Welsh Girl's Allotment

2010-01-29T21:27:00.002+00:00

I finally got to visit the plot today, it wasn't quite as bad as I had imagined.

This is how it looked when I left - after I had hail, snow, sleet, rain and freezing wind I surrendered and legged it back home - almost a complete usable plot whoo hoo !!!
Full length shot after I stopped - fair bit of work to do on this plot !!

The plan is go down in the morning and dig over the grassy strip at the top, however the forecast is for a heavy frost tonight so we will have see when I get up !

These two are the before shots, sprouts are looking miserable and all the bean poles are still in place - all gone now.

Any brave souls out there ?

2010-01-17T22:55:00.002+00:00

Its been a while since I've been to the plot, I have been since the last blog post ... honestly .. but things have become a little grim over the winter so this week I will attempt to get down there any survey the damage !!

Anybody brave enough to come with me - it won't be pretty !

Raspberries

2009-05-06T22:44:00.003+00:00

Tidied up the raspberries - these are the autumn variety that my Dad gave me last year - starting to look good !!

Look very hard ....

2009-05-06T22:35:00.003+00:00

.... and you will see teeny sprouts and caulis - you won't see the lettuce, spring onions and beetroot seeds I put in between the two rows of sprouts - hopefull you'll see them soon !!

Hoe Hoe Hoe !!

2009-05-06T22:31:00.003+00:00

Onions, shallots and garlic all hoed and looking neater.

Forced Rhubarb

2009-05-06T22:26:00.003+00:00

My cunning plan of forcing the rhubarb worked well - and this is the result was lovely - rhubarb crumble yum yum !!

Strawberries

2009-05-06T22:06:00.005+00:00

The annual rescue the strawberries mission can be deemed a success.

The weeds are loving Spring - does anybody have any ideas what I can do with the supersized dock leaves ?

Shameful strawberry bed .... all fixed now !!

Belle on holidays.

2009-04-16T00:24:00.002+00:00

Looking out to sea on her first adventure out after her vacinations.

Waiting for breakfast !!

Will go to the plot tomorrow and see how things have been whilst we have been away !!

My new friend.

2009-03-23T21:01:00.003+00:00

Say hello to my new friend !

She is a fourteen week old English Bull Terrier and her name is Belle. I am in the process of setting up a blog for her so we can track her progress I will post a link just in case anyone is interested !!

She has become best friend with Ray - our nickname for our Rayburn and spends most of her day here asleep or awake and thinks nothing of sticking her head through the fire door when I am refueling it !!

She also likes to sleep on the stairs, when I am on the phone she comes and cwtches by me and then drops off - I do tend to talk a while to my mam !!

Lovely Day !

2009-03-23T20:47:00.002+00:00

Garlic has started to sprout already.

Dug and weeded a teeny weeny patch.

Finally planted the fruit trees I bought in Lidl 18 months ago, they have been in huge pots since I bought them, an apple, a pear and the third is either a plum or a cherry.

Onions are in.

2009-03-10T21:44:00.002+00:00

You'll have to take my word for it but today I have planted white onions, shallots and garlic, you can't really see them an the ones you can see look like small stones !! As long as the birds don't pinch them you'll see them when they grow !

2009-03-02T22:02:00.003+00:00

Blogger is still playing about with my photos so I will just comment as I go along!!
I thought that the rhubarb would have made a show by now and after rumaging around in the grass I found it cleared around it and put a compost bin on top to attempt to force to it I had to put a piece of carpet on the one side to keep the light out.

Here is a small patch of ground I dug over and you can see the carpet needed to obscure the light to help force the rhubarb.

I also laid a path with ashes from the rayburn - looks a bit like a diary of the different fuels we have buring over the winter

This photo should be first in the list as it shows the first plot cleared, weeded, dug over and then Dad came in and rotarvated it for me .

I haven't written much to accompany these photos as the space bar is playing up on my laptop and it is very annoying to keep going back and putting the spaces in - anyone got any ideas how I can fixit???

Whoooo Hoooo ! Finally Finished

2009-02-21T23:38:00.003+00:00

Its done, the last little bit was completed this afternoon and was I glad to see the back of it.

I started to potter around in the raspberry bed a bit of weeding and preparation for the new fruit canes to go in, but it was starting to go off a bit cold and to tell the truth I had had a fill of digging so I called it a day and went home and had a bath !!

2009-02-20T22:33:00.003+00:00

The pictures are playing up, twisting themselves around and jumping out of order, so you have a higgledy piggledy post ... a bit like the plot I supposed !!

This were the new fruit canes are going...

Here are the said fruit canes - mega bargain from Aldi's - £2.3something for a three pack

... and this is the last little island that needs to be dug and I will have a complete plot ready to go whooo hoooo!!

2009-02-19T00:08:00.003+00:00

A full length picture of the plot, you can't quite how awful the other one looks but that's next weeks job!

.... I am brave I'll share it with you, long term readers will note it looks just as grassy as it did this time last year will I ever get it sorted properly - this is the year - I promise to myself !

I've made a start on the other half of the piece I was digging on the weekend, plodding along slowly but surely.

Just this bit left and a few dry days and Dad can come and rotivate it for me and it will look great .... until the weather warms up and the weeds leap into action !!

You can see the cheeky horses sticking their heads through a gap in the fence to eat the grass and weeds I've dumped down in the back end of the fence.

Voles ....again and lots of digging.

2009-02-14T23:33:00.003+00:00

Last year I covered a large area of grass with a plastic sheet, partly to hide it and partly to kill it off. When I raised the sheet a few weeks ago I was alarmed to see a number holes and definate runs where small creatures had made themselves a nice little village.

The runs show up best on this photo, the impervious black sheet had obviously provided a nice dry sanctuary for them.

There were over a dozen holes and I was convinced something was going to run up my jeans, so I tucked them firmly into my socks before I started digging !!

I had a bit of a panic because my first thought was rats but upon checking the internet the trackways are indicitive of voles so I will have to keep an eye for them as they like seeds and young shoots - just what I need on an allotment !

I set to work with my jeans in my socks and turned this patch over ......

Just this bit to do tomorrow and plot 1 will be sorted !!!

Aga's on Jeremy Vine Radio 2

2009-01-15T22:02:00.002+00:00

I was fascinated to hear a segment on Jeremy Vine's lunchtime show about Aga's and how they are a major contributory factor towards global warming. Normally George Monbiot speaks a lot of sense but today I was a bit puzzled to her him denigrating Aga's as being inefficient and heavy on carbon emissions.

I was interested, as back in September we installed a Rayburn to run our radiators, hot water and to cook on, its a multi fuel stove and without exageration its the best thing we have ever done.

Most people think we are potty for going back to the old ways and it always gets a laugh at the school when I turn up at the school complaining I can't get the oven temperature high enough to cook on - I am still learning !

As the discussion wore on I was suprised to learn that you can get electric Aga's, I knew you could get oil and gas fired ones but electric Aga's - what is the point ? you may as well have a conventional oven surely ?We chose a multi fuel stove as we wanted to be sort of independant in our fuel - if Russia and Ukraine keep squabbling how long before our gas is restricted - at least I can still heat my home, have a bath and most importantly cook my dinner on.

However I didn't realise that some Aga's only cook, no rads and no hot water, others will heat one rad and not one caller seemed to heat their water. It appeared that George may have had a point they do appear to be quite inefficient

My poor Rayburn is an old workhorse he has been going full steam ahead all winter and the house has never been so hot in all the years we have lived here - so a big cheer for Rayburns at least.

Do any of you have any experiance with Aga's, Rayburn or such like.

Happy New Year

2009-01-03T00:36:00.002+00:00

This year will see a whole new approach to my allotment attitude and to blogging - I will go the allotment and post to the blog - not just think about it !

I have plenty of plans for the plot and a blog overhaul is under contemplation.

Plot Plans.

1. Plant my fruit trees
2. Dig up and extend the strawberry patch
3. 'Construct' raised beds - not raised in the true fashion more sectioned off areas.
4. Sweet pea tunnel
5. Force the rhubarb
6. Place weed suppressant fabric under the raspberry bushes.

Oh and dig and weed the whole plot .... nothing new there !!

Annual Weeds

2008-08-06T22:29:00.003+00:00

Although the pea and broad bean rows look terrible, on closer inspection I wasn't all that bothered. Most of them are annual weeds which are a lot easier to deal with than dock leaves, bindweed, horsetail which take a lot of repetitive digging and patience.

However, half an hours weeding and a bit of hoeing saw it looking like this.

Already the nights are drawing in, I couldn't understand why I was unable to see to the bottom end of the plot - it had got so dark by 9.15 that I couldn't see 50 feet away ! So it was time to pack up and come home albeit unwillingly.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

2008-08-05T12:08:00.006+00:00

Sorry for the delay in posting can't believe a whole month has passed since the the last post, I have been to the plot, just haven't been reporting back. Things were plodding along nicely until I went away for a fortnight and its all gone a bit pear shaped, hence the the title !

Under here is a compost bin and an atlantic giant pumpkin which is romping away under he brambles !

My bean frame collapsed whilst I was away.

Sunflowers are flourishing.

Somewhere in there are peas and broad beans.

The cornflowers are looking beautiful, hopefully I can save some seed especially from the pink ones as they look so delicate.

The sweetcorn has become very impressive in my abscence, unfortunately they are hiding the dahlias in the distance.

The pumpkins underneath the sweetcorn are beginning to swell, I have lifted this one off the floor and placed it one a brick as this is supposed to stop them rotting on the ground.

Dahlias are growing well but I think they may need to be pruned a bit soon as they will be merging with the sweetcorn !

Problems with the tomatoes, plenty of flowers but no fruit, a few weeds but easily sorted out, also my neighbour has blight on her potatoes, so if the insect don't polinate them the blight will probably get them grrr !

I have kept the best until last, although its not a very good picture, my first attempt at a'wall' of sweet peas has turned out quite well and the smell is amazing !! There are more them, but they are out of shot and they are equally beautiful

The next set of pictures will show the recovery operation to get things under control !!

Quick update

2008-07-07T19:04:00.002+00:00

Sweetcorn update especially for Matron, a liberal dose of chicken manure and a slosh of tomato feed has seen them perk up no end, they definately look healthier whether this will translate into healthy crop is another matter but tis pic taken about two weeks ago and they look good to me !!

Baby pumpkin on the way !!!

Tomato patch, with the sweetcorn in the background all coming along nicely.

I haven't been to the plot for about ten days I have had a throat infection, my daughter's been ill and then when we all got better Saturday and Sunday were a complete wash out so I am a little afraid as to the state of the weeds.

This weeks rain is looking even more outrageous so it will be touch and go when I will be able to get down to the plot so the weeds may be triffids .... grr !

Weeding the brassicas

2008-06-26T09:13:00.002+00:00

Still not too sure what these are but it seemed only fair to weed them and keep them looking good.

Is it possible for cauli's to be 'blind' this bed has been planted up since October/November last year and you would imagine that something would be happening by now. I have had four of the plants produce some fab purple sprouting brocoli, but the other plants which are supposed to be cauliflowers and white sprouting brocoli are growing - very healthy - but no sign of producing any veg.

Do any of you have any experiance or ideas as to what is going on ?

More sunflowers

2008-06-26T09:09:00.001+00:00

My daughter and I went a bit sunflower crazy this year we planted about 40, all germinated, but the slugs have enjoyed quite a few these were a few stragglers left behind so a good dollop of compost and in they went.

Blackcurrant

2008-06-26T09:06:00.002+00:00

The blackcurrants are starting to turn a yummy looking colour a bit of sun should see them right - who am I kidding - sun it is Welsh Summer Time !!

Foxglove patch

2008-06-26T09:01:00.002+00:00

The foxgloves are looking good, as soon as they die down I will lift them and move them down to compost bins and the baby bath pond under the elder flower tree and they can self seed and flower away to thier hearts content.