Sunday 24th November 2013 - Basil Brush Again!

I took decking offcuts, more leafs from the apple trees and pop bottles to the allotment this morning. On arriving I spotted someone had collected all the leafs in the car park and put in a massive cardboard box on top of the industrial wheelie bins. Watching me was Basil Brush who was looking for something eatable, if you look at the photo you can see him hiding behind the box.

Goes without saying that the leafs were added to my leaf bin  There was a 5 minute shower so I took to the shed once it stopped I picked up all the leafs from the sprouts and put in the green dalek - harvested some sprouts for lunch and Sid next door - Then Barry turned up, then John on his bike (riding again so soon after a hip replacement) and finally Andy.


I came home early as I have loads to do at home sorting out all the stuff I'm bringing home from work and trying to get my home/office set up, but I still wanted to get a few hours in on the allotment.

Saturday 23rd November 2013

All the Crimbo stuff down from the loft so the girls can do the house up as they are at a concert next weekend and she who shall be obeyed always has the house Crimbo ready before Emmas' birthday on the 5th Dec. Built the replacement window box out of decking - the Asbestos one went when the drive was done.

Sunday 17th November - WD Everywhere !

Up early and painted the fence post I put in yesterday afternoon, then took two bags of leafs from the apple trees and two stacks of pop bottles down to the allotment. Very active down there today Andy, Bob, Paul, Owen and Keith & Pauline were all there this morning as it was dry and mild.

The can of super wd40 supplied for the padlock by the council had decided to discharge in the shed and had got into everything, even had to throw a couple of packs of seeds away (shock horror), it took ages to clean up the mess it made.

Moved last years leafs into a single bin ready for this years collection and emptied my two sacks into the empty bin to get it going. There are 100s of baby slugs in my dalek all around the lid so I went in a squashing feast. Obviously they are not touching the blue pellets of death I sprinkled in, so not really sure what else I can do to kill them off.

Dug over bed 4 and rescued some missed potatoes, then I added manure and a layer of cardboard for the Winter.

The mustard on Bed 3 is doing really well, I'm not quite sure when to dig it in? There is still so much to do it's scary, but I have to say looking at my plot against those without paths I'm really glad that I've invested time in creating an infrastructure.

Topped up the path between bed 4 and 5 as I could see the weed membrane where Basil Brush has been investigating again. The more he does this, the more I'm thinking of chicken wire enclosures over all beds that are not covered with hoops and debris netting next year. 

Bed two and the pop bottle Borg roofless greenhouse/ cloche the spring onions are flat against the soil but they take so long to grow - I now have 6 stacks of pop bottles another 4 and I can make a roof to the cube.

Left at 12:30 - home lunch then finish erecting the fence blown down by the high winds - managed to get most of it done before it got dark - just the paving slabs around the post to go back in and the gravel boards - after they have had a fresh coat of red wood paint.

Wednesday 13th November - First Frost

The first frost and I was scraping it off the car windscreen this morning - Great stuff for the sprouts perhaps another one or two mornings like today and I can start to harvest some of the lower larger sprouts - with 8 plants worth there will still be enough for Christmas.

Sunday 10th November 2013

A couple of hours in the Sun this morning to make the 4th side to the Pop Bottle greenhouse. I got a few bread delivery trays from the local corner shop who was massing a large collection as the people that deliver don't seem to want to take them back - some are housing the ornaments in the back garden - 4 have been cut back and are now cable tied together to hold some of this years collection of leafs when they arrive at the allotment

I may have to liberate another 4 and make the bin higher or perhaps have 2 until they rot down a little and can go into the ones I made last year. The bins were full last year and now there is only about a 1/4 of the original volume   

Friday 8th November 2013

Nice and sunny lunch time so a flying visit to drop off some compost just to find the green dalek full of small files and what looks like 100s of mini baby slugs..... dropped some blue pellets of death inside and around the base. Whilst quite happy for worms and wood lice to do their thing not really wanting to let the slug population explode.

Also took 10 pop bottles with the bottoms holed with the soldering iron and re-stacked all the pop bottles with the ends fixed and to 1.2m high ready to go in the frames. I now have 16 so just enough for one and a half more frames for my greenhouse cube.

Andy was having a morning of tidying up and Adis' mum had come to harvest some more potatoes.

Sunday 3rd November 2013

Up early and on the plot at just past 7:00 -worked until 1:00 Andy. Michelle and Lee on the allotment as I left for home and Sunday lunch.

•   Tidy the racking and storage area
•   Weeded bed 2 and harvested the spring onions   
•   Planted out the over winter spring onions from the cold frame in Bed 2 and watered with comfrey tea
•   Took the over winter cabbage from the cold frame but didn't get to plant it
•   Harvested the peppers and the last of the toms
•   Constructed the third plastic bottle 1.2 x 1.2 m frame
•   Stacked all the pop bottles ready for frame 4
•   Filled up the comfrey water barrel with extract from the comfrey pipe.
•   Sorted out the shed
•   General tidy of rubbish and retrieve the lids to the incinerator and the green dalek