Allotments 4 All

Just wondering what if anything anyone is sowing or planting this weekend.
My heavy clay is far too wet to dig and looks like staying that way for a while yet.

It's far too cold and wet to start sowing or planting yet and there's really not enough light for seedlings before the end of Feb or even late March in some areas.

After the big freeze I see that all my Japanese mizuna, Swiss chard, broccoli and white sprouting plus salads under cloches are frozen to a mush so if it stays fine I'll get those out of the way and ask OH to turn the compost heaps ready for spreading on beds and covering with black plastic to warm up the soil so that when I do sow, things will get away fast.   Given recent long winters here I may not be sowing anything outside till mid April.

my fruit order arrived - two pears, a damson, peach, plum, raspberries and tayberry. So busy getting them all in. I dug some holes before the big freeze - so between that and a bit of compost hopefully they will all go in ok. Need to buy a pot for the peach, although wondering if an old chicken manure tub will do for now....

Still have tullips to plant but probably wont get to that.

I have some more strawberry plants to pop into my new fruit cage, then I will be playing in the polytunnel!!  It currently stinks of rotting seaweed - but there are patches that I can work on - plus I will be putting up the baler twine supports for the beans, tomatoes etc which I use in the tunnel!

Chickens will be helping me in that they have the largest dust bath in christendom in the tunnel and they will be enjoying the dry warm'ish earth!

Outside I will also be staking and tying in my new fruit trees which I am going to train into espaliers!

A fair bit to do then at the weekend!

Happy days!

Old Bird   ;D

Have to go down to decide what to take when I move.

Going to dig up my sapling pear,cherry and plum and put them in my sons garden.Whoever has my plot after me may not like them and I have babied them so don't want them lost.

Going to take the good quality raised beds as the wood cost me a bit,son will have those too.

Don't think my shed will survive a move so that is staying.Still a good shed so think new tenant should be pleased with that.

Going to pot up some raspberries and gooseberry,not sure how well that will work.

Luckily got the tenancy till March so hopefully will have it all sorted by then.

So many things I don't want to part with but I know I will have to. :)

Crying, well almost. The heavy snow and ice have flattened our tunnels.http://www.citychickens.co.uk/

Quote from: worldor on January 22, 2010, 11:34:28
Crying, well almost. The heavy snow and ice have flattened our tunnels.http://www.citychickens.co.uk/

your blog is wonderful- very inspiring and lots of interesting pictures :)  thank you for sharing the link to it!

Hope to take a dustbin load of green waste for the compost heap - haven't really been able to get down there lately cos of the snow. I'm part of the manure team and we collected many bags of fresh horse manure on Wednesday - hopefully there will be some left and I'll put some bagfulls in one of the compost heaps too. Will probably dig up some parsnips, pick some sprouts, maybe some perpetual spinach if it hasn't been mushed by the snow. See how the broadies are doing. Cut the Autumn Bliss canes down to ground level (two patches), bit of mulching around them. Mulch a bit round the rhubarb, maybe a bin on top to force some. Mulch asparagus bed too - am I too late for mulching things? Looks like I've got two weekends work there, oh dear! Also got my spuds this week, will lay them out for chitting this weekend too. Have a look at my seed box - see what I need to buy. In other words - lots to do and think about doing!

Just looked out the window and decided on swimming.

I have more strawberry runners to plant out and need to build the 6 cheepie arches to support the raspberries - that will be in between the rain showers >:(

It is too wet here to do much in the garden. The snow has gone and the chicken run is a puddle. So I will dig that part of the garden as soon as possible. Digging up parsnips and carrots, they are great but thats all.....

Thank you detailista. My enthusiasm will come back. It always does as soon as Spring appears.

Quote from: betula on January 22, 2010, 11:09:23
Have to go down to decide what to take when I move.

Luckily got the tenancy till March so hopefully will have it all sorted by then.

So many things I don't want to part with but I know I will have to. :)

Hope this means you are only moving and not giving up veggie growing completely betula.

Glad to see enthusiasm to get out there as soon as possible and the beginnings of spring fever arriving  :)

I think as the sun is venturing out today I will get out and wash the pots and containers that got left when emptied them in December.

QuoteHave to go down to decide what to take when I move.
So many things I don't want to part with but I know I will have to.

You're moving then, Betula? It's hard to leave a garden. Will you have to wait long for a new allotment in the new place?  :(

I was feeling a bit behind with things. Potatoes and shallots arrived and I was so busy I left them in a box for a week. But they were all fine.

I've drawn up my sowing calendar, and I'm going to go for quite latish indoor sowings this year. And clearing new ground on allotment, but there's room ready for shallots, onions and potatoes now!
I feel quite contented!  :)

I planted some shallots today and started digging out a trench for runner beans.
Are moving far B?

ive got an nsalg meeting tmrw,then im going the plot to have a general tidy up,first this year! have convinced myself there isnt that much that needs doing,but know there is really

started raking some of the raised beds, lovely, crumbly soil, dug up some leeks, tidied up the polytunnel where the chickens scattered the soil and looked at my oriental leaves which are all up  ;D
nothing tomorrow as rellie visiting

A lot of the site has standing water but managed to pot up loads of bulbs and repot the pomegranates...  :)

We cleared the remains of our blown sprouts from the brassica bed. Rearranged the covers that we have over our raised beds. Lifed some leeks and parsnips. Started cleaning out the shed.

Duke :)

Still fat too muddy here to do much without damaging both ground and boots! I went up this afternoon and there were a few sturdy souls doing "tidying-up" tasks, but no digging or planting.

I put up a couple of notices on the board, saw a couple of guys about admin things, walked the site, admired how efficiently the main drainage channel that we started to re-vamp last spring was working, got rid of some of the seed potatoes that had just arrived from Kings, pulled up a few leeks and came home.