Sheds!

Over the past few days Ive been reading with interest a subject on sheds on www.allotments-uk.com.

Heres a couple of the `sheds` at the Pellon Plot... although I use the word shed loosley as some of them are more like houses!!!!!



This is looking down the road to the Trading Shed, where all of the `sheds` and Greenhouses are stone built monsters with chimneys and who only knows what else inside...

Latest Pics

My galic plants, which after a slow start to appear have really taken of now


My bargin Blackcurrent bushes are now bursting into life...


Runner Bean supports all built, with a couple of plants at the bottom... although these are looking a bit past there best! Ive resown some now in peat-pots so once established I can just plonk them into the ground. Might also try putting some beans direct into the ground too.
At the other end of the bed I'm hoping to plant my Giant Punkins which Ive sown back at home. This is the `weedy` bed, so its got a good mulch of leafs covering it to try keep them under control!


First direct sowings of 2006 - couple of rows of Nantes Carrots. Also plan to sow more in this bed, along with some parsnips, prob radishes etc

The remainder of my Winter Destiny Lettuce and spring cabbages, moved from one of the main beds to the nursary beds... these dont seem to be doing too well - and if they dont pep up soon they'll end up on the compost heap!!! >;)

Sping Onions, Onion Sets and Garlic growing away happily now. Spring Onions will be harvested soon to make way for some more sowings

My miniture strawberry patch... was alot larger, but have had some casualties over the winter! Still though, leaves more room for something more productive.

Couple of pics of the shed, with its fixed guttering, new birdbox and trellis (which I do intent to paint!)


Number One large bed with the potatos I planted on Good Friday. The potatos are only in the two outside ridges, but I left the pile in the middle to use for earthin up as they grow...

Rhubard is now really starting to take of, even though the one at the back is supposed to be an early variety its somewhat lagging behind the other (can't remember there names at the moment!)

Good Friday

As is traditional on Good Friday planted my Desiree Maincrop potato's this morning, 2 rows of 14 in the bottom long bed, they've been chitting away in my garage for about 6 weeks now. Dick from the plot next door said that the ground was still a little wet and cold for potatos yet...infact he has checked his diary for last year and so far he is 3 weeks and 2 days behind on where he was in 2005. Unfortunatly he informed me about the ground after I'd spent a merry half-hour digging out my trenches, so I decided to go with it anyway...




"Desiree: Pink skin and pale creamy flesh. A good choice - heavy crops, good drought resistance and robust growth"




Luckly I wasnt the only person `getting 'em in` today, infact the whole allotment seemed to be full of people doing the exact same thing! I'm not too sure how they'll do being in raised beds... watch this space!




Spured on with my exitment of finally planting something to grow, after 9-months of digging up weeds Ive also re-dug one of the small beds and sown 2 rows of Nantes carrots - Ive tried to sow them thinly so I dont need to thin them out later! Marked out the rows with garden twine which I have left inplace so I can tell where I shouldnt be weeding! I was going to leave my sowing direct till early May, but couldnt resist just doing a bit!




Constructed my `climbing frames` for the runner beans. Bought 10 8-foot canes from B&Q for about £2.00. Ive done 4 canes for each side - 2-foot apart, then one cane across the top, all bined together with twine and little guide ropes coming down each end (should hopefully stop them blowing over!) I've had 5 plants on the go for a while now in the house, but with space becoming short Ive planted these out. As a back up, incase they die from the frost etc Ive got 10 more plants I sowed the other day to replace them if needed... if not, I'll give them to someone else on the plots!




Runner Bean Varietie is Polestar: "A new scarlet flowered runner - claimed to crop well and heavy. The flowers set very easliy and the season starts early"



Other jobs on the plot completed today were:



Finally fixed my gutters, bought a couple of brackets from B&Q for 49p. Put them up slightly tilting towards the compost heap... now just need something to catch the water in! Looked at water-butts at B&Q, but there about £27.00!!!!!!!!!!! think Ill have to try source myself one of them blue barrels you see knocking about sometimes!




Girlfreind bought me 3 Clematis yesterday, so decided 2 can go in the garden at home, and one has gone upto the allotment. I've planted it in a tub next to the shed door and fixed some trellis around for it to scramble over. As the tub is stood on the bare ground I knocked a big hole in the bottom so once it gets growing the roots can just go straight down into the ground. Just need to get the trellis painted now to match the shed!



Rhubarb is still coming on strong, gave it a feed with some Growmore to help them along



Gave my shed a bit of a tidy and re-organise by putting up some more screws in the walls to hang things on, decided after 4 hours standing that I need to also get myself a chair on the plot!



Fixed a couple of planks of wood along the top boundry where it meets the next plot. From my top long bed to the boundry is a gap of about a foot (which I didnt realise was mine!) aint seen anyone working on the plot above yet - although the grass seed someone sowed is coming on nicley, and so are the weeds. Got out my RoundUp and sprayed along the gap - also on the main path to the plot. I know some people will think of this as sacrilidge but sometimes needs must!



...and thats about it for the main jobs, other bits and bobs of weeding, chatting and watching other people but nothing too exciting! I'll post some pics soon, camera is sat on my desk at work!

Made me chuckle!

From little seeds....

... hope fully something grows!!!

Seed germination and propergation are in full swing now, only temporally halted by the fact I've run out of seed trays, pots and anything else that'll hold soil!


I now have the following on the `grow` :) : -


In seedtrays currently
Tomato's - various
Leeks - Mussleburgh
Sweetcorn - F1 Applause
Runnerbeans - ??? name escapes me!
Parsnips - Lisbonnais
Planned
Beetroot
Onions - more!!!
Broccoli
Cabbage
Outdoor cucumbers

Direct into the ground will go...

Carrots
Lettuce
Potatos (planned for Easter Sunday)
radish
Turnips??
Swede??
Cauliflower
Courgette's
Punkins

Flowers on the go for the plot...

Sweetpeas
Morning Glorys
Marigolds
Sun Flowers (as grown by my 3 year old)

Already in the plot...

Fruits
Rhubard
Onion Sets (overwintering and normal)
Spring onions (overwintering ... ready for lifting soon)
Herbs