My first constuction project

Hi everyone, well I decided to buy some scaffolding boards and I wanted to make four main beds and two raised beds at the back of the plot. So last week I recruited the father-in laws help with driving the Transit van and we traveled an hour and a half to pick up the boards. When we got there we saw a French flag flying proud. The chap who was selling the boards to me was a Scouser, so not the typical French man. So when we loaded the boards on the van we had to ask "why the flag?" It wasn't much, he was only in the French Foreign Legion for five years! A man you want to be with in a pub!

Anyway back to the plot we went... First of all the gate was broken so we couldn't get in the site! So I had to jump the gate and the father in law passed the boards through the fence near the plot. We only had 36 of them! We had 16 3mtr boards and the rest was 6ft boards. So after stacking them all on the plot I had no energy to start so I decided to leave it till yesterday.

The plan was to have the main beds 4.5mtrs x 4.5mtrs. Lauren started to measure and it would take a full 3mtr and I had to cut some off a 6mtr board so we would have a lot of off cuts. So we decided instead to construct the beds 4.5mtrs x 3mtrs.

The first bed constructed

As you can see from the pic I constructed the first bed, with this bed I used a hammer and nails, what a mistake! It took me ages! So the wife went to her Dad to get a drill for me! Life saver! Its not a perfect bed but it does what it says on the tin. Eventually this will be filled with organic matter but I'm not overly concerned about that at this stage. This will be done through the years.

This is my sawing bench!

So with the aid of a power drill it made the process a lot easier!

The second bed was constructed. As you might see in the pic, you can see quite a mistake. Look at the gate... is there anything wrong? haha now it can not shut fully! So when I'm at the plot next I'm going to switch the hinges so it opens outwards.

So after most of the day I got the four main beds constructed! As we had to change our plans I have a lot of space still for other beds. So what I am going to do on Thursday (my next day off) I am going to see how much timber I have left and I will construct as many raised beds as possible. I say I used only half the plot for my main beds so hopefully I can construct around 6 raised beds in the available area.

All in all I had a good day, I made the plot my own and I have added structure to the place, this enables crop rotation to be easier, weeding will become easier as I will see separate areas to weed instead of a whole plot.

On another note my rhubarb is starting to make an appearance :)

Spring is almost upon us! I can't wait for the long evenings and the warm sun... and wearing shorts!!!

I hope you enjoyed reading this....

Twitter @adventuresallot

Digging Up The Strawberry Patch

Well I popped down the plot on Thurs just to check out my onions, well I ended up staying for four hours. I love when that happens (the wife isn't too fond of it).

 Impressed by my winter onions

So I decided to dig up the strawberry patch, I didn't save any runners as I didn't know what variety they were. The books say you should only have your strawberry plants for three years and as I only took the plot over this year I have no idea how long they have been there. I will be buying bare roots for the next growing year.

 A Strawberry flower but no bees to pollinate

The strawberry patch after it was dug over

 

The person who had the plot before me also laid down some weed membrane, I don't like this stuff as I believe it doesn't do the soil any favours also weeds was growing through it anyways! So I pulled up all the weed membrane and dug over the patch. She also put the membrane down under the fruit bushes, I put a hand full of chicken poo pellets down for them but I thought the goodness won't get through the membrane so it had to come up. I mixed it with the soil, so hopefully this will give them an extra boost for next Spring.

As I was giving the fruit bushes some chicken pellets I thought i'd give some to the rhubarb.

My rhubarb crowns

 

I can't believe that the rhubarb will grow into such a giant compared to what it is now! If I took the plot over this week I could of quite easily without knowing dug up the crowns. What a crime that would of been! 

I am making plans for next year, I have ordered my seeds already and should be arriving in the next couple of months. I ordered them through the allotment assocation so I don't know how and when they will be delivered. 

I shall be going up the plot this week if the weather permits just to tidy up the place, get the paths sorted and make a compost area. I will also need to think about constructing a raised bed for the new strawberries that will be going in next year.

Thank you for reading and I will see you all again soon

The Winter Dig

Hi guys, I hope everyone has had a great weekend and what a weekend have we had with the weather. I woke up Saturday morning and the sun was shining... so after visiting the butchers and green grocers (the green grocer advised me to spray 'round up' on all my plot weeds and crops so that I will come more often!) and after all the hello's in town I walked down the allotments, I was faced with a challenge my first winter dig. I had an experienced hand advising me how I might go about it, I asked him whether he used any horse muck, he said no as it has a lot of weed seeds in it so he only uses chicken manure pellets, his allotment is producing a lot! So it must be working for him, so I might try the chicken pellets as I have a few tubs of the stuff in the shed and the car actually, I must get those out of there soon. He gave me a marrow which was very nice so I got some good advice and some of his produce... bargain!

Before

After

So I started with the dig, it was hard work but fun, as you can see I have left the soil in big chunks as the frost will do the hard work of breaking the soil down, I think working with nature is a partnership, if I do some hard work I expect nature to do some aswel :). I had plenty of time to think about next season while digging. I've decided against converting my whole plot to raised beds as it is a big expense which isn't necessary, so what I will do is if I can get any timber for raised beds I will do one by one. I will be planting my strawberries in a raised bed so I can control the soil and be able to put up some protection for them.

So it took me around four hours to dig over half the plot. I am glad I did it yesterday as a hard frost was upon us last night. So when I got home I thought a nice hot bath would be great for my aching muscles.

So today my muscles are aching but it is a good ache as I know I did something with my two hands and next year I will get my rewards with a lovely crumbling soil!

At home I have a worm farm which I have had for about four months, the worms don't like direct sunlight or low temps. Many people leave there worm houses in direct sunlight and all this does is bake them alive, not very nice for the worms or our noses! So if your thinking about keeping one, keep the house in the shade and in winter make sure they go somewhere which is inside so the frost won't kill them. So I have moved them to the shed which keeps the frost off.

 The worm farm, before being moved in the shed

I hope you guys have a good week and lets hope for a few more frosts to get rid of those slugs and snails!