Wow, this has been without doubt the busiest period of my allotmenteering since I started, and as a complete veg growing novice it's very exciting indeed!
The seeds I sowed are now a week old and are going great guns in their planters
I got to work building a dual purpose frame, for growing Sweet Peas and Tomatoes - the tomatoes will grow vertically, and the sweet peas up the sloped back.
I firstly assembled a basic frame, using a combination of cable ties and twine
I then added four more vertical poles and 2 more horizontal poles for better load bearing and more places to clip the tomatoes as they grow
I then set about trying to make my composting area look a little less like a rag and bone man's yard....a couple of planters filled with manure and compost, and a little growing mesh, should look a treat when I plant some climbers up there and hopefully attract some pollinating insects too
I finally made a decision on the centre section of the plot, and decided to get a thick plastic sheet down, to kill off the couch grass and bindweed. This sheet, believe it or not, is 3.5m x 8m, and I picked one of the windiest days of the year to do it. It took me well over an hour with all the farting about! Still, I came up with a very simple trick to weigh it down - used milk bottles filled 3/4 with water (so they don't burst when it freezes) and a few bags of compost and I was well away!
Next I need another strip the same size!
So, much going on at the moment - the flat looks like a garden centre as it's so full of seedlings, which incidentally will need a thinning soon. Everything feels like it's coming together right now.
Planting time must be coming fairly soon, and I'm super excited;
The seeds I sowed are now a week old and are going great guns in their planters
My transplanted and forced rhubarb was unveiled this week and looked absolutely spectacular!
I got to work building a dual purpose frame, for growing Sweet Peas and Tomatoes - the tomatoes will grow vertically, and the sweet peas up the sloped back.
I firstly assembled a basic frame, using a combination of cable ties and twine
 |
| The basic tomato frame, with 6ft vertical poles sunk 1ft underground for amazing rigidity! |
I then set about trying to make my composting area look a little less like a rag and bone man's yard....a couple of planters filled with manure and compost, and a little growing mesh, should look a treat when I plant some climbers up there and hopefully attract some pollinating insects too
I finally made a decision on the centre section of the plot, and decided to get a thick plastic sheet down, to kill off the couch grass and bindweed. This sheet, believe it or not, is 3.5m x 8m, and I picked one of the windiest days of the year to do it. It took me well over an hour with all the farting about! Still, I came up with a very simple trick to weigh it down - used milk bottles filled 3/4 with water (so they don't burst when it freezes) and a few bags of compost and I was well away!
Next I need another strip the same size!
And finally, I've been saving some plastic boxes at work which could potentially double up as mini propagaters. Just drilled 5 holes in the bottom, added soil and then I was off!
I have a box with literally hundreds of them saved, so if they work it'll be a bit of decent thrift!
So, much going on at the moment - the flat looks like a garden centre as it's so full of seedlings, which incidentally will need a thinning soon. Everything feels like it's coming together right now.
Planting time must be coming fairly soon, and I'm super excited;
Bring on the spring!
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