It did not rain yesterday and I managed to finish work a little early. Whilst waiting for tea to be ready I knocked in the posts for the fruit cage and screwed the post to the base boards onthe bed. They feel quite secure. After a quick tea I went to the lottie to plant up the remaining part of the potato bed. I dropped in two rows straight into the area that was prepared at the weekend before I was rained off. Then I tackled the remaining couple of foot of bed that needed digging over. The extra rain really loosened up the soil without making it sticky. In no time at all the bed was completely dug over and weeded. Then in went another two rows of spuds. I use Cara as a main crop. They have some resistance to Potato Blight and are very resistance to Scab. They also crop heavily, are very tasty and store well which is about as much as you can ask from a humble spud.
I had a real feeling of pleasure when I looked over the bed. The first four rows are Ulster Prince which have just popped their heads above gound. There is stirrings in the next four rows which are Charlottes. The haulms are barely breaking the surface of soil. Then there is the ten rows of Cara, quietly busy under the damp earth running out roots and pushing up sprouts of haulm to the sun. Spuds are my favorite crop.
Follow the link to the British Potato Council.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Mice and Rain!
The weather forecasters promised showers and Saturday afternoon and pro-longed periods of rain for Sunday. I got busy on Saturday morning and dug all but three foot [1m] of the potato bed. I had to leave on time as H and I were invited to a BBQ starting at 5pm. The rain during the week had penetrated the soil to at least a foot depth. This made digging nice and easy as the soil just shook off the roots of the weeds. Between 10 and 3 I dug over an area of bed 24ft [8m] long, the bed bring 16ft [4m] wide and to a depth of 12inches [300mm]. I was even able to loosen the bottom of each trench as well. By 3pm, as well as having a previous engagement, the rain set in.
We had a good night at Steve's, they even liked my Nettle wine. Steve bent my arm to get me to bring over some of my air dried Ham. Everyone liked it and plans are afoot to cure some Hams ready for Christmas. Being the UK and a BBQ all organised, the weather did not co-operate so the BBQ was run under an Golfing umbrella. Steve steadfastly manning the BBQ in his summer togs, Tee shirt, Shorts and a sun hat which eventually gave up the unequal task of keeping rain off his head. Even so Burgers, Snags and a selection of Mackerel from an early season sea fishing trip rolled off the BBQ and in time honoured fashion the rain gave way to sunshine once the food was cooked and eaten.
The early start I had promised myself for Sunday did not happen. So it was no surprise to find that by 11am the rain that had been promised set in. At first I ignored it but when it got to the stage where the rain had penetrated to my under pants and the soil was sticking to my boots it was time to give up. However I had managed to chop down the Comfrey, mash it up and plant five rows of the main crop potato, Cara. The Comfrey was put in to the bottom of the trench before planting the seed potatoes. I ran out after three row so need used the horse manure that I recently sourced. Comfrey is a very interesting plant Lawrence D Hills championed it's use and was instrumental in bring organic gardening to the public attention in a time where agro-chemicals were seen as they way forward. To pursue his vision Mr Hills set up the Henry Doubleday Research Association. Mr Hills book was the first gardening book I read that was concerned with growing vegetables rather then flowers and garden design. I still apply is principles today.
Once I had secomed to the rain I took a walk round my plot and examined everything. I had spoted neat round holes about 1 inch [25mm] in diameter in the Broad Bean rows. Initially I though this was the action of the rain compacting the soil into the holes made for the beans. Closer inspection showed the growing tips of the broad beans discarded by the side of the hole. It could only be mice. The greedy beggar had eaten almost every bean in both rows, almost 40 seeds. Disappointed I resolved to raise some more broad beans at home to replace those that had been lost. I looked at the pea trenches but I can not determine if the mice have been at those as well. It seems that there is always something, scaly, slimy or furry that whats to eat my veg before I get a chance to! The recently planted Brassicas are infested with an aphid or fly. I am going to refer to chemicals to kill the beasties even if it going against my principles. However I can not do anything until it stops raining.
We had a good night at Steve's, they even liked my Nettle wine. Steve bent my arm to get me to bring over some of my air dried Ham. Everyone liked it and plans are afoot to cure some Hams ready for Christmas. Being the UK and a BBQ all organised, the weather did not co-operate so the BBQ was run under an Golfing umbrella. Steve steadfastly manning the BBQ in his summer togs, Tee shirt, Shorts and a sun hat which eventually gave up the unequal task of keeping rain off his head. Even so Burgers, Snags and a selection of Mackerel from an early season sea fishing trip rolled off the BBQ and in time honoured fashion the rain gave way to sunshine once the food was cooked and eaten.
The early start I had promised myself for Sunday did not happen. So it was no surprise to find that by 11am the rain that had been promised set in. At first I ignored it but when it got to the stage where the rain had penetrated to my under pants and the soil was sticking to my boots it was time to give up. However I had managed to chop down the Comfrey, mash it up and plant five rows of the main crop potato, Cara. The Comfrey was put in to the bottom of the trench before planting the seed potatoes. I ran out after three row so need used the horse manure that I recently sourced. Comfrey is a very interesting plant Lawrence D Hills championed it's use and was instrumental in bring organic gardening to the public attention in a time where agro-chemicals were seen as they way forward. To pursue his vision Mr Hills set up the Henry Doubleday Research Association. Mr Hills book was the first gardening book I read that was concerned with growing vegetables rather then flowers and garden design. I still apply is principles today.
Once I had secomed to the rain I took a walk round my plot and examined everything. I had spoted neat round holes about 1 inch [25mm] in diameter in the Broad Bean rows. Initially I though this was the action of the rain compacting the soil into the holes made for the beans. Closer inspection showed the growing tips of the broad beans discarded by the side of the hole. It could only be mice. The greedy beggar had eaten almost every bean in both rows, almost 40 seeds. Disappointed I resolved to raise some more broad beans at home to replace those that had been lost. I looked at the pea trenches but I can not determine if the mice have been at those as well. It seems that there is always something, scaly, slimy or furry that whats to eat my veg before I get a chance to! The recently planted Brassicas are infested with an aphid or fly. I am going to refer to chemicals to kill the beasties even if it going against my principles. However I can not do anything until it stops raining.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Last night was a very good night!
What made last night so good? It rained and it rained like it meant it. So the lottie will have had a good soaking. I expect the weeds will have enjoyed it as well. On the last visit on Tuesday last, just to drop off some timber, the Victoria Rhubard was huge. The sun is out again this morning so I must make time to get the remainder of the Brassicas out of the Greenhouse and into the ground to take advatage of the conditions. Carrots and Parsnips also need sowing. Conditions are near perfect for outdoor planting so I must crack on this weekend. I am a bit late with planting the main crop spuds so that is a priority.
H and I have decided that when we harvest the Rhubarb we shall make Wine, Jam and just stew some for pudding at tea time. The Timperly Early Rhubarb is a smaller variety but is also growing well. We will have some off that as well. This cut should be sweeter than the Victoria. I am going to try and make a pesticide out of the Rhubard leaves. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous the humans because of the high Oxalic acid content. I read on the Internet that brewing the leaves releases the toxins which can be used against various types of fly pests. I will let you know how I get on. Last year a started a rain butt of Comfrey Tea. 40 gallons [UK] is a big excessive but I am using it everywhere. On each crop I use it I have left some plants untreated as a control. I hope to be able to see a difference in the performance of the plant at harvest time.
When the Greenhouse is cleared of seed trays I should be able to pot up the Cucumbers into big tubs for growing on. The Cumcumbers are a new thing for me this year so all a bit of an experiment.
H and I have decided that when we harvest the Rhubarb we shall make Wine, Jam and just stew some for pudding at tea time. The Timperly Early Rhubarb is a smaller variety but is also growing well. We will have some off that as well. This cut should be sweeter than the Victoria. I am going to try and make a pesticide out of the Rhubard leaves. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous the humans because of the high Oxalic acid content. I read on the Internet that brewing the leaves releases the toxins which can be used against various types of fly pests. I will let you know how I get on. Last year a started a rain butt of Comfrey Tea. 40 gallons [UK] is a big excessive but I am using it everywhere. On each crop I use it I have left some plants untreated as a control. I hope to be able to see a difference in the performance of the plant at harvest time.
When the Greenhouse is cleared of seed trays I should be able to pot up the Cucumbers into big tubs for growing on. The Cumcumbers are a new thing for me this year so all a bit of an experiment.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
May Day not m'aide
During April I have been planting out my vegetable seedlings that I been raising in the greenhouse. I have had to water them so I have been going every other day,after work. The Brasicass seedlings were looking a bit limp but are perking up as they settle in. Hispi cabbage, Cauliflower, Curly Kale and Beetroot. Received wisdom says you should not transplant Beetroot because it disturbs the roots. I started Beets in cells and they came on well. Transplanting them to the lottie has had no real detrimental affect. There have been a few casualties but that is from my rough handling of the seedling. I then sowed beet seed along side the seedling in the hope of having a succession of beet. We will see.
I have sowed Peas this week, Petite poit and Greenshaft. I am sure these will thrive. The early Broad Beans are starting to flower. I have planted another couple of rows for succession. The Onion patch is starting the move. The Garlic is enjoying the dry weather. The Elephant Garlic I planted as a lost cause have really staged a comeback. I might get a crop this year! The Sturon and Shallots are coming on if a little slowly but they have only been in a month so I should just be patient.
May Day Bank Holiday in the UK [7th May - The first Monday of May] gave me an extra day for gardening. We have been promised rain for Monday so I had get busy on Saturday and Sunday if I was to benefit from the the forecasters projection. As it happens I only got to water the lottie on Saturday afternoon, plant the peas and have a beer whilst wondering where I was to find the extra time to prepare the rest of the potato patch. The ground is rock hard so the rain will be welcome. Sunday was spent at home on the fruit beds or more accurately the paths between the beds. I built the beds a week or two ago from 6x1 inches boards. The timber merchant calls them gravel boards. They are heavily impregnated with waterproofer. I made two beds 24" [600mm] by 16' [4m] and a third the same width but a bit longer. The fourth bed is straight down one side, parallel to the thin beds but the rest is irregular to fit into the end of the garden. There is a path at the end so that I can get round the back.
Bed 1 is to have Blueberry so in dug out all the soil down to 12" [300mm] and intend to fill the trench with ericasious peat [Lime free] because that's what Blueberries like. The soil filled out the adjacent border very nicely so that was a bonus.
Bed 2 is for Blackberries. I just double dug the bed adding a big bucket of manure into the base. The weeds were evicted and the the soil raked. We had a couple of Blackberry bushes from last year and a friend got me two from Norfolk this year. In they went in a nice neat row with a handful of BFB [Blood, Fish and Bone Fertilizer] .
Bed 3 is a for Raspberries. I treated this bed the same as bed 2. I did go to the trouble of lining the bed with weed control sheeting to keep the runners in the bed.
Bed 4 got he same treatment although I was running out of manure. I had a dozen Strawberries on hand for the short term, Two Gooseberries, Invicta and Windham's Industry [which are great names] and a Mulberry bush and yes I have enough room to go round it. Everyone the sees it sings the nursery rhyme, odd really. There is space left for more Strawberries as soon as I can blag a few from my lottie neighbours. All the beds where treated with a generous covering of bark chippings. The quango body have chaps trimming hedges and trees to prepare an area by the lottie for a return to nature. A return to nature by chopping and chipping trees - go figure?
My back garden is on a slope. Previous owners of the house had nice terraces cut into the slope to create level areas. The top one, where the fruits are, still has a gradient. Beds disguise the slope except for the path between beds 3 and 4. Having laid out the beds then fixed boards to create the outer edges of the path along the back and side walls it was just a matter of loosening up the soil, weeding it and raking it out. Easy when you say it quick. A couple of hours toil in the hot sun, there was no wind because this part of the garden is sheltered by high fences, and I was ready to fit the weed suppression membrane. The good lady took pity on me and made lunch and a tall cool drink. Once lunch was over it was an easy job to staple the membrane to the gravel boards of the beds. Then it was only a matter of tipping ten bags of bark chippings onto the membrane and raking in out into a nice path. That bit was quite therapeutic.
It did rain on Monday. Drizzle in the morning and a single heavy shower in the evening but the soil is so warm and dry it hardly penetrated. Just before tea the wife and I planted lettuce and salad leaves of various sorts and spring onions in her newly invented salad patch. It should be nice once things get going. Whilst we had a few minutes before tea we planted out some marigolds in the borders in the back garden and a drift of them in the front "garden". It would be a garden if it had more plants than soil.
So that was the three days. We managed to spend time together as a family. My girl managed to get shopping in with her mum and a "crazee" picnic with her friends on Monday. Her indoors and I managed to squeeze in a Saturday night out with friends at the pub, well actually several pubs -thanks Alan and Julie. H and I went for a walk on Monday. Nine miles round and about near home. It was a stiff walk in the heat and drying wind, except for the bit where it hammered down for the few minutes it took to walk across a field of long and now soaking wet grass. Thereafter it is soggy and cold - well damp and cooler.
I have sowed Peas this week, Petite poit and Greenshaft. I am sure these will thrive. The early Broad Beans are starting to flower. I have planted another couple of rows for succession. The Onion patch is starting the move. The Garlic is enjoying the dry weather. The Elephant Garlic I planted as a lost cause have really staged a comeback. I might get a crop this year! The Sturon and Shallots are coming on if a little slowly but they have only been in a month so I should just be patient.
May Day Bank Holiday in the UK [7th May - The first Monday of May] gave me an extra day for gardening. We have been promised rain for Monday so I had get busy on Saturday and Sunday if I was to benefit from the the forecasters projection. As it happens I only got to water the lottie on Saturday afternoon, plant the peas and have a beer whilst wondering where I was to find the extra time to prepare the rest of the potato patch. The ground is rock hard so the rain will be welcome. Sunday was spent at home on the fruit beds or more accurately the paths between the beds. I built the beds a week or two ago from 6x1 inches boards. The timber merchant calls them gravel boards. They are heavily impregnated with waterproofer. I made two beds 24" [600mm] by 16' [4m] and a third the same width but a bit longer. The fourth bed is straight down one side, parallel to the thin beds but the rest is irregular to fit into the end of the garden. There is a path at the end so that I can get round the back.
Bed 1 is to have Blueberry so in dug out all the soil down to 12" [300mm] and intend to fill the trench with ericasious peat [Lime free] because that's what Blueberries like. The soil filled out the adjacent border very nicely so that was a bonus.
Bed 2 is for Blackberries. I just double dug the bed adding a big bucket of manure into the base. The weeds were evicted and the the soil raked. We had a couple of Blackberry bushes from last year and a friend got me two from Norfolk this year. In they went in a nice neat row with a handful of BFB [Blood, Fish and Bone Fertilizer] .
Bed 3 is a for Raspberries. I treated this bed the same as bed 2. I did go to the trouble of lining the bed with weed control sheeting to keep the runners in the bed.
Bed 4 got he same treatment although I was running out of manure. I had a dozen Strawberries on hand for the short term, Two Gooseberries, Invicta and Windham's Industry [which are great names] and a Mulberry bush and yes I have enough room to go round it. Everyone the sees it sings the nursery rhyme, odd really. There is space left for more Strawberries as soon as I can blag a few from my lottie neighbours. All the beds where treated with a generous covering of bark chippings. The quango body have chaps trimming hedges and trees to prepare an area by the lottie for a return to nature. A return to nature by chopping and chipping trees - go figure?
My back garden is on a slope. Previous owners of the house had nice terraces cut into the slope to create level areas. The top one, where the fruits are, still has a gradient. Beds disguise the slope except for the path between beds 3 and 4. Having laid out the beds then fixed boards to create the outer edges of the path along the back and side walls it was just a matter of loosening up the soil, weeding it and raking it out. Easy when you say it quick. A couple of hours toil in the hot sun, there was no wind because this part of the garden is sheltered by high fences, and I was ready to fit the weed suppression membrane. The good lady took pity on me and made lunch and a tall cool drink. Once lunch was over it was an easy job to staple the membrane to the gravel boards of the beds. Then it was only a matter of tipping ten bags of bark chippings onto the membrane and raking in out into a nice path. That bit was quite therapeutic.
It did rain on Monday. Drizzle in the morning and a single heavy shower in the evening but the soil is so warm and dry it hardly penetrated. Just before tea the wife and I planted lettuce and salad leaves of various sorts and spring onions in her newly invented salad patch. It should be nice once things get going. Whilst we had a few minutes before tea we planted out some marigolds in the borders in the back garden and a drift of them in the front "garden". It would be a garden if it had more plants than soil.
So that was the three days. We managed to spend time together as a family. My girl managed to get shopping in with her mum and a "crazee" picnic with her friends on Monday. Her indoors and I managed to squeeze in a Saturday night out with friends at the pub, well actually several pubs -thanks Alan and Julie. H and I went for a walk on Monday. Nine miles round and about near home. It was a stiff walk in the heat and drying wind, except for the bit where it hammered down for the few minutes it took to walk across a field of long and now soaking wet grass. Thereafter it is soggy and cold - well damp and cooler.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
April 07. Where did the time go?
I have re-read my last blog. I have thought about the blog many times but I don't seem to have found the time to keep up to date.
The rabbit issue has a short term resolution and a longer term solution. Short term I have put a rabbbit fence round my plot. The little blighters eating though the wind netting, coming into my plot in perferrence to the unguarded plots and digging holes and generally being a nuisance. I think the bird netting I have over my plot makes them feel safe. The longer term solution is that I have engaged some Rabbit hunters to come and ferret them out. So the fight is being taken to them. There are still plenty of Rabbits about but not on my plot.
Many things have conspired against me in the early part is this year. The weather has been wet so no digging. I foolishly allowed someone else to organise sourcing and delivery of horse maure. Needless to say thet let me down so I am short of feed for the plot. Work has been very busy and my Dad has had a big operation and is in hospital 100 miles away from were I live. There are still jobs to do on the house but I getting through them. Easter weekend [a four day holiday in the UK] was spent laying a patio at home and laying two patios at the allotment. They all look smart but it is not the same as planting spuds.
The best crops over the winter have been Parsnips, Leeks and this spring, Sprouting Brocolli. I am trying; a smaller Parsnips this year as wells as a the big over winterers, a smaller Leek, Jolent, as well as Muselborough and Spriouting Brocolli again. I am going to plant Garlic and Japanese onions this autumn and get the crops going for the winter.
As it stands now I have a job to prepare the ground for the second sowing of spuds, charlottes for this planting. The first planting was Ulster Prince and in the time in between get all the other seedlings off planted out.
I am parniod that I am going to forget to plant something. Last year I forgot the brussel sprouts and had to buy some for Christmas dinner. Sweet Corn and French Beans are on the "do not forget" list. The weather is warm enough now so I should do it any day now. The Gherkins need potting on but his year I am going harvest them as Concicorns rather leaving them to be Gherkins. I have a note pinned on the Greenhouse to remind me about the next lot of brassicas.
Back to work.
The rabbit issue has a short term resolution and a longer term solution. Short term I have put a rabbbit fence round my plot. The little blighters eating though the wind netting, coming into my plot in perferrence to the unguarded plots and digging holes and generally being a nuisance. I think the bird netting I have over my plot makes them feel safe. The longer term solution is that I have engaged some Rabbit hunters to come and ferret them out. So the fight is being taken to them. There are still plenty of Rabbits about but not on my plot.
Many things have conspired against me in the early part is this year. The weather has been wet so no digging. I foolishly allowed someone else to organise sourcing and delivery of horse maure. Needless to say thet let me down so I am short of feed for the plot. Work has been very busy and my Dad has had a big operation and is in hospital 100 miles away from were I live. There are still jobs to do on the house but I getting through them. Easter weekend [a four day holiday in the UK] was spent laying a patio at home and laying two patios at the allotment. They all look smart but it is not the same as planting spuds.
The best crops over the winter have been Parsnips, Leeks and this spring, Sprouting Brocolli. I am trying; a smaller Parsnips this year as wells as a the big over winterers, a smaller Leek, Jolent, as well as Muselborough and Spriouting Brocolli again. I am going to plant Garlic and Japanese onions this autumn and get the crops going for the winter.
As it stands now I have a job to prepare the ground for the second sowing of spuds, charlottes for this planting. The first planting was Ulster Prince and in the time in between get all the other seedlings off planted out.
I am parniod that I am going to forget to plant something. Last year I forgot the brussel sprouts and had to buy some for Christmas dinner. Sweet Corn and French Beans are on the "do not forget" list. The weather is warm enough now so I should do it any day now. The Gherkins need potting on but his year I am going harvest them as Concicorns rather leaving them to be Gherkins. I have a note pinned on the Greenhouse to remind me about the next lot of brassicas.
Back to work.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Jobs for 07
The lottie came into full production on 06 as the last portion was double dug and planted. The over wintering onions where planted a week ago in the boxes in the green house. They are up already. A bit late but they should be ready in the summer before the Sturon and Red Barons in the autumn.
I have to clean, sterilise and fumigate the greenhouse ready for Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers as well as all the seed trays of vegetables. I have to sort out another shelf and a staging and tackle the accumulation of pots and trays under the staging from last year. I am under strict instruction from "she who must be obeyed" that I am not to evict any Frogs, Toads or Newts. So I get a feeling the cleaning will have to wait until the Spring proper.
I have promised myself that I will get the continuity going so that I can have something growing and cropping through the winter. Onions, Sprouts, Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli and Swedes are all candidates as well as getting such things as Broad Beans. Beans tend to over wintered for a head start in the spring . I also need to address storage. I have the space in the shed but the method is the issue. I think I need to read some books from Victoria times on storage. The jams, chutneys and pickles I made went down well so More the same next year. The Sloe gin was and is still fantastic. I might do Damson gin as well.
My seed order from Kings Seeds arrived on Friday afternoon. I had to go away for the weekend. When I got back on Sunday evening I had a pleasant hour with a glass of Sole gin reviewing my seed order and my existing seed packets. I have an idea of what to plant and where everything is going. It will be a question of whether the weather and Rabbits will allow.
I have to clean, sterilise and fumigate the greenhouse ready for Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers as well as all the seed trays of vegetables. I have to sort out another shelf and a staging and tackle the accumulation of pots and trays under the staging from last year. I am under strict instruction from "she who must be obeyed" that I am not to evict any Frogs, Toads or Newts. So I get a feeling the cleaning will have to wait until the Spring proper.
I have promised myself that I will get the continuity going so that I can have something growing and cropping through the winter. Onions, Sprouts, Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli and Swedes are all candidates as well as getting such things as Broad Beans. Beans tend to over wintered for a head start in the spring . I also need to address storage. I have the space in the shed but the method is the issue. I think I need to read some books from Victoria times on storage. The jams, chutneys and pickles I made went down well so More the same next year. The Sloe gin was and is still fantastic. I might do Damson gin as well.
My seed order from Kings Seeds arrived on Friday afternoon. I had to go away for the weekend. When I got back on Sunday evening I had a pleasant hour with a glass of Sole gin reviewing my seed order and my existing seed packets. I have an idea of what to plant and where everything is going. It will be a question of whether the weather and Rabbits will allow.
First blog of 07
Nearly two months have gone by since I last blogged. When I sat down to blog thought and had nothing to record. However quite a few things have occurred since November.
Christmas was most notable this year for having the whole holiday off from work. Ten straight days. Fortunately or unfortunate depending on whether I am feeling grumpy we had people run each day. That put paid to doing anything on the lottie. However it did not stop making the excuse of going a walk and dragging along the wined and dined relatives over the sticky fields to view the lottie. The walk is only one and a half miles across the field, over the stiles, ford a stream and clamber a fence before I could sit on the bench and have a nip from the hip flask.
Carrots have been my Nemesis again this year. Most everything else has gone well. I sent a lot of time on the house this year so the plot is not what it could be but I still did a creditable job. 07 should be better. I have less big jobs this which leave this to fettle the lottie. I did manage to get the green manure in so that is making a quarter of the plot look very neat.
I had a very good Sunday before Christmas where was able to spend the daylight hours at the lottie. The weather was "dreek" as the Scot would say. Cold, wet and windy with showers for good measure. Even so I was warm and busy. I have taken down the courgette bed and knocked up a raised bed about 8 x 6 foot and a foot deep in its place. I put drains in the bottom and half filled it with manure. This going to be my Asparagus bed! The weed heap has been covered up for a month or so which allowed it all to dry out. I got a good fire going and burned off 80% of the pile. I put up some feeders and fat balls for the birds. Then on whim I thought I would have a look at the neighbours plot at the top of the site.
I am the Secretary of the society and a few weeks ago I was discussing with my neighbour the puddling and water logging problem on his plot. We talked about solutions and left it at that. Mt idle hands decided that a trench at the side of his plot would act as a temporary drain. I got stuck in and after several stops for a lean on the spade and mattock. I found I had a trench about thirty feet long from six inches at one end to a foot deep at the other. I then deepened a gully which let the water run off from the pond that had developed on the his plot. His plot is not dry by any means but the standing water has disappeared.
I came back to my plot and laid the remaining flags on my "Patio". All the plots have a strip about ten feet wide adjacent to the path that is so poor even the week will not grow. I use this bit for raised beds and compost bins. The remaining are I have flagged so it is easy to work on. One day I might be able to get a chair out and have a sit down! Whilst I was on a roll I pulled out my compost bin, turned the contents over and as I re-stacked it threw shovel fulls of the cooled ash from the bonfire into the mix. With it all back in the bins the lid was rearranged and secured against the gale that must be due.
I collect all my rabbit snares. I learned how to set snares in the back end of last year. we are starting the have a problem with rabbits helping themselves to our larder. My response has to snare them. I can not send the time waiting to shot them. Snaring, although not everyones cup of tea, is starting to deal with them. It is a small start. I know we will never get rid of them but at least they can be reduced and as will their impact. I check the snares every evening. The fox has sussed out the trapping as well. I am not concerned about the foxes. They will help keep the rabbits in check. Where the fox has beaten me to the kill I bury the remains. I was think about leaving the remains for the buzzards and other carrion birds. I thought I might do this to see the birds through the winter and bury them in the summer to reduce the flies.
Christmas was most notable this year for having the whole holiday off from work. Ten straight days. Fortunately or unfortunate depending on whether I am feeling grumpy we had people run each day. That put paid to doing anything on the lottie. However it did not stop making the excuse of going a walk and dragging along the wined and dined relatives over the sticky fields to view the lottie. The walk is only one and a half miles across the field, over the stiles, ford a stream and clamber a fence before I could sit on the bench and have a nip from the hip flask.
Carrots have been my Nemesis again this year. Most everything else has gone well. I sent a lot of time on the house this year so the plot is not what it could be but I still did a creditable job. 07 should be better. I have less big jobs this which leave this to fettle the lottie. I did manage to get the green manure in so that is making a quarter of the plot look very neat.
I had a very good Sunday before Christmas where was able to spend the daylight hours at the lottie. The weather was "dreek" as the Scot would say. Cold, wet and windy with showers for good measure. Even so I was warm and busy. I have taken down the courgette bed and knocked up a raised bed about 8 x 6 foot and a foot deep in its place. I put drains in the bottom and half filled it with manure. This going to be my Asparagus bed! The weed heap has been covered up for a month or so which allowed it all to dry out. I got a good fire going and burned off 80% of the pile. I put up some feeders and fat balls for the birds. Then on whim I thought I would have a look at the neighbours plot at the top of the site.
I am the Secretary of the society and a few weeks ago I was discussing with my neighbour the puddling and water logging problem on his plot. We talked about solutions and left it at that. Mt idle hands decided that a trench at the side of his plot would act as a temporary drain. I got stuck in and after several stops for a lean on the spade and mattock. I found I had a trench about thirty feet long from six inches at one end to a foot deep at the other. I then deepened a gully which let the water run off from the pond that had developed on the his plot. His plot is not dry by any means but the standing water has disappeared.
I came back to my plot and laid the remaining flags on my "Patio". All the plots have a strip about ten feet wide adjacent to the path that is so poor even the week will not grow. I use this bit for raised beds and compost bins. The remaining are I have flagged so it is easy to work on. One day I might be able to get a chair out and have a sit down! Whilst I was on a roll I pulled out my compost bin, turned the contents over and as I re-stacked it threw shovel fulls of the cooled ash from the bonfire into the mix. With it all back in the bins the lid was rearranged and secured against the gale that must be due.
I collect all my rabbit snares. I learned how to set snares in the back end of last year. we are starting the have a problem with rabbits helping themselves to our larder. My response has to snare them. I can not send the time waiting to shot them. Snaring, although not everyones cup of tea, is starting to deal with them. It is a small start. I know we will never get rid of them but at least they can be reduced and as will their impact. I check the snares every evening. The fox has sussed out the trapping as well. I am not concerned about the foxes. They will help keep the rabbits in check. Where the fox has beaten me to the kill I bury the remains. I was think about leaving the remains for the buzzards and other carrion birds. I thought I might do this to see the birds through the winter and bury them in the summer to reduce the flies.
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