Blog and a net

We popped up to the plot to check the greenhouse, especially to water stuff in it because it has been quite hot. All was well and there was a note from Kim and Andy who are one of our newer plot holders. Kim is suggesting that we have a blog for the whole site. Why not? I sent her an email pointing to this blog. I would contribute to a joint one but keep this one going as my diary.

While we were there I covered our cabbages with some netting. We bought the netting and canes from the Kenilworth Avenue Allotment Society. Jean wanted some seed compost and we asked for John Innes No1, but they don't keep it. They say loam based seed and cutting compost is much more popular so we bought some of that. Lets see what Jean thinks of it.

Tap those weeds

I fitted the new tap - a bit fiddly but otherwise easy. The flow from the tap seems fine and it's much easier than using the old tap which was really a stop valve for a washing machine. I've made it so that I can remove the tap completely in the winter so frost is not a problem.

Jean has now weeded the plot from end to end. There was quite a lot of weeds, but because there has been no rain they haven't sprouted like they might. If the forecast rain ever comes we should have made some inroads against the worst of the weeds.

The plants in the greenhouse are sprouting. The beetroot has started to show and the parsnips are now showing leaves. Sweet peas are going great guns - we might have to plant them out soon, so I need to build the wigwam frames that I'm hoping they will climb. Outside the spinach is OK, the broad beans are beginning to really thrive and the garlic is growing well. Last year we planted some winter onions which I think are supposed to be ready in the next couple of months. They are fattening up, but not showing any signs of a bulb yet. I've not sure how long they will take to form.
Last year we stuck some cuttings from the fruit bushes into the ground and most of them seem to be growing. This is great - we really want more black currants. Things are a bit later than last year, but I think we were in a hurry

Carrot bed

A bit cold and grey, with some mistiness from time to time, so a bit of work needed to get the blood moving. I cut up an old door into four parts and screwed them together into a carrot bed. The sides should be high enough to keep carrot fly out, but we can always put a fleece lid over it. I put some earth and the contents of last-year's grow bag into the frame to improve the soil a little. I also trimmed and tidied up the little benches we use around the site, usually to have something to work on at a reasonable height. Lastly I watered the carrot bed, the asparagus and the broad beans. The surface of the soil is just dust and although it is damp below the surface it dries very quickly if you turn the soil. We need rain, but none is forecast. Jean raked the ground ready for our onion sets and then weeded about half the plot.

Seeds and frost

Today we went to the allotment society in Kenilworth Avenue to see what seeds they had. We had a list with the plants and variety we would like. We got most stuff but no dwarf french beans. I'm wondering if we should leave them for another year, plenty of time to decide yet. As usual the seeds come with a 25% discount to members, so my 50p membership fee saved me £4. We also saw a mini greenhouse, which has four shelves covered by a plastic skin and a zip-up door at the front. We have one at home already, but the plastic skin is cracking and one of the shelf supports has broken. It really is a great thing to have against the house wall. It lets us harden off plants in a small space. The new one will probably get used alongside the old repaired one, which we have had foor many years and overflowed last year.

There is a heavy frost forecast for tonight. It could get down to -10°C, which is unusual here. It has been unusually cold for the last week or so, so the winter rain has fallen as snow. We have not seen too much snow, though there may be more to come. The forecast for a very sharp frost has prompted me to drain the water pipes on the allotment tanks so the pipes don't burst, I hope it works. The water in the tanks should be OK, they can push the lid off if needed and they have old plastic bottles in them so the ice can crush them as it expands and not burst the sides of the tank, hopefully.

The very cold spell, which is forecast to continue for a couple of weeks yet, means we have delayed planting any seeds. We would have planted our broad beans by now, but they will just catch up later.

Civil engineering

I have replaced the stands under the water butts. It felt like a big job - I used chunky timber to be sure it could take the weight and the result looks very tidy and strong. We took some trouble to level it which should help support the weight of the water butts. The pipework connecting the guttering on both sides had come apart and may have been leaking for a while - the ground under the shed seems very wet. It's not a great photo, but it shows the frame and the new space carefully created to store the wheelbarrow and other such stuff.

The tomatoes are still producing fruit and the leeks just get better and better. We'll be working on the greenhouse extension before long.

What a heap

The autumn cleanup has begun. We have decided to weed the empty spaces, put some manure on the ground and leave it until the spring. That way the manure will be drawn into the ground by worms over the winter. When we dig it in the spring the ground should be lightened and fed ready for our next season.

The local riding school cleared their manure heap earlier in the year by spreading it on the surrounding fields, so I wasn't too sure what we would find. I drove to the site, following a tractor pulling a farm trailer about half full of muck. The driver dumped it onto the heap, which I was surprised to find was once again huge. We took two loads away in our trailer and we will be back for at least one more.

The rest of our plot is doing well. Our leeks are fantastic - I think they're still getting better. The parsnips we've had are lovely. I'm letting them grow a little more until their leaves begin to yellow. The spring onions have finished but there are still some beetroot and cabbages to take.

I need to urgently rebuild the support for the water butts. The existing ones are too flimsy and are beginning to buckle. I underestimated how the relentless weight would bear down on the stands. There are two butts, and when full each weighs over 210kgs. I've ordered some timber for the new stand, more details to follow ...

Stawberry fields forever

The strawberry beds are both covered with netting, supported with stakes. I really am looking forward to these berries, I've only ever managed a couple of tiny strawberries before. The nets should keep the birds off, but the slugs might have a party yet.

We get mains water from two sources, both have tanks with float valves, but one also has a screw fitting that a hosepipe can be fitted to. Both tanks are about the same distance from our plot - so we are the furthest from water. I tried to set up a siphon from the tank without the hose fitting which is scarcely used. It just about worked but the fall is so low the flow was no more than a trickle. A pump would make it work well, but for now I'll stick to the hose fitting. So far this year we have only used rain water gathered from the shed roof, but if the lack of rain continues we may need a top up.

Watering

We've been up to water in the greenhouse - things were ready for water it's been warm and sunny. I watered the asparagus and checked how it's getting on - there are now eleven out of the twelve plants showing, with the first shoots about 30cm long. Some are a bit spindly but they've got a year to fatten up. I watered the parsnips in the bed. They're a bit puny, but they are growing.

I've done a bit of work on the auto watering system, my embryonic timing system seems to work, so now I need to test the motor switching, the timing control system and the indicators, then it needs testing, then ruggedising and installing. Then it might work.

Water, water ...

We popped up to the allotment today to check things out, especially checking that things in the greenhouse are not drying out. They were fine, it has been cold and cloudy for the last few days so they are not dry. This ritual will be repeated throughout the summer and if we put peppers or tomatoes in the greenhouse it will be even more important as the heat increases (if it ever does). I am now thinking of how to water things automatically. We have water butts collecting rainwater, they're full to the brim right now, but the pipework doesn't give much pressure at all because the butts are below the shed gutters to catch the water so have no head to make the pressure, and as the level changes when there's no rain and we use the water the pressure will drop. We also have no power to drive a pump or the like. I'm thinking of how to water things reliably, possibly with solar power. If I get past go I'll describe the set up (and the results) here.

Broad beans are looking good, but not as good as Norman's next door, which have flowers showing. Rhubarb is not far off and the remains of last year's spinach is growing too. Parsnips are fine in their little tents.