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.