Daisy Fortnight

   Following yesterday's performance with the strimmer I got up early for a second round of strimming. Just to make sure the day went well I had a fry up with a couple of mugs of scalding hot tea. I figured it was going to be messy so a put my overalls and safety glasses on. The strimmer did not want to start. I was getting hotter as a pumped the pull cord to the flat sound of the 31cc two stroke turning over. I had a breather then squidged the rubbery fuel primer, select half choke and gave the cord another good tug. Before the second pull was complete the motor was running...just about. A little less choke and tentative tweak of the trigger had the motor zinging in all its two stroke glory. I was smart enough to adjust the strimmer blade cord before I started the motor. We were off. There is something very bloky about a screaming two stroke which is spinning a blade to cut a swathe through the undergrowth. In the few minutes a great chunk of the jungle which is Bed3 was mown down. I readjusted the cutting cord, which is much easier to do now I have packed the reel differently, and got stuck into the top end of Bed2. In a very few minute that area had succumbed too. So with the wrath of strimmer I set about the recalcitrant parts of Bed1 and perimeter paths. The fuel finally ran out but it was a glorious twenty minutes. The plot look less derilict after applying the strimmer.

   The strimmer gave me heart so I set about the continuing weeding of Bed2. I need to get the last of the spuds in. If we get a late autumn there should be enough time for the potatoes to grow to maturity. It is going to be a close run thing. I did the usual things to get ready to dig. It is particularly satisfying to weed when the weeds come out easily and are huge. It really shows you have done something. I found a Dog Rose growing as part of the weedy wilderness that is Bed2. I worked round it as I plan to transplant it. But I am not quite sure where yet.  

   I pulled some more Rhubarb and cut some Asparagus, sorted one of the compost bins then tidied all the tools away then set off for the Apiary. I was taken with how good the drive to the lottie was looking. It is Daisy fortnight. They line the road and are pretty much everywhere else. The bees and butterflies like the Daisys as do I but for different reasons. 

Mead for Christmas

   Tricky day today. the weather is very changeable so how do I fit in allotmenting, Trailer and beekeeping. One decision is dead easy. No beekeeping today since the showers that cross the county are driven by thestrong cold wind. The bees will not appreciate being opened up today and I don't fancy being stung.

   The peas I sowed two weeks ago are through. The trouble the pigeons treat them as a tasty morsel and have pecked at them. However there are so many of them the pigeons have not scoffed the whole crop. I was alarmed to find another lot of volunteer potatoes have come up across the pea patch. The weather this past week or two has really suited the weeds. They are massive. I had guessed the weeds would be thriving and the that pigeons would get at the peas so I went to the lottie with a plan.

   Years ago a friend of mine gave a strimmer powered by a two stroke engine. I don't use it much but I figure I was going to need help to combat these weeds. The strimmer has a nifty trick. The shaft from the engine to the cutting head breaks in two. In means it will go in Degsy. I found the fuel can of pre-mixed petrol/oil an put the goodies in Degsy. I was got going to stay long so no need for comestibles. When I got to the lottie I parked up the trailer, put the strimmer together and fuelled it up. Just like someone looming over you as you are working the sky grew dark and in thirty seconds rain was peltting down from the sky. I had just enough time to get the engine end of the strimmer and myself into the Degsy. The squall lasted ten minutee and as quickly as the squall began it was over but the ground and weeds were soaking. I got the strimmer out and in a few pulls on the starter cord the sweet smell of two stroke exhaust and the shriek of the motor filled the air. I managed to get through one of the beds before the strimmer cord needed extending. Just as I finished the bed the strimmer head spat out the lastt of the cutting cable. I did not have any with me so that strimming completed for the day.

   I have had some rolls of chicken wire and a roll of fleece stowed by the side of the plot for ages.Both the chicken wire and fleece are a pain because they are long and unruly to handle. First I had to weed out the volunteer potatoes and other weeds that had shown themselves. I rolled out the chicken wire and made a long tunnel by pulling up the centre of the sheet up and forcing the outside edges into the soil. The chicken wire did not cover the whole plot. The fleece is wide enough to cover the piece of plot the chicken wire could not reach. Rolled out the fleece and as predicted the wind wanted to blow into the next county. I managed to cut it to length and secure it without too much wrestling. These measures should keep the pigeons off the peas untill they get going properly.

  On the plus side the spuds I planted are just through and the vines have come into leaf. One of the vines succumbed to the winter so I will have to get a replacement. The onions are doing well. The Gooseberries are fattening up. Just as I finished tucking the fleece in another shower past over and dampened more than just my spirit. The trundled the empty trailer back to the stable via the petrol station.

   When I got home I made lunch for the missus who is unwell. I had five jars of Honey I found in the shed when cleaning it out last week. The honey was fermenting in the jars. I think this was because I did not bottle the honey straight away after extracting it. In fact I did not jar it for several months. I think the natural yeasts in the atmoshere got at it whilst in storage and started their alchemy. I emptied the jars into a jug and added some hot water then stirred vigorously until it was a thin liquid. I poured the honey liquid into a waiting demi-john. I had to do to batches of stirring. When all the honey was in the demi-john and topped it up with warm water. I popped the airlock in and sat back. I will leave it a week or so to see if the natural yeast will start a proper fermentation. If not I will add some wine making yeast and with any kind of luck I will have Mead for Christmas.

  The last job of the day was to load up the strimmer spool with cord in readiness for another go at the weeds.
  

Polo shirt tells the story

   Yesterday, Saturday 1st June, was the trailer day as well as a day that was too good to miss for visiting the apiary. I thought I would drop into the lottie first and have an hour of digging in Bed2. Just to move it along a bit. I was staggered by the height of the weeds. The rain and sunshine had had dramatic effect. An hour turned into two hours. It felt good to get more of the plot done. She who must be obeyed was having a day of walk with buddies on Sunday so I had a little head start for Sunday.

   Up early on Sunday. No chance of staying in bed really as the sun had been beaming in the window for hours. I breakfasted lightly whilst I got the sandwiches and drinks ready for the day of digging. Lemon curd butties. Food of the gods. When I got to the lottie I was beginning to regret the decision to spend the day at the lottie. 9am and the sun was already hot on my bare arms. Luckily I slavered myself with sun screen before I left. Remembering the weeds from yesterday I walked up the lottie path. I set myself up fro digging and with a deep breath began. The Dock and Creeping Thistle can out easily. There was just a lot of it. However it was satisfying to see the wheelbarrow fill up. I plugged away at he weeding and in a couple of hours I had got the half way marker in Bed2. I had decided
 
I would stop there are start to plant potatoes in the prepared ground of Bed2. So that is what I did. I dropped a scaffolding plank across the bed to act as a straight edge and to stop me sinking into the soil. I pulled out a trench, tossed in some horse manure from my gigantic reserve, set the seed potatoes at he appropriate intervals and pulled the soil back in the trench with the rake. The soil at the bottom of the trench was cool and damp. I expect the spuds will be up in a very few weeks. I did six rows which was all I could get into the prepared area of Bed2.

It was a bust day at the allotment as folks came down to do a bit in the beautiful weather. I continued my toil. Following the pea/mouse debacle [Click HERE for a link to the post] Bed1 had been left to its own devices. I had hoed it off a couple of times and more recently completed the weeding.


However the area where the varmint pinched all the peas how had many volunteer potatoes poking through. I went round and dug them out one at a time. I ended up with a barrow load of haulms and tubers. To bring the surface level again and kill off the other surface weedlings and got the hoe busy. It was hot work in the midday sun and my back was beginning to complain about all the bending. The bed did look good when I had finished.

 I had bought more Peas and Broad Bean seeds. This time a figured I would overwhelm the varmint so something would be left to grow. I pulled out five pea trenches ten feet long running length ways up the plot. My reasoning for the length ways row instead cross way rows is that the sun will shine down the rows as the peas get taller rather then shading each other. I had bought a pint of peas from Midway Allotments shop a week ago. The pint of peas filled the five rows. When the tramped the peas in and watered the rows a went back to Degsy and got the expensive pea seeds I had bought from the garden centre. I pulled out another five rows. This time I got just one row from each of the first three packets. I sowed Petit Pois, Mange Tout [H's favourite] and Shakeshaft. The packet of main crop peas seeds did the remaining two trenches.....just about. Those trenches were trampled in and watered too.

   With last few minutes to five o'clock I figured I could sow some Sweetcorn directly into the soil. A farmer friend of mine had sown 50 acres the week before so I figured it would be safe enough for me. In the top corner of Bed1 dibbed 25 holes in a square pattern and dropped a single corn seed into it each hole and gave the area a through soaking. Just to finish up I through a wheel barrow of well rotted manure over the area to act as a mulch. That was me done for the day; eight hours, two lemon curd butties, a banana, several cups of tea and a couple of litres of water. I was aware that I had been very sweaty all day. The back of my polo shirt told the story.

      







 

A hint of Ginger

   So even with my new work status I still did not mange to get down to the lottie in the week. Sunday was reserved for poo trailer and digging. I decided to focus my effort on finishing off Bed 1. The recent rain was loosened up the soil so the weeds came out of the soil fairly easily. There is just so much of it. The weeds ended up in one of the black compo bin. It will be lovely compost in a years time.

   I gave the whole of bed 1 a good hoeing. The weeds are having a go at germinating. It is a pity the mice won't eat weeds.

  Some of the grape vines are begining to bud. Considering it is the middle of May I don't see me having any grape this year either. Question of the moment - where do I get seed potatos at this time of year?

   I picked some more Rhubarb. This picking is going to be wine. H turned the last lot into jam and very nice it is too with its hint of Ginger.

Self watering compost bins

   I had a revelation today whilst digging. I was thinking about putting the weeds into the black plastic compost bins and was pondering the information a chap gave us at a talk on composting at the Allotment Society. I usually have Ants living in the compost bins. That is a sign the bins are way to dry. The contents of the bin seem to breakdown well enough but could it work better? The chap said the contents of the bins had the moist for the worms to do there thing. History shows me that I just don't water my compost bins. So the question was how to water the inside of the compost bins without

1. Doing it myself
2. Keeping it dark inside the bin

   It occurred to me that if I were to turn the compost bin lid upside down it would act as a rain catcher, it being saucer shaped. It would be a good fit on the top of the bin, after all the lid was just upside down. I drilled a hole in the centre of the lid, placed the lid on the bin and put a brick in the lid to stop it blowing away. It works a treat. The sauce shape catches the rain and funnels it to the hole where it drop the water into the bin. 

A stressful week

   It has been a very stressful fortnight. The upshot of it all is that I am now a freelance.........well I am not sure what I am freelance at but I am not longer in paid employment. However the weekend was much as any other. Saturday was the Farmer's market at Castle Donington. The rain held of which was nice. Sunday H and her book club buddies went walking in Staffordshire to a place called Thursbitch. It is central to a book by Alan Gardener. H likes him. I went to the lottie for a digging session. Nothing new really. Bed 2 needs digging if I am to have any spuds this year. I got a good portion done. I have a job to do in Lincoln on Monday but hope to spend a few hours each day of next weeks to sort this bed.

  I forgot my tea bags but since I was working in a sea of nettles I thought nettle tea might be just the thing. I have made Nettle wine before now. I googled "Nettle Tea" on my phone. I got a couple of recipes. I fired up the Trangia and set about selecting the youngest shoots but how much to use? I put five leaves into the boiling water a turned the Trangia down to a simmer for a few minutes, as per the instructions. I picked a few stalks of Rhubarb whilst I was waiting. The Rhubarb is the first crop of this season.

 
   The rhubarbs look fit and health. They are throwing up big flower buds which always look a bit strange. I swear that if you stand and stare you can see the flower stalk growing. The Nettle tea looked an sicipant green. I let it cool which gave me time to gethe deck chair out a munch a couple of H's scones that she had made fresh that morning. The sun was out the wind had dropped. I had tea...of sorts and buttered scones. So all is well with the world. The deck chair is too uncortfortable for snoozing in but I gave it a try.  Snooze over I went back to the digging. My back was starting to complain and as if make my mind up the weather closer in and started to rain. I had time to rake the bed I had been working upon. I gathered up my tools, parked the barrow, closed up the compost bin and jumped into Degsy and was away before the rain came on properly.

  

Ever to optomist

   I got down to the lottie early on Saturday morning. I promised the lottie a digging session before I had to go to a birthday party in the late afternoon. I stood in the gate of the lottie pondering where to start. Finish off bed 1, but nothing is going in there until later in the season. Bed 3, no hope there, Bed 4 Onions are in and there is a little space for other stuff. So Bed 2 was chosen. This bed is the worst condition. If I want any spuds this year I am going to have to get busy. Starting at the middle path I began by working my way along the edging. This is always the slow a tricky bit. But as I weeded back and forth across the bed and the amount and space cleared got bigger the speed of the clearing the bed back quicker. I dumped the weeds in the black compost bin at the top of the plot. Then got on with some more weeding. A couple of hours of digging was enough for the back leaving me enough time to visit the out apiary.  Click HERE for my blog on Bees.

   I have not even bought seed potatoes yet but it is something I must do. Seed potatoes chitting in the shed will spur me on to finish the bed. I did buy more peas to replace the ones I fed to the mice. I cannot call it sowing peas since they did not last a day. I have decided to sow the replacement peas in the greenhouse as I have done in previous years. I just need a little time to myself to a sowing fest.

  I am concerned about the grape vine. It is nearly the second week in May and there are no discernible signs of growth on the vines. I am just going to have to be patient. Dead or alive there nothing I can do about it. I could do with stringing another wire across the back of the plot to train the vine along. Ever the optomist!