Allotment Life: January 2022

I haven’t written a monthly allotment update since last July because after that life got v busy and I fell out of love with blogging again. So here I am! Starting afresh.

Last year on the plot was a biggun as I moved from Plot 31 after 10.5yrs up to Plot 16.

So what have we done in January? Quite a lot actually.

I had decided last year in summer that I needed to move the polytunnel as it is too close to the waterbutts (tunnel was there first) and the path to the butts is too narrow, and I kept snagging my shorts or trousers or bum on the mesh I was using to cover the tunnel and hold it down. So it needed to go, but I needed to wait until winter when it was empty-ish and could be done.

I’ve spent a fair few hours at the plot in January doing little bits here and there. The tunnel itself only really took a couple of days as I’d emptied it out into the shed, and then one afternoon Momma P and I literally unpegged it, lifted it, moved it, put it down, repegged it. And that was that. There’s more to it than that as I had to lift some turf and level the ground off, but we mostly got it done in an afternoon. She’s a good egg is Momma P. The tunnel is now moved 18” upslope so the path to the butts can be widened. I need to get more slabs to go alongside it now and some gravel to go between but that can be worked on gradually.

The orange bed is now inside the tunnel which is where it was originally.

I have also spent some time building a new raised bed at the back of the tunnel on the outside. Bit wider than I originally intended but it does the job and doesn’t stick out into the path too far. All of the beds are now topped up and covered over for winter; I won’t start seed sowing until mid-March at the earliest. Everything catches up. I need to finish staking and filling the second bed in the tunnel and then I can grow things in there. Don’t know what yet though.

So that’s my first job ticked off the 2022 to do list!

In December I bought a £5 pear tree and planted that (was £35 but I had a voucher) so I have also done some formative pruning on the fruit trees in January. I now have a pear, an apple, an almond, and several quince bushes. I need to have a jiggle around and rethink the placement of some things as I also want more raspberry canes, and I think my little blueberry is not very happy so that might benefit from being somewhere else, maybe in a big pot.

I have had my first harvest of the year – a bunch of overwintered white radish.

The plot has had its first grass cut of the year. I’m in two minds about what to do with the paths. I was thinking of membraning and gravelling them but it’s so much plastic and it’s a pain in the arse, and will massively change the way the land floods as the plastic is obviously a barrier, so the water won’t soak in and thus will sit in puddles. But at the same time, I want less invasive weed. I don’t mind the grass too much, I like walking barefoot around the plot in summer. But hmmm. What to do. The main path is slabs at the mo, but that is also due a little overhaul project this year.

I have organised my seeds for the FIRST TIME EVER with a nifty craft storage box from Hobbycraft. Turns out I need a second box as I have so many seeds, but that’ll have to wait until payday now.

I turned my compost in January, also something that I very rarely do. I shifted it all from the left bin into the right bin. I am going to either make some doors or put some wood on the front of the bins because it all gets piled at the back so it’s not an efficient use of space, and the wood will stop it all spilling out onto the path. I have been saving the ash from the log burner and adding to the heap every couple of weeks, so turning it will have helped to mix it all in. I'll start using the compost next winter as a mulch to top up the beds ready for 2024. Talk about planning ahead!

Bird life is fab. I have seen three types of tit, always loads of magpies, and have heard the woody woodpecker. We get lots of sparras at the plot too which is nice.

Once again it doesn’t feel like I’ve done very much but I have ticked a huge project off the list, and the second huge project will get underway soon. I just need to psyche myself up to move the huge paving slabs.

 

February to do list:

·       Redo slab path

·       Put up second arch from polytunnel

·       Buy another arch to make a tunnel

·       Put guttering up on shed

·       Put butt back into place