Vinny's Allotment Plot

Went to allotment at about noon time and pulled up all old brassicas. Hoed all paths and hand weeded areas. It was windy but bright so sod it sez I, I'm going to chance fishing for a couple of hours in storm Dave. Only one on water and no fish caught. To end the session I was locked in at the gate to the reservoir as the lock wouldn't work. Finally got away by moving a huge bolder so I could drive out bypassing the gate. Busy day!

My next door neighbours new shed has blown over. I would have tried to right it but haven't seen her for a while and would rather not in case it fell to pieces. Today she was their pottering about and as she is a frail elderly woman I asked her whether she wanted me to try and get it upright again. she said her inlaws were visiting in a couple of weeks and thay may be able to lift i for her? i said I would test the weight if she liked and possibly lift it back up for her? After a trial lift I gave it a go and managed to get it stood back up without too much bother. I put some bags of sand and soil on the floor on the windward side temporarily to hopefully stop if being blown over again.
I told her the best idea would be to level it up and concrete in four posts on each corner then screw them to the corners? This would stop it happening again.

On to my own plot. I dug over, raked and sowed a bed with five rows of mixed cut flowers. I dug over and raked another bed and planted my remaining onion sets in three rows. That's 100 spring planted onion sets I now have in, with a similar amount of autumn planted sets growing well. I hand weeded and onion howed two of these beds along with the elephant garlic bed. A quick hoe of the paths was followed by digging a carrier bag full of leeks for my daughter, before leaving for home.

Putting your weight training to good use, Vinny.

Yeah thats twice in one week!  I was shifting bolders as well when the gate lock wouldn't open to let me out of my fishing reservoir so had to do a Geoff Capes with a bolder to be able to bypass the gate!

Yeah thats twice in one week!  I was shifting bolders as well when the gate lock wouldn't open to let me out of my fishing reservoir so had to do a Geoff Capes with a bolder to be able to bypass the gate!

I wonder what would have happened if you had been a weakly weedy sort of bloke and unable to bypass the gate, would you still be there?

Nah, I would have reversed car to a passing place so that once the lock was sorted people could get by. and legged it the three mile to home! I think it will be sorted pretty quickly as the road is the only access in and out to five houses/bungalows by the waterside.I did ring the fishing club secretary as soon as I was clear and let him know what I had to do.
I will probably be visiting water again tomorrow so I think it will be sorted. We shall see?

Spent a bit of time at the plot today until my back told me it was time to go . I have bought a roll of electric fencing wire and yesterday received 20 metal pins I had ordered. Today I measured out the beds on the left sside of the plot (14 inch paths and 24 inch beds) and strung them all out using the wire and pegs.

After that I had a bit of a 'weed fest' hand weeding and tickling soil with my onion hoe on all the Japanese onion beds.I also applied a handfull of fertiliser to the square yard to hurry the plants along a bit. Pulled up some seeding brassicas and before I left I spun the tumbler compost bin upside down.

Called at allotment briefly to check if stuff was growing. Pleased that my cut flower mix has started to germinate and out of two rows of parsnips I have one showing above ground. I gave my allotment neighbour some spare elephant garlic and harvested some fhubarb for my daughter. I really need to do some repair work on my gate and fence, but not today. When I got home I sowed some tall sunflowwr seeds and have them on the kitchen windowsill.

One of my, whats turning out to be, two visits to the allotment each week. I visit after my excercising then weekly shopping on a Thursday followed by another visit afte excercising on Saturday. It's on my way home so I kill two birds with one stone.
The Council have sent me a main gate key  for the site as they have done away with the combination lock because too many people are privvy to it. The key is supposed to be impossible to get a copy cut?
When I arrived today to try it out, nothing had changed the same combination lock was still on gate?

After a quick water of the flower seeds and parsnips I had sown I spent a few minutes with a trowel digging out some of the flowering dandelions on the plot before they seeded all over the place.
I spun the tumbler composter the opposite way to what it was and pulled a few floer heads off my tree cabbage which I have managed to keep going by de heading and layering plants! I should really take some cuttings like the Daubertons kale if I want to keep it going much longer. I think it's on it's fourth year now which isn't bad for an annual crop!
All the onions and garlic have perked up since I gave them some fertiliser. The elephant garlic is very 'Leek like' and as I am not a great lover of elephant garlic cloves I may try cutting some of the stems and frying them like leeks, as an experiment?

When the weather warms up a bit and sowing & planting season are in full swing I will probably increase my visits to plot.

An exciting couple of hours on the plot today............NOT!  I hoed off all the paths.......again!! and in the process wore my hoe out! I need to replace it but think I have another one  at home which I can use temporarily. Watered the parsnips rows which still aren't showing and the flowers for cutting plot which are starting to show.
The two grapevines I have in the greenhouse are starting to form leaves so I will need to get the rest of the glass in it and rig up some form of suppoert for them. I might even get a few grapes this year if I am lucky?