A bird's eye view of all our plots

First part of my plot

Second part of my plot

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!

16 Apr - 2013 - Pheasant shooting time!

I didn't get any photos - but here's a recipe for having palpatations and heart failure......

I lived to tell the tale though!

There I was, minding my own business, the only person at the allotments (which is in the middle of nowhere, turn left) and having a break, admiring the view with my headphones on (quite loud)......
when a pheasant flew low over my shoulder.....
squawking so loud I could hear it over the music.....
if there was a roof, I'd've hit it....
instead cursing everything I can think of, and concentrating on not having a heart attack!  

All of a sudden, a b.b.dog jumps over the 4ft fence (that I very nicely put up this year)..... 
and nearly landed on me!  

Continue with heart failure (and I may have screamed, not sure).....
while dog is looking round for his pheasant!
I turned round to see why this random dog (who's head is at my thigh height!) is here....

As if I haven't had enough of a shock......
there's a man with a gun....and I'm standing next to his gun dog.....
and now trying very hard not to look like a pheasant!
The dog patiently waits for me to calm down, then asks how he's to get out of here!
He must speak English well, because I told him that he jumped over my fence, he can jump back again!
Which he did....and nearly landed in the frog pond!

Here's a few pics of the view, my fence, a pheasant from last year
and the frog pond.  IF I had been holding my camera, I can guarantee the pics would be blurry, or the camera dropped!

9 Apr 2013 - First plantings & protection!

I have several excuses for not getting down to the allotment much this year:
1) Britain under water on my days off
2) 12-15ft snow drifts here, digging sheep out from under the snow
3) Powerlines down on the road to the allotment
4) 237.5 hours worked in January
5) Camping in Formby for a hockey festival in -2c weather

Apart from that......

My usual supervisors...

I've been starting all my seedlings off inside, and those that should be planted straight out (or are quite tender) have been planted in toilet rolls so that I just put the toilet rolls in the soil and the plants are none the wiser!



  
So, on 9 April, I actually managed to cycle to the allotment (5 miles each way) and my little brussel sprouts bounced their way in the basket on the front!
 




As I said before, the weather hasn't been terrific, so I've been saving up alot of 5l juice bottles from work, to make mini cloches for the seedlings, plus some 2l bottles and milk bottles from home.  The first seedlings ready were the brussel sprouts, but apart from protecting the seedlings, I also needed to make sure that the cloches didn't all blow away as well!

Here's what I did, pretty self-explanatory.....

a water feeder added

what you need

tied to the plum tree!

all safe under netting

I also had time to plant out some garlic and onions (alternating) with gaps left in between rows for something tall to be planted.  Not decided whether it'll be the strawberry popcorn or sprouting brocolli, or both!  We'll see which ones come up first at home!





And what I hadn't expected was the mushroom compost to turn up - 20 of these were mine, and I had to wheelbarrow them round to the plot - not normally a problem, but I knew I had to cycle 5 miles home again afterwards!

From shed to fence

Well, after a LOOOOONG spell away from here - every day off I had seemed to be when Britain was under water, or there was snow.

one supervisor

and 2 inspectors!

So, to cut a long story short - a while back on a Facebook group I was in, a lady up the road from me wanted to get rid of her shed, free to a good home.  We went and had a look at it and decided it would be of some use (although unknown for what at the time) and we'd take it.  We waited for them to get a new shed - and now the story really begins!

28 Feb 2013 - Here's the shed, in all it's glory (and not so much).  We took the roof off in one piece, which was no mean feat for 2 people!  Mike then cut it in 1/4 with a jigsaw and I slowly ticked away at removing the window wall.

my top quality tools!

I really should big myself up here - look how brave I was, alone, defenseless...
 

that's MY finger!

4 Mar 2013 - Then I was lucky to have a few annual leave days that I needed to use up, and the weather stayed fine for me!  So I slowly ticked away at putting up the panels along the side of the allotment with no fencing at all.  Mostly because the neighbours aren't there much, and the grass keeps creeping over the path, I spend most of my time sorting that out, rather than on veges!  And because the bunnies are having a field day on our veg.  Still have to sort out the other side, but can just mend the mesh fence a bit because that neighbour isn't there much, and their grass is pulling the mesh down!  Ho hum.

before, from the front

day 1, from the back

day 1, from the front

day 1's kit used

5 Mar 2013 - Time to tackle the back and two gates.  How hard could it be?  With tired arms, it took longer to do those 4 boards, than the front and whole side yesterday!  But I got there!  And even had time to add an extra tyre for a new rhubarb, plus dig over the first bed ready for the garlic and onions tomorrow (or the next day).

Rhubarb Corner

day 2, from the back

day 2, from the front