Strawberrys

Having spent a few hours today down at the plot, I worked up a nice hunger for some "chips" . I have only one more section to dig over this year behind the strawberries, leaving everything else ready for planting! Whoop.

Now to head of to the local fish and chip shop !

Saturday Sillyness

Hi all,
        Sorry for the lack of updates , today however I spent clearing and digging up the allotment getting ready for winter to make it a litle more easier in the newyear. It was a nice day and I managed to get over half of the plot done ! whoo hoo.

Feb Fun.

Seed bed. Not quite the bed I was hoping for on a cold morning, however out comes the spade,fork and rake and the start of the prep work for the spring months ahead.

This patch area pictured , had green manure last year that was cut down at the end of summer and covered over the winter. Dug over and left to break up for a few weeks and now had a final dig over and rake. It's a bit to early to get the seeds in as there is still frost and the ground is still cold and very wet.

I took a walk around the site and took some pictures and uploaded them on the Heath Road Caterham Allotment Blog. Why not take a look !

Digg it.

I had gone out in the hopes of catching a look at the eclipse 2011, but sadly the cloud cover prevented that , so two hours later, and the first beds for 2011 are taking shape for sowing and planting.

I got an awful lower leg cramp when taking of my wellies and despite working the muscle I still feel a lot of tightness and pain , that will teach me not to take it easy when getting back into the flow. Anyone "warm up" before working the plot ? I think I will have to consider it in the future , ha !

I also noticed the plant bulbs I planted last year starting to peek out from the soil all along the bank in front of the communal compost heaps, fingers crossed for a nice display along there as apposed to the ugly wire I normally have to start at.

Next plans are to hit free cycle and the local trades to source some wooden pallets to build a larger compost bin.

Blubs & holes

Well,  I had a spare hour today before the boss got home so I ducked down to the plot and got 50 garlic cloves in. They came from this years harvest , so fingers crossed. I hope they do well with the 50 red onion and 50 shallots that are neighbours. I plan to have rows of marigolds between them in the new year. I really like all the plots I have seen with them this year and they can't harm keeping the bugs and weeds down! I also removed the last if the sweetcorn and I placed the shafts in next years bean trench for added composting, hopefully this should give an added boost that the beans didn't have this time. On Sunday I finished putting down a small decked area at the front of the shed. I plan to have the boss sit here during the summer months to supervise, I was told to make it nice with a chair and pimms on tap !!!

Lots of digging...

Is it spring ?

Got home with a few spare hours today and Mr Sun had come out to play , so the potato trenches have been dug, carrot and leek bays made ready and seeded plus an added bonus of the flower bulbs have burst out ! yay!

Dig dig dig dig

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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 !

A quick dig

I found myself having an hour spare today (very rare) So I legged it to the allotment under the guise of going to the shops ..(Shame I forgot the milk on the way back.)

A 1/3 of the plot dug over in under an hour with the Azada I was surprised on how much I got done in such a short period of time. What a great tool, I really did think it would take me hours upon hours to dig the whole plot over and now it looks like I could get it finished this weekend if the weather holds

I also have a plan to sink the bathtub that was left by the previous owner to make a small water pool at the top edge of the plot, but I have to make enquiries if thats allowed as I don't see any other "water features" around the site.