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...........

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Plot Inspection!

Today has been the warmest day of the year so far, with beautiful Spring sunshine - it certainly brought the plotholders out at the Hill.

As I arrived I saw Reg-next-plot, & went straight over to say thank you for planting the raspberry canes. I also asked him about supports for the canes & he gave me some advice about the height of the uprights at each end, & about how many & how high the cross wires should be, & I busied myself with sorting that out.

The ladies from the stable arrived with a trailer-ful of bags of manure, so I broke off to give them a hand with unloading, & once they had gone, Reg & I emptied about half of the bags into the skip.

I kept a few bags back and topped off the front compost bin, squished it all down a bit then covered it with a black plastic sack (rather inadequately) & that can now magic itself into compost over the next three months or so.

I went up to the store shed to pay my money for the '3 spuds in a sack' competition & collect compost, bag, potatoes & instructions - John Badger (from the bottom) was in charge of the shed this morning doing brisk business with so many plotholders on site.

Back to the plot to plant out a tray of PEAS (latvian) - the broad beans planted out a couple of weeks ago look really good, the sweetpeas slightly less so, but I think that they will come on. In contrast, another of the lettuce has shrivelled up, & the other two don't look great - I'll definitely let them grow bigger before planting out the next lot.

Big sister Helen is up for the weekend, and arrived with mum to see what's going on - she said (rather kindly) that the plot looks better 'in the flesh' than in my photos on here, and was suitably impressed on being given The Grand Tour.

We had a look round all the plots - said hello to Rhubarb Brian (mum got him to promise us more tayberries this year) & saw returning-allotmenteer-Christine's new Salad Bar - her wonderful looking young lettuce contrasting greatly with mine, I must say.

Tour over, it was all off to the garden centre for a cup of tea & a toasted teacake. A good day!

5 comments:

  1. It all looks great - who else but us mad gardeners can see beauty in a muck heap?

    Hope you had factor-something-protective on today, that sun was surprisingly strong.

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  2. I've got a small shoot of a tayberry if it's any use to you (and you have room, of course) - it's pottd up but still small enough to post! You wouldn't get fruit this year - it fruits on old wood. It's from one of the long canes I hadn't spotted trying to root in the chicken manure mulch.

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  3. Would you believe it - the lettuce you spotted in my Salad Bar (will have to call it that from now on)are a good, fairly hardy variety called 'Babylon'. I was picking some of them just prior to Christmas. These little plants have actually overwintered under a bit of fleece, in a state of suspended animation. I was about to fling them, but thought they deserved a chance. They appear to be coming out of hibernation in their new home.

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  4. Yes, the sun was strong, Bilbo & I forgot to think about suncream (maybe a bottle in the shed would be a good idea) but I did have long sleeves & trousers on - not quite shorts weather yet.

    Looking at what a bunch of thugs tayberries can become, I think I'd better pass on the offer, Flum - but many thanks anyway.

    I never think of lettuce as an overwintering crop, Chris, but I must give it a go - nearly fainted at the price of an iceberg lettuce in Tesco the other day!!

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  5. Bunch of thugs is right! There are 4 on my new plot. Mind you, the one in the garden is well behaved. It's kept in check by a whip and a chair!

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