Little By Little

The clouds heavy most of the afternoon. It was extremely hot and when we finally got a little shower it was a relief, though the ground could do with a bit more of a soaking.

We were using Jamie's new Kelly Kettle for hot drinks. It's really good. It only needs bits of dry sticks, grass and paper to get the flames roaring up the chimney and the water, which surrounds the chimney, is boiling in a few minutes - saves making up a flask whenever we're expecting a long session on the plot.

And it caters for the natural urge to burn things when we're not allowed a fire!

Jamie made up two brassica cages on Plot 3 so little by little the gaps are filling up: the runner beans and Brussels sprouts (2 x green Nelson and 1 x Red) and a Goldmine courgette is planted on Plot 7. I was potting on geraniums for the plant sale tomorrow for much of the time and then I planted the two Speedy dwarf french beans into a bag in the greenhouse - we'll be sowing/planting more outside in a few weeks time.

Both the Lark and the Glass Gem sweetcorn have nearly all germinated so it won't be long before they're planted out too.

Lark

Glass Gem

I'm pleased to say that the flowers are growing ok so far, still 14 sunflowers and look at the bargain poppy - beautiful!

Oasis provide the title track.

Booooiiinnnggg!

It's officially Spring!

And the sun came out for the Northern hemisphere's Spring equinox, as days become longer than nights (even though that's been the case for a couple of days actually. I guess it's some sort of astronomical licence).

We enjoyed listening to the birds who were singing sweetly in the sunshine while we struggled with roots, weeds, strawberry canes and stones. But Hooray! We managed to finish the section on Plot3. We're hoping to plant some potatoes here but there are a lot of roots to contend with...

A few plotholders and neighbouring gardens had fires today. We started one but the couch grass and raspberry twigs were still a bit too wet still so we left it for another day. Shame, I do love a bonfire.

We left with the moon to our East...

 and the sun to the West. I look forward to more of this Spring weather!

Gotta Love Fire

What a fabulous afternoon yesterday! 15° and blue sky all the way - really Spring-like.

And, what fun, we had a fire to get rid of all the rotten wood, bamboo canes and clippings that we don't want to put in the compost bin. Who needs an excuse for a fire?!

We used the HAHA shared incinerator to keep it under control as the wind blew up a few times. The sage and rosemary clippings meant the smoke smelled lovely though!

We also spent some time making up a raised bed for our silverskin onions and, probably beetroots. We mixed some manure with the compost from last year's sunflower pots, so maybe we'll have sunflowers in that raised bed too...!

I filmed a timelapse on my phone, unfortunately the wire I used to attach it to the pole managed to cut right across the lens - tut! But I still quite like the video of us riddling, sieving, mixing and having tea breaks :-)

I showed a newcomer round the site and she's now a tenant of one of the larger plots; on such a beautiful day, I'm not surprised she was so taken with the site and wants to start growing straightaway!
The site was the busiest it's been in months, with cars even having to park on the grass - this is the start of the fun times...

It's a grey day out of the window this morning, so we're off to Charlton Park Garden Centre to buy some spuds...

A very Good Friday!

I know! It looks like a fake! This is actual blue sky over the allotment today! It was quite unexpected but so welcome.

We managed about 4 hours of digging, chatting, digging, burning, digging and chatting. So nice to see our fellow allotment holders.

We managed to burn the waste that's been waiting on Plot 8 for months. Unfortunately the rusted bottom of the HAHA incinerator disintegrated during the process but we got a good fire going and Kerry joined in the pyromania with her dried waste too :-)

The ash from the fire was mixed into the area where we're sowing wildflowers and night stocks this year.







Jamie dug over this year's potato quarter and mixed in some of the 6X fertiliser. The potatoes won't be going in just yet but at least the plot is completely ready for them now.

All the while we were digging we could hear the contestants in the Devizes to Westminster canoe race going by on the Kennet and Avon Canal. I spied through the hedge for a time and managed to get this shot. I bet the canoeists were happy that it wasn't quite so cold today, but I'm not surprised they needed the big gloves!

We went home achey but happy that we left the plot looking worked, if not really growing yet!

I actually spotted a different insect on the plot today so will be updating the wildlife blog, once I've identified this beastie with the help of the Wildaboutbritain forum ...

Clearing & Burning

It's been grey, misty but mild today. There were a few of us on the site - all with the same plan; to clear the ground and make it ready for Winter.
We spent a few hours clearing  and Jamie did some digging. We managed to get a fire going in the incinerator. We burned the remains of the sweet peas and peas and anything else we could find! The ashes were later dug into an empty space where the potatoes will grow next year - they generally like a bit of potash (not too much though or it can cause scab).


Burn, burn, burn!

We've cleared a lot of the calendula - still loads more to clear but at least we can see and use our wobbly path again now to get to the compost bins! We took two bagfuls of green waste home - seedheads and weeds which we don't want to sow next year.

Cleared all round the seat and compost bins

All the non-seed parts of the calendula went into the compost bins - we chopped the stems into smaller sections so that they'll compost down a bit quicker. Jamie mixed the fresh stuff in with the already-rotting compost. Both bins are pretty much full now but hopefully it will rot down a bit before we clear the next area of calendula!

Hedging Day

It was the first visit to the allotment for a week and it was a foggy start. The last week has been noticeably darker in the morning but I didn't think it was particularly cold. However, there had clearly been a frost - the squashes have definitely had it now.

Frosted squash

Something had enjoyed the last of our Rocky cucumbers! Not sure if it was a mouse or a slug - or a few of each!


Just hollowed-out skins left

We didn't do anything to our plot today (though I had intended to plant garlic) as it was a HAHA workday. And when the fog had cleared it was a lovely sunny day for it.
We cut back the hedging which was growing through the rabbit fencing and strimmed some of the overgrown communal areas. It was quite exhausting but a nice way to spend the day, though there was some guilt in cutting off the lovely rosehips and other berries - we left plenty for the birds though. It's been so wet recently that we got soaked by the dripping hedge but managed to finish all the way round the site.


Zoe and Alison

The brambles, hawthorn, ivy and other cuttings were piled onto the communal area and Jamie and I attempted to burn it...

Firestarter/Smoke breather

Unfortunately there was more smoke than fire and the wet green cuttings were really not wanting to burn so we've left the big pile to dry off for a bit (hopefully we'll get the Indian summer we've read about).

The barbecue was rather more successful and made for a welcome break for a chat - shame for the workers who couldn't stay for the grub though!

Faffing on the plot

We did some work on our plot in the afternoon. Jamie has dug half of the potato quarter - it's hard work with lots of roots, but it looks pretty good now.
I cleared the cabbage frame and did a bit of digging but mainly faffed about as I was too tired after the stone-work in the morning - what a wimp :-)

Pyromaniac

I did enjoy burning weeds and anything else I could find in the communal incinerator on our plot - it's the first stuff we've burned rather than composting or taking home for the bin. We spread the ashes on the potato plot, but there weren't many.
I cleared the chard (and burned it of course!).Previous years we've seen chard survive the winter, even when it was really snowy, but the -11° took it's toll this year so I'll sow afresh.

Also have decided to try growing salsify this year. We've had good and bad reports on it but may as well give it a try and it seems we'll have space.
The weather was lovely, warm and sunny and so nice to see lots of other busy allotmenteers. We (Jamie would say I!) spent a lot of time chatting and looking at the birds. We saw buzzards and kites overhead and also a kestrel plus our usual visitors. It really was a beautiful day.

I know it's not a very good pic, but it's a buzzard