More groundwork.

Hi all,
With the roofing slates, I set some down as a path under the bean frame to allow access to the crop and help divide the allotment up.

I also had used the remainder to build a small raised bed section to try my hand at some Capsicums or Chillies.

While the rain may have stopped there was a very strong westerly wind today , in the past this was countered by a large old pigeon shed that was my neighbour but has since been taken down to provide better access and a new gated area. I will have to come up with a plan to reduce the effect this wind direction may have on the allotment in the coming months.

Freecycle fun!

Collected a load of concrete roofing tiles from freecycle at the weekend. I am using them as a temporary edging along the plot and a raised herb bed.

I will have to get some grass seed for the path and some more green manure seed for the recovered section of the plot.

The cabbage and garlic are going strong still.
Also a bit more work under the bean frame and dug in some fresh manure and shredded paper.

I am pleased with the work diving the allotment up in to sections before the new season starts !

Paper pot time !

Yes, it is that time of the year again and I have sat in front of the telly and made up my supply of paper pots for the pending seedlings.

So in no time at all, I whipped up this little batch for the tomato's,peas and beans to go into.

The paper pots are great as you can then just drop them into the allotment without having to disturb the roots and last year the sweetcorn really benefited from this method.

Next job, potatos !
PS - What do you think of the sites new look :D

2010 Seeds

The nice post person from royal mail attended today bearing a nice little box full of seeds!!!

This year I am going from seeds all from one company( whhoooooooo) as I had good results last year from them.

I also had picked up some really cheap runner beans from wilcos for the frame I built.

Worth having the day off work just for that alone, Maybe later today I will get down to the allotment.

Bean Frame

Today, I spent the morning down on the plot, the soil was still a heavy and wet so I did very little groundwork other than tidy the grass path and verges.

I also built the Bean frame early, as I had the time to do it now before I finish dividing the plot up for this years season.

As the frame is a semi permanent fixture, I sourced some decent 2x2 posts which have been dug in 2 foot down in the soil, and is south facing to allow the beans to grow up and over the top of the frame.

This will allow me to collect the crop form underneath ! The raised beds are now all in and filled for carrots and beets for the early season, I am going for raised beds for the carrots as I had carrot fly last year and I hope the few extra inches of the ground should give a better chance this year.

The strawberry bed also has been given a wooden log roll border , this will help me slowly raise the bed up year on year and provide better composting options for the strawberry's.

The garlic and cabbage are doing well under the netted wigwams, and I also can see the tops of the daffodils and tulips on the border poking out !

Feb 2010

Caterham Allotment Feb 2010