Raspberries, Raptors and Really Cold Mornings

We have reached a milestone in everybodies allotment year...
The clock's have gone back, nights drawing in and the long lazy evenings gently tending the plot are coming to an end. Our allotment now loses it's sunlight by around half past four, meaning a dry weekend become more precious than ever...

This weekend dawned cold but bright, mist covering the allotments as the early sun crept over the trees. Making the most of the break in the weather I got on with one job that has been on my 'To Do' list since we first took over the plot.

The raspberries that were being choked by weeds, (Rasberry Squash), have been propped up with runner bean canes for the last couple of months and desperately in need of a little love and attention.

First we pruned off all of the old woody stems, leaving just this years growth, then transplanted what was left into a more manageable layout.The next task was to construct a wooden frame around the fruit. The uprights were erected using metal post holders for strength and protection from the damp soil, whilst the cross beams being held in place with old shelf brackets.The next job will be to install crosswires to support the fruit and cover the frame in netting,

...and Finally... One of the great things about having a green oasis amidst the town, homes and traffic is the variety of wildlife that gravitates to it.
The latest visitor to our plot is a male buzzard. Local residents have seen him around for the last couple of years, but my fellow allotment holders report that he has taken quite a liking to our new shed.

Rest, Rainwater and Rubbish Removals

October started calm and clear, allowing me to clear the rest of the plot and start the process of putting it to bed for the winter. Final weeding was completed early in the month, followed by a gentle dig to turn over the topsoil, before raking everything level once more.

With near monsoon rains forecast, and the plot liable to flooding in such conditions, I covered the whole area with thick black matting to protect the soil and remove light & water from the weeds below.

The rains arrived as forecast, almost a week without any relief from the deluge, but finally the sun returned to reveal little damage to the allotment. The plastic matting did it job well, allowing us to get on with a few jobs that needed doing while we had some nice autumn weather.

One job on the list was to cover the compost mound at the end of the plot and prepare it for planting in the Spring. Imagine our suprise when we visited the plot, only to find that our initial request for clearance had now been carried out, three months after the request and weeks after we gave up asking...

The compost mound, along with all the wood i had put in place, had completely vanished...
It transpires that Mike Gotobed (Poole Borough Council) visited the site for his monthly inspection, along with Angie Mason (Allotment Administrator for Continental Landscapes). They noted that our request to remove the weeds from the intial clearing of the plot had not been completed and had everything removed.

The final job for October was to ensure the rainwater collection system was up and running before winter.
For this task I had my daughter Penny along for support, and to record the day with her own style of photography...

After putting up guttering along both front and back of the shed, I installed the downpipe into the water butt that we have on the plot to collect the rain that falls onto relativley small shed roof area.
Within 24 hours of completion, the rains returned and in less than two days the water butt was already full...

Wet Winter Weather and The Year Ahead

Almost as soon as the last weeds were hoed, plot raked and covered for the winter, the long warm summer evenings gave way to winter storms and torrential rains, seemingly missing out autumn entirely.

And so thoughts turn to next year, crop rotation and planting schemes for 2015.

The compost heap/weed pile at the head of the plot is going to be put to good use and have a variety of marrow, squash and courgette grown on it.

 The currant rhubarb crop is to be split and planted amidst a sea of lavendar. I read somewhere that this is a perfect growing combination, but we'll have to wait and see...

After having potatoes in the allotment this year, standard crop rotation dictates that we have legumes the following season.

With that in mind we are planning a mixed crop of borad and runner beans where the 'pink fir apple' were this summer.

The main area of the allotment was given over to sweetcorn, peas and beans this summer.

Next year we will split this area between root vegetables and potatoes.

Planting carrots and parsnips in short rows, seeded a few weeks apart, will extend the crop throughout the year.

Adding a twin crop of earlies; providing salad potatoes from May, overlapping nicely with the lates, which should be available right through to October.

The small planters will be filled with shallow rooting fruit and vegetables.

The strawberries we have produced a number of young plants this summer, giving us a new crop for the allotment next spring.

The main planter will have flowers in a central pot, with the rest quartered between radish, rocket, spring onjons (scallions) and mixed leaf lettuce.

The girls will have an area of their own, where they plan to make a miniature model of our plot, complete with shed, little planters and veg.

The raspberries will be lifted and split into a more manageable arrangement, in a new fruit cage.

There is a small area at the rear of the shed, alongside the new waterbutt. Over the winter I plan to build a basic cold frame, allowing the seedling we grow in the shed at home to be brought on and hardened off at the plot reading for planting out.

Little Helpers, Frantic Hoeing and a Final Hurrah

As the summer turns to autumn and the available hours of daylight lessen, the final push to have the allotment ready for winter reaches fever pitch. I seconded the help of my two girls, getting them used to visiting the plot and learn about the food we are going to grow.

Serena Helping Out in Her Own Way...                                                  Half the Plot Still Looks Very Green

After an initial enthusiasm for the idea of helping to get everything ready; carrying tools, boards and wooden blocks to make the low planters, when it came to some of the more arduous task of clearing the still very green third of the pot, she found her own way of helping.
While we began yet more hoeing, Serena read her book, out loud, keeping me entertained whilst I cleared a few more meters of weeds.

With an early on both days at the weekend, we finally cleared the plot of the persistant weeds, revealing the wonderful soil beneath. Adding two more planters for shallow rooted salad leaves and radish gave me an idea as to what space would be left for root vegetables, legumes and brassicas.

                      Four Shallow Planters                                                      The Area Reserved for Substantial Crops

The only downside of clearing a plot that you inherited in an overgrown state is the volume of material you need to clear and what to do with it. Continental Landscapes, who run the site on behalf of the local council, provide one skip per month to remove waste generated by the site, all 112 plots. They have recently reviewed this policy and have withdrawn the service for 2015 as they believe that much of the waste would be better composted than removed from site.

For a new allotment holder, the skips provided could be of huge benefit, allowing the removal of a majority of the perennial persistant weeds in one go, as they cannot be used for compost as this would simply re-introduce the weeds back into the soil.

Aware of this, I brokered a deal with Continental Landscapes, agreeing that if I cleared the allotment and located the weeds at the head of the plot, where they could be easily collected, then they would remove them from site on my behalf.

I regret to say that this agreement seems to have been forgotten, with the calls to their liason and monthly site inspections failing to have the desired effect. After consulting with some of my fellow allotment association members I took matters into my own hands and constructed a make-shift structure to hold all of the green waste, with plans to allow it to rot down naturally over the winter and use it to plant Courgette, Marrow and Butternut Squash next summer...

Weeds, Seeds and Autumn Treats

Looking at the plot this weekeknd, I feel both delight and guilt, seeing the new shed all painted and full of tools is a wonderful thing, but the lush carpet of green shows how little I have been doing on the site during it's construction.

Saturday saw the start of the push to get the allotment ready for winter, starting with a few hours hoeing.
Once we had a few meters of the site clear, I knocked up a quick shallow planter from an old pallet, covered it with a double layer of weed suppressant matting and filled it with freshly weeded soil.

First Small Planter                                                                Sowing the First Seeds

With the summer rapidly waning, and autumn creeping up on us, there is little to plant at this time of year, so we opted for two crops that should provide greens between now and the true winter months.

The first crop we hope to harvest will be two rows of mixed red and green salad lettuce; sown in 1/2inch deep drills into soil already raked and watered. the first shoots should be sowing by mid September and ready to eat by the end of the month.

Our second choice was two rows of winter cabbage; Sown along with the lettuce, they should be ready for cropping in late Novemeber. With reasonably mild winters along the Dorset coast, and a little bit of luck with the frosts, we may be get them right through until the new year...

First Seeds Sown and Netted                                      Two rows each of Late Lettuce and Winter Cabbage

Once sown, the rows were marked, with the planter then covered with a light net to keep the local pidgeon population from eating the seeds and new shoots.

While we wait for the first seeds to grow we are able to pick the few things already on the plot.we are now eating the butternut squash that we transplanted from tubs at home into the allotment (See 'Raspberry Squash - 20th July), along with a few rogue potatoes that are popping up in random locations across the site. I thought we had cleared the plot during the initial clearance, but it would seem that the recent rains and late summer sunshine have prompted new growth from the few i missed.

Butternut Squash                                                                                                 Potatoes

Decking, Fencing and Sheds...

This week saw the heavweight work begin, making sure the infrastructure of the allotment is repaired, renewed and constructed.
 

Old decking with missing boards...                                               New boards in place and painted

The decking at the end of the plot was looking in a sorry state with several boards missing and weeds growing through the remainder. Spraying the weeds soon killed them off, then they were cleared out and weed supressant matting layed beneath the whole decking area.
New boards were installed to fill the gaps and a couple of coats of 'Somerset Green' paint made everything look much better, ready for the major construction to begin.
 

The shed arrives in kit form...                                      First stage of construction..

The new shed arrives and is soon laid out on pallets ready for construction. One end is painted in advance, due to its proximity to the existing fence and the initial stage of instalation begins.
The base is screwed to the decking and sides erected, before adding the end sections and roof panels.

The roof panels are in place...                                                                Roof felt and doors on...

Once the main woodwork is complete, the roofing felt is added; I used both felt adhesive and felt tacks just to be on the safe side. Finally the doors are hung, with the bolts, locks and braces all added to make everything secure.

Construction complete, 41b sign added...                                  Finished and ready to move in

A coat of paint all round and homemade 41b sign transforms the shed from bare wood to a 'Rich Berry' heaven.

Reynard, Rhubarb and Re-growth...

With the sun so hot and the first phase of clearing the plot completed, I decided to take a few days off and let the ground breath a little now that it has been weeded, cut and hoed, revealing the soil to the elements for the first time this year...

Arriving at the plot on Friday evening we found a small gift awaiting us, along with the footprints of its donor...

Prints and poop from our bushy tailed friend

Bushell Mills resident foxes had been to see what all the excitement was about on plot 41b, digging a few small holes, leaving hundreds of prints and a small pile of poop on the carpet around the raspberries...

We are slowly compiling the list of wildlife that has visited our plot, with Mr Fox being No.5 on the list of surface visitors, unlucky 13 on the list that includes our ariel friends and somewhere much lower if we were to try and include all the mini beasts that inhabit the site as a soil level.

Just 48 houirs later, we made an early morning trip to see what impact a days heavy rain has had on the allotment. Our neighbouring allotmenteers, Mike and Becky, informed us that after long periods of rain the corner of the site where our plots are located is prone to localised flooding.
However, upon arrival we found nothing untoward as regards standing water or soggy soils, but the night rains combined with warm sunny days had created a lush lawn of regrowth across the plot.

A green and not so pleasant plot, with small areas of rapid weed and grass re-growth

The upside of the lovely warm days is that the crops curreently in the ground are thriving just as well as the weeds. The raspberries are shooting up, producing tall canes for fruitng next year whilst the butternut squash loves being in the ground, sucking up the rain water and producing lots of new shoots, flowers and fruit.

Without a doubt though, the star of the site is the rhubarb that we freed from the tangle of bdindweed and long grass that surrounded it upon our arrival.
We picked about half of the stalks that are ready, splitting the fruit into two batches. One half was simply simmered with a little sugar, honey and the juice/rind of an orange. Delicious both hot and cold with custard, ice cream or natural yoghurt...

The first crop of rhubarb                                                                            Delicious rhubarb crumble tart

The remaining fruit was chopped into half inch lengths, sprinkled of a sweet dough base and covered with a basic crumble mix of flour, sugar and cinnamon. Once the oven is nice and hot, the whole dish is covered in a custard mix of eggs, milk and vanilla. Once cooked the top is a mix of toasted crunchy crumble and crispy creme brulee.
Admittedly it didn't last long,but was delicious warm with custard, cold with ice cream and delicous on its own with a cuppa...

Hip Hip Hoe-ray

With the weather forecast predicting an end to the fantastic heatwave we have been having, I was determined to get the plot cleared before the rain arrived...

Finishing work early on Friday, I managed to get another hour at the allotment and clear another few meters of grass and weeds...

Almost finished...

Sunday morning saw me at the allotment earlier than ever, ready to tackle the worst part of the entire plot.
The top section was full of lumps, bumps and holes from the previous pwners potato crop. Luckily for me, the weather was much cooler, allowing me to get stuck in and finish the last of the ground clearance.

An hour was all it took to hoe out the final weeds, last clumps of grass and remaining crops. By nine o'clock the entire plot was cleared to bare soil, ready for raking over and deep digging...

Phase One Completed

Here We Hoe Again...

Sunday morning dawned clear and hot, another perfect day for being outside, but not necessarily for working hard at the allotment... Never the less, we headed round to clear the next secyion of weeds and carry out some essential maintenance...

 

As the hoeing progresses, the plot starts to look more like an allotment than the jungle it was just a week ago. Over half of the site is now cleared, the edges defined and Rasberries, Squash and Rhubarb all growing nicely.

The second job of the morning was to re-attach the decking board at the bottom of the plot. An intial inspection showed that many of the boards were loose, with others completely dettached.
Removing the dodgy wood, we knocked down any protruding screws then nailed them back into position.

Today's session was not quite over, the sun baking down upon us, but as we packed up the tools I deciced to open the gate in the fence (rather than just walk around like we usually do), only to find that the gate was holding up the end post, which promptly fell over as soon as the gate was moved...

Hi Hoe, Here We Go...

Once we had cleared the initial section and planted out the squash from home, the only job on the horizon was to clear the rest of the plot, more than 50m² of unwanted plants...

Raspberries, Squash and Lots of Weeds

I decided that each visit to the allotment would have two jobs to be completed, adding a little variety to the routine of weeding, hoeing and cutting back the grass.

Splitting the plot into three sections, the aim for the next visits would be to clear one section per visit, along with a smaller secondary task., which for this visit was to identify the edges of the plot and begin to re-establish the boundary paths.

The First Third of the Plot Cleared of Weeds

 The hoeing went well, quickly clearing the designated section for the day, revealing a bed of deep, dark, rich soil. My new neighbours; Mike to the right and Becky / Liz to the left, informed me that during the worst winter weather, some of the plots at our end of the Allotments are prone to flooding and this year has been worse than ever before. It transpires that the entire site is less than six feet above the Holes Bay water table, meaning that our section of the site needs a lot less watering and has the best soild of the entire area.

Redefining the edge of the Plot

A Happy Hopper and a Hoe Hoe Hoe

It's amazing how quickly a deserted, abandoneed plot can begin to take shape, the simple act of clearing a few meters of weeds and planting the cleared area made it look much better.

The next task was to tackle the long grass and ground weeds...

Cutting back the long grass was harder than I had anticipated, the hot sun had dried out the top inch or two, but underneath was still very wet, soggy and extremely tricky to cut, this was not the only unexpected problem... Every time I cut or removed the grass it continued to move long after I had stopped.

A quick inspection revealed not only hundreds of the biggest, fattest and ugliest slugs I had ever encountered, but a number of other inhabitants that were far more welcome.

Lizard                                                                  Frog                                                                 Slow worm

Along side a very friendly frog and several slow worms we have a small brown lizard, which was quite unexpected, but great to see... On every visit to the allotment to date we have seen the frogs and slow worms, but the lizard is far more elusive, showing himself just twice...

During the time spent clearing the worst of the site, a number of fellow allotment holders have stopped to chat and see how the we are getting on, but consistantly tell me that its faster and easier to strim or rotivate the site. I wonder how much some people know about gardening... I am not a complete novice, but even I know the benfits of not doing so.

Getting your hands into the weeds, soil and environment allows you to connect with the land, find out what you are dealing with at a much more personal level. Knowing what is growing is paramount to being able to plan your clearance strategy and with so many maretails / horsetails on the plot the last thing I need is a rotivator as this would rip the roots into tiny pieces, each of which would regrow making the problem infinately more difficult.

Raspberry Squash...

With the plot now free of its tallest weeds and longest grass, the hard work of battling the shorter, tougher and more invasive stuff began.

But first... I wanted to get something in the ground to justify having the allotment whilst the long term hard work continued, so I cleared a small area at the bottom of the plot, rescuing the raspberries from being strangled by bindweed and tudying up in front of the fence and decking.

At home I had recenrtly built a raised planter to provide a small range of fruit and vegetables. we had three different tomatoes (Moneymaker, Roma and Golden Sunrise), beetroot, carrots, lettuce and strawberries.
On a whim we had also planted a small packet of butternut squash seeds into tubs, all of which greminated and quickly spread out across the patio.
I realised that the squash were quickly outgrowing their tubs and so decided to try and transplant them into the allotment.

I have no idea what the neighbours thought seeing me transporting six squash plants in two big tubs, strapped together by their handles, hanging either side of the saddle on my old bicycle like some old peddlar taking his wares to market. My two girls were giggling all the way as we coaxed our precious load along the five minute walk to the pot.

The first 48hours were tough for the squash with temperatures soaring and constant watering needed, but a couple of cooler days and nightly watering saw them perk up nicely.

A Weekend of Weeding...

On Saturday 19th July the hard work began...

Straight after breakfast I visited the allotment, armed with just a pair of gloves and a pair of secateurs, ready for a morning of weeding, weeding, weeding...
  
The plan for the day was a simple one; to trim the back hedge and remove as many bramlbes as possible then pull up anything on the plot that would come out easily. A quick walk through the site revealed three main types of plants; Tall thick stemmed weeds, invasive low growing Horse/Marestails and a lot of long grass.

Amongst the mess I found a small stand of raspberries, several rhubarb plants and various poles/posts and canes used for previous fruit and vegetables. Anything usable was relocated onto the decking area at the end of the allotment, then anything of no further use was poked into the ground at the head of the plot to define where all the weeds would be dumped whislt awaiting council removal.

After an hours of hand weeding, all the tall thick stemmed stuff was out of the ground and piled at the head of the plot. Two more hours of pulling out as much of the long grass as possible had a huge wall of weeds across the end of the allotment, almsot five meters long, by a meter high and wide...

OH NO, WE'VE GOT AN ALLOTMENT

After almost six years hanging around on the waiting list, the fateful letter finally arrived informing us that we had been offered a plot at the Bushell Mills Allotment, Fleetsbridge, Poole.

The letter informed us that the plot was approximately 100 square meters @ 42p per square meter, a whopping fee of £8.80 for the remainder of this season, ending 30th September 2014.

Natalie contacted Continental Landscapes to arrange payment and was informed that we may wish to visit the site before agreeing to take it on as it had not been maintained to the usual standards and would require quite a lot of work to return it to full use.

A quick visit to the site revealed the full extent of the work required, but not afraid of hard work, we agreed to take it on...

Useful Links...

When researching information about allotments, I began by reading the information provided from my allotment provider Poole borough Council.

 

Bushell Mill Allotments - Poole

Borough of Poole - Allotment Information

Allotment Sites
The Gardeners Year
Site Security and Safety
Children on Allotments
Composting and Water Butts
Wildlife on Allotments


Websites I Found Useful


How to Plan an Allotment - The National Allotmment Society

Starting an Allotment - Royal Horticultural Society

The Allotment Gardener