We took on our new allotment exactly one month ago. As time marches on, we are happy in the knowledge that with each and every visit we make, it’s transforming into an exciting plot full of potential.
Last Saturday, for the second week running, my gorgeous best friend, being the lovely human being that she is, delivered us around a tonne or so of well-rotted, 5-year-old horse manure, fresh from her stables. I thought and desperately hoped that it would be enough to finish all the beds but I was to be disappointed. I can already here my back screaming “Noooooooooo” at the thought of more sacks of manure but, as they say, ‘don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ ….. (pun intended).
With all the manure we have also adopted thousands of worms which are incredibly good for the soil and will hopefully make our beds even more healthy and productive. They’ll also keep the local songbirds and hedgehogs well fed.
After the muck came the bark-chip, which is free at the site, so we improved the paths around our beds with it. Whilst we were there we took advantage of some wooden crates that had been left in the public carpark for allotmenteers, claimed them as our own and started to plan our compost heaps.
We also decided that the shed needed a damn good clean out, so we emptied it completely and gave it a good going over. We found tools from the previous allotment holder, old seed packets, coats and lots of plastic pots. We salvaged what we wanted to keep, arranged the interior to be more user friendly and now the shed is ready for a new felt roof and a lick of paint.
We bought so many packets of seeds last weekend, more have been delivered after online shopping and a few are still on order, including some very exciting and unusual varieties which I am excited to share with you all soon. The potatoes are chitting, onions and garlic will go in soon. They’re currently starting off in trays, and the plot will soon start working towards its full potential.
This is all so exciting …. I can’t wait to share the seeds and exotic veg and flowers we’re going to grow. The dahlias alone have got me salivating (surprise, surprise).
Happy Gardening One and All.
The Beau.
Categories: blogging, Fruit and Veg, Our Allotment, Seeds and Sowing, Uncategorized
How many sq meters do you have in beds? Val
Hello Val
The plot is 15m x 16m in size so, taking into account the shed, compost heap and paths, we reckon there’s almost 200sqm available to plant. Not bad, eh?! 😀
Looking great! Look forward to hearing more.
Fantastic! Happy gardening to you too! Hope you enjoyed your meal with Tom and Nick!
Hello Jane
A lovely evening with the Chaps but I spent most of it either under Archie (literally!) or with little Hugo cradled in my arms…good job I’m a dog person 😉
It’s looking brilliant 🌿 Happy planting
Looking so good! Onwards and upwards…
80 bags of Manure!!!! That is some great friend. You guys will be in such good shape for the summer what with all this muscle work. It sure looks good. I hope the storm doesn’t undo any of your hard work. Could you hear the worms roiling? Can’t wait to see all the seeds you are going to sow.
The seeds are very exciting. I feel I might be building them up to an anti climax but I hope not. When we got the plot the first thing my friend said to me was ‘I have loads of manure you can have’. I forgot she had horses 🤣
Fantastic! All looking well prepared and ready to go!
Looking forward to hearing about your seed choices !
Let’s hope they’re not an anti climax…..
I am sure they will be fabulous. My no 1 plant to grow and has been for the last year, is some Dahlias from seed from Thompson and Morgan, they are almost black. I have about 15 overwintering at the moment. They are quite small , but they are worth a go. I think they are my most photographed flower !
I have and will always love growing tomatoes, sweetcorn and squash/courgettes from seed. They’re so satisfying and quick to grow. And sunflowers, who doesn’t enjoy growing them?!
Those allotments sound extremely well run. And horse manure! I used to spend a fortune on peat-free compost and soil improver but I had my own bark chippings from coppicing the hazel trees. Keep some of the good poles then chip the rest. Happy days on your allotment. Lucky you.
We’re very lucky to have a friend with horses or we would be doing the same as you with peat-free compost. The free wood chippings at the allotment site are a bonus.
Well rotted and fresh. That sounds like a bad date.
We’ve all been there!
Gliocladium vermoeseni in Phoenix dactylifera will do that.
looking great
Your enthusiasm knows no bounds. The whole thing is looking great. Wonderful compost bins – how lucky was that. We get marvelous compost from our bins. Wishing you many happy days.
We have been extremely lucky thus far – a huge plot, a shed, manure, etc…..let’s hope the winning streak continues.
Lucky you two, manure of that quality is worth its weight in gold to a veg grower. It is all looking marvellous and you are spurring me on, when this wind has dropped a bit!
We are very aware of how lucky we are 😀
A marvellous edition to your already brilliant blog – so looking forward to reading about your new plans and adventures!
I look forward to more posts about the allotment. Love the new format.
Already planning the next chapter……..
“Eastenders” introduced me to the wonderful notion of garden allotments (along with a slew of new cheeky phrases); allotments are such a great benefit. I am only a container gardener at home, but do receive wonderful veg from my neighborhood citizens center community garden here in eastern Pennsylvania. I just received a pack of burdock root, along with other goodies, and will follow the prep instructions and hope for the best 🙂 Love your site redesign.
So exciting, looks like you are just about ready to plant!! I won’t be planting out for months yet, but I have started some seeds indoors under grow lights….some spring flowers, two types of peppers, and celery, all which need an early start. I’m also forcing some tulips for the kitchen – can’t wait to see those happy little flowers!
The beds are beautiful, and I hate to bring up something negative, but please look up invasive snake worms so you are aware of what they look like. In New England, as well as many other parts of the country, they are becoming a huge problem. One of my gardening friends actually introduced them into her garden by utilizing horse manure from a local farm. I am extremely sorry to say I have them in two areas, and there currently is no way to completely get rid of them because the eggs over winter even if you can remove the adults. It’s fun watching you set up your veggies, and I hope it is a huge success.
Am so looking forward to seeing your planting choices… so exciting. And so lovely to have a partner to share the planning, the work and then the sheer joy of picking for eating and vases. Yasssss💚💚💚 Keep shoveling that ‘poo’ … the best vitamins they can have 😍
[…] of brown and wonder what the hell we’ve been doing, but the answer lies beneath the surface. Three trailer-loads of five-year-old horse manure dealt with half the plot and the rest has been steadily improved by incorporating compost made from […]