Blog« Twitter Updates for 2008-04-26 | Home | Twitter Updates for 2008-04-27 »
at the allotment day 3 & 4: we came, we saw, we dug!
By booyaa | April 27, 2008
saturday was a sizzler fo rizzle! and with the threat of sunday being damp and soggy it was a case of get as much done as possible. if there was any doubt about my commitment to the lotty i think it ended when i decided to dodge a party so i could have more time onsite. m if you’re reading this blog post, i am incredibly sorry about ditching on you!
anyways.
before heading to the lot, i needed to get some more tools as we were going to reassemble the shed and if possible buy timber from travis and perkins to make the raised beds. so off to b&q to get a rake, claw hammer, a toolbox saw and galvanized nails. whilst i was there i did a quick reccy on clear plastic to replace the broken window in the shed, a 4×2 foot would cost about £14!
in addition to lot diy-ing we wanted to burn down the pile of dry grass and weeds. so after placing bricks around our pile of grass, small bits of wood (without paint) and various dried out parsnips we lit it. i was surprised how quickly it took and soon we had a nice roaring fire.
it was at this point when some crazy kid came over and wanted to help us with our fire. my main concern for this urchin was that he might become part of the bonfire. furthermore his claims to be an “expert” in fire making were seriously doubted after he started to pull at bits of new grass and trying to put them on the fire whilst a strong wind blew. he seem rather pleased that he “landed” a few on the fire itself.
luckily the parental units did whatever they do to call their offspring back, that or the child grew concerned about how violently i was stabbing the dry bits of grass with my fork that he went back to his own plot.
so with fire blazing it was at this point our other lot neighbour malcolm came over, probably to distract us enough so that the fire would die out as it was smoking him out something rotten. he came over to have a little chat and find out what we were planning growing. during the conversation we mentioned our plan for raised beds. it was at this point that he advised us against it, simply because the soil here is sandy and all the beds would do is dry out the soil faster. it was interesting to hear one of the old skoolers talk about how raised beds have only become fashionable since shows like gardeners world started featuring them. also he pointed out how the old timers didn’t have raised beds and it was only the n00bs.
with this in mind, me and mrs. booyaa made a strategic decision to ditch the beds, mostly because we anticipate we’ll struggle to keep up with the watering demands during summer and if the beds are going to exacerbate this issue further then let’s eliminate the problem now.
whilst talking with malcolm we got on to the subject of potatoes and onions, turns out the allotment shop has a clearance sale on the taters and onions and since we no longer had to wait for our beds to be built it seemed a good time to buy them and stick them in the dirt! in addition to the javelin variety of taters we bought we also got the guy who runs the other allotment shop to bring us some charlottes on sunday.
lou made a start on prepping the soil, whilst i denailed the shed, it was a very trying time for the multi-legged
inhabitants of the various nooks and crannies that made up the shed. eventually i was ready to raise the shed. in a word: tricksy. the shed seemed to have a mind of its own and would often move where the wind was blowing. despite being difficult, with only me and mrs. booyaa assembling it, the shed eventually was up. i wouldn’t sleep in it, it’s far too rickety and doesn’t feel at all stable. my in-laws will be over for the last may bank hols and my dad-in-law is a wiz with diy, so i’m hoping we’ll be able to make it stable.
finally to end the day we planted the taters.
today (sunday) i just popped in to setup the compost bag. i dumped our two weeks worth of veg scraps, coffee grounds and tea. i forgot to get paper to layer the wet. the bag is a stop gap until we can build our permanent bin.
facts and figures
our current expenditure is about £148
time spent on allotment: 14 hours
Topics: default |
April 28th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Your expenditure tally will prove interesting, I wouldn’t dare doing it myself.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
whilst i feared to do it too. in the end i thought it was a way for us to see what the actual cost was to grow our own and to see how long it took before we broke even.
i suspect we won’t see the benefits for at least a year if not a bit longer.
April 28th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Well I won’t break even until I start growing hops.