Welcome to our plot!

I'm Hazel, and in Nov 2006 my friend Jane and I took on a half plot at Hill Allotments, Sutton Coldfield - we want the satisfaction of growing and eating our own fruit and veg, and to improve our diet (and fitness!).

This is the story of what happened next...........

Monday, May 11, 2009

Now THAT'S more like it!

What a satisfying evening’s work!

When I arrived at the Hill, I saw David-other-half weeding his parsnips – I noticed how good his onion are looking & swelling nicely at the base. “I’ve always done well with onions on this plot,” he nodded, “so I plant a lot of them!” Fair enough.

I’d decided to re-fix the bean support, putting it further into the ground. Once I realised that the support at the other end of the bed would not be in the ground as far as this one (because the land falls away to that side, & the bed is pretty much on the level), it was a foregone conclusion – if I was concerned about this end being stable, the other would be that much worse.

It was the work of a minute to unscrew the bean support, although it took rather longer to dig down the extra 6” – going well into sandy subsoil & then a layer of decent sized stones. I got there in the end, though & re-screwed the support into the side of the bed, & then the bracing sticks.

The other end was easier – for the most part because it was previously dug land, & of course I didn’t have to dig down quite so far. Even so, Jason & his father walked past on the way to their plot & cheerfully asked if I was digging for gold.

I asked them about treatment for my mildewy gooseberries, & said I’d been advised to spray with soapy water. Jason pulled a face & said “Weeell, you need a fungicide really – how organic do you want to be?”
“I suppose the answer to that depends on how much you want to eat gooseberries!” grinned his dad. I’ll look into this further, I think.

Once the second support was in, I ran two wires between them from each end of the ‘T’ piece, & started to set up the 8’ canes – the bottom of each cane in a central line between the two supports, & they alternately splay out to each side, and are secured to the wires with a wire twist. Every so often I will need to put a cross piece to hold the wires parallel, but in essence, that’s it.

I like it – I like it very much.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...