21st October, 2012

A Retrospective from:  21st October, 2012:

The weather's still OK - but with the forecast of snow for next weekend (haha!! Snow before the end of October??!!), despite Jane's back not yet mended, we're getting on with the allotment!...

BIG news, though! While measuring up last weekend to find the centre of the allotment for the new fence, we discovered that we've actually been paying for the whole plot! When Sean phoned to find out what's happening, he was told that the person who originally wanted the plot no longer wants, it, so either it'll go back on the waiting list for someone else, or we could just (!!just!!) take it all on, as they had no record of it having being split into 2 anyway!! Slight confusion... but with the prospect of more space for a shed, & forgetting about all the digging & weeding it's taking on the other side, we agreed we'd keep the whole space for ourselves!

So the person who's not been doing the work on the next allotment, actually turns out to be us!!!!

Getting ready for tackling next door:

Setting the fire for the weeds...

Sean contemplating the scale of the job...

The weeds to be tackled...

More weeds...

Sean getting 'tooled up' for the job...

Compost bin filling up, fire ongoing, and first clearance completed...

Piles of weeds & 'interesting stuff' we found under the weeds... ready for the skip...

End of the 'first day' on the second half of the allotment - compare and contrast between the halves...

Really starting to feel we're getting somewhere now... roll on next weekend when we can start to tackle the concrete plinth... oh, didn't we mention the concrete plinth???!!!...

14th October

A Retrospective from:  14th October, 2012:

14th October - full of enthusiasm to continue working on the allotment, despite the cold, the wind & the rain... Well, we're human gardeners, not likely to dissolve or melt!!...

More weed burning, and we've taken down the pea and bean structures...
We've decided to use the round posts we've found in the weeds to create an artificial boundary between our developing allotment and the one that just looks abandoned next door! Sean's doing a great job securing the posts and wiring them together - perfect for when we've got rid of the couch grass and weeds, and ready for peas and beans next year!
Unfortunately, after weeding and digging for a few hours, Jane's back totally packed in & the day had to be abandoned once she couldn't stand, sit, or do anything useful....

Our allotment!

Our allotment!!

 So, off to the pub for tea....

7th October, 2012

A Retrospective from:   7th October, 2012:

September went by in a bit of a Sean's birthday-related haze... just a bit of weeding done to keep the allotment going, but nothing to really write about or photograph!

October arrives & we need to start thinking about getting the place ready for winter... tidying, sorting, & getting the ground ready for the frost & snow....

First things first... starting to burn the bags of weeds...

Ready for burning...

Can't beat a bit of petrol to get the flames going!!

With a bit of digging and weeding our soil, & the whole allotment, is starting to look more like it did in our imaginations when we started (although no fantastic produce just yet)!!!

After quite a lot of thought, discussion, and searching online and in the shops, we decided to just build our own compost bin - making it so heavy that it won't blow away, although forgetting to consider that it just might sink into the ground, making it look as if we hadn't ever heard of a spirit level!

Before we put anything in it, we did momentarily consider whether we should convert it into an outside loo!!

We're so proud of our ongoing work. However, the allotment is constantly at risk of encroachment of weeds from the next allotment. Along with some of the other allotment owners, we're wondering when the person who owns the one next to ours is going to come and start to do some work? Although Sean has strimmed it a few times, and others have also had 'a bit of a go', it just looks like a dumping area with weeds...

However, even weeds look good in the setting sunshine!

Doing a 'compare and contrast' at least makes us feel good about how much we've got done!!

At the end of the day, as the sun is low in the sky, we review our hard work:

Despite the grass re-growing, it's starting to look good!

Long shadows offer the opportunity to try to look like a teapot - just couldn't get my spout in the right  direction!!!

Off to the pub.... Roll on next weekend!!!

September holidays.

01.09.12:

August Bank Holiday all over with, disappointment with the weather coped with, and onto the last weekend of our holiday... last push for making a difference before we have to go back to work...

Saturday 1st September: despite the forecast for reasonable weather, it was windy, dull and not an inspiring day for creating stuff. But after a visit to the builders yard we returned with a car full of timber... and Sean was ready to start fencing...

First was the structure on the left of the picture above - 3 new and 2 uprights that we found in the allotment - linked with planks for stability (and to keep the soil on our plot and stop it sliding next door) ready for the wire & raspberry bushes. Hopefully the ones we rescued from the patch of weeds will survive into next year...


Next was the fence at the bottom of the plot - we seem to have lost several feet of our plot which had slid down to next door's garage. None of these plots seem to be straight or level - and ours is particularly wonky!!! So, here's Sean measuring the gaps and the planks...

At the end of Saturday... Structures built and waiting for another de-weeding before planting up the raspberries, and the gooseberry bushes we rescued. Sean's on his way home...

Last photo of the day as we leave... the fence is set deliberately at this interesting angle!!
Jobs for tomorrow - de-weeding and planting...

02.09.12:

Sunday 2nd September: sunshine and much better weather for inspired gardening...
Weeding, digging, planting, and watering done... and by the end of the day...

Raspberries planted, watered and cut back.

All fruit and veg watered

Weeded, leveled out and gooseberries planted.

Left: pile of weeds; Right: Sean's retaining fence and gooseberries.

The view of the allotment from the mound of weeds on our neighbour's plot.

At last: time for Sean to sit down and survey his fabulous fences!!!

Bank Holiday Monday: 27.08.12

Bank Holiday - great weather for getting out in the garden/ allotment and having a BBQ? No, not today. Great weather for measuring up, pricing up wood for making things, & sitting inside updating the blog!!

So, what have we been doing in the allotment over the last few weeks?

12.08.12:

Since the last pictures of the peas, beans & broccoli/ cabbages that we brought over from the back garden - most of these aren't doing so well - possibly the birds or slugs have got them, or it could just be that ripping them up & re-planting somewhere else isn't the best thing to do...
In the picture above, you can also just see the gooseberry and raspberry bushes we transplanted from the side area on the left - hoping that Jane hasn't done the same with these, and they survive enough to give us fruit next year!!!!
The trailer was also really useful - given that it would probably have taken 15 years to incinerate the rubbish and weeds dug out so far! - throwing stuff in there was so much quicker!!!

End 12th August - Sean had done a fantastic job with the ground where we're planning to put the compost bin: thousands of metres of nettle roots... all in the trailer...

19.08.12:

Yeah for Gordon and his rotivator attachment!!
After digging the 6 beds by hand, we decided to take one of our neighbours up on his offer of rotivating a big area of the allotment still left - he couldn't get to the other bit due to the big trailer being in the way.
So, next bit if the experiment - hand-dug or rotivated - which will produce most weeds?

However, it did make us think again about the direction we're going to plant in...

Didn't get much more done that weekend... Jane had been planting in the garden & hurt her knee - gardening injuries led to the pub...

25.08.12:
Back on track this weekend:

Sean likes his strimmer. We forgot to take photos last time Sean strimmed. On Saturday he decided that the weeds in next-doors allotment were getting too high and starting to seed... so needed to go...

Another present from our neighbour, Winter caulis - Sean decides to plant in the other direction - not strictly in a straight line, but given that nothing else is yet straight...

Sean looks so proud!!...

26.08.12:
Just yesterday... at the beginning of the day we decided to tackle the gooseberry bushes & couch grass. Even though the poison & strimmer had made a big dent in the area, there was nothing else to work than old-fashioned digging...

By the end of the day, & several bags of weeds/ roots later...

Starting to look good.... next project is the area on the right of the picture below...

However, back to the information at the top... it's Bank Holiday Monday... Why did we think we might get more work done? It's raining, cold & windy...

But we've started pricing up wood to make support structures for the fruit bushes...

Not strictly allotment news...

Just thought I'd add a post about why we haven't done very much since the last post.  It's been a few hectic weeks until last weekend, which was the first chance we had in some time to actualy get down to our garden.

The reason why we've been so busy is our preperation for the Gateshead flower show.  It's something we do every year, initially just so we could get cheap entry to the show to buy cheap plants and so on, then the competitive spirit took over.  Took well over and we became flower show competitors proper, getting all anxious to see if we'd won anything and everything.  Problem was we won something that first year and thats what got us hooked.

This year we both entered phgotgraphs, metalwork, paintings oil for Sean and watercolour for Jane.  sean entered beer, Jam and believe it or not a sweetpea arrangement.

Winning at flower arranging at least it's first from three rather than second and the only entry

Proof positive that I make a canny bevvy - first prize and best in comepetion

My 1st prize metalwork entry Jane got 2nd place.

My 3rd prize metalwork entry

Meeting the Mayor of Gateshead to receive my award

Look a video with an image of my beer and me name n evrything

Pleased as punch or what, my certificate and Diamond 'silver salver' for my best in show beer.

to see Jane's entries go to Janey's thoughts

Now its back to gardening and making food.

We now have plants in the ground!

At last we have things,  green planty things in the gound in our allotment, and not just weeds either.  Sean built three sturdy frames from Bamboo and string, this now has bean and pea seedlings at their feet.  Jane also planted out either brussel sprouts or caulis - we definately know they are a brassica of some sort - pictures to follow - perhaps someone out there can identify the plants from the leaves - we can't. Whatever we'll eat whatever they produce.  Finally from our greenhouse, to save  what was left from slug/snail oblivion we planted out our courgettes, one seedling already had a flower on it, they desperately needed planting out.

One of our friendly and helpful  neighbours kindly provided us with some spring cabbage seedlings so they went into the ground as well.

The other thing we did was build our galvanised metal garden bin type  incinerator, with the intention of burning our 20 bags of weeds, roots and dug up potatoes.  Well we managed to get through one bag in 6 hours of burning, not exactly efficient, we may have to get the council to come around and take the rest away.  Something else to arrange this week.

How it started today

Getting the pea n bean frames built

Getting the fire started

only singed most of the hairs off

from my arm - maybe less petrol next time

probably the safest place to watch Sean 'tend' the fire

Now its raining, so its coats on and

get building

Jane being arty with the 

camera, but peas n beans all planted out

So there it is all planted out, still  two spare beds

so will be planting out more next weekend and making more beds