Spring Time is Here

   The garden is coming out of winter's grip. There is a fresh green of the leaf break on the Raspberry canes and the Blackcurrant bushes. The Apples and Pears are a bit slower. The willow screening is flushing despite my savaging during the winter. The tree we took out has opened a lot of light into the garden and with it has come the birds. The open space has encouraged the usual candidates, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Pigeon, Wren and Robin but we are also seeing Thrush, Blackbird, Starlings, Gold Finch, Bullfinch and very concessionally Long Tailed Tits. A fairly regular sight is the Sparrow Hawk flashing across the hedges. The pigeon is the usual menu item - plump and slow.

   I am back in the pond quandary. It needs cleaning and maintenance but all kinds of miniature wild life over winter in the pond, then the Frogs, Toads and Newt get busy in the spring, then the Iris flowers. When do I get savage back the Iris without damaging everything else? It is a puzzle. No such dilemma with the Ivy. It going rampant again so time for Man versus Ivy. It will be back in flower for the bees in the late autumn.

  Jobs to do .... sow some flower seeds in the greenhouse. But first shift all the beekeeping equipment out of the way.


 

Light work in the garden.

   The rain has stopped and the sun is out. Time for a few jobs round the garden. I sawed up the remaining branches from the trees we felled a few weeks ago. I just have to make a tidy log house into which to put them in the hope they will dry out.

   I took my life in my hands and ventured into the greenhouse. It all a bit neglected in there. I took the mouldy onions off the shelves and dispatched them to the compost bin. I had H pick up some Garlic bulbs recently. I broke them up and planted the cloves in the bins I usually grow tomatoes. The bins are still in place from last year. I planted the cloves, threw some compost over them and gave them a watering. I guess I just step back and wait for them to grow. I will probably plant them out in late spring or early summer. The greenhouse in going to need a comprehensive clean and sort out quite soon.

   The Rhubarb I took from the lottie has started to sprout even though it just in a bucket. I must get it planted in the soil but I have to get a load of manure to give a good start. I have taken a leaf for a friend composting regime. He puts a compost bin by the beds he works. His idea is that the bins will encourage worms, OK so far, and that in making the compost the nutrients will will fall through the compost bin and into the soil thereby feeding whatever is nearby. I wanted the compost bin in the garden but since it is a small garden the positioning of it was going to need careful consideration. I decided that the bin should go by the greenhouse, next to the path and in the odd shape bed that is going to house the Rhubarb. If my buddies idea works the Rhubarb should benefit from the compost bins drainage. I have been feed the compost bin and it is getting going. There is some warmth in the bin but the key indicator is that the level of the compost is getting lower despite the waste that is going into it....so that is all good!      

   I had a look at the jungle the is up against garden fence again. It needs a serious pruning but I am a bit worried there might be Hedgehogs over wintering under it. The weather is warming up a little and the days are starting the get a bit longer. If it does not rain too much during February I shall make a start at the beginning of March. The Hedgehogs should up and about by then.

Allotment Society blog on the New allotments

   Here is a link to a blog I wrote about the building of the new area of the allotment society. We doubled the size of the allotments. We got a lottery funding and called in a lot of favors to creat the new plots. Have read about our trials and tribulations.

Click HERE for Ashby Would Allotment Society Lottery Plots Blog

Big Changes

  The big change was back in May 2013 when I was made redundant .i.e. put out of work.I thought I would have more time for my allotment but as the year progressed I found that I had to start a business if I ever was to work again and that one fact took away any spare time I might have had. I harvested my potatoes and onions and pruned the grape vines. I managed to tidy up the compost bins and mulch up the Rhubarb. MY final act for the allotment society was to chair the allotment society's AGM. A had given in my notice with a month to spare so I was a sad time to be giving up something I had been doing for ten years. However I think the Society is in a better shape than when I started there. My soil is in fantastic shape. My plot has been divided into two plots, the two new people that have taken over seem very enthusiastic. The fact two people have taken over what I did myself says something about the effort I put in. One of the consequences of giving up the plot was having to tell the folks I got the manure from of the decision. We had a great system which worked beautifully. I enjoyed having the run out to the stables and a lean on the fence chatting about the horses.

   However I can now concentrate, what little time I have, on doing my own garden. On Saturday 29th my friend came by and brought his shredder. An Alder has grown into a monster in the time we have been in this house. It was decided in the Summer that the tree was coming out. We got the ladder up and got busy with the bow saws. It always surprises me just how much wood there is in a tree. We trimmed the smaller branches and passed them through the shredder. The bigger branches were put to one side. Once the crown was removed we moved to taking down the trunk. That went well, nothing and no one damaged. We logged the trunk in to manageable pieces for Steve to take away. The bigger branches were sawn into small pieces and wheelbarrowed to the top of the garden to be fuel for the Chiminia. The shredings were put on the Raspberry and Blackberry beds as a mulch.

   Whilst Steve was about he pruned the Blackberry bushes. I have not been brave enough to tackle them in all the years they had been in. They were way to dense. I pruned the minerette Apple and Pear trees in preparation for their move. I also did the step over Apple tree to. The Hawthorn, Willow and Hazel from the border hedging got a light pruning . Just enough to clear the path. All the prunings went through the shredder. The shredder is a marvelous thing if a little noisy.

  Part way through the day Hazel made us some Bacon butties. Is was really nice to be working outside after almost a week of Christmas indulgence. It was barely above freezing yet I was soaked in sweat by the time we were finished.  The garden looks much brighter. Now the tree is down to manageable proportions I can start cleaning out the jungle that is the fence. The fence is hiding behind three feet of Ivy, Honeysuckle and Berberis. I think more tea and bacon butties will be needed to help clear this area.

Soaking up the gravy

   Well it has rained all day today. The forecast for tomorrow is for rain all day. Digging spuds seem out of the question. The soil will be as sticky as a sticky thing. Cottage pie for tea tonight. The potato mash topping will be White Duke of Yorks. Lovely and fluffy. Perfect for soaking up the gravy.

Leaning on the fence chatting

   The summer is clinging on. It is still hot enough to get sweaty digging spuds even in a polo shirt. Trailer duty as usual today. The stable folks are having a manege built in the paddock by their house. Much fun had leaning on the fence chatting whilst the bloke tries to get on with digging a hole. Work...I could watch it for hours. I also came away with a big bag of cooking apples.

   Back at the lottie work to do. Bed1 from which I harvested the peas last week is now sporting a green fuzz. The weed seedling are enjoying the nice weather. I decided the first job should be tidying the grape vines. I ended up with more vines on the ground than on the wires. Not quite true but they got a savaging. There are quite a lot of grapes on the vines. I tasted a couple. Pure acid. They could be gooseberries. More chateau Rawdon I think. The sun was hot on my neck whilst I busy with the secateurs.

   No more excuses. I got the trays out and set about digging up the spuds. The soil is perfect despite the bit of heavy rain we had earlier in the week. Luckily a new lottie member came a had a chat so I had a reason to stop for a few minutes. He is repairing his fruit cage. The net needs securing for the winter. I think he got tired of the constant bang as the stapler drove home yet another staple hence the break for a chat. The spuds came up easily and are a good size. I did not slice that many with the spade. I was pleased to note that there was very little blight in evidence. A very occasional tuber would be effected. The soil was so light and moist I even raked it over so it ready as a seed bed.

  On getting home a had a little job which was to nip over to my neighbour's garden and harvest the Pears and Apples from his minaret trees. I do this every year. He likes the idea of the fruit trees but would rather me have the fruit than let it rot on the floor. I have a about two hundred Apples and about thirty Pears. The Pears are going for wine. Not sure what to make from the Apples.

   Degsy got a little TLC as a fixed the indicator that was not indicating. I even had a little time the pack the empty supers into the garage for the winter and wash the oily patches off the drive.
      

In a quandary

   I could put it off no longer. The weather is dry and has been for most of the week. She who must be obeyed and daugter had gone shopping. I had no excuses left. I went to the lottie with one goal which was to dig up the potatoes. In preparing the soil for the spuds I cleaned it of weeds. Whilst the spuds were growing they created and effective cover that no weeds could grow save the creeping thistle. It grows from a rhizome under the soil rather than a seed so not much cab stop it except constant weeding in order to weaken the rhizome. The outcome was that now the haulms of the spuds have died back the bed is clean of weeds so I need only dig the spuds up and not combine it with a weeding exercise.

   I started at the end of a row and carefully put the fork under were I thought the spuds would be. I was not far off. The trouble was that the soil was so light [thanks to all the manure and work over the years] the fork tines just slipped through the soil hardly disturbing the soil. I change over to the spade. That made a better job. Soil and spuds moved. The spuds came up quite clean as the soil was dry. I left them in the sun for a while as I harvested the row. The sun dried the potato skins and soil alike. The soil just fell off the spuds when I shook them in the tray. At the end of a row I collected the spuds. They filled one of the two trays I had brought with me. The spuds were a good size. Most of them were larger than tennis balls. Some showed signs that they had bulked up a second time probably after a period of rain. I set off on a second row. That too yielded a full tray of spuds. I only had the two trays so that was the end to the harvesting for today.

  I worked along the row. The air was warm but there were no flies to bother me. There were lots of birds squabbling in the hedgerow and high overhead a Buzzard was calling. It was all very pleasant. Since it only took me an hour and half to harvest the two rows I set about weeding the paths by the area I harvested. I hindsight it might have been better to weed the paths before harvest to make access that bit easier. The paths gave up a fully wheelbarrow load of assorted weeds. I dumped these wees onto the new compost pile. The pile had dropped a good few inches since last week which mean s the compost process has begun. I tramped the new load of weeds in the bin. I checked the adjacent compost bin. No snakes to be seen but there were lots of sloughed off skins. I am in a quandary, empty the compost bin or leave it for the snakes.  

   I was encouraged by the potato harvest so next visit more spud digging.