SLACKING

unfortunatly this last 2 weeks i have not put as much effort into our plot as i would have liked to.i have been so busy with work,my house and other things like (women and kids) that the plot has suffered.me and pappy managed to get a small amount done last weekend.we know time is running out and we have so much to do but time does not allow us.are we trying to do too much too soon?we need to get a plan of action going soon before its too late!!!!!!(money and resources are letting us down the most). all i have managed to do this week is make 3/4 of a compost bin out of pallets.i should have used all the pallets we have gained,but painting my ceilings got in the way this week.hopefully friday night and saturday i will be able to apply some effort to our much needed plot.

Saturday 05th August

Only spent a few hours up at the allotment this week, Dougie finished glazing the greenhouse but were 4 panes short so they have to be bought. We cleared more space next to the greenhouse for another greenhouse or shed which ever gets to our plot first. There no order to which one we get first whichever one is FREE in the bargin pages were not fussy just a cheap pair of blaggers.

Dougie bought his wife a car for her birhday and some driving lessons thrown in must be love EH!

HOW OUR DAY WENT


We set off both full of energy and eager to get to work. Just one Quick stop to get some much needed supplies which consisted of four cans of carling. Once we got those we new we were going to have a good day ahead of us just a short drive down to the allotment. We are always down there quite late in the evening because the weather in Brum has been so good lately its to hot to dig so if we went down earlier we would just have the cans and go home.





On to the first job of the day get an area cleared for our greenhouse or shed whichever free one comes first.

The soil is bit softer now with the little showers were having during the night but i 'm still waiting for the muscules in my back to get stronger. People keep saying it will keep me fit (still waiting for that to happen.)

Were stepping this area as the slope is at least 18 inches. Doug thought of that. If it was left to me the greenhouse would be on a slope.



The next job we undertook was to make a seed bed with the wood we have collected this 2 by 1 inch is to join the courners together. We are also going to put a large plastic covering on hinges over it. The sheets are huge and came off someones extension and if bought from a shop would probaly cost 100 pound each so i'm told.
We got four sheets of them.






This is the new seed bed under construction its held together by 2inch screws

After it was put together it was checked for level but with the slope we've got the back end has to raised by 7inchs.


This how the inside of the greenhouse looks, nothing growing as yet but were proud of the progress we've made so far.







After the hard day we had we sat down to disscuss our next plan of action (oh and have a beer or two )

After a long meeting and a couple of beers. What we decided to do was on the way home get some more ale.

So till next time keep at it.

FOR THE THIRD TIME

This is a picture of how our plot looked when with the help of Pumkin Soup Dougie and i recieved the keys to our little piece of England
It didn't seem so little when we had to cut it down, but we were assured by Ben (the allotment foreman) that it was a good piece of land and the soil underneath was rich and fertile.
Call me suppious (sorry can't spell and spell check didn't know what i was trying but you know what i mean) but i thought to myself if the land was that nice how come he never had it. Anyways it only took a whole Saturday with the help of two hired petrol lawn mowers and 4 cans of carling it was quickly cut down to size.


This is Samson my 3yr old Boxer
I bet he is thinking to himself them pair of jokers will never cut this down.



This is a photo of the second job we done we wanted to get stuck in and see what we had to play with when we measured it after a good few hours of digging and weeding it was 12ft by 27tf our whole plot is 33ft by 90ft more than enough for us.

This some wood that me Dougie have picked up over the past month. No we are not having a bonfire the paletts of which we have 16 is going to make 4 compost bins with sliding gates and the rest is going to make a fence around our plot.(all big ideas at our place) Not a bad collection we would make a good pair of bagmen you know the ones with the shopping trollys.

The greenhouse as modeled by Mrs Pappy and Doug's eldest daughter we got out of the bargin pages for the grand total of £20 we had to take it down aswell all the connecting bolts were rust tight and had to be cut off.

We then had to make a new home for it. It measures 8ft by 6ft and is resting on a course of bricks. When we put it into place it was level to our suprise.

This is how the plot looks now as of Sunday 30th July.

in the bags there is grass cuttings and behind them is another huge mound this part of an experiment to see which rots down first so the race is on my moneys on the bags.

These are to photos of Samson and Molly doing some stock taking well mainly just taking.

This picture of Warstock Lane allotments.

I can honestly say on behalf of Dougie and me there is nothing better than going down to your plot and messing about for a couple of hours just beening down there and plodding on do this and that gives so much pleasure.

OH AND ANOTHER THING A COUPLE QUESTIONS

1) HOW DO I ADD LINKS FROM OTHER PEOPLES SITES.

2) WHY OH WHY IS THERE A HUGE GAP AT THE TOP OF MY POST IS IT BECAUSE WHEN I DOWN LOAD PICTURES THEY START THERE AND THEN I HAVE TO MOVE THEM INTO POSITION.

PLEASES HELP AS MY TRYING FIX IT MYSELF I LOST ALL OF THIS TWICE.

NEW PLOT

hi ppl............me and PAPPY have recieved our new allotment plot on 2/7/06.we have so far turned over an area of approx.12ft by 28 ft.we have also just purchased our first greenhouse......we are trying to assemble it today(16/7/06)...we will post pics a.s.a.p so you can see our progress .hopefully we will have all our beds ready for next year to start planting!!!! we are hoping to make 2 small ponds out of old baths to produce frogs and are looking into owning a hedgehog,hopefully the 2 combined will rid all pests off our plot??? all advice on a new allotment plot.i.e pest control,what to plant,when to plant etc.etc.will be very appreciated.....p.s.keep checking back....photos will be added shortly.