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!

23 Apr 2013 - Three Sisters planting started

As planned, I managed to get to the allotment (after sorting a flat tyre on the bike) and started doing the digging.  I was sure I would manage the 10x10ft bed, but realised that even if I dug up the paths, it still wouldn't be wide enough, so I kept it as a 10x6.

Before and after pics are usually a bit dull, but this was a true makeover AND I stuck to the instructions all the way!!! (you have no idea how difficult that was for me!)  Here's the history and how to set out the bed if you're interested.

The self-control was at epic proportions!
I had to weed the whole area first, which went well until I pulled up the green tarp and found that even being covered up for 12+ months, Mares tail survives!
I then had to be more careful to get the whole root out - which I did on about 90% of it (the vinegar-as-weedkiller will have to do for the rest of it!) 
Then I added in the mushroom compost (3 bags) and dug those in. 
I edged the bed and raked the soil/compost around evenly...by this time I was getting bored and so close to just putting the corn in where I thought it would keep to the pattern needed....but a coffee break soon put me back on track.
I got out the tape measure and did my 18" squares, then put the corn in a diamond shape 6" apart, on alternating heaps - after hearing this, my partner is getting nervous because this could be the new me, and that's a scary thought!

managed to get complete roots out!

Mares tail - 12 months under a cover!

a few decorations and one of the diamonds - front'n'centre

Three Sisters Planting system

This year, I'm going to try something new at the allotment.  I always have the best intentions, then when I get to planting, I get bored with the preparation so I bung everything in a well-it-looks-straight-to-me fashion and I'm totally sure that in a few months time I'll remember what I planted in which half of the bed! It's a system that seems to work for me, but I'm intrigued by this one and really AM going to do it properly.  Honest.

I've got the corn on the windowsill growing nicely, just planted the beans seeds, some squash are coming up - so I'm ready to start this Tuesday 23 April 2013.  There.  Date set.  Must achieve!

And because I'm a very honest person, I'm not even going to pretend that this Native American system is even remotely my idea!  Although I can't remember where I first heard about it, this was the most informative site I found, with plans I could understand (and hopefully follow - which would be no fault of theirs if I didn't!)  How to set out your bed 

Incase you can't be bothered reading about it in full, what I'm basically going to do is have sweetcorn, beans and squashes all growing in the same bed.  In a nutshell there are lots of mounds of mud, the corn is planted first (4 in a diamond shapes leaving space between the mounds) , then when they get taller the beans are planted (4 in a square, in the same space as the corn) then the squash is planted in between the corn/bean mounds.  The idea is that the corn supports the beans and the squash restricts the weeds, and lots of blah, blah, blah about nutrients and water used.

I'll keep you updated and put in photos as it progresses, because I'm quietly confident on this one, and because I can't help but experiment, I'm going to try it with the dwarf varieties as well!