I’ve had plot 18 for about 2 weeks now, so I thought it was
time for an update. I’ve been down
around 6 days now here and there, spending about 4 hours each time. The one side is nearly all dug over apart
from an area by the shed where I’m thinking of adding a small patio area to put
my wheelbarrow, a chair etc… I’ve been
digging it quite meticulously, paying attention to getting all the weed roots
out whole. I can only assume the
previous owner was rather fond of his rotavator as the amount of dock roots I’ve
fetched out has been considerable. Luckily, apart from the docks and a patch of
couch grass, I don’t have any of the nasty’s like bindweed and horsetail. I’m in too minds whether to rotavate it myself
as the soil isn’t too compacted. I might see what the winter frosts do first. I’ve
also fetched out about 15 buckets of stones and glass etc… Not sure exactly
what to do with that at the moment.
As I’ve been there as couple of weeks, I’ve had chance to summarise
what my plot is like. Lots of books you read suggest doing a soil test, I wasn’t
really that interested because regardless of what it said I wouldn’t have the
money to buy necessary products to change the soil and besides, I’d still plant
what I wanted. But as I was looking on
the internet and they were quite cheap, I thoughts id give it a go. It turns out I have PH7ish soil, which is
good, I think, so id needed not bother after all! The more I clear it, the bigger it seems to
get. It’s quite a considerable plot, I
was going to measure it today, but completely forgot. I will do that soon and let you know. So I have plenty of space to plant many
different things, exciting!
The one issue I can see is some rather overgrown bushes and
trees at the back of the plot next door.
This isn’t my neighbours fault, it’s in the garden behind him. So far, it has casted a shadow over the
bottom of my plot for a large part of the morning and although I think in
summer it won’t be as bad, I’ll have to be careful what I plant up towards the
shed. Other than that, I’m very happy
with my plot and getting very excited about the new season. I’ve only planted garlic so far but it feels
great to have something in the ground.
The other jobs I really wanted to be getting on with was
making my compost bins and laying a slab path up the centre. I have a compost system in my head using
pallets all ready to go, the only problem being that I don’t have any pallets. Last week some moron didn’t apply his handbrake
up the road from my house, his car rolled down the hill and wrote my car off. I
now have a brand new Vauxhall courtesy car which is nice, but not the kind of
car for transporting pallets, slabs and other allotment essentials around. So as soon as I get my new estate, they will
be priority.
All in all though, things are going well. I’ve order my seeds, onion sets and potatoes
so things are organised at the moment. I
also spent the morning collecting 20 bags of fallen leaves from the park close
by, figure id have a go at making some leaf mould as its free, if only I had
somewhere to put it!
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