Update......

So it's been a while since the last blog. So what's been going on?  Rain mainly. Every time there is a chance to get up to Charlotte it is raining. Although the last week or so the weather has been kind to us

Tasks to date have included the

1.painting of around 100 fence slats reclaimed from a neighbour's dilapidated fence - we hope to replace about 20m of joint fence - not had to buy any wood for the exercise yet!!

2. installation of drainage to try and lower the water level (water strike at about 200mm!)

On the upside the daffodils and tulips that we planted in the autumn have provided some early spring colour... summer is on the way

Back at home we have a tray of beetroot planted - hopefully ready to transplant in 2 - 3 weeks, the pumpkins, courgettes and butternut squashes have been started off from seed

Loads more of seeds to start of, a feeling of aaarggghhh what to plant where and when (direct, inside, outside, in cold frame or greenhouse)

one tip I have picked up is to cut up old milk cartons to use as plant markers.  A pair of scissors and a permanent marker!!

                                                                                                                

Ssssssh Dunt tell anyone ought

In my previous post I referred to my colleague being my Allotment "Yoda"  Well perhaps he is a bit more Han Solo but you get my drift.  Having been party to many a lotty tail he also revealed that his allotment had its very own shop... Now it turns out that there are several allotment societies that exist locally that carry a limited stock of those essential bits and bobs that  you need to help the  plot along, without all the fanciness of the garden centre.... "Tha wants canes, lad, we got 'em" Type, thing.

So imagine my excitement when a fellow office allotmenteer (now he would be Luke Skywalker) who lives locally told me of the Barnsley Allotment Society. #Shock 

How had I not heard of this place?  Been here 16 years and I didn't know that the allotment society based on Racecommon Road has its own little shop!!  for the annual membership fee of One whole Pound (100 new pence, 1 squid) you too can be an Associate Member.

So last September I picked up my Kings Seed Catalogue and piggy backed on the large order placed by the society - I reckon my cost of seeds was about 50% the RRP from the garden centre.  #Winning

So my eagerness to be all things allomenty this season got me up there last weekend.  Now there are no thrills to the pre-fab shed and yes the price list is written in chalk on the board but they have loads of stuff. Things are stocked such as "Dithane 945" (a post grunge-core metalband?), "Armillatox" (didn't they support Kings of Leon recently?) and "Derris Dust" (Though the GP prescribed that)

So not really needing anything I opted for "A kilo of your finest Vermiculite" for £2.60 and made my leave.

If you are interested they are open 10:30 - 12:30 Saturdays and Sundays
Happy Hunting click for location

Back from the Dead

Have you got any yet?  What, I hear you shout what should we have got?    Seeds - yes we have those...., the new gadget from aunt Ethel that is supposed to make dibbing easier - yes check

No.... buds on our raspberry sticks!!

After sticking some rather dead looking sticks in the ground in mid November the sticks have risen from their comatose state and started forming buds... hurray summer is here, well not quite. 

A picture paints a thousand words so here are 2000 words for you lovely people. Until next time, dig, dug be good

Save The Allotment - Isleworth's Park Road

So currently Monday night appears to be the time to write the blog.  All well and good but with that the pressure mounts.  When not much is growing what can I blog about.  Well up until a few minutes ago i wasn't sure but having just been sent a tweet regarding closure of an allotment site up north (https://twitter.com/parkroadallotm1) I feel a bit ,more investigation on this matter is needed.

I must admit being a civil engineer I had to undertake a design for building a housing estate over former allotments at site about 50 miles away.  I was told by my client (council) that the demand wasn't there when the decision to sell off the land was made.  Several years later  perhaps this had changed the client inferred with the uptake and interest in allotment gardening becoming a more popular hobby (or aspiration)

In 2014 the Telegraph reported that in the period between 2010 and 2014 that some 3,000 plots had been destroyed in that 4 years!  Approximately 2% of the national total.  We had 1.4 million allotments in the late 1940s, but now only 150,000 remain.

In 2015 Leicester City Council sold off part of an allotment site  for £4 million for housing as the site had fallen into disrepair.

Now without undertaking a full GIS assessment of population density versus allotment location and demographic I suppose it is difficult to assess whether or not the decision to sell off land is justified.

From a plot holders point of view it is somewhat frustrating that  enforcement is woefully inadequate with plots not being worked and no evidence, probably due to resource, that the managing company are doing much about it.  One Manager responsible for 60+ plots allocated only a couple of days per week is not an effective way to free up plots or keep the allotmenteers who abuse the system in check.

My colleague (Yoda) says that the Allotment Committee (not council) were on his case after he hadn't turned his plot one winter! I suspect there is a happy medium.

I hear reports from other unnamed sources that a conspiracy exists.  Older allotmenteers want to give up their plot but cannot bear the thought that the council won't pass it on and will simply use their giving up as a nail in the coffin of the site. Perhaps if allotment holders knew there was a waiting list the turnaround would be quicker and the task of getting a plot ship shape would be more manageable.

Unloved Allotment Plot - Not worked in over 2 years.

Each plot will have its own problem and I cannot begin to solve the problem here.  However perhaps worth checking out the recommendations on the National Allotment Society if your plot is facing "prerssure" from the council or landlord.
http://www.nsalg.org.uk/news-events-campaigns/protect-your-plots/

And if you want to help Isleworths's Park Road Allotment .... https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-isleworth-park-road-allotments-from-redevelopment

If you are a Barnsley reader and see plots that are unattended or poorly maintained let the chaps at Groundworks (and your councillor) know. http://www.groundworksy.org.uk/allotments

My plant pots - Junior Allotmenteer

plant pots

For my mummy's Christmas present I painted 3 plant pots with acrylic paints and all different size paint brushes.

Here is how to make them:

Equipment

. paint 

. brushes

. 1 plant pot

.lacquer spray 

Method

. First you need to collect all of your equipment ready to start.
. I drew my designs on paper

. Next you need to paint the background.

. After that you need to add on all the detail.

. Finally you have to spray the lacquer spray over it and leave it 10 minutes till you have to do it again. Do it about 4 times and this seals the paint in. 

Free to Good Home

The trouble with wanting an allotment but not having one is  that you cannot begin to plan it.  Granted we had daydream ideas of picket fences, neat and tidy rows and beds of fertile soil, a nice shed with perhaps a veranda.  Mrs Allotmenteer was musing about bunting and what would make a good pattern.  All well and good but with no plot to push forth our creative juices the utopian dream was pushed aside .

When the time arrived and we accepted the plot the need to clear, develop and plant all happened in a bit of  a hurry.  Cue the 5 sheets of graph paper cut out to scale, the coppering up of spare money to fulfil the dream.  So we had a plan but no brass to implement.  so what to do?

The scouring of freecycle began (https://www.freecycle.org/browse/UK ).  I cannot express how important this site is.  We have helped many a person out being able to pass on old TVs, sofas, baby seats, clothes and the odd random bookcase but had never been the recipient of "goods".  So I posted  the "wanted shed for allotment" add.  There always seems to be hundreds of wants and not many available.  Alas all was lost until Andy from the next town over emailed me to say if I wanted his shed it was ours!!  With help from our friend with a big car we squeezed the shed in and also bagged some paving flags as well!  Good old Freecycle.


Add in a bit of neighbourly / fellow allotmenteer assistance (waterbutt, old industrial door panels, fencing, crop netting and industrial pallets) as well as some allotment gifts (pumpkin plants, spare wood & pallets) and we were well on the way.

A nominal spend of about £50 bought us enough wood to make multiple raised beds which form the back bone to our plot - the local timber merchant, albeit from West Yorkshire, was able to supply (http://www.wakefieldtimber.com/ )

Raised Bed Anyone?

Some old bricks and paving slabs from the in-laws (who by the way have nicknamed us "The Goods" as in the Good Life) were gratefully received.

By far my favourite freebee was the drainage  pipes up-cycled from the waste pile of a Civil Engineering Contractor working on a site nearby.  The pipe lengths cut down provide protection of new plants.  the winter winds had no effect on my Spring Hero or my Pak Choi!!

Upcycling Landfill Bound Drainage Pipes

A Little View of the Allotment - By Junior Barnsley Allotmenteer

Last Saturday we noticed that the shed had broken.  The felt on the top of the roof had fallen off.  We had to leave it until Sunday to fix it because daddy didn't have any step ladders, nails and a hammer. On Sunday afternoon me and dad cycled to Lotty and mummy brought the ladders in the car. we came by bike so we could try out the bike rack on the way home.

Whilst daddy fixed the roof of the shed I filled the wheel barrow with rotted manure ready to put on top of the new raspberries.  Unfortunately I fell over when I was tipping the manure and landed on my bottom. I got extremely muddy.

Luckily it wasn't too boggy from the rain and the paving slabs that mummy and daddy laid in the summer were very useful.

I am looking forward to growing some carrots and sunflowers.  I grew sunflowers last year and they grew very tall.  They are my favourite because they are colourful, tall and pretty.

This one is my favourite - It had 2 flowers

By Junior Barnsley Allotmenteer - Age 8