Allotment Week - Planting Stuff

Some allotment week this has been. I put my back out earlier in the week and I didn't really get much chance to be down the plot. But today is nice and sunny, and my back is feeling much better so it's time to actually do something.

First off, there is a lot of stuff that was previously planted that needs potting on. So that's what I started with. The Pak Choi got put into individual pots. Previously I had put them into a long trough, but that kind of made it easy for a single snail to get in and ruin a lot of plants all at once. So this time, I'm putting them into separate pots (courtesy of M&S soups).

Meanwhile the Courgettes and Crown Princes all need to be sorted out. Not as good a successful germination rate this year, so I started a few more of them off.

The empty trays in front were the sweetcorns that I started a while back. None of them took. At all. So I guess it's time to try some of the other kernels to see whether those are any better.

Meanwhile The Wife was busy planting more tomatoes, cucumbers, Japanese Spinach, Mizuna and other stuff.

And we weren't alone at the plot. Our Vulpine Princess decided to visit to keep an eye on us and make sure we were working hard and to her exacting standards.

We've decided to call her Velma. After all, she wears orange.

Strawberries and Seeds

I learned my lesson from yesterday. I went to the plot at 9am this morning to get things sorted out before the heat of the day sends me running for cover. Upon opening the greenhouse, I saw a scurry of movement underneath the stands. Suspecting a mouse I bent down to check it out only to see a flurry of feathers. A male House Sparrow had got in, probably through the open window and was somewhat trapped. He managed to make good his escape though. He may have got in yesterday as there were quite a few bird droppings on the chair and other places. But he seemed just fine as there were places where he could drink from the seed trays.

On the subject of seeds, before the heat got too much I started planted a whole load more seeds into pots and trays.

More Peas, Crown Princes, Tumbling Tom Tomatoes (Both Red and Yellow varieties), some more Kelsae Onions, and some Burpless Cucumbers.

Yesterday when I got home, I recharged my electric screwdriver to help in trying to build the shelves, but even fully charged it doesn't have enough strength to turn the screws in. My old drill used a NiCad battery and as is typical with those things the battery is now dead and won't hold a charge so it can't really be used for this. So I think I'll have to bring my BIG screw driver which allows me to get a better grip. At present the shelves are still in bits, and hence are not really photogenic yet.

Meanwhile the Wife's Strawberry Empire has been neglected somewhat. It's now full of clover, thistles and dandelions mixed in with all the strawberries. These have also sprouted runners which are all over the place. Not really a problem but it does need sorting. I dug everything out, putting all the strawberry plants into a separate bucket ready to be re-planted afterwards.

Before...

After...

I'm sure you'll agree that it is much better, but I will have to keep an eye on the re-planted strawberries just to make sure that they take. They should be OK, as Strawbs are reasonably tolerant of being disturbed.

Allotment Week - Day 1 - Disturbing the residents

So today I continued on digging out the compost bin. After all I'm going to be starting plenty of seeds and I need a good quantity of decent compost to start everything off. This bin has been here for two years, so sieve away.

Although some of the residents were not amused at their home being destroyed.

No, they are not Witchetty Grubs. They are in fact the larvae of one of the Chafer Beetles. Not entirely sure which one because there are over 20 different species of them. But they are pretty useful as they help break down plant matter. More to the point, they do like chomping on dead roots, which is very good for breaking down the old dead plants. They have an especial fondness for grasses... so I'm hoping they can munch of the Couch Grass.

Needless to say, they were transferred into the newer compost bins to carry on the good work. The results of which went on to be used in the sowing of Crown Prince Squash, Kelsae Onions, Sweetcorn and Peas. I'll be sowing more tomorrow.

Seeds, Seeds and more Seeds

 With a break from regular English tradition, it's a Bank Holiday... and it's not raining. Despite a cold wind blowing, it's blue skies and sunshine, so time to keep warm and sit in the greenhouse planting up loads of seeds. This time it's Edamame, Soya Beans, Peas, and Crown Prince.

The Beans and Peas were done with the old toilet roll trick. Well not quite, I had run out of actual toilet rolls, and used old coffee cup holders. These had been sitting in the shed for the past three years, but were still perfectly viable.

And of course, the old milk bottle were cut up for label and as temporary use as a water holder and support for the odd number of left overs for the Beans. The packet said there were on "average 50 seeds". So I'm guessing somebody ended up with 25 seeds if the average is anything to go by.

Police Action!

OK, I apologise for the click-baity title. But life was pretty noisy on the plot today. There were a lot of sirens on the roads around the allotment and a Police Helicopter overhead. Guess they think I was planting something dodgy.

In fact I was planting a whole load of seeds. Courgettes, Pak Choi, Tomatoes, Beetroot, Turnips, and a selection of flowers from old seeds. Not sure if the flowers will germinate, but if they do it'll keep The Wife happy.

We have a new seeds rack in the greenhouse. Somebody was throwing out an old shoe rack (or something) so I swiped it. After all one mans rubbish is another man's treasure. Not the first time I've done this. So now we have a seed rack.

But of course we still have the benches and the shelf at the very back of the greenhouse.

And those old milk bottles are doing well as plant labels. I came across a potful of old labels that were under the shelves and the were somewhat fragile. The UV has obviously got to the plastic and made them very brittle, so much so that any slight bending of the label and they shatter into multiple pieces. Those old things ended up in the bin and the trusty scissors made a whole load more labels. It's not like the old labels cost anything anyway. A lot of seed companies give them away when you buy your seeds. But of course it's the pens which are needed. Still haven't got that chinagraph pencil that I wanted. But at least the Police can't accuse me of wasting resources.

Time for Compost

 Like last year, there is a supply of compost available for a limited time only. So there I was bright and early to stand in line (masks at the ready) to get a few bags of compost on my rickety barrow.

It would seem that I wasn't alone. As this is effectively the start of the growing season, and we're severely lacking in manure and woodchips (just like last year) everybody wants a bit of compost.

So, yes we started some of our early seeds today. There are still a lot more to come, but we may as well get some of them on the go. Although we're very likely to get other batches going in a few weeks time.

A lot of these are old seeds, so it doesn't really matter if they don't germinate. It's no great loss. We've been digging through our back catalogue of seeds and found a lot of old ones. Some had an expiry date of last year, but I'm guessing they will still be viable.

Now one thing I saw on a Youtube channel a while back was converting 2litre milk cartons into "self watering" plant pots. Well I tried cutting one up so the specifications and... I don't know. It just doesn't look viable to me. There are are so many issues with how it looks.

You're supposed to put the soil and plants in the middle section and then the water gets added through the gaps in the side. not sure of you can make them out in the photo above, but to me it just doesn't look right. I'd much rather stand my pots in a tray and fill the tray with water. Yes it might be a good way of recycling the plastic, but I'd much rather chop up the bottle into plant labels. Which reminds me, I need to get a better pen to write on the labels. Look at the Nasturtium and Okra labels above. Somewhat blurry and faded. But they give you an indication of what's planted.

But I need better labels for when we really get started. Maybe I should invest in a Chinagraph pencil?

Quick trip for watering.

I am not allowed to go shopping anymore. In fact I'm not allowed to talk to, or be near anybody else. I am one of the High Risk people. So I now spend my time between the 2nd bedroom (which is my study/work room/Otaku room), the car, and the allotment. However I can drop The Wife off at the supermarket, suitably masked and gloved, so she can do the shopping, then nip to the allotment to do the watering, then back to the supermarket to pick her up and back home again. So that's what I do these days. Especially when we need to do a big shopping and we need the car.

We had rain a couple of days ago, so outside doesn't need watering. But the recent sunshine means that the greenhouse tends to get a bit warm and dry for the plants. So that's my job these days.
The Big greenhouse is our main seeding and potting place. It now has a large variety of plants in it.

However some of our seeds haven't yet sprouted.

The second tray of turnips is looking a bit on the yellow side (left), maybe I should consider planting them outside. To the right of that is the Kale, which is still a little on the small side, and I know that if I plant those outside, the pigeons will make a complete mess of it. To the right, the peas are doing really well, but I won't consider planting them out until the roots are just beginning to show through the pots.
Tomatoes are doing well (they're just behind the Kale) so they still have a ways to go before potting on. But just in front of the Kale are the Purple Carrots. Nada. Zip. Zilch. None. Nothing. They just haven't sprouted at all. Well considering that this was our own seed that we collected, it may not be all that surprising. There is something to be said for buying seed from suppliers. They know how to collect seeds from viable sources. It may well be that the seeds that we collected were not viable in the first place. Having said that I don't know what's happening with our New Zealand Spinach outside, because none of it has sprouted yet. Well it may have done, but there are numerous other small sprouts in there and I can't tell the difference between Spinach and other weeds as yet.

But the Small Greenhouse is another matter. That's our dumping ground at present.

We do have 5 trays of Pak Choi in there at the moment, and I'll probably put the Chillies and the two remaining Cucumbers in there (damn that mouse), but as to the spare pots, tubs, trays and other assorted flotsam. Meh, you know how allotments tend to gather junk? Put it aside for possible future use and you end up with a pile of stuff before long. One of these days I'll have to get round to tidying it. But not today. Gotta go pick up The Wife with about 3 weeks worth of shopping.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 13 - Mouse in the House

Feeling much better today. So much so that I managed to finangle a Microsoft Teams meeting with some of my work colleagues from down on the plot. Technically I'm on holiday, but since we're all cooped up with the ongoing crises we have instigated a weekly "chat about whatever" just to keep in touch with everybody. I rigged my mobile to offer a Mobile Hotspot and connected my computer to it. Then had an hour long chat with some of the team. They all seemed quite impressed. Probably more so when I can get the chance to offer them some of the fruits of the plot like last year.

On the bad news side of things, a Mouse has been having a go at the seeds that were planted at the weekend. Both the Sweetcorn and Cucumbers have been decimated by said critter. Not sure how many have actually survived given that they hadn't yet sprouted. So to protect them (or whats left of them), I have placed them up on the top shelf of the greenhouse. Hopefully out of mousie's reach.

Meanwhile, the rest of the new seedlings are putting on huge growth spurts.

I'm guessing that there is going to be some major potting on and transplanting taking place in the not too distant future.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 9 - Digging Compost

Today was compost day.

We've had three "Dalek" bins sitting there for a while now. The first two (black, on the left) have been there for two years. The third one (green) for only a year. It's time that they were dealt with.

(Photo taken yesterday before I dug the beds)

(Today's photo)

The problem with compost is time. Anything can, and will, turn into compost given enough time, but since this first dalek has only been here a year, there are lot of solid matter that could do with being left in the bins a little longer.

Some bits don't want to compost well at all. I am finding a lot of stuff, including:

• Egg shells - in future they need crushing before being put in.
• Avocado Shells - Nothing deal with these. They hang around for ages. I'd suggest not putting them in at all.
• Avocado Stones - See shells. Although some have split and have sent out roots. I've planted one into a pot just to see if it'll take.
• Root balls - From old pots. Yes the soil does flake away, but the actual root ball itself needs more time.
• Plastic "Biodegradable bags" - No, just no. I've given up on these altogether. They just don't work and are still hanging around way too long.
• Stick and twigs - Stalks and such from plants that we've thrown in there. They just need more time.

So the majority of the most recent bin, resumed a place in the moved bin afterwards. (See green bin below - it's full)

But the rest of the good compost/soil was dug back into the bed that they came out of.

The second black dalek had a much better yield. Of course this bin had been around a couple of years. Although the top layer was still pretty much intact and just went straight back into the bin, once I started digging down the soil was superb. I dug out my old griddle and starting sieving the soil. This fine soil was liberally sprinkled on the Strawberry beds, and bed that was dug yesterday immediately adjacent to the bins.

I suspect that this bed will be the eventual home of the Beetroot and possibly some turnips.

On the subject of Beetroot and Turnips, in the greenhouse all is looking well.

The Courgettes have now all got their cotyledon leaves.

As, do most of the other plants, although I can't tell on the Peas because they are just poking their heads through.

And the Crown Prince are just making an appearance.

But three hours digging in the sun is enough exercise for me to handle for one day. Time for home.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 1 - Shed load of stuff to do

I booked some time off work back in December. I set it for the first three weeks of April (ok, last couple of days of March as well) as I thought that the weather would be sufficiently decent for me to spend a good while down the plot. Little did I know that we would be facing an apocalypse in the form of a deadly plague. I am one of the severely vulnerable people. I have asthma, and last year I spent a long time in hospital with a lung infection and pneumonia. So if I contract this virus then I would be in big trouble.

Fortunately the lockdown allows people to exercise, so I choose to use that exercise down the plot. After all, it's not like there are many of us that go down there at once. As one of my work colleagues said of the allotment "that's about as unsociable as you can get". That's not true as we are a pretty sociable bunch, but we can certainly honour the social separation recommended.

The day started pretty sunny. But by the time I got down the plot the clouds and wind had started to gather. But since we cleaned out the greenhouse it's nice and warm in there, so I made a spot of lunch.

Kettle on for coffee and a spot of pasta in the pot.

Meanwhile outside I did the old tissue paper trick on a tin of tuna in oil in the Ghillie Kettle. I put it in the kettle because of the wind. Having it just open wouldn't have worked.

Once I warmed up with lunch, I then had a look around the plot to see what needed doing. The first thing that jumped out at me was the good old shed. I didn't manage to get round to painting it last year (for obvious reasons) so it's looking a little tired and worn. The last time I painted it was two years ago.

So I dug out the old pot of wood paint to give it a touch up.

Afterwards I gave the seeds in the greenhouse a good watering. The Turnips, and Pak Choi have already begun to sprout.

And then went wading into the deep end (which was now dry) but had a large number of dock plants in it. So I dug down into the soft soil to try and dig them out. As you probably know, dock have a very long tap root so I had to dig pretty deep to get the damn things out. Once those things were removed, I contemplated digging over the bed, but thought better of it and headed home. After all, tomorrow is another day.

Seed planting

What's this? Two sunny days in a row? Well they can't be wasted.

Today we started sowing the seeds of our success. (Or something like that). First off were our regular courgettes. Along with Peas, Pumpkins (Crown Prince), Cape Gooseberries, Chillies (Apache), Tomatoes (Tumbling Toms), Pak Choi and various flowers for the wife.

Meanwhile, out side we planted up a bed of New Zealand Spinach.

Hopefully, this year will be better than last year, which was kind of a wash out.

So the weather report suggests that we may get a couple more days of nice sunshine. Which probably means that I'll have to pop down there on a couple of evenings to make sure the new plantings are well watered. Can't have sunny days going to waste.

Allotment Week: Day 1

Allotment "Week"? Well due to the stupidity of figuring out religious festivals based on changing solar circumstances, this holiday is in close proximity to the May Bank Holiday. So much so that for taking a few days off work, you can get almost 3 weeks of holiday. Works for me.

So today I need to assess exactly what I need to do over the next couple of weeks and there is quite a bit to do.

Firstly, the compost bins are full (well two of them are) and need to sieved and sorted. Thats going to be a long boring task.

Secondly the new portion of the plot is still plagued with couch grass and dock. That needs a good digging out.

Thirdly there is the wild area at the very back of the plot that was previously used as a courgette mound a couple of years back, and last year became a storage space for many, many strawberry plants.

Just what I'm going to do with this section, I don't know at the moment. Other than clearing the couch grass out, and whatever wild flowers seem to have self-sowed themselves.

Meanwhile I need to get a start on dealing with the seeds.

The bushy tray in the middle of the above photo is the Pak Choi which has shot off to a great start. So now I need to prick out the seedlings into something a little more capable of growing on the results.

The other seedlings can wait a couple of weeks.

Elsewhere there are flowers starting to bloom. In the greenhouse, there are strawberries flowering.

And outside the Apple Tree is starting to blossom.

I think there is always the rest of the fortnight to work on the three major issues. But I have no idea what I'm going to build for the back section around the apple tree and artichoke. Maybe it'll come to me in time.