Springing into Spring

I don't know about you but i just am not sure what plants to set off when.  You would have thought that a good old diary would be worth keeping rather than scrappy pieces of paper that are incoherent after a summer and winter use.

needless to say  i have set off some tomatoes indoors, some rare peppers, cauliflower, beetroot, peas, chillies, sweet corn, sweet peas, broad beans and chitting of potatoes.  I had a bit of planting up session last weekend using homemade compost, left over grow bags and the masses of vermiculite if bought from the allotment shop.

All seedlings are in the conservatory or on a north facing windowsill... This weekend i think i'll set some Brussell Sprouts off... and hopefully prepare the allotment beds for the soon-to-be-delivered asparagus crowns

Tomatoes

Sweetcorn

Cauliflower & Red Cabbage

Beetroot

And the Rhubarb keeps growing...

Living in a Fedge, living in a Willow Fedge

A living hedge / fence aka "Fedge" is a woven living creation, made from a range of material, in my case willow.  Having been given access to a small willow plantation deep in the west riding of Yorkshire the potential to kit Al and Lotty with some water sucking, green lusciousness, bendy willow fence excitement sounds like a win win scenario.

There are plenty of examples around the internet of living hedges, and plenty of tips on how to plant and create a Fedge

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=588

https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/400468591851625526/c 

So after a few hours of harvesting and an hour or so of plugging (my word for sticking then willow whips in the ground).......

More photos to follow....

2016 in the Rear View Mirror

Well here we are another year has flown passed, and yes nearly 6 months since the last blog.  so what's been going on?  

Well i had the pleasure of giving a 5 minute speech at Groundworks' South Yorkshire Annual Conference about Lotty and Big Al!  a few anecdotes and some photos seemed to keep the crowd in order.

Mr Barnsley Allotmenteer 

So Groundworks have been converting 2 former grazing paddocks into 30+ new allotments...  I managed to speak to some "newbies" who had taken shovel to their new plot.  Very exciting times, especially as this will reduce the waiting list to practically zero when all the plots come on line.

Partitioning of new plots

Big "Al" our new plot is going to take a bit of work to get on top of!  having cut down the grass and weeds and got rid of some rubbish (thanks Groundworks!) and a bit of weeding we are getting back to soil.  it will be a long process but hey ho, Rome wasn't built in a day




So with the new year upon us may i wish you all a Happy One and remember, the seed catalogues are exciting but you must resist.......

May your 2017 planting be enjoyable and fruitful