Allotment Week: A complete bust

Here that?

Silence.

Yeah, as you may have well guessed the two weeks of allotment goodness failed to materialise due to heath issues. I am suffering from an as yet unidentified lung issue. They've ruled out a Lung Infection and Cancer as possible causes, but until I can get to see a specialist at the Royal Brompton Hospital they have no idea what is causing these end less coughs and blackouts. So "work" at the allotment is limited to simply watering the seedlings and hopefully potting them on if I have the strength.

The is also the issue of the Wife who has put her back out and is having difficulty in not only walking, but also trying to stand up straight. The pair of us seems to be in the wars this year and it doesn't bode well for the plot.

Last time I actually managed to get down there it seems that the grass was beginning to take over. It needs to be taken care of, along with the Dock, Dandelions, Bind Weed, and assorted other weeds that are poking their heads up. But neither of us have the strength to do much about it at present. Looks like this year will be a bit of a bust down the plot. We'll try and muddle through.


However, not all is lost.

I can sit on my backside at the computer. Which gives me ample opportunities to explore other allotment related issues. I've had an idea for a while about electrifying the allotment. I don't mean by sticking up an electric fence to keep the unwanted away. I'm thinking more along the lines of an allotment weather station and wildlife cameras all linked to the Internet.

I play with electronics all the while, and my current toy of the moment is a Raspberry Pi (or three). These are low powered computers that are not low in computing power. They run a Linux variant which is easy to program and ideally suited to external devices such as cameras and data input/output.

So a simple solar powered setup, using an old Android phone to provide Internet connectivity could have the ability to have several wildlife cameras and provide a simple weather station output to keep an eye on what is happening down the plot. Wouldn't it be brilliant to get a frost warning ahead of time to let you know that you need to get down there and fleece up the dainties?

I'll let you know how this project turns out.

Allotment Week: Day 4

So what happened to Day 3? Although the weather is perfect, I am having health issues which means I cannot catch my breath properly. Anything strenuous gets me out of breath and often triggers a coughing fit. I hate asthma. :(

So today we're limited to watering. But when we first got to the plot there was a major issue to sort out. There was a House Sparrow trapped in the greenhouse. I suspect it got in through the open window vent. That opener seems to be doing it's job, but it's still regularly reaching 40C on there. I suspect the Sparrow had been drinking from the water trays which we're keeping the strawberries in because it still seemed quite healthy when we let it out.

The heat has helped the chillies to start sprouting though they seem to be way behind more of the other plants. The French Dwarf Beans have shot off to a huge lead now. I suspect they'll need planting out soon.

But we're rather disappointed with the Soya Beans. They haven't done a thing.

The heat has also kicked off the Cape Gooseberries as well, because they're now making a showing.

Seems we may be rather hit and miss this year. But we'll see what we get. We started off the cucumbers today, as the heat seems to be ideal to get them going.

Elsewhere on the allotment though, there are some real gems of beds made. This is from our nearby neighbour on 28.

Hows that for a good showing?

I'm scheduled to go see a Doctor soon, so hopefully I can get my lungs sorted and get back to some real work.

Allotment Week: Day 2

Normally I can deal with a lot of stuff down at the allotment. But I seem to be having a bit of a health problem. It's caught me out before in the form of lung infections, but this time I don't think it's a LI but I still get short of breath just doing things around the plot. So today we didn't really get a chance to do much.

The old Willow Fence which I built a while back is looking the worse for wear.

Fortunately we were given some willow buds by a fellow plot holder a couple of weeks back. We kept them in a vase of water and they sprouted loads of roots. So now we can plant them and see if we can grow a living fence.

Meanwhile other things are hatching. Seems we have a raft of new predators on the plot. These baby spiders started swarming out from under the lip of a plant pot whilst we were there.

Go get those aphids, ants and other tasty critters.

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.

Cleaning and seeds

What a difference a week makes. So last week was nice and sunny. But then suddenly the temperature changed and took a downward spiral. This does not bode well for the seeds that I sowed last week. So, I was a little surprised this weekend that there was actually some sprouting action going on.

The Pak Choi seems to be off to a start. Also the spuds are starting to sprout a little.

No change from any of the other seed trays. Perhaps when the weather gets a little warmer.

So in the meantime, it's time to do a bit more spring cleaning. We've already done the greenhouses, so now it's shed time. It's quite a mess in there. (And this photo was taken after we already started.)

After a few mins we emptied everything out and could sweep out a years worth of detritus.

And then put it back in, in a little more orderly fashion.

At least now we can get in there to the very back of the shed.

So, we have beds prepped, greenhouses and shed cleaned, seeds planted. Now we just need to wait for the weather to warm up a bit. Can we have a bit of last year brought forward to this one please? Just a smidge.