Plots and Plans

I went up to the plot on Sunday morning to mark out positions for the raised beds to be installed by the site contractor this week. The whole allotment site looked pristine with the new layer of topsoil. I got the feeling I get when I see a large area of newly fallen snow; torn between not wanting to disturb the surface whilst at the same time feeling a childish urge to run around and roll about in it.

I resisted the temptation to lay down and make a soil angel and I set about the task of marking out the bed positions whilst a gang of local tearaways, in bovver wellies and armed with swords, marched up and down the plot boundary to compact the ground in readiness for a delivery of wood chippings to make a path.

There was debate amongst neighbouring plot-holders as to whether it would be preferable to have beds running North/South or East/West and how much room to leave between beds. I have laid my beds out so that I can plant in long rows running North to South. I could have saved space by positioning the raised beds closer together but I decided that I would prefer to have room to get a wheelbarrow between the beds and so my beds are perhaps a little bit wider apart than most that I have seen marked out on site.

I went back up to the plot on Sunday afternoon and erected trellis posts in readiness for the arrival of the nine Rondo vines which are due in April. I didn't have time to thread the support wires between all the posts but went home pleased that at last I have got onto the plot, got mud on my wellies and made some constructive progress.

Soiled

The contractor is making good progress spreading the heaps of topsoil across the whole of the allotment site. We were promised an extra 4 inches of topsoil. It looks like we have got quite a lot more than that but I suppose it will settle down a bit over the next week or so.

We allotment holders cannot yet get access to our plots to do any work. The contractor is scheduled to come on site during week commencing 22nd March to install raised beds on each plot. He will require access to the plots with his machinery to fill the raised beds with soil.

I'd love to be on site now preparing my bean and potato beds and planting onions and garlic but to do so would impede the contractor and anything planted now would get crushed by tractors or the bulldozer as the site is yet to be disc harrowed and rotavated, so just a little bit more patience required.

This weekend I have got some beans to pot-on in the coldframe and I will sow a few more sprout, leek and onion seeds and maybe some lettuce/salad.

The Return of The Loam Arranger

The village is rumbling today with the glorious sound of a convoy of tractors delivering heaps of topsoil to the allotment site. Yahoooo!

Muck on my mind

My farmer friend Richard (or rather farmer's wife Janice) from the next village has kindly offered me a load of farmyard manure. I can have it as soon as I'm ready for it.

I was going to leave it until after all the topsoil and raised bed work has been completed by the site contractor later this month but I have been having second thoughts and wondering if it would be better to get the manure spread now so that the contractor can lay the topsoil over it and then rotivate. I have noticed that a few plot-holders have already had some enormous steaming heaps delivered ready to be worked-in by the contractor.

On reflection I think I will wait. My reasons for this:-

1. I can make sure the manure is really well rotted before digging it in. I have heard that if it is too fresh it can raise the acidity of the soil and cause damage to seedlings.
2. I can put it where it will be most needed rather than having it spread over all of the plot, paths and all.
3. I have read somewhere that some root-crops do not perform well in newly manured beds, so I can leave bed rotation options open until I have worked out where everything is going.
4. The new topsoil will hopefully be good enough to produce decent crops in any event.
5. Once the raised beds and other structures are in place I can keep the manure in the compost bins or on a corner of the plot until I need it.
6. I don't think I'll have time to organise delivery before the contractor arrives back on site.

Waiting for topsoil and raised beds.

All work on the plot is on hold pending delivery of a few hundred tonnes of topsoil to the whole allotment site in February. The contractor will also be installing 3 raised beds (12ft x 6ft) on each plot. Off the plot I have bought wire and drilled and stained some 8ft 2x2 wooden posts ready to be used for constructing vine trellises and I have built a cold frame (pictured above). I have also put in an order, through the allotment committee, for three wooden potato crates from a local farmer, which I will use as compost bins.

I have now got four or five weeks to catch up on jobs around the house, after which, if you want me, I'll be on the plot!