GOOD OLD BLIGHTY

Now imagine it, the sun is going down after warming the countryside, you've been hard at work on the land, the Sports Report music is playing at 5pm on Radio 5, you've got a cup of tea in your hand standing in front of a fire.....and you hear Swindon have come back from 2 nil down at half time to win 4-2 (well of course, it doesn't have to be Swindon, but you get the idea)..Could there be anything more quintessentially British than that? What a nice finish to the day.

Another beautiful afternoon at the allotment on Saturday, with two worm hunters in tow again, enjoying the freedom of exploring the allotments, having worm races and generally mucking about with mud and water. So you can imagine the state they were in after an hour and a half or so when Karen came to take them home, dry them out and clean them up. Straight into a bath for them!

Unfortunately, my 3 prong fork (it did start with 4) soon became a 2 prong fork not long after starting, so it was a little laboured working with that and my spade. (I bought a new one on Sunday to replace it). But, I still managed to finish the final rotating bed and start on the 'strawberry' bed to finish all the digging. As you'll see from the photo's, I'm now about half way through the last one...so round the final bend and just about across the finishing line. PHeeewwwwwww.

I also bashed one of the old corrugated iron sheets into a protective 'brazier' type thing to start to burn away the roots I have been drying out and fully expect to keep this going until the huge pile of discarded mud/roots/weeds/grass, etc has been cleared.

So, now I need to finish off the digging, use the carpet for the paths and get rid of all the old rubbish down to the recycle centre...then we move on to the shed and getting ready for planting...All in all a great day. Nice one, good old Blighty!!!

So here we are from atop the pile of roots, etc looking East back up with the Sun setting behind me.


and here's looking back to the West, with the Sun going down and it starting to get dark.


...and finally the last bed to be finished off. You can see the section left to dig, so not too far to go now.

Two little helpers

All geared up and ready for action........


' Have you found any more worms?'


Thanks to the US holiday on Monday and following our attempts at emulating the celebrities on Dancing on Ice at the ice rink in Guildford, the kids came with me to the plot as it wasn't freezing for once.

I'd managed a little bit of digging on Sunday morning, before we went to my Mum and Dad's as I wanted to see if I could get Dad's seed potatoes and let him have them. Unfortunately due to the snow recently, most of them were delayed, but I did get one lot for Dad from the new shop. However, at least I managed to finish off the bed Mike was doing and just dig the first 'spit' in the final rotational bed, before the shop opened.

Now on Monday, with my intrepid worm hunters/stone collectors I managed to get a fair bit done and think that on my next visit, I'll be able to finish this bed off and then just have the last permanent one to go...so about 75-80% of the way there in total I think.

Karen came to collect the children after an hour and a half or so and then I carried on until dusk, so here's the photo as I finished as it began to get a little gloomy. Just need to finish the one off on this side to make it level with the other one.



All in all, good to get a bit more done and over the next few weeks, I hope to complete the digging, then I can sort out the rolls and rolls of carpet, take all the bags of rubbish to the refuse centre and prepare a spot for the shed....before I need to get ready for planting.

At Dusk in the snow....

Due to the amount of snow we'd had, all the trains around us had been cancelled. Having part hitched and got a different train from East Croydon on the way to work, I knew I'd be in for more of the same on the way home. So I made my way via East Croydon, then a bus to Wallington and walked the rest of the way home. As I was passing, I thought I'd stop off at the allotment to get a photo of it in the snow. I don't suppose I'd get too many of them.

It was getting dark by the time I got there, but here they are........

You can just see the tops of the raspberry canes in the foreground.

My double digging 'spit' full of snow, in one of the remaining beds left to dig.

Brothers in Arms !

What a day, What a day. Michael offered to come and help me dig and thankfully the weather looked to be promising, so not long after 9am, a fit brother arrived for a day of digging!

We set to work on the rotational beds and figured we get plenty of digging done before lunch (with the odd cup of tea to keep us going) , then in the afternoon we'd do a bit more, but also burn the big pile of grass/brambles, etc I'd collected and also have a go with the Kelly Kettle.

It was a perfect day, cold but sunny and the ground had dried out, so it was better for pulling the roots up. Here we are both hard at work.



Ali and Gerty came to say hello and it did seem as if the good weather had got plenty of people out on their allotments.

Anyway, after lunch we drudged back with all our 'equipment' and the following photo's give you an idea of what we got up to !!!

Mike chopping the wood and getting the fire going before we put that big pile to his right on it.

A little bit of smoke(oops) and in the foreground, the Kelly Kettle almost ready to give us each a cup of tea!

Up close. The Kelly Kettle, so thank you to Karen's parents for the Christmas present.

Here we are taking it easy, admiring all our hard work and of course, making sure the fire burns down safely.

So after a great day's effort, the plot is now two thirds completed, which is superb. Here's the final photo's of the work. Well done to us.


Both taken from the West side of the plot, from each corner looking up to the East.

With luck the weather will give me a chance to complete all the digging during February, but if the last 2 days is anything to go by, after all the snow we've had, I'm not so sure. Anyway, fingers crossed...and THANKS MIKE !!

I'm reviewing the situation.....You got to dig a veggie bed or two

Welcome to my Oliver! inspired update. Last night we went to see the show and it was a brilliant production, so thanks to my Mum and Dad for the Birthday present from last Summer. Rowan Atkinson as Fagan, pure genius.

With the new year well underway, I knew I had to dig on and try to get the beds sorted out, so I was lucky enough to be able to go down for a few hours on Saturday, Sunday and a little bit of Monday to see what I could get done. After the first few hours, my body began to complain and I think about 2-3 hours each day is as much as I can do without killing myself.

Thankfully I managed to finally get the 'Potato' bed completed after taking out wheelbarrow loads of roots and stones/flint. Here's a little of what I'm having to deal with.


But, here's the final result. Now just waiting for the potatoes to arrive from the NEW (!!!) Trading Hut, then a bit of chitting and we'll be away. You can see the 'Hut' in the background and very impressive it is too. If you look at the Stanley Road Allotment Blog, you'll see it being built and it's due to open in a few weeks.


I also managed to complete the last section of the bed with the raspberries in, so I may move the Autumn Bliss row, under advisement (!) as it will give them a bit more room and I'll still have spare room for something else to go in there too. Here's a photo of that too.


I have now started on the bed adjacent to the potato bed and will be doing my best over the coming weeks to get the other beds at least partially completed before the planting season begins. I'm just over a third of the way through the whole plot and although it doesn't look like too much is happening I can tell you, there is a lot of hard graft going into it. Especially for someone not used to manual labour!

Here's the latest view from the top of the plot, from the East looking West. Nobody else about today. Not too surprising as the soil on Monday was very wet.

I'm just starting to sort out what I'm going to grow and where, so I'm spending time making plans and notes to help me with the planting, etc so that I'm ready when the time comes and can organise to get the seeds/plants, etc.

All in all, going pretty well, so Cheerio, but I'll Be Back Soon!

New Year....still rooting around

I've felt pretty guilty, as I've not had a chance during most of December to get down to my allotment and get some digging done, but with all the Christmas and New Year fun all done, I should be able to get a bit more done and try to rid my plot of all the roots in the soil and get the beds ready for planting.

Even with the heavy frosts, I knew I had to have a go on Saturday, so with Tom's football called off due to a frozen pitch, I set off with my trusty fork and spade, along with a cup of tea in my new thermos mug and a few left over treats to keep me going and was down in the sunshine by 10.30am. Now, of course it was pretty hard, but once I managed to get the top 3 inches off, the soil underneath was perfect for digging and getting the roots out. Regrettably, I'm left with a pile of frozen lumps of soil, but with luck, nature, will help me with those over time.

However, I did get a couple of my rows done, in what will be the potato bed, so we're well on our way.

With all the bad weather, I'm also starting to think about the shed and what I'm going to grow, so over the next few weeks I'll be getting this sorted out. I did try to get a shed from B&Q we saw in the paper for under £65, but by the time we'd got back from Scotland and I'd managed to get to our local store, they had all gone. I figured, for that price, you couldn't go wrong. Alas, so did lots of other people!

That's all, Ellie's 8th Birthday on Saturday, so this weekend could be tricky...but fingers crossed. Oh what a year to look forward to...this should be fun....and I've not even mentioned the Kelly Kettle.

Digging in the sunshine

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a wonderful day.....With such a busy weekend, I wasn't sure if I'd even get down to the allotment, but thankfully, I was allowed out after Church for an hour or so.

It was all about getting the beds dug, so with my gloves, spade and fork I set off to get one wide 'spit' done. I set to work on the strawberry bed and even though it was a bit frosty on the top inch or so, I managed to get one 'spit' done and fill a barrow full of roots. They are nasty things and look a bit like the Day of the Triffids. Either that or a nasty Bushtucker trial in I'm a Celebrity...but I'll get as many of them out as I can, to give the plants a chance to grow next year.

I met one of my allotment neighbours on Saturday, by chance, at the Church fair and they are really nice people, so that's excellent news for both of us. Also, my Dad kindly brought the poles and wire for the raspberry canes on Saturday, so they are in the garage waiting to go. Excellent, thanks Dad!

Next time I go, will be the potato bed's turn.......maybe next Saturday morning, as we have our family Christmas lunch on the Sunday. Oh, I hope it's sunny again, that was just perfect on Sunday morning.