Allotments 4 All

Well, I'm certainly going to do a bit of recreational digging.  It's only a bit of frost; the ground won't be that hard.  There's just one last bit to do, and one raised bed to dig over, and the whole lottie will be rescued from its former jungle.  :)

Plus I've got some wooden compost bins to put up, and maybe transfer some of the huuuuuuuuge and straggly compost heap into them.

That should do.  ;D

Wardy.. Love the wellies!!!
   
UC. Hope the selection I sent you was OK.
   
I did venture out in the garden and did some real tidying up, didn't get as far as starting the removal of the conifers. Also had a good look round greenhouse. Since "drying" out the geraniums a bit  the problem of spots on underneath of leaves seems to be cured so as somebody suggested (sorry without searching can't remember who it was) the problem seems to have been dampness.
Forecast looks good for weekend.    Lorna.

I am out visiting on Saturday, so no gardening for me. The first opportunity will be Sunday afternoon, hopefully any frost will be softened, so I can carry on with my clearance. If not, then the greenhouse needs clearing out, plus numerous other jobs. There is never a shortage of activities ...

Derekthefox :D

PS Brilliant Wellies , Wardy !

creosoting the garden sheds for me

I'll be putting in the last of the overwintering onions. There's been a bit of frost here but nothing too hard.

Hi Guys.

Jimbo the Newby here.  I'm hoping to do a little digging, as my new allotment is rather trampled under foot and I need to get some air into the soil.

If it rains, then several trips to the Horse Stables for sack of free horse manure.

I'm, just going to hide behind a shed and watch daisymay an manuel trying to remember which plot is their's      :P

I'm going to build a double composter bin out of old pallets,
last year i salvaged some huge packing cases from work and converted them into 8ft square raised beds trouble is they are to big. So i intend to turn them into 8x3's.
when that's done i guess i'll stop for a cuppa  ;D

BTW daisymay & OH , I have sourced an unlimited supply of wooden palettes (is that the right spelling ?) if you are interested     {:¬)#

Up until today i have only had a quarter allotment but today i found out i can take the neighbouring quarter as well ;D, so it looks like i am digging all weekend, as it is a mass of weeds, rocks and and lumpy bits!! Heres hoping the ground wont be too solid.

Is it to late to plant daffodil bulbs?  I've got about 50 that i wanted to plant a couple of weeks ago, but then did my back in and couldn't walk!!

My plot's a bit of a curate's egg right now; frozen hard and undiggable in places, OK elsewhere. I managed to do a bit of work despite the cold. I'm a bit worried about the gunnera; it was sitting in a frozen 12-inch pot, which I've now sunk and covered in a barrowload of dead leaves. Time will tell. Elsewhere, someone had forgotten to turn off the water supply, and a couple of the pipes under the taps had burst, spraying water everywhere, and producing some spectacular icicles in the hedges.

I've had a day off from the lottie today, did tooooo much yesterday.  I am gradually getting it ready for next year.  Dug over and limed the cabbage bed, the rest is being manured apart from the one bed for roots. Still haven't moved the raspberries though and the strawberries need sorting.  I've got a ton of manure arriving tomorrow and it has to be carried up a dozen stone steps and wheeled down to my patch! Don't think I'll do much digging after that!
Not sure how old it is yet, so I'm going to heap it and cover.
Q: Should I put something like plastic under it or just plonk it on bare soil?

Love your wellies, Wardy. Here's mine!

Wow, Myrtle!! Well, nearly finished all my mucking and covering. Ran out of old membrane so raided the local dump, and got loads of carpet, was grabbing it off one lady as she went by!! Still got few more areas to cover, but that'll have to wait til tomorrow...am knackered now!!
Lottie  ;D

I've got some black plastic too - to cover the manure heap, but have no idea when I'll be able to get up there during the week in order to cover it!

I guess there won't be much in the way of leaching while this cold weather holds.
I didn't get up there at the weekend as it was just too darn cold to be able to dig. Really was frozen solid (my back garden has still not unfrozen from the start of last week!)

moonbrrrbells

Have collected said poo and the nice farmer had left it all sacked up at the gate for me and son No.2 to collect. Wasn't that kind of him? Couldn't get it all in the back of the van though, there was soooo much. Got to the lottie, son carried each sack up the steps, I got the barrow and guess what?  Yep, flat tyre!!! Between us we managed to manhandle it to my lottie and for now 'tis still in the sacks. Lovely black stuff!!!  My son thinks (nay knows) I am completely bananas for getting excited over a load of poo!  ;D

Thanks Dominique for advice on the plastic, I shall heap it out onto some I have spare.  Looks more lottie like in a heap, don't you think?  :)

Am crying over beans and peas and cabbage seedlings that can't go in due to rock like soil....might have to pot them on as v. congested in trays....should have been quicker, like I was with other beans, safely under fleece.

Quote from: AikenDrum on November 18, 2005, 21:41:36
BTW daisymay & OH , I have sourced an unlimited supply of wooden palettes (is that the right spelling ?) if you are interested     {:¬)#

excellent!! sounds good. Always come in handy. Manuel is always (talking about)  building stuff  :)

H

Quote from: AikenDrum on November 18, 2005, 21:12:54
I'm, just going to hide behind a shed and watch daisymay an manuel trying to remember which plot is their's :P

LOL - v funny! is quite easy it is the only one that is 2 ft tall at the front - not so sure what we are growing there - is meant to be fodder radish (green manure) but we appear to have allsorts!!

Did make it down on our bikes for about 5 mins on Saturday, to discover we have managed to pick a plot that is so in the shade in winter the frost had clearly not melted for at least 3 days! ooopps! was so rock solid was nothing we could do!

not too worried - just know for next year to plant our over winter stuff on the half that is in the sun

(onions, leeks, garlic are all in the shade ATM)

still smiling  ;D

Crickey, my nasturtiums looked sad! Had frozen fingers (despite the gloves) after pulling them all up. Funny how they smell like cooked runner beans! That bed is not covered in some lovely horse manure with cardboard on top (cat defenses). Was going to sow my sweet peas, but the packet (free from mag) was empty when I opened it. Oh well - should really have noticed as they are rather chunky seeds! oops.

Also thought I'd better bring my purple sage in for the winter. It survived last year, but I doubt it will this year. So it's now on the kitchen window sill - lovely to have the smell indoors! Even at about 3pm on saturday the compost in the pot was frozen solid at the top. Already?

I cut my sage back at this time of year and open freeze the leaves. It just gets a bit mouldy in this soggy part of Yorkshire in winter if I leave it...