Beans, Bee's and Burning

I am so sorry I've not updated for a couple of weeks, 2 weeks ago we were in London for the week so nothing happened that week (other than weeds growing) and then as we have had some great weather I've spent all my spare time on the plot. 

So as the title says we have some beans growing now, the potato's have started to grow too. I've dug over 2 new beds then added a thick layer of manure and compost mulch to them, in the first one I've got Kohlrabi and a courgette plant in, I will be adding some cauliflower, the other bed has some shallots in (yes I know I've planted them way too late but they were only 50p so was worth a go) I will add some pak choi to that bed too.

I've got a raised bed filled with broccoli plants and swiss chard seeds. both this and the other 2 beds have been covered over with netting or fleece to protect them.

I've dug another small patch where I've planted some flowers, lavender, and wild flower seeds for the Bee's. My borage plant in the garden has been a bit hit with the bees so far this year so I will save some seed from that and try to grow some more on the plot. 

I've also now got a shed and greenhouse! The Greenhouse is already housing 4 cucumber plants, 2 tomatos plants and 3 melon plants. I've never grown melon or cucumber before so that is going to be on going learning with those. 

One of the my lovely neighbours there has given me a chicken coop, I will have to get that cleaned up this week and re felted ready for building the chicken enclosure. 

There are loads of photos on this post, I will try now to post at least once a week so the posts are so photo heavy. 

Oh, if you are wondering what the burning is referring to in the title,  well that would be referring to my skin! Even with sun cream I burn, although for the first time pretty much ever (or at least as long as I can remember) I have actually got a bit of colour on me rather than me being pure white, this gardening lark is certainly giving me some unexpected, although good, results :)

Not even 2 weeks in!

This past week has been a busy one, we have dug, forked, raked and repeated on a daily basis and finally it is looking like we  have something that resembles a planting area.

We have been digging over all of the turf that was covering everything, and putting up some fencing.

These ones are from last week. 

These are all from the weekend 

It's been a busy few days

We are now on day 5 and we have been over to the allotment every day. Today not a great deal happened, just moved some wood. Here are the photos of the progress so far. 

Thursday 

Tidied up the tarps and started to pick up all the glass. 

Friday

Mowed a path so I didn't keep tripping over the long grass. pulled up some of the weeds to get the rest of the glass out of them

Saturday

used the petrol strimmer and mower

There is a massive amount to do still, but already it is looking so much better!

Brand new allotment plot

I am a whole mixed bag of emotions today. I have just got my very first allotment plot, it is only a half size 125 square meter one, which I thought would be best to start off on. I have been to have a look at it twice before signing the agreement, so I knew what to expect, but for some reason when I stood in the middle of it once I'd signed it seemed to grow another foot high!

I am starting this with not a great deal of knowledge, I have got a very small garden and although I have grown veggies in it for a few years now I've never attempted anything near this size before. I would say I have started to clear it today, but in all honesty all I have actually done is move bits of wood from one place to another, tripped over other bits buried under the weeds, discovered a load of tarpaulin, lifted wood to have voles running in every direction, hear glass crunch every time I took a step and finally wonder what on earth I was thinking.

I did manage to measure up so I can start to plan, came home for a cuppa and went back with a bit more of an idea of where to start.

Here is what it looks like right now courtesy of the middle boy (Bean)

This is the entrance and the next plot which is also empty (I could have had that but it was twice the size)

 I think there is a raised bed under all the grass!

 In this one you can see the full size, it doesn't seem very big standing at this end, but when I stood in the middle it felt much bigger.

 More of the raised Bed

 So at least I know things can grow here right?

This was where all those little voles came running out from. (now I say they are voles, they looked like mice without tails...going to look it up in my book right now...yes they are field voles, apparently they have tails, it just didn't see them as they ran so fast!).

The Bean clearly like this particular clump of weeds and grass to give it it's own feature photo

 There were 3 sheets of tarp like this, it looks like the side of one of those massive marquees, I pulled it all out and covered over as much as I could before putting some wood and pots on it to keep it down with all this wind, hopefully it will kill off some of the stuff under it while I tackle another area.

Buckets...that is all 

 What the tarps looked like before I started to pull them all apart. 

 More tarps and grass, plus my behind...thanks for that son. 

 Looks like I need to fix the fence between the neighbour and me.

 The piece of glass on the top looked ok, I was going to keep it for something, but then I forgot and stood on it...that will be chucked now too. 

 There are a load of broken flower pots all in that grass

 That big rubbish pile is party land for the rats judging by all the poop in and around it! ewww!!

 I'm thinking maybe he was going in here for a close up of said poop (why do boys have such a fascination with the stuff?)

 Some more rubbish and wood (are you getting the picture yet? )

 I might keep that piece of wood, it's one of very few bits not either tiny or rotten. 

 I wish I had a log burner, hopefully someone else will be able to make use of all that lot.

I thought that was a pallet, but its really heavy and double layered, I am sure I can use it in my fencing, or as the gate maybe. 

 The rat club from a different angle (we did debate if it is in fact rat poop or if it could be vole poop, but as it is pretty big they decided it must be something bigger than a vole...told you obsessed with it!)

 Just in case I might forget the whole site is covered in this...I am going to be having nightmares about being lost in a jungle of grass tonight. 

This I think was some work bench, maybe there was a potting shed around it at some point? It's got to go though as it's all rotten.

This eventually will be where the chickens live (see I'm starting to see it for what it could be rather than what it is)

Not even sure what that is under there

Nice photo of all my thistles and stinging nettles

Yup I think I am currently growing the biggest nettles on the site!

Just a bit more grass

and that green thing again, it looks a bit like netting and wood from here

View all the way from the back to the front of it this time. 

 I think in a previous life that was a wardrobe

Yup you get the idea now. 

So that is it! 125 square meters of crazy! But I have a plan, I'm going to go tomorrow and move all of the wood and glass that I can to the front so I can load it into the trailer and get rid. Then I am going to get all the weeds down a bit so I can see all the other bits of glass and pots under it. 

I will try to remember to take photos of each stage as I do it.