I have been allotmenting but not blogging. There are only so many hours in a week and I have discovered that you have to sleep for some of those hours. One of my allotment buddies has traded a strimming my plot for a couple of a trailer loads of manure. A decent trade in my eyes. The plot looks tuns better if still weedy.
It has been chucking it down this last few weeks so all I have been doing is tidying up. Today I tackled the Grape vines. It took me a good hour to tackle the remaining four vines that had not had the attention of Madame Secateurs. I ended up with more vine on the floor had on the wires but that is way it is supposed to be. I had an idea I would strim the ditch alongside the plot but it is holding a foot of water so no thanks.
The tiding up that I had chucked into the big compo bin has been turned in lovely compost by the worms. The warm (ish) and (very) wet weather has suited the compo bin worms and they have doing a great job. I dropped some more leaves and kitchen waste in the bin today and gave it a stir about just give the worms a chance.
A number of the post down the centre of the plot have given up the ghost and snapped off at the base. I will have to renew these soon. I think I will put in meta post legs instead of just hammering the wooden posts into the soil. Seven posts needed. I hope Santa has heard my plea.
I looked around the other plots in between shovelling and pruning and I am still think my theory from last year is not disproved. I find those folks that have completed their winter digging, so that soil is bare, have had the soil pounded by the rain and it has clagged together. Soil on my plot is protected by the weeds so it might be honours even, although I know those weeds are growing, if slowly.
The bees are very quite as you might expect. They did not even come out when I very pruning the vines in front of the hive. There was a odd one near the entrance to the hive so they are still about, just not flying.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Round two
I had this week off work and wouldn't you know it the weather has been....well Autumnal. Cold wet windy for days then unrelentingly grey then a sharp frost overnight then beautiful today. Still breezy and cold since it is coming from the north but bright sunshine in a blue sky. H want spuds for dinner so I just had to dig them up. The big hedge that I have been inwardly complaining about did a very nice job of shielding me from the cold north wind and with the sun in the south a need a nice sun trap.
Digging up spuds is easy if boring. I decided to make it interesting by digging quite deeply and cleaning out all the weeds. I am well overdue harvesting the spuds so only the remains of the ridge so where the spuds might be. I used my fork as a rake and pulled back the tangle of ground cover weeds that are on Bed1, the spud bed.The ground was surprisingly clear under the weed mat. There were just a few Dock and Thistle making a living in the rows. The soil is beautiful. Keeping off the soil during the wet weather has paid off. It is not compacted. The fork, my usual spud harvester, was not doing a very good job because the spuds are small and dropped through the tines. I swapped the fork for the spade and made much quicker progress. I did not even cut any in half. Mind you I did start the spade further out from the centre of the row than I would have with the fork. I whizzed along the first row but it was hard on my back. Having finished the row I levelled out the soil with the back of the fork and decided on some different work to rest my back muscles.
The grapes have grown well from the late start but did not produced any grape to speak of. I got the secateurs from Degsy and spent 15 minutes trimming back the vine adjacent to the piece of bed I was working on and secured it back to the wires. There was more vine on the floor than on the wires by the time I had finished.
The nettles have had a field day. There are growing all around my compost bins, path and in the corner of Bed1. I started off tentatively pulling at the stems. I went and got my heavy gloves from Degsy. Whist there I put the kettle on. Back tot he nettles with glasses and gloves on. I prodded, poked and teased the mass of roots from under the soil and path. Then I went round to the big compo bin and I prodded, poked and teased the mass of roots from under the bin then round the back of the compo bins and did the same again. That corner of the plot now look bare now the nettles are gone and the grape trimmed.
I got my brew from Degsy and sat on the big compo bin in the sunshine and watched the Kestrels soaring. It was not long before the Rooks were aloft to chase the Kestrel away. I resolved to feed the birds this winter even though they scatter the seeds and they grow as weeds.
I happened to be standing by the Asparagus bed and idly prodded a weed out of the bed, then another and another and before long I was ripping into the weeding. The Asparagus bed weeds very easily. Whilst in the area I cleaned off the Rhubarb bed of wilted leaves and dropped them in the compo bin. I missed harvesting the Comfrey bed so it looked very unkempt. I combed the wilted leave back into the centre of the bed and stamped it down. Five minutes of combing and stamping and that bed look tidy too. Comfrey is as tough as old boots so won't come to any harm from a bit of rough treatment.
I went back to spud harvesting a slowly motored down another row. Spuds in the bucket, weeds in a ever growing pile in the middle of the plot. Having finished the row I went round the edge of the bed with my narrow spade and cut a gutter against the timber border. The back of the became a rake and finished off the bed a treat. In the hour or so since the first row of spuds was harvested the sun and wind had dried out the top of the soil. It showed as light grey against the black moist soil.
The slugs have run riot this year with the wet weather and little gardening taking place. Every time a turned over a likely piece of leaf or bag there I would find a clutch of slug eggs. Generally I scooped them up and put them on the top the compo bin which acts as a giant bird table. Other times I left them where they were since I had removed whatever was covering them. The birds and other creatures with hoover them up.
I fed the bees although I am pretty much finished with the bees for the winter. Fingers crossed they make it through the winter.
The approaches to the plot look really good now so all I have to do is spend a few hours on the plot each weekend for the winter and we should be in good shape for the spring....fingers crossed. Round two down. How many more to go?
Digging up spuds is easy if boring. I decided to make it interesting by digging quite deeply and cleaning out all the weeds. I am well overdue harvesting the spuds so only the remains of the ridge so where the spuds might be. I used my fork as a rake and pulled back the tangle of ground cover weeds that are on Bed1, the spud bed.The ground was surprisingly clear under the weed mat. There were just a few Dock and Thistle making a living in the rows. The soil is beautiful. Keeping off the soil during the wet weather has paid off. It is not compacted. The fork, my usual spud harvester, was not doing a very good job because the spuds are small and dropped through the tines. I swapped the fork for the spade and made much quicker progress. I did not even cut any in half. Mind you I did start the spade further out from the centre of the row than I would have with the fork. I whizzed along the first row but it was hard on my back. Having finished the row I levelled out the soil with the back of the fork and decided on some different work to rest my back muscles.
The grapes have grown well from the late start but did not produced any grape to speak of. I got the secateurs from Degsy and spent 15 minutes trimming back the vine adjacent to the piece of bed I was working on and secured it back to the wires. There was more vine on the floor than on the wires by the time I had finished.
The nettles have had a field day. There are growing all around my compost bins, path and in the corner of Bed1. I started off tentatively pulling at the stems. I went and got my heavy gloves from Degsy. Whist there I put the kettle on. Back tot he nettles with glasses and gloves on. I prodded, poked and teased the mass of roots from under the soil and path. Then I went round to the big compo bin and I prodded, poked and teased the mass of roots from under the bin then round the back of the compo bins and did the same again. That corner of the plot now look bare now the nettles are gone and the grape trimmed.
I got my brew from Degsy and sat on the big compo bin in the sunshine and watched the Kestrels soaring. It was not long before the Rooks were aloft to chase the Kestrel away. I resolved to feed the birds this winter even though they scatter the seeds and they grow as weeds.
I happened to be standing by the Asparagus bed and idly prodded a weed out of the bed, then another and another and before long I was ripping into the weeding. The Asparagus bed weeds very easily. Whilst in the area I cleaned off the Rhubarb bed of wilted leaves and dropped them in the compo bin. I missed harvesting the Comfrey bed so it looked very unkempt. I combed the wilted leave back into the centre of the bed and stamped it down. Five minutes of combing and stamping and that bed look tidy too. Comfrey is as tough as old boots so won't come to any harm from a bit of rough treatment.
I went back to spud harvesting a slowly motored down another row. Spuds in the bucket, weeds in a ever growing pile in the middle of the plot. Having finished the row I went round the edge of the bed with my narrow spade and cut a gutter against the timber border. The back of the became a rake and finished off the bed a treat. In the hour or so since the first row of spuds was harvested the sun and wind had dried out the top of the soil. It showed as light grey against the black moist soil.
The slugs have run riot this year with the wet weather and little gardening taking place. Every time a turned over a likely piece of leaf or bag there I would find a clutch of slug eggs. Generally I scooped them up and put them on the top the compo bin which acts as a giant bird table. Other times I left them where they were since I had removed whatever was covering them. The birds and other creatures with hoover them up.
I fed the bees although I am pretty much finished with the bees for the winter. Fingers crossed they make it through the winter.
The approaches to the plot look really good now so all I have to do is spend a few hours on the plot each weekend for the winter and we should be in good shape for the spring....fingers crossed. Round two down. How many more to go?
Sunday, October 14, 2012
The fight back begins....with tea
Last weekend I found a little free time to go to the lottie. I have to admit it is a mess. I decided the fight had to begin at some stage or to walk away. I decided to fight back. I started by opening the big compost bin to turfing into it the gone-over flowers and grasses from around the bin and the adjacent patio area. I also shovelled in the compost I ran shovelled out a few months ago. I have no where else to put ten barrow loads of compost. It least it will kick start the compo bin. The up shot was front of the lottie looks better and I have some room to work.
Over the summer I have been dropping off horse muck every fortnight. The result is a big pile of the stuff. It is nicely worked down by the worms and is ready to be dropped on the plot. I feel some major mulching coming on.
Yesterday [Saturday] morning I to meet some folks about a market pitch in Castle Donington. It was less daunting than had imagined. There was tea and bacon butties to keep out the cold. I was done by twelve noon and set off for trailer duties. I met Allotment buddy Steve at the lottie and immediately stopped for a brew. Steve favours a Kelly's kettle, I favour a Trangia. In this case the Kelly was already bubbling so it would be rude not to take tea. We had a sit at the top of my plot placing ourselves gingerly onto my garden seat. The weather has given the planking a beating over the years and it days must be numbered. It is just a case of when the comedy chair collapse happens. Steve had to go and I set about digging up some spuds. The soils was wet but not too bad. I got a nice crop of spuds and a cleared a patch of soil to boot. Just another 400 square yards to go and the plot is perfect.
When dropped out the trailer I went over to see the bees. I topped up the feeders and observed the fronts of each hive for five minutes. Even though the nights are colder the sun still has some warmth especially with the clear skies we have had recently. The bees where coming and going with vigour. Some of the bees were bring back pollen. They need pollen to make the food to feed to the larvae so pollen = larvae food = eggs = queen, so all is well for the time being.
Over the summer I have been dropping off horse muck every fortnight. The result is a big pile of the stuff. It is nicely worked down by the worms and is ready to be dropped on the plot. I feel some major mulching coming on.
Yesterday [Saturday] morning I to meet some folks about a market pitch in Castle Donington. It was less daunting than had imagined. There was tea and bacon butties to keep out the cold. I was done by twelve noon and set off for trailer duties. I met Allotment buddy Steve at the lottie and immediately stopped for a brew. Steve favours a Kelly's kettle, I favour a Trangia. In this case the Kelly was already bubbling so it would be rude not to take tea. We had a sit at the top of my plot placing ourselves gingerly onto my garden seat. The weather has given the planking a beating over the years and it days must be numbered. It is just a case of when the comedy chair collapse happens. Steve had to go and I set about digging up some spuds. The soils was wet but not too bad. I got a nice crop of spuds and a cleared a patch of soil to boot. Just another 400 square yards to go and the plot is perfect.
When dropped out the trailer I went over to see the bees. I topped up the feeders and observed the fronts of each hive for five minutes. Even though the nights are colder the sun still has some warmth especially with the clear skies we have had recently. The bees where coming and going with vigour. Some of the bees were bring back pollen. They need pollen to make the food to feed to the larvae so pollen = larvae food = eggs = queen, so all is well for the time being.
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Its been a while since I last blogged. Tons of stuff has been gone on in my life and that does not include the weather. A super quick catch up in six bullet points:
The good/bad allotment idea was to follow an idea that said do not weed through the winter. The weeds will preserve the soil structure and nutrients and when composted the weeds would give back again. Good idea but British weather put paid to that idea, too dry then to wet. Result a very weedy allotment.
The weather has affected to bees in that they have not been able to gather enough food. They have also had a bad time in swarming and subsequent need to mate. I seems to have five viable hives but they seem a bot weak going into the winter. I project the winter to be relatively mild so food resource is going to be an issue in the early spring. Anyone care to guess what the weather will be like in the spring of 2013?
The family stuff is just time spent. I hope the parties involved come to a decision. Christmas will be tricky.
- Nearly made redundant.
- Good allotment idea did not turn out so well.
- Started a little business
- Weather affect the bees
- Trouble and strife within the family diverted me from applying to my usual stuff
- Weather affected my allotment schedule
The good/bad allotment idea was to follow an idea that said do not weed through the winter. The weeds will preserve the soil structure and nutrients and when composted the weeds would give back again. Good idea but British weather put paid to that idea, too dry then to wet. Result a very weedy allotment.
The weather has affected to bees in that they have not been able to gather enough food. They have also had a bad time in swarming and subsequent need to mate. I seems to have five viable hives but they seem a bot weak going into the winter. I project the winter to be relatively mild so food resource is going to be an issue in the early spring. Anyone care to guess what the weather will be like in the spring of 2013?
The family stuff is just time spent. I hope the parties involved come to a decision. Christmas will be tricky.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Eating Strawberries
Sunday dawned clear and early, too early for me. I made a cooked breakfast to help get me going. It was a lottery as to whether it rain on not. I went to the lottie first determined to do some weeding. I got a few bags out my store at the lottie and took my spade along to Bed2. This bed had the onions and leeks last year. There were a few Leeks left in. Unfortunately there a several Docks too and they are big. Just for a change they are being out completed so are not too strong. I got stuck in a dug out all the docks and bagged them to be taken off site for disposal. It is quicker said than done. With the Docks out I went round and pulled up the Thistles and the Sow Thistles. They came away easily from the wet soil but as you can imagine a was getting covered in wet soil. The job needed doing though. I stopped after and hour. I was soaked but I had three big bags of weeds to show for my trouble. The plot does not look any better but the weed cover is much thinner and since the Dock were bagged before they seeded I have saved seven years weed. If only that were true. I had a chat with a lottie neighbour and cut some Asparagus before packing up to go to the Bees.
The drive across the farm to the bees was very muddy. Degsy managed the mud without an issue. The chunky cut tyres are coming into their own in the mud. I put on my bee suit on and wondered what I would find when I went through the gate. I had already seen the River Mease and could see that it had dropped since last week. It was relatively dry underfoot but the grass was wet. There is lot of tall grass in the apiary so I got a second soaking. The hives had weathered the weather and the bees were flying freely. One the Queens has emerged in one of the hives but is not yet laying. I will leave that one until next week. If there are no eggs I shall unite the Nuc with this hive. One other Hive has a plump sealed Queen cells. I hope to find that Queen has emerged by next weekend and with luck may have started laying. The other hives are in good order and are lying in honey. I have just got to be patient. I think the hives are in good shape to bring in a honey crop in the next eight to ten weeks.
Back at home I tidied up my workroom. H and I marshalled our camping gear. We have a wedding next Saturday evening which requires camping at the venue. I hope the promised hot weather turns up this week even if it just dries out the ground. Depending how it goes I might even use my Christmas present which was a non-stick frying pan for my Trangia! We even tried to sit out side to read our books and eat the Strawberries H collected from the garden. It too blustery and cold so retired to the comfort of the living room. H was not far behind. Blooming British summertime.......
The drive across the farm to the bees was very muddy. Degsy managed the mud without an issue. The chunky cut tyres are coming into their own in the mud. I put on my bee suit on and wondered what I would find when I went through the gate. I had already seen the River Mease and could see that it had dropped since last week. It was relatively dry underfoot but the grass was wet. There is lot of tall grass in the apiary so I got a second soaking. The hives had weathered the weather and the bees were flying freely. One the Queens has emerged in one of the hives but is not yet laying. I will leave that one until next week. If there are no eggs I shall unite the Nuc with this hive. One other Hive has a plump sealed Queen cells. I hope to find that Queen has emerged by next weekend and with luck may have started laying. The other hives are in good order and are lying in honey. I have just got to be patient. I think the hives are in good shape to bring in a honey crop in the next eight to ten weeks.
Back at home I tidied up my workroom. H and I marshalled our camping gear. We have a wedding next Saturday evening which requires camping at the venue. I hope the promised hot weather turns up this week even if it just dries out the ground. Depending how it goes I might even use my Christmas present which was a non-stick frying pan for my Trangia! We even tried to sit out side to read our books and eat the Strawberries H collected from the garden. It too blustery and cold so retired to the comfort of the living room. H was not far behind. Blooming British summertime.......
A very long day
H and I were in the car early Saturday morning and off to Manchester. My cousin and niece were in town so we arranged to meet. My brother, his missus and a couple of his fiends were also in Manchester that day. They had been to the Bruce Springstein concert the previous evening. It was nice being although together. The party folk had to get on the road back to Devon. The weather was promise foul in their neck to the woods so an early start back was a good idea.
H, coz and Mum and me went into town and sampled the delights of El Rincons for a lazy lunch. Tapas and Spanish wine, all very nice. Click HERE for the website. Having had our fill we went for a tour of the Castlefield area of town since El Rincons is that end of town. We noticed that there traffic cones being places along the centre line of Deansgate. Deansgate is a major thoroughfare. We ask a chap what was going on...The Olympic torch was coming along in a few hours. We took our tour and tried another Spanish bar right on Deansgate. A bottle of bubbly later and the ladies were getting excited about the torch. We decided to go out ontot he street and join the gathering crowds. H got a flag to wave from street seller and was happy to run back and across Deansgate because:
A. It is very busy road and was closed to cars which was unusual
B. she could.
The police outriders could be seen at the far end of Deansgate and coming our way. They were high fiving members of the crowd. H was in front of course. The procession slowly made it was to us. It was very exciting. As expected we had no idea who the chap carrying the torch was but it was defineitley the torch. After that excitement we took a circuitous route via the canals back to the car park and the onto my other brother. We spent a couple of hours with them which was nice then it was really time to go home. Coz was on a plane at 5.30 and we still had more than two hours drive to get home. It was a long but very enjoyable day.
H, coz and Mum and me went into town and sampled the delights of El Rincons for a lazy lunch. Tapas and Spanish wine, all very nice. Click HERE for the website. Having had our fill we went for a tour of the Castlefield area of town since El Rincons is that end of town. We noticed that there traffic cones being places along the centre line of Deansgate. Deansgate is a major thoroughfare. We ask a chap what was going on...The Olympic torch was coming along in a few hours. We took our tour and tried another Spanish bar right on Deansgate. A bottle of bubbly later and the ladies were getting excited about the torch. We decided to go out ontot he street and join the gathering crowds. H got a flag to wave from street seller and was happy to run back and across Deansgate because:
A. It is very busy road and was closed to cars which was unusual
B. she could.
The police outriders could be seen at the far end of Deansgate and coming our way. They were high fiving members of the crowd. H was in front of course. The procession slowly made it was to us. It was very exciting. As expected we had no idea who the chap carrying the torch was but it was defineitley the torch. After that excitement we took a circuitous route via the canals back to the car park and the onto my other brother. We spent a couple of hours with them which was nice then it was really time to go home. Coz was on a plane at 5.30 and we still had more than two hours drive to get home. It was a long but very enjoyable day.
Last week....wet, wet, wet
It had been raining most of the week. Somewhere between drizzle and downpours but all of the time some kind of rain was falling out of the sky. It was trailer weekend so I went off to do that job. That took me to the lottie. I tried some weeding but I got covered in sticky soil as soon as I went near the plot. Nevertheless I yanked out some of the bigger weeds that where about to flower.With the trailer emptied in double quick time and a bit of weed pulling I was done and not too wet.
After dropping the trailer back to the stables I went on to the bees. The bees were flying despite the rail. I don't suppose you get to have evolved for 27 million year if a bit a rain stops you. I gave the hive a tap. The bees gave a buzz back. Some of the foragers were carrying pollen so those hives have Queens. One of the hive as a sealed Queens cell last week. The bees from that hive were not gathering pollen so I guess she has not yet emerged. Next weeks visit will tell.
I did not expect to be able to inspect the bees. The reason went she to see where the river was. Would it be within its banks or not. There had been flooding in other parts of the country. It was very wet under foot. To water was about an inch deep but the river had not over topped its banks but it was very full. The water under foot was just the elevated water table. The main hives are about 18inches off the ground so they would be fine. The Nuc was a different story. The Nuc is just sitting on an upturned plastic produce tray. I move the Nuc to one side and place the hive barrow in its place. I then put the tray and Nuc on the barrow, That lift the Nuc about 18 inches off the ground. Should the river flood and so long as there is little current The Nuc should remain dry. Bees are still coming and going from the Nuc which looks promising.
When I was at the lottie I lifted the roof on the hive and a look in I could see the bees were active and seemed to more of them. That is how it should bee. The bees had found the feeder and had gobbled up have the syrup. That will help build them up. I should say that this hive has a glass crown board so even when the roof is off the bees are contained in the hive. Removing the roof floods the inside of the hive with light which as you can imagine stirs the bees a little. However they are quite gentle and do not pile out of the hive to see who is disturbing them.
Last job was to drop in on my buddy who has found a projector screen for me. He is an avid user of Freecycle. Click HERE for the website. Freecycle is about reusing unwanted items and it is free.
After dropping the trailer back to the stables I went on to the bees. The bees were flying despite the rail. I don't suppose you get to have evolved for 27 million year if a bit a rain stops you. I gave the hive a tap. The bees gave a buzz back. Some of the foragers were carrying pollen so those hives have Queens. One of the hive as a sealed Queens cell last week. The bees from that hive were not gathering pollen so I guess she has not yet emerged. Next weeks visit will tell.
I did not expect to be able to inspect the bees. The reason went she to see where the river was. Would it be within its banks or not. There had been flooding in other parts of the country. It was very wet under foot. To water was about an inch deep but the river had not over topped its banks but it was very full. The water under foot was just the elevated water table. The main hives are about 18inches off the ground so they would be fine. The Nuc was a different story. The Nuc is just sitting on an upturned plastic produce tray. I move the Nuc to one side and place the hive barrow in its place. I then put the tray and Nuc on the barrow, That lift the Nuc about 18 inches off the ground. Should the river flood and so long as there is little current The Nuc should remain dry. Bees are still coming and going from the Nuc which looks promising.
When I was at the lottie I lifted the roof on the hive and a look in I could see the bees were active and seemed to more of them. That is how it should bee. The bees had found the feeder and had gobbled up have the syrup. That will help build them up. I should say that this hive has a glass crown board so even when the roof is off the bees are contained in the hive. Removing the roof floods the inside of the hive with light which as you can imagine stirs the bees a little. However they are quite gentle and do not pile out of the hive to see who is disturbing them.
Last job was to drop in on my buddy who has found a projector screen for me. He is an avid user of Freecycle. Click HERE for the website. Freecycle is about reusing unwanted items and it is free.
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