A Spade a Marigold and a Curly Kale.

My Curly Kale with his friend Marigold.

Just prepared this long bed in the lovely sunshine...I'm thinking potatoes but don't hold me to it.

Another long bed on the right hand side allotment. I am going to let this bit be 'fallow' or as the farmers would say 'set aside'.  I am going to grow cover crops which will be a mix of perhaps 3 types.  Clover is a must as it is good at fixing nitrogen and producing bio-mass which this sandy soil badly needs.  I might let the cover crop grow on all year for maximum benefit, or dig it in after a few months.

My leaf muching corner.  I gather leaves in autumn and chop them with a lawn mower to help them to decompose. The leaves go in the compost bin, and supply the carbon that is essential to the composting process....without carbon compost easily becomes a sort of smelly sludge.

As I said in my previous post this is the year of the raised beds,  I am hoping for great things from them.  In the background you can see my 1000 litre water butt and my new wormery....well it is a plastic drum with a mixture of leaves, soil, compost and food waste....and worms.  I suppose I could call it a compost bin, but then compost bins are black, and this one is blue with holes drilled in it and a tap at the bottom.

Thanks for visiting my plot.

A Big Heap of Manure

Well I am now the owner of a big heap of muck tipped from a large yellow trailer. Actually it is in joint ownership, as Dave, John and John and me all have 25% shares in the heap.  I have never used manure on the allotment before, and even though it looks like it is well 'matured' I think you have to be careful in its use, as some veg don't like it too fresh in the soil.

This is the first Pic of my allotment, or rather the right hand side one as I have a double allotment, each being 10 rods.  I built the pallet enclosures this year for tomatoes.  I will probably wrap polythene around them at some point, to keep the masses? of tomatoes nice and warm.  Haven't decided what 'brand' to grow.....only that it won't be moneymaker.  Where do I buy the seeds to grow the tasteless ones they sell in the supermarkets?  

My brand new cold frame.  The window frames are hinged but I can also access the frame from the other side.  The good thing about this frame is that it is about 3ft from the ground which makes it easier to use and raised above low ground frosts.....hopefully.  The pots have petit pois in them....I know it is too early, but I like a gamble.

The other new thing is my runner bean trellis.  It may look a bit like a green house, and nearly became one until the wind came and damaged it before I put the glass in.  Never mind, it will now serve a different purpouse.

The really new thing this year is it that it will be known as 'The Year of the Raised Beds'.  I have put off this idea for a long time but thought it a good time to start.  I am also going to have a go at #GardenConnect which involves growing as much as you can in a 6ft by 2ft plot.  I have worked it out, and this area of allotment costs me about 10p to rent per year, so as long as I grow more than 10p worth of crops I am on a winner. 

Down the allotment on a sunny day

Well this is my first posting, so I will make it short....."Petit Provencal" peas planted in pots in my brand new home made cold frame.  Probably too early, but you never know.