Hobbit Allotment!

[horticultural_hobbit]

Have found the local source for the poo. Have to be nice to pops and see if he will help me get some.

Might have to wait til next year to find me shed.

Raspberries are still waiting to planted and shared with Aunt Tish.

Have missed the lotment spud order. Apparently I said no when I asked; I don't remember that. Will need to look into that. Last year it was a tatie man job. Need to see if onions are still there, or have rotten anyway. Can't see anything poking through, though perhaps they are putting down roots, I don't know. There is no definitive answer given all the precipiration we've had.

[horticultural_hobbit]

Went to the plot today, to start and tidy up the carcass of the wendy house. At least if it is empty, it doesn't look so scruffy. Brought home fleece, the cabbage net.

Is very crispy and crunchy underfoot. All the low patches are covered in ice. Feel a little bit better about it. I sincerely hope, that the overwintering onions aren't dead but are dormant. Not a lot has come up. I fear that the nine inches of rain has killed them off...despite Uncle sno speaking of chicago!

looking into locally sourced poo to fill raised beds. Apparently there is a farm or something, stables perhaps, literally ten minutes down the road that sells it for 50p a bag. just wish I knew the name or where it is! then I pootle down and get it. It would fill the beds nicely, and if the rest of the plot has in fact died due to the weather, I could spread it all over the shop to dig in after Kismet.

Finding it very hard at the moment to be positive;most likely because of the rain. I don't think I felt like this last year. I was too busy bouncing having acquired the plot!

Am looking into the possibility of a wooden shed-the sentry sort-to position next to the wendy house somehow. Might have to wait for a nice weather window though.

[snohare]

Just need to figure out when and where to plant them.

I'd say, stick 'em in pots. Largeish ones. Tall is good. Even if all you have to go around the roots is squishy clay, it will drain to some degree; if it freezes solid due to the moisture content they will be no worse than they would be in the ground; and in my experience (mine usually fare badly because I forget how/when/what to prune) they survive amazingly well, even stuck in a bag with a tiny amount of soil, for months on end during dire weather. (As I discovered just yesterday - I have forgotten offshoots thriving in a tiny, soggy compost bag down beside the tool bunker.)
Which reminds me, I should be growing onions on my windowsills...

[horticultural_hobbit]

I have raspberry collection-to share with Aunty tish- to accompany Reuben Raspberry. Just need to figure out when and where to plant them. If the ground is neither rock solid or squishy and sodden.

[horticultural_hobbit]

I need to use my brains, perhaps borrow yours too, assorted aunts and uncles.

There are 12 raised beds on the plot. Some are 1mx 1m others are 2mx1m. At the moment; these have leaf mold in them. In that leaves are sitting there cooking down. I'm very conscious of getting the plot working; rather than just being a bog. My plan had been to fill next year with compost.

This is what I need to think about. I haven't looked at this at length as of yet. Not sure of the locally available poo; to date I've only ever got it from local h*meb*se. I don't have any decent compost in the daleks. So this feels like an insurmountable hill.

Not sure how dry it is down there at the moment. I would also like to grow spuds again.

[veggiechicken]

I can relate to wonky all over HH Try to create level areas, even if it means that one side of the bed appears to be higher than the other. Most of my garden is so steep that it only has a board on the downward side, to hold the soil back

[horticultural_hobbit]

Gotta love you all

It's wonky. All of it, all over. One has just got to deal with. With raised beds. Or perhaps grow rice or summat.

[veggiechicken]

See you in the Snug

[Aberdeenplotter]

yes, back to the pub, mines a guinness

[veggiechicken]

You have to be patient with me, AP and HH, because I live in Wales where nothing is ever flat But the gradient is also very obvious! I just wanted to make the point that any interference with the natural topography, like raised beds or planting holes would skew the result.
(Can I go back to the Gardener's Rest now please)

[Aberdeenplotter]

yes me dear but I did say over the plot and not just in one spot. Measuring several points and plotting the depths will give an indication of the natural slope if there is one

[veggiechicken]

...but only if there isn't a person-made depression as that would create an artificial slope - wouldn't it

[Aberdeenplotter]

believe it or not, water is the most natural spirit level. If you measure the depth of the water over your plot, that will give you an indication of the slope if there is a slope.

[veggiechicken]

:
I shall ponder on a way that you may find the gradient of your plot easily and without specialised surveying equipment (I don't suppose you have access to a theodolite, do you ? )

A pole at the lowest point and a spike at the highest, with a bit of string between the two on a level? Wouldn't that give an indication of the fall of the land?

[horticultural_hobbit]

I think there is definitely a drainage problem in the site. Mine is not the only one to be under water. Up to now, I have been advised to move plot. I really don't want to, and will be raising everything! yes, a JCB probably would be useful. All in all, I am probably snookered. After all the hard work, I really don't want to move. Very, very demoralising; but there has to be a way of playing with it.