plot 144 srags

Main Crops are finally IN!!!

4 rows of Desiree and 4 of Cara

What more can I say? 

I managed to get finished JUST before the rain came too!

Onions & Strawberries

Today I took advantage of the weather and put 4 rows of Onion sets in.....

 This is how I space them - using my "hand telephone" well actually it's how I space out most things on the plot!

I then just had time to re plant some strawberries, that I lifted from the other plot last year, as I knew that I was going to using the raised bed that they were in, to give to Junior.  They did well in the greenhouse over the winter months considering I forgot that they were there and I barely watered them!!

Spinach has made it!!

Yes, here it is......

...and just in case you didn't see it in the first picture!

Needless to say I am thrilled

More from 144 (and a little from 121)

This IS my allotment neighbour Brian, who's always on hand to help me with something - bless him!

He's just so kind to me and so handy!!

Ok now here's some pictures of plants in my greenhouse

First are my sweetpeas

Here are the Peas (back) Rocket (left) and Cos (right)

Broad Beans

 Cos!

 Onions and leeks are in (this is the raised bed that Brian was fixing for me as it's bowed

 Broad beans outside



Progress has been made!

As you can see I harvested a dinner from my plot today - Parsnips, Savoy Cabbages, Leeks and some potatoes that I must have missed last year!

This is a picture of the finished "tidy up" that the lovely Brian has been helping with, well I say helping with, I mean helping Derek with!! Derek got rid of all the brambles and  Brian leveled it all off and used the surplus soil for his plot and then woodchipped it for me!!

It's looking rather FAB don't you think?

OK so I do have my own claim to brag about today - I was on plot 121 and I dug it over and weeded with the help (if you can call it that) from Junior who wanted to dig but once he got to it, he said it was "hard work" and kept on wanting to take a break!!!    These youngsters have NO staying power do they?

After a cup of tea (for me) and an apple juice for my little helper, we made sute the greenhouse plants and seedlings were watered and we came home!

Sowing the seeds of 2011

I finally got to the allotment this morning to sow some seeds, seeds that I have been meaning to plant since last week, but always got sidetracked once down there e.g. tidying up, Juniors raised bed etc. However saying that, I did get sidetracked again this morning for a little while, whilst I wood chipped the path.

This path was getting very slippery due to all the extra people using it, now that more plots are being tended, so action had to be taken, well by me and for the length of my plot anyway.  I did ask my neighbour Brian from 143, not the "super Brian" from yesterday, if he would be happy if I did this.  He said he wasnh't bothered, so I got on with it, but as I was about to shovel a barrow full of wood chip, the allotment angel appearred, as if from nowhere and helped!

Aren't I a very lucky girl to have "super Brian's" help one day and Angel Derek's the next!

This is the end result - very smart I think and once it's trodden in a little it will be so much better - at least there is a little "grip" under our free now - well for a short distance anyway.

Next job was the sowing.  I sowed Beetroot......

A very very long row of Perpetual Spinach......

....and finally some parnsips!  To give you an idea - the spinach is the full width of the plot to the left of this picture and the parsnips (3 rows) are about half the width of the plot where you see the 3 white markers below.  I still have some parsnips from last year in the ground.  I must remember to pull them up and eat them very soon.

Still to sow - Mizuna, Pak Choi, Cucino & Cos Lettuce.  To pot on - Sweetpeas and to hopefully see germinate soo - sweet peppers and chilli's!!

Tomorrow is another day!

Junior's Raised Bed

It was a beautiful sun shining day today and after the school run (I am getting used to it now) and an hour in the gym, I hot footed it down to the allotment.

With the help of my lotty neighbour - the very kind Brian from 144a, I managed to dig up the raised bed that was previously on plot 121 and housed my strawberries last year and somehow, between us, we walked it from one end of the plot to the other with me at the front and Brian at the rear!

It was bigger than I remembered and made from scaffold boards so it was quite a heavy lump, but I am not a girly girl, despite my petite frame and all 5ft of me, so I just grabbed hold and made it in one, without stopping for a rest, although Brian did kindly offer!

As you can see it's been positioned nice and close to the shed and the greenhouse so that he's at the other end of the plot - more in the middle and away from the gate. It's right next to the Patio area too and I have put planks of wood down the sides so Junior has access all the way around. This will be his "little plot". I will take him to see his "surprise" on the way home from school!

I had to dig up all of Juniors Broad Beans as they were in the prime spot. Only 7 had taken from about 12, so not too bad a crop. I then dug 2 wheelbarrow loads of earth from 121 and managed to get the loads up to plot 144 to fill the raised bed and then I re planted the broad beans Junior had grown.

It didn't look very plentiful, so I dug up my 3 - yes 3 broad beans that I planted in November and added them to Junior's little collection, so he now has 2 rows of 5 broad beans to start him off. After that I had to fork and rake over where my broadbeans had been!

I wouldn't have managed all this back breaking hard work without Brian's help! Thank you Brian.

My intention today was to sow spinach & beetroot and to have a good sort out and going through of my seeds in the envelope marked "March". There is so much to do, so many seeds to sow! I really do have to get stuck in tomorrow when the weather is promised to be nice once more.

The other ongoing project at the moment is the wood chipping of the area by the fence. If you look underneath scarecrow Hilda in the last photo, you will just be able to see that all the old brambles have been dug out and woodchip has gone down. I would like this to happen all the way along so that I have access to plot from the fence side and at least I won't get scratched by the brambles all summer.

More preparation work!

It was bitterly cold today, but the sun kept on threatening to come out, so I did the same and went out myself, to the allotment, with the intention of a tidy up and nothing much more than that really, but it was so cold when I arrived, that I locked myself in the greenhouse, out of the wind and ended up sowing a load of peas.....

After a while I braved the cold and re dug over a piece of ground close to the shed & greenhouse - this is where the onions and garlic where last year.  I then had a lesson in raking - I needed one as I never ever get my ground level!!

So a couple of hours - including chatting to the boys,  or I should really say men, well spent!