Topic: Heldi's allotment

[wardy]

Great posts Heidi.  It looks tons better now.  Those sheds are they yours?  Are they full of rubbish too?  It's all looking much more organised and the sheeting you've got down will do a good job.  I just pulled a piece back and all the weeds have died (hopefully) and I used a bulb planter to put some cabbages in. 

I know you've been working flat out but have you got any veggies in anywhere yet?  I've put some spuds in sacks I found and some in an old wash basket as I had nowhere dug - still don't  :)

Keep up the good work and the posts  :)

ROY      This pic is of another allotment - not mine - but one I help out at  :)

[Heldi]

Hiya Juliet. thanks for that tip about marigolds. Will have a read about that.

Wardy,I haven't got any veggies in at all. Today though,His Madge was stopped by another allotmenteer. He has got some leeks and kohl rabi for us to grow. How nice is that! Ah I knew there would be some good souls on that plot. I am new to veg growing and don't know how to grow either leeks or kohl rabi!!

Cousin has hired a rotovator for himself and said we could have it by tomorrow night if we want. Is this a wise thing or not? Thinking about all the roots etc? Would get it turned over quicker than we imagined though. Oh I don't know what to do!!

Still need to get the fence shored up. Have got some rails for £2 each. His Madge knows someone who is a woodcutter,who knows someone who owns a sawmill.  Hopefully when HM gets some spare hours he'll get the fence sorted and then we will think about some hens.

[wardy]

Heidi   I took over my plot at the same time as two other ladies and they rotovated all their weeds.  I didn't but put mine under plastic and cardboard.  They regret rotovating now and wished they'd left well alone.  Their plot is now much weedier than when they started so they've had to start covering it over. 

Our lotty guy was inspecting our vacant plots the other day and he says they were looking for prospective half plots.  They were looking at the plot next to mine as the guy who rents it only uses a little corner of it and the rest is going to rack and ruin.  Hmmm tempting  ;D

[Heldi]

We didn't rotaate as cousin took ages doing whatever he was doing with it! I did seem to remember having read somewhere that rotavating could cause more of a weed problem. I shall have to pass on your message to His Madge as conformation of our doubts!

Go on get yourself some more lottie! You know you want to !

[Heldi]

ok I have alot of pictures to show you.  I have not been going to the allotment as I've felt very,very,VERY depressed about all the glass and rubbish. Last week though, with the help of OH we decided to get some hens and now it has given me a new lease of life. I have taken a ceep breath with my two year old and let her roam,apart from her trying to pick glass up once we have been fine. My son is very keen to go now too... because of the hens!

[Heldi]

I hope I can get these in some kind of order so you can atleast follow what I've been up !

It started with the pallet fence really which enabled us to get the hens in the first place.

[Heldi]

I've been making the brick path to mainly bury the glass shards...I'm so sick of them. OH has been constructing a run for the chooks so I can let them out and not worry about them.  The black plastic is mainly covering up wood which will be put into the shed soon as I am absolutely papping myself about bonfire night.

[Heldi]

Well I hope you enjoyed those pics. It is only one small area of the garden. The rubbish is dissipating through various means...one being a "no mans" area which will be blocked off forever.  I'll take some pics of the rest of it asap. I'm wanting to fortify the perimeter fences now all the way around and grow lots of stuff up the fences to enclose the garden and make it more private and more secure. As you maybe can tell I'm in a very vulnerable spot.  I'm looking for fast growing plants/trees/shrubs/climbers so any ideas would be very helpful. Especially if you know they grow fast from cuttings or seeds.

[wardy]

Looking good Heidi  :)  yes, it does look vulnerable  :(  Your pallet fence looks a good job though

Great news about chooks.  I want some but old man he say no.  Mind you if I want chickens I'll have em.  Mind you my mate sells me free range eggs so it's not desparate  :)

The getting rid of all the glass is a pain in the bum.  Mine went to dump over a period of months but thankfully it's now all just a distant memory  :)

I found a bit of that reinforcing mesh stuff and used it to grow my cucumbers up and also a wire office tray which I use as a sieve  :)

[Heldi]

Guess what my ever so helpful OH did on Saturday... He decided to stand on a 5 gallon drum whilst knocking a post in on the pen he is building. Not being the lightest joe on the block he went straight through it. What did it contain? Only blinking diesel. :o All over the shop. OH was drenched in the stuff and had to go straight home,clothes into bin etc.

Muggins here has been digging out the soil and lifting the flagstones today. What a rotten stinky job. The only thing that might have eased the pain >:( of the job would have been if I'd seen him do it...I'd have laughed my socks off! ;D

I've finally got him to admit that it was a stupid thing to do, especially as if he had only peeped inside the shed, there is a stool right by the door.  ::)

Men!!!

[Juliet]

Oh no, Heldi, what a pain!  I was just in the middle of a reply to your previous post saying what a good job you've been doing with the rubbish, & now you've got diesel to clear as well.  Anyway, I hope having the chickens there inspires you to keep going!

I'm looking for fast growing plants/trees/shrubs/climbers so any ideas would be very helpful. Especially if you know they grow fast from cuttings or seeds.

As far as fortifying the fences is concerned, forsythia, winter jasmine, kerria, and buddleia all grow fast and are pretty tough - not sure how fast they grow from cuttings but relatively small plants will turn into large ones fairly rapidly.  Bamboo is supposed to grow very quickly indeed - haven't tried growing it myself, but no doubt someone else would be able to suggest varieties - all I know is you'd need to get one of the clumping ones so it doesn't get too invasive.  Or if you want a prickly border pyracantha & rosa rugosa both grow reasonably fast & are very prickly indeed - you'd need to teach the children not to touch them, but they should keep unwanted people out!  You could make a mixed hedge of pyracanthas with different coloured berries (eg golden charmer, orange glow, red column for yellow, orange, & red respectively) &/or rugosas with different coloured flowers (eg scabrosa, rubra, alba for pink, wine-red, & white).
Best of luck!

[Icyberjunkie]

On the fast growing hedge aspect what about raspberries, brambles or gooseberries - an additional crop, spiky to boot and easy to train!

[Svea]

and, for 'seasonal' shielding, grow runner beans along the fences. not prickly but shields the views, and what they cant see they might not be interested in.....

[bupster]

Could you build up your fence? I'm thinking tall canes and chickenwire. It will look flimsy, but that in itself is quite offputting to people thinking of breaking in - much easier to vault, say, a sturdy wall, than to negotiate a metre of wobbly chickenwire. That would be an immediate short-term barrier, and would be enough to train a fast-growing hedge upon. Brambles would be a great idea but you'll have to commit to being at your plot often or they'll take over; I believe raspberries can be nearly as bad. However, if you're ok with being there at least once a week regardless of weather/vandals/rubbish etc (and I suppose you'll have to be with chooks? Dead jealous) then you could have a cracking fence/hedgerow full of fruit and the kids would love it as well. :D

[chuff]

I thought my plot was in a state. Speak to your allotment manager see if he can arrange to have it taken away by the council. I was under the impresion that plots have to be cleared before they are let, perhaps it depends on the council, if it is a council allotment?

[wardy]

Not many lotty sites have Managers.  Our council has no allotment officers or even ground staff so it's DIY all the way here  :)

[Heldi]

 Cheers guys,thanks for the suggestions for fortifications. Really pleased.

 On the other side of the pallet fence are some brambles. Although it it is a great for keeping people out it had actually pushed the old fence over into the allotment! I've kept the brambles behind the pallets and although you can't see it very clearly I've got some wire stuff...think it's the stuff used with cement, to heighten the fence.  The rest of the perimeter is in a ramshackle state and  is falling outwards into the lane.

I'm trying to beg and borrow. Reluctant to say steal but I did pinch some pyracantha cuttings from a scratty council area the other day and I've got some berberis cuttings from a car park!  Well the council will do nothing to help with the allotments so I helped myself. Bad Helly. Juliet a different coloured pyracantha hedge would look brilliant.  I'm trying to cover up all the metal bits and pieces as well as keep people out,just to make it look a bit more easy on the eye.

Had a long chat with a committee member who seems to think the council wants to be rid of the lotties if at all possible. Mind you he was in a right miserable mood that day. the sky was falling in and all that. I was promised a skip way back but it has not ever arrived so I'm trying to just get on with stuff and not make a fuss.

My allotment committee is like a blinking secret society. 

Anyway the hen pen is finished and I've been trying to dig out the remains of the old greenhouse today.    The area I'm concentrating on looks a tip again! Never mind,I'll get there.Hit my head on a post at about tea time and have had a cracking headache ever since!

[wardy]

I know what you mean about lotty society - our is too.  They don't want newbies is the conclusion I've come to.  Now I know why so many folks don't go near the shed - I've only been to take my order in (well, I haven't - I made the old man do it)  I had cause to go to the shed a month or so ago and a bloke had a right go at me.  I was ever so shocked I could have cried.  The place was packed and no-one stood up for me so I'm barely on nodding terms with any of em
 :(

[Heldi]

Jeez Wardy what was that for!  Pain in the backside some of these people aren't they.  Most people...or should I say, the blokes don't speak to me but they'll speak to OH. I don't go in the shed either but I think I might out of shear bloody mindedness. 'Specially after what happened to you.  I know there will be a chorus of "weed kill your plot".  Don't want to  and they shouldn't have let it go unused for 6 years and then rent  it out to the moron who took a hammer to the glasshouse and then let him get away without clearing it up.  Funny what you hear form a disgruntled committee member isn't it! I hope to bump into him some more!

[Derekthefox]

Only just managed to get to this thread ! ! !
The transformation from start to finish is always amazing, I think that is why allotments are so satisfying ...
You seem to be doing everything in a logical manner, I agree about the glass for instance, it is not worth keeping when the risks are considered.

Well done, I hope to see more pictures, including those of your chickens ...

Good luck!!!

Derekthefox :D