February Week Three Sunday 17th 2007
Sunday was a very productive day. We arrived at the allotment by 11am with a wide list of jobs. We created a path by edging the area we used last year with a more permanent wooden structure and added a weed-proof membrane to prevent the infamous couch grass from re-offending this year, then laid bark chippings down on top.
'The New Path'
Following this we attended to our very much ravaged Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants, (which the Pigeons have obviously enjoyed this winter) and netted them to prevent any further damage.
We also set about one of our new projects, namely the begingings of our "Rabbit Proofing" exercise - consisting of chicken wire attached to short posts hammered into the ground which can be moved easily. This is in order to prevent the huge loss of crops we suffered last year from Onions and Garlic to Celery and Sweetcorn. We will keep you updated as to how this enterprise goes throughout the year.
'Rabbit Proof Fence'
Aterwards, we edged our plot from top to bottom, creating ditches at the sides, We also roughly dug over a section of the plot which suffered greatly with couch grass last year and removed some more roots. Always remember if you leave one root in the soil it will turn into many more within the year, so once excavated from the soil make sure that you destroy or remove them from the site altogether.
The next challenge for us was to turn over the compost heap (which has been building up over the last year) in readiness for the new material. We also needed to make room in one of our heap areas for the new manure we will shortly be receiving, to be housed for rotting down in order to be used in the autumn. It was very strange to see the progress of our heap over the past 12 months which was revealed by turning it over. The Sweetcorn stalks had only just begun to start breaking down and the whole endeavour was rather slippery and squelchy for my liking!
'Compost Bin Turning'
The final challenge for this weekend was to tidy up the fruit patch, our 8 strawberry plants have managed to breed via runners into around 40. So we separated some of the juvenile plants and placed these in their new space. Along with the Strawberries we have Gooseberries, Redcurrants, Blackcurrants and Raspberry bushes which needed to be tided back down and given their yearly trimming. It's nice to see new growth once more and as they are now 2 year old plants we are looking forward to the fruits they may produce this year, tasty!
'The Fruit patch'