Finally .. A Start!!

Wow the weather has been beastly since I first got my allotment but finally and coincidentally on Good Friday the wind dropped to below a Siberian gale and Mr R and I actually were able to get up there and make a start.

First of all we stopped off at the local tyre shop to beg some old worn out tyres.  Not because I have a rubber fettish but because they are essential in growing my planned crop of courgettes. How is that going to work? 

To start off with you pile the tyres three high.  You don't need to fill all three with good soil so it is a good place to hide some rubble in the bottom one or one and a half.  Then you fill the rest up with good growing compost and plant your courgettes plants about three to a tyre pile.

The tyres raise the courgettes off the ground keeping them from getting mushy, they also get quite hot and retain moisutre in the rims which helps the plant roots and thirdly and very importantly the slugs don't like crawling (or sliming) up the rubber which gives the plants a greater chance of life!

I have tried this many times and it greatly improves the yield.

Anyway, for starters we cut down the old growth surrounding the blackberries. They were very overgrown with lots of old dead growth as well.  A fellow allotment holder said they were quite prolific blackberries so fingers crossed we will get some this year and we will be able to reach them now.

Once Mr R got started boy did he go! He attacked those berries like a man with a mission.  We did the long half yesterday and will continue with the top row on Easter Monday.

Is it time for coffee yet?

 

 

 

I feel a little bonfire coming on!

There is a small shed on the allotment and it was full of rubbish so I cleared that out too.  I won't be keeping expensive tools inside but it will be a great place to keep the tea and coffee box along with the table and chairs!! There has to be somewhere to relax for a coffee break for the workers!