Update - The Past Year

So what have I been up to.....

I've been working hard on the plot, well Plot 1 that is, it's just about completed now, all the raised beds have been installed, the hen house is built, the frame of the bottle house built, still a couple of things to do, e.g. create the raspberry beds, the flower beds and plant a few more fruit trees (currently in tubs) but these are things that I can get on with later during the year. Plot 2 is now starting to be worked on, practically half is dug over and I've started to create some raised beds. The other half is covered in black plastic so that I can get around to digging this over when I have more time.

Time, well that is the most precious thing isn't it... when you work full time you find yourself really analysing what you do with your time and where you can get more time from. Here in Middlesbrough I could really do with more time... Or even better for time to stand still, though this would have to be on a sunny day! I took some annual leave over the Easter holidays to try and get Plot 2 sorted, but 10 of the 14 days were lost to rain and therefore i'm not anywhere near where I should be. I have earmarked Plot 2 for the Potatoes and Squash families in my crop rotation. Here we are at the wrong end of April and I only have my 1st earlies in... It has rained just about everyday since I went back to work and therefore not a lot has been able to be done. I am now racing against time to get the rest of the Potatoes in. I have however planted out a bed of Broad Beans, a bed of Red Onions and a bed of Brown Onions. I've sown a few radishes direct and also started to sow some carrots. I have Shallots and Garlic in which have been in since October time, these have come through the winter and seem to be doing ok.

Away from the Plots, I've had a holiday in Ibiza; revisiting my youth I think, and a couple of weekends away in Edinburgh and Nottingham... Boooziee weekends with friends, these were really nice and relaxing. But on a sad note, in August we lost Samson to Kidney Failure, it was devastating, and we lost him rather quickly after the diagnosis. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing I'll never know, we didn't really get time to say goodbye but then we didn't really have to watch him deteriorate. In January we adopted Diesel, another Dogue de Bordeaux, he's 16 months and very cheeky....

I'll end with a couple of pictures for you..

Images of the Chicken House

I'm Back

I have been absent for some time, though I have been plodding away at the allotment I have been unable to share my progress with you all due to lack of internet service for the past year. But I am back on line and will continue to share my journey with you all, hope you stick around for updates which I will be posting over the next day or two.

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!!!