Onion Harvesting

It was cooler this morning on the allotment, however the woodchip pile was nicely generating heat and letting off steam as I arrived and walked past it on the way in and it was still at it at 1:30 pm when I finally went home for lunch.

Debris Netting removed from the onion beds on plot 1 and two tugs of weeds pulled out and Red Baron Onions harvested.

I can't get down on my knees so I have to bed double to work the beds at ground level which is why I'm in the process of putting in raised beds.

I used the kneeling stool to lean on as I was harvesting the onions and weeding. Everything takes more time and effort that it used too before getting cancer and the associated arthritis last year.

I will not grow a single variety of onions again, I have been disappointed with the lack of growth of the onions some that were not much larger than the sets that went in have been dumped in with the weeds.

I do think the slugs and snails really hit the onion leaves and growth this year, and that could be a reason for the smaller diameter bulbs.

Those onion bulbs that are worth keeping had their roots twisted off or trimmed and the bulbs were wiped clean of mud with a cloth.

I had brought out the shower chair and was sitting just outside the plot 1 shed looking at the onion bed and watching one of my robins who came right to my feet to look at what I was dropping on the patio slabs. As always I talked to him telling him I'm not going to hurt him and encouraging him to get into the bed and find what he could to eat.

As always by time you get your phone and gloves off the little buggers have lost interest and you don't get a photo. He is there in the photo of the bed but can you find him?

It would have been easier for you to spot him if he was still looking at me and showing his red breast, but I'm glad that he trusts me enough to turn his back on me.

I take more rest periods when working the allotment these days and I'm gradually building up my stamina up. Trimming and cleaning the onions could be done sitting and just enjoying being out on the plot with the birdsong and my little companion.

Once cleaned I ended up putting the onions in the potting shed in some potato chitting trays to dry out a little before giving them to my daughter Emma. They my be small this year but they smell strong and will dry faster in the potting shed than the onion drying rack on the side of the shed.

Tree Surgeon "Would You Like Some Woodchips?"

With all the rain and flooding caused by the mega-storm that has been dumping an Months worth of rain in a day over the weekend & Monday and knowing that Mill Green was flooded and two cars stranded on Sunday and still not moved Monday I have not been down to the allotment. John showed me photos of his plot that had 75mm - 100mm of water in places, he dug some drainage channels into the vacant Japanese's Knotweed plot to help spread the load.

My local tree surgeon rang to ask if we needed topping up with woodchip as he was working near to our allotment site and had a full lorry load. It had stopped raining and was bright so I went to the allotment mid afternoon to meet him there and open the gate and let him in to unload.

We were getting to the end of the good path quality woodchip pile, and whilst waiting for the tree surgeon to arrive I filled two wheel barrow loads and five square flower buckets worth of woodchip.

Then I set about laying new woodchips on one of the paths between beds up on plot 1A.

I'm really happy with how the potting shed is looking now the wood stain has dried. I'm just hoping for a few dry days above 10C so I can finish off the first coat to those areas I have not managed to paint yet.

The plot name and number sign has really weathered over the last 18 months, but when I painted the shed I made sure I gave the sign a good first coat especially on the end grain where the varnish used had weathered badly. I like the weathered patina look that the sign has around the edges and hopefully the V33 will maintain that look and not let the sign weather too much more.

The temporary panel under the sign needs replacing, but that will also allow access to paint around the window frame and flashings.

Woodchip

A trip to the allotment this morning to drop off a tug of grass cuttings from my sister and the drawers picked up from Freecycle to help organise the potting shed some more and to be there to open the gate for a delivery of wood chippings for our small allotment community from a company that used the Arbtalk app to find someone that is after woodchips.

With it being 43C in the potting shed with the windows and door open, I only stayed in there to tidy up as it was out of the sun and until the woodchip arrived then it was time to depart.

I'm covering myself with factor 50 sunblock and wearing the Winnie-the-poo hat as advised by the Royal Marsden.

Woodchip Delivery

Finally after a lot of searching I have found a tree surgeon that is willing to drop us off woodchip. He asked if we still wanted it as any trees worked on at the moment will include leaf matter. I told him yes, as it will be ideal material for topping up the paths until we can get pure woodchip from Autumn and Winter work, and this stuff will fill up the bottom of the 10 number 1.2m x 0.8m raised beds that I'm going to replace the five number 2.4m x 1.2m beds on plot 1 with.  

This guy had a much better offloading technique that the previous tree surgeon we use to have drop off 

There was a nice show of smoke as the woodchip was tipped off the truck, and the heat could be seen rising from the pile.  

 

5 barrow loads topped up the triangular path behind the boundary beds and up to the pebble pool, after I moved the first and second early potatoes in buckets from the path out of the way. I ended up trimming the weeds around SFG Bed 1 and the path and patio. 

Next visit I will remove the remaining weeds and the soil in SFG Bed 1. Line the bottom with Magic Cardboard and fill with woodchip and hedge trimmings, then assemble the next layer of timber joist and backfill with the excavated Mels Mix as I did with the other Square Foot Gardening bed.  

The plan is then as the 5 beds other than the asparagus beds become free I will lift the existing timber joist frames and replace them wit 1.2m x 0.8m Pallet Collars and fill the first collar with woodchips and timber & hedge cuttings I have stored. 

I'm on the look out for 20 number 1.2m x 0.8m on plan and 195mm or 200mm high collars to make 390mm or 400mm high raised beds as drawn in red over the existing beds in the photo above.  

Woodchips for Paths

Many moons ago I found a web site Arbtalk set up to put Tree Surgeons in contact will people including allotment plot holders who are looking for woodchip for their paths or if very leafy to use as a mulch on their plots. 

I should have asked the driver to back up a little more as half of the load went on my plot and the other half went on the communal path (see top two photos) So whilst I was waiting for him to bring back a second load to go into the drop off and pick up area for anyone else who may need woodchip's on the site, I shovelled the heap off the path as much as possible. I so love the plastic shovels for doing the kind of thing so light weight and easy to use for a long time. 

Next week weather permitting I will eat into the pile from the main path side and start wheel barrowing it along the path between myself and my neighbour to form a margin to the kerb stones I put in a couple of weeks ago. 

Second load in the drop off and pick up area for all on the site to share