Catch up

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.