Sunday 1 May 2011

Mai est arrivé

Another long day at the lottie ... wonder when this hot spell is going to break - heard on the grapevine we are due for rain mid-week ... I have my fingers crossed !



You can see the pea cage that we built yesterday. It's not quite how I wanted it, but hopefully it will do the job. Guess I'll know pretty soon if it needs revamping. I got the wood from B&Q - reduced to 25p & 50p - bargain !! I'm thinking of building a walk-in cage ... steady, I said thinking ... thinking!



Today I've staked both comfrey plants - can't believe how much they've grown. Thank goodness I'd already put the poles in place, it seems to have helped so far. One of the plants looks like it is about to burst into flower. Really must try and make some comfrey feed from the leaves.



I was also planning to tie in the brambly apple tree ... only the stake has disintegrated ! Doh. So plan b is yet another trip to B&Q to find some more wood - hey maybe I'll look at that fruit cage wood too.

I've completed my master grand plan mmmmwwwwhhhhoooaaarrr !!! The beds have now been dug over and relaid. I've planted spinach, fennel, celeriac, 3 varieties of carrots, parsnips and 4 (yes 4 haha) broad beans. Got a little bit of space left at the back but it gets a bit shady (hedge and the 20 foot bloomin budleia tree) so not sure that I'll put anything in it. Don't worry that you can see creeping buttercup in far bed - it's been left purposely as I have plans for it :)





The strawberries in the greenhouse are fruiting already eek - they have caught me off guard - must start watering them !



I thought this was a red campion, but having googled it I'm not so sure now ...


Fundraising update - now at £660 !!! Two weeks to go :)

Enjoy the May Day holiday those of you in the UK - I'll be at work as we get May Day at Christmas. Best not to ask, it's very complicated.

7 comments:

  1. I thought this was going to be all in French!

    It does look like a red campion but from the angle it's a bit hard to tell.

    We could really do with some rain too.

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  2. Looking good! And completely agree that, perish the thought, we're desperately in need of rain.

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  4. Hi Michelle... if you're going to build yourself a walk in polytunnel you can do it cheaply and easily from excess gas or water piping obtainable from a sympathetic building site. My version is shown at link below, which includes a link to the plan for it.

    Alternatively Gardman walk in 3m x 2m x 2m greenhouses are reduced from £130 to £99 in some retailers. See the one I bought at second link below.

    Regards, John

    http://allotmentheaven.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-build-fruit-cage-or-polytunnel.html

    http://allotmentheaven.blogspot.com/2011/04/walk-in-polytunnel.html

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  5. Time for a rain dance I think, it's bone dry here and has been for weeks!

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  6. a huge grey raincloud was over the lottie at tea-time - the temperature dropped, but the wind blew it on somewhere else :( :(

    Have spent the night dancing in an effort to drum up some rain ... nothing so far.

    Can't wait for my letter from the allotment office telling us that the water is being restricted ! Who'd have thought we'd be watering like crazy this early in the season.

    Thanks for that John, I'd love a polytunnel - I'll check out the links :)

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  7. I never thought I'd get so excited about rain as I did yesterday - for the 5 minutes that the shower lasted!!! :(

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