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?

Bed Prep for Strawberries

 So whilst we are on this bed prep scheme, it's time to look at the Strawberry Empire. Now our Strawberry beds (we have 3 of them) are also somewhat infested with weeds, but there is also a lot of good plants in there. Fortunately Strawbs are pretty resilient beasties so we decided that the best bet would be to completely fig out the bed, separate out the strawberry plants and re-plant. So that is what The Wife did.

Meanwhile, I got busy with the remains of the wheelbarrow to start putting down more woodchips. The first task was to scrap out some of the existing wood chips from around the Flower Bed as it had composted down into a decent enough soil. The old soil was thrown into the new compost bins so finish breaking down and to infuse it with more nutrients, and new woodchip was acquired and thrown down.

I also put a few more barrowfuls on the main path.

But there is definitely signs of life on the plot. Even the Rhubarb has decided that now is the time to poke it's head above ground.

Of course it too has to deal with grass and weeds. Or rather I need to pull those out. Something for tomorrow then.

Bed Prep

It's been a glorious sunny day. So I pushed the reluctant Wife out of bed at about 11am (she likes a lie in!) to get ready to go down the plot. We have a lot of work to do.

First we need to decide what to sort out, because there is a lot to do. The Greenhouses need a good sorting. We've been using them as dumping grounds.

But we eventually decide that we may as well get on with bed prep. The beds are nice and soft after all the water we've had, so it's pretty easy to dig through all the weeds and get them sorted out. I also finish dealing with the compost which I started last week. All of the beds get a liberal bucket or three of the compost whilst all the big bits go back into the new compost bins. We've already fill one of them, but the second has plenty of room.

The beds are looking ready for the year ahead now.

Sadly though, I have to say goodbye to some old friends. I've had this pair of gloves right from the very start.

They are basic no-brand gloves, but they have survived well since 2012. They are now more hole than glove. Fortunately I have a few spares. They're not as tough as this pair, but they should still keep me going for a while.

Anyhow, The Wife has been doing her part in her raised flower bed.

So the plot is gradually coming back to life after the long winter. There are some signs of life returning.

So we're on our way. It's going to be a long haul. But we'll get there in the end.

Bit of a hair cut

 I need a hair cut. I haven't had it cut for over a year now. Nor have I shaved. So at present I look like the Wild Man of the Woods. I'm going to have to try and stop the birds nesting in there come spring. But that's not the only thing that needs a haircut.

The Grape Vine hasn't been trimmed since it lost all it's leaves last Autumn. So finally today the weather is good enough for me to venture out (with mask of course) to get to the allotment for a while. Needless to say the Vine was in dire need of trimming. So that was first on the To-Do list today.

So with my trusty secateurs I gave it a good going over. I also fixed the hanging roof board which you can see in the picture above.

Next job was the compost bins. I've been filling them non-stop since, I don't know when. At least a year. And they're now full. So the oldest one I unearth and started a new bin. Some of the large pieces I dug out went into the new bin and the remains I dug into some of the beds which were last seen under water. They were a bit stinky, but the soil was loose and easy to turn. With the new compost they should be OK. I was rather gratified to see a large number of worms so it looks like they'll be OK.

By the time I got round to dealing with those I got the call from The Wife to go and pick her and shopping up. So thats all for today. At least with the weather getting a little warmer and the daylight getting a little longer, I may be able to get down here a little more often. Mind you, there were a lot of people on the allotment so I'm guessing there will be a bit more company down here. Masks at the ready!