Iddy Biddy Tomato

Doesn't it look cute, this is my first tomato growing and it's in the bottle house, can't wait to taste it.

We put the bees in the hive on Saturday morning, nice and early before they came too active, I had a quick look at the four hives on Sunday, just from the side, I didn't venture into them and they were all doing nicely, lots of bees flying in and out, looking good.

However this morning when I had a quick look, the swarm I collected on Thursday I'm a little concerned about, the bees were going in and out but none had any pollen in their baskets on their legs... as long as they were taking pollen into the hive things were going ok, or so that's what I was taught.  Anyone got any idea's or can reassure me.

A day without rain, so I went off to the allotment to play

I can't remember a whole day without any rain (well certainly not on a weekend) for months, so I took advantage and went to the allotment.  So much to plant, lots of catching up to do.  I packed the car with tomato plants, leeks, runner beans and french beans, plastic bottles, canes, drill & accessories, poor Diesel, there was very little room left for him, we arrive for just after 1pm.

First job, fill the gaps around the back door on the bottle house with bottles (obviously), done....after that I wanted to fill in the triangle above the front door to the bottle house, done.... next on the agenda, plant out the tomatoes inside the bottle house, done.... next on the list, plant out the leeks... bit of a stumbling block here, had my dibber ready but the soil was rock hard so I decided to dig over the bed to loosen up the soil, but every time I lifted a clump of soil all you could hear was a squelch, the top was crusty dry but underneath very sticky and wet, I didn't know if this was a good idea to plant out the leeks, so I've turned over the whole bed and left it to dry out, try this one again next weekend.  So my next job was to plant the runner beans and the french beans, done... moving along, hoe the strawberry bed and put mulch mats underneath the plants to keep the fruit off the soil, another one ticked off the list... time was getting on now, I hoed around the Jerusalem artichokes in the bed at the front of the chickens... back to the bottle house, I made a start on one of the back panels, filling it, got about half done when I ran out of bottles... more washing and cutting over the coming week should see this just about completed.   I was beginning to waiver, I had wanted to lift the garlic and shallots, but I've left this for another day.  We left at 10pm completely shattered, but with still so much to do.

I have tomatoes in my bottle house....

I've managed to harvest something! I will have some results for 2012!

So I took the plunge and emptied the tub of potatoes that I'd been growing in the greenhouse, not a brilliant amount but at least there were a few decent sized spuds, which I have since had some for my tea.  The variety was Rocket  and I managed to get a grand sum of 778g of potatoes.  I'd forgotten to change the setting to lbs, but this is about 1.7lb of spuds.  I even took a picture....

I might have a go at digging up one of the plants at the plot tomorrow, they have flowers on them and it was 11 weeks ago that I planted them.

I've also made a little more progress on the bottle house, there is still the back panels to fill, I'll most likely have one finished off tomorrow, I might even put in some of my tomatoes tomorrow whilst I'm at the allotment as they are getting pretty big now and really need to be in their final positions, so here is what it is looking like at the moment.

Yet More Rain on the Way!!

Well folks, I'm beginning to believe that this year is a non starter.  I look at some blogs and they're miles and miles ahead of me, their plants flourishing whilst mine are very slow to make any growth, well except the broad beans, they're doing pretty good.  Yet other blogs look like they're having the same slow start to me, I wonder if they are thinking along the same lines, make do and start again next year?

Today we are at the summer solstice, yet funnily enough we haven't had any summer to speak of, tonight the skies were dark when at the same time on other nights they have been bright and the night quite light and we are in reality now heading towards darker nights and towards autumn and winter.  Gosh somebody shoot me, I'm so pessimistic, I'm really beginning to get annoyed with the whole weather situation.  I took a fortnight leave over Easter and it rained, I took another week for the Jubilee celebrations/half term and it rained.... it's generally dry Monday through Wednesday and then it rains for the rest of the week, well this is quite exasperating when you work all week and only get the weekend to make any progress on the plot.  How are others feeling?

Ok, cheer up, look at the positives... Broad Beans - Yeah, Potatoes - Yeah, Strawberries - Yeah and even a couple of Gooseberries - Yeah, and a big YEAH to the bottle house!!!

I've done a video for you, this months tour, when I've managed to upload it onto YouTube i'll post it for you so you can see it... Here's a picture of how the bottle house is looking.

A Roof!!!

Welcome to Carrie and erickett124, it's nice that you have found me and I hope you find my journey interesting enough to stick around.

SO today I have done some more work on the bottle house... I have the roof complete now and am starting to fill in the sides.  Here is how it's looking.

A Roof in Place

Weather - 4 Year Cycle (I blame the Olympics!) & an Update

I love looking back over people's blogs, specially new ones that I've found, reading what they've been up to and looking at how they've done, or haven't done.  Anyhow, I found this blog and I was reading it, but I had to double check the date, were we in 2012?  No it was actually in 2008 but the weather was very typical of how it has been this season, e.g. April - cold start, warming up towards the end of the month.  May - Lovely warm start with highs of 22.5 degrees Celsius, but wait....it ended with days of rain and temperatures dropping to around 13 degrees... is this all sounding familiar?  June - again typically colder than average temperatures and the result for that year was a cold summer, with temperatures only reaching late teens, not a very good year for growing by all accounts. So, is this what we have to look forward to; a cold summer?  Oh and by the way, they had an Olympics that year too... so I'm blaming it on the Olympics, roll on another 4 years, LOL.

Back to the present day then, I have put on another four roof panels on the bottle house, it is starting to come together.  I'm going to have to sort out some kind of support for the middle supports of the roof.  With the weight of the panels on the back side it is pulling on the middle supports and tilting to one side.  When I have put up the two panels on the front facing side, I have had to put these in the middle positions with a hope to counteract the weight on the supports, once I have the final two in position I will assess it more, but I think to be on the safe side I'll have to sort something out, else I may come down one day and the roof will be in next doors allotment, I don't think they'll be too pleased about that.  Here is a quick picture of how it is coming on.

Six Roof Panels Attached

I've put up my bean supports, and direct planted some French Beans and some Runner Beans.  I have done this down one side of each set of supports, I have also sowed (have I spelt that right?) some Runner Beans in pots in the greenhouse, I will plant out these along the other side of the structure.  Hopefully this will give me differing cropping times, we'll see.  Additionally,  I sowed some Borlotti (French) Beans in the greenhouse, these are to go on the other side of the direct planted ones, these will be left on the plant for picking at the end of the season and drying for stews etc in the winter.  When I pull up my Garlic and Shallots towards the end of the month, I will plant another crop of French Beans, dwarf varieties in the bed which they vacate.  I may even try some in the little polytunnel I have (this isn't ready yet, area still to be dug over and cover put on).

Bean Frames

I've direct sowed some more parsnips.  My first batch which I pre-chitted at home and planted into peat pots were quite successful and these have been planted out and looking quite nice.  Thinking it was going well I tried to do the same again, but only about two seeds germinated, so I tried again, this time none of the seeds germinated.  I've given it one more chance using some free seeds which I got with a magazine only a couple of weeks ago, so the seeds would be viable you'd think.  I've put two/three seeds per station and will thin (hopefully) to one per station if and when they germinate.  I'm not sure with parsnip seeds, they say you have to use fresh each year, but I got the seeds last year but hadn't opened them, they had a sow  by date of 2013 so I thought they'd be OK, but apparently not.  I had hoped to plant out my brassica plants, but the rain came and boy did it come.  I'd dodged the rain all day yesterday and again this morning, but when I returned after some lunch the rain gods were not playing... 

More Work on the Bottle House

So today I spent my diamond jubilee EXTRA HOLIDAY (thanks Lizzie) working on another two sections of the bottle house roof.  The sections measure 4ft x 4ft (don't know if I've mentioned that in another post), and are composed of 2" x 2" wood, treated, there are 11 rows of bottles each row is composed of 5 bottles (1 whole and 4 with the bottoms cut off), so each roof section needs 55 bottles in total.  There are 8 roof sections and therefore the roof needs a total of 440 bottles (wow!).  Each  bottle needs it's label taken off and washed out, it takes some time just to prep them believe me.

Sad that I am, I timed myself making one of the roof sections, it took me just over an hour to put it together (this doesn't include the bottle prep).  I take 4 lengths of wood, and cut out a small section at each end so that I can fit them together to create a frame.  Each corner has two pilot holes drilled and two 45mm screws inserted to hold them together.  Now for the fun part, each of the 'whole' bottles has a small pilot hole drilled in the bottom, and then they are drilled with a 10mm bit, this creates a hole just large enough for a standard 6ft garden cane to be inserted.  The fun bit is trying to keep hold of the bottle to create the hole without it spinning round on the drill (this takes some practice LOL).

I insert a cane (for the roof I am using some that a friend's Dad grew, slightly thinner than standard canes) into the 'whole' bottle and fix this to the bottom of the frame.  I then put on 4 'bottom-less' bottles and fix the top of the cane to the top of the frame.  Simple.  Repeat another 10 times and then you have your roof section.

 4ft length with section removed

 Lengths all screwed together to create frame

 1st cane attached, this is in the middle of the frame

Finished article!

Working on the Bottle-House

Back at the allotment this afternoon, i'm concentrating on trying to get the bottle-house sorted ready for the tomatoes, chilli's/peppers, aubergines and cucumbers to be planted in it.  I've now completed all the beds (four) with a pebble path going down the middle.  I have also started to build the roof, I've put up two panels so far.  These are taking just a little bit longer than I thought would, but i'll carry on regardless.  I am determined to have it completed by the end of the month.

Four Raised Beds 

 Two Roof Panels Fitted

So Far......

How daft did I feel..... I'd built the roof panels (each measured 4ft x 4ft), fixed on the bottles, and went to put them in the boot of the car to take to the allotment.  Opened the boot, lifted the panel and doh! they were too big, how did I manage that!  So I had to take the side bars off so that they had a bit of flexibility so I could maneuver them into the boot... had a quick look around, was there anyone watching.... I hope not!

Glorious Glorious Glorious! - Oh and the Spuds are In!

Can you believe the weather we’ve had over the last few days, it has been glorious to say the least, not the kind of weather you want to be digging in, but needs must and digging is what I have done. Eventually I have planted the Rudolph, Blue Danube and Golden Wonder potatoes; I must say that it’s a weight of my shoulders that these are finally in the ground. I’ve got a couple of ‘sample’ potatoes (Pink Fir Apple, Markies, Nicola and Cara) which I will plant over the next couple of days and definitely by the weekend, I’m not overly worried about getting these in as they aren’t my main choices, just tasters really so I’ll put them in little areas of soil that have already been dug over and weeded but are ear-marked for flowers or other types but not where potatoes will be planted over the next couple of years so as not to risk spreading disease etc. It’s been 10 weeks since I planted the first tub of my 1st earlies so I had a little feel around in the compost, I can’t feel any potatoes yet so I’m a little worried, is disaster looming? There is plenty of foliage but no flowers so I may give it a couple more weeks before emptying out the first tub.

My tomatoes are fast outgrowing their 5 inch pots so I’ll be potting them on into slightly bigger pots shortly, I’m not sure if they will get into the bottle house this summer or not, but as they are varieties suitable for either outdoor or indoor growing I’ll not worry myself about it too much, same said for the cucumber, aubergine and chilli plants, some of which I can grow on in the ‘plastic’ and ‘walk-in’ greenhouses if I need to.

I’ve planted out some broad beans and lettuces, sown four varieties of carrots and have Turnip (Snowball & Purple Top), Kohl Rabi and seed onions ready for planting out. My French, Borlotti, Flangelot and Runner beans are all making appearances peeking though the compost in their 3 inch pots, they look lovely.

Having spent all Thursday, Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday (until the heavens opened) at the plot and having all that lovely weather I have been able to observe the position of the sun during the course of the day. Most of the plot gets the sun all of the day except where my shed is, which is what I’d hoped when I re-sited it in its corner, the only disappointing bit is the flower area I’m wanting to plant up in front of the shed sits in the shade most of the day also, getting the sun from around 3pm on the afternoon so I’ll have to find some shade loving plants to go there. The good news is the area where the wildlife section is going to go gets the sun for most of the day, shaded a little on the morning but in full sun for most of the time, so I’ll be able to plant lots of sun loving, bright coloured big nectar rich plants there. I’ll also have to build a shade ‘shelter’ for the chucks when their run has been built so they can hide from the sun when they want to as they will be housed in that area also.

On a final note, we’ve been granted permission to plant an orchard on our little community bit, so that is something to look forward to, lots of fruit trees and we are also looking into having some beehives put there.

Mixed Weekend (Weather Wise)

Yet some more digging done but still more to do. Went to the plot again on Friday afternoon/evening and got some more of the maincrop bed dug over. Saturday I mainly potted on and sowed some more seeds. A little mouse or critter of similar stature has found its way into my plastic greenhouse and chomped its way through my leeks, and has had a good dig in some of the other pots of veg in there. Upon reading the back of my seed packets leeks are best sown Jan-Apr, would I still be able to re-sow some more (it’s only a couple of days into May) to replace the ones chomped on?

Sunday me and Caleb spent most of the day at the plot, he played with the other children that were there with their parents, I worked hard. I couldn’t face another day doing the potato bed so I opted for weeding and digging over what will be the root beds for 2010. These are 2 beds which are 32ft long x 4 ft wide, broken down into 8ft x 4ft sections (on plan). When it was all dug over, I re-did the area set aside for the carrots and dug it as finely as I could possibly do, breaking up larger clods of soil by hand, then sprinkled some Growmore over the bed in anticipation of sowing various varieties over the coming weeks.

Weather was terrible on Monday, the majority of the day was lost to rain, but it brightened up a bit mid afternoon so this time was put to use building some more of the bottle house. Speaking of which I’ve finally found out how to share my photo’s with you all from my new phone, so here is an update of what’s been happening so far this year.

First Post Ready

Six Post In!

Exit Doorway & Path.

Pea Bed with Canes and String for Climbing.
The onion bed netted in the background.

Bed with 2nd Earlies planted (Yukon Gold)

A Little More Done

Went to the plot last night to dig over a bit more of the potato bed, we’ve not had a lot of rain lately so I decided to give the onions a water. I’d steeped some of the last batch of seaweed collected in an 18l water drum; you know the ones that sit on those water machines in offices. So I also gave the 2nd earlies a seaweed drink.

At work we’ve changed drinking water suppliers and there are about 30 of those bottles sat doing nothing, so with a little bit of grovelling, hey presto, I was told I could take as many as needed, you don’t get if you don’t ask right! So I’m going to use these to make up some garden ‘potions’ as they have a nice tight cap which will hopefully keep in the stench. Thought I’d try a few different ‘potions’, I’m thinking of a nettle potion, a comfrey potion and a seaweed potion. I can just keep making up a couple of bottles at a time and they are small enough to sit behind the shed out the way till needed. I’ll also use some of them to make some cloches for putting over my squash plants, in order to try to keep them a little warmer and see if they develop fruit, as I didn’t have any luck with the one I’d planted in the back yard plot last year. I’ll also use some for a ring system on the tomatoes that get planted in the bottle house.

Once my maincrop beds are finished and dug over I’m going to run a test (previously touched on this idea earlier in the blog) - Comfrey ‘v’ Seaweed. Now that I’ve found my four extra comfrey plants this will be a lot more realistic. Each variety of potato; I have Blue Danube & Rudolph (early maincrop) and Golden Wonder & Pink Fir Apple (late maincrop) will each be separated into two rows, one row will be planted on top of a bed of comfrey leaves and watered with a comfrey liquid feed. The other row will be planted on a bed of seaweed and watered with a seaweed liquid feed. I’ll weigh and compare each variety at the end when digging them up to see which faired better, the comfrey potatoes or the seaweed potatoes.

Planning to get to the plot this evening to do some more digging, and tomorrow afternoon/evening, some (hopefully most) of the bank holiday weekend also, though its forecast rain over the next couple of days, we’ll have to dodge the showers I think. I must remember to take a little pad and pen and start to jot down all those jobs that you walk past and say, ‘I must do ….’

Happy St. George’s Day

It’s England’s national day but for most people in England St George's Day is just another ordinary working day. The national emblem and national flower of England is a red rose. The flower has been adopted as England’s emblem since the time of the civil wars (1455-1485) between the royal house of Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose) and the royal house of York (whose emblem was a white rose). Some more interesting facts:
· Despite the fact that St. George has been the patron saint of England since the 14th century, only one in five people know that St. George’s Day falls on 23 April.
· More than a quarter of people living in England do not even know who their patron saint is!
· Shakespeare was born on 23 April 1564 and he died on the same day in 1616.

Now for some gardening info, went to the allotment last night to dig some more where the early maincrop bed is going to be and we’re off to the beach again tonight to collect some more seaweed for it. Hopefully I’ll be able to sort out the ‘entrance’ frame for the bottle house and get that screwed to the posts. Then I’ll get some of the canes filled with the bottles. Other than that, it’ll be potting on and sowing seeds.

Is It Monday Again Already!

Sorry there haven’t been any posts lately, where did the week go, I can’t believe its Monday again already. Ah that’ll be it, the days have passed me by whilst I’ve been in my tranquil world on the allotment, yes folks I’ve been very productive. Monday and Tuesday were spent as normal, at work, boo boo. Wednesday my car went in for its MOT, remember a few weeks ago it was supposed to be done; well they wouldn’t or couldn’t do it as the doors had jammed, and they aren’t allowed to carry out an MOT if all the doors don’t open and close! So it had to be booked in again. As I was without transport, I started on the frames for the bottle house. Things were going well, I sowed some flower seeds, broad beans, peas and borlotti beans. Weather was lovely, then came the phone call - “you’re car has failed its MOT”, these were words I had already prepared myself for, what I hadn’t been prepared for was the cost to get it fixed £1000. Well after I’d picked myself up off the floor, I told the garage it was a no goer, the car wasn’t worth £1000 for one thing and secondly I don’t have a spare £1000 to throw away. So off to the scrap yard it went and I’ve got myself a little run around until I can save up for a new-ish car.

With the nice weather, I spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday down on the allotment. 2nd earlies (Yukon Gold & Anya) were planted up; I finished planting up the onion bed with 4 rows of Turbo. I weeded and dug over one of the ‘root’ beds; hope to get some Carrot and Parsnip seeds in here shortly, along with Sweetcorn, Lettuce, Celeriac, Beetroot, Radicchio and Spinach. I dug over part of the ‘legume’ bed and put out some canes and string for the Peas to grow against. First ‘doorway’ frame was attached to the end posts for the bottle house and the small path built for the exit. Plenty of volunteers are now saving plastic bottles for me, I should hopefully get all 2000+ needed in no time, she says lol. I started on the early maincrop potato bed and also the first fruit bed as I’ve got strawberries and raspberries which need to be planted out ASAP.

We’ve a new lady on our community patch at the allotment, she’s got a young family so should fit in very nicely. There are 8 of us in the community patch, 4 of us have children between the ages 10 and 18mths and one elderly gentleman brings his grandkids along sometimes, so it’s nice for the kids when we’re all there to be able to play with each other. There is a small amount of ground that isn’t fenced into a plot at the moment, as we have some spare wood we’ve decided that we are going to build a flower garden for the kids to potter about and plant and dig here to their hearts content, and there is a little old lady who likes to come along to help out.

So plans for the forthcoming week, second ‘doorway’ frame to be built and lots of sowing and potting on to be done. Promise some photos soon, I’ve taken them, just have to figure out how to download them onto the computer.

What a Lovely Weekend

I hope the weather over the weekend was as glorious for all you gardeners out there as it had been for us here in Middlesbrough. An action packed fun filled gardening weekend was had by me and I even took Caleb along on Saturday and not a whinge or moan was heard. A few of the other children on the site had come along so he had plenty of kids to run about with.

Saturday - I put in some ‘Paris Market’ carrots in the back yard bed between the rows of parsnips, as these are only little bite sized carrots, they’ll be grown and lifted before the parsnips require the space. I also sowed some Early Nantes 2 in the 4x4 carrot bed. All 6 fence posts are now in for the bottle house, time to start working on the frames to insert the canes & bottles into. I’ve now sent an e-mail to all contacts (approx 300) at work asking them to donate their 2 litre pop bottles. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get the amount that I need.

Sunday - The bed for the 2nd earlies was established and dug over; I’ll be planting a row of Yukon Gold and a row of Anya in this bed at the back end of this week. The few Yukon Gold that are left over will be potted up into patio containers. I also planted up some Red Barron sets (3 rows) and some Santero sets (3 rows) in the newly built onion bed. I’ve still got some Turbo to go in and if any of my Bedfordshire Champion seeds amount to anything, I’ll make room for them somewhere.

Lots of the seedlings are coming along, will have to do some potting-up into bigger pots over the next couple of days, as a lot of the brassica’s have now started to develop their true leaves.

The Weather Man Promises a Warm Weekend

How lovely it would be to have two complete (weekend) days uninterrupted by rain or hail or snow. Now the weather forecast has said it’s going to be dry with some good sunny spells, highs of 15 on Saturday and 11 on Sunday. It’s looking a bit overcast at the moment, but time will tell.

Plans over the weekend include first and foremost, collect the hen shed this evening! Definitely a must and a can do no matter what the weather brings for us. Next job, 3 more posts to be dug into the ground for the bottle house, fairly confident this will be a goer. Finally, dig and complete the raised bed for the 2nd earlies to be planted.

I might be able to collect some bricks and some wood from a friend, he’s not sure if he’ll have the keys for the store, but hopefully he will and I can get some 2”x2” wood off him to start making the frames for the bottle house. I’m using bricks to edge the main path on the allotment, I’ll lay some cardboard down and cover with small stones which have been taken out of the ground as I’ve been digging it over.

I’ve got a few days off work towards the back end of next week and the longer (10 day) weather forecast says it going to be nice and sunny, so hopefully I’ll be able to get some peas and beans in, possibly some carrots and the onions still need to be put in, time is running out for them.

Have a nice weekend everyone and hopefully you can all get some productive gardening done.

The Edible Garden

So did you see the new gardening programme last night, Alys Fowler's "The Edible Garden", i watched it, and quite enjoyed it, its on BBC2 at 8pm and has another 5 programmes to go, so if you missed the first one, try and catch up with it next week.

I'm off to try and get another of the fence posts in the ground tonight for the bottle house, i'll take some snaps and post them so you can all see how it's coming along.

TWO Posts and My Shed!

Well the holiday weekend was mixed weather wise, there was sun, rain and on occasion hail! I bought the fence posts on Thursday evening, 4 @ 3”x3” x 8ft and 2 @ 4”x4” x 8ft. The wood man asked what I was doing with them as he was loading them into my car for me, his face said it all when I tried to explain, probably thought I was another eco-warrior, environmentally friendly loony.

Friday/Saturday I managed to plant up all my 1st earlies - Pentland Javelin into patio potato tubs, the 1st earlies - Rocket which I’ve had stood in the greenhouse over the last couple of weeks are coming along very nicely. I’m hoping a couple of nice days over this coming weekend will allow me to get the 2nd earlies in the ground at the allotment, a few will have to go in the remaining tubs, this will be a good test on whether soil or tubs are better for 2nd’s. I’ve put in some parsnips and radishes in one of the back yard beds. Carrots are coming through nicely. Plenty of tomatoes, kohl rabi, cauliflower, and lettuce seedlings are geminating. Cabbages and peppers are just beginning to peek through. I’ve been given a load of strawberry plants so these will be planted up in the fruit area ASAP.

On Sunday I drove to the allotment, Caleb in tow. I’d asked him to give me a hand building the bottle house, “I like building things” he says, good I thought I’m going to need your help. First job was to cut down some growth from the bushes hanging over from the neighbouring plot, and clear away some of the leaves and overgrown grass from the ground. Caleb watched. Then I started to measure, AGAIN, just to be safe, no point in getting it wrong and being unhappy once the posts have gone in. Again, Caleb watched. When I started to measure out I changed my mind where the house was going to be sited AGAIN. I wasn’t happy with the amount of growth (from next plots bushes) at one end so now its going to run 10ft flower bed, 10ft fruit (raspberry & strawberry) bed, then the bottle house (16ft), then another 10ft fruit bed and then what’s left (approx 12ft I think) I’ll decide what to do with later, possibly plant some fruit trees (apple, plum or pear). I also changed my mind on its dimensions, its now going to be 5ft wide instead of 4ft; I don’t do things by half!

I started to dig my first hole, Caleb watched, I turned my back for one minute, Caleb had gone, I found him chatting to Sid who has the plot opposite mine “he’s ok with me” Sid said, so back to the digging, ALONE. Next thing I know Brian (from further down the lane) had come over to have a chat with Sid and so Caleb then decided he wanted to go to see Brian’s hens and ducks, so that was it Caleb was off. So back to the digging of holes, ALONE, I sawed the bottom off the posts, making sure they stood in the holes straight and were both at a level height, all done and two posts in the ground, nice and secure. What a happy chappie I was with myself. I went back to check on them last night and to my amazement they were still standing, I must have done something right! I’m hoping to get another post in tomorrow night, and maybe the rest all in by Sunday, then I can start to work on the frames and creating the sides (this is where the bottles come into play).

Yesterday I received a phone call from the DIY store saying that they had mistakenly sold my shed and that the only one they had left was the store display model, so with some haggling (another 15% off the price), and them agreeing to dismantle it for me, I’m off to collect the shed for the chicken coop on Friday night. More building, ALONE no doubt!

Fence Posts, Plastic Bottles and the WEATHER!

So the big question is.... will the weather hold off this weekend so that I can start on one of the two big projects i'm so eagerly waiting to get off the ground. Well I'm off to buy the fence posts this evening for my bottle house, it's a mammoth project, somewhere in my dreams this bottle house will measure 16 ft long by 4 ft wide. Its going to be home to my Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers (Chilli and Sweet) and also i'm going to have a go at growing a Melon. I've got several large black plastic bags in my spare room full of 2 litre bottles and Mrs C has kindly got another 2 bags waiting for me, so with 4 days off work, I think the time is right to start.

I still haven't figured out how i'm going to secure the posts into the ground, I have 2 of those metal square block things that fence posts fit into, these will be for the middle 2 posts, but the 4 corner posts, well i'm going to wing it.

Wish me luck!

Rain Rain Go Away

....come back again when i'm on holiday in August so that i need not worry if my veggies are getting watered whilst i'm away, lol. Seriously though, when will this rain ease, my plot was flooded again after the heavy rain that came toward the back end of last week, luckly though it's only seems to be flooding in one area, though this will cause a problem shortly as this is where the bottle house and fruit area will be. It's not stopped raining for long either yesterday or today and it’s been really heavy at times, so probably more flooding at the allotment. Got a few bits done over the weekend, planted up the rest of the Rocket potatoes, I’ll be doing the Pentland Javelin during this week as and when. There’s no more space for them in the mini greenhouse so these will have to fair the weather. I started to weed the ‘Root’ patch; I’ll be planting some Sweetcorn - Mini Pop in the little area I got done. Try and get some more of that weeded over the weekend. My Comfrey plant is starting to grow again, the first cut will go in with the potatoes, and then I’ll start to make some Comfrey tea for the Tomatoes and Potatoes for when they need a feed later.

I’ve sown some more Leeks (Autumn Giant and Lyon), Cauliflower (AYR), Kohl Rabi, and various Lettuces. The carrots are finally starting to show under the little grow house on the 4ft x 4ft bed in the back yard. The parsnip seeds are now sprouting shoots; does this mean I can just plant them in the soil now?

I cleared away some of the area where the chicken coop and wildlife garden is going to go. I had some roof slates which I was going to use on Samson’s kennel but as I didn’t have enough I felted the roof, but lucky for me, when you lay them all together they measure 3ft x 4ft, just the right size of the chicken house (shed), so these are going to be a base for the shed to sit on, rather than it standing straight on top of the soil.

I’ve re-allocated the space down the side of the plot where the bottle house and fruit and flower beds are going to be. Hopefully if the weather gets better over the weekend I’ll be able to begin the digging for putting in the fencing posts which will be the start of the frame for the bottle house. I’m not sure if I’ll cement these posts in or just find some other way of securing them, just in case I decide to move the bottle house in the future.

We (Caleb & me) popped to Pets at Home over the weekend, and to my joy I discovered that they sell chicken bits n pieces. This will be a great benefit for us, somewhere local I’ll be able to buy food from etc. So anyway in anticipation of the little feathered friends joining us sometime soon, we bought a chicken feeder and water supply. I’m dead chuffed with them; it’s great what little things make us happy.

Oh yes, I’ve received a kind donation from a friend at work (well her father to be precise) two rhubarb plants, so I’ll have to decide where they will live. Probably somewhere within the fruit bits I think. Somebody told me that rhubarb leaves make a good fertilizer, does anybody know if this is true?

Small Steps in the Right Direction

Progress is being made, slowly but steadily, I was hampered by a day of rain on Saturday so not all that was planned happened. I managed to build the final (planned) raised bed in the back yard plot. So now I have three beds, one which measures 7ft x 4ft, one at 4ft x 4ft and one at 4ft x 3ft. These are primarily going to be for growing the carrots, parsnips and quick salad items in. I got some Anya seed potatoes planted in a potato barrel, I’m going to have to knuckle down and get the remaining Rocket and the Pentland Javlin sorted out this weekend. I managed to also recycle some pallets and made a start on the wood for the henservatory.

Over to the allotment, I’ve pre-marked the side of the plot where I’m planning to put some flowers, the bottle house and the soft fruit area; the flowers will sit directly in front of the shed (see picture), giving them a patch measuring 10ft x 5ft, I thought I’d put them there as that will give me something nice to look out onto. I’d then planned on putting the bottle house, next to that in an area I’d earmarked at 16ft long 5ft wide, and then I’d planned to have after that 2 areas of 10ft x 5ft where I had thought about putting my raspberries and strawberries, this would leave me about 15ft of space to ponder with before I got to my gate. These areas and the existing raised beds that are already built will be separated by a gravel path from stones which I’ve been collecting as I’ve dug over the plot. Each of these areas would be split by a small path. My only concern now, after marking this out is that the bottle house will be sited near some bushes/trees from next doors plot, although they won’t block out the sun as the sun moves clockwise around my plot, I will need to be able to get behind the bottle house to chop down growing branches, something I’d not really taken into consideration when allocating space. Saying that, the area where the fruit is planned to go has a bare patch behind it so I think the best thing to do is swap these two areas so that the fruit bit comes before the bottle bit.

I’ve started digging over the potato patch and started to build one end of each of the raised beds, this gives me a starting picture of where each type will be, there are three sections, one for 2nd earlies, and one for early maincrop and another for late maincrop. I can now concentrate on the patch for 2nd earlies as they need to be in the ground by mid April. I can then finish the other two areas off for the maincrops to be planted out by the end of April.

I also managed to pull out the last patch of really overgrown area of weeds (see bottom left of picture). So now all I have to contend with are the rooted weeds like dandelions and other small growing weeds and bits of grass that has decided to grow around my plot when digging over the areas to make the raised beds.

Hoping to get down over the weekend but will have to wait and see, we’re going to visit a local farm on Sunday morning, they are holding an open day to let people see the spring lambs, piglets and calves. I’ve a family commitment on Sunday afternoon, so that only leaves Saturday to play with and we have a fixed commitment every Saturday morning so lets hope Saturday afternoon can be stretched out into a full day.