Plot Layout for 2022

Playing Around with the Bed arrangements and updating the layout of the allotment based on what I think I'm going to end up building in 2022. The entrance and left side of Avalon is Plot 1 and the right side is Plot 1A

This is what it looked like before I took it on. 

Taken by Plot neighbour in January 2021 

Plot 1 layout for 2022

Superdome Tunnel and SFG Beds 1 - 3 to be installed over Winter and if possible the 6' x6' or 1.8m x 1.8m Greenhouse Frame to be erected in the corner once the ground has been dug and weeded.  

Plot 1A Layout 2022

Google map measure

Plot 1A - New Bed Frames

An early start 8:30 which meant that I had cleared removed the plastic edging and installed the frame on Beds 5 - 7 before 10:30 and I managed to remove the plastic edging weed the bed and kill loads of slugs that were under the weed membrane on Bed 4 and lay the weed membrane on the paths between beds 4&5 and 5&6.

The Owl has made up to the top of the handrail post that was removed when the stair lift was installed, and I should be able to move it around so the birds don't get used to it being in one place.

I also managed to get the contents of the two incinerators burnt and have started stacking rotten timber up ready for the next burn up.

I need to attack and remove as much of the remaining hawthorn on Plot 1 and burn what I can before the bonfire ban starts in April

The Daleks that were on Bed 8 have been placed on plot 1 along with other items to be used to hold down the weed membrane against the wind.

If I can get another 4 and a half hour mornings in I should be able to get plot 1A completely ready for sowing.

View looking up the Allotment 

The beds do look much better framed with decking. At the moment I have only placed a slap at each end of the weed membrane on the paths between beds 4&5 and 5&6 on the left of the main central path there is already a paved path between the greenhouse and bed 6.

View Looking Down the Allotment from the top entrance point 

Size Is Relative

This morning I had a committee meeting on Spencer Road Allotment. I took the opportunity to ship eight kerb edgings and some of the contents of the shed from Spencer Road to Mill Green Allotment.

It makes sense to move stuff with every visit, the thing is I only really need to visit Spencer Road now to move stuff I want to keep, and to undertake minimal work to keep the weed down so that my plot does not become a problem for those around it, I've been there had that one done to me and I really don't want to become a problem neighbour, before I give up the plot. 

The Catawissa Walking Onions are already growing and it will be a shame to leave them on the Spencer Road plot  but I do have the next generation in the Space Saver Greenhouse in the back garden and I need to form the bed for them on plot 1A at Mill Green sooner than later.



I had trimmed up the offcut from the second strip of weed membrane with a soldering iron at home during the week, as it was so shaggy. The trimmed offcut can be seen in the photo above, up against the wall on the right of the photo on the boundary between plot 1 & 1A.

This sheet of weed membrane felt like it was huge whilst I was working on it in the back garden, but out on the allotment it's covers very little ground, and felt so small and really proves that Size Is Relative.

I marked the wall with chalk (highlighted on the photo) and measured the length of the wall at 8 metres. I needed to verify the length, so that I could cut to the required two lengths off the 2m wide rolls I have purchased. These length will be used to cover the area where the shed and greenhouse is planned to go, and the OS map is out a little as I estimated 9m lengths would be required.

Ultimately I need to measure the plot and work out the actual area I have as I have found that most plots are much smaller than what they charge you for, but no one from the council has ever actually measured the plots. .

Due to the shape of the plot of land that forms Mill Green Allotments, every plot is a different size but they are all charged out at the same area, unless you have measured the plot and inform the council / Idverde what the actual size is.

Clearing The Plot - Day 5

It's been some time since I have been able to get down and continue clearing and working on plot 1, what will having a weekend away, Christmas and wet weekends, but today I managed to get a visit in from 9 - 1:30. I had to recover the lids from the incinerators and from one of the storage bins, and then worked on digging out the tree roots and covering as much of plot 1 As possible with the weed membrane.

All manor of materials bags of leafs, hoop frames, bread trays, concrete slabs and timber recovered from the plot have been used to weigh down the weed membrane. I started to reduce the level in the internal corner formed by the wall and weeded and extracted the dross from the soil. 

Here is the view up the allotment from the entrance. I'm hoping I have enough on the weed membrane to hold it down against the wind. Time passes so quickly when you are busy on the plot.

Clearing Plot 1 - Day 4

An early Sunday morning start around 8:15 as last week and today the target was still to remove as much Hawthorn and Bramble from against the wall as possible

Day 1

Day 4

Wally gave me a hand to expose what now appears to have been a foxes den, after I exposed more ground and found another entrance into a cavernous hole in the ground which was under the Hawthorn and Brambles  

Day 1

Day 4

There was lots of rotting wood in the corner which has been laid out on top of a pallet and covered with the cold frame skin to stop it getting saturated. Once dry it will get burnt along with the remainder of the Hawthorn from along the first wall once it has been removed

View into the internal corner formed by the wall, which I now know is a mound of weeds that the previous tenant used to pile there supposedly as a compost heap! with the holes from the Hawthorn that was dug out and relocated and the foxes den, plus the difference in levels between plots 1 and 1A I should be able to spread out the heap and level off the area when the shed and green house are going.

View from what will be the entrance to Plot 1 directly off the main path just inside the entrance to the allotment. The mound of cuttings from last week were added to and the whole lot burnt

So it looks like a couple more visits of cutting stacking drying and burning to go, then I can strim and cover the whole plot and start sorting out the shed and greenhouse area. Lets hope the weather holds and I manage to get those couple of days in before Christmas. 

Clearing Plot 1 - Day 3

An early Sunday morning start around 8:15 and today the target was to remove as much Hawthorn and Bramble from against the wall as possible.

Photo above end of play last Sunday (top) and this Sunday (bottom)

14th October 2017

12th November 2017

Two pallets around the tree with the foliage stacked for drying and covered with the skin of an old cold frame /cloche to keep it dry and ready for burning once I have the rest cut back.

View into the internal corner formed by the wall. I found a couple of rat runs had burrows into the mound of earth in the corner, and the ground collapsed as my foot dropped about a 300mm into the ground,  so I will have to be careful working my way into that corner of the plot as there could be a whole excavated complex in that area.

Plot 1 The Way Ahead

Here are my thoughts on the way ahead for Plot 1

   

The plan above is an approximation of the layout as I have not been able to measure the walls or the boundaries as there is a mass of hawthorne and brambles along the walls. Once cleared I will update the drawing and bed layout.

Clearance has commenced

SEASONS


Spring     22nd March - 21st June - Planting, Growing and Harvesting
Summer  21st June - 22nd Sept - Harvesting
Autumn   22nd Sept - 21 December - Infrastructure works
Winter     21st December - 20th March - Infrastructure works

INFRASTRUCTURE

Having cleared the vegetation for most of the plot, the next area to concentrate on is the Hawthorn and Brambles along the wall, There was a huge spoil heap of weeds in the internal corner formed by the boundary wall, which I have a vague recollection of the last tenant spreading as compost over the plot two years ago so it may not be as bad as I'm anticipating but until I clear that area and get into it I will not know.

Strim all the vegetation down as short as possible and then hire a tri flame roofing burner and burn the whole of the plot and then cover with weed membrane, and hold it down with a mixture of plastic pegs, paving slabs, lumps of timber and other dross currently piled along the boundary of Plots 1 & 1A

Next Area 1 which is the internal corner formed by the wall, where the shed and greenhouse is going. The objective is to get this done and the shed and greenhouse transported over from Spencer Road to their new homes before or during March

Area 2 will be next as I'm hoping to have 4 - 6 beds ready in the first year, I may work from the South Eastern boundary as I will want to get the Daleks over from Spencer Road and into production as soon as possible. We are arranging a drop off Manure which will initially go into the South West corner of the plot in a heap and into as many Daleks on Plot 1 as I can fill.

Area 3 as I intend to grow fruit trees along the wall and it will link up with the main path on plot 1A and give me access to the new Shed and Greenhouse on Plot 1 

Areas 2 & 3 may get reversed in order, as it may be faster to deal with area 3 first. 

POTATOES

The first two beds that are created on Plot 1 will be earmarked for potatoes. In addition I intend to grow more first early spuds in buckets as the buckets will help keep the weed membrane down and wind resistant.

Clearing Plot 1 - Day 2

Thanks to the clocks going back I had a nice early start and was on the plot at 8:15

last week I started cutting the weeds down in the North East corner of the plot and along the boundary between Plot 1 & Plot 1A 

This morning Keith (my brother-in-law) and I cleared quite an area and stacked it in the middle of the plot ready for burning, the idea was to cover and let it dry, but the pile was a little to large to cover

So In the Afternoon after lunch we set fire to our mornings work.

First thing this morning

Last thing this evening just as it started to get dark.

So now just the Hawthorne, bramble and nettles along the wall to contend with, the plan is to strim a burn the vegetation and cover with weed membrane. The area where the shed and greenhouse will be sorted first, then the land will be expose in strips and hand dug and weeded and beds and paths installed.

I may need to make this chap and his chums a habitat on the allotment and perhaps a pond somewhere

Clearing Plot 1

In the last half an hour before going home for lunch at 1:00pm my attention went to the margin on the boundary and the corner of Plot 1.

The nettles in the raised bed were strimmed and cut back and a pallet base and three sides erected so that as I cut and clear the vegetation can be stacked and covered to keep it dry for burning, I really don't want to get into taking stuff to the dump unless I really have too. This means that the aim is to cut clear and burn as much as possible before the fire ban comes back into force in April next year.

My battery powered stimmer did a reasonable job of cutting back the couch grass and the nettles but is really is not up to dealing with brambles. Its a case of strimming at height and gradually working down and listening and swaying the strimmer so that it does not stall or turn off as it's does when under too much pressure to cut.

Battery life is around half an hour to forty minutes, so I think a poke around the shed and find the hand Scythe and the Shears is in order before I attack plot 1 again as it will take forever with the battery strimmer. I also think that taking the hand lawn mower to plot 1&1A may prove useful, especially as the path need cutting and until I get a route from the edge of plot 1 to access plot 1A, I will still need to use the foot path between plots 1-1A and plot 2 over winter.

The approximate locations of the apple tree and the globe artichoke are shown on the plan above and I could see when standing at the end of the path between beds 12 & 13 are bang in line of the pathway to the edge of plot 1 so they will have to come out. I may get away with keeping the Rhubarb.