The Bench

I'm loving the DIY from recyled stuff at the moment, I'm sat on a bench I knocked up the other weekend from wood I'd been saving that i'd had donated or that i'd scrounged... Yet again I let the bench design itself, depending on the wood that was available and I'm really pleased with it... sturdy, symmetrical and minimalist(ish) in it's form...


On the day I was knocking it up (with the asistance of Ron) we had a visit from Paul and Linz, who both stayed for the whole day, adding a splash of glamour to the proceedings and chipping in with the bench... It's just good to see people having a laugh up on the allotment, it's almost like being able to be a kid again... trying things out, being inventive... posing!! ;.)


Last year we had 2 families of bluetit living with us... the birdhouse above was stuck to the old shed that we took down (so we could put a newer one up that we'd removed from our backyard, another sterling days work by Ronnie, Lisa and my good self in November last year) so I'm hoping that they will still use it this year even though we've had to relocate it a couple of metres away... fingers crossed!


It's starting again... as the seedings break the baked surface of the earth the feelings of joy return, I still find it unbelievable that things actually do grow like 'they' say they do... The shallots (above) are looking really healthy and are really encouraging... So too are the red onions and the emergance of all of the potatoes; first, second and maincrop... tonnes of spuds for all soon (preferably not hexagonally peeled though)!!!

Infamy!!

Well, wouldn't you know it?! You start a blog to keep a record (mainly for yourself) of the progress you are making on an allotment and all of a sudden your words are in print! Clare Foster, who's new book: 'Your Allotment' recently went on sale, emailed me sometime late last year asking if she could use a quote from my blog in the book she was writing; I said: 'Yes', of course, thinking that by the time she'd written the book my quote would have found it's way onto her compost heap! But a couple of weeks ago the publishers sent me a copy and if you turn to page 16 then you'll find said quote... I'm really chuffed and grateful to Clare for allowing me to be part of what is a fine book on allotmenteering... As you would expect from an experienced author (check her back catalogue out on Amazon) the writing is on the mark, informative and conveys a real love for her subject. One of the things i found particulary helpfull, and not something i've seen in other allotment books, is a good section on weeds, complete with photographs... so now i'm certain that the stuff I've been pulling out for over a year is couchgrass and that stuff that was trying to grow between last year's potatoes was horsetail... thanks for that, Clare!! ;.) (ps: If Clare's in the picture on the inside back sleeve of the book then it's bom chicka wah wah time!! ) The photography in the book is really good too (Francesca Yorke), but I reckon that if i actually got round to buying a decent camera instead of just using my phone then I'd be taking stuff just as good!! (Dream on Rich!) It's amazing how many good photo's there are to be had on an allotment... so much structure and colour to take advantge of, so many things that add motion to pictures... on a sweltering sunny day even simple raddish leaves take on a whole new level of beauty...


We've started preparations a whole month earlier this year, instead of our 4 little beds we've gone for 3 long ones, 2 were relatively easy to sort as we just joined the beds up from last year but we had to dig the last long bed (for now) from fresh. You can really tell the difference in a bed that's been dug the year before and it has really made me start paying real attention to the soil itself, which should really be the first thing you address... We've also edged the brassica bed with the remains of the shed we took down this winter... should help when we get to netting up time.


Me with my bedhead still on (i really do need to start looking in a mirror in the mornings!)getting ready to sow some beetroot... See I told you I did do some work!!


The coldframe didn't last long... It's now going to be a makeshift greenhouse thing, I'm using the windowframe and the remains of the plastic sheeting from last year's green-tent thing. The wind got a hold of it late last year and mangled the poles so we can't put it up again, but waste not want not, eh?! So far we've got the frame up and this weekend we'll hopefully finish the job... We need to, the tomatoes are really going for it on the bedroom window and I'm sure i saw a flower on one this morning!!

Getting Started Again

This year we decided that we'd try growing some more things, widen out repatoire, so to speak... i've got an ambition to make a proper bolognaise sauce with ingredients grown soley on the allotment, so that means celery needed to be added to the list amongst other things. We're going to try sweetcorn (3 sister method), courgettes, pumpkin, spinach, turnip and even things like shallots and red onion sets... Hardly the most extravagant you may be thinking, but it's a lot more glamourous than last years offerings!!



Another new addition is the new cold frame, (you can see Bruce checking it for size above!). It's made with a big bookcase that we had at home that was just too dark for the room it was in, a couple of mates said they'd have it, but i'd got my heart set on turning it into a decent cold frame, compared to last years effort. The top is a window i found next to a skip at the bottom of the road one day... I picked it up when i was (drunkenly) walking past it... it was that heavy it nearly did my sholuder in! Fortunately, they both fitted each other perfectly so i just rested the windowframe on top, no nails or anything. I filled the last gap in with a big piece of wood i'd got lying around, waiting to become useful, that just so happened to fit perfectly too!


Bruce checks our efforts to clean the glass...


Signs that spring is on the way start to appear in the bottom of the fence... It's good to see some ladybirds around all ready... ready to get to work for me as pest controllers