Digging for Gold

It's the sowing season for the start of the new year. So whats the one thing that everybody needs? *

Compost. Yes, seeds need to get going. There are two schools of thought with seed compost. Some say that the seeds need as much nutrients as they can to get going ready to be planted out. Other say that they don't need nutrients as all the seeds carry their own startups suitable to get their cotyleden leaves ready to grow. No matter which side of the fence you come down on, compost is a vital part of growing your own, and there is nothing better than making your own.

So that's what I've been doing. Digging out the oldest compost bin looking for the good stuff.

The bin on the left is two years old. It's the oldest of the three bins, with the one on the right being pretty new (this year's) and not have much other than kitchen scraps in it. So I'm digging out the oldest stuff, sieving it and throwing the larger bits into the new bin. Well mostly. Any white roots that I find in there I'm just throwing out altogether as it pretty much indicates that those roots are still viable and therefore not wanted in anybodies compost.

And what do you end up with... a bucket of the good stuff...

Good for seeds? Well possibly. The problem is that this stuff may well have some old seeds that have been through it, and they may sprout. So this compost is only going to be used for something like the courgettes or squashes. For the other stuff, I'll have to resort to actual proper seed compost brought from the shop.

I guess I need to get planting now.

* OK, maybe the seeds. And pots. And a warm growing space. And time. And... oh heck everything is important for growing seeds.

New Life

It looks like the plot is waking up after it's winter nap. The Rhubarb has survived yet another winter and is putting up it's shoots.

I guess this means that I have to get my seeds planted soonish. Well, at least after this cold wind has died down a bit.

It's almost like Spring

 Bright blue skies. Sun is shining. Bees are buzzing. Anybody would be forgiven that it's Springtime. So it's time to get the allotment ready. Well OK, not exactly ready as we're still a few weeks out of properly decent weather.

So today was a chance to work on any odd little bits that need tidying up, and also a chance to go over the plot a bit closer following after last weeks blow. First thing to do was to put the panel back in the door. I didn't fit it last week as it was still a bit blowy, but today is perfect weather for re-fitting it. And there were no problems. However I did take a closer look at the greenhouse during this and I did notice another bit of an issue. Namely that the flapping about had caused some stress fractures on the perspex roof sections.

Whilst this is not a problem at this time, it could be an issue further down the line. I think next time I come to the plot I'll bring my tape measure so that I can measure up all of the panels just in case I need to replace everything.

Elsewhere on the plot things are starting to grow. The garlic has started.

Now we've never had much luck with alliums on the plot, so this is the first time we've tried full blown garlic here. So it's kind of a gamble. But the fact that there are lots of new shoots here is somewhat gratifying.

Elsewhere in The Wife's flowerbed the daffs are just starting to show. But also the Cosmos has started taking over.

And at the other end of the flower bed there is an oddity. There is a rogue plant that's got in. Now we're not unfamiliar with rogue plants as we've had a few, but this one could be a problem. We've got a rogue artichoke.

So I guess that's something we will have to keep an eye on in the future.

Bit blowy

It would seem that the weather has been a bit blowy recently.
So it was with a bit of trepidation that I went to the allotment this morning to see what damage had been done. Fortunately we seem to have come out of it relatively unscathed.own out of the top
The top panel of perspex had blown out of the greenhouse door, but was still around so easy enough to put back in.

The edge of the roofing felt on the shed had been ripped off, but that's no major loss.

And the cane holder had broken and all my canes fell down.

About the worst thing we had on the site was the Allotment Notice Board by the entrance had been blown down. That we'll have to fix through the Committee.

So all-in-all we managed to survive with no major issues. I hope you all managed to get through it OK.

Grape Vine Haircut

We've pretty much left the allotment alone. It's been too cold and damp to do much, but today it was bright and clear, although still a bit cold. So bundled up warm I decided that it was well past the time that the grape vine had a bit of "short back and sides".

Only the main branches should be kept, the rest of last years growth needs to be removed so that it should start sprouting again around May time. So after a short while with the secateurs it looked much better.

Of course now it exposes the fact that the Shed itself is in need of a little bit of TLC. But I guess that'll have to wait until things start getting a little warmer... and I can buy some more wood preservative.