Bin There

A very good friend of mine came to the allotment a couple of weeks ago (she made a "guest appearance" last year) and loves it so much there that every time she is in the country we try and spend a day there doing a few jobs.

Our plan was to construct a leaf mould bin, which we did as follows:-

We used 8 garden canes approx 3' high
chicken wire mesh with small holes

We threaded the canes through the mesh at intervals and hammered these canes into the ground at four corners to the desired size. A further cane was put into the fourth corner to make a sturdy edge and then the edges "sewed" together to strengthen the corner. The other canes were put half way along the outer edge of the bin to keep the edges straight. All in all it looks pretty good. As I had a couple of sacks of rotting leaf mould already at the top of the site, it was an easy job to empty the sacks into the newly made bin, give it a bit of a fork over and leave them to continue rotting. Job completed. Now I just need to collect the umpteen sacks of slowly rotting leaves raked up from my mum's lawn and transport them to the newly made bin.

Green Spaces

I ordered my seeds with great excitement at the end of January and was rather disappointed that after 3 weeks they had still not arrived. In previous years they would be with me within a week of posting them off, so I was rather surprised that they were taking so long. I decided to phone the supplier (I won't tell you who I use!) and after a little bit of questioning I discovered that my order had been sent to the wrong address - so someone has had a rather nice present of a few thousand seeds!

I was told that it would be another week before they would arrive as they had to do a repeat order, but that not to worry they would be with me soon.

Whilst waiting for the seeds to arrive I took the opportunity of clearing out the greenhouse and trying to maximise the space on the shelves as much as possible so that I can use every inch of space that I can.

I have one long shelf which is completely clear and is waiting (for the seeds to arrive!) and another shelf above which is a half shelf. This is at the top of the greenhouse just under the roof so it is quite a sun trap.

We also have a patio greenhouse which has 4 shelves in it and I use this for beginning to harden off plants once they have reached a certain size. I have also purchased a small cold frame (which I need to construct) and I will take this to the allotment for hardening off the plants completely before planting them out in their final positions. So they will go from greenhouse to patio greenhouse to cold frame to soil. Sounds a bit like a slow conveyor belt.

Marked Out

On Monday last week Peter came with me to the allotment for the first time in ages. Our mission was to mark out exactly where all the different beds would be and with the aid of string and sticks/skewers we marked out 4 main beds with paths of approx 18" between each one. We marked out a bed for strawberries at the top of the plot, a herb bed next to where the leaf mould bin will be, a spinach bed which is in between my daughter's bed and the second compost bin site (these are at the bottom of the plot).

It doesn't sound like much but it took us the best part of 1½ hours to decide, measure and mark out all these different beds with paths in between. It was a job that needed two pairs of hands.

We also moved the compost bin from the top of the site (which in future years I hope to make into a small flower bed) to the bottom of the site and have now started a second compost pile.

I have also acquired a wheelbarrow now that I have loads of manure to transport to the different beds, and I have to say that I wish I had bought one earlier as it's much easier to take rubbish to the bonfire pile in a wheelbarrow rather than drag sacks down the hill and empty them there. You live and learn.

What a Load of Rubbish

I was talking to one of the regular allotment chaps last week and he mentioned that he was able to get hold of horse manure in quite large quantities from a local stable and deliver it to the site. I asked if I could have some if there was any available and he said that he could get it delivered the next day (Friday). He would put it up the top of the site by the gate and I could help myself. He warned me to come and take some on Friday afternoon, or at the latest on Saturday morning, because other people from the allotment help themselves from the pile that is left there and if I didn't come fairly quickly it would all be gone.

On Friday I had to work in the morning and wasn't able to get there in the afternoon, nor was I able to go to the allotment on the Saturday morning due to something already being booked in the diary. I must confess I was a bit crestfallen and mourned the lost opportunity of this "gold dust" as other allotmenteers call it.

Two days later on the Monday I went to my patch and started the usual routine - you know, open the storage box, get the fork out, put my gloves on and survey the site. Imagine my delight when looking up and seeing a pile about 2ft high of rich, brown ready to use horse manure that had been shovelled and wheelbarrowed down to my plot. I almost fell over as I rushed up to it to make sure that my eyes weren't playing tricks. They weren't, and it was really there. I was so grateful to the two men who had worked hard on my behalf, and wanted to give them something for their work, but they insisted that "we all help each other out when we can".

All in Order

Two days ago I finally made my orders for seeds, potatoes, onions and garlic that I want to grow this year. It has taken me a few weeks to decide on what to actually grow, the variety and quantity (I don't want to run out of earth space).

My final list was as follows:-

Seeds

Runner bean White Lady

Sprouts Maximus

Courgette Defender

Cucumber Burpless Tasty Green

Leeks Bandit

Corn salad Cavalio

Land Cress

Peas Greensage

Pepper Gypsy

Perpetual spinach

Swede Magres

Salad leaves

Tomato Moneymaker

Tomato Super Marmande

Tomato Tamina

Potatoes

Ulster Sceptre - First Early

Charlotte - Second Early

Lady Balfour - Early Main

Cara - Late Main

Onions

Sturon

Red Baron

Garlic

Thermidrome

I have some seeds left over from last year that I want to see if they germinate. They are:-

parsnip, beetroot, carrot, chilli, broccoli, cauliflower and garlic chives

Looking down my lists I wonder if I will have enough space to grow everything and now that the allotment is taking shape and the beds are now defined, part of me would like to have a bigger plot so that we can grow even more. However, I have been reading up on how to extend the growing seasons so I am going to give it a go and see if I can utilise the ground even more and have crops in all 4 seasons.

In the meantime I need to clear the greenhouse shelf so that I can get planting the seeds into trays early-mid February.

Meanwhile I wait for the postman.

Made to Measure

On Monday this week I took my first trip to the allotment of the year. I was wondering what would greet me as I've not been there since new year's eve and we have had lots of rainfall since then. Although the ground was waterlogged in places, it was fairly easy to dig.

I started by getting the edging straight between the small amount of grass that will surround a little flower bed and the bed that will house the potatoes this year (bed no. 3). The fork glided into the earth and it was very easy to get a straight line. The grass was coming out in clumps and as it was full of bindweed and dandelions I must confess that I put it all into a sack and transported it down lock, stock and barrel to the bonfire site. I made 7 trips to the bonfire and on the way encountered a fox at the other end of the plot.

With the edging straight I turned my attention to digging where the potatoes will go this spring. I dug about one-sixth of the plot before it was time to leave and go home.

On Wednesday I was able to go to the allotment again and as there had been torrential rain on Tuesday, the potato plot was rather slippery in places. I made an edging line out of string and 2 skewers and have now got a nice straight line to divide off the potato bed from the 2 beds next door, one of which will house beans, peas, beetroot and chilli (bed no. 2) and the other will house broccoli, cauliflower, swede and courgette (bed no. 4). In between the beds will be a path made of bark chippings etc. of approx 18" width.

Each bed will be the width of 6 paving slabs so it is quite easy to mark out at the top, the thing is that the paving slabs at the bottom of the plot where it adoins next door's path are a totally different size, so you have to have a fairly "straight eye" and not be confused by the different slab sizes!

After all this measuring out I then started to dig the top of bed no. 1 which will house onions, garlic, leeks, carrots and parsnips. I managed to dig about one-tenth of this bed as it is much longer than the potatoes bed. I came across many worms and millipedes and some curious white round things which I guess must be eggs of some sort. They were quickly added to the bonfire plot as I didn't know what might hatch out in the future.

Now that the four main beds are basically marked out, it is a question of digging them over. Only bed no. 3 has not been dug since we took over the allotment and although it is quite compacted with us walking all over it last year, with all the rain that we have had it is not as difficult to dig as I thought.

However, there is still a lot of digging to do......................

Last Produce

Yesterday (New Year's Eve) I went to the allotment with my daughter to see if there were any potatoes left - there were still 1½ rows that had been "earthed up" and not dug. We wondered if the slugs and snails had had a really good Christmas dinner and whether they had left any potatoes for us to eat in the new year.

They have had quite a good dinner, but gladly have left us with at least 10lbs of the most delicious potatoes, which we had great delight in digging up. As the fork turned over yet another plant we were squealing with delight as we picked out potato after potato to add to the sack. We have enough potatoes for the next month or so, and then the cycle begins again as in a few days time I shall be doing my potato order for tubers to plant in the spring. Hopefully this year we will only have a few months of "non-home grown" spuds.

We also had a bonus when we were there - we found an onion (one white and one red) on each of the childrens plots, so we harvested those too and they are now drying in the greenhouse. On the subject of onions in the greenhouse we still have quite a few lbs left (especially of the red variety), which reminds me that I have discovered a marvellous receipe for using red onions. Here it is:-

Caramelised Red Onion Tart with Cheddar Cheese

2 red onions peeled and finely chopped
1 clove garlic peeled and finely chopped
1 handful of fresh (if possible) thyme
1 tbsp sugar
balsamic vinegar
shortcrust pastry
Cheddar cheese (grated)

Heat a small amount of olive oil and butter in a saucepan and add onions, garlic and thyme and cook for about 15 mins. Add the sugar to caramelise the onions and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Allow to cool a little. Make (or buy) pastry and place in fridge for 30 mins.

Roll out pastry after it has "rested" in the fridge and cut out discs. Place each disc of pastry into a bun tin and put in heaps of the onion mixture and flatten down a little. Sprinkle each tart with grated cheese and bake in oven gas mark 4 for 10 mins. Delicious!

We had these tarts as starters on Christmas Day and everyone enjoyed them immensely.

2007 was a great year for us as it was the year that my dream of an allotment was realised. We have had some trials (bindweed, rock solid earth, no rain, too much rain, potato blight, tomato blight), but it has been more than compensated for with the satisfaction of growing delicious crops to eat, being out in the fresh air and meeting new people. Am I glad that we started on this venture? You bet! See you in 2008 for more allotment stories - meanwhile I have a few fruit and vegetable catalogues to go through.......