Grand Erections - Sheds that is!

Keith (my brother in law) and I both had today off to receive the delivery of the sheds and we were hoping for a dry day and that they would come early enough that we could erect them both.

It was one of the best days recently, sunny and not too cold. The lorry driver from Tiger sheds phoned to say he would be delivering in half an hour, which turned out to be more like and hour and a quarter as he got stuck in traffic that his sat nav had not anticipated .

Re the quality of the shed, the lock in Keiths only went over the timber upright by about 1mm, where as mine the lock and the timber was so hard up against the frame on the side and the top that we had to move the lock over and cut a small amount off the top and mid bars. We also had to undo the hinges and lower them because the door was too tight at the top. 

They really need to look at the design of the door when you want a shed lock as you can only get 3 screws in it because there is no enough timber. I wish I had bought my own lock added another horizontal timber at mid height and fixed it myself as I did with the Billy Ho _ that I bought for Plot 1A three years ago.

Being shiplap it is better constructed and likely to be more vandal resistant than the feather edge type but is was more than double the price. Having now an Apex and a Pent, it's a no brainer, the pent wins hands down for headroom and more storage space.  

The sheds on this allotment has been hit 3 -4 times in the last 6 month, so at the moment I'm not anticipating that I'm going to lock it. Those that do come to find the door ripped off or panels removed from the side if they are constructed in a Heath Robinson nature.

As with my other shed, I intend to put a wide shelf/ work bench half way up the door frame on the lock side which will strengthen and stiffen the door frame and make it less venerable to attack should I decide to start locking it. 



A visit to the local timber and hardware shop and I have an offcut of mdf for the worktop and a 280mm shelf to go above. I will install horizontal supports from the door to the front corner, along the side and the back then from the frame to the rear wall. The timber will be notched to miss the uprights and fit snugly and then it will be screwed down to the framework to give me a nice stiff plate to buttress the door frame.

Roofing batten offcuts courtesy of Sid my neighbour that have been keeping dry in the greenhouse on plot 1A are now sitting in the new shed ready for the framing of the bench and shelf. 

The tool hangers on the door were 5 for £1 at the pound shop. The timber bedside storage unit and the plastic units were what my daughter was throwing away when she redecorated her bedroom and they have been sitting on the plot under a plastic sheet waiting for the shed to arrive.

Now I just need some good weather and some time to get some beds in before the end of April.

Plot 1A - Clearing Bed 5

I have a Christening to go to today, so I only managed couple of hours down on plot 1A this morning between 8:00 - 10:30 and as it happened it started to rain as I came away, so that was kinda OK. The Valentines flowers bought for the wife and my daughters made it to the Daleks. I again have bored some holes and primed them with coffee grounds. All three Daleks were a little dry so I have watered them again.

I tilled the comfrey bed that currently has daffs and bluebells showing. Then turned my attention to removing the weeds around in the paths and in Bed 5 which up until now has been the strawberry bed. Beautiful my Robin made an appearance and was looking for food in the bed whilst I was digging it over, it's nice to see him again I thought I had lost him.

I gave the finished bed a sprinkle of coffee grounds and then put the chicken wire hoop frame back over to stop Basil Brush who has been walking around the allotment watching me all morning.

The leafs in the leaf bins are rotting down nicely and there was enough room to empty the six sacks of leafs

Tomorrow is a whole day on plot 23B and my brother-in-laws plot 22A erecting the sheds that are hopefully going to be delivered between 10-12
   

Seed & Cutting Compost

I picked up two 20 litre sacks of Westland Gro-Sure Fine Grade Seed & Cutting Compost from TESCO for a £5 as it took far to long to sieve the B&Q Verve last year.

Having daughter come with benefits as their Valentines flowers along with the wifes' are now all cut up and in a food bucket with lid ready to go to the allotment to feed the Dalek.

A Compost Bin and 30 Litres of Coffee Grounds.

I was second in wanting a compost bin on freecycle and the first person never showed, so I scored another Dalek for Plot 23B which was picked up from Worcester Park and dropped off to the allotment this afternoon.

The local Pizza shop has been saving me 10 litre buckets with lids that originally had food stuff in them.

My sister Elaine managed to score me two more sacks of coffee grounds that filled three of the 10 litre bucket containers. So once the grounds have dried out they will come with me to plot 23B. I will use them to weigh down the tarp until they are needed and as fertiliser and compost dalek activator. The 4th bucket in the picture has my seedling compost in to keep slugs and snails out.

I've also been compressing paper shredding's into one of the bucket/containers with lids and that will go down to plot 23B for when I finally get the compost bins set up and compost production really starts. The plan is to have the material I need to fill it with alternating greens and browns, I hopefully will be able to gather cut grass from the top end of the allotment once the council do their first cut of the season.

The local greasy spoon also supplied me with 6 more mushroom trays and large cardboard egg trays for chitting my next lot of spuds. I love the recycle /repurposing element of owning an allotment.

Shaggy Weed Membrane and Plot 1A

Rain yesterday and today I needed to drop off my daughter to work mid morning so decided that a morning of welding up the edges of weed membrane on sheets that will get used on plot 23B. It's really quite cold and the soldering iron cutting of the membrane is not a quick as when it's being done when the temperatures are better plus everything needed to be weighed down to stop it flapping or blowing away.

Plot 1A - the over wintering onions in the greenhouse were extremely dry as I have not been down there for a few weeks so they had a good watering. Some sand from the milk bottles had dried enough to re -fill some younger plastic bottles

The daffs & bluebells in the comfrey bed are doing well

The Parsnips I left to go to seed and covered with a cloche are doing extremely well

The over wintered cabbage is not doing bad

Over wintered onions holding there own at the moment.




At home I have been clearing out the space saver greenhouse and gradually getting it ready for spring sowings.

Free Capillary Matting

last year I bought some Moisture/Capillary Matting Watering/Greenhouse off ebay and paid through the nose for it.

This year I deconstructed an old single mattress that needed to be taken to the dump and found that the same rag cloth is used on top of the springs once you take the mattress cover off. 

I've ended up with 8 double gravel tray mats and 14 seed tray mats with enough over for all the half, quarter trays and propagator trays  

Seed Swap Carshalton

Kerb Stones & Shed Waiting

I picked up a dozen 600 x 150 x 50mm kerbstones off freecycle, I had hoped that they would be idea for the re-paving of the back garden, but they turned out not to be the bull nosed but half rounded tops, so they got dropped off down to plot 23B

These will go at the back of the plot and will edge the footpath and the comfrey bed

The recent winds had taken two of the Daleks for a trip around the allotment so next time I visit I need to mark the daleks encase they decide to go walkies again on the next windy day.

The sheds are being manufactured and my brother-in-law and I are hoping for a delivery this Friday as we are both off for the day. 

It's Half About The Base

8:00 - 10:00 First visit Plot 1A Mill Green to see what damage the high winds yesterday have done!  A couple of the hoop nets are leaning a little and the wind has got into the large sprout hoop  enclosure and lifted the netting and the weights have rolled off, so they were reinstated as we have another high wind warning for Monday.

The Bluebells and daffs that I planted in the comfrey bed are up and I'm hoping for a show before the comfrey takes over the bed. I weeded out the nettles after taking this picture.

The over wintering cabbages are doing well, next visit I may have to freshen up the snail and slug pellets in the pop bottle slug traps. I took some kitchen waste with me and was please to see that the worms and insects have been busy in daleks 3&4 and the levels had dropped considerably. So I added a layer of shredded paper, the kitchen waste and a good sprinkle of coffee grounds.

A core hole was then made in the middle and charged with coffee grounds and liquid gold and water from the water butts added so that the daleks warm up again.

Next job was making milk bottle soft bricks, then cutting timber batten to make stakes for the decking down on 23B.  

10:00 - 10:30 B&Q to pick up slabs and crushed glass bedding material

10:30 - 13:00 Spencer Road Plot 23B

So with 10 slabs a sack of crushed glass and stuff from Mill Green me thinks I hope no one else has decided to take the car in as I'm right down the bottom of the narrow car width access road.

What I was not expecting was some numpty parking over the gates!!. Luckily he was only half over and I managed to reverse into the access road, otherwise I would have been snookered.

Keith and Pauline were on their plot beavering away cutting up pallets to make fencing and I set to work levelling up the ground using stones and bits of paving slabs and then a layer of sand or crushed glass and managed to get all the slabs laid by 13:00 which was leaving time to get home for Sunday roast dinner. It was fortunate that Keith had a couple of bags of crushed glass over from putting his base in otherwise it would not have happened today

  
State of play just before I cleared up and came home.

Note to self take old broom down to the plot for sweeping the paved paths. The decking board is destined for the back of the plot, but it has been useful in helping get the slabs base flat, I'm not saying it's level, but it is at least flat.

The path into the plot is to the right of the gravel board and for the moment it will be woodchip when I get that far. Keith has ordered the sheds this afternoon and we are just awaiting an agreed delivery day. I work for myself, and Keith works funny shifts so we have a couple of dates agreed when we can both be there to take receipt of the sheds and hopefully get them erected the same day depending on what time they turn up.

Next on the agenda for plot 23B is 6 number 2.4m gravel boards for the first two beds. I need to cut some corner timbers next time I'm at Mill Lane. Work starts on the site behind on the 10th March so access is going to be a little difficult from then on. That means that I'm going to grow things that don't need a lot of tender loving care, Potatoes. Marrows, Squash (Yes Squash Queen you have converted me), sweet corn etc. but it also means that the greenhouse may not be as productive or as useful this year.

Consideration of how to get the Greenhouse moved to Spencer Road in one lump is festering in my mind as its aluminium and plastic sheeting and not really heavy, it just needs an open back truck that can fit a 4 x 6 foot greenhouse in it, and a few bodies to help with the getting it on and off again. 

The alternative is to buy another greenhouse for spencer road if I intend to keep both plots on?  In the short term I have two blow-away growhouses that will be tied back to the shed with bungee cord, that I will use for growing seedlings and then tomatoes in. I also plan to make a coldframe using the glass door panel in the photograph above.   

Sarpo Potatoes Arrive

Sarpo Mira, Sarpo Blue Danube, Sarpo Kifli and Sarpo Axona have come and they have been placed in tray modules in Mushroom baskets surrounded by bubble wrap with a Bubble wrap Blanket that comes off in the morning and is put back on over night as the coolest lightest place I can find at the moment is the greenhouse.

Temperatures and frost warnings are being looked at and if the outside temperature is forecast is less than 5C over night they will come in. The reality is forecast 5 in the greenhouse 1.2C and I don't want my spuds getting frost bite and turning to water now do I.

It's All About The Base

Fixing the broken siphon in the wc cistern this morning and then off to Been and Queued to get some slabs for the Base to the shed. My bother-in-law has his in and ready to go and once mine is in we can order our sheds.

So another 5 slabs and some bags of sand and we should be good to order the sheds.

72 Ailsa Craig Onion seeds sown in 20mm x 20mm x 30mm modules and in the micro Ikea Greenhouse that's behind the kitchen patio door, I will let these germinate and then sow some reds.  

Let It Snow

And it did a little. A quick compost drop off to plot 1A, the worms were obviously not too warm as there were none in the lid this weekend. Then a flower bucket drop off at plot 23B and some stone harvesting along the boundary with my neighbour, then home as it was far to cold and wet to be playing with the mud that was covered in snow.

Met two parks police on my way out of the allotment, I suspect they thought I could have been the asshole that has been breaking into the sheds and wanted to check me out. They were happy when they saw I had a key to the gate.

Sprouts and Worms

Well my last visit to Plot 1A was on the 13th December 2015, this was my first visit in 2016 and, the idea was to drop off some items, sacks, shredded paper etc.and perhaps have a little tidy and then go onto Plot 23B.

Then I saw the sprouts and a few had blown and I decided that I would deal with bed 3 and harvest the sprouts.You will see what I found when I went to put the shredded paper into Dalek 3 in the video below.



I have covered the parsnips left to go to seed in the corner of bed 9 with a cloche.

Next was the short trip to my other allotment plot 23B. I managed to fill four more flower buckets with manure and topped the small Dalek at the end of the plot to the brim. I also started to dig and weed the front edge of the plot along the boundary with 23A, and filled a tug with weeds in the process.

My brother-in-law Keith and his wife Pauline were sorting out pallets and working out where to put their new shed, and Keith noticed that some shed doors were open. It appears that last weekend there were shed break-ins on nearby allotments and back gardens in the area.

That's 3 break-ins since I got my plot last September. It does make you wonder if its worth getting a shed and if you do, you may as well never bother to lock it.
  

Tarptastic II following storm Frank

Not too cold, nor windy plus a clear blue sky and sunshine this morning so I made a visit to plot 1A to drop off more slug taps and have a check to see if the high winds over the last couple of days had done any damage. A few things blown around and out of place but generally all was good, then onto plot 23B.

Plot 23B had not been so lucky, the sheets I had put down were all over the place and most of the lids and squares I had cut to cover the manure in the flower boxes were gone!!. I took more square flower buckets down to 23B and set about filling them up with manure from the pile at the far gate. 

So a couple of hours of moving manure, filling one dalek, nine square flower buckets and four rubble bags I was just about to lay the large tarp over all the smaller tarps, plastic and weed membrane when I found that I hadn't brought the tent pegs down to the plot with me... Doh!

So home for lunch and me thinking it's another job for another day it would seem! 

Ok I had lunch and then said to the wife, Umm the sky is still clear out there do you think I should go back and cover up all those small bits of membrane and plastic with the large tarp before the rain that is forecast comes?. Getting a "why not it still looks good out there" reply I dashed back and just managed to get it covered before the clouds rolled over and the rain started.

Tarptastic

Plot 1A - Drop off slug traps and pick up four more flower buckets and two 2.4m x 1.2m sheets of plastic.

Plot 23B - Strimmed the rest of the plot, Re run the line defining the boundary with my neighbour, managed to get the tarp laid just before the first rain shower. I took refuge in my neighbours green house, then as the rain stopped, I filled the four flower buckets with manure and weeded the area where the shed is to go and covered it with the plastic just before rain stopped play and I had to go home.

I bought two sacks of weeds home with me.

My wife seem to think my plot now looks like a swimming pool, what do you think?

Strimming the grass and weeds

Plot 23B - Strimmed the grass/ weed area as it has been dry and windy for a couple of days. The battery was charged about 3-4 weeks ago and I was amazed just how much I managed to get done before it died. I charged the battery up for Sunday. I also managed to fill up a number of flower buckets to assist in holding down the tarp

Moving Muck

Plot 1A - Dropped off, slug traps and compost plus some weed membrane that it flower bucket size to hold off the weeds.

Plot 23B - Dropped off, 9 Square Flower buckets and filled them all up to brim with stable manure dropped off at the far end of the allotment. The plan is a bucket each corner and mid run. Thing is I actually bought a 5.4 x 7m not 3.5m tarp so I'm going to need a few more flower buckets of manure to hold it down.

In the late afternoon I have bagged two sacks of leaves from the front garden so next trip, drop off bags of leaves at 1A, and pick up a number of square flower buckets then drop them off at 23B and fill them up with manure.

If I can make the time - spread and weight down the tarp.

Tarp

I've bought a 5.4 x 7m tarp to cover the middle section of plot 23B so I'm going to have to make some more soft bricks, I have a load of milk bottles so it looks like a purchase of sand may be in order over the weekend.

Plot 23B is 5.4m wide and 7m will cover nearly 8 beds and paths. So depending on how well this works I may buy another one. If the woodchips come I will cover the tarps in woodchips to help keep them down and block out any light that managed to get to the ground below.

Parsnips & Carrots

Dropped off the blue water pipe to plot 23B and it was very windy. I used the hoops to assist in holding down the tarps, membrane and plastic sheeting that I have covering parts of the allotment. I really need to strim and cover with cardboard held down with plastic membrane anchors. 

It was then off to the shelter of plot 1A which is much less open and prone to high winds. I took paper and cardboard shredding's with me and filled up dalek 4 to the top again and the foliage from the carrots and parsnips topped up dalek 3 which were watered.



As you can see in the video above and the last few the overwintering cabbage is dwindling and I have no idea what can be done to stop it, if 6 slug traps in a 1.2m x 1.2m bed can't keep the little blighters under control what can?

I will definitely do the cut and come again with cabbage looking at bed 1 which needs attention next visit saying that if I remove weeds do I just give the wildlife less to munch on and those cabbages will be stripped?

The soil is so good at Plot 1A and I have put so much work into her, (yes my plot is female) Plus the allotment is so sheltered compared to 23B, the more I think about it, I really don't want to give her up.

I'm thinking plants that need very little maintenance on Plot 1A and those that need more attention at 23B. If I use what I have learnt on Plot 1A in the last 3 years and plant thru weed membrane I can keep the weeding to a reasonable level.

I have been thinking, can I actually manage and keep on top of two plots? It's going to be hard and time consuming but enjoyable and I think managing my working life better and getting in a few extra hours  during the week will help, but only time will tell. 

Come next year I really need to focus on 23B but I can't do a great deal until the weather changes and it's less wet. Paving slabs and a shed are first on the agenda early next year. 

Cheap Seeds and Blue Water Pipe

My daughters informed me that the last of the packs of seeds at Wyevale were being sold off at 10p a pack so I just had to go and see what I could find, came away with £25.79 of seeds for £1.30

Rubine Brussels Sprouts 2017
Savoy January King 3 Cabbage 2016 Mr Fothergill's
Savoy January King 3 (Winter) Cabbage 2017 Tompson and Morgan
April (Spring) Cabbage 2017
Durham Early Cabbage 2017
All year Round Cauliflower 2017

Tango F1 Hybrid Celery 2017
Bedfordshire Champion Onions 2018

Lettuce Sweetheart 2017
Lettuce Tom Thumb 2018
Lettuce Maureen 2018
Lettuce Tantan 2017

Then the real prize was on the way back one I noticed that the construction site for the new ASDA is about to come to an end and eagle eyes spotted some blue water pipe up against the fence. I stopped and had a word with the site agent and came away with a large reel of 35mm dia pipe that was too large to get into the car.

Lucky I had a saw in the back and I now have 7 massive hoops for another large Sprout enclosure for plot 28B

Sarpo Potatoes Ordered

Having seen the yields that Dan over at allotmentdiary gets over the last couple of years plus the £1.50 off a trial pack that John Harrison has arranged over at Allotment Garden my order is in for next year and will be dispatched in Mid February.

If you do order any Sarpo potatoes check out the complete order page as they provide labels free of charge and had I not already have ordered I would have bought a couple of their hessian sacks

The TOUGH GUY Sarpo

The original Sarpo and still the most widely known. With 40 years plus heritage Sarpo Mira has the highest resistance to potato late blight (some say the highest overall of any variety). Launched in 2002 this unique variety has characteristics that make it the potato of choice for organic growers and those interested in low input spuds.

Mira is a  large, pink skinned main crop potato that has its origins in pre 1992 Hungary where the collective farm system had a need for high yielding, high dry matter potato that needed little or no chemical sprays and could be stored without the need for refrigeration or anti sprouting treatments.
Sarpo Mira develops to produce a deep rooted (and thus drought tolerant) plant that grows very tall, smothering weed competition as it does so. 

The secret to growing Sarpo Mira is to decide when to harvest.  Mira does not have any natural senescence and as such if left it will continue to grow until or if frost stops it.  As such it can develop very large tubers which have a very high dry matter making them a very floury potato.  This variety is particularly prized in the North of the UK and Irish Republic where this style is favoured.

Seed potato is supplied in sizes between 35mm and 55mm.  The average weight of a seed tuber is 75g.  So expect to receive in the order of the following amounts.  Our product is packed by weight and as such there is no guarantee of numbers which can vary depending on the seed crop harvest each year

1.5kg pack  —  approx. 20 tubers

Sarpo Trial Pack

I also decided to buy a trial pack, ideal for small gardens, beginners and container growers.  Each pack contains 3 x  500g (approx. 8 tubers of each variety) of the following varieties, the total weight of this trial pack is 1.5kg

At the bottom of the page it states seed potato is supplied in sizes between 35mm and 55mm.  The average weight of a seed tuber is 75g.  So expect to receive in the order of the following amounts.  Our product is packed by weight and as such there is no guarantee of numbers which can vary depending on the seed crop harvest each year

1.5kg pack  —  approx. 20 tubers (7 of each approx.)

So we will have to see how large the seed potatoes are and if we get 21 or 24 potatoes when they come.

• Sarpo Axona – blight resistant, red skinned main crop.  Floury potato idea for chipping, mashing and baking
• Sarpo Kifli – blight resistant, white skinned second early crop,  Waxy potato with anew potato flavour all year round
• Sarpo Blue Danube – unusual blue skinned variety with strong resistance to tuber blight.  The perfect roastie!