Thursday- I've not been idle since last post but have been weeding the potatoes so I can actually see the haulms after someone asked how my crop of docks was coming along! It had got a bit weedy but the earlies have been slow to emerge this year, possibly putting them in a trench wasn't so good but you live and learn.
Cabbages and sprouts are coming on great under the enviromesh, I lifted it off on Sunday and did some weeding and put down some organic fertilizer as well and higher canes to support it.
I've got a problem with slugs. I know the plot is infested with snails, and they and their unshelled cousins have been at the pea and courgette plants so I put down some beer traps for them. The Tennents lager was kindly donated by the local teeny tipplers who drink at the electricity substation next to the allotment entrance and had dropped a can during their night time binge. It saved me using a bottle of Heineken but it's the cheapo stuff from now on. Did it work? You bet it did, 5 yogurt pots of slugs and these were left out on the path for the birds to eat, hmmm pickled slug.
I've also seen activity at the birdbox and it is tits but might be great tits or coal tits. Not being much of a bird watcher and these things are so fast, combined with the pictures in the books never seem to be exactly like the bird you see, so I'm hoping to get a picture to find out what it is.

Looks like Great tits!
A 2 hour visit after work and started digging at the part at the back of the plot, hoping to get it ready for putting in the last of the spuds. I also dug around and found 2 of the 3 earlies that hadn't emerged and gave them all a good watering.
The peas are still being eaten by the slugs so some mesh or fleece will have to go up to protect them, but the beer traps will continue although they seem to be attracting a lot of black beetles as well.

Friday- I was at the allotment for 5 hours this afternoon and spent most of it digging. I finished the back of one of the beds where the apple tree and rhubarb is and put in some bricks for the deep bed.

Most of my time was spent digging the new bed at the back of the plot before the red shed. It's the area with the red boards, and put in two rows of potatoes.

The carrots are starting to come up so they've been covered over with enviromesh

The tits were out and the robin made an appearance to see what had been unearthed with the digging. I did see him first thing this morning at the bird feeder but it was empty so I had to buy more seed and refill it.

It's good to see more growing, the strawberries and some of the peas are flowering as well as an onion I'd left from last year to see what would happen

Slug traps were refilled with Tesco's value lager so we'll see if it's to the slugs taste. Still some rubbish and pieces of carpet to shift off the plot and a fruit cage to build as well as a tap to put on the rain barrel, but tomorrow's another day.

Saturday- Early morning visit to get rid of some rubbish from the plot, and fit a tap to the water butt.

Drill hole a few inches from bottom of butt with 25mm holesaw.

Add tap bought from Ebay for £5 for 2, inc P&P........

After yesterday's glorious afternoon weather it's overcast this morning but it wasn't enough to persuade the slugs out for a drink. Took some of the leeks home to make leek & potato soup.

Sunday- The Tesco value lager isn't even fit for slugs! No more victims, so I'll need to go upmarket. Just a flying visit to collect some wood for making a bee box.

Thursday-Beautiful weather, sun shining, nipped to the plot at lunch time and gave everything a quick watering. As it's my early finish thursday I planned to get back later but had to start painting the garden fence, where's Iain when you need him?
Got round to the plot in the evening and planted another courgette plant and the first of the tomato plants. When lifting a piece of carpet, disturbing hundreds of ants in the process, I heard a buzzing noise and a big fat bumblebee came out an old mouse nest it had made it's home and flew around me a few times to show it's displeasure before landing back in it's now open plan home. I cut a hole in an old ice cream tub put this over the nest, draped a piece of carpet over it and marked it with a plant pot, hope it's ok.
Most of the potato plants are appearing now and the rest of the veg seems to be doing ok although there does seem to be holes in the leaves especially the rhubarb but that's not looking as good as it did when first planted.
Sunday- Transplanted 15 tomato plants from the seed trays into separate pots and did the same with 15 cabbage. Once they harden off and grow a bit more they'll be taken to the allotment and planted.
Luckily someone was advertising some 3" plastic pots on Freecycle and some seed trays so I collected about 50 pots and about 20 trays, so I'm grateful for that bit of kindness as it now gives me more scope for successional planting.

Rigsby.

I've new residents at plot 48, birdbox 1. With the only rising damp being the damp rotting the floor I have new tenants in the birdbox on the shed. Now I haven't actually met them, but the bedding is in- bits of carpet fluff and dried grass, but I've not seen any birds coming and going, but a quick update after a check on Sunday revealed someone in residence and it may be a coal tit.
This weekend was spent mostly weeding the cabbage bed and the strawberry bed,



earthed up the brassicas a little to give them a bit more support, and removing last seasons growth at the strawbs so the small amount of flowers get maximum light.




At last about three potato plants have broken through the soil and I've marked out the new bed, just the enjoyable part of lifting loads of weed covered carpets to be done before digging. Really can't wait!

Found a bees nest at plot47 so keeping an eye on my little bumble pollinators, and there might be another nest at the back of my plot, I'll keep looking out for them.
Pear and apple trees seem to be starting to notice it's spring by getting some buds and the onions seem to be coming on. Peas are getting planted although not all are taking but I've planted some more at home so they can take up the slack.
There's a real difference between this year and last. This year has been so slow and the soil so cold & wet that any seed planted direct in the ground fails or struggles, and even the young plants put in don't seem to be growing as well as expected, it's maybe just still too cold.

On the home front, the tomato plants (gardeners delight)that have grown in pots on the window sill were split into individual pots now that they're between 2 and 3" high. Now in the outdoor mini green house. The weather here was glorious, especially for a bank holiday.

Spencer the painter.....

I went to the plot after work to get started on painting the shed. I'd already filled some of the gaps with expanding foam and now it had hardened it was time to paint before the weather turns wet. I should of asked my good friend Iain from work to lend a hand, he's a dab hand at painting, although he seems to favour grey for some reason. His wife & her friend are after a plot so it'll be good to see some younger people at the allotments and since Iain has cut back on working so much overtime at work I'm sure he'd be happy to lend the ladies a hand.
Managed to paint the front and the side that was showing a bit of damp so that's a start, the wood was so dry it really soaked it in.
Still no signs of the spuds emerging yet, I know Iain's keeping everybody at work updated on the Winstons as he's my regular blog reader, still this time next year he might be lucky and be waiting for his own to pop up. Although you can't always get it right first time.
Started digging more of the area where I've been lifting the carpets and the soil is not bad, quite easy digging. I did offer this part to someone at the end of last year until a plot for them came available but I think the thought of a bit of hard graft put them off, but more room for me to plant more spuds and onions, maybe some more japanese onions later on.
Some more peas are in, and a courgette plant, with more to follow. Trying to keep an allotment going is like trying to put a man on the moon.

Here is the tricycle used by 'Spencer the Painter' from Balamory, now in the Museum of Transport in Glasgow.

A bird in the shed is worth.....

Don't tell my wife but I had a bird in my shed on Saturday and she was a little darling.., sorry, STARLING....

I was round at 7am since it was such a nice morning and opened both sheds to give them an airing and to try and dry out the homemade shed. When I returned in the afternoon I heard a noise at head level and saw a bird sitting on the rafter above the window staring at me. I just left the door open and 30mins later it was gone. I've put up 2 bird boxes but obviously they must be too small if they want the shed.

I emptied both compost bins and mixed the contents and put it all into the largest bin.

I also bought a tin of expanding foam to try and fill the gaps between the plywood sheets and try and keep the water forcing the sheets apart.
This is the plot at the moment, the brassicas fleeced over and supports in for the peas & beans.

Day off Friday.

To follow on from my early finish Thursday what could be better than a day off Friday!

I was up early on Friday so went out to watch some wildlife. Saw a couple of Deer, rabbits, pheasants, magpies, crows, but had hoped to see some badgers but I've never seen any in the morning only at night.

When I went to the allotment afterwards I saw just as much wildlife. Squirrels running along the wall and then in the trees, a few birds came to see what had been dug up, the robin was clearing up any bugs found under the carpets I lifted and the wood pigeons who just looked for anything tasty. At dusk there is also some bats that appear.

I put in a couple of wigwams of canes to support the peas and beans and planted out some pea plants. Lifted some carpet to try and clear the rest of the plot

Cleaned out and swept the shed that had been on the plot and investigated the hole in the floor. Hmmmm, new floor required I think as I poked about it and it quickly enlarged. I'll get a tin of expanding foam and fill the joins between the plywood sheets that make up the walls as this is where the water is getting in and rotting the floor. Then I'll paint it and then replace the floor.

Saturday was a visit to start lifting some of the old carpet on the uncultivated section and move some pots into the shed as there's been some reports of theft and vandalism on the allotments.

Sunday was a quick visit to put some enviromesh over the brassicas to stop them being eaten and lift some more carpet before the rain started, as it decided to pour down later.

Still no sign of the spuds emerging, but the courgettes and tomatoes at home in pots are coming up as are the cabbage, parsnips, carrots, beetroot and leeks in the trays.

Early finish Thursday!!

Early finish Thursday today, a 1400 finish and straight to the plot. Sun shining, jersey off, spade in hand, what better way to spend a couple of hours....with your clothes on!
Lifted some more leeks and put manure down on the cleared ground after digging it over. Dug over the rest of the first bed which is my veg bed this season.
Carrots are taking their time to appear, so are the spuds, but the onions are starting to come on, even the Japanese. Rhubarb is starting to grow as are the weeds.
The cabbages planted recently are starting to show signs of slug damage so the enviromesh I got will have to be put down to deter the slimy critters.
Hopefully the weather will not be as bad as forecast so I can get round again to plant some more plants.

SNOW!!!!...

Sunday. The day I was going to get to the allotment for a bit digging and this is what happened... Snow!!!

Well never mind ,I did get the birdfeeder up on the shed and had a quick look about but no sign of the spuds emerging yet,

but the garlic is coming on and still a few leeks to get harvested. I bought some red onion sets yesterday so I was hoping to get them in the ground soon.

And finally, a look through the gate of the allotment to one of the buildings I work in. This is how I manage to nip across at lunchtime (unpaid) as it's just a stone's throw away.

Energy saving lightbulbs.

As we all strive to reduce our carbon footprint (according to politicians and the media) I've noticed that energy saving lightbulbs are reduced in certain stores. It seems that some packaging is marked '6 year life', but new regulations require it to marked for an 8 year life, so there is some bargains out there.
Homebase had a pack of 3 for £1.99, Tesco £1 each ,but the best so far was Asda with their smartprice brand at 69p each.
So if you're looking to buy -shop around, some places are still charging nearly £2 each.

Grow your own.

Last year I wanted to see the film 'Grow your own' , but it was a limited cinema release so it never made it here but I did manage to rent it on dvd last week.
It was probably better on dvd as the extra features gave information on how they created the allotments in Liverpool and the background to the story as regards the people seeking asylum. It's not a true comedy but does have some funny bits but also has an underlying political and social message, and shows have even in an allotment society some people may be interested in more than growing veg.