Second Fiddle

We didn't venture to the allotment at all last week. To start with the weather has been miseralble, gloomy, wet and misty. When the weather has been reasonable enough for us to venture out, the priority has been to take Ruby out for some exercise and the allotment has had to play second fiddle.

Most of the tasks that we had to complete before the ground became too wet have been complete. Any still to do will have to wait and tidying up neglected areas will be done bit by bit until we once again are busy sowing and planting. That seems a long way off at the moment but it will come round all too soon.

We may be able to put activity at the allotment on hold but we have to take Ruby for her walks whatever the weather. We've stocked up on wet weather clothing for all three of us.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Phew - Just made it

.What a week it has been! Fortunately, we haven't had weather as bad as in some areas. For us, it has delivered lots of rain and strong winds.  Happily, when the weather is too bad we can hunker down and sit it out in comfort unlike many who still have to go about their business or, even worse, actually sleep out on the streets.

Early in the week, we did manage an afternoon working at the allotment. Martyn took down the remaining climbing bean frame and dug over the bed. This meant that all of the vacant beds were now cleared and dug with many of them covered in weed control fabric. This was just done in time before all the heavy, persistent rain.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

We can no longer deny it - autumn is here/

It's been a very mixed week weatherwise. We have gone from summery and warm one day to rather wintery the day after. We have also had quite a bit of rain, in fact, we were rained off again when working at the allotment.

We've managed more clearing and digging over beds, although the rain has meant that the soil is fast approaching the too wet to dig stage. At the moment it is just on the very edge so we are trying to get as much done as possible. We've done well and I think we have actually managed to get more done than usual due to having an early start. There are only a handful of beds still to be tackled. The advantage of setting out separate beds means that you can target a specific bed and then feel that you have made progress.

As well as preparing beds for next year, I actually did a little planting. We had some small sweet William plants languishing in modules which we should really have planted out earlier.

The plan was to remove this year's sweet William plants and replace them with new ones. This plan changed for a couple of reasons. Firstly this year's plants seemed as though they would last for another year and secondly not enough seeds had germinated to produce enough plants to fill the bed.

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 Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

Everything's coming up carrots

We managed a couple of afternoons at the allotment, although once again on one occasion we were rained off. In stark contrast on the second visit, it was warm and sunny.

We are still clearing and digging over beds. We have about another eight left although two of these house dahlias and they won't be dug until the first frosts kill off the top growth.

That doesn't mean that, once the beds are cleared, our work on the plot will come to an end. We will then have to tackle all the areas that are waiting for some renovation. We just need the weather to cooperate.

Last week, we removed nets from our raspberries and blueberries. It sounds like a simple job but isn't. Some of the new growth had to be teased out of the netting or failing that snipped off. Then there are the brambles that pop up in unwelcome places and entangle their thorny stems in the netting. Once the netting is off pieces of bramble have to be carefully removed before the net can be stored away.

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

September in pictures

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett

The big clear out begins

We only paid two visits to the allotment last week and one of those was only fleeting. 

Early in the week, we had been kept busy. Our fruit growing area has been somewhat neglected so we are hoping to give it a really good tidy up now that things have slowed down as far as planting and - hopefully - digging and weeding goes. There are still a few beds to clear and cover with weed control fabric and I was concentrating on these jobs whilst, Martyn made a start on the big clear up.

He started in the area alongside the greenhouse where we had a very overgrown patch of redcurrants. The bushes are very old, in fact, we inherited them when we took on this area of the plot. 

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Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett