Sunday 26th August 2013

Up at 6:00 on the allotment by 7:00 and came away about 12:30 and I started by trying  to find a way to extend the height of the hoops and scaffolding debris netting over the sprouts. Finally decided using the pipes from an old gazebo was the way forward and made a new framework up. Keith arrived and made a cup of coffee, two more followed during the morning, and he helped me cut some more netting for the higher frame. The fox has knackered the original and made holes in it.

Because of the additional height there are two stips of netting fixed on their edge to the apex bamboo. I've rolled up the bottom of the netting and cable ties it to length so that the tent pegs go over it. The ends are lapped and cross each other.

I noticed fox poop in the paths between beds 1 & 2 and 4 & 5, bagged it up and deposed of it.

Next job was to dug up the rest of the second early potatoes in Bed 2. and leave weed and hopefully potato free.

I then cut up two comfrey plants and removed the cap and weight, stuff them in the drain pipe until the weight just fitted inside the pipe, added a little water to help get it working and replaced the weight and cap.

Next on the agenda was to blood fish and bone Bed 9, which is to be the strawberry bed - Surbies  excess strawberries are sitting on the table and are eagerly waiting to get into their new home, but I want to make sure they have plenty to keep them going before they go in. I'm also thinking about how to make fox proof because the blighters will no doubt want to dig them up. So there is some construction work to do, I have some wire mesh in the shed.

Harvested the runner beans and cleared the weeds from around the bottom of the runner bean beds. 

Gave the tomatoes and the peppers a comfrey tea feed, the plants in the green/ grow houses don't look as good as those outside but they all have green fruit, even the peppers and now displaying signs of fruit. There are a couple of orange on the bottom and green on the top tomatoes.     

Over the past few days, I've observed that the trees are beginning to shed their leafs, so I need to decant the leafs from leaf bin two into leaf bin 1 as there is more than enough room for them now.

John, Adi, Richard and Andy also turned up as the weather was so good.

= + = + = + =          Future works (In no particular order)        = + = + = + =

Plant out the strawberries after the foxes have dug around to get at the blood fish and bone, and got bored.
Construct some fox defences for the strawberries then plant out using weed membrane.

Pick axe up the bottom of the path and the end of the plot and lay the paving slabs before I carry on getting the beds ready for next year.

Pick up the dalek from my sister and start off compost bin 2.

Dig weed and create beds 10 - 12 and the additional trapezoidal beds complete with wood chip paths adjacent to the main access path

Photo are of the extended height netting enclosure to the sprouts - they do look happier now they are not pushing up the debris netting.