Just A Little Thought For The Day.....

 

And that people is when you decide to install raised beds !

Raised Bed H1 Frame Build

Sunny afternoon turning Cloudy 11C and an afternoon of cutting scaffold boards and making the next raised bed frame for Bed H1.

Cut two end timbers and assembled the first layer of the raised bed for H1. I will get a fellow plot holder to help me move it in place.

Main Path looking towards the plot 1 entrance from the tap and water tank

Closer view of the Boundary Beds

Closer view of the Boundary Beds

Closer view of the Boundary Beds

Main path looking at the boundary bed from the entrance towards the back of the allotment

Raspberries coming up

Blossom on the plum tree

Comfrey Bed with Daffs and Bluebells which come before the comfrey and give the bees some early pollen

Oakland Gardens - Biggest Ever Competition

WIN £3,000 IN GARDENING VOUCHERS!

We’re running our BIGGEST EVER competition at Oakland Gardens!

One lucky winner will receive:

£250 gardening vouchers every month for 12 months

That’s £3,000 to spend on your garden or allotment!

Perfect for anyone who loves growing vegetables, flowers, or improving their garden.

Competition closes 30th May

Open to UK residents

Enter here

https://tally.so/r/lbAqVB

Tell us in the comments:

If you won, what would you grow first?

If you know anyone who loves gardening, please share this with friends, family, allotment groups, or gardening communities so they don’t miss out.

Good luck everyone!

Bed H1 Finally Decanted

Partly Cloudy with occasional sunshine this afternoon 9.5C. I wired the new solar panel to the fans in the loft conversion and they worked so I will not have to change the fans on the loft conversion only the solar panel.

Someone else is hitting the last of the woodchips. It was nice to see a further reduction in the height of the soil in the delivery sack on the pallet.

I filled two buckets of soil from bed H1

I then had a rest and water break before continuing

Raked the woodchip into the excavated end of the Bed

Levelled out and tamped it down with the flat of the rake, another rest and water break.

Added the cardboard I removed the tape from yesterday

The level of the cardboard is approximately the path level to the front of the bed.

Then added another barrowload of woodchips to hold the cardboard down

It was not possible to water everything in as the water will not be turned on until the end of March beginning of April, so again tamped down with the flat of the rake. Another rest and water break, I'm getting batter at taking 10 minutes and keeping hydrated.

Then a search around the allotment to find the Christmas tree trunk from 2024 and other twigs and branches from when they cut the dead branches of the Ash tree and didn't pick up all the mess they made.

Also rotting timber added. The rotting timbers that formed the edges of the framed beds that now have raised beds will be added which is why I have left room for them on the long sides. Two levels of framed made from scaffold boards are to be added to make H1 a raised bed. This bed will be used for Tomatoes this year. It was getting more overcast and a drop in temperature and was time to make my way home.

Weather It Will Or Will Not ?

 

What To Sow In March

 

Bed H1 Continued Again

8C Cloudy and overcast morning on the allotment, and once again working on decanting soil from Bed H1, and back filling with woodchip whilst there is still some in the car park. Photo above is Bed H1 after filling another two 30L Pots with handles with decanted soil. 

Bed H1 after filling another two 30L Pots with handles with soil

Bed H1 after removing bindweed roots from the perimeter of the excavation. I switched to getting woodchip as the pile is decreasing and we have no idea how long the dropped soil is going to be in the way before we get another delivery. 

First of many Barrow loads of woodchip from the car park. It appears the plot holders with the soil came and moved some yesterday after I left at 4:00pm. Not a third of the volume as quoted by them last night on the Allotment Wat's App group, but a start. They were a no show this morning, as as stated before, historically they are not frequent visitors despite living in the estate behind the allotment. 

I decanted the woodchip into Bed H1 (Left Photo) and then levelled it (Right Photo)

Another wheel barrow of woodchip decanted, and walked on with and without the spreader board to help consolidate it. 

Another view from the opposite end of Bed H1, Another two wheel barrow loads of woodchip decanted into Bed H1, filling the timber frame to the top. 

Another view from the opposite end of Bed H1. The woodchips will be pulled down into the trench once the soil has been decanted into 30L Pots with Handles 

Soil to be weeded and decanted on the left and the woodchip fill on the right, now up to the top of the framed bed. This will be pulled into the left side once the trench is bottomed out and weed free, likely on 10th March weather permitting as I have a hospital appointment on the 9th March. 

Garland Garden Trays used to cover the bed to keep the soil and trench dry to make working in there easier, and less muddy.

No one will ever know the amount of work that goes into making the bed foundation and back fill. Typical Civil engineering works, it gets lost and all people see is the structure above the surrounding ground once completed.

The woodchip pile is going down, and hopefully the owners of the soil will get their skates on and get the soil moved to their plot so I can arrange another woodchip drop off.

How To Grow Rhubarb - UK

(c) 2026 Keith Wheeler of Facebook Group Allotment Life For Beginners UK

I love these informative posters that Keith produces and I have made a Keith Wheeler hyperlink label so you can find them all.  Used on manvslug.uk with permission 

More Woodchips for Bed H1 Excavation

Colder today and overcast, I took more Oakland Gardens 30 Litre pots with handles and filled six of them with woodchips and then barrowed them to my plot. So that's 1,800 More Litres to backfill the excavation of Bed H1 once completed.

Disappointing when the plot holders who have had topsoil dropped off in front of the woodchip pile have not started to move it, only 3 more days Sunday, Monday & Tuesday of dry weather forecast in the next 14 days.