Old Photos

Here's some old photos (pre-bonfire day #1). First photo is of me, standing beside Kenny, our squash-buckling scarecrow... lol

At this stage we're still working out what is what.

hmm... so many foods to grow; chillies, tomatoes, kohl rabi, carrots, potatoes, squashes, peas... and so on. what will grow where, who yet knows,,, it's gonna be fun :o)

peace all

Happy New Year

keep shining

J

Seeds #1

By fate one of the local nursury we visited today has a '60% OFF' closing down sale. The sale started today so bargins were to be had! It seemed like the ideal chance to stock up on some seeds. We might have to go back again tomorrow and buy more.

The Beefsteak Tomato and Black Hungarian Peppers (not shown) are our first seed to be sown indoors at 21-23c.

Bird Box #1

Bird Boxes will be an important feature of allotment19. The first box has an alternative design featuring a rooftop alpine garden...lol

The box has been placed outside to weather-in before being fixed to our shed. (this helps remove the scent of humans).

Front Tree

This tree sits at the front of our plot.

It marks the boarder between our plot and nextdoor.

Standing bold against a crisp Winter's sky it looks quite majestic. One of the committee members has informed me that it's a damson tree. It needs some surgery in places, but still stands for the most part healthy and strong. The only problem is that the wood pigeons also like it... lol

n.b. if you look closely you can just see the first-aid tent in the background... lol

(nice one NfG... hehe)

The Shed

The Shed came with the plot. Since we have donned the guise of 'pirate allotmenteers' the shed acts as our galley. It's not very ship-shape at present, and I wasn't very keen at first. Suspicion was correct since it's already a home to a rat(s). The rat will keep (for now)!!!

Besides, it's a great place to store all our tools... the chap before us left some bits and bobs, so we are just about ready to set sail. All we need now is a jolly roger flag and a coat of paint :o)

Overgrown

Just went down to the plot to blog some pics. There were strange men in overalls, with a large cart of manure, plotting about our plot. Hopefully someone has taken on the land next to us so that we don't need to worry about getting overgrown by brambles this Summer.

One side of the plot is yet to be uncovered and exposed.

We are making steady progress, but the plot is still very overgrown.

Strawberry #1

Strawberry mother plant - 'Cambridge Favourite'.

Black Pepper Mint

A young transplant of black pepper mint.

Makes a nice refreshing tea in summer.

Bedding Plan 2006-7

Planning ahead is always a good idea.


This is a rough bedding plan for 2006-7.

As yet nothing is cast in stone, but the breakdown seems as follows:

#1 - Strawberry (Alpine, Cams. Favourite, and mystery variety)

#2 - Strawberry (Cambs.)

#3 - Garlic, Kohl Rabi, Carrots, Shallots

#4 -

#5 - Chillie/Tomatoe

#6 - Brassica

#7 - Potatoes /Peas/Squashes

#8 - Rhubarb

#9 - Cold Frame

#10 - Proposed Poly-tunnel site (?)

Comments and feedback are welcome :o)

Cheers J

Garlic Cloves

Some bulbs of Scottish garlic have been split into cloves and planted into cell trays of compost.
Garlic requires a long growing season to harvest the following autumn/winter.

For this reason these cloves have been sown now (in Dec), so that they will be ready for planting outdoor next spring (Feb/March). Garlic is quite pest resistant and so makes an ideal companion plant when inter-cropping.

Grown under shelter in an outdoor shed/glasshouse these young plants are already starting to shoot.

Beds #1 to 4

This photo faces south.

The new beds #3 and #4 on the left sit in direct sunlight nearly all day long. These beds are also a lot more exposed to the wind than beds #1 and #2.

We are thinking about placing a windbreak procured from the garage (cheers dad) along the back fence line currently marked by the rope. This might provide extra shelter and act as a barrier to the invasive brambles on the vaccant plot nextdoor.

Pathways

Each bed is sub-divided with pathways.

This will help make maintainance easy.

The quarry tiles/slabs were found under nettles at the back of our plot.

Once established the fence stakes and wooden support boards can be removed and used on another section of beds.

A patchwork of beds is the aim.

Bed #4

bed #4 is now in place.

2 beds are allocated to strawberries.

the next 2 beds will be intercropped.

Overflow

Been busy today preparing bed #3 and laying another dividing path.

Another water butt has also been added.

An overflow was fitted onto the first butt to feed the next which is part burried below ground.

Guttering 2

The twigs are our grape. Hopefully this will overgrow the water butt.

This is a bit better... (for now at least)... thanks for the advice NfG :o)

Guttering 1

On the advice of our planning guru NfG, we have started to think about conserving water now, for next summer. Since it's raining toady it seemed like an ideal chance to test some guttering systems and see what fits.

This length of guttering is too short and a down pipe is needed. The shed also looks like it needs some extra ashfelt to make it water tight.

Fruit Trees

Here's some shots of the fruit trees on our plot.

(the photos were taken just before bonfire day)

First Frost

The first major ground frost just hit our area.
This will help combat any populations of soil pests and break-up any large sods of earth. Now is the time to start adding some compost and horse manure to help free up our beds.

The Old Herb Garden

The Old Herb Garden sits infront of the shed.

This mature Sage takes centre stage, but the herb garden shall need lots of work to bring it back to shape.

Haylek Digging

Haylek is busy turning the earth. The fruit tree on the right (at the far end) sits just off our plot. The site is about 25-30m in length (approx.) by about 10-15m across. This should give us plenty of space to reap some nice crops.

Cleared ground

In the space of a couple of hours the site is now much clearer - looking less like fallow-land and much more like an allotment plot. The firesite itself will be made ready for new potatoes in March.

Bonfire Day 1

Today was our first bonfire day. Luckily we already had our fires built. The wood ash has been scattered/worked into the earth.

Strawberry Beds

The first two strawberry beds are ready for planting in spring...

... one bed already has some plants in it to test the soil. One of the varieties is called 'Cambridge Delight'.

The other beds will be covered in a little ash and some manure before planting. We might plant-up yet another bed of strawberries later (?)

Our plot is developing its shape 'as and when' we decide 'what' can grow 'where' at the moment, so who knows what will end up where later.

This way, we shall learn as we grow... the chilie seeds are now ordered!

Rasberries

After doing some clearing we noticed these... we ummed and then ahhhed... Rasberries!

The last sett still had fruit on them. So we ate.

Guess they must be an autumn variety. The folk on the Alottment UK forum suggest manure and ash as base feed. This sounds like a good plan.

The great thing about our plot is that we keep uncovering bounty. The chap before us had things dialled in so hopefully we can reap some food for free...

Plot from Back

The plot from the back.

There is a herb garden under the brambles to the left... hehe

Both plots either side are empty :o(

Note: slabbed pathway (plus Haylec)!

The water tap sits just at the end of our plot.

Our New Plot

This is a front view of our new plot in Leicester.

We intend to grow 100% organic food crops.

Beneath all the brambles and dock (left) there are several raised beds. Beneath all the brambles and dock (right) there is a cold-frame. The bonfire is ready for our first bonfire day.

The plot already holds fruit trees (Damson, Plum/Bullace, Apple), a young grape vine, sage, lemon balm,,, and the shed :o)

The Scarecrow (Kenny)

This is our Scarecrow (and mascot) - Kenny.

The materials for 'Kenny' were gathered together from things found in the shed.

After several prototype attempts to build a scarecrow 'Kenny#3' was finally fixed in place (cheers Joseph)

Peace J :o)

Allotment 19

Hi All,

Allotment 19 is a new project - our first allotment so we thought we'd blog our events here.

Thanks to All the growers at Allotments UK for the support

Keep Growing (100% organic)

Cheers

J