This afternoon's #allotment job was to work on the long raised beds on the polytunnel plot. First trenching along the edges then lining with plastic sheet* before levelling off. Next we will top these with as much compost as we can scrape out of the oldest bay (mainly year+ old horse manure) and then they're ready for planting.
These beds were part of the original design for the plot but for four seasons have just been long mounds as we didn't have timber for sides. The timber is spare from a deadwork building project, we put it in place at the end of last season. I've been wedged on doing fancy metal stability stakes for it for ages but finally just went with screwing it together as we need beds really soon.
Now their usable area will increase from about 50cm to over a meter, should double the productivity! 😅
* plastic sheet/membrane also left over from deadwork, I wouldn't buy it for the purpose but I'll use it if it's effectively free and surplus.
These beds were part of the original design for the plot but for four seasons have just been long mounds as we didn't have timber for sides. The timber is spare from a deadwork building project, we put it in place at the end of last season. I've been wedged on doing fancy metal stability stakes for it for ages but finally just went with screwing it together as we need beds really soon.
Now their usable area will increase from about 50cm to over a meter, should double the productivity! 😅
* plastic sheet/membrane also left over from deadwork, I wouldn't buy it for the purpose but I'll use it if it's effectively free and surplus.
Yvan •
#allotment
Yvan •
I took some today and also this "panorama" shot... which makes it look like I'm standing at a corner lol. Really that road left and right is one straight line and the left of the photo is the front of the polytunnel plot and the right is the front of the new plot.
#allotment
Richard Rollinson •
Broadfork •
Your two plots are looking great. I like to see the progress you are making. It’s good to see signs of your neighbours using their plots too.
Yvan •
I sometimes feel I should be more organised about it. But this is me I'm talking about 😅
It's fantastic to have all the activity around our plots. Those plots have been pretty derelict for years. The same person was holding on to all 4 including our new plot but they were never there. The council finally gave them an ultimatum and they gave them up.
Broadfork •
I love to see a neglected plot being brought back to life again. It’s great to see enthusiastic new starters getting on with things. It lifts the whole site when that happens.
@richrollgardener
rooftopjaxx •
MostlyTato •
Then there are the people who get an area and never show, they just landbank it so no one else can have it.
rooftopjaxx •
Yvan •
Do you mean people are using plots for commercial growing?
Gardeners World? Isn't that all about flowers? It does tend to romanticise the odd slices of allotment life it shows. I suspect our new immediate neighbours could be in this category given their lack of progress so far. They've just shallowly dug one tiny patch of their whole plot of grass. Still never seen them. Maybe they'll show up with a rotovator, it seems to be the standard start for most new plotholders on our site. Got to evenly distribute all those weed roots!
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
JimmyB (he/him) •
But they cover a lot of veg growing too, and there is a lot of good and helpful info in there too. Plus what else do you do on a Friday night when you're knackered from work except sit on the sofa with a glass and fall asleep to #Gardening?
@rooftopjaxx @MostlyTato @Broadfork @richrollgardener
Yvan •
There is also the Scottish Beechgrove Garden of course, they tend to have a more vegetative slant than GW.
But we do tend to watch most of GW, usually a day or two later when some miscreant puts it on utoob.
@rooftopjaxx @MostlyTato @Broadfork @richrollgardener
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
JimmyB (he/him) •
I'll see if there is another source.
@rooftopjaxx @MostlyTato @Broadfork @richrollgardener
Richard Rollinson •
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
JimmyB (he/him) •
Their advice is always really good. I've learned a lot from them.
@yvan @rooftopjaxx @MostlyTato @Broadfork
Broadfork •
I’m tired of Monty Don. He is so much more enthusiastic in someone else’s garden than his own.
I rarely watch GW. The garden design(ers) being too prominent. They are pitching to a client with no acreage.
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
JimmyB (he/him) •
How do you know what jobs to do at the weekend without Monty??? 😀😀😀
I relented on Monty a bit after reading his book about setting up the heroin rehab programme. He’s still very posh, for sure, and his garden is beautifully curated. But that was a real intervention that he funded coz he felt something. Better than Jacob Rees-Mogg say
Broadfork •
I had an inkling Adam Frost was going to take over a couple of years ago with a new garden but he quickly moved and downsized.
GW would benefit from having a female presenter take main stage. I have no one in mind.
@MostlyTato @richrollgardener @rooftopjaxx @yvan
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
JimmyB (he/him) •
Definitely needs refreshing! And a female lead wouldn’t hurt.
Broadfork •
A female lead team (because horticulture is so male dominated) revamping a dilapidated walled garden somewhere to benefit a wide local community. That would be my ideal early Friday night fix.
Lots of scope for interest. Less commercialised content, more community engagement.
@yvan @rooftopjaxx @richrollgardener @MostlyTato
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt
Kuchenschwarte •
And actually I watch it for the designs, the curated and well maintained gardens, the behind the scenes, the new plants, the fresh takes, the folks that get a stage for their nerdy collections.
The parts where he sows and deadheads and chits are always the same again and again year after year.
@MostlyTato @richrollgardener @Broadfork @rooftopjaxx @yvan
JimmyB (he/him) hat dies geteilt