Sue and Lee's Vegetable Allotment pages, detailing all that we've been doing on our allotments, from clearing the 8' tall weeds that they were covered in when we started with our first plot in October 2006, through to where we are today, with 2 neighbouring full sized productive organic vegetable growing plots, 2 apiaries and 6 Beehives!!
FYI
Clicking on any of the pictures will open them at full size in the browser window, which means you will have to use the 'back' button to return to the main pages, whereas clicking to the left or right of any picture will open them in a new window, if you fancy a closer look at any of the piccies we've posted! We've included a Google Earth satelite picture of our plots and this years planting plan at the bottom of the page, next to each other. If you choose the Earth view on the satelite image you can rotate the image until it is lined up with the planting plan, then use the arrows in the plan to scroll from Plot 2 to Plot 1.
We managed to get to the plot on Thursday last week, to continue with rebarking up the paths and doing some clearing up, but with the weather so lovely (14C and glorious springlike sunshine), we noticed the Bees were really busy, so after taking a few piccies of how the plots are coming along we decided (along with Pat and Colin) to remove the mouseguards and allow the girls a bit easier access to the outside world!
As you can see, the newly relaid bark paths on plot 2 look great, really tidy the plot up a lot, shame that we've temporarily run out of them at the moment, so we cant get plot 1 done until some more chippings are delivered by the council (hopefully for this weekend)
The overwintering garlic and onions are coming up nicely (we were late planting them this year, normally they are in in October, but this year it was late December before the first 3 batches of onions and the garlic were put in!
As you can see, the bees were very busy, this piccy was of one of the quieter hives, some of the entrances looked as though there was a swarm in progress with the amount of bees trying to come and go through the mouseguards! The flying bees were not only fetching water (to mix with the honey), but also bringing home pollen, possibly crocus, willow or maybe even maple!
After donning our beesuits we removed the mouseguards (they stop any mice from raiding the hive in the winter when the bees are huddled together) which allows the girls a lot easier access!
Once we'd removed the mouseguards we did a quick inspection to check that the hives all had enough stores left, on opening them we were amazed by just how many bees were in each hive, really busy and full of bees, and plenty of stores left too!
Closer up, plenty of bees in there!
We also got the chance to play with our new kettle, I placed the base on top of an upturned hanging basket (to raise it from the floor, make it a bit more stable (less likely to be knocked over), easier for us to 'feed' and to increase the wind flow), which worked really well, although it is now permanently attached, as the plastic covering on the hanging basket melted and welded the base to the upturned basket! Ooops!
I have to say we were both impressed with its performance, once the fire was going it only took about 6 minutes to boil 1 1/2 litres of water, quite comparable with a gas camping stove, and a lot more fun to play with (as well as being a lot 'greener'!
Our chilli, pepper, aubergine and first tomato seedlings are now in the unheated greenhouse in the back yard, fortunately the greenhouse is located against the south facing garage wall (concrete), which acts as a heat sink, soaking up the sunshine thru the day, then radiating the warmth back into the greenhouse at night, without this passive solar heating (which was acchieved inadvertantly) we may well have lost a few of the seedlings in last nights frost!
Today we are going to be sowing more seedlings, brassicas, herbs, toms and anything else that we can at this time of year, ready for transplanting to the plot once the weather has warmed up a bit more!
Hope your preparations for the coming growing year are going well!
We suffered a break in at the plot last month, our shed was opened and our kettle, camping stove, and all the stainless steel gardening tools taken, about £150 worth in total, annoying and inconvenient, especially at this time of year when camping gear isnt readily available (or cheap, as it normally only goes on offer at the end of the camping season!)
We've managed to replace most of the tools, with a few things having been bought on special offer from the net, but the one thing we've struggled with is a new stove / kettle. We found a camping stove like the one we had stolen on offer for £15, but no-one has the gas in stock at the moment (or if they do, then its expensive), so after coming across this twig powered kettle, we bit the bullet and ordered one today!
So, this is the new toy for the plot, a 'twig' kettle, boils 1.5litres using a small quantity of twigs in a fairly short time, the design is ingenious!
The base holds a small fire, a bit of paper or straw to start the fire, then a few twigs, the 'kettle' is then placed on top, and more fuel fed thru the central chimney into the base, the water is held in a jacket around the outside, meaning a large volume of water in contact with the heat source, making a fast boil!
In addition a small pan, a small wok and frying pan are also available, so whilst brewing up, a bacon butty or some homemade soup could also be cooked at the same time!
Ok, its not cheap to purchase in the first place, but being powered by nothing more than a few twigs means no further runnning costs, so comparing with even a basic gas stove (£20 or so, plus gas for the year at £10 or so plus a camping kettle £10) it soon becomes aparent that actually its not that expensive, and with no further running costs it will actually save money in the future, aswell as being very ecologically friendly by not needing any gas (and the inherant waste packaging that is needed for the gas) and running on what is basically a waste product!
It sould be delivered sometime in the next week, so once we've given it a go, we'll report back on whether it is as good in use as it appears in design!
Lee especially is looking forwards to playing with it, he's got a flint and steel that he recons will be ideal for lighting the base, making it even more eco friendly and fun, plus it gives him an excuse to play with fire on the plot all year round! LOL!
I managed to get to the plot for a short while today, to plant the last 50 onion sets, and to get a few piccies of the newly cleared and rebarked paths on plot 2, hopefully I shall get them processed and put up here tomorrow! The chillies, peppers, aubergines and first of the toms we planted last month are all doing really well, almost every windowsill is filled with 1" to 3" tall seedlings at the moment, cant wait till the temperature rises a bit and we can get them planted!
Hope your preparation for the coming growing year is going well!
Forgot to take my camera to the plot today, so cant share how good its looking after todays hard work, but I can tell you what we've been up to!
We got to the plot for about 1130am, it was cold (3C max and dropped to 1.5C later on), windy (tho it dropped in speed as the temp dropped) and started out being cloudy (tho it lifted as the temp dropped to reveal low late sunshine). It was one of those days where it was too cold to undertake anything that kept you static, you needed to be moving and generating some bidyheat to stay warm, cold but productive weather!
Lee started off by having a bonfire, burning the grapevine prunings and the raspberry and fartichoke cane trimmings, whilst I started to fetch barrows of bark chippings to relay the paths on plot 2!
We broke for lunch at 2pm, having Pat's homemade carrot and corriander soup and some sausage rolls, then pressed on with the bonfire and barking up!
Lee finished the bonfire at 4pm, so we broke for a cuppa tea, then started to relay the wheelbarrows to bring the bark chippings from the far end of the plot, after 25 barrows full we finished at 5pm, with the temp dropping quickly, after redoing almost all the paths on Plot 2!
A productive (if cold day), PLot 2 is now looking much better than it was when my hols started 9 days ago, hopefully in the next week or so (back at work tomorrow) we'll be able to get the paths cleared and barked up on Plot 1, then it will just be a case of clearing and mucking the beds ready for planting once the weather improves a bit!
Hope your winter clearing and preparations are going well!
Well, with only tomorrow left of our hols, we've made some progress on the plots, but with the wet, cold and windy weather of the past week, we've not quite done as much as we'd like, however, plenty of research / reading / reskilling has been taking place as I contemplate the possible realities of life after Peak Oil and living in a world which is sufferring Energy Descent!
(For those who arent yet aware of the possibile problems that could be facing us all in the next few years, take a look at some of the links in the Low Imact Living section (on the right of the screen), or take a look at these links for a bit of basic info.......
So, what does it all mean? Basically we've reached (or will soon reach) the point where the amount of Oil we can produce has peaked, although there is still lots of oil in the ground it is going to become more difficult and expensive to extract it (as most of the easy to extract reserves have already been used), yet demand for oil is still rising. This will result in prices getting higher and higher, and a shortfall of the production of oil in relation to its demand, which will push prices even higher.
Our industrialised society relies exclusively on oil to work, we need the fertilizers (which are produced from oil) to grow our food, we need the petrol and diesel to travel to our places of work and for the supermarkets to distribute the food throughout the Uk (typically most Uk Supermarkets have food reserves for only a day or two's supply, if they cant resupply, then they will have empty shelves!), if prices rise for oil, so will everything else, until it reaches a point that we cant afford it and cant travel any longer, we cant afford the prices of basic foods and society is then in danger of falling apart (there have already been food riots in many countries)
You may think that emerging technologies will come online in a manner to reduce our dependance on oil and allow life to continue as it has for the past 40 years or so, but in order to be effective, they need to be coming online NOW, new power stations can take 5 to 20 years to come online (and although they would provide electricity, they wouldnt provide enough in order for us all to have an economically affordable personal transport system) and there are other factors that may prevent them ever becoming the solution to the problem of a world with less / overly expensive oil! (There are problems with the availability of the minerals that are required in order to produce viable electric cars, there isnt enough to allow us to relace all the petrol and diesel cars in the world with electric versions, and how quickly would we be able to produce them anyway?)
There are things we can do, ranging from going totally 'off grid' for all your energy / water / fuel supplies (which needs approx 3 to 5 acres of land per family / commmunity unit) through to less drastic measures such as those advocated by the Transition Town movements. (http://transitionculture.org/ ), (http://www.transitionnetwork.org/ ), who are looking locally at reskilling, building an infrastructure that looks at food and fuel supplies in a world where 10 miles is about as far as you could travel in a day and various other aspects of living in an Energy Descent world.
This is a subject that interests me, not only in relation to how society would fare (would it survive or collapse?), but also in relation to what skills we would need to live in a world where we had to produce the majority of our food, goods, services and fuel locally! Assuming you are able to find a way to provide your home with fresh water (rainwater harvesting and filtration system perhaps?), heating and cooking fuel (woodburning stove with back burenr to rpovide hot water and central heating) and grow enough food to feed yourselves with, then there are a myriad of other things that you need to consider!
Even if you just take a few minutes to look around your kitchen, how many of the things that we use daily could you provide for yourself? Salt? Sugar? Vinegar? Cooking Oil? Tea? Coffee? Milk?
We may know where many of these things come from (such as Salt from mines or from evaporating sea water), but would you be able to source them locally, or even make something that you could trade with others for?
What about those things you need to preserve your crops to allow you to eat them in the winter and spring? Do you know how to make vinegar, how to smoke food, can your surplus crops, how to salt meat (or even where to get the salt from?)
What about something as simple as yeast (for making bread and fermenting excess crops into alcohol - Peak Oil may mean energy descent, but it doesnt mean we need to do without everything thats fun, lol), would you know how to capture wild yeast and cultivate it to bake your own bread?
What about vegetable oil? We're too far north here for olive trees, and a lot of the things we cook need oil, where would you get it from? How about rendering down pig fat for making your own Lard? Or extracting useful vegetable oil from seeds? What about clothing?
Anyhows, if Ive got you thinking, then thats what this post is about, if we start finding out as much as we can now, then when the energy descent begins we should be able to do more for ourselves and pass that knowledge on to others who dont know as much!
A lot of this thinking was prompted by a visit to the Trafford Eco House blog site, a normal family home thats looking at doing what they can to reduce their reliance on oil and fossil fuels, some great ideas (such as their aquaponics system, raising fish in a polytunnel, fish waste feeds bacteria who convert it into plant foods, who then filter the water for the fish, definitely worth a look!)
Another site worth a look, is this one, 3 acres of wasteland in America produces 450000kilos of food and 10000 fish a year, perhaps a way for local communities to feed themselves?
Anyhows, we got to the plot today, planted out the thinnings of Lavender from the seedlings we planted in pots (next to the polytunnel last year) around the edges of the plum tree bed, I pruned the grapevine and we started to bring some fresh bark chips up to the plot to relay the paths, hopefully we should (weather permitting) be able to get the rest of the paths barked up tomorrow!
Well, another hot, sunny and dry day, not the weather for hard physical work, but needs must!
Today we were at the plot before 8am (trying to get as much done before it got too hot), with plans to finish topping off the bark chippings on both the plots! After feeding and watering in the greenhouses and polytunnel, we set to, barrowing over 60 barrows full of bark chippings about 300 meters across the plot!
As you can see from the piccies, we managed to finish the job, at about 5pm tonight! Hot, sweaty and sunburned, but a good job done by us both!
With the new bark chippings down, the whole plot looks great, they really sharpen it up, making it look a lot neater and tidier, plus the smell (of pine resin) is fab!
We've now got the plot almost sorted. a couple of small beds to plant up, a single bed to clear and a bit of work on the raspberry 'fedge' (that runs between the 2 plots), and it will be looking great!
As we're now looking good, we can go away for a few days to Shell Island and relax, knowing that there will be plenty of weeds ready for us to tackle when we come home!
Hope your plots are looking good, that the weeds arent being a bother, and that the harvests are going to be bumper ones!
Be back in a couple of days with some more updates, until then enjoy your growing!
Well, it certainly looks like we chose the right week to be off work! Its been glorious again today, hot, a light breeze, perfect sunbathing weather ........ unfortunately, we were'nt sunbathing, but working hard on the allotments again! Lol!
Our plans for today were to get the pond area planted up, the front flower bed planted with some more flowers, then to clear and rebark the paths on both plots! We started with a trip to our local independant garden center, for supplies of flowers (another £28 to add to the plot budget), which I then planted in both of the beds!
With more salvia, verbenna and some bedding plants (to go with the existing foxgloves, lemon verbenna and herbs) the pond area is now looking good, and once the new plants fill out a bit, it should be fab!
Just the pile of wood at the back of the pond to sort out here now!
The other flower bed at the front of the plot (beyond the courgette bed) is also now looking good, again once the plants fill out a bit (and the existing poppies and foxgloves grow on a bit more) then it shuld be looking really good!
Whilst I was planting the flowers Lee continued with clearing the weeds from the path edges on plot 1, a big job! Once I'd finished my planting I started to fetch some new bark chippings (by wheelbarrow from the far corner of the allotment site where they are provided free), and then started filling up the paths on Plot 2, as you can see from the picture below, it makes a big difference, really making the plot look a lot neater!
20 barrows later and the first set of paths are done! Not a job to be doing on a hot sunny and humid day! Mind you, with the hosepipe now permanently laid (with 4 points where the pipe can be split and plugged into with a smaller watering hose) and covered with bark chippings I've got to say that it looks a lot better and makes it easier to water by not having to drag around a long and unwieldy hosepipe anymore!
If you look at the path aove, and then compare it with the one in the picture below you will see what I mean about it looking much better!
After 20 barrows I'd had enough, so with the time getting on towards 7pm I started watering (using the new watering system where the permanent pipe can be split and linked into with a short length of hose for watering that part of the plot) whilst Lee finished off clearing the paths on Plot 1, ready for us to bark them up tomorrow! Watering now is far easier and takes about 1/2 the time it used to, which is a great saving of time!
Just before we came home I managed to harvest some more strawbs, enough for strawberries and icecream for supper tonight!
Hope your plots are looking good! More updates and piccies tomorrow, hopefully with the rest of the paths topped up with fresh bark chippings!
Well, another long hot day on the plot! We've been concentrating on weeding the veg beds and the path edges in preparation for putting a new layer of bark chippings on in the next day or so, which should make the plot look a lot neater and tidier!
Lee concentrated on Plot 1, whilst I concentrated on Plit 2! The borlotti, runner and climbing french beans are all now weed free, and seem to be growing nicely!
The late sown broad beans are also doing well, plenty of flowers, so cropping could be good, but we did spot some blackfly on them today, so we sprayed them with diluted organic washing up liquid, it helps stop the blackfly and saves having to pinch out the growing tips yet!
The swede and turnip bed is also now weed free, and they are going great guns, much further on than this time last year, hopefully we'll have some ready to eat soon!
Whilst Lee was doing plot1, I was concentrating on Plot 2, starting by clearing the rest of the pond area, I'm hoping to get some plants to put in there tomorrow and get it finished off and looking good! The onion beds are looking good, as are the potato beds, though we did notice the first signs of blight today, so after weeding the spuds and treating with bordeaux mixture I removed the affected foliage and brought it home to go in the green bin!
I managed to clear most of the paths on plot 2, along with the last bed (at the back of the plot to the left of the fartichokes), so hopefully we'll be able to get them nice n tidy with more bark chippings tomorrow!
The first early spuds are looking great, no signs of blight here, but we've treated them with bordeaux just in case!
The second early spuds were the ones that were showing the first signs of blight, so the affected foliage has been removed and again treated with bordeaux!
The maincrops are as yet clear of blight, but have also been treated, just in case!
Hopefully a timely application of bordeaux solution will stop the blight from taking hold, but only time will tell!
2 hot and sunny days, 2 days off, 2 days spent on the plot! On the wednesday we inspected the beehives with Pat and Colin, stopping for a brew and lunch in the glorious sunshine! After that we did some weeding and watering, getting ready for a hard day on the thursday, clearing another 2 beds and planting with broccolli!
Day 2 saw us tackling these 2 beds on Plot2, last year we had courgettes in them, but this year we are using them for overflow brassicas, specifically some of the broccolli!
Once cleared we rotovated and then firmed up the soil by close stepping over it for the brassicas.
Next holes were dug, limed, chicken manured and filled with compost and firmed in, then weed control fabric was laid, holes cut through it and 40 broccolli (4 varieties) planted, then covered with debris netting held up by waste piping (with bamboo canes bracing them so they stand up straight), this combination not only keeps the cabbage whites and cabbage root fly off, but also reduces the weeding and the watering by keeping the soil more moist. The only drawback is that its a haven for slugs, so measures have to be taken to control them in some way!
So, at the end of the day the plot is beginning to look really good!
The spuds are growing well, the squash and sweetcorn seem to be thriving, and most of the other crops are looking good!
Plot 1 is also coming on well, there's 2 beds left to clear on here, small ones at the front, one for curly kale and the other for our 2nd batch of courgettes!
The new compost bins are getting full already, and the path area is a lot tidier and easier to traverse than its ever been before!
The brassica beds netted and growing well, hopefully we'll have some good crops from here this year!
Plot 1, coming along nicely
Plot 2 panoram towards plot1, growing nicely!
1 thing we noticed today was this psychedellic honey bee, it had been gathering pollen from one of the poppies on Pat and Colins plot, and was covered in purple pollen, even more noticeable on the second pictur (click on the piccy for a bigger view!)
So, things are going ok, crops growing well, only 4 small beds left to clear and plant up!
Hope your plot is clear, your crops are in and growing, and your harvests are set to be huge ones!
