Vinny's Allotment Plot

Good job you like onions, Vinny

You can never have too many alliums Jay Jay!

I did manage to get to allotment today mainly to drop off some cardboard. I hd to travel about 10 mile to a sorting office to pick up a parcel even though I left a note on the door telling the delivery team where to leave it if I was out! Thank you very much for that Royal Mail.
I decied to lay the carboard in situ on a weedy area which was uncultivated this year. It was bladdy freezing and windy, which didn't help, so I threw a few bits of scrap wood that I had lying around on top of cardboard to hold it down until we get a rain/snow shower.
It was too cold to do much so I dug up a few leeks which along with my saved potato's will make a nice warming leek & Potato soup later!  I might even make a single portion leek pudding cooked in microwave, but we shall see.

A couple of piccies below of area I covered and the leeks I dug up.

A surprisingly bright, reasonably warm and sunny day for December today (Should have gone fishing)

Instead of fishing I set the beef stew cooking slowly in the oven and decided to visit the plot. Not before time mind as I had four carrier bags or rotted vegetation from kitchen waste stuck outside under my patio table to keep it dry. I also had a large bucket of woodash to take as well.
Once I had dumped the veg waste in the dalek I turned the bags inside out and stuck them over some stakes I had to allow the rain and wind to work on the stinky inside of the bags. I will probably be able to utilise the bags at a future date to bring stuff home from the plot.

I then had to decide what to do with the woodash. It had got wet in the bucket which wasn't ideal but I decided to apply it around onion sets as some of them are planted in pure cow muck which will be quite acidic.
Anyone looking at the plot will think "This guy knows summat" but they would be wrong as I only needed to utilise the woodash.

My right hand which I used to apply the woodash is the cleanest its been for a while and as woodash (Lye) is caustic my fingers were wrinkled up. I think woodash can be used to make soap and I can understand why.

I took a few piccies to show what I mean and even if it does no good, it looks kinda inteligent!

Looks like frost.

After I filmed my walkthrough the other day I spent another couple of hours preparing my runner bean bed. As I mentioned, last year I had the 8 foot bean canes up and as well as growing runner beans (not very sucessfully I may add) I piled all manner of allotment waste and kitchen waste in between the bean poles. Bean poles have been taken down and I have a long heap of rotted vegetation along the centre of where they were. This I levelled then put some decking boards I had lying around around the proposed bean bed.
I then dug the whole lot over removing no end of weeds mainly nettles, couch grass and docks. I filled two llarge containers with waste matter and one container with bits of plastic. The stones were thrown out to the edge of bed. After digging I levelled the soil the best I could with the rake. My intension is to re-dig the bed at a later date because I am bound to have missed some pernicious weeds. Once thats done, cover with cardboard and compost until planting time.

The reason I am sticking with this position is because the greenhouse and row of Jerusalem artichokes act as a barrier to the prevailing wind. I tried other areas but they just got battered by the wind!

Just finished watching your video mate, very good and your voice is very soothing, unlike mine

I did my runner bean trench in the week, I use the GH frame with supporting canes. I bung in a layer of veg waste, a layer of paper shreddings, then topped with manure, hopefully the worms will do the rest.

Just finished watching your video mate, very good and your voice is very soothing, unlike mine

I did my runner bean trench in the week, I use the GH frame with supporting canes. I bung in a layer of veg waste, a layer of paper shreddings, then topped with manure, hopefully the worms will do the rest.

Cheers Danny.

Very similar to my setup then.. I also use an old polytunnel frame as a central support for the 8 foot canes. I was going to cover frame with polythene and utilise it as a polytunnel again, but having seen the state of the polytunnels on site which are battered to bits with the wind, I thought it would be better suited as an added support for runner bean poles.  I have speculated on Gigantes runner bean seed ths year so have high hopes for them.

Yes I saw you mention Gigantes in another post, I grew them last year and was pleased with the results. I used all my runners as dried beans and will do the same this year.

Will grow cfb's for fresh beans.

Storm Arwen and Malik have a lot to answer for. Called in at plot to see what damage had been done. Was met by my greenhouse door minus glass and plastic lying against the gate!  On further examination three more panes of glass missing and one plastic pane foud at other side of plot. Water butt top was at other end of plot.
With damage at home ammounting to felt having been ripped off my shed and slates missing from roof I thought I was badly off until I seen my allotment neighbours plot!
In among that pile of broken glass and plastic and wood, lies a mangled greenhouse!  I somehow don't think that will be going up again.

Storm Arwen and Malik have a lot to answer for. Called in at plot to see what damage had been done. Was met by my greenhouse door minus glass and plastic lying against the gate!  On further examination three more panes of glass missing and one plastic pane foud at other side of plot. Water butt top was at other end of plot.
With damage at home ammounting to felt having been ripped off my shed and slates missing from roof I thought I was badly off until I seen my allotment neighbours plot!
In among that pile of broken glass and plastic and wood, lies a mangled greenhouse!  I somehow don't think that will be going up again.

Can't like it but good luck to you and fellow plot holders fixing things!