RIP Compost bins! Here's to a new one.... or two....or three.....

One compost bin - to be fair, this one never looked too hot, but now it looks like it's vomitting compost!!!  We could replace and put a new compost bin here, but with the entry to the side where the wall is being perched up by part of a shed floor.

This is compost bin 2, only the roof has caved-in, but we suspect that if we try to move anything, it'll give way on us.  To replace and rebuild here would be a bit difficult as there is a pile of rubbish on the other side (we inherited that and yet to do anything about it).

There are two places that we could put a new compost bin (or three), one is behind the tool box, the other is in the area in front of the toolbox, the other side of the rope (which holds our plastic bottles in winter).

Anyway, this is the other 'arf's job of the year.  I can't be bothered with compost bins when I should be playing in the mud, digging, weeding, planting.  I also fractured, chipped and dislocated my shoulder in December 2014, and it would take me far too long (once I even decided what the best thing to do was).  He's quite happy to have me admit that I have found a problem, and will leave him alone to sort out a solution, using whatever powertools he wants!!!

13 Mar 2014 - The boring tidy-up session

Since there's not much planting going on, I've been popping down to the allotment to do some tidying between work shifts.  Apparently my shifts are annoying, but you gotta play the system!

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, but all the fun stuff was either a WIP, or waiting for timber, so I was just pottering.  Luckily, two guys I know were also there, we'll call it a hot date, cos the sun was out and we had lunch together!

Also joined by the resident ducks, who were trying to nick the nails from one guy.  I helped hold the wood down so he could saw (on his knees!) a bit faster, without it moving around like a spinning wheel!  He thought it was taking up my own allotment time, but I turned it into a coffee break!

My own work was a little less interesting - you could tell, the ducks weren't being nosey.  But I did manage to weed 4 beds (well, nearly finished the last one, but had to go and get ready for work).

The first bed did have Red Popping Corn, Onions & Garlic in, now just Onions and Garlic.
The second bed had Potatoes, Leeks and a tray of unplanted Leeks (which have been transplanted into spaces in the first bed).
The third bed had Brussel Sprouts, Sprouting Brocolli and Leeks (or Onions & Garlic).  I kinda ordered too many Onions and Garlic last year!

3rd bed nearest you!

1st bed nearest you (can't see it)

Tidied up - 1st nearest you!

In the before photo of the 4th bed I got to, which is my failed Munty's Bean's contraption, it's across the path from the tyres bed, with all the bottles stored in it.  There isn't a closer pic, but I can tell you there was a fair bit of nettle and dock in there!

I know it seems a waste to leave just that little bit not done, but I really do need to get to work clean and tidy, and I'd pushed it far enough doing the 3.5 hours work! 

I'll be back another day (soon as I get my rota) and weed that bit, turn it over to make sure I got the dock out properly and I've got some mushroom compost to go in there.  One guy has got donkey manure, so we're doing a bit of a study of that one (as you do!).

We have inherited a Wormery!

At our local seed swap the main raffle prize has been a Wormery and we've always lucked out on winning it.  Luckily for us, some friends decided that they didn't use theirs enough (and beekeeping is much more fun!) so they donated it to us! 
How cool is that?!?!?! (You have permission to be a little less excited than me)

I picked it up in the evening of 2 March and in between work shifts  on Monday (I had a spare 1.5 hours) I quickly drove to the allotment, tied my trousers up in a really classy fashion, set it up, made sure there were some worms in there and gave them a few of their treats, before legging it back to work!  

They are safely tucked away next to the tool boxes and a nice sturdy tyre on top, making sure they aren't being blown away!  There's another two levels I can put on, but need to read the instructions first, just really wanted to get them "home" instead of leaving them in the back of the car! 

I've even sorted out their very own feed bucket, aren't they lucky! (it's one of those green one's all cleaned up nicely - will have to find something else for the nettle compost/fertilizer to go into now!)

19 Feb 2014 - Checking out the storm damage!

You may or may not have heard about the recent storms we've had......  here's some pics of the wave damage!

5min walk from my home

5 min walk from my home

And this was from the second high tide, we had worse in January!  So you can imagine what I was thinking when I finally got the combination of time off + nice weather and was able to get to the allotment.  I decided that I would accept whatever happened and just fix one thing at a time.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my fence (I put that up myself, made from my mate's old shed & a lot of sledgehammer work!) survived quite well.  One panel down (now held up with the help of net curtain wire!) and one panel on a bit of a lean (now supported by a tyre).

before

after

Apart from that, we did quite well, so I could get on with just weeding!  This is the Three Sisters bed, which I think I'll keep as that.  I've decided that as there are 3 different crops working together, crop rotation doesn't really make sense.

before

after, with compost

I also got a nice surprise of goodies growing and ready to take away.  The potatoes (you won't be surprised to hear) were all taken from a bed that didn't have potatoes planted in last year!  If you're interested in the apple tree, I got it at our local farmer's market, but here's the website.  I very proudly dug out a 3 litre bottle's worth of mares tail roots (hahaha, prehistoric monster.....take that!)

garlic & onions growing

Manx Codlin tree

As usual, wildlife just rushes up to greet me, or in one case, I got chased to the car by a herd of chickens & a cockerel shouting at me!

I've got a bit of work to do, but most of the beds are covered up, the wind has had a field-day with the bottles I hadn't managed to tie to the tree out the back and there's a bit of pruning of fruit trees to do.  I'd forgotten how happy I am at the allotment, so I'm looking forward to it!

Main plot, back section

Main plot, front section

Second plot, from the back

Second plot, from the front

And here's some rubbish - one's a pile of compost (doing quite well) and the other what survived from a 2012 Christmas present (obviously a gardeners glove, not allotmenteer!)

Happier than a pig in poo!

2 July 2012 - Croppage!

Some blackcurrants ready to pick, and lots more to come - we even got there before the birds!

A few raspberries are ready too - we've protected them against from the birds now.

The comfrey is growing like mad, will come in very handy later on as compost, but for now, we'll leave it to the bumblebees!

 Rhubarb wine soon - must go and get all the equipment (and instructions!)

Mike having a quick break, showing off our first turnip - we're slowly going to thin them out, by eating one at a time!

Now that the strawberry bed has been weeded (the grass tried to move in) we've got fruits!

 In this bed we've got the turnips, a few carrots, 2 corn and all 4 jerusalem artichokes (which the bunnies have taken a wee bit more notice of than I would've liked)

The first bed of potatoes is doing well - we've got 4 varieties in here (and you can just see the plastic bottle and toilet roll crops in the background!)

Here's what we took home - looks like it could be summer fruit pudding and turnip for tea then!

31 Jan 2012 - Tidy up time - Part 1

I've got a few days off, so thought I'd tackle the jobs on the to-be-put-off-if-you-can list, but one job at a time, it's not so bad.

Today's job was to clear out the dead bits between the blackberries (still not thornless) and do a bit of pruning. Sounds easy - until I got stuck in.... forgot that we don't keep the secateurs there, so I used the rake instead.  Then found out that this little area isn't quite so little - we could get about 3 or 4 more beds in here if we wanted!  Also, it's been the previous owner's dumping ground for pruned branches (trees and blackberry) which has all been grassed through.

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with what I got done - took a couple of hours, which was longer than I planned, but who's ever stuck to a timetable at an allotment?! Here's a few before and after pics, I hope you can see the effect, but it's not very clear, because I did leave the live blackberries in for fruit collecting later.

before

after

before

after

compost full

findsies

Success!  We've got a full compost, to start off - free supply of the browns and greens, just need the heat and a bit of water to sort it out.  Also found lots of stuff in the pile by the compost bin.  Not rubbish - in there was netting, wire mesh, wood stakes, piping for netting, spare tough bags for use and the shelving/frame of a mini greenhouse!  I'll get some old net curtains and make a cover for that!


Right, I'm off for a cuppa.....until tomorrow, that is.

my Christmas present from a friend - a hug for my mug!