It's dark by 4pm so Lottie activity is confined to the weekend but so is everything else. I have managed to get down for a couple of hours each weekend. The weather is not really cold yet although we had a cold snap which stopped everything except the Sprouting Broccoli which is really coming on.
The frost on 02.11.06 put an end to the Borlottie Beans which I harvested and the out sized Gherkins which just went in the green bin. I took my wicker basket for the Borlotties but it was not big enough. The vines seemed to be light on pods but once I started picking they were every where. I podded the beans at the Lottie to save me coming back with the empty shells for the compost bin. I had about 20lbs of beans. That's a lot of beans salad of minestrone soup. The green bin I mentioned earlier is the bin that the council collects which should contain compostable materials. The council run a huge composting scheme. Anything from the Lottie that I can guarantee to compost goes to the council. I do not seem to be able to get my compo bin hot enough to kill seeds. So my compo bin only ever has greens and egg cartons
I have started cleaning up the plots. Pea twigs, fleece, posts short and tall for the fleece, bean poles have all been removed cleaned and stored for next year. I cut to length timber panels to make lids for the compo bins. It is as much to do with making look tidy as having a roof on the bins. I made a start on the winter digging. The rain we had during the week had added enough moisture to the ground to make digging so easy. The weeds were really quite small as the Sweet Corn, Pea, Beans and Gherkin crops smothered the weeds only giving them a chance to get going in the last month or so. As soon as a have clear a decent area I am going to plant out my Spring cabbages. My parents are visiting next weekend so I won't get any time for digging. Perhaps the week after? I might be able to get my Dad to give me a hand with the bins lids. He likes to be involved and to have a look round the Lottie.
