Posted on Apr 30, 2008 under Diary |
I’ve not been up to the allotment for over a week. Well, I’ve mostly been out of the country, or at least county, so there’s an excuse! Loukik has, however, been planting onions and doing wonderful things which he alone can relate.
The first thing I noticed this evening was all the grass popping up! Like spurious pubes under a pubescent arm, nature is beginning to rebel against this organisation malarky.
Thankfully I was dealing with a raised bed today, which has had layers of topsoil, manure and compost added to it over the past weeks, so is not suffering from sproutage.
I added a bunch more compost, which Loukik had bought, set up my little bean wig-wams (I know: we don’t care what they’ve been, we want to know what they are now), and went to the greenhouse to see how my darling beans have been doing without me. Very very well, it seems! A veritable bonsai jungle of bean plants awaited me! Thrilled does not begin to describe my excitement! Anyhoo, I popped them in the ground – broad beans around one wig-wam, runners round the other – at what I considered to be a decent separation, and watered them in.
Here they bean:
In other news, rasps and blackberries seem to be taking well to the terrain. Herbs are OK, getting a bit grass-ed. No sign of life from the jerusalem artichokes or pots yet, but there’s plenty of time!!! (Not so much thyme. Boom boom.)
Our current plans look like this:
Posted on Apr 24, 2008 under Diary |
So, this is going to be a useful blog. A mechanism for keeping tabs on what’s going on down t’allotment. A way of pestering my flatmate to plant things. An aide-memoire, if you will!
As it’s taken a while to sort out, here’s an update on what’s happened so far (in reverse order!):
19th April
Took plants and seeds up to the greenhouse.
Placed a tub of water in the bottom of the greenhouse to make it more humid and mean we don’t have to water as much!
17th April
More compost from work – mainly into the raised bed, and also over raspberries, potatoes and artichokes.
Bought a few plants from Homebase: chilis, butternut squash, bluebells
Runner beans beginning to sprout!
16th April
Loukik and I pick up 8 bags of topsoil! Not so hot on the suspension!
Take it to the allotment.
As dusk draws in, we garden by the handy floodlight of the adjacent
Cambridge United football ground. (Hence blog title!)
I check on my herb seedlings in the greenhouse erected by Loukik and
water them. All are coming up, including spindly chives. (Also flat
leaf parsely, coriander, basil.)
I plant 9 donated raspberry canes. These have beautiful roots, and I’ve been told to plant them in one row 18-24 inches apart. This I do, alternating new topsoil with the clayey stuff we have for more support.
I water them in and mark them up.
My little sage and thyme plants aren’t doing so well in their packs, so I plant them in the herb patch in lots of topsoil.
I move on to the jeruslaem artichokes. I dig a trench about 10cm deep. (Hard to tell depth – pretty dark by now!) I place a chitting artichoke about every 6 inches. Total of approx 20. I cover them with a layer of top soil, and then finish with the clay from the trench. Water in well and mark up with canes. Could use some compost / manure.
Meantime, Loukik has been doing similar with some chitting potatoes.
Rest of the topsoil goes into the raised beds – still not enough!
It’s now 9pm and I head off to the gym!
15th April
Met a chap who saved my car keys weekend before last. He says I should get in touch with Sarah, a part-time gardener at Sidney Sussex who’s apparently about my age & build!
I source two Belfast sinks as planters.
Sowed Gardeners Delight tomato seeds indoors.
Broad bean shoots already coming up!
14th April
Loukik and I both sourced local topsoil – Ebay and Freecycle.
Our current plan looks like this:
12th and 13th April
Loukik did a bunch of stuff that he can write about…
9th April
Sourced Donarbon compost: our own domestic waste, composted and delivered by the load to Whitehill allotment society by the skip.
Marked out more areas with canes and twine.
Planted rosemary
Planted Wilko bramble – on bed of manure as instructed. Harvest in Autumn, prune in November.
Sowed beans indoors (runner & broad).
8th April
Used canes and twine to mark out the path
The first raised bed went in – it’ll need lots of topsoil / manure / compost to fill it!
***First plant in – mint in pot***
Second plant in – a donated blackberry plant! Yum!
Here it is!!!!
7th April
Sourced some compost at work. Just sitting in a skip outside the door! Bizarre, but I happily nicked lots!
6th April
Big trip to Wilkinsons in Ely. Bought many useful things. Sincerely after lots of manure and a shed!
Revised plan 1 to plan 2
Sourced manure from a stud farm near Newmarket.
Was gifted some raised bed frames!
1st April
Visited the plot with Loukik – it had been rotavated!
Visited some top organic veg gardener friends and got v useful tips!
Devised plan 1
22nd March
After lots of enquiries and mentions of long waiting lists, I got THE CALL! From Whitehill Allotment Society! I popped along and got an allotment! Not much to look at. Big, unused for the last 5-6 years, basically grassland. The lovely Jim offered to mow and rotavate it for me!
14th March
Loukik and I, cosily drinking wine on a chilly night, got inspiration and decided to get allotment.