Phwar - what's that smell?

Carrying pelletised chicken manure in the back of the car is taking its toll but an even more pungent smell is coming to light.  I must remember to plant the garlic bulbs tomorrow!

Alien Invasion

Asparagus looks like something from Alien, a collection of tangled roots which have to be burried in a trench a foot deep. The roots are about two foot across with a small crown in the middle. Not something to be undertaken lightly, especially with our soil, but once in place should produce lovely crisp spears for years to come.

Have a quick look at the video produced by "Soilman". Soilman's Video. I watched this before planting and it was enlightening as to what to expect.  I have just started to follow his blog which is truly informative, entertaining and written in a colourful way!

Dig, sow, dig, sow

I will condense the blur of the last few days into one as it really has been digging and sowing, digging and more digging!  In fact, the only thing that really changed is the degree of our sunburn.  Starting on Monday as a pale pink tinge due to the wind blowing steadily across the fields and masking the sun.  Two visits on Tuesday, early to avoid adding to the sun-pain and later, after sending Luke off on the train back to university, for a couple of hours in the evening.  We still finished bright red despite sunblock!


Planting progress so far includes;
The fruit mentioned previously
Potatoes - 1 row of Estima and 1 row of Pentland Javelin
Onion Sets several rows of - Hercules (big and strong), Red Karmen (red onions all of the way through) and the donated sets from our neighbours
and a few shallots called Topper


We have also planted the start of our asparagus beds with red asparagus called Pacific Purple and more normal Connover's Colossal - more to follow on this.


A little over a quarter of the plot is dug and worked over although not yet planted - doesn't sound a great deal but believe me it took some time!

Getting in the supplies!

A quick trip to Somerset to visit the MIL and to collect all of the collated plunder.  We also visited a couple of local nurseries.  We were recommended a local one we had never visited before, very near Taunton.  The nurseries at Ruishton is a typical traditional nursery where plants are raised from seed on site and very little is bought in.  They have a basic range but we did manage to spend a few pounds, mostly on seedlings, but also on some 8ft canes - for bean poles - that escapade to follow!
The second nursery was Monkton Elm, a regular favourite, with a good range and reasonable prices compared to most.  http://www.monktonelmgardencentre.co.uk We were able to fill some gaps on our list but on balance preferred the quality and prices of Ruishton.  But both are recommended if you are near Taunton or passing through!


Thanks to the MIL for the nursery treats and gardening supplies.  This included one of her spare compost heaps (she has spares?!) which our eldest son, Luke, kindly cleaned out, at his Nan's request.  It wasn't too bad, just a little muddy but you can imagine his delight when his new shoes were covered!

With all of the travelling we did not get a chance to visit the allotment but spent the evening pottering, potting on and planting seeds with copious cups of tea!

Reality hits!

Now it was time to do some work!


We collected all of the fruiting plants we had carefully collected over the last few years and put them in the car together with a carefully collated selection of tools to cover every eventuality.  Our strawberries were a triumph last year despite being in pots at the front of the house and so were a priority to get planted.  There were so many runners that we threw away enough to fill the allotment many times over but still managed to keep rather more plants than we should have!


Our youngest son Sam was surprisingly keen to come and help and ended up planting most of the strawberries,digging and levelling the land - Sam has a precise and accurate nature (typical Virgo!) and was even keener the make sure the surface was perfect than we expected!

Unusual choice of handtool but the bed was nice and smooth!

The most usual comment we hear from other, often defunct, allotment holders is the trauma involved in getting started. The digging over and the removal of nettles and even worse brambles.  We are incredibly lucky because our soil is VERY easy to dig and mostly clear.  We tacked the worst patch first but I am sure you will agree that it is not bad at all - and only one nettle plant!

Probably the worst section - aren't we lucky!

By now you will have noticed the strange wooden stakes in the front section of the patch.  This is/was/will be the fruit cage minus any netting - now purchased from Lidl - a strange but lucrative source of gardening supplies!  Well, actually gifted from the MIL another lucrative source of supplies but not so strange!
We are lucky to have some (reportedly) raspberry canes already in the fruit cage section and we have under planted them with a couple of our potted gooseberry bushes.  


Today's planting totals:
Approx 40 Strawberry plants
2 Gooseberries
1 miscellaneous Current (ok I forgot what type!)
2 Rhubarb plants
and a Buddleja - not a veggie, but self-seeded into the pot with the gooseberry and I didn't have the heart to throw it away - anyway it is excellent for butterflies, who eat the baddies on the veg. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!
All of the plants are well established and add zero cost to our running balance.


We met an older couple who are our neighbours (names to follow when we learn them) at plot 26 and after a brief chat, which mainly composed us asking their advice on every thing under the sun, they kindly give us a very large handful of onion sets, probably to shut us up.  This will be our next planting job.


That evening, requiring a snack, I notice that I couldn't get up out of the chair and when I delegated the refreshments to Mrs 2K she politely told me to make my own as she had the same problem.  After a long soak I forgot about the snack and settled for the comfort of the bed - although I could have slept on a bed of nails!

The morning after!

Of course we did what anyone would do with such a large space to fill - went home and phoned our gardening Guru - the mother in law!  She immediately jumped into action, rallying seeds and cuttings from all parts of her beautiful garden, shed, greenhouse, neighbours greenhouses, the list goes on. We spent the rest of the evening phoning friends, trawling through seed catalogues and making lists of the veg we wanted to grow.  Actually we should have made a list of what we didn't want because we almost copied out the index!  We went to sleep with sweet dreams of bumper crops and feeding the neighbourhood with our children's favourite leek and potato soup.
I am lucky that I usually finish work just after midday so naturally no sooner had I got home than we were out of the door again  - down to the farm! In addition to taking Mrs 2K and Matthew, my middle-size son, we were happy that my Mum did not need to be dragged along - she came of her own free will, so was obviously confident that the digging stage had not yet arrived!

Mother staring into the sun
(Boy will I get into trouble for publishing this!)

We measured, surveyed, prodded and cogitated over the plot and then went spying on the neighbours to see what they had in place.  Anyone knowing Matthew realises that industrial espionage would be an excellent career choice for him and pretty soon we had a grasp on the progress of the other plots.  We realised that, although we are a little behind, we are not too far and with a couple of good weeks we would be up to speed.

Some of the slightly noisier neighbours

Many of the plots were covered with seedlings, no real plants to speak of, but we got some crafty ideas.  Mini greenhouses from punnets, and net curtain cloches.

Now we are saving every bit of plastic in the house!

Tomorrow:  the digging begins!

A very lucky day

Not only was the 13th April our 26th wedding anniversary but also the day I ran a search on Google, which I have done many times before, for local allotments.  This time I struck lucky.  A local site seemed to have a single, solitary space - could I be so lucky?  A lovely lady called Merryn said there was one plot available and asked when I would like to come down - my reply was "now" and within ten minutes Mrs 2K and I were standing in a muddy field, in the near dark, putting our moniker on a contract for a 200 metre square plot.  Welcome to Plot 27!

Can you see me in the distance?  This is our plot