Salena's Allotment Adventure

Moved On

2010-02-21T08:41:00.000-08:00

My blog has now moved to:

http://www.lotionspotionsgrowingandbaking.com/

I wanted a new design and name that represented more than just my allotment. Please visit and leave a comment.

Food Glorious Food

2009-08-27T13:31:00.001-07:00

So I finally got through the mess I made when I was unwell and now I can see all the delicious food waiting for me and I even found my tomato plants. Having the sand around most of my brassicas really helped keep the weeds down although it was a bit like doing the limbo trying to get under the bamboo canes when I decided to weed the bed and plant out some cauliflowers and kale.

I've decided what to do next year, I'm going to lay cardboard over all the paths and cover with straw , this should be the cheapest and greenest option. I am also going to use a lot more mulch on the beds to cut down on weeding...permaculture here I come.

Over the last two weeks I have managed to harvest quite a bit considering the recent neglect and I also have lots waiting to be harvested. I'm thinking rhubarb jam and blackberry wine :)

Half hour a day....

2009-08-06T06:52:00.000-07:00

Well I feel like I'm making process, I'm over half way through yey, the cup is finally half full rather than half empty. I've been going up the lottie every day for half hour and it's amazing what you can get done. I'm going to try and keep this up even when I'm feeling really rough as I feel it could be bearable and I fancy the challenge. So here's the current before and after pictures.

Before:

After:

All my hard work ruined again

2009-08-02T11:03:00.000-07:00

Well I haven't posted much as I've been unwell but the good news is I have finally found out what's wrong with me...I have pernicious anaemia which means I will have to have injections on a regular basis to stay normal (if that is possible). The problem is at the moment I am trying to work out a period of time in between injection that suits my body and I am still trying to find it as my body is not happy with the period the Dr is prescribing. Anyway enough of the sob story in a nutshell I've had no energy and haven't left the house much so the allotment was the least of my worries and when I went up there this week I could of cried it was so over grown.

All my hard work at the beginning of the year had gone to waste and I couldn't help but think it was because I was lazy even though I knew it was because of my illness...damn body.

Luckily my OH was kind enough to offer to come up with me today to try and get it back under control and we got about 1/3 cut back but lots of plants had to be sacrificed. It's horrible I spent so much time sorting it out at the beginning of the year and now it's all gone to waste. I really don't want to have to give up the allotment as it gives me great satisfaction and as we don't have a garden it's ideal but I need to find a way to make it easier...answers on a postcard.

Anyway here's a few pics for you to understand how I feel:

Before:

After:

And still to come:

Me vs The Grass

2009-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

So I didn't go up the allotment for 2 weeks as I was away with work and it's turned into Day of the Triffids, there's grass everywhere and my comfrey is spreading wide but hey the bees love it so it's staying while in bloom :)

As I'm due for a top up injection on Monday I wasn't feeling like Mr Motivator so I done what I could and got through 1/4 of it, I felt really good until I turned around and saw what I have got to get through over the next couple of days....

Before..

After...

What did make me feel better though was the fact I had my first proper harvest, apart from the rhubarb I harvested earlier in the year to make wine. Enough potatoes and veg for tea tonight and raspberries and strawberries for after yummy!!

Right of to eat it all....

3 Legged Toad

2009-05-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Just had a horrible experience up the allotment!! I was cutting the grass with a shear (I think that's what they're called) and I noticed something moving so I stopped and noticed a toad. I went to pick it up to move it and realised it was missing a leg and had it's mouth open!!!! my first thought was I cut it off and it's sceaming, I felt sick, in fact I was almost sick.

I placed the toad on some rocks by the pond and went off to find his missing leg, I wasn't sure what I would do with it if I found it at this point. I couldn't find it, so I went back to the toad and it was dead still so I thought that's it I've killed it, I was devastated. Only then did I realise there was no blood and when I looked at the toad, where there should be a leg there was just a shrivelled end but at this point there was no rational thought all I could think was "TOAD MURDERER!!!" I thought I was supposed to be a vegan :( so off I went to dig a grave, I even made a gravestone from a bit of slate and put a letter T on it.

I went back to bury the toad but noticed the toad was gone!!! and when I inspected further I realised he was crawling away looking quite happy. Then a retraced the instance and started to think rational, there was no blood, there was no leg, the toad was shrivelled where there should be a leg, it would be very difficult to make a clean cut of the leg by a quick movement of a shear. So my conclusion is this I am 90% sure the toad had three legs before I came along but it did make me think that we should always consider nature and check before changing it, even cutting the grass!! If you know me you know how much this experience would of traumatised me hopefully the 3 legged toad will live a good long life and not encounter me again. You can guarantee I will have toad nightmares tonight!!

Allotment Catch Up

2009-05-08T05:22:00.000-07:00

Ok haven't blogged for ages as I've been busy doing rather than talking about it, so here's a quick catch up and I will try and keep you all updated from now on. So what have I been doing well....

I've made a new bed for my strawberries, haven't got around to putting any squirrel proofing on it yet if there's such thing!!

I've built a border around two beds one for my beans and one for my potatoes. As you can see the new beds are made from bricks. We had a community day up the allotment as one of the walls had fallen over and I rescued the bricks :) I love the look of old bricks, so they now have a new destiny in life to protect my plants from harm.

I've planted out peas, beans, swede, turnip, parsnip, radish, carrot, onion, carrot, lettuce, potatoes..... My windowsills in the house are been abducted by lots of baby seedlings pushing their way through to this life ahhhhh!!

Going up in the world

2009-02-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Went to the allotment meeting this week and I got voted in Vice Chair of the allotments!!! Also been up the allotments today to see what damage the Wintersmith has done and it's not too bad, so the plan is as follows:

Tidy up all beds and prep for new season.
Build another raised bed
Build a cadged strawberry bed, to keep out those damn squirrels.
Put a border around this years potato and bean bed.
Build an asparagus bed.

Not sure how much we will get done in time for this years growing season but hey we have a plan, lets just hope my health and strength keeps growing!!!

1st Anniversary

2009-01-19T09:35:00.000-08:00

Well can you believe it through all the ups and downs it is one year since I took over the small plot of land up the allotments. When I look back I can't believe what I have done and what I have learnt. And now it's potato and seed ordering time again...

I have spent the long winter nights making a plan for new beds and making sure I can fit more in this year. I have used growveg , it's an amazing planning tool that allows you to find out about what you want to grow, how much room it will take and when to plant it. It's free to use for 30 days but the subscription is worth it as you can still play with your allotment when it's too dark, windy, cold and wet to risk the outdoors.

Wintersmith

2009-01-03T04:02:00.000-08:00

Well Christmas has been and gone and I've been waiting for the ground to thaw out so I can dig and make my new beds. Everything looks very cold at the moment and the lands survival looks likes its struggling through the harsh Winter and taking everything that the Wintersmith throws at her in her stride.

The Turn Towards Autumn

2008-09-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to notice the plants changing with the seasons, although the plot still seems productive so hopefully the frost will hold off and the fresh vegetables will keep coming. I'm very excited as my chillies are starting to redden up and I have my first flower on my aubergine plant. It probably won't get time to fruit so I will try it earlier next year but still it's very pretty to look at.

Allotment Sunday Dinner

2008-09-18T03:58:00.000-07:00

Well the allotment is busy producing at the moment and as I planted most of my seeds late because we were building the raised beds my produce is about a month behind, so hopefully the frost will hold off and the slugs will get full and not eat any more....

The most exciting part about our Sunday visit was when we came home. We had enough produce for a Sunday dinner with all the vegetables grown by us at the allotment, how exciting is that!!! It tasted delicious.

Welcome home harvest

2008-09-04T04:11:00.000-07:00

I went to Cornwall for a couple of days and when I came home and went up the allotments I had lots to pick for tea that evening. I had a chilli, variety of beans, potatoes, swede and courgette.

I also noticed that my tomatoes and pepper plants have finally started to fruit. I doubt the tomatoes will turn red now as we seem to of entered Winter already but I can make some green tomato chutney.

Finally a Sunny Day

2008-08-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

Yes we have sun :) I've spent most of the day up the allotment today. I managed to sort out 3 of the beds and weed the surrounding areas so if we have sunshine again tomorrow I will be back on top of things before I have to leave it again for another week!!

I planted out what was left of my seedlings after the slug damage. I have broccoli, spinach, pak choi, chard, winter lettuces and cabbages. now in the old potato bed and I also planted some onions, spring onions and turnips in the root bed so I am all prepared for Autumn.

I managed to come home with more food again today. I dug up my garlic and now have it drying out on the window sill in my kitchen and pulled some of my rhubarb, just enough for a few mini tarts. The rhubarb was new this year so I shouldn't really cut it but it was so big it was blocking the light and the amount that's there it's not going to miss a few sticks.

Babies Everywhere

2008-08-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Just went up the allotment after being away so it was very exciting after not seeing the place for over a week. The good news is the weeds haven't gone too crazy and I still have vegetables left so the slug damage isn't too bad. I also got to harvest lots of nice vegetables for my tea including courgettes, peas, runner beans, bay leaves and radishes.It's a very exciting time up there at the moment as I planted a lot of stuff late so there's lots of baby vegetables around the place and its so exciting watching them grow, I get very maternal.

See if you can guess what the following babies will turn into??

Catch up on the lottie

2008-08-11T01:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while so here's a quick catch up of what's been going on...

I moved all my strawberries to a new area as next season my OH is going to build a cage for them to stop the damn squirrels!! He has had an idea of adapting a second hand fire guard, just have to find one now.

I decided although I loved my shopper bike it just wasn't practical living in North Wales so I asked the chairman of the allotments to look out for a new bike for me and he had two bikes given to him and I got one of them and guess what it's purple!! My shopper had a happy ending it went to a local 60 year old who was interested in getting back into cycling.

I went away for a week the beginning of August and obviously came back to a jungle but we had a community day up the allotment yesterday so it's now all prim and proper and the whole allotments are looking great. We have the judges from Wales in Bloom coming around today which is very exciting.

Before I went away for the week OH and I discovered the smell of rotting perennials in our new compost system. We had to empty two bins full of perennial weeds covered in water that had been sitting in the sun for over two weeks it was not a pleasant experience and I have now adapted the new compost system to no water on the perennial weed bins!!!

Anyway here's what my plot is looking like at the moment....

Compost Day

2008-07-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today as we had a communal compost day to sort out the compost bins. We emptied all of the bins and made different piles of compost, perennials, nettles, left overs and rubbish. It was amazing what we found in some of them, polystyrene, plastic cassette tape, shrew and toads the mind boggles. We had lots of compost at the end and I have enough to finish my plot which is great as that means I haven't had to pay for any compost to get the plot finished. We are going to now have 8 compost bins along with a perennial bin and nettle bin to make nettle feed. It was a fab day, I got to meet everyone and it was great to be up there with lots of people and pass information and stories. Here's some pictures from the day...

Baby Chilli

2008-07-12T05:11:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I noticed that one of my flowers on my chilli plants is starting to turn into a baby chilli. It's amazing how you can plant a seed, a plant will grow, flowers will bloom, flowers die off and a vegetable starts to grow, WOW!

I have also planted some more leeks, carrots and onions in my root bed. I am not sure if it's too late to sow some things but I am going to give it a go and see what happens.

Meeting

2008-07-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Just come back from my allotment meeting. I have been officially put in charge of compost, compostwoman's information helped, so if you are reading this thankyou! There was a lady from BTCV there and she informed us that she wants to arrange an event for all local organisations and allotments to get together for a social along with some training, they will even arrange a mini bus to the event for us. The event will probably be in a local environment centre Moelyci as they have a lot of good practice going on there for us to see along with a lot of knowledgeable people.She also said she would try and arrange a group visit to Centre of Alternative Technology for us to get information from there. We also agreed it would be good to get rainwater harvesting so are going to try and get B&Q to donate some equipment to us. We are also going to try and get a bit of funding to allow us to put a roof on one of the out buildings so we can turn it into a potting shed. It's all very exciting and inspiring.

Beans and Squash are in

2008-07-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Risked it and went up the lottie this morning. The skies were blue by the time I left the house and I had to change into a vest top in the shed when I got up there because it was so warm. I managed to get the new bean bed finished and planted some runner beans and squashes. I got caught in a shower but it was really refreshing so I didn't bother with my coat I just enjoyed the downpour. I picked some potatoes, broad beans and peas to have for tea tonight and a bought a tub of local oak smoked sea salt made by Halen Mon on Anglesey, I think this will be lovely to go with the fresh vegetables from the lottie.

Bean a good day..

2008-07-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

Went up the allotment yesterday and got 80% of the bean bed dug over. The squirrels are still attacking my strawberries so I am thinking of putting a caged strawberry bed down the middle of the first half of the plot.

I have recently tried out an oyster mushroom straw kit at home. I didn't get that much of a harvest from it, I think this was because I left the spores for too long in the fridge and they were a solid mass before I used them. Anyway after I finished with the kit some of the straw still had spores on it so I decided to lay the straw on a shaded bit of the patch up the lottie and just see what happens. Worse case scenario it will just mulch the soil.

A step further

2008-07-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening was really nice so we decided to go up the allotment for a couple of hours and get the bed sorted that my OH made the day before. While I was planting the tomatoes, courgettes and aubergines my OH started digging the new ground in the second half of the plot. It hasn't been dug over for years so it is very tough with some well established weed roots. Hopefully I we will get it ready in the next week and I can get some late beans and squash in there. Then there's only two more beds to dig!!

Last bed and clearing the second half.

2008-06-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

Today I had company up the allotment. My OH came up the allotment to finish the last raised bed and got stuck in and helped clear the second half. I also resowed some seeds in the root bed. I got a row of beetroot, parsnip, onion, carrot and leeks. Managed to cut back a lot the weeds in the second half of the plot and clear all the left over wood. It's looking really good now and it was great to enjoy it with someone today, although I'm not too sure if my OH saw it like that. Hopefully we will have a warm Autumn so I can get away with a few late sowings.

Seeing the light at the end of the weeds!

2008-06-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

Weather was grey with light showers but I decided to go up the allotment as my OH is going to be coming up with me tomorrow to finish the last raised bed so I needed to get the area clear. All I need to do tomorrow is clear the pile of wood and clear the weeds under the wood and soil bags.

I have decided to practically start again in my root bed as so many of the seedlings were entangled with weeds making it hard to untangle the mess. I did manage to save a couple of carrot, leek, onion and swede seedlings. At least this time round I can try and sow in a straight line.

I have noticed that something has been nibbling at my ripe strawberries. I will have to find a solution for that possibly build a structure with a netting. There was one bright red strawberry so I waited until I finished my work and ate it. It tasted so sweet, I haven't tasted a strawberry that sweet, ever!

I See Soil

2008-06-24T08:48:00.001-07:00

My body was protesting but I got up the allotment and I was determined to find my plants in my beds and I did. I think I ripped out a few of the plants while weeding as I am not sure and if in doubt rip it out!

I also got reminded of the joys of having an allotment today. I saw squirrels running around and the little robin came to say hello and feast on what I had dug up but the highlight was seeing a mother feeding her chick and then the chick went for a bath in the pond if you look really closely you can see the baby in the water.

Potato Worries

2008-06-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my post below I harvested my first potatoes today and they look delish.

But shock, horror aghhhh!!!
The same time I harvested these I noticed marks on the leaves on a couple of the earlies, what is it, is it blight??? I have posted on the INEBG forum and I am now awaiting some help!!!

Weeds aghhh!!!

2008-06-23T10:14:00.000-07:00

As you can see from my last posts I haven't been up the lottie recently due to illness and then I had to go away examining work for a bit but my Summer Holidays are finally here and after looking at the allotment today I think it's going to take me until September to sort it out.....

I spent three hours manually trying to cut through all the weeds and grass and it still looked like I hadn't touched it as you can see from the images.
Left - Before
Right - After

The amazing thing is that the plants are surviving. I'm going to have trouble in the root bed telling the difference between weed and plant but it will be a learning curve. I could clearly see me broad beans, peas and strawberries fighting through the weeds.

It was really tiring today but I can't wait to get up there and do more and to cheer me up I harvested the first of my potatoes and we are going to have them tonight for tea!!!!

Me vs My Body

2008-05-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

I went up the allotment yesterday and after putting all my plants in the wheel barrow and getting them up the allotment I felt like I was going to pass out and had a very bad hot flush! The doctors are still trying to find out the cause!!

Anyway I went home after not feeling to good and tried again today.....

Take 2

I managed to get up the allotment today, still feeling rough but I was determined to do something. When I got up there I almost had that oh no so much to do feeling but I had a good word with myself and realised I can do it and most of all I will enjoy doing it.

When I took over the second half of the plot I inherited two boxes so I decided to use the deepest one to protect my beans and tomatoes until I have more time and energy to sort them out. I also noticed that I have inherited a number of potato plants. It's really strange seeing things appearing when you didn't plant them.

I got given a number of kohl rabi seedlings this week. They have managed to survive in my house all week so I had to get them out today. I found an area in the new half of the patch that had some strawberries already growing in it so I decided that looks like the least amount of work, so they went in there. I had some mulch mats for the first couple and I then used some slate for the rest, hopefully this will stop the slugs!

Me vs Nettles

2008-05-18T12:54:00.000-07:00

The lady that I was supposed to be sharing my plot with decided to give it up as she didn't have time to do anything with it so I have now taken on that half so my plot has now doubled in size!!

The downside is it is waist heigh in stingy nettles, so today I went out there armed meaning business!! I had a pair of garden hand shearers (I think that's the technical term). I got through half the plot and my arms are now offcially hating me.

I did still have enough steam left in me to do a bit of weeding on my the better half and I planted sowed some carrots and leeks. Here's a few pics of the plot so far...

What I've Been Up To

2008-05-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Well haven't been able to get on here for a while, been to busy digging and planting. Here's a run down of what's been happening.

My seedlings grew really quickly buy come became to leggy as I made the mistake of feeding them. I afraid I was being a typical first time mum and wrapping them in too much cotton wool. Some made it but others were placed in the compost heap to be born again next year!!

The first bed was completed so I warmed up the soil and got my broad beans in but then the damn wind and hail stones decided to behead the one poor baby. But to my amazment within a couple of weeks a new shoot appeared and it has now caught up with its brother and sisters!

My landlord managed to get me 6 bags of compost from where he works. It was a real struggle to get it up to allotments, luckily he was with me as I got half way up the hill and my legs were going like mad but the wheel barrow wasn't moving an inch!! Note to self: Get Fit!

The compost came in handy when my partner finished the second raised bed and I planted my potatoes. The compost is lovely and black and mixes well with the clay soil.

The third bed is now also completed although it was a real challenge as my partner discovered that I could not dig and flatten the earth. Anyway it got made and as it was a bit deeper than the other beds it will be christened with my root vegetables. One more bed to go, although this might take some time as my partner has an exam coming up.

The chairman has made a huge pond right next to my plot, frogs gallore! Although the downside was during the build my a couple of my raspberry canes and asparagus plants got trampled on, fingers crossed they will recover.

My Rescued Bike

2008-03-08T07:37:00.000-08:00

My allotments just keep getting better. The Chairman of my allotments fixes up bikes as a hobby. He collects the bikes from the tip and does them up and sells them for £10 as £10 covers the £5 cost to buy them from the tip and he donates £5 to the Siberian Tigers. He also helps collect the bikes for Rotary as they send them to coutries less fortunate than ours.

My bike was finally completed, I am now a proud owner of an original 1970's Raleigh Shopper. This bike is going to be ideal to go to the allotments especially with the removable basket. It also reminds me of the wicked witches bike in the 'Wizard of Oz' so I will have to give the bike a new image and be known as the white witch of the allotments!

The bike's dynamo light is also still working it looks like it was bought and hardly used and has being sitting very bored in someone's shed for a long time.

The First Raised Bed Take 2

2008-03-08T07:29:00.000-08:00

After the OH trusting my theory on how to make the first raised bed and it all going wrong we went back up the allotments on the 7th Of March to try and fix it using the man theory, extra posts!

The OH had to dig around all of the bed and take the middle bits apart and put a post in between all of the corners. I think it looks much better now and if the OH is looking THANK YOU xx

We even had time to think about the construction of the next bed, I was sent to sit on the naughty stool while the OH came up with a theory of banging the posts in first. Hopefully we can get the second bed completed by Good Friday as this bed will be for my potatoes.

Making the First Bed

2008-03-08T07:06:00.000-08:00

My OH kindly offered to help make me some raised beds from wood. Our landlord kindly brought home a pile of pallets from work for us. I don't think my OH realised how difficult the pallets would be to dismantle and when he offered he didn't realise how many I wanted but hey hoo he carried on and we had enough wood to make the one bed. Although he made the vital mistake of trusting my womans intuition on how to make it so the first attempt looked like I made had made it!!
Women's intuition is good but don't trust it when it comes to DIY! I also had a another good theory of digging around it and banging it hard with a mallet to straighten it out and as I had this theory when I was at the allotment on my own I tried it out which resulted in me cutting myself on a few rogue screw ends. I think I should stick to the planting! and that is what I did.

On the 6th of March I planted a Loch Ness thornless blackberry bush as it has promised to listen and not hurt me. I also planted five Galanate raspberry canes again because they promised not to hurt me and if I look after them they will crop twice a year!!

I also planted three different varieties of strawberries to give me an extended crop, I planted one Florence, Alice and Honeoye, I hope these ladies behave although I am a bit worried about them with the weather today, fingers crossed!

And last but not least I planted a bay leaf tree as I go through loads of these when I am making a vegan lasagne yum!

It's a good start to a prosperous year.

The First Sowing

2008-03-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

So I now had all of the seeds so on the 2nd of March I started making small pots out of toilet roll and newspaper as I didn't feel the need to buy anything new when I had a couple of pots left over from last years pots and I obviously had plenty of toilet roll and newspaper in the recycling bins. I also made tags to make sure I know what is where although I really wanted to give them individual names as they are my babies...

So my windowsills are now taken over with baby onions, radishes, cabbages, garlic, peas, beans and chitting potatoes.

After 6 days I noticed my radish babies coming to the surface, I felt like shouting push, push you can do it!!

The Arrival of the Seeds

2008-03-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

On the 15th of February I had double excitement my big order arrived from the Organic Gardening Catalougue and I also had a parcel from CompostWoman who kindly sent me some of her saved seed along with a couple of herb
cuttings from her garden.

I now have most of my seeds for the year and two varieties of mint and a thyme to get me started. A big thank you to CompostWoman!

The Final Dig!

2008-02-13T09:40:00.000-08:00

It's finally completed, I now have a completely dug, fresh patch of soil that's mine to plant what I want where I want. How exciting is that!!!!!

It was a bit of struggle but I made it, although my back is feeling very alive at the moment.

I came across an area with a lot of beans on the ground, very strange. It made me feel a bit like Jack and the Giant Beanstalk, so I throw them on the compost heap as I am not quite ready for a parallel universe at the top of a giant beanstalk, not yet anyway!

The weather was beautiful today and the evening was so much longer, bring on the long Summer evenings with beautiful sunsets. Although the sky looked quite spectacular as I was leaving the allotments this evening, a good taste of things to come.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

2008-02-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

Went up to the allotment today to aim to get another bit dug over. On the way up I noticed one of Hilary's new sculptures in the area she was working on yesterday, just outside of the walled garden.

I got the spade and wheel barrow out and went up to my patch aiming for gold. My friend the robin popped in from time to time and was getting used to me pottering around. I also had a flying visit from a squirrel who was checking out the border.

As I was coming to the last part of today's dig I noticed a very large root sticking up from the ground. On closer inspection it looked like a tree root, so I started to dig and dig and dig. I never found the bottom but I found intertwined roots that eventually snapped, is that good or bad???

I pulled out one of the bits that snapped of and got my go go gadget eyes on the case, looks like wood to me!!

After my unplanned dig for roots I was left with a pile of soil and a big hole so I ended up having to dig over a bit more to conceal my mystery dig!

I was very pleased by the end of today, I now only have one third to go, there is a light and I can almost touch it. I will be disappointed when its all dug over I have really enjoyed it. I guess the next chapter will then start, planting!

The light was starting to dim so I decided to call it a day.

I said goodbye to the king of the hen clang, who was getting used to seeing me and was not bothered by my presence at all, yet another new wild friend to add to the list!!

As I was leaving walking down the drive to the convent there was a spectacular view that really captured my mood and made me really appreciate my surroundings.

Half Way There

2008-02-10T10:31:00.000-08:00

Finally made the half way mark today. I have also made friends with a little Robin who seems to be appreciating all of the worms I am turning over while digging. The weather was a lot different today, there was a slight chill in the air and after being there about 10 minutes the sea fog started to come in it was very creepy. I felt like the allotments were turning into a set from a Tim Burton film.

Then I started to hear someone digging, I couldn't see anyone just hear it! Between finding all the bones yesterday and the digging noise I was visioning graves being dug through the fog.

But I discovered it was a fellow allotment holder I hadn't met before she was digging over a patch just outside of the walled garden so I couldn't see her.
I breathed a sigh of relief and decided to call it a day.

The Second Dig!

2008-02-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

Just come back from a glorious day at the allotments. I can't believe how warm it has been today. I went armed with tea and cake, prime ingredients to keep you going!!

Grabbed the spade and started again, aimed to dig over half by the end of todays session and almost completed it. One thing I learned to day was my gardening gloves were not nettle proof!!! Picked up a lump of turf that was destined for the compost heap and it bit back!! So I threw it into the naughty corner (on the compost heap).

Found a lot more potatoes under the ground and they were all rotten. My hand went straight through the one and it cracked like an egg, it even had the runny yellow inside with a slug to say hello.

It's unbelievable what you find under the ground. I started to find a number of small bones!! too small for human but they were certainly bones!! I had visions of Pet Cemetery going through my mind with a flash of Physco for good luck.

Luckily Jan one of the other allotment holders turned up and she informed me that there used to be an abattoir there!! Not very vegan but I'm sure it done the soil good. I would really like to know the history of the place, another project for a rainy day. At least I know it wasn't from the last plot owner!

It was really nice to chat to someone about the plot and the place. Jan was plating out some garlic and she had some spare and kindly give me a number of garlic plants. Which are now taking residence on my windowsill in the kitchen until I make them a new home.

After a natter and a nice warm cup of green tea and a slice of cake I dug a bit more, threw a few more weeds in the naughty corner and walked home looking very proud with garlic plants in my hand. I feel it was a successful 2nd dig and hopefully the weather will continue and the plot can be dug over by the end of the week.

The First Dig

2008-02-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

Well we didn't get the snow and the weather looked fine and not too windy so I put my wellies in a bag and headed up the allotment for my first dig!! Three hours later I got through a quarter of my patch. Had to give it a right old digging as there were lots of rotten potatoes under the ground from the previous person. Also came across a number of slug eggs!!

As I am writing this I can feel my back muscles asking my body was all this digging really a good idea. It's times like this I wish I had a bath! Only another three quarters to go and then bring on the weeds and slugs, I am ready and waiting!

New Surroundings

2008-02-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

The community allotments are in a walled garden in the grounds of the local convent http://www.noddfa.org.uk/.

There's a communal shed and the place has a lovely tranquil atmosphere.

Here's a few pictures of my new surroundings at the allotments.

The allotments have lots of potential as you can see from the pictures below.

Most of the plots are a lot smaller than a normal allotment site but I like the communal feel and as I have never had an allotment before it seems the perfect place to start.

The plot I will be working on hasn't had anything on it for over 12 months and as you can see the weeds have been taking over. On the end of my plot there is a wildlife area being developed. We are hoping to breed hedgehogs in the allotments and lots of other beneficial insects and creatures.