Tears and tiredness

We had to visit the plot in shifts today due to having two very tired and irritable children. We didn't think that tears and tiredness would mix well with dirt and digging.

Dan took the first shift and planted two rows of hard neck garlic. We are hoping that we are still in time for it to develop bulbs. The weather has become quite warm and we know that it has to have colder spells for this to happen. We will wait and see.

I took the second shift of the day and made the most of the drier weather by just having a tidy round. I weeded some of the beds but the ground was very wet so no digging today. The allotment is a very peaceful place and we are looking forward to spending lots of time there this year.

The seeds are coming along and Jack's radish that he planted in his plot are emerging . He is very excited and can't wait to see what they will be like. He is looking forward to planting lots of other things as well .

 

We bought Jack  two new tools today for his patch. He was very pleased. we loved the price as well. Two for £5. Good old Lidl.

The potatoes have started to chit so that's a great start. Sunday roasters here we come!!

Although the visits are quite short at the moment it is really nice to be spending time on plot 5. The fresh air really clears your head and the surroundings really make you feel good. The clocks changing this weekend will also mean that we will be able to go to the allotment in the evenings. This will be especially nice for Dan after working all day in the office. I'm sure that there will be a few nights spent their till dusk.

sunset view of the allotment. Painted by Dan.

Spring into action

Sunday morning brought us some lovely sunshine so we packed up our things and walked to plot number 5.

Dan loaded up the wheelbarrow with some good old organic Devon fertiliser, otherwise known as cow manure. Our local farmer kindly dumps a massive tractor load over the fence at the end of our allotments for us to use. We all pay £10  a year to the farmer  which he then donates to the Devon air ambulance. We always have an unlimited supply. 

Our local farm shop gave us these fruit crates. Dan has put them up in our shed. Think they make great storage, and the best thing is they are being recycled!!!

Our seedlings have started to grow and are enjoying a lovely view at the same time.

Our onions that we planted are established now and doing well. we weeded between them and they look a lot happier.

Our rhubarb is growing well and we are going to cover it up next week.

Our bushes that we pruned are now showing signs of new growth.

What a lovely way to finish off the morning. Saw these lovely little ladies on the way home.

Sow it begins !!!

The 1st of March brought a beautiful sunny morning with it. We decided to take advantage of the sunshine and ventured off to plot no5.

The first job was to uncover all the ground that we had covered last year with weed suppressant. This had certainly done its job of helping keeping the weeds at bay.

We had a bit of a general tidy round. We cleared the brambles, dug an edge of our bed  and Jack planted some radishes in his plot. Dan has planted some sweet peppers and spinach seeds in pots and put them in the shed under the window. Hopefully they will be nice and warm in there and start to grow soon.

We found this lonely daffodil which had survived the winter. This is how it looked.

After a week of being away from the allotment we went back up to plot 5 and what a difference a Week makes. This is our lovely daffodil now.

We cleared out the cold frame which was full of rubbish that had been left. Its very fragile and we did have a breakage but nothing that Dan can't mend. We have positioned it next to the shed and it is ready to use. We uncovered our onions which have been all snuggly and warm all winter. They seem to have done well and hopefully will now continue to grow.

We are really looking forward to the year ahead to see what will grow and what may not. We can't wait to try our home grown veg.

I think  a trip to the recycling centre is needed tomorrow to recycle all the rubbish.

The first sowing

Being a lovely October morning we thought we would visit the allotment. We hadn't been for a while as we had been away on holiday. On the way Jack managed to stand in some dog dollop that someone had left on the pavement. Luckily he had his wellies on. When we got to the allotment we found that water had gotten inside the shed but thanks to our lino all was OK. Dan managed to find out where it had been coming in and was able to repair it. Hopefully it will be water tight now .

While we have been away there was a shed broken into on next door's allotment, nothing was taken though. The police think that the people were looking for things they could sell. Also pumpkins on another plot had been used as a football. Very sad.

We decided that we would try to plant some things before the year is out. We bought some onion sets. We are starting with a variety called Radar. They are a good over wintering variety. We made the drills and have planted three rows to begin with. We will see how they get on. We watered them in and have protected them with a cloche to give them the best possible start.

As we won't be planting on the large bed until next year we dug it over and have covered it. We will plant garlic in a couple of weeks and also spinach and over wintering peas. It was lovely at the allotment today and as I was digging a little robin red breast came and sat on our fence.

Fence posts and cow sh*t

Well! It's been a while. It has been quite quiet up on plot number 5 recently, not a lot going on so haven't written since the end of August. The shed is still coming on and Dan has made the potting table under the window and added some more wood to the inside. We are yet to put up the hooks and other shelves as we are waiting to source more recycled wood. As you can see the potting table comes in handy. We have some chairs in the shed, which again are recycled from a neighbour who was just going to throw them away. Good for when you need a sit down after all that digging and weeding. All we need now is to get the kettle and stove up here. Noticed that we seem to have a bit of a red theme going on, not intentional.

The tools that Dad gave us are really good and the spade has made it easy to dig the ground. Both Dan and I have had a go with it and even Jack tried to dig with it, although it was a little big for him. The beds are looking good now and it is just a matter of keeping the weeds down until we are ready to plant some things. We have covered some of the beds and will probably cover the others as well soon.

We thinned out our strawberry plants and found out that we have two varieties, one of which is an alpine. The raspberries are still producing and doing well. There are also a few blackberries left.

We have put in some new posts along the fence to reinforce it. Think we will add a line of wire In between them to prevent people from climbing over. Dan said he is going to electrify it, that'll stop any drunks hopping over to help themselves on a Summer evening next year.

These lovely cows are in the field next to our allotment and we hope to utilise their poo. The farmer kindly gives our allotment the manure, we all pay £5.00 for the year and he donates this to a charity. Last year it was the Devon air ambulance.

So the next couple of months will just be spent keeping the plot tidy. We want to make a new compost bin as the other one has rotted. We have a small patch that we still need to clear and dig and of course there is the on going shed project. See you all soon.

Weekend workout

Dan has done some more work on the outside of the shed and has now started on the inside. We have added a nice door handle and lock, and some flooring that was kindly given to us by our brother in law.

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The inside has been partly cladded and is feeling really warm now. Dan is going to make a potting table underneath the window and put some hooks and shelves up. This is an ongoing project.

When we were at the allotment today, Dan's windows that he put in really frame a nice view over the hills and allowed us to see who was walking past.

We have had a busy weekend, with both sets of grandparents visiting. The boys have had a lovely time showing them the allotment. Jack had some lovely boots bought for him by his one nanny and a little bucket from his other nanny so is all set and ready now. He picked lots of blackberries for them all to take home.  He was very keen to show them what will soon become his patch. Harry also enjoyed playing with his bucket and watering can.

We were a little sad to hear that one of our allotment neighbours has had all her sweetcorn taken off her plants.

My Dad brought us down some bits and pieces for the allotment. This watering can has been in our family for over 42 years now. He bought Dan a stainless steel fork. Hopefully Dan won't be able to bend this one. He also bought him a lovely spade which is supposed to make digging a little easier. We will soon see!

I started to dig over a patch which Dan had previously dug and rotavated. Dad showed us how its done and did another few rows for us.

The allotment is really coming on now and we are pleased with our progress. When we look back on what it first looked like it gives us a real sense of achievement. We hope to keep digging over the plot now and clear all the ground to get ready for planting.

Shed resurrection.

So! Dan spent most of Saturday afternoon making a start on the shed. I know it's just a shed but we are very excited about what it will turn out like.
We have some wood that we got for free off a recycling website and a recycled door. We like the fact that our shed will be made from all different pieces and be unique.

First of all Dan made a frame with the wood. He then attached the original corrugated pieces onto the back, front and sides. He is hoping to use some more pieces for the roof.

He painted the door that we got and has hung this.We would like to clad the inside with wood but haven't made a final decision on this yet. We also have to put a floor in and then put shelves and storage inside. Jack was really excited when all this was going on and was being very helpful by passing things to daddy. He does however think that daddy is just building the shed for him and that he is going to have all his toys in it.

It's now been a few days since we were able to get to the allotment. We were kindly given three more windows and some more wood for the shed.  Dan has worked hard and has got the roof on. We have put a large piece of EPDM roof rubber on top of the steel. He has made a base for the floor and we are going to hopefully put the floor boards in any day. The light in the evening isn't lasting as long as it was a few weeks ago so time is limited.

It is now Saturday again and Dan spent another day bodging together the last bits of the shed. He has used a large piece of thick clear plastic, left by the previous owner for the window. We did this instead of the small window with the intention of possibly growing seedlings inside.

Dan has found some pale blue paint in our garage, which he will use to paint the shed.

This is our shed before.

This is our shed now. Although it isn't finished yet, it has come along way. We have a little more to do on the outside , and then we will begin on the interior.