| progress report |
[Apr. 14th, 2010|01:43 pm] |
Last Sunday (11th April) we:
- Chopped down the oak tree at the end of the plot
- Planted another row of beetroots, one of red curly kale, two of leeks (2 different kinds) and put rows of spring onions in between the beets, leeks and kale
- uncovered a great big patch of allotment from under the black plastic - it was really quite crapweed-free so we gave it a good going over; I think that's where I'm going to plant runner beans/squishes/sweetcorn
- tidied up the remaining plastic-covered areas, weighed down the torn bits with plenty of bricks and pallets
- and GLYPHOSATED a relatively small area at the end of the plot, around where the oak tree used to be! I'm slightly worried because the glyphosate mixture in the watering can ran out way before I managed to cover the 20 square metres that it was supposed to treat. But I'll see how it's working in a couple of weeks, I suppose!
NEXT JOBS (for next Sunday if the weather's nice)
- get there early to rent a strimmer, strim our paths and cut down certain patches of remaining crapweed
- uncover & dig over the other remaining plastic-covered patches and put in the rest of the potatoes (Lady Balfour and Bambino)
- keep keep keep digging crapweed out
- put glyphosate on the old compost pile which is now a wretched hive of crapweed and bindweed that I really really want to get rid of as it's the last remaining real BLIGHT on the plot, apart from the s0dding effing ants that is
- plant PEAS
- plant ONIONS
- take PICTURES! I really am quite delighted by how tidy the plot is looking compared to, say, a couple of weeks ago. I know that's probably all going down the khazi once the crapweed starts growing again in earnest but for the moment I LOVE it.
I also spoke to Molly who has an awesome plan to have A BEEHIVE on her allotment! She's taking a beekeeping course right now and if all goes well we may have BEES next year!
BEES! |
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| five potato six potato seven potato more |
[Apr. 6th, 2010|02:59 pm] |
Have just planted another bed of potatoes - that's all the King Edwards in, now. I'm a bit worried that I haven't planted them close enough together, oh well - can't really be helped. I wonder if the garden centre up the road will still have seed potatoes on sale, as I'd really like to get another patch planted up before the couch grass goes crazy again?
The broad beans are coming up a treat! No sign of chard or beetroot seedlings yet though. Also no sign of the unsettled weather ending, so the glyphosate is still on hold...
WILDLIFE WATCH: 2 butterflies that could have been Red Admirals or tortoiseshells (they were in the distance!), and several HUGE FAT BUZZY BEES :) |
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| first post of 2010 |
[Apr. 1st, 2010|12:53 pm] |
Hooray! I have just managed to pop the first lot of potatoes in, and now the sky is clouding over as is traditional and proper for a UK Bank Holiday :) (several people have said to me that TOMORROW is the traditional day to plant taters, but since I am Busy tomorrow and the forecast is for p1ssing it down I thought I'd get it done!)
In other allotment news, I planted broad beans about 3 weeks ago and some tiny broad bean shoots are poking their heads out from the soil, and last week I planted a row each of chard and beetroots (I am totally doing succession-sowing with the 'troots so I don't end up with seven beetroots as big as my HEAD all at once, like I did last year! Doh). We also uncovered ANOTHER ant's nest underneath the black plastic - arse. The wasps seem to have packed up and moved out, though - thank goodness.
I've only been to the allotment 3 or 4 times this year as the winter has been so long; it looks like the well dug-over beds from last year have remained relatively crapweed-free so we've made a start on digging the crapweed out of the still-infested parts, ready to plant yet MORE potatoes there as a clearing crop (also bcs: potatoes yummy). Our plan is to pretty much fully potato-ise the half of the plot we've been working on, and to glyphosate the other half to keep the council off our backs. The glyphosating, however, will have to wait until the weather is both dry and still, which is most assuredly not the case at the moment. Still, I'm feeling optimistic for now. |
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| warrrrrghhhh |
[Aug. 5th, 2009|09:23 pm] |
I have just been to the allotment! And dug up some potatoes! And took them home! And roasted them! And ET them! And they were EXTREMELY tasty.
The allotment is a total STATE after three weeks of almost constant rain. Weather is forecast for OK this weekend so we've a LOT of work on our hands. Also a lot of ants' nests. I had to do a *lot* of persuading to get Paul to eat the potatoes that came out of the ground with ants all over them...
The runner beans have gone crazy too and there is a great big bag in the fridge (also lots in my belly) :):):)
(apologies to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=91.7) allotment, where I posted this first. This is what comes of having a userpic also called "allotment"...) |
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| bean there, done that |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|04:24 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | beans, bindweed, broad beans, chard, clearing, couch grass, courgettes, garlic, herbs, olives, peas, pests, planting, potatoes, squash, summer, trees, weeds | ] |
Crikey, it's been an age since I've updated! I've been up to LOTS OF STUFF though. Last night I went to the allotment to water the thirsty little plants and bought back: 2 garlic scapes, some chard and five stalks of LAVENDER (omg I am so excited, this is the first time I've ever made lavender grow!) I also have allotment sage (the sage has gone bananas and the ladybirds seem to love it), garlic and broad beans in the fridge. And that's not all! NOT ONLY do I have all this booty, but my allotment-neighbour Puran gave me a huge bag of red/blackcurrants from his plot, and a huge bag of potatoes, AND some cabbage and cucumber plants! And I have planted one of the redcurrant sticks in a pot to see if it GROWS! (I bet it won't, I've never done cuttings before and the book says to do it in October but still nothing ventured etc). Oh and he also gave me some beans to plant (it's not too late apparently) which he says are fast-growing and tasty.
I also bought a tiny OLIVE TREE from the Eden project over the weekend, and will plant that next year if I can keep it alive until then... I'd like to try planting a bay tree too. Aren't I Mediterranean?
Last week we strimmed everything and I pulled up a megatonne of bindweed, which I'm keeping in a little pile for BURNING, hopefully tomorrow night. The pea plants have been pulled up, stripped of (not many) peas and put into the compost (I don't know if you've ever seen a battle royale between peas and bindweed but it ain't pretty). I have learned the value of Proper Pea Nets and Covering My Seedlings With Cloches for next year. The garlic is covered in rust but apparently this does not make it inedible, hurrah! The courgettes are total goners, bastard slugs. I'll be planting the squishes this weekend, though, and checking to see that the pyrethrin has done its work on the ants...
There are also many, many ladybirds (the good kind!) and ladybird larvae, which I'm pleased about bcs the runner beans have blackfly. Stupid blackfly.
Mainly I'm full of plans about what to do with the allotment NEXT year - I can't wait to cover it all up again and start digging that couch grass out in preparation. I think this may perhaps mean that I am a little bit bonkers. I'm plotting where I'm going to put the potatoes (on the crapweediest edge of the allotment to clear it), and wondering which corner will be best for fruits (I want gooseberries and raspberries!) and planning to buy ALL THE CANES to make little structures and tunnels for the beans to grow on... must concentrate on the present and not the future! |
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| first harvest! |
[May. 31st, 2009|08:31 pm] |
Tonight we are having GOLDEN CHARD from the allotment! We have grown an edible thing! |
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| provisional plan for next year: grow nothing but potatoes |
[May. 26th, 2009|10:01 am] |
Glorious bank holiday weather + a couple of weeks' neglect (oops) = lots of allotmenting this weekend, although I'm a bit depressed as most of the news seems to be bad. Good news first: the potatoes are now ENORMOUS and making me very happy indeed. There are also onions, shallots, garlics, about 4 beetroots underneath a CARPET of weeds, and some golden chard. We also did a lot more strimming and covering-up, and I planted French beans and runner beans.
Bad news: the broad beans are covered in blackfly. I've been recommended something called Pyrethrum to get rid of them - apparently it is an entirely natural product made from chrysanthemums, so it shouldn't be too toxic. I feel bad about blitzing pests but on the other hand would quite like to get SOME broad beans out of the plot this year, given all the work we've put in. During our plastic-moving efforts we also managed to uncover two HUGE ant-nests in the bed destined for squish/corn/beans. There were thousands of ants running around carrying EGGS ew ew ew, so it's safe to say that they have quite the colony there. Jaime lent me some ant-killer but it says TOXIC TO THE ENVIRONMENT and has little graphics of dead dolphins, all over it so, uh, no way. I suppose a kettle of boiling water is the classic organic solution, but again with the guilt (also: no electricity at the allotment; I suppose if I get a storm kettle I could always power it with dried crapweed...) What would you do? Bob Flowerdew sa that the key to having a successful organic garden is to strike a balance between the forces of NATURE and your own needs/wants. In my opinion NATURE has the upper hand in my plot at the moment and the balance needs redressing so I'm inclined to be tough on pests (besides which the pests have the whole other half of the allotment to play on, for the moment!) However, killing stuff = not very hippy-like. Arrgh. There is also the bindweed and crapweed to contend with, as ever. The dock is getting cocky again, too.
Also now it's p1ssing it down so I suppose the slugs will all emerge and eat the new bean-plants. I HATE THEM. If anyone has any advice or encouragement now would be the time for it, pls :( |
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| caning it |
[May. 3rd, 2009|02:55 pm] |
Just went to the allotment for a couple of hours to dig the latest crapweed-bed up AGAIN and put the remaining potatoes in (yes I KNOW it's too late for potatoes really but I'm hoping they'll do OK). Just as a bonus, I went to the hut and bought some EIGHT FOOT CANES for the runner beans! And then I TRAPPED Paul in the bean-teepee!
Aren't I a rotter?
BUT LOOK POTATOES
At what point, and how, does one go about "earthing up" potatoes? |
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| strim when you're winning |
[Apr. 28th, 2009|01:56 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | beans, bindweed, chard, clearing, crapweed, digging, peas, planting, potatoes, spring, tomatoes | ] |
YES! We finally managed to get the rest of the strimming done at the weekend. Paul's Auntie P kindly lent us her heavy-duty petrol strimmer (SO much better than the weedy little thing you hire from the allotment hut) and OFF WE WENT - we didn't quite get everything done as we ran out of petrol but it's looking SO much better than it was. If the weather clears up this week I'll pop up and put the rest of the black plastic over the strimmmed (strum?) bit and then hopefully we won't even have to think about it until next year... HURRAH.
We made a start digging crapweed out of another bed-to-be but had to give up due to time constraints, bah... we did manage to root out a LOT of crapweed though. The bad news is that it's now bindweed season and the little bastards are sprouting EVERYWHERE.
In growing-things news, the broad beans and peas are valiantly struggling onwards and upwards (though the rain this week and attendant slugs may well have put paid to this) and I really, REALLY need to get the rest of the potatoes and beans in. And parsnips. And some more beetroots! The golden chard and alliums are looking quite good too. I did accidentally hoe a garlic though, and SAT on another one while I was making a pea-net :( OH AND THE POTATOES HAVE SPROUTED!
In things-I've-planted-at-home news, the tomato seedlings are now MASSIVE and I'm about to plant lots and lots of pak choi, kale and carrots using my awesome new paper pot maker. Oregano and basil seeds are also going nuts on the window sill :)
I think that's enough wibbling for one day... |
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| quick allotment update |
[Apr. 20th, 2009|02:11 pm] |
At the weekend, we
- planted SNOWDROPS in the herb bed
- uncovered a large covered-up bit and made a start digging the ground over there. We left it uncovered to dry up the ground a little bit; I also suspect the plastic of harbouring the slugs :(
- dug up two sections of bramble weed as big as my forearm!
- planted one more row of potatoes (Arran Victory, courtesy of ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7) marnameow; we still have a few Arran Victory and a bunch of Milva potatoes to put in but need to prepare a bed first!
- repotted some tiny tomato plants into bigger pots
- put a few french beans in pots to germinate
- planted some oregano seeds in pots (oregano seeds are MINUTE!)
- repotted some lettuces that a kind man on the allotment gave us (these surely cannot go in our plot proper as the slugs will be on them in a flash but hopefully we can put them in big pots in the garden)
I also helped plant potatoes, peas and beans at the allotment :) (by "helped" I mean "ran about taking pictures and admiring the asparagus" ;))
Things to do this week/weekend:
- take big bag of grass from P's mum's lawn and put it in the compost
- put squishes, courgettes, runner beans, carrots, pak choi in pots/paper tubes to germinate
- plant some parsnips under little hats!
- replant rest of tomatoes and put them and the lettuces in the garden, under some sort of cover/AWAY FROM EFFING SLUGS
- MOAR DIGGING OVER as the sunlight will soon reactivate the crapweed
- investigate hiring or borrowing a heavy-duty strimmer, as we have a lovely crop of daffodilsDANDELIONS (!) that our fellow allotmenters won't appreciate when they go to seed and propagate all over their lovely plots
- go to allotment AGM on Wednesday night! :) |
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