Spring Clean

So today we fully intended to start planting seeds. But when we got there we saw that the water had been switched back on, and we even had new taps as well. So instead we decided to clean our old greenhouse. We cleaned the new one a little while back, and the old one is desperately in need of a clean because of the bloom from the tomatoes last year. So we started emptying it out.

Eventually we pulled out the tables and my home made pallet desk and could then set to and clean the glass.

Eventually we managed to get everything nice and clean, not without having a lot of cold water running down my arms, and so it's time to move everything back in. Well needless to say by this time we'd been down the plot 5 hours and we were getting tired. We we didn't get everything finished.

We're going to a change around this time. We're putting the table on the right. Just because... Well, why not?

There is just one problem. We've taken everything out of the greenhouse. We can't leave it strewn around the plot. So we had to put the "stuff" somewhere. Cue the picture looking the other way.

Yeah, it looks like an explosion in a plastic plant pot factory.

Tomorrow... well I guess we can get everything back in it's right place and start planting the seeds that we have lined up.

Sunny day in Spring

Unlike last week, today was a glorious sunny day. If you cast your mind back you'll remember that I broke my fork. Well now I have a nice shiny new one and we immediately started putting it to use.

Although I tried to dig out some of the weeds last week, it is so much easier with the right tool. I dug over 7.5 beds clearing out a shed load of weeds. Well, at least a compost bin full.

So now we have a lot of empty beds ready for planting. We did intend to start germinating seeds this week, but we were so exhausted that we decided to put that off until next week. But the wife did start transferring some of her strawberry empire from out of the greenhouse into the newly cleared beds.

But elsewhere, we have a whole clear load of beds ready for use.

There has been a regime change at the allotment though. Frankie and his mother, Felicia, have been chased away by this guy... Billy the Bully.

Billy is not as friendly, but he is gradually getting to trust us and coming closer. But we've still not forgiven him for claiming dominion over the plot and chasing away our old friends.

Cold start to spring

So a couple of weeks back, we had nice warm temperatures. In February. But since then it's been a combination of rain, wind or the odd named storm... or two.

So trips down the allotment have been sporadic at best and mostly consisted of dashing in, dropping off the kitchen waste in the compost and then heading for home to warm up. Yesterday the weather was abysmal. But today should have been better. We it started off with a short hail storm, but there was plenty of sunshine promised.

The Daffs are in full flower. In fact this photo I grabbed last week but they're still going strong.

The Rhubarb is also starting to poke it's head out.

But if you think back a few years I had another rhubarb that was given away to friend of mine. Well look how well that one is doing on her plot.

There are many different varieties of rhubarb, and I honestly have no idea what mine is because it was already on the plot when I took it over all those years ago. All I know is that it's a regular guaranteed production which is utilised by me mostly as a jam, in combination with ginger.

We tried growing ginger this winter. We managed to get it to sprout quite well and had a stem some 20cm tall with a couple of leaves on it. But for some reason it never got any bigger and eventually died. Now we did keep it quite warm, in the kitchen, but whether it was too close to the window and got hit by a cold snap I can;t be sure, Either way, our attempt to grow our our ginger failed... for now. We'll try again later in the year and see how that goes.

Meanwhile the George that we kept in the kitchen, on top of the cupboards, had reached the end of it's "shelf" life. So it's time to cut it up and get hold of the seeds. But Muppet here, forgot to bring the knife. Fortunately a shovel does the trick, albeit one that's rather dirty.

Other than that, it's a little cold and windy out to be doing much. I did end up clearing some of the weeds in the onion bed. This bed was a sea of green, so although it doesn't look like I've taken a lot of weeds out, I removed two buckets of weeds.

By the time we'd done that (and had a good old chat over coffee with other allotmenteers) there were some serious dark clouds looming, so we thought that it would be best to call it a day. By the time we got home we had a huge hail storm, which turned the top of the car white as if it had snowed. Just as well we missed that. I can only hope that we get some decent weather soon.

Sunny Day for Cleaning

Well now. There's a surprise. A brilliantly sunny and warm day in February. Just the sort of day to highlight how much work we have to do on the plot to get ready for this year's growing season.

Our two greenhouses are in a bit of a state. They need a damn good clean. But the problem there is that the water to the site is still turned off. There are ways around that of course, but only for the small greenhouse. The bigger one will have to suffice with just a sweep-up for now and will have to face a big wash later in the year.

The big greenhouse has the wooden work bench in it.

The smaller has just plain shelving racks.

The small greenhouse was washed down inside. Easy enough to wash the windows, but trying to rinse off the suds if not so easy. Fortunately a watering can with a rose fitted to the end and large amounts of swinging it around to splash the water up onto the roof panes managed to do the trick. It now looks much, much better in there. It is surprising how much of the bloom from tomatoes gets onto the glass.

The big greenhouse just got a general sweep out.

There was plenty of weeding to be down outside as well. We removed a whole mess of weeds that were infesting some of the paths between beds. As well as starting a new compost heap to deposit said weeds in. After that we liberally made use of the huge wood chip pile to put down a thick layer of chips. These will get more added as they settle.

There are also some other areas which need attention. The willow fence that I made as seen better days. But as the new tenants of plot 29 have seen fit to completely chop down the willow tree, I'm not sure where I'll be able to get replacements, if at all.

I might be able to rescue part of it, but it may end up in the fire.

Slowly but surely, we're bringing the plot back to life. It's going to be a while but I have some holiday booked off in a couple of weeks, so we can get things sorted. Meanwhile, the Daffs are going full speed ahead to bring the first flowers to the plot.

A slow New Year

Did nothing happen during January? Well, pretty much. January is such a cold miserable time down the plot. Nothing did really get done.

That's not to say that we didn't visit. After all there is only so much organic stuff we can keep in the kitchen before it festers into a rotting, mould strewn pile of smelly... so yes we did pop down the plot every weekend to offload or kitchen waste into the compost bin and generally keep an eye on things, but it has been just a little bit too cold and damp to do any actual work down there.

So when February rolls round, then it's time to make a start down there again. But last week was a wash out because I caught a cold and ended up snuffling and shivering in bed. Coughing so hard that I actually lost my voice. So now we have this weekend, and this time my wife is cursing, because it's her who now has my cold and can't get out and about. But I had allotment shop duty this week so I had to do my stint down there.

It all looks a little wild down there are the moment. There has definitely been an incursion of weeds into most of the beds. Hardly surprising as we haven't been around to maintain the place. But it's not so bad. Nothing a couple of hours with a spade couldn't fix.

Mr Fox has been having a dig into one of the compost bins. Fortunately not the one with all the yuck in it, no this was the "soil conditioner" tub. I piled all the loose soil and some of the weeds into the bin. Mixed in with the spent soil from the potato bags should have given everything a mix through and allowed it to become useful again this year. And Mr Fox has dug a lot of the loose stuff out and broken up the dried chunks from last year so it's ready to be used in pots, trays and beds again.

The council (or at least, the company working on behalf of the council) have visited and cleared out the waste bays. However they have left the place in an absolute mess. Their equipment has churned up the central area into a muddy quagmire. There is no chance of pushing a wheelbarrow through those ruts.

On the plus side, the wood chip bay is now fully stocked with wood chips. So much so that it's overflowing into said quagmire.

But alas, I can't really stay long. A quick water of the strawberries we have over wintering in the greenhouse and I have to get back to a sick wife. I'm sure the plot will be there for a later time. There is still plenty of stuff to do... when it's warmer and we're fitter.