2 hours it took to plant them all ! BBQ sticks and netting to try and prevent birdy damage.
Having an enforced break tomorrow night as we're out visiting. Next stop, 2nd bean trellis !
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Hunions !
72 went in tonight. Pain in the proverbial getting them out of the modules so I hope they get to usuable size !
2 hours it took to plant them all ! BBQ sticks and netting to try and prevent birdy damage.
Having an enforced break tomorrow night as we're out visiting. Next stop, 2nd bean trellis !
2 hours it took to plant them all ! BBQ sticks and netting to try and prevent birdy damage.
Having an enforced break tomorrow night as we're out visiting. Next stop, 2nd bean trellis !
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Beginning to take shape
An absolutely beautiful afternoon saw me rushing away early from work, car packed with beetroot and away up the lottie I ran.
More gushing praise from another allotmenteer wasted 10 mins of hard work. A fence must be built and quickly. I know it's good to talk but not when I've still got digging to be done !
The first half is almost there. The two nearest beds could do with a heavy dig over but that's just where we've been treading all over them . I think they're basically ready to plant. Leeks tomorrow I think, that should keep me busy for a few hours !
Here's today's endeavours.
Looking up the plot, wee flower bed emerging around the water butt.
Two rows of beetroot leaving me another half of a bed to play with.
Water butt again, with a path around it, leaving me with an oddly shaped, but useful bed next to it.
The new beetroot bed and courgettes which seem to be taking well. People are impressed with those !
Supersprout's Gigantes beans, still being hardened off (as they'd come straight from the spare room !).
So at least I have paths where the paths are meant to be. Now to plant up that side and start working on the rest.
Chuffed.
More gushing praise from another allotmenteer wasted 10 mins of hard work. A fence must be built and quickly. I know it's good to talk but not when I've still got digging to be done !
The first half is almost there. The two nearest beds could do with a heavy dig over but that's just where we've been treading all over them . I think they're basically ready to plant. Leeks tomorrow I think, that should keep me busy for a few hours !
Here's today's endeavours.
Looking up the plot, wee flower bed emerging around the water butt.
Two rows of beetroot leaving me another half of a bed to play with.
Water butt again, with a path around it, leaving me with an oddly shaped, but useful bed next to it.
The new beetroot bed and courgettes which seem to be taking well. People are impressed with those !
Supersprout's Gigantes beans, still being hardened off (as they'd come straight from the spare room !).
So at least I have paths where the paths are meant to be. Now to plant up that side and start working on the rest.
Chuffed.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Sacre blue de blanc
I planted out 15 Gigantes beans, tenderly surrounded them with a fleece windbreak, stuck in another courgette, some marigolds and a couple of calendula and beetroot .............. and forgot to take bloody pictures !
Forgot the slug killers, so if I've got anything left when I get up there tomorrow, I'll take some then.
Forgot the slug killers, so if I've got anything left when I get up there tomorrow, I'll take some then.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
I promised myself I wouldn't
So what did I do? I did !
You are now looking at a new committee member of the South Western Allotments Association. Don't think it's going to be as busy as it might sound though. One meeting a month in MY hut !
A new Chairman who wants to keep meetings to a strict time limit (suits me), some very nice co-victims. The good news was that I narrowly avoided being appointed as treasurer and the lovely Mr Sec asked me if I wanted the job ! Appears to be a lot of familiar faces that I've met already.
My thought process said, if you're not in it, you can't moan about what goes on ! Dues stayed at £22 (I think).
Rain stopped play today, but on the way to the meeting, I delivered a couple of trays of things to plant out as soon as I get up there next. No danger of them drying out ! Noticed a couple of puddles on the paths so they need to be built up a bit and levelled. All the beds dug so far showed good drainage though.
Spent a fairly productive day on the plot instead.
Have a look over there and see what I pulled !
You are now looking at a new committee member of the South Western Allotments Association. Don't think it's going to be as busy as it might sound though. One meeting a month in MY hut !
A new Chairman who wants to keep meetings to a strict time limit (suits me), some very nice co-victims. The good news was that I narrowly avoided being appointed as treasurer and the lovely Mr Sec asked me if I wanted the job ! Appears to be a lot of familiar faces that I've met already.
My thought process said, if you're not in it, you can't moan about what goes on ! Dues stayed at £22 (I think).
Rain stopped play today, but on the way to the meeting, I delivered a couple of trays of things to plant out as soon as I get up there next. No danger of them drying out ! Noticed a couple of puddles on the paths so they need to be built up a bit and levelled. All the beds dug so far showed good drainage though.
Spent a fairly productive day on the plot instead.
Have a look over there and see what I pulled !
Saturday, June 02, 2007
"Gosh, you're doing well"
I know they're trying to encourage me, but I've heard it a dozen times now and I'm beginning to believe them.
Meeting loads of new people. Having the plot next to the lovely Mr Sec is slightly busier than I'd anticipated! Loads of people come looking for him when he's not there, and then they all come back for a cuppa when he is ! I don't think I've actually seen him do any work on the plot yet lol. He keeps saying he'd going to clear his border, I think I'm putting him to shame !
So ......... today I:
So by virtue of the fact that I can't move, tomorrow is a planting day (as well as the AGM - should be interesting).
And with that, I'm off to snore !
Meeting loads of new people. Having the plot next to the lovely Mr Sec is slightly busier than I'd anticipated! Loads of people come looking for him when he's not there, and then they all come back for a cuppa when he is ! I don't think I've actually seen him do any work on the plot yet lol. He keeps saying he'd going to clear his border, I think I'm putting him to shame !
So ......... today I:
- Dug out one of the bean trenches, half-filled with with half-cooked leaf mould, refilled and put up a trellis. Very sturdy if I say so myself. Tried to erect a second one but two canes snapped ! Feel like waving them under a B&Q assistant's nose but as they'll be used for something, I shan't! Need to go up and get another pack of 10 canes though.
- Was told that my courgettes are probably planted too close ... ah well. I have two babies though, must keep an eye on them to see if they grow before they rot !
- Cleared another bed so am going to put a couple of rows of beetroot in there tomorrow.
- Buried the water butt about 9" deep and 3/4 filled it with water. Now it's being left to it's own devices. The hose was about 4' short of the butt so I had to aim the water in.
- Broke the stand pipe tap ! Oops ! Mended it (after a fashion). Need to get some of that white plumbing stuff out of the cupboard and put that on, but the nut needs a tighten first.
- Planted some calendula to provide a bit of colour.
- Chicken pelletted all the beds that have been cleared.
- Cleared the centre path so at least we have a main route in and out now so we don't have to watch where we tread.
- Started piling up the carrier bags ready for removal to the dump.
- Tidied the hut up a bit. For some reason a lad who had borrowed the communal wheel barrow put it inside the hut ! Perhaps his dad had told him to, so I stuck that back outside covering the carriers .... at least they're camouflaged.
So by virtue of the fact that I can't move, tomorrow is a planting day (as well as the AGM - should be interesting).
And with that, I'm off to snore !
Things are looking up
Thanks to the lovely Jeannine I am no longer too worried about the courgettes. She says it's not mosaic virus. I choose to believe her.
I'll keep an eye on them though to see what happens.
Bright sunshiney morning yesterday, so wangled it with the boss and took the afternoon off and was up the lottie by 12.30pm. Predictably, the sun went in but the rain held off until I was back in the car at 4.45pm and then it fell down.
The first bean bed is already showing signs of new weeds sprouting, so I'll take the new hoe up there today and have a wee practice.
Second bean bed is now ready. The plans have been thrown out the window as they have changed direction totally. Will get the new one done in a mo as I have ........ lost the camera!
Had a little visitor when I pulled the weed suppressant back on Thursday, he was so well camouflaged that he nearly bit the dust with just one dig of a spade. I am now learning to look before I dig !
Went up to my fave shop in the whole wide world on my way home (except it's a few miles in the wrong direction) and bought myself an "active" water butt ! Neither I, nor the friendly assistant knew what was active about it (he suggested it might grow legs) but for £13 (with 15% discount that I had to ask for) I wasn't particularly bothered. Went home, collected the OH, took the new goodies back up to save them staying in the car overnight. New canes, some compost, new butt .... sorted. Now to try and figure out how to fill the butt from the stand pipe. The lovely Mr Sec's hose isn't long enough, so I'll take mine up there and try and figure the connections !
Bought some new jigsaw blades so the OH can get started on the bed edging and I'm taking my half baked leaf mould up today to go in the bottom of the bean beds, which means more digging ! Ugh ! Still it will give me another opportunity to get rid of more weeds that I haven't found yet.
Am as happy as a pig in muck!
I'll keep an eye on them though to see what happens.
Bright sunshiney morning yesterday, so wangled it with the boss and took the afternoon off and was up the lottie by 12.30pm. Predictably, the sun went in but the rain held off until I was back in the car at 4.45pm and then it fell down.
The first bean bed is already showing signs of new weeds sprouting, so I'll take the new hoe up there today and have a wee practice.
Second bean bed is now ready. The plans have been thrown out the window as they have changed direction totally. Will get the new one done in a mo as I have ........ lost the camera!
Had a little visitor when I pulled the weed suppressant back on Thursday, he was so well camouflaged that he nearly bit the dust with just one dig of a spade. I am now learning to look before I dig !
Went up to my fave shop in the whole wide world on my way home (except it's a few miles in the wrong direction) and bought myself an "active" water butt ! Neither I, nor the friendly assistant knew what was active about it (he suggested it might grow legs) but for £13 (with 15% discount that I had to ask for) I wasn't particularly bothered. Went home, collected the OH, took the new goodies back up to save them staying in the car overnight. New canes, some compost, new butt .... sorted. Now to try and figure out how to fill the butt from the stand pipe. The lovely Mr Sec's hose isn't long enough, so I'll take mine up there and try and figure the connections !
Bought some new jigsaw blades so the OH can get started on the bed edging and I'm taking my half baked leaf mould up today to go in the bottom of the bean beds, which means more digging ! Ugh ! Still it will give me another opportunity to get rid of more weeds that I haven't found yet.
Am as happy as a pig in muck!
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