compost heap

12. MARCH

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What a difference in the weather! Today started sunny and mild, it would have been a shame not to go to the allotment but regardless of that I knew I wanted to finish what I started yesterday. The one remaining composter bin in front of the now tidy pile of weeds etc needed moving and I had just enough space for it – close to the other bins, in a little gap next to the raspberry patch. But actually moving it wasn’t so easy, it was embedded in the soil and I had to dig around to free it. I think when I put it there I thought it was going to stay there. But everything is possible, I had to empty the few stems and roots and then it came out.

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Fortunately the new place for it is very close so I didn’t have to carry it too far.

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It  fitted in the allocated space perfectly and the hole where it was is now closed with a pallete. That gives me more room to put weeds and roots there.

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Then came the real reason for my work there today – digging over the patch where the net tunnel was. I had to pick all the plastic cable ties that I cut to free the net, pull out the metal pins that were holding the net and only then the real digging could start. It was so nice and warm, a real spring day. The soil there is very good, I was used to put a lot of organic fertiliser there – horse muck and chicken poo pellets so I’m looking forward to growing some climbing beans there with a  few courgettes between them. The soil is really rich, everything should thrive.

Everything will be recycled – I will use the nets to cover my strawberry beds and the posts are already in use. Because our allotments are on a slope, there is quite a drop between my plots, especially on this one. I have used the two of the stakes and have them to hold on as I step down from the path.

11. OCTOBER

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The weather is  kind to me, we had blue skies and sunshine from the first thing in the morning. Of course I had to go and continue my work on the allotment. At first glance it might look like a huge lot of work but I have decided to break it into manageable chunks. That way it is not overwhelming and I’m happy.

 

It looked quite neglected, I couldn’t believe how quickly the weeds colonised the space. I didn’t dig it over, instead I used my azada and that made the task very easy. The soil is good, like most of my plots it has been manured and there are some choice worms there. Happiness is – a lot of worms.

All it took was a couple of hours and then some extra time to clear away the weeds etc, pile it all on the heap in the corner and it was going home time. Another day I will tackle another patch of ground. After all, I’ve got the whole of autumn and winter to get it sorted out.

6. MARCH

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It was a tidy up morning on the allotment – carefully hoeing between the garlic plants and then getting some remaining leeks out of the ground to take home with more potatoes – the result is slowly cooking now. I like leek and potato soup. There are still a few leeks in the ground but I’m not in any hurry to get them out, they’re not in the way.

My friend Dave gave me some chitted potatoes from his own harvest and I had just enough space to create two rows beside one of my net cages. Hopefully we shall have some nice and tasty early potatoes.

The ground is quite rich there, I had a couple of sacks of the contents of my compost so that should help. It is an encouraging sight to have two lines of newly planted potatoes. I’m going to take it slowly, the soil is still rather cold, no need to hurry with sowing parsnips or carrots, I’d rather wait, they’ll soon catch up, otherwise they could rot in the cold and wet soil.

ALLOTMENTS

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I have been calling my allotments my ‘farm’. Little did I know that other people thought that us allotment holders are doing a great job! 

Even the Guardian has plenty to say about it. After reading that I was greatly encouraged when I started my work on my farm in the morning. The majority of jobs is done, I am concentrating now on some changes and improvements.

There is a small patch of ground there that was used to be a compost heap. Well, after a number of years I turned it over and found loads of lovely soil. Last year I grew squashes, this year some beans but the site is a bit difficult to work on. Change was needed and I think I have got the perfect solution. I have removed all the wood edges, levelled the soil and removed about 4 barrow loads. These I put beside the fruit trees in the nearby orchard. Now I have a very nice square of land, big enough to plant an apple tree that I have on order from one online nursery. I will even have space there for a couple of rooted fig cuttings.

 

GIVING BACK

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There is no such thing as waste on our site. We all have a number of composter bins and I have a corner of one plot dedicated to a large compost heap. I don’t put any weeds there but everything else that I can’t fit into my bins – courgette, tomato, cucumber and other plants after they’ve finished. My friend Dave shares this heap with me, he doesn’t have one.

Today was the day to see what was under the cover. I have got two pieces of carpet to speed the composting process and after I took them off today I was delighted. A large mound of crumbly brown soil, hardly any large pieces. In all I had two full wheelbarrows and seven large plastic sacks of this brown gold. I have started to distribute it around my fruit trees in the orchard it’ll be perfect.

After all this I started putting in more old foliage and the process will carry on. It shows that Mother Nature knows best, we just have to help it on the way. I don’t use any artificial fertilisers, just the liquid from my wormery and perhaps some organic chicken poo pellets. I have lost my horse muck source so it will be just everything we can get from our bins.

1. APRIL

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My self isolating continues on the allotment, doing jobs that I knew should be done but  unfortunately I always had something more urgent to do. Today was the day to tackle the next task – moving a composter bin. This one has been in place since I acquired this plot, never been emptied so I had high hopes for some rich soil there. I wasn’t disappointed, about half was rich and crumbly soil, that got distributed around a few fruit trees as a mulch.

Mulch from composter bin

The rest of the stuff wasn’t sufficiently decayed so that got moved into the bin after I placed it in the new position. I have had three bins at the end of one plot, beside a water butt and a compost and there was a convenient space, just for one more bin. It is there now and the uncomposted matter is the base layer, a starter in the old bin in the new place.

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new place for the bin

An empty place well filled.

In the old , now empty, part of the plot I erected some bean sticks. The thinking was  – the soil there was quite rich, it wouldn’t do for either carrots or parsnips so beans will be happy there.

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bean structures

Tomorrow’s activities are therefore sorted – finish digging this part and make it ready for sowing – it’ll be fine for parsnips. Carrots will be on the part dug over yesterday and I have got one area to do later, that’ll do for beetroot.

Almost sorted out.

 

SOME COLOUR

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This time I was working in my back garden. I always spend so much time on the ‘farm’ and seem to neglect the front and back gardens and then I feel very guilty. Weeding (almost) done, pots topped up with the rich stuff from the compost in the corner –  talking of that, I left it for about three years and what I got from there was nothing short of miraculous – rich, brown crumbly soil.

Bulbs are planted, one more dwarf apple tree is in a large pot and the greenhouse that is filling up alarmingly fast.

Time for some photos

AUTUMN JOBS

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The weather forecast for today wasn’t particularly good but I decided to go down the farm anyway. There was a job to be finished and I managed to do that just as the rain started.

All in all I had countless wheelbarrows full of lovely crumbly soil. That got distributed all over the raspberry patch and on the other pieced of land next to them as that is the only part of my plots where I have some clay. This should improve it.

At the same time I have rebuilt the whole enclosure, also the one next to it and thus widened the little path. I can now fit the wheelbarrow to go through and it is looking much better.

To finish the job I emptied four sacks of horse muck on the new heap and also some of the stuff from the top of two of my composter bins. They were all full but I decided to put some of the freshest greenery on the heap and that’ll give me more space in the bins for smaller stuff.

All is done on this front so all I have to do now is to take the roll of the carpet and store it in the large communal shed and have it ready for future use.

Waste not want not….

PATIENCE

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I have a number of compost heaps on the allotment – and as I have three plots I have one at the end of each plot. So far I have turned two of these into new growing areas, because the soil there was just amazing, after 10 years in one case and about five in the other.

The latest project started yesterday when I uncovered the last heap – it was covered with an old carpet, just to stop nettles and suchlike growing on top. I was amazed – after five years the whole lot turned into a large pile of crumbly brown soil.

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As it is right at the end of the plot, behind the raspberry patch, that was the easiest solution – use the new soil as a mulch because this patch hasn’t been fertilised recently.

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I have cut them down and started emptying the heap. It was quite easy because when I constructed it I knew I would have to do this one day so I made my life easier. It worked. Surrounding wood taken off and a barrow after barrow was spread on the raspberries. Haven’t finished as yet – rain stopped play. Everything rotted down very well, all I found were some bindweed roots occasionally.

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All the same, I managed to start a bit of rebuilding, I needed to tidy it and also to widen the little path. There is a bit more to do with the last pile of compost, that one will stay as it is for quite a while, there is too much wood on top for it to be useful. But the side will need to be straightened.

Another day then.

WORMS

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When I started working on my allotment those ten years ago I had to create a large heap of weeds and other unwanted things that grew there. It was quite large and didn’t look like doing anything useful. I contained it just by putting some large pieces of wood and planks and forgot about it.

This year the nettles grow on the top quite alarmingly huge so I thought the soil must be good underneath – they like rich soil.

Today was the day to tackle it and these photos will tell the story better than any words.

 

As it is just in front of a hedge I had to cut the overhanging branches and ivy, all the ten years I wasn’t able to get to it. All this was done just on time as we are building a huge pile of burnable material so this went there as well.

 

The last job was re-planting my crab apple tree that stood in front of this heap. I had an empty spot in my new orchard so it fitted there very well.

I’m happy. All I need to do in the next few days is to dig the soil very carefully the get rid of all the roots and then put some wood around the edges and create a new growing area.

The soil is very rich looking so now I have to decide what to grow there next year – courgettes or squashes perhaps.

 

I finished the job the next day, starting nice and early as the weather forecast was for rain in the afternoon – this is the result. All the saved pieces of wood and some broken paving slabs came very handy. I will just have to dig it over to take out roots and other bits of rubbish and all will be ready for the new pumpkin patch.