Worms, snails and corrugated mishaps

We took a trip up the allotment this afternoon. Jack loved digging in the bit of soil that we had dug previously. He found some worms and snails which he thought were great. All that was missing were the slugs and puppy dog tails.

Dan dug over the soil bed with the fork. We think that they must have had potatoes in here before as it was really nice and easy to dig. The other part was like stone, and unfortunately we bent the fork. We have covered the area with corrugated pieces and hopefully this will help suppress any more weeds that we have been unable to remove. While doing all of this, Dan managed to drop the corrugated sheet on his shin and has sustained a nasty injury. All is ok and he is still able to walk and most importantly , still able to use the bent fork.

Ouch

We are going to wait and see if this week weather will bring any more rain, as we hope this will help soften the ground so we can dig some more beds. We are aiming for little and often to start with.

Before we left the allotment , Jack and I picked a few blackberries. They were delicious and only a few made them home as most were eaten on the way back.

My Dad sent us another really lovely and useful book from 1978. The old ones seem to be the best.

Stick the kettle on

Well the weekend bought some very hot weather so we started at the allotment early before it became to hot. We decided that we would take a look at the back of the shed to see what treasures, if any it held. We found lots of useful items such as netting of various types which will certainly come in handy for covering plants and protecting them from insects and birds. There were also some very good canes and three bottles of weed killer. Dan will hopefully use the canes when we plant our beans. One of the best things that we found was a small gas ring and whistling kettle. Essential for an allotment tea break. We couldn't believe that people would just leave this behind!  There was also a lot of rubbish. A whole dumpy bag of it. None of it was reusable, or any use so it went to the recycling centre

 

So after this, with the sun blazing down and the temperature rising, we decided that we would tackle one area of ground. No digging, just a quick rake over and a little weeding. We found some small potatoes, and the earth seems very easy to work.

After day six and seven, the allotment looks like this. Still a long way to go but looking good. Hoping for some slightly cooler weather this week so we can get back to more diggin'.

Free gift Friday

Well it's now the end of the working week for most folk, so its time to enjoy the sunshine and your allotments this weekend. We have had such a lovely week of weather and all the allotments are bursting with lovely fresh organic produce. That is, all except ours. We just have a lot less weeds. 

Tonight when Dan was in the allotment, a lovely old man that walks his dog past our plot, gave us this classic old book full of amazing illustrations and information. Published in 1977.

We will hopefully begin digging tomorrow. Very exciting indeed. Hopefully we will both be able to do a bit of work. Children's moods permitting.

Our son Jack is getting so into his vegetables, that today he decided he would stick a piece of sweetcorn up his nose. At least  it was organic! we did manage to retrieve it without any tears.

Dan came across this tonight. Looks like it's not only the compost that is decomposing! Dan is going to make a new compost bin and is going to dig in this compost when we have managed to dig over some of the ground.

I might stick a fork in this I think it's done!

Summer rain

Don't know about all of you, but we were lucky enough to have a short spell of rain this evening. Our neighbors allotments certainly benefited from it and our water butt is now a lot fuller. Hopefully our allotment ground may also be a little easier to dig when we start very soon.

Dan made a delicious soup tonight from the courgettes that were kindly given to us, along with some other scrummy ingredients as well. It was so lovely to eat something that we know had been grown just Five minutes away from us.

Last day of work for Dan tomorrow, so hopefully we can get cracking with some ground work over the weekend. Watch this space.

Ashes to Ashes and brambles to dust

Just a quick update today. We didn't get up the allotment this evening but we did manage to go this morning to check that the big-burn up had gone out and that there was no devastation, few! Dan was worried that it may still be going and one of our allotment neighbors would be cooking their piggy breakfast on it.

The morning after

As you can see from the photos, all was well. Dan said that the flames were six feet high at one point. Several allotmenteers were stood around staring at the flames with Dan as the light faded. All eyebrows intact.

With a screaming one year old and an emotional three year old, it's hard to believe but we haven't even had time to look in the back of the shed yet! Although we did find this useful edition left by the last tenants.

Hopefully we will get up the allotment tomorrow as Dan has a day off. We have both missed it today.

Up in smoke

Dan visited the allotment tonight. He arrived at 8.00 pm and didn't return until 10.30 pm. He has continued to do more strimming and has cleared more of the other end of the allotment. Dan met more of our allotment neighbors tonight, all so friendly and welcoming.

He decided that tonight would be a good night to burn some of the stuff that we have been clearing. It was a good job that the water butt was full, or he would have still been there now watching over it.

 

Me, sun, the lovely Devon fresh air, oh and don't forget the weeds!

Well what a really lovely day. The hottest one yet this week I think.
Managed to get up the allotment this afternoon for an hour. Its amazing how time flies when your up here. It's like being in your own little world where you can forget about everything else that's going on, well apart from the weeds and all the clearing up that still needs to be done. It was so relaxing and I know that we can make this allotment a lovely place for all of us to come and enjoy.

Day 5

I went around the fence today and pulled the weeds that Dan hasn't been able to get with the strimmer. The fence is really good but the only downside is that it likes to eat the strimmer line.
We can now see the edges of our allotment which is fantastic.

Pulled out some rather large weeds from around our raspberry bush and can now see the crop. Also the blackberries are looking good. Looking forward to some crumble.

Crumble here we come.

This is the view that we have from our allotment. We are so lucky to have our plot in this lovely place.

Our view from the allotment

First sign of mud

Been a lovely hot day here in the heart of Devon today, 75f . Too hot for work on the allotment, so we all spent the day playing in the park and walking along the river.

Kids are in bed, so at 8.00 pm Dan left the house with strimmer in hand. He continued to clear the plot, and has made good progress.

Day 4

We can now make out that the plot has not only one, but two established raspberry bushes, a large blackberry bush, over two dozen strawberry plants and a blackcurrant bush. With the strimming ongoing, Dan can now see the first signs of mud!

Strawberry patch

look, some mud!

Our next decision  will be whether or not to go all out with the Roundup, which we don't really want to do as it's expensive and not organic or simply find what ever we can to use as a weed suppressant. There are several large corrugated steel pannels behind the shed which we may use.

With light fading the strimmer ran out of line and the petrol ran low. He came back at 10.00 pm with two more donated courgettes and some lovely runner beans. Already our fridge is filling up with lovely organic produce which was kindly given to us by our new allotment friends.

Our dream

The initial sketch.by Dan

A long way off this yet,  but just an idea of how it may look one day.
Watch this space.

The big clear-up begins

Day 2.

Dan bought a strimmer and away he went. The first session lasted 1 and a half hours!!!

Day 3.

Another hour and it looked like this.

Diggin' in Devon, The Good Life... but not as you know it

Day 1

Living in the heart of Devon, the Hobday family. Daddy Dan, Em the mummy and two boys, Jack and Harry. Rain or shine we love to be outdoors doing stuff , staying  healthy and eating fresh delicious food.
What better thing to do than to have our own allotment. we put our name down on the waiting list in April 2014 and just 2 months later we were offered our plot.

The lost plot.