Allotment update December 2013

Still plodding away completing the move to one plot, with the added task of path straightening and creating. And the strong winds kind of undid my work on relocating the greenhouse. More wheelbarrowing again this month, this time of free compost. Here's the month's progress...

Earlier in the month completed the paving outside the greenhouse and put down some grass seed.

Bit of a gamble sowing grass in December. But it's been so mild, by the end of the month bingo!

The allotment association arranged delivery of 60 tons of compost for members to help themselves.

Managed to dig in the compost on one of the big beds.

Still got to do the other bed.

Kind of got distracted flattening the bump in the central path.

And creating a new path in line with the path on the other side.

The strong winds broke my makeshift greenhouse door and then blew out some panels.

Must have been with some force... some of the glass ended up in next door's plot!

What's growing at present? Can't wait to start on the leeks, though we've only had one slight frost.

The sweet peas have started popping their heads up.

And the hyacinth bulbs are coming on.

Manure from heaven

There's been a bit of a feeding frenzy on our allotment site over the last couple of days. The allotment association arranged for sixty tons of compost to be delivered, enough for each member to have one ton, or twenty wheelbarrow loads. Members have been filling their boots, so to say, before any non members nick it.

In fact the compost has come for free from the composting centre at Envar, locally called poo corner. The autumn has been so mild and moist they've had an excess of green waste to compost, resulting in too much compost for demand. The association just had to pay for the transport of three loads.

With almost two hundred allotment holders who are not members of the association, there's plenty of scope for nighttime raids and daytime bravado. So gulag measures are in force...there are guards of committee members with lists in their hands detailing who is a member as well as patrols around the site to spot any non member plot with association compost thereon. The good thing is, there's been a sudden eagerness to join the association. About ten plot holders have joined in the last two days.

I keep having a recurring nightmare that I've miscounted my  barrowload allocation and will come to the attention of the committee chairman. Oh, the humiliation of being asked to wheelbarrow several loads back!

Snaps of how it's benefited my plot below, plus a video giving an idea of the urgency some plot holders applying to ensuring they get their fair share.

Final load along the compost superhighway.

Perfect timing for digging over prior to the first frosts.