By George, She’s Done It!!!!

Congratulations to Chestnut, she layed her very first egg today; and what a lovely colour it was, pastel blue. My worries are over; she is definitely a hen and is not destined for the boiling pot. Distinguishing who has laid is going to be very easy as they all lay different coloured eggs. Chestnut has blue eggs, Daisy has cream, Hazel’s are a light brown colour and Miss Pepperpot had dark brown egg with freckles on. Simple!

I had taken a day leave on Friday gone, it was a nice day, a bit on the chilly side but at least it was dry so I went to the plot to finish the job (moving bricks and pallets) I had started last weekend. I must say, now that it is all clear it makes that little area of the plot a lot bigger and a lot tidier. I have marked out two planting holes; this is where I will plant my apple trees. The soil is lovely there; it’ll need digging over a little but it is virtually free from weeds. I’d had a couple of small bags of manure stored there for over a year, these had split, resulting in the muck being spread about a bit and also there had been quite a few leaves which had fallen over winter in that spot so I think the ground is going to be quite nutritious for the young trees. I am hoping to get the apples in this weekend, ground and weather permitting.

On Saturday Pete, another plot holder in the community area and I, spent the morning deciding where we would be planting the orchard trees. One of the holes that Pete had dug was still full to the top with water, whilst most of the others had drained away, so we have decided not to plant a tree here, we are thinking of making the hole bigger and creating a pond, if the ground doesn’t drain very well, we may as well utilise it and make the pond and plant up some boggy loving plants.

Sunday the weather turned out to be awful, it had been forecast to be nice, so I only spent a couple of hours at the allotment. I tidied up some of the community area, getting rid of big stones, half bricks, debris and other bits of rubbish that tends to mount up. I also started to clear some of my raised beds which still had summer cabbages in which are not hardy enough to last through the winter and a few other crops that also should have been cleared before the winter set in.

Weather permitting, this weekend we are planting trees!!!

I’m Back to Let you Know …

I know it’s a long time since my last posting and a big thanks to Mangocheeks, you’ve motivated me into sorting myself out and let you all know how things have been progressing since my last entry. So non allotment related news, promise its short and sweet, I’ve had my summer holiday, a glorious fortnight chasing lions and elephants and giraffe’s around safari parks in Kenya with a little bit of sunbathing thrown in. Three years of dreaming, saving and waiting, it was definitely worth it! But back to reality….

So allotment wise, I left you with news that the orchard had been approved, and we’d had an application for a grant to establish some bee hives approved. Moving on, we’ve (the community group) been on a course to learn about the good and bad ways of planting your fruit trees and an order has been placed for some Apple, Pear and Plum trees, 14 in all, which should be arriving sometime in November, Yipee can’t wait, 14 large holes to dig, ouch, but it has to be done! There is another course to go on sometime next month regarding the pruning and upkeep of the trees. In terms of the bees, it’s still very early days yet, until some training can be sorted it’d be irresponsible to get a colony etc, but I’ll keep you informed as things progress.

The Plot! Well it was rather overgrown when I got back off my holiday, sweetcorn had appeared from nowhere, not a bean in site when I left, a great jungle of them on my return, I had courgettes ‘eight ball’ which were the size of footballs, onions, marrows, broad beans, cabbages, caulis and leeks had all grown and a mass of potato foliage. So since getting back, I’ve pulled up the onions and put them to dry for over-winter use. The beans have been cut down, and I’ve put some to dry for storage, again for casseroles etc over the winter months. I’ve been slowly digging up the potatoes, and should get the rest of these all lifted this coming weekend, again more winter storage and I’ll have to sort out the sweetcorn. Leeks and cabbages will be left in the ground for now.

I’ve started re-arranging the raised beds for the new rotation system, taking into account the little area next to my patch which I will integrate this next coming season, and I’ve been winter digging areas as they have become empty. Plans for the coming weeks, at some point I’ve got 4 fruit trees arriving (expected sometime before the end of October), these will be planted in my plot (separate from the community orchard), I’d already ordered these trees before the funding was approved for the community orchard, so I’ll have to sort out where I want them to go and start to prepare the ground for them. I have a vague idea but at the moment the area I’m thinking of is used for storing my wood pallets and bricks etc, so I’ll need to move all of these before I can start to dig the holes. No shortage of hard work ahead, at least it keeps me off the streets!

Hope you are all doing well on your plots and the harvesting is going well.

Bees and Fruit Trees

Well since my last posting things have really taken off at the ‘community’ allotment. On Thursday a lady came and looked over the area that we’ve decided to plant up as an orchard, she’d come to check on the ground, to make sure it was suitable growing soil and see how large an area there was so that she could recommend trees to be planted. It was all very positive so in September a group of us are going on a training course to learn how to look after and prune the fruit trees, and start to get the area ready for when the fruit trees are planted.

On Saturday five of the plot holders (one being me) came in and with a digger we cleared a great mound of weeds and loads of old rubbish that had been left in the area when it was previously used for pigeon sheds. We started at 7.30am and finished about 5pm, clearing, bagging, re-locating soil and eventually burning all the rubbish. It was hard work but actually enjoyable. We now have a lovely area that we are going to build a community garden on, where we can sell the produce to fund necessities such as manure, petrol, fruit trees, chicken feed etc.

Today we’ve just receive confirmation that the grant we’d bid for has been approved and therefore we are being allowed to get some bee hives, clothing, equipment and training on how to look after the bees and make the honey.

It’s all very exciting!