wood chip

6. NOVEMBER

/ Allotment Queen / 1 Comment

I had a change of scenery during the last few days. We had our usual Johnson get-together in Whitchurch, in Hampshire. The weather was kind to us, from the journey there on Thursday till late on Friday. It was back to rain on Saturday but that didn’t matter, my and Chris’s job was done.

 

This is the usual gathering of the older members of the family and we combine it with some gardening jobs. This time it was tidying the grave of the boys’ Mum. The grave has got some white stone chipping  but the weeds have taken over and the surface is just a sea of green. We decided to leave it and just put a number of pots on top. There are two small roses in the pots and a selection of spring bulbs. We refreshed the soil so I’m hoping for a great show. Chris always gives me some bulbs and they are wonderful. We are in for a treat.

20221104_095643

The headstone is leaning a lot and I’ve written an email to the town council asking for advice where to get help. All the same, it looks much better after the clear up.

20221104_102118

 

The next job was weeding the front and back of Mike’s garden. Chris did this job in August but because the weather has been so mild the weeds flourished.

 

Between the two of us we filled a wheelie bin with the weeds and the result is very satisfying.

It’ll be very interesting how long it takes before the weeds appear again. We have decided to put a layer of chipped bark or wood chip on these borders to smother the weeds. That’ll be the next job then.

29. APRIL

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

It has been very dry and quite cold during April, I have been mainly working in the greenhouses and weeding. The lack of rain certainly didn’t stop the weeds growing. The same goes for the grass on the paths. One of my paths is covered with woodchip but the other two have got grass. That has grown suddenly and I decided to tackle it. I borrowed a strimmer and got down to it.

20220428_141013

I was used to do it with my shears in the past but they are quite blunt so it had to be the strimmer. I’m pleased with the result.

20220429_120404

Of course my friendly robin was very close to me, not sure though if he managed to get any worms.

20220429_120145

The sun came out in the afternoon and as it will be the last day of April tomorrow I’m hopeful that the weather will improve. I will be planting some more cabbages and kale plants. They have been standing in the open veranda so they are quite used to the weather by now.

WOOD CHIP

/ Allotment Queen / 1 Comment

Yesterday evening we had another delivery of wood chip from our friendly tree surgeon. Unfortunately it was too dark so the work started today in the morning. I think it was a medium-sized truck load this time and I thought it just enough to cover our future communal seating area. It was made much easier as this little plot is not too far from the gate. Even a heaped wheelbarrow of wood chip isn’t very heavy so I was able to get on with it rather fast. Very soon the heap was shrinking and around midday it was all gone. Frank came to give a hand towards the end – he had a guy in to clean our guttering, long overdue but all is well. He helped to spread the wood chip a bit more evenly and by 1pm we were both back home having our well-earned lunch.

It will stay like this, resting over the winter months and hopefully we’ll get a couple of benches there in the spring and our communal rest area will be complete.

It is a very satisfying job to do a bit of shovelling – it beats going to the gym. I was fine while I was working but once I sat down it was a bit difficult to get up and do something else. Fortunately there isn’t anything else to do right now so I can continue my other activity – blanket crocheting. I find it very difficult just sitting and doing nothing……

PROJECT PATH

/ Allotment Queen / Leave a comment

I have finished repairing the main paths on the allotment site, I’m happy.

It was in doubt for a while as I didn’t have enough wood for the edges and also we ran out of wood chip. All is well now – yesterday was the hard work – finding wood and fixing it in place

Today was the day to finish the job but the weather wasn’t kind to me. Never mind, it was only water – and the last path is done! I wanted to get it to this state because everybody can see through our gate and the first impression is important. Now our site is an example (I think ) of a working and well maintained site. Long may it continue!