Feels like progress

I've finally finished the rest of the weeding in the raised bed, and made a start on the next one. For those of you wondering how weeding can possibly take so long, here's a picture:

This is a 1 foot square area, and that is the amount of weeds LEFT after an hours weeding! It took 3 bucketfuls of weeds to clear the last 2 by 3 foot area.

After that I made a start on outlining the new bed. This will also need weeding and I've bought a manual soil sifter to help with that - it should arrive next week. But if I can get that done, hopefully next weekend I will be sowing some onions and some oriental greens. It's starting to look like a proper vegetable bed.

Weeds, weeds, more weeds ...

OK, so for the last 3 weeks I have been at the allotment Saturday and Sunday and all I have done is weed half of one bed. This took so long mainly because there was more root than soil in the thing, but I knew I was going to be donated some raspberry canes and I needed a properly weed free bed to put them in.

The bed after 6 hours weeding:

Scary amounts of weeds, mostly bramble roots and ivy roots. Maybe some triffids too.

However, today, after 9 total hours of weeding, I had HALF a weed free bed and have planted my raspberry canes!

The rest of the garden hasn't been totally neglected though. I hired a couple of handy minions to do some digging for me:-

And I have two new beds dug - though of course they now need to be thoroughly weeded before planting anything. Next weekend I intend to get at least one weeded, and some onion sets planted in there.
Here:

and here too:

This is the overall view from the gate now - everyone has been very busy.

And here is from the shed looking down (mine is the tatty one :( )

Endless Clearing

For the last two weekends it seems like I've done nothing dramatic. I've spent now 6 hours trying to clear ivy and tidy the hedges on my plot. This is dull stuff and it feels endless so I'm glad I have pictures at least.

Here is the 'Before'

Here is the 'After'

And here is a lovely mushroom I found in the lane outside!

 

Bank Holiday Weekend

Despite the plot still being wasp-infested, we divided the site up today. We're still all going to help each other out and have a communal area as well as the greenhouse and sheds.

This is the view from the shed as we finished dividing up:

My plot is the one to right, in front of the greenhouse, so I have the very deep raised bed -  which I think I will take at least one layer of planks off.

Yesterday we trimmed the hedges, inside the plot and most importantly in the lane outside.

I spent much of my time today clearing the greenhouse and found around 8 strong tomato plants which had taken root in the path. I relocated them to the greenhouse beds and fingers crossed they will thrive there.

Tuesday 19th August

Mid-week, I decide to walk back from work via the allotment, and I take along my secateurs and gloves thinking I'll cut down some nettles maybe, leaving the brambles alone because of my work clothes.

I walk through the gate and see this:

and this:

and this:

Colin has been an absolute star and strimmed the rest of the brambles, and Dave has spent the day picking up piles of vegetation and putting them in our special bramble place (a.k.a. behind the greenhouse)

What we seem to have left is a couple of apple trees, some raspberries, gooseberries and redcurrants, and the wasp's nest. Apparently the wasps weren't best pleased by the strimmer.

Not A Lazy Sunday

It seems some people carried on for quite some time after I left yesterday - loads of extra bits have been cleared, like these raised beds.

I have decided that eliminating brambles is my main mission right now so I mostly did that. Here's the left side from the gate as I left it yesterday:

We had been told that the Legendary Water Tap of Bar Lane was somewhere in that lot, so the front part had been cleared by the time I arrived this morning - but all that had been found was this hole in the ground, complete with concreted-in pipe:

Not to be deterred, I carried on chopping and hacking, paying no attention to the vicious barbs which threatened my arteries at every turn. I cleared brambles from the raised platform in the corner as there was a rumour that this was where the real pipe was.

Finally, after many a crisis in faith, a glint of metal!

Elsewhere in the garden I cleared, guess what? Another vast pile of brambles, currently piled up in that raised bed. I'm really happy to find out that what I thought was brambles behind that bed are in fact raspberry canes, lovely, almost thorn free, canes, with only a few brambles winding their way through.

Next time, more brambles, I'm sure.

First Day

It's all going to be about very hard work for the next month or two. The plot has to be cleared by 4th October and even with 4 of us doing it, it is a stretch.

Today at least it wasn't raining. First some photos of the current state from the lane outside:

 What's behind the green door? .... the answer is brambles :(


Most of my work today was with the secateurs - taming the doorway and then making us a path so we could reach the shed and the greenhouse.

The view through the door when we started ...

... and when I left :)

I didn't realise quite how vicious brambles were before I started this; not that it was all brambles, no, there's also nettles and bindweed and couch grass, oh my! The pile in the second photo is one of my bramble piles - obviously we can't compost this so need a solution.

The view up to the sheds ...

... and when I left.

My purchase for the day has been some hedging shears from Wilkos. They aren't exactly high quality, having just cost me all of £3.50 but at that price I'm happy to use them for chopping everything back until they whimper and die. This way I might be able to do a bit more without bending.

The view back towards the door as I left

Today I heard that I have got my first ever allotment! Here are photos of the weather, and the stream outside the allotments - it got much worse after that.

The plot itself is covered in brambles; 4 of us are sharing clearing it and then dividing it into 4 starter plots, allegedly of around 150 m2.

I'm trying not to let my plans get too far ahead of the massive amount of work needed to prepare it.