It has been quite a busy and productive year on the plots!
This year, I have been an allotment holder for ten whole years, and Momma P has
had her own for a year. We have both kept Wickes in business with our monthly
orders of timber, pebbles, paving slabs and corner posts, and Plot 31 is more
colourful than ever thanks to Cuprinol wood paint. I hope B&Q decide to extend their peat-free compost range because I keep buying it, and I'm going to need a lot more this year!
 |
| Viviparous germination of teasel seed heads - they germinate while still on the momma plant! |
Projects achieved this year include:
·
New shed roof, for which David missed (an
apparently) very important football match
·
New guttering and waterbutts with downpipes, for
aforementioned new shed roof
·
Built more raised beds – the bean bed, herb bed,
bulb bed, quince bed, almond tree bed, raspberry beds, and the big square beds.
·
A brassica cage on one of the big square beds to
keep the pigeons off
·
New compost bins
·
Putting a tree stake in for the apple tree and
pulling it back up to vertical. I hadn’t realised how horizontal it was…
 |
| New quince bed |
 |
| Flower bed upgrade |
 |
| Peat free compost by the van load! |
Things I didn’t get around to doing include:
·
Putting the polytunnel up. This is on the list
for 2020, now that I have decided for sure where it is going and how it is
going to be set out on the inside.
·
Archway between raised beds over the centre
path. Also on the list for 2020!
·
Laying slabs in front of the shed. It really
needs dry weather so we’re not digging in slop. I need to buy more sand too for
bedding in the slabs.
·
Putting the solitary bee box on the stake in the
herb bed. I was going to, and I even bought a shelf bracket for it, but then
bees moved in and I didn’t want to disturb them while they were laying eggs.
·
Putting gates on the compost bins. I kind of
like them without doors as it is easier and less faff to tip a wheelbarrow in,
so I might not put gates on them. Also I know the fox likes to sleep in the
compost, especially when it is full of grass cuttings.
 |
| Plot 4 |
Plot 31 is finally starting to come together and look like
how I imagined it all those years ago when I was 20 (!). I think we all thought
I’d give up after a year, so to have been there for ten years is quite
impressive. I am looking forward to getting back up the plot and get more stuff
built. I really want to conquer the high water table this year as best I can
and build more beds lower down the plot. I effectively lose a third of the
available growing space every year because it floods so badly.
 |
| David built a flower bed into the middle bit between the compost bins. This year it had nasturtium and mesembryanthemum. |
 |
| Painted lady butterfly |
We saw a chaffinch near the gate to the allotment last week,
and I saw a greenfinch in the allotment site in August. I have also seen great
spotted and green woodpeckers, jays, long tailed tits, and loads of sparrows,
blue tits, great tits, and magpies. It has been a great year for bees, so this
year I want more solitary bee houses and maybe some bird boxes in the taller
trees behind the shed. I am also going to dig a wildlife pond – not sure where
yet – and also install a new bird feeding station. I am going to cut back the
plum trees, which is where we currently feed the birds so I need to give them
somewhere else to go.
