1st February 2007
I’ve got an allotment! Had a phone call on Monday from an Irish chappie saying a plot had become available and I could go take a look at it to decide if I wanted to take it. He told me it was a bit “dirty” and would probably take a lot of work to get it into a decent state, so I was expecting the worst. When I went down and had a look I was quite surprised – firstly at how big the plot was (my mind started running wild about all the extra vegetables I’d have space to grow! And then about how good it looked – I was expecting loads of rubbish and masses of brambles and nettles and stuff. Okay, so it was covered in grass and a couple of patches of brambles, but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. So I said I’d take it, and the nice Irish chappie looked at me and asked me if I was sure (which made me reconsider for a second!) but I said yes and so the plot is mine! Saturday was my first day down there and I did a bit of clearing – got rid of the brambles and a load a dry grass and weeds, and covered over an area with a tarpaulin I had found in the compost bins. Hopefully that will give me a helping hand with the weeds. Think I’ll have a bonfire with all the dead stuff if the site allows it. I also met a couple of nice people, my two neighbours. Both were very welcoming and said I have a lot of hard work ahead of me but wished me luck with it. One even gave me a barrow-load of strawberry runners to plant! I spent about 4 hours down there and was quite pleased with the start I had made. I went down again on Sunday and met another man who had owned the plot a few years ago. He lent me two more large sheets of plastic and helped me to cover another big patch. He was really nice and came back over with a bag of potatoes for me to take home! My next-plot-but-one neighbour cam along and introduced himself and gave me a load of advice about the best times to plant things and was keen to promote planting potatoes! Hadn’t planned to grow potatoes but I suppose if they can be planted quite early then at least they can be getting on with growing in the first bit of ground I prepare whilst I get on with preparing more space for when the other things can be planted. As most of the ground was now covered with the plastic, I didn’t have much left to do other than start to dig, so that’s what I did! I had started off by raking up more dead grass and came across some green tops sticking out of the ground and thought they looked like parsnips as there was a cream top sticking out too. I dug around them and pulled up a root about 4 inches long, but when I sniffed it I was disappointed because it didn’t smell like parsnip at all. It did however smell really familiar and then I realised it smelled like horseradish! I dug loads up and piled it up, all pleased with my first harvest! Later on though, one of my neighbours didn’t seem convinced that it was horseradish, so I will have to check before I eat it! Anyway, that had started me off with digging the ground and I was really pleased to find that it was quite easy to turn over and was nice and crumbly but held its shape when squished into a ball, just how the books describe good soil – yey! So by the end of the day I had managed to fork over a 3’ by 15’ patch, ready for either my strawberry runners or a set of spuds!
I’ve got an allotment! Had a phone call on Monday from an Irish chappie saying a plot had become available and I could go take a look at it to decide if I wanted to take it. He told me it was a bit “dirty” and would probably take a lot of work to get it into a decent state, so I was expecting the worst. When I went down and had a look I was quite surprised – firstly at how big the plot was (my mind started running wild about all the extra vegetables I’d have space to grow! And then about how good it looked – I was expecting loads of rubbish and masses of brambles and nettles and stuff. Okay, so it was covered in grass and a couple of patches of brambles, but it wasn’t as bad as I had thought. So I said I’d take it, and the nice Irish chappie looked at me and asked me if I was sure (which made me reconsider for a second!) but I said yes and so the plot is mine! Saturday was my first day down there and I did a bit of clearing – got rid of the brambles and a load a dry grass and weeds, and covered over an area with a tarpaulin I had found in the compost bins. Hopefully that will give me a helping hand with the weeds. Think I’ll have a bonfire with all the dead stuff if the site allows it. I also met a couple of nice people, my two neighbours. Both were very welcoming and said I have a lot of hard work ahead of me but wished me luck with it. One even gave me a barrow-load of strawberry runners to plant! I spent about 4 hours down there and was quite pleased with the start I had made. I went down again on Sunday and met another man who had owned the plot a few years ago. He lent me two more large sheets of plastic and helped me to cover another big patch. He was really nice and came back over with a bag of potatoes for me to take home! My next-plot-but-one neighbour cam along and introduced himself and gave me a load of advice about the best times to plant things and was keen to promote planting potatoes! Hadn’t planned to grow potatoes but I suppose if they can be planted quite early then at least they can be getting on with growing in the first bit of ground I prepare whilst I get on with preparing more space for when the other things can be planted. As most of the ground was now covered with the plastic, I didn’t have much left to do other than start to dig, so that’s what I did! I had started off by raking up more dead grass and came across some green tops sticking out of the ground and thought they looked like parsnips as there was a cream top sticking out too. I dug around them and pulled up a root about 4 inches long, but when I sniffed it I was disappointed because it didn’t smell like parsnip at all. It did however smell really familiar and then I realised it smelled like horseradish! I dug loads up and piled it up, all pleased with my first harvest! Later on though, one of my neighbours didn’t seem convinced that it was horseradish, so I will have to check before I eat it! Anyway, that had started me off with digging the ground and I was really pleased to find that it was quite easy to turn over and was nice and crumbly but held its shape when squished into a ball, just how the books describe good soil – yey! So by the end of the day I had managed to fork over a 3’ by 15’ patch, ready for either my strawberry runners or a set of spuds!
First load of pics...
The first day of work, clearing up...
Found a toad...
Then I dig some digging...
Gorgeous skies too...
Monday 5th February 2007
Just been down to the plot again – was all ready and prepared to go to work and remembered that I had booked the day off! Another day for digging – woohoo! It was so quiet and peaceful, I think I could spend every day down there. I got stuck in and finished off the strip and also dug out a bramble stump. Well, as much of it as I could get at, those roots don’t half get about! I’d made some pea and ham soup this morning so I had some of that in my flask, just what I needed at lunchtime. I dug a small patch at the front of the plot and sowed some sweet peas then covered them over with s sheet of pvc. Not sure if they will be okay with all the frost we’ve been getting, but hopefully the plastic will protect them and they will get a nice early start! I got a fab surprise too. As it was my birthday on Friday, my friends at work got me a pressie - £30 of garden centre vouchers! Bonus! Just have to decide what to buy with them now…
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