New Shed

This next set of photo's were taken 26th December. As you can see i now have a shed. I got this from a guy of ebay. Good bargain in really good condition. The conifer trees are slowly being cut to give more light but they hide the shed from prying eyes. Out of sight out of mind. All the borders round the perimiter have been dug and planted with quickthorn on the pathway sides. the other border has a mixture of shrubs, climbers and rasberrries. You can now see the composting bin. This was made from old rafters from an old shop next to where i work. The old oil drum is used for fire. just the job on a cold day

Frosty

A little later in the year. Most of the beds have been dug now. Not much can be done when its this cold

Fencing and Beds

This continues the progress of my new allotment. As you can see the beds are being dug. For each bed the turf is cut off and stacked for later. Then it is single dug with the bottom of each trench forked over. Upturned turf in then placed at the bottom then a layer of manure then the soil on top with plenty more manure. These beds will need little digging in future and can be topped up with compost and manure (courtesy of my mother in laws horse). The soil is a clay soil but not too wet and sticky so should be good to grow in with plenty of nutrients. Obviously with being high up the pennines it can be cooler than further south so the growing season is a little later but plenty of hard work now will pay off. Ideally i would like raised beds with wood edging but the cost for so many beds in quite a lot. Each bed has a grass path surrounding it and by adding manure and digging over etc the level off the soil is raised.

The greenhouse which the previous owner left in has been leveled, repaired and glazed. In this i hope to build a raised bed for earlier salad crops and space for seedlings. I do have two other greenhouses in my other plot which can be used for overflow.

The compost heap in being started and i hope to build a wooden bin around it late

The fencing has been finished off and a new gate from mick in the next pen finishes off the boundaries. All round the boundary i am planting hedging and plants to provide security and shelter.

Fire

This continues the story

Everyman loves a fire! These were taken 29th July 2008

With the fencing done and the grass and rubbish it looks much better. Now I can plan the layout of each bed.

New Beginnings

This is the story so far of my new allotment

The heys allotment site in oswaldtwistle is the largest site in the borough of hyndburn. Away from the main site there is a smaller group of 16 plots. These benefit from most of the plotholders living very close to the site which is good for safety and security. My father had an allotment here before i took it over in 2001 after giving notice on my larger plot, which my mother in law took over. (i will get round to describing that plot later)

Even though i already had an allotment it is always a good idea to put your name down for another plot just in case. I was offered a new plot in july 2008 but as this was on the larger site is wasn't really ideal, two plots in two different sites. One of the other tenants was struggling to look after his large plot so with full agreement with George and the Council we split his plot between us. this has been good for all concerned. George not has a renewed vigor to look after his plot, the council can cross off one more from the waiting list and i get a new plot to grow fruit and veg

I took over this half of the plot on 28th July 2008. As you can see from this and the following photos there is quite a bit to do! Those nettles will come in handy though.

That's me. End of a busy day. Only that post can keep me upright!

Butterfly

Butterfly. Think this is a brown tortoieshell

Looking good. Everthing doing quite well.

Strawberries and vegetables well protected from birds, cats and children

Delphiniums and Astilbe make up the colour with budleja in the background

Flowers

This is a selection of flowers from the garden

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Flower Beds

This series of photo's were taken of the flower beds as the plants were beginning to grow. They go in clockwise sequence. The idea was to see what grows where so that i can see gaps in planting and decide what to grow there. Also to see which plants have outgrown thier place and look to divide and replant elsewhere