Wahey, Offer and contracts were sent out to me yesterday for my Allotment

[Jamesy_uk]

Well today I truly worked my butt off, took my son to car boot sale at 7am and when I got back at 8am I handed him over and trotted down to the allotment with my leeks.
First job was dibbing the leeks in after giving the bed a quick rake and that was the easy part, after that I then proceeded to clear the entire second bed and boy does my back know it (sorry no pics I forgot my phone)
Part 2 was bagging up everything from the second bed which took almost as long as clearing it did thanks to all the awkward woody poppy plants and nettles, but me and the wife got it done thank god and all that remains is small weeds to hoe out as I am going to use it as a brassica bed I don't want to dig it over.

My new allotment buddy Barney came along a bit later in the day and we had a chat about winter veg and he gave me a clump of scallions 25 odd in all so that gave me something else to plant up and I dibbed those in the second bed I had just cleared as its partly in the shade of a shed so seemed like a good idea as they are slow growers apparently.

[snohare]

Wow... you must really like digging, Jamesy ! That's a fair whack of ground turned over there. Nicely done too, nice and even.
Either that, or you must really cultivate a liking for it...

[Jamesy_uk]

Really must add some pics but today I
Planted 2 rows of Strawberrys at the back of bed 1 in line with the rest of the fruit
Planted another 30 leeks thanks to Homebase selling then off 75p for a big tray with 30 in
6 large cauliflower plugs also 75p
Used debris netting to make a cover for the above Cauliflowers, makeshift atm need MDPE pipe.

Briefly considered making some raised beds but when I drew up a plan it just felt like a collosal amount of wasted space seeing as the soil looks good and I dont really have a need to control its composition plus I have a plank to allow me to access the middle of the beds anyways.

[hamesy]

I think I'm going up to homebase tonight

[Jamesy_uk]

First bed with Leeks, Strawberrys and French beans in.



Second bed with Scallions and Cauliflower



Had a funny moment I was watering the leeks in the holes and something caught my eye in one, then again in another I found 3 holes had frogs in hiding from the sun lol, I made them little ramps out incase they had gotten stuck.

[Jamesy_uk]

Well it turns out the 5 rod plot adjacent to mine is up for rent but currently under offer, however if the person offered it doesn't have a good constitution they may well take one look at it and run away screaming as its twice as bad as mine was. So I thought well..... why the hell not and sent an email saying if it was turned down i'd be interested in taking it on as well because I am a glutton for punishment you know.
When I consider growing things like Squash and Sweetcorn my plot doesnt seem big enough for a meaningful amount of that kind of crop, I mean when I think potatoes will probably take 1/3 of my space alone, Alliums, french/runner beans etc.

[hamesy]

You know I was thinking the same. I've got a plot next to mine which is looking sorry for itself. I might put a cheeky offer in and see if I can get hold of it.

[Jamesy_uk]

Well, thats put a downer on my plans. Apparently one household is not permitted more than 1 allotment plot even when they are sitting unused ;(.

[Jamesy_uk]

Well bit longer between updates than planned but life ya know. Allotment is coming along well, I got 1 bed fully planted and 2nd bed is about 1/2 planted.

Some pictures here.

Cabbage and Cauliflowers ^


French beans (edge of) and Leeks ^


Fennel ^

We had a recent heavy shower, it only lasted a few mins but it was enough to let the seed bank in the soil germinate so by the weekend I will be hoe 'ing it up like I was visiting Kings cross at night.

[Jamesy_uk]

Well small update here.
The leeks I chopped off at the stem are coming along well again after the leek moth attacks and the cabbages are hearting up well but still no sign of curds on the Cauliflower. Everything else is coming along slowly and I harvested the first Allotment beetroots a week or so back so I am looking forward to them tomorrow.

[Jamesy_uk]

Just acquired myself another 5 rod plot with established rhubarb, tayberry and blackberrys on it so now my mind is awash with what to do with it next year lol.
It needs some work to get it in order but it shouldn't be too much of an issue so I gave it a once over and then pulled up some swede, romanesco and Cabbage to go with sunday dinner.

[snohare]

Nice to hear of a man landing on his feet ! (I have terrible swede envy here though ! )
How did you come by the extra 5 rods ? Did the powers that be decide your probationary period was over and you would do well over the long haul - or is it a bit less official than that ?

[Jamesy_uk]

One of the old boys on the allotment behind mine had to have surgery and he couldn't keep up with his plot so instead of him giving up his 10 rod plot I offered to help him out and he said I could have half the plot to use in return. Might not be a permanent arrangement but I will take whatever I can get at the moment I reckon I can probably get the best part of a years spuds now. This opens up a whole new range of stuff I wouldn't of considered growing due to space constraints a nice big sweetcorn bed, maybe squash and PSB etc


And as for the Swede I kind of lucked out on, the new half plot I took on I found a few random veg and growing among them a handful of swede probably about 5-6" wide in the weeds. I did however ask how he grew them and he said he filled a trench with well rotted manure and shredded newspaper and planted seeds directly into it.

[snohare]

Yes, I have a similar kind of offer from the Chinese Takeaway staff next door. (My allotment, if you can call it that, is a patch of ground behind three shops; each shop has ground attached to it, and once I started growing so did the Chinese.) I think they got fed up with weeding, so we arranged that they got half of what I grew on their ground. But this year that was sod all ! The weeds beat us on both plots.

he filled a trench with well rotted manure and shredded newspaper and planted seeds directly into it.

Hmm, I must remember that - I have previously avoided manuring the ground with swedes (well, turnips actually, but same difference I think).

[Jamesy_uk]

$%$£&$%^^£$"%"^ Muntjac deer took a wander through the allotments some time in the last few days it seems, while on walkabout they stopped off and tore 3 of my cabbage and 4 cauliflower to shreds and walked thrugh the rest of then snapping leaves ..... $%^£^"$^^""$^£