Clocks go forward

The bank holiday weekend was spent in Cumbria seeing friends. The rest of the country experience snow showers. On the west coast of Cumbria we just had snow showers on the hill which brought out their majesty. It was cold but the crisp sort of cold. Not that damp cold you can't keep out. It was Hazel that spotted that we [H & me, AJ & Jakie & Nige n' Sue] met twenty years ago on the same bank holiday weekend down in Somerset. That gave us pause for thought. No allotmenting this weekend.

The weekend just gone, 29/30th, was a bit different. I had the Allotment Society meeting on Friday night. H went up to see her friend in Cheshire for a birthday party. I was able to pop out on Saturday morning to get some 50x50x600mm pegs and screws for the bed edging at the lottie. I had to wait whilst H returned so as not to leave Miss L alone. I did some tiding up in the back garden, tidied out remaining veggies from the shed and cleaned down.

H turned up about lunchtime. We had bacon butties which set me up for the afternoon. However the weather had turned. Moira was under a leaden sky. It was raining big drops but not many so you did not get wet quickly. It was a howling gales as well. I went the lottie anyway. I figured I could sort the edging out even if it rained. The rain eased up but the wind did not. I plugged away at the pegs and edging. The weather a bit inconvenient. But as am fond of saying "it is not bad weather but the wrong clothing". Since I was working on the floor the metre high wind netting did a surprisingly effective job of reducing the force of the wind. I set the edging to create the half way path of the right had side of the plot. Whilst I was about it I weeded and levelled the new path. The weather eased quite a bit in the couple hours of timber wrangling. I decided to make a start on bed 2 which has been under brasicas all winter and not weeded. I did about six foot before I ran out of steam. I really enjoyed being out in the weather and getting the job done.

The weather blew itself out overnight bring a bright sunny morning with just a light breeze. It planting day! At last. I loaded up the car with seed potatoes, Shallots, Onion sets and Broad Bean seedlings. Before planting the soil needed to beef up the soil. I had the problem of a wheelbarrow full of weeds from the previous day. My allotment buddy gave me a spare composter some time ago. I poo poo'd the idea of another compost bin. I have four already! I thought I might use it at home since it was a smart item. I built it emptied the barrow in to it. That five bins then..... Whilst in the bin area I tidied up the collections of bags and Weed supressing membrane. I lifted up a bag from under the wormery and out hopped an enormous toad. If you ask me I will not own up to jumping out of my skin at the Toad attack.

Toads home restored, barrow emptied and with clear conscience I barrowed three loads of manure onto each bed and worked into the soil. The 30 Broad Beans [Hysor] seedlings went straight into the bottom end of bed 2. The 20 shallots [Golden Globe] went into the bottom end of bed 3. Bed 1 [Spud bed for 2008] was been under green manure up to Christmas and then under horse manure. I went across the bed a dug out the few offending weeds. I have been chitting the seed potatoes in the garage for the past couple of weeks and they are just right. I get ten plants per row. As It worked out I had 51 seed potatoes. Five rows with one spud for the compost bin. This end of the plot is a bit claggy with clay. The recent rain made digging the trenches hard work. Nevertheless five rows were planted accompanied with more and more grunting and puffing. The Trangia is a boon. When the going gets tough I put in on knowing in five minutes I can have a brew. H and Miss L came down to look at what I have been up to over the winter. H took some photos. Miss L remained unimpressed by the transformation. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and flitting. It is not social computing so it does not count!

This:



















To this:












Not bad going if I say so myself.

I cut some Purple sprouting broccoli and the some of the white variety of sprouting broccoli for H to take home for dinner. I still had two rows to plant after H left. I was tired by now but happy. More planting next week.

Spring is here...almost

The weather has been playing up again. Lovely and bright, if cold, with gales in mid week then raining at the weekend. Steve and I had cast a plinth last week and on Friday the plaque arrived. I had a devil of a job the drill the holes on Saturday. It was raining on and off and always a strong, biting cold wind. Then batteries in the cordless drill would not retain power. In the end I had to buy a new drill [batteries included]. By the end of Saturday following at least three visits I got the plaque fitted. In the end the actual fitting was a doddle, ten minutes at most. Most jobs are easy with the right tools.

Sunday was a wash out. I fiddled with the BM instead. See the link to the BM blog. We had arranged to plant a tree in memory of the chairman who passed away last autumn, hence the plaque nonsense and Sunday 4pm was the time to do it. I got there a little early. Steve was already there as were the Wardles. Jo, the widow, her daughter Val and the family arrived togged up in winter clothes and wellies. We had about sixteen people turn up. The wind was biting cold but the rain stopped and the Sun came out. It was not warm by any means but Sun on your back away makes you feel better. I had prepared the hole and fixed a stake in readiness. Jo, Val and the grandson set about planting the tree and heeling it in. I finished the planting by fixing the strap to the tree and stake. I said a few words to mark the occasion and asked Jo to unveil the plaque. I think everyone was surprised at the quality of the plaque on it's plinth. Well done Steve for sorting the plaque out. We had a couple of pictures of the assembled throng. Val took a couple of pictures of the tree and plaque.

Everyone dispersed and had a look round the plots. It was a pleasant enough gathering but I did not get a chance to have a nip from my hip flask which was full of Sloe gin.

Work has been very busy this past week or so as we wind up to fiscal year end. To top in all I popped down to the lottie to get something one morning to find that the plastic greenhouse belonging to one of the plot holders in the next field. In its journey it had smashed the fruit cage support in a neighbouring plot. Email and phone calls ensued when I got to work. One the plot holder recovered it for the lady concerned.

The tensions of last year seem to have blown away in the gales and life at the lottie seems to be returning to a more relaxed state.

Me Orchard

Today I have mainly been planting my orchard. Since I finished the fruit beds last summer one of them has been empty. H and I decided we would have Apple and Pear trees. There are a form called "Minarretes". These trees are on dwarfing rootstock and are pruned to reduce the side shoots. This mean you end up with relatively short tree, eight foot as an absolute maximum, with very short fruiting spurs. The effect is like a broom stick with fruit stuck on. I had been chucking every spare pot full of compost that became free into the bed. It had been dug out for Blueberries bit H changed her mind so I had to find something to refill the bed. It was not to hard to do. A few buckets of manure from the lottie and a few buckets of soil from here and there and the bed was full and ready.

H helped by supporting the trees at the right height whilst I back filled the hole. Once the trees were in and spread about the bags of bark that I had reserved for the job. After a quick trip to Boundary Feeds I had the right diameters poles. They were too long but a quick saw and the poles were just right. A couple of whacks with the hatchet and the pole has a point. The poles did not need much driving into the ground. I had some proper tree ties from earlier in the year. One for each tree was enough. The bed looked bare so I planting the dozen free Strawberry plants [Cambridge Favourite] that came with the tree order.


Trees are [from foreground to back ground]:
Apple - Bountiful [cooker]
Apple - Herefordshire Russet [Dessert]
Pear - Beth

They don't look much now but by the autumn of next year they will be fabulous.

Another Fine Day

I made a special effort to go to the lottie on Saturday. I am desperate to get the side path finished but first I had to do the poo run and then go to the Potato men. Whilst out collect aggregate to make concrete for for a plinth . The poo run was same as usual. When I drop the trailer back to the stables I then went to Newall to drop off the green screw can wine bottles I had collected. The potato men use them to sell the Jeyes fluid which they buy in bulk. I got a bag of seed compost whilst I was there. On the was back I picked up a bag of aggregate for Sunday. I popped in home to get milk and tea bags and went to the lottie. The wind was howling across the plot. Even the wind netting provide little respite. I turn the Ipod up and pulled my hat over my ears and cracked on. I set out a peg at the top of the plot to mark the corner and laid out a line to mark the position of the edging. I only had enough pegs to fit two of the three edging boards. With the two boards fitted I set about turning over the bed. It went quite easily although there was a lot of Chick weed. The soil had just the right amount of moisture which allowed the digging to be easy and the soil to shake free from the roots. I did about four linear foot of bed. The bed is ten foot wide which means a fair area was attacked.

Putting in the new edging meant I also had to redistribute the soil to make the bed level. Whilst digging I turned up volunteer spuds left behind from the previous year's harvest. They are Charlottes and there were enough for dinner that night. Speaking of volunteers, last year onion patch is showing a few renggades. I will tackle them another day. Having tied up the tools and emptied the wheel barrow I made my way home.

I was home for 1pm. I had a sandwich and a brew then set about the garage. I have a bike in kit form coming on Monday night so I thought I should tidy up the garage. I moved the bike ramp and the bike that was on it and turfed everything else onto the drive. I put up a few racks and swept the place out. The bike went back in against the wall on it's stands. The ramp is now in the middle of the floor. The bits of wood that were being stored went in the car to go to the lottie and subsequently on the fire and the good bits went in the shed. Most of the other stuff was binned or a new home was found for it. There looks like lots of space but once the bike arrives the area will be stuffed again. There is a link in the side bar to my BMW blog or just click HERE

We have Starlings living in the eves of the house. They woke H and I up early on Sunday. Having fought to ignore them I had to give up. We had breakfast then drove to Lount and had a nice walk round Alaster and Jaguar woods. Jaguar wood has a plantation of Walnut trees. They seems to be surviving. Walnut is not a native of the UK and is at the very top edge of it's range. Alaster wood has lots of heath type areas which are mown. There was a big pile of hay from the mowing. H and I made ourselves comfy and watched the birds. The larks and little birds twittered whilst the Buzzards soared and screeched. As we walked back a chap was out for a walk with his dog but he was dressed a bit oddly. After a short peep on his whistle a Harris hawk swooped onto his wrist, was fed a tit bit and launched again. The chap and this dog walked along the lane with the Harris "leap frogging" them tree to tree. To the chap it was nothing but to us it was extraordinary.

We have decided to plant a tree in memory of the Don the Allotment's first chairman who died in the autumn. We also decided we should have a plaque. The new chairman has organised the brass-work I have had to build a plinth. Having finished with the garage on Saturday I found a few handy bits of sheet plywood in the process I made a former to cast the concrete plinth. At 2pm on Sunday Steve and I turned up at the lottie , Steve to dig a hole in readiness for the tree and me to mix the concrete to cast the plinth. Job done I went home to watch the introduction to the 2008 MotoGP series.

Steve took a few of my ailing Curly Kale to feed to the his chickens.

Mothering Sunday

As you can imagine getting to the lottie on Sunday was a non-starter. I had promised to do a guest appearance as a Plumber for a friend on Saturday and there was the standing commitment to collect poo. With all that to pack in over the weekend the lottie never stood a chance.

I bagged the poo and loaded the bin at the lottie. I then did the Plumbing thing for the rest of the day. Sunday was spent travelling to and from Shrewsbury, land of the in-laws and lunch in the Harry Hotspur.

The evenings are getting lighter so I took the opportunity to nip to the lottie on Monday and bag a couple of bucket fulls of the well rotted manure. I needed some for the front garden so H can plant her bulbs. It is a bit late but the bulbs are growing in the bag out of earth so they only need a nice place to live to flower. The bit of the front garden designated for bulbs is very sandy. Four tubs of manure have set the soil straight. It is a bit on the sandy side but good enough.

One of the Garlic bulbs from last year started sprouting so I have broke it up and planted it in compost. I will probably give them away later in the year.

I am still waiting for the fruit trees. The bed is not yet prepared. I hope to do that this weekend coming.

My Life In Poo

I wonder if I should use this the title for my memoirs or perhaps, Manure for the Memories?

The day started, as what has become the norm for a Saturday, by collecting the poo trailer at 9am. Chris was about today so we had a bit of a chat about nothing in particular. Chatting about nothing in particular is a special bloke skill.

During the week, on a day I finished a bit early, I thought I would spent a few minutes pondering my navel at the lottie. I should know better. I thought I will just move a barrow load of poo from the my bin onto bed 1 just to see how far it would go and check the quality of the manure. I had a rush of blood to head and ended up shifting the whole bin and completing the manuring of bed 1. The next few worth of trailering will be going in my newly emptied poo bin. I can not see the trailer out the rear windscreen so I have no chance of reversing the trailer down the path to my plot. I have to unhook it and walk it. Fortunately it is down hill so I only have to make sure it does not run away with me. I done that before! Then it is just a matter of shovelling the poo into the bin. The bin looked really full with just one trailer load. The thought crossed my mind that if the bin so full with one trailer what I am going to do with a trailer full a week until Christmas. Since I had wellies on I jumped into the bin and stamped the poo down. I reckon I could get ten trailer fulls in the bin with a good stomping on each fill.

I had another appointment for a lesson in pottering so I had to go home after the poo wrangling. After cup of tea and a change of clothes it was off to Ashby for the next installment. However, before tea and clothes and whilst waiting for Miss L to grace us with her presence I had a strong urge to dig. The front garden at home has been under half a ton of manure all winter. It is starting to turn green. I have put off turning it over for a few weeks but I could resist no longer. I got busy with the fork and within twenty minutes it was all dug over. The end near the house is still just sand. Thirty odd years after the house was built and the sub surface is still a builder yard. Later in the day I was able to bring another couple of buckets of manure home from the lottie to bolster the sand pit. Another few bucket fulls are going to be needed to make the area viable as a garden.

Young Miss L needed a lift into town to see her mates and in the spirit of saving the planet one journey at a time H and I went to pottering lessons and L to meet her buddies. L was charged with get something for her Mum's birthday. After major negotiations I was relieved of a quantity of cash and L was sent of with instructions. I managed to slip away to get H a birthday card and a small prezzy. I do not think this was a very successful lesson. I was distracted by the itch to get back to the lottie and barrow manure on to bed 4.

One of the plot holders has access to manure as well. He built a big corral at the back of the car-park at the top of the plot and has been filling it since autumn last year from his four pony source. It is ready to use. We also have a small poo corral at the bottom of the plots. Dave G, "Roundup" as has been affectionately christened, has started filling that bin whilst we empty the top bin. It took fifteen barrow loads to complete bed 4 and a long walk. My plot is as far away from the top poo bin as it is possible to get on our lottie.

I had another result this week. I was on an errand to the post office in Ashby which takes me past Woolies. Woolies had a new lot of plants in boxes. I spotted they had Sauvigon Blanc grape vines and at half price, just £2.49! Four please missus. Don't wrap them, I'll take them with me.
The vines had already started to sprout. As soon as I got home I potted them up. The planting stations are not ready at the lottie. A few weeks growing on on the greenhouse at home will be a great start. I now have all the vines I need for the lottie and at a fraction of the original estimate of £120.

One of L friend's Mum is a primary school teacher. She came round to asked me about seed potatoes. The conversation lead into what they do at school and why they do it. The resources available and the limitations. They have had a series of raised beds made and no one to work them. Whilst I did not volunteer out right I did promise to do her a crib sheet on easy to grow vegetables. Whilst writing up the crib it is amazing how many plants are easy to grow, will stand neglect and yet perform well. I think I might ask if I can set it out. If it is big enough I could do a potager if not, I could use the square metre gardening principle.

Everything is growing in the greenhouse despite the cold snap we have had. Next week I might tackle the back garden. It is probably a days work to prepare the salad bed and weed the fruit beds. then there is the fun of trimming the Willows. I have some prep to do on a new bed and the Sweet Pea screen. More about that when it happens.

It is H birthday on Monday so as a treat tomorrow we are off to Leeds Armoury followed by lunch at Pizza Express. H has got interested in development of weapons and the history of the people who used them in the context of English history. I think this is in part due to my introducing her to the works of Patrick O'Brian. O'Brian wrote a twenty book series on the adventures of Midshipman Jack Aubrey and his rise to Admiral Aubrey of the Blue and his "particular friend" phyiscian & spy Stephen Maturin. The action takes place all over the world during and after the Napoleonic wars. H has always had a strong interest in history but mainly from the Industrial Revolution. H would assert that it is the recent history that shaped us. I lean to the shaping of a people from the development of England as an entity since the Dark ages. I read a very interesting book by Melvyn Bragg called The Adventure of English. It is biography of the English language and therefore about its people.

Time to go. We off out tonight with our friends the Peter's to sample the delight of The Chequers

Community Area

"Community Area" it is an unwieldly name for the space where the Patios now live. The community area is an awkward space at the top end of the plots. On the plans it is called the community orchard. Weeds would not grow in that soil, if soil is the right word for the ground. Planting fruit trees was thought to be pointless and probably fruitless. A few years ago we split the "orchard" into two pieces. The bigger area, which is more or less square, we let to a lady who prefers to grow flowers and do garden design. She previously had a quarter plot which was getting a bit small. The plot we devised is bigger than her old plot but smaller than a half plot. I spread out the muck pile that was nearby and dug it over for her. That too was a February but I was doing at night illuminated by my car headlights. I remember it being bitterly cold.


Last Easter I finished the Patios. I had intended them to be round but I broke a borrowed Shtil saw so only one got to be round, the other two had to left be uncut. You will know if you having been following the blog that each weekend an hour is devoted to poo collecting and spreading on the community area. Well I finished that job this weekend too. The flagstones of the patio are two foot square or two foot by three. If you look carefuly you can work out that: the top patio is 14 foot in diameter, The middle one is about 8 x 12 foot and the end one is about 6x10 foot. That leaves us with a a manageable planting area and somewhere to have BBQs etc. The community orchard has been moved. It now runs up the left hand side of the drive away just beyond the car in the picture. I have plans to plant it up in a few months once the muck has had chance the break down.