing of Hispi are only just germinated.
The gerkins and pumpkins are ready to go out as are the sunflowers. I finally got a chance the get the grow bags from Newall. They are now in the greenhouse with three Shirley's and three Gardeners Delight tomato plants. The automatic window arm I bought off Ebay works a treat opening a closing the window on the greenhouse.
The timber fo the decking arrived on the Tuesday after the bank holiday. The weekend just gone 5/6 May saw me turing a pile of timber into the decking outside the Dining room. It all worked pretty much to plan except I was a couple of planks short to finish the job compeletly. I could not have done more a I was interupted by rain several times during Sunday. We had friend round.on Saturday evening for diner so I was a bit fragile on Sunday morning. we did get out a little to take and collect the daughter from her friend in a vilage several miles away. It is alway nice to have a drive out, even a short one, just to break up the unrelenting pile of work. I was at a loose end after diner on Sunday so I went to have a look at the lottie. I could not help myself. I did a bit of hoeing. Every thing is coming up, even the early potatoes which have really taken their time to pop up.
I could not help myself and found myself compeled to rake out the piles on hardcore that had been dropped on the hard areas of the community garden. [see the next blog - An Orchard for the Community]. It was with great satisfaction that I pushed and shoved the piles into flat pans ready for whacking down into firm bases for the paving. Hopefully Dave and Sandra will pile some more stones on the plot for more raking and levelling. The bank holiday at the end of May is supposed to be the day we do the job of levelling compacting and maybe even laying some paving.
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