jordans allotment

allotment update

2007-05-06T11:56:00.000-07:00

Hi all, I haven't been on here for while I have been very busy. The Allotment has come on since I was last on here. Lets recap, took over the plot just after Christmas. We inhertited a load of weeds and some sprouts.

We quickly got stuck in and very soon we had it cleared. We started some seeds off at home but these were not successful. Decided to buy the plants that were needed, the allotment shop was selling them very cheap. From April onwards we started to plant up the different beds. Started with Parsnips and Carrots, then we put in peas and very soon after we put in the spuds. Now remember this is our first year of having an allotment and was not too sure how to do the spuds but we got there in the end and they are coming up very nicely too.

Things were starting to gather pace now. We had planted runner beans, cabbages, sprouts, cauliflowers, lettiuce and had started seedlings of tomatoes, sweet peppers and cucumbers not forgeting the onions and beetroots.

The raspberries that were on the plot are doing well and we have added strawberries to them.

I did have quite a lot of Parsnips so I thinned them out and transplanted them in to another bed, told my husband what I had done and asked him if he could go down and water the plot while I was at work and while the hot weather was on. Guess what, he thought my Parsnips were weeds so they didn't get watered, I don't have a lot of Parsnips now!!

All is well on the plot now so the next step was to put up a shed so we would have somewhere to store the tools and to shelter from the weather. This was fun (I don't think so) Delivery man couldn't find us so the shed was late being delivered.

My husband and son started to put the shed together. Guess what no drilled holes in the battens so the screws wouldn't go into the wood, allotment manager had a cordless drill so he lent us that and very soon the shed was beginning to look like a shed.

Come to put the roof on only to find that they had put one of the side panels on upside down. (only a man can do this). Anyway this blog is going on bit so lets get to the end. The shed is now up just needs protecting from the weather.

What a busy few months but its been worth it.

Week 9

2007-03-03T10:18:00.000-08:00

Spent a good few hours at allotment today. We needed to move the rubbish at the top of the plot. This is where I would like a shed. The previous owner didn't leave this in a very good condition. Anyway we set to and we soon shifted all the rubbish. We also put up a sort of fence blocking the dirt tip that has built up over the years. I manage to sow my lettuce seeds. The soil is still too wet and very heavey to do much raking. Hope that this week we have some dry weather so next week I can prepare some more beds and start to sow more seeds. Below are some photos of the top of the plot one before and one after. Spot the differnce.

Week 8

2007-03-03T03:19:00.000-08:00

Down to the allotment this week. A lot to do as we have not been down for a few weeks due to the weather. Very muddy due to the rain that we have been having. Husband and Son carried on with the heavy digging, they dug up more parsnips which were planted last year by previous owner. We had them roasted for sunday lunch, very tasty they were too. I did some weeding and prepared a small patch for my lettiuce. Have been reading my vegetable plotter and it says that we can start to plant our parsnips and carrots this month. Thats a job for next week weather permitting. Anyway thats all from me til next week.

week 7

2007-03-03T03:02:00.000-08:00

It rained again so we didn't go down to the allotment. Stayed at home and looked after my seedlings.

Seedlings

2007-02-11T03:11:00.000-08:00

Checked the seedling this week they are growing too qucikly and getting very leggy. Have thinned them out and put them somewhere cooler to try and slow them down. If that doesn't work then I will have to start again.

Week 6

2007-02-11T02:56:00.000-08:00

Weather stopped all digging this week. Went to the park instead and enjoyed a couple of hours sledging with my grandson.

Week five

2007-02-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Hi all. Been down allotment today. The weather is great nice and sunny a little breezy and not too cold. Went to Homebase to get some more bark chippings for the path and while I was there I bought some big pots and compoost for my house plants, they need repotting. Put down the rest of the barkchipping on the path it now looks good and we have smoewhere to walk on. Got a bit more raking done and started to plan the beds out. I have got some frames left fromthe previous owner so I have decided that we will uses these together with bubble wrap and make them into 'clouches' so I can start some lettuices off. I understand that you can start parsnips this month aswell. We have just got a little more digging, not much, and then some more raking and it should be ready for March and begining of the planting season. I think we have done very well to get it to this stage in a little over a month. My seedlings are starting to germinate. I got so excited when I saw the little green shoots poking their heads above the soil, I know, simple things and all that. I just hope that we can make this work. Its going to take a lot of hard work and committment by us all. Our weekends or most of them will have to be spent at the allotment but we must not neglect the garden. I was looking at that today, the grass needs cutting and the flower beds need weeding. O well no rest for the wicked. See you next week.

week four

2007-02-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

Weathers been better this week. Went down allotment on Sunday. We raked a couple of beds and put some fertilizer down, finished the digging and tidyed the path up. We bought some bark chipping on Saturday so we put these down on the path but need to get some more. It has already made a difference, not so muddy. We edged the one side of the plot so at least we can now see where it ends. Things are really starting to look good and we can now see where we want to plant our veggies. I have bought my seed potatoes and onion sets and have got these in boxes somewhere dry and warm but not to warm. I have started some seeds under propergators and my vegetable plotter has become my bible and I read it whenever I get a chance. My work collegues are telling me Im becoming sad. All this work has really made me hungry, we off to the pub now for lunch. See you next week.

Week Three

2007-01-28T14:35:00.000-08:00

Went down twice this week. Saturday. Took my mom down with us today. She got stuck in pulling up some of the weeds. Mom has just been told she has non-hodgkin lymophma, but she wanted to get stuck in and help. She cant wait until the summer when we will be picking our own veggies. Should be good for her to eat freshly grown veggis.

It rained again!! back into the car for tea, and to listen to the footie on the radio. Villa at home this week, I know I should be down there supporting the boys but I really wanted to have a good go down on the land.

Rain stopped back out. We've still got the mud and this time I have got the music. Carried on best we could but decided to call it a day after a couple of hours. Progesss so far - quite good.

Time to introduce my grandson to the wonders of the land. He had a wail of a time. Fell over a few times but got up again and carried on.

This is great we have found a crop of spuds and load of parsnips. I know what we will be having for dinner today.

Progress today was good. Weather a little better all though it still rained. By the way the parsnips were very tasty. I roasted them. the spuds were also good. Have saved some I'm going to set them ready for planting this season. All this digging and fresh air is doing me the world of good I have lost about 3lb in weight.

Week Two

2007-01-28T14:31:00.000-08:00

Weather bad didn't go down.

Week One

2007-01-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Had a good look at what we had got. Found that we have a small apple tree, some very leggy raspberry plants, a load of sprouts and weeds by the cart load.

Where to start!! At the top of the allotment and work our way down. Out came the spade and the fork and we started to remove some weeds from around the apple tree and raspberry plants. God this is like Glastonbury without the music. The wind is very strong and it's raining. Back into the car for shellter and a cup of tea.

Picked some sprouts for dinner, tried to remove the mud from our shoes and went home. We had spent about an hour there, little at a time, dont want to bugger ourselves up in the first week.

Introduction

2007-01-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Back in the summer my son said we should be more environmently freindly and we should really start to recycle some of our weekly rubbish. Well I thought about this and looked at what we throw out each week and thought yes he is right. We were throwing away approximatley 4 black bags of rubbish each week. And thats from a family of 5.

So we got ourselves some containers that we could seperate our rubbish into and we even got our self a compost bin. Taking this one step further we purchased a water butt. It was amazing in a little over a week we had reduced our weekly rubbish to 2 black bags a week.

When I was a child my grandparents grew their own veggies and I used to help my nan pick the peas or dig up the spuds for our dinner. I thought it would be great if I could do this again.

Our next step was to apply to the local council for an allotment.

Just after Christmas I got a call asking if I was still interested in having an allotment. So off we went down to the allotments had a look at what they were offering and paid the rent there and then. We were now the proud owners of a plot of land, a load of weeds and a crop of sprouts, all this and the M6 motorway running above us.