At home and on the plot
Saturday
What a lovely morning at the plot. Last week's lack of progress firmly behind me and in perspective; I made a plan for the day with a small helper in mind. I set up two stations with clear instructions and that kept my neice occupied shuttling from one task to the other and back. While she was helping with my prep jobs - sieving and weeding - I added eye screws to the wonderful raspberry trellis that my allotment elves had installed during the week. Washing line was strung between the two posts to guide and support my magic sticks when they finally start showing some signs of life. When my brother and nephew came to visit we stopped for well earned hot chocolate and the small ones each planted three climbing nasturtium seeds by the trellis posts.
I created some beautiful tilth, and planted 2 more rows of onions, two of beetroot and one of chard. One of the rows of beets is old seed and might not do anything. My rows are probably a little close to each other than the guidance, but I am not concerned. Beet and chard thinning are edible as salad leaves or in place of spinach. So providing they do grow there will be no overcrowding issues or waste.
I covered the whole patch with fleece and packed up for home. On the way out I stopped to chat with the allotment guy that runs the allotment association. I found out that there are about 6 other newbie plot holders like me this year, with another few plots becoming free once the council have done their thing. They are anticipaiting that this will make for a very busy parking area. I commented that once I get a shed I won't need to park on-site so often. Walking from home is totally do-able if I don't need to lug all of my stuff all of the time. I was pleased to find that this reminded Mark that there may be a spare shed. Woop!! Before I even left the site I had emailed the council. A shed will be a game changer.
Time at the plot: 3.5 hours
Spend (this week): £8.98
Sunday
During the week I got myself some middle of lidl things. A pack of propagator trays (£3.99) and some 'greenhouse' fabric (£4.99). The trays have mixed reviews in the various allotment Facebook groups, particularly as the seed modules do not have drainage holes, but holes can be added if you want to do that, and they are the perfect size for my windowsills. My lidl trays, and the delivery of my Green Joanna composter meant that I had lots to do.
Green Johanna. Initial thoughts are that I am disappointed that I had to trim down excess plastic which was preventing the layers from seating correctly. In addition there were some screw holes that were not holes. It did not take too long to make the adjustments and a quick google told me that I was not alone - although problems are rare. I had not seen this issue during my pre-purchase research. I am hoping that all of the other positive stuff holds true. It has a 'jacket' to keep it warmer over winter. I will buy this later in the year.
I mowed, pruned, sowed and propagated today. I hope that I will get some free achillea (yarrow) and salvia plants from cuttings. I started the composter with a layer of sticks before adding the mowings, the salvia prunings, some shredded cardboard, and all of the really sad veg and a slightly mouldy orange living (or more accurately dying) at the bottom of the fridge. The veg was chopped up a bit to give it a head start.
In the propagator trays from lidl I sowed 2 types of sunflower, 2 types of tomato, kale, Brussels sprouts and chilli. I sowed sweet peas and sugar peas into toilet roll tubes. They don't like root disturbance and the tubes gives a longer place for them to grow before transplanting. All of these are on the windowsill. Some of the kale are transplants from my window germination test, and some are fresh seed. The sweetness are REALLY old, I did not pre-test or pre-soak them but since my seed testing the other week I have learnt that the bigger thicker skinned seeds last longer than papery things like parsnips... so maybe they will grow.
My non-allotment day was probably busier than I had planned. We also managed a really lovely dog walk and my husband took some lovely photos including a kestrel, little egret and some Brent geese, now it is time to rest.
Mood: pretty chipper - fresh air tired