Sunburn in March???

It's been unseasonably warm here this week.  So warm that my arms got sunburn today.  I'm going to take a wild guess and say that I'm pretty sure it won't last.  I'm keeping a daily watch on my neighbour's beans which have been planted out already and wrapped in clear plastic.  It's their second year and maybe they know something I don't but I'm sure it's way too early.

I've not been able to get down to the lottie since Friday and boy have I missed it in this lovely weather.  Luckily for me, Mr Lottie has been keen to go down by himself.  While I was absent he has finished planting the onion sets and the shallots (Red Sun) and dug over some of the ground.  As usual, the rabbits have been feasting on the onion leaves.  I guess that's part of the problem with having scrubland across from us.

I'm still waiting for the potatoes to arrive in the post so today I carried on working the flower and fruit area.  I was so surprised when I started to dig the ground over.  It has been a nightmare to dig for the last two years and this year we can really tell the difference.  Covering the ground with manure at the tail end of last year has helped keep the weeds at bay as well so it was one of my easier digging/clearing days.

This year I'm sticking to the strange 'must plant things in a straight line' rule, even though it seems completely wrong to plant flowers in lines.  I'm even planting the flowers by height, another strange un-natural idea.  The Helichrysums have been planted and if they come to nothing, there's plenty of time to start again.  I've also measured out the row spacings and marked them off, top and bottom, ready for the string.

The first row of boltardy beetroot has been sown today as well in the newly weeded area behind the shed.  We're planning on growing a screen of sweet peas along the fence and using this as a shady area where we can sit down and chill out on a sunny afternoon.  I've promised Mr Lottie that this year is going to be much easier than the last 2. I almost believe that it's true.

Beetroot

We both spent a good few hours down there today and between us we got a fair bit of land cleared.  I'm still waiting for the frame for the chicken coop to be built but Mr Lottie has dug the last spike into the ground ready for some wood that we've been offered.  Mr W (another of my knowledgeable elderly friends) has been unable to find any Maran pullets from his usual breeders but is going to an agriculture show in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed for then.

I'll finish with a few random pictures I took today.

The purple sprouting broccoli I almost gave up on.

Rhubarb

 View from the shed

A mystery plant.  I hope I'm not nurturing some evil invasive weed.

Happy sowing

Lottie Lover

An easy day

I needed an easy day today after all the digging I've done lately and since I had Mr Lotties company all day, I was kind and let him take over the digging for the day.  He planted 2 rows of Sturon onions that I bought today.  I've already been told that there is white rot on some parts of the plot so I'm going to plant more than I need.  I've been assured that I'll still get a decent crop as long as I remove any infected ones straight away.  Time will tell.

Interestingly enough, Mr Lottie swears that where we overwintered Phacelia was much easier to work than this new plot.  My time was spent hand weeding the fruit bushes that we were given last spring.  Because they had been donated we had to rearrange our planting plans last year to accomodate them.  We placed them at the neglected bottom part of the plot and were rewarded with more raspberries than I could keep up with and a bumper crop of gooseberries which the birds feasted on.  We had a very poor crop from the tayberries but I'm hoping that was because they had been transplanted too late.

There's something theraputic about weeding with a hand fork.  I'm sure different weed roots are nicely aromatic.  I left the miniture sunflowers in the ground over winter as I had read that ladybirds like to hibernate in the dried out stalks.  I'm not sure if that was the reason but I did come across a lot of them while weeding.

There's a pretty large gap between the gooseberry bushes and the tayberries.  As I was weeding today my mind strayed to green manure.  Ideally I'd like to keep maintenance to an absolute minimum where at all possible and bare ground is a perfect invitation to weed seeds.  After the success we had with the Phacelia I'm going to try Alfalfa between the gooseberries and tayberries.  It's a nitrogen fixer, so should help the fruit bushes.  It also grows to 1 metre so can be cut back and the foliage used as a mulch elsewhere.  Again, time will tell.  I'm in no rush.

I also need to learn about controlling stray raspberry shoots.  They're certainly trying to take over any space remotely near them.  I'm pretty sure that I read that they act like thistles if you randomly pull them out.  Even though this entire area was one of the most neglected parts of the plot, I can certainly tell the difference in the ground.  It's true.  The hard work really is worth it.

My legs feel like a day off tomorrow.  I guess the garlic and shallots will give me a guilty conscience.  It's an early night tucked up in bed with a copy of the River Cottage fruit book for me.

Lottie Lover

Growing stones.

As I've already mentioned, this is year 3 of working plot D3.  Each year I've dug up and cleared an abundance of red/orange shale.  Last year I truly believed that from then onwards the stone clearing would become easier.  Today I was reminded to expect the unexpected.  I had decided to tackle the border at the top of the plot today.  Last year we worked about 3/4s of the border so I foolishly believed that I was in for an easy job.

The 3/4s that had been worked and weeded last year was pretty easy going and dare I say it, in some places the soil had improved loads.  An hour later and the rest of the lavender hedge had been planted.  I'd also mainly used the bucket reserved for compostable weeds.  The very top of the plot had been used as a nettle dump by the first years tenant and last spring we removed loads of spaghetti nettle roots and covered part of it with rubber mats that we found lying about.

I only had to put my fork in the ground once before I realised the compostable weed bucket was going to be defunct.  You'll have to take my word for it but before I started, 2 whole hours before this picture was taken, the soil was level with the cart road.

2 hours to dig over that tiny little bit of ground!  Not only had the previous tenant used it for dumping nettles but it looked like it had been used for dumping more of that nightmare shale stuff for years!!!  The soil level has dropped loads after taking the stones out and there are still loads more in the ground.  I also removed a wheelbarrow full of couch grass and the dreaded thistle roots and shoots and a few of the remaining well established dock roots.

I think the best plan of action for that small section is to plant phacelia while I decide what we're doing with it.  The soil level is going to have to be built back up by incorporating organic matter.  The thistles tell me glysophate is definitely going to feature.  The best laid plans etc.  And to think, my insane hubby want to keep all the stones and build boxed in crazy paving paths.  I think not!!!!

To finish the day on a more relaxing note, I followed Mr Lotties example and cut back my favourite plot holders chrysanthamums for him.  He's grown them for years and I often used to swap him a loaf of homemade bread for a lavish bunch of flowers and they'd last for way over a week. He wouldn't allow me to cut them back or dig them up last autumn so with a little free time on my hands I decided that there wasn't a lot he could say or do if I just cut them back.

Some have survived brilliantly, some not so much so and some I think the frost may have got to but still cut back 'just in case'.  I took a couple of pictures and popped in to show him on the way home.  I can tell how much he's missing being able to go down and look after his plot.  I guess I've learned today that every little helps and that the little things really can make a difference.

I almost forgot again, yesterday was the spring equinox.  Every day, for the next six months is longer than the night.  Perfect growing light.
 

Until then, happy sowing.

Lottie Lover

Intimidated, me???

Another new week and more work done at the lottie.  A seasoned plot holder paid us a visit today and for the first time I felt a little bit intimidated with the amount of land we now have.  It's all been well planned over the winter but with no greenhouse and very little space at home for planting seeds, I'm starting to worry about sowing it all.  We did loads of ground preparation at the end of last season though and have started so much earlier this year as well.

Today was mostly about planting and transplanting.  I finally got round to working out how many rows of peas I'm planting.  7 rows!!!  Which I guess is a lot when I think that each row has 184 peas.  So I measured out the space I'm going to need for the peas and planted the onion sets that the father in law bought us.  I decided that there was nothing to lose by transplanting the onions planted unknowingly in the wrong place last Autumn.  I'm going to try direct sowing for the first time this year as well.  We get through so many onions in this house that I'd rather have too many than not enough.  Tomorrow I think I might replant 1 of the rows as the instructions on the sets said plant them 12cm apart both ways.  My notes, which I read too late, say there should be 30cm between rows.

Mr Lottie dug in 3 of the huge fence holder spikes today ready for the platform for the chicken coop.  Hopefully the base will be finished this week and after that the rest should be plain sailing.  I can't wait until we get our hens.  It's a perfect reason to go down daily.  After Mr Lottie left, I set about working on the bottom half of plot D3.

D3 was our first plot and we soon worked out that the bottom half was terrible soil.  Very little topsoil and plenty of established docks, thistles and brambles.  We also worked out that this plot runs up and down instead of across and we're right next to the grass cart road.  For the last 2 years we've discovered that this is a problem for several reasons.  We have the longest border and the docks, nettles, couch grass and thistles thrive there.  The cart road used to be covered in red stone chippings and over the years these have worked their way at least a foot into our plot.  It is so stony that it was practically impossible to get the fork or spade in the ground any more than a couple of inches.

Last year I concentrated on getting rid of as many of the docks as possible. At the end of last season I finally conceded and carefully sprayed glysophate on the very worst ones.  I guess this year, I'll be doing the same with the thistles (I concede, pull/dig 1out and they really do go into a mad panic and throw 5 new plants up) and the brambles.  

After the relative success of planting nasturtiums and strawberries down the top half of the problem border I set about a new plan for the very, very evil bottom half.  There's so much gravel that it would take years to clear, so little topsoil that growing any veg in that whole half was going to take years of work and a whole pile of cash that we just don't have.  Add the white rot that we discovered there last year and I decided the best plan of action was to turn the bottom half of D3 into a permanent fruit and flower garden.  So it made sense to plant the rhubarb and shrubs along the gravel filled border.

Measuring the space I had left for the flower bed and working the dreaded border were the final jobs for today.  It measures 4.5 metres * 4 metres not including the border but there's a bit of ground spare above the strawberry bed if I need it. It took me over an hour to dig over the dreaded border, still finding thistles and dormant dock roots waiting to spring to life.  The border is now home to lavender that I sowed last year.  I'm hoping it doesn't take too long to establish itself.  Anything to make life a bit easier, including planting lavender, a smell I detest!!!

Starting the New Half

Another satisfying if very tiring day spent at the plot.  I don't usually visit the allotment at the weekends but I'd volunteered our help burning the overgrowth that has been cleared in preparation of creating more plots.  It was with heavy legs that I dragged myself away from Saturday Kitchen, heavy from digging for 4 days out of the last 5 but there are people on the waiting list and no vacant plots. However when I got there all the plans had changed.  The neighbouring kennel/dog home had complained about the smoke and unfortunately only 4 people turned up over 2 hours.  The 2 men reinforced 3 parts of the boundary and had everything in hand so we decided to make use of our unexpected free time, after all, we can have a completely guilt free day off tomorrow.

Mr Lottie spent his time tying up some tayberries for my fav elderly plot holder.  He's been really ill lately and we're hoping that he'll return soon, but it's not looking hopeful.  He visited his plot for the first time in months this week and tut tutted at the trailing canes, it might cheer his day up a little when I take a picture of Mr Lotties work to show him.

I spent my time digging my first ever bean trenches.  I'm not keen on runner or French beans.  In fact I can't stand them but the whole extended family love them so grow them I must.  The last 2 years I've used cane wigwams to support the beans I grudgingly planted.  Today I had a nosey at the previous tenents bean trenches to see what he put at the base of his trenches.  Blown brussels, brassica leaves, leek tops and various other green stuff.  So, yet again, I found myself digging out more trenches.  And this is the result.

It looks pretty similar to my neighbour's and I'll add a layer of manure in a week or so.  I can't wait to grow even more of the vile things.  Mr Lottie left shortly after the trenches were finished but now I'd started, I wasn't ready to leave.  I had a whole bit of new land and most of my plans for the new bit need starting this month.  Following on from the crop rotation already in place, this part is for onions, garlic and leeks mainly.  French and Borlotti beans are going next to the runners, then peas, then the aliums.  With peas following 5 rows of beans it made sense to start with the peas.  I followed the strange protocol of straight lines, dug the ground over (compared to the other plot it was delightful to dig), raked the soil (another strange thing Mr Lottie prefers) and planted a row of 184!?!? peas.  Last year lack of experience and circumstances meant that I had a very meagre crop of peas.  This year it looks like I'm going to be testing my theory that it is impossible to grow too many peas.

Even though I'd prepared and marked out 2 rows, I realised that perhaps planting 368 peas in March wasn't really a good idea.  From now on I'll sow them half a row at a time. 

Happy sowing

Lottie Lover

Another day

Today was mostly spent tidying up the plot and a good few minutes were spent chatting with other plot holders.  I like chatting with my seasoned neighbours, they have so much knowledge of the ground and growing things.  I swapped a man sized portion of stew for 12 freshly laid Maran eggs (bargain) and a heap of fowl-keeping knowledge.  I guess I'm nearly a 'proper' plot holder now, either that or a good cook....hmmmm.

After chatting over plot boundaries today I've decided that I may have been a little premature writing off my purple sprouting broccoli so the three remaining plants have been given a stay off execution for 1 month.  It looks the same as a few plants I've seen today.

 I finally got round to taking a picture of the transplanted rhubarb which looks remarkably vigirous considering it was split and moved 3 weeks ago.

 
I've also relented to Mr Lotties pleas for straight lines and marked out proper paths .  I don't like straight , even rows on the plot.  I'm pretty sure Mother Nature would hate them too.  I might sneak in the odd wonky row here and there again just because I can.  I'm so enthusiatic about the straight lines that I forgot to take a picture.

Today was also spent finishing off the digging for our first earlies.  I'm convinced it's still a little early but the majority of the people I chat to (and maybe I have a sneaky wee look at what they're up to at the same time) are all getting ready.  So we've decided to dig the earlies in a lot deeper than the last two years and hopefully that will give us that earlier start but protect them should we have a late frost. 

I almost forgot.  I finally took complete ownership (??) of the new half plot today.  The previous tenant has worked the land for years so I felt it was only right to wait for him removing his fences etc.  When we arrived today he was busy clearing the stuff he wanted and what would be left until he is able to move them.  He'd even marked it out for us.  Now I can begin to plant our onions and garlic and some earlycrop peas.  So here it is-Plot C18a.  We've inherited one of the static bean supports and it's ours from the water trough all the way past the bonfire.

No-one warned me that allotments were addictive.

Happy sowing.

Lottie Lover

Satisfying time

3 weeks on and things are definitely looking good and there's a noticable difference.  So my plan to lure Mr Lottie into building the chicken coop worked.  This was the start of it going up back in February.

And this is how it looked today when I left.

All 4 side are up, the doorway cut out, chicken wire dug into the ground to keep Mr Fox out the best we can and a baton of wood attached, ready to support the roof.  Phase 2 begins tomorrow when Mr Lottie starts building the base for the shed.  It's hard not to get involved with the construction side of things, even if I do pretend he's much better at it than I am.

My skills lie in research.  We have clay soil and over the first couple of years we soon came to realise that different weather brings different problems.  Too wet and it's really claggy to work, too dry and it's baked solid.  Last year I found out about Phacelia and sowed 3 different areas, all to be dealt with in different ways.  The first bed I simply cut down late Autumn.  The second bed was also cut down in late Autumn and dug over straight away.  The final bed was sown slightly later than the others and I let the winter frosts take care of the foliage.  The second and third bed have been dug over this week and the result is-leave winter to take care of things.  Mr Lottie (who mocked my green manure plans) actually enjoyed digging that area.  There were no weeds to take care of and no compacted soil, even though it was dug one less time at the end of last year.

Mr Lottie digging over the 2nd Phacelia bed

Apart from the chicken coop, we've made good progress, especially for how early in the year it is.  I have to admit though, all the 'seasoned' plot holders are way ahead of us but I'm more than happy at our progress.  The rhubarb I was so late in splitting has been transplanted.  I gave it a healthy top layer of manure and it's showing good signs of life. 



This years brassica bed has been dug over, marked out and just needs to be covered over until we need it.

Brassica bed 2012

The strawberries have all been transplanted, trimmed and given a liberal covering of tree chippings.  I hope that the internet wasn't lying when I read that strawberries like the acidic soil tree mulching will cause.  I trimmed and donated about 30 plants to a childminder who's just started 1/2 a plot with her kiddy winks.

The very last bit of unworked land we took on last year has been semi de-nettled and de-docked, just in time for us getting our new (and final) half plot.

Before

Blurry after

So now we have a total of 2 plots.  All carefully planned for over the last year.  I'm really looking forward to working our new plot.  My neighbour is cutting back from 2 plots to 1 1/2 and between him and his mum the land has been worked for over 30 years.  After the nettles, docks and digging up enough shale to build my very own Hadrian's wall we've dealt with for the last 2 years, it's going to be bliss.

At some point I might even get round to uploading this years timetable and plans.  Until then, happy sowing.

Lottie Lover

A New Season...

And hopefully I'll start using this blog in the way I intended to.  So here it is, the time to start getting seeds planted, ready to be transplanted in a few weeks.  Last year I never visited the plot until the middle of March.  Big mistake, seeing as we had one of the hottest Aprils on record, which rapidly turned my clay soil into concrete.  I took a walk down to the plot last week to see how the ground was.

It was pretty claggy underfoot, and there were patches of snow clinging on, a lot different from the last time I saw it.  It looked neglected and more than a little sad.  My purple sprouting brocolli I was so looking forward to eating had been decimated by the pigeons and weather.

This is the second time I've tried to grow this and the second time I've failed.  I obviously need to do something other than the "leave them for the winter and hope for the best" approach that I've been taking so far.  


There were a few signs of life around the plot though.  The rhubarb I was meant to split over winter was showing the first hopeful buds.

And then there were the tell tale signs of life pointing to the pesky rabbits that had feasted on the beetroot I left in the ground over winter.

But there was one sight more than any of the others that made me want to pick up tools.  

The one bit of land that remained untackled since I took on the additional half plot last year and the future chicken run, hidden under a mass of perennial weeds that I threw there.  I knew how important it was to build the run before the growing season really does begin for two reasons.  The perennial weeds will show me no mercy and I know how precious time is when planting begins in earnest again.


Mr Lottie lets me do my own thing at the plot as a rule but I'm banned from all but the simplest of constructions.  My head just doesn't work that way but it was able to work out that the merest mention of me building the run by myself would send him running for the work tools.  The man who sold me the fencing (we'll call him T) has a run made from the same stuff and luckily for me he was on site and willing to share his knowledge.  After finding out enough about putting the run together to make Mr Lottie think I was genuinely going to do it myself unless he helped, I set about part 2 of the plan.

If this trench wasn't enough to convince him I was serious, nothing would be.  Clay soil is so much easier to deal with when it's wet.  T came down to have a look at my progress and I think he was secretly impressed because he helped me to finish moving the fence panels.  Another half hour of digging and this was the result.

6 metres of trench dug out to 1 spade depth.  When I locked up for the night I had rosy cheeks, a streaming nose and a very satisfied feeling inside.