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!

A Whole New Ball Game

Gosh is it really that long since my last posting! Things are progressing well on the plot, potatoes are flowering, broad beans, runners and French are all coming along nicely, sweetcorn is growing really well and the courgettes and squash are planted out, so it’s a waiting game. But the good news is I’ve been given permission to take over the little plot which joins mine. It’s been passed from pillar to post and has really only had a smidge of care and commitment over the last couple of years.

So ‘Plot 2’ is approximately 40ft by 40ft, tapering off to about 25ft on one side. It is very overgrown with weeds and needs a lot of looking after and sorting out, but hey I like a challenge. Actually it’s more realistic to say I love a challenge. Plans have been drawn, and the thought process has gone into overdrive. With this extra space I’ve decided to break down my crop rotation into more defined areas. There will be areas for ‘Brassicas’, ‘Legumes’, ‘Solanaceae’ - (Potatoes), ‘Alliums’, ‘Cucurbitaceae’ and ‘Umbelliferae’ - (Roots).

I’ve posted a couple of pics to show you ‘Plot 2’ at the beginning. I’m off work on leave for a couple of days so it’ll be all systems go to get things moving.

Plot '2' - View One

Plot '2' - View Two

Plot '2' - View Three

Of Mice and …….

I went to the allotment last night to do a bit more work; I weeded the bed for the Sprouts which I’ll get planted out over the weekend. I then decided I’d get on and start to sort things in the area for the Courgette, Squash, and Marrow and Pumpkin patch. I’d already started to weed out some of the area, but had come to a standstill when I got to the stacks of bricks that I’d had stored there since late last year. So after carrying well over 200 bricks to various corners of the plot it came down to the wooden sheeting that they’d been stood on. I lifted it up, to assess how the weeds were underneath and to guess how much work will need doing, when there they were, a little family of mice. Mother (I presume) and two babies. I lowered the wood as I didn’t want to scare the mother away from the babies; she’d already started to scurry off. So now my conundrum is which hat am I wearing? Do I move the wood and disturb the family, possibly causing the mother to abandon her babies (my vegetable hat - must plant out those courgettes etc. soon) or leave the wood where it is, checking in at regular intervals, and allow mother and babies to reside there until they are ready to move on by themselves (my animal loving hat).