Saturday 3rd May 2008

When I got up to the plot this morning, the first thing that struck me was the sheer number of blossoms on the fruit trees beside the the bee hives. Considering the fact that they hadn't been in the ground very long and that they were only young trees was just amazing. We may even get some apples this year. The asparagus were looking really healthy and strong, with the one I was looking at small and thick. Tim decided to make a big deal out of his extra long one. He's always been such a show off. Onions and shallots were growing really well and even some strawberry plants were beginning to flower. My stomach is rumbling just thinking about all this glorious self-grown food.

We had some digging to do today because we were still quite behind with planting things out, so let's get on with it! We dug one bed, which had been home to sweetcorn and onions last year. After digging the ground over, Tim got the rotavator out and whizzed the soil over to make a fine tilth. We had decided to plant up some peas first off, so built the requisite frames to grow them up. We hadn't got any netting to protect the peas from the damned rabbits so I took a quick trip down to Wilkinsons.

  
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             

Tim continued to plant out some plants he'd sown a while back. Peas don't like having their roots disturbed much (apparently) but Tim grew some in half a milk container and we stuffed them in the ground. We'd grown peas in containers last year and they'd worked so we think we're disproving a few theories about plants as we go along. I returned with some pond netting, which seemed to be much stronger than standard nylon netting and also bird proof.

After putting some bamboo canes into the ground with some string holding everything together, we planted up the last of the peas and stretched some string between the cane so that the peas would have something to climb up. We then planted up some rainbow chard at the end of the bed, making sure that the different colours were planted intermittently. We imprisoned all of these lovely plants with some netting so that no pesky rodents or birds can get in. After sorting these out we got on to the carrots.
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             

We sowed rows of natural seed and F1 seed for carrots. We wanted to see the difference between hybrid varieties and normal varieties. On one hand we had Autumn King 2 and on the other we had F1 Napoli. The Napoli seeds were the successors of the F1 Nelsons we'd planted two years ago. The difference is supposed to be the rate at which the carrots grow. Napoli should be ready for cropping after 90 days whereas Autumn King 2 should be ready after 120 days. That's a whole one month's difference. The only other thing to check is whether they both taste good. We shall see. The other thing we need to do is make sure that we keep planting carrot seeds in succession, so we have a good crop throughout the summer.

    
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             
                                             
 

Saturday 10th May 2008
What an absolutely roasting day today. I think Tim and I must have drunk half the allotment's water supply today. Sod the plants, we needed more hydration than they did. It was one of those rare occasions today when I got up to the plot before Tim. It was an empowering feeling until later in the day when I just ended up lying down under our plum tree because I was feeling exhausted from the heat.

It was quite shocking when I got to our allotment today to find that the grass had grown exponentially. I had heard on the radio that the longer grass is the faster it grows. I hadn't noticed the grass on the plot being that long last week but my goodness it was like the Serengeti. I got out the trusty shears and started to hack down the grass as much as possible. Tim arrived and looked shocked... not at the grass but my earliness. The swedes we'd planted beside the greenhouse had gone to seed so much that they were 5ft tall with yellow flowers. I chopped it all back and then moved on to the pathway down the centre of the plot. It was so overgrown with grass and nettles. It took a lot longer than I thought it would with shears.
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
In the mean time, Tim had started to weed the asparagus patch. It was also full of weeds and needed clearing out a bit. I joined Timothy to clear the patch of weeds. We'd also decided to lay weed suppressant over the pathways so that we could keep the walkways clear. We weighed them down with stones and in some cases bark chippings. We love bark chippings. The council just keep dumping the on our nearby car park. We haven't been able to park there for the past six months or so. Everytime we clear the bark chippings away the council just drop some more chippings off. It's great. It's like a never-ending gobstopper.
                                             
 
                                             
 

Early potatoes were poking their little foliage through the ground. We got some more bark chippings and dumped it on the rows so that we didn't have to earth them up. We are just going to mulch them up so that we don't have to disturb them too much. I had read somewhere that wood chippings causes scab with potatoes but we're going to give it a try anyway. We have loads of potatoes at our disposal so if some go to waste it won't be too bad.

We uncovered a patch of ground where we'd had artichokes. We'd covered them over with weed suppressant but loads of shoots had popped underneath. It just goes to show that some plants are tenacious beyond belief. We dug them all up, or at least tried to dig them all up but I'm sure we left a few in there. We always seem to leave a snippet of a potato in the ground so that a small potato plant shoots up where you least want it. I'm sure the same can be said of artichokes. We planted up some cabbage plants in their place as soon as the ground had been turned over. We planted them quite close together to see what happens because last year the cabbages seemed to be quite far apart. We thought we'd experiment to see what difference there was if we planted them 30cm apart.
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
By the end of the day the plot was looking great. It's a shame we're a little behind but we have done lots of practical bits and pieces that needed to be done, ground clearing that needed to be done and we're nearly there with the rest of the plot. It's taking time but we never thought we would finish it quickly!
                                             
 
                                             
                                             
Sunday 18th May 2008
Suey and I went up to the plot today instead of a Saturday because it seemed to make more sense. The weather was better, we were a little more rested and ready to take on the plot. We took a look around and the overwintering onion patch I'd so carefully weeded was covered in weeds again. Arggh! Suey and I started pulling the cheeky things out of the ground before they started to take over. We shared the contents of a pea pod, which had very small peas, “petit pois” if you will. They were so sweet and delicious. If only we had more... yum yum.

The potato plants were looking very healthy, as were the sweetcorn in the greenhouse. I'd brought my tomato, aubergine and pepper plants up from my nursery/dining room. Tim's tomato plants that he'd sown were looking really good, with flowers beginning to pop up. It's amazing seeing as it's only the middle of May!

It was just a shame that the greenhouse was such a messy tip...

  
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
Suey was quite disgusted with our greenhouse. I blame Tim. He fills it full of vegetable plants! That's not really a bad thing but by the time we get round to planting stuff out, due to the other little projects we get ourselves into, the seeds have grown into very large seedlings. As a result they have outgrown their container and sometimes the pots split with the sheer number of plants vying for life in such a crammed space. Suey got the vacuum cleaner and the duster, or the big brush and a black bin liner and started going through the stuff we had. There were loads of empty compost bags and a very messy bench full of plants. We threw some stuff out because it was ever so leggy, like some broad beans that were just not doing anything apart from looking diseased.
                                             
 
                                             
I left Suey in charge of cleaning the boys' playhouse while I went off and started to paint the wooden posts sticking out of the ground. The idea is to protect the wood as much as possible and also to strengthen the posts by building a framework. At the moment they are quite vulnerable to wind and also bend quite a bit if pushed at the top. By fixing some struts between the posts the overall rigidity of the structure will become much stronger and I will be able to put some sheet plastic over it so that it will become the poly corridor, or polydor for short. There were a few friendly little animals around the place such as a couple of cheeky toads and a slithery slow worm.
                                             
 
                                             
Suey and I both painted the posts with the brown masonry paint to give it some good protection. We couldn't quite reach the top of the posts because they were too tall. Suey finished them off while I started to shovel some ash on the ground. Because we'd managed to burn the huge pile of weeds down to a pile of ash, I thought that I'd capitalise on the goodness in the potash. The polydor will be used for tomatoes, aubergines and peppers, which thrive on potash-rich soil. I transported the majority of the good stuff and barrowed it on to the earth. I sieved quite a bit of it because as I dug deeper there were more rocks and roots. Suey and I covered the patch over with some weed suppressant and then went home, happy with the work we'd done.
                                             
 
                                             
                                             
  Saturday 24th May 2008
My plan today was scuppered somewhat by the inability to get a roof rack for my Clio. It's been very useful for transporting concrete blocks, sand, plants, floorboards and all manner of other things for the plot. However, the wood I needed to finish the poly-corridor would need more than the interior space of a 1995 super-mini. In the mean time, I would be happy in the fact that I would be able to get at least some of the work done to get the polydor on it's way to completion.

Tim was still away in Gran Canaria having a nice old time sunbathing and probably buying more aloe-vera plants to fill the greenhouse up with. The plot was beginning to look a little weedy as I walked around but it wasn't too bad. The worst of it seemed to be between the onion patch and the carrot patch. I weeded a bit of the carrots and then started some woodwork. I'd brought my tools and cordless drill so I would be able to build things much more easily and quickly.
                       
 
                                             
My first task was to strengthen the ends of what would be the polydor. The four corner posts were all a little wobbly and we needed to ensure that they were as solid as possible. I made a framework out of 2” x 1” baton with diagonal sections so as to create as rigid a structure as possible. This meant cutting angles in the wood and making sure that everything measured up. I got the first end done but unfortunately the the other end proved to be a little more troublesome in that it was a little wider than the lengths of baton I'd bought. It turned out to be around 2.55m instead of 2.4m. Damn! This is why I need a roof rack!
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             
Because I couldn't really go any further with the framework, I thought I'd make life a little easier for myself by cutting down the height of the posts we'd concreted into the ground. This would mean we'd have an even roof level. Well, when I say “level” it followed a straight line because I'd stretched some string tightly out between posts. There is a natural slope to the plot from right to left anyway, so this would be useful anyway when I put a drainpipe channeled to the ICB. All the water would run along the natural slope of the roof into the natural slope of the drainpipe. It's going to be ingenius!
                                             
 
                                             
After I'd painted the tops of the posts, I went about shifting some manure onto the polydor patch so that it was covered in organic matter. As usual, this took longer than expected (everything does). There were quite a few wheelbarrow loads to go back and forth with. At around 5pm I covered it all up with weed suppressant. It had been one of those days where I'd actually achieved quite a lot but to look at the plot you wouldn't think it. Tim is going to think I'm so lazy!
                                             
                                             

Saturday 31st May 2008
Tim was returned from the land of canaries, not that he had a tan or anything. He came strolling down the plot with a bunch of bamboo canes that he was going to use to build some wigwams for beans. In the mean time I took a break from all the hard work I'd been doing while Tim was away. I had brought up some nice lengths of wood that I'd need to paint in order to ensure they're protected against the elements... even though they will be covered in plastic eventually.

We looked around the plot and Tim had decided that it was time to bank the potatoes up. He did the main crop spuds first and that was fairly easy, using the earth around the foliage. The first earlies had the bark chippings and that also seemed pretty easy, although it was a totally different texture and was a little bit lighter to move. We shall see the results of the potatoes under the bark chippings shortly. We also saw loads of nettles growing through everywhere that we thought we'd dug up. How can we miss these roots when they're so bright in colour?! Nettles are light and yellow and bind weed is bright white, yet can we remove it all? Can we heck! We're going to need a big sieve.

  
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             
I got on with painting the wood with the brown paint and it took ages. I had quite a few lengths to pint so I tried to make it as easy as possible by bunching them altogether and paint them as one. Then I'd have to turn them over 90 degrees so that I could paint the next side. Why it takes so long to paint I have no idea. It just does!

Tim, in the mean time, decided that he didn't want to dig the big weedy patch where the swedes and carrots had been last year. It was quite funny, actually, because Tim didn't even want to take the old plants out. The swedes and carrots were still in there. He snipped the weeds down with some shears. Then, we just laid some weed suppressant on top of the patch and Tim cut some holes in it so that he could put some squashes in the ground. I guess you could call this the “no dig” method, which we'd heard about in Grow Your Own magazine. We will see how it all does. Tim dug some little holes in the ground to accommodate the plants and then shovelled some manure around the plants to give them some food. I had heard on Gardener's Question Time that by giving plants like courgettes some manure it puts more energy into making the leaves rather than the fruit. Still, every little helps, surely?

  
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
Tim shoved some bamboo canes in the ground in the patch above the onions. They were all vertical until he bent them in and joined them at the top to form some wigwams for the beans he'd planted up. He shoved some poo into the ground and around the beans so that they had some organic matter around them. He also tied the beans to the canes to give them a bit of a head start. By the end of the day, Tim had managed to get two wigwams sorted out and they looked marvellous.

In the mean time, I spent my time cutting notches out of a length of wood and the two posts nearest the centre of the two plots. I then attached the length of wood to the two posts, which made it a lot stronger. I also attached some baton across the length of the poly corridor but when I'd finished putting it in I was unhappy with the strength of the baton. It didn't look like it could hold the weight of the plastic I had intended to put on top of it. I may have to rethink that. However, it was beginning to take shape and I was pretty happy with the progress.

  
                       
 
                                             
 
                                             
 
                                             
The plot was taking shape nicely and we were finally getting more vegetables in. We still needed to get a whole load of plants that were residing in the greenhouse into the ground and a lot of tomatoes, aubergines and peppers need to get in that blimmin' polycorridor! Quick! Faster allotmenteers! Dig! Dig!