This weekend we had a 'work party' arrive to help David and I with getting the 8 allotment beds ready for winter. Ellie and Tom agreed to give us a hand as long as there was plenty of tea and 'incentives' (mostly cake and scones, jam and cream).
Well thank goodness the weekend weather was fine, it would have been really horrible if it had been raining. We weeded all the beds and dug out all the roots. Several beds had loads of carrots, shallots and potatoes still growing that we had to remove before we could clear the weeds. I hasten to add we had only just acquired these beds as our neighbours felt the commitment to the allotment was too onerous, so they were not our weeds!!
We did manage to clear all the beds on the Saturday and get them all edged. Tom had great fun setting fire to the debris although at one point it did seem the flames would melt a plastic bin nearby.
On Sunday morning in between the rugby final and the football final we managed to mulch the beds with manure and cover them with black polythene. All of this would not have been possible without Tom and Ellie's help - thank you so much!
Now my back aches and I feel sore all over so thank goodness that is over, I have told David that is the last time I do the beds, he is on his own from now on!
The funniest thing was when our neighbour telephoned on Saturday evening to ask if we had managed to harvest any carrots before we prepared the beds, I replied that we did have some and would bring them round. Tom suggested that I take the veg round and then they would bring all the rest of the carrots. So I duly carried round a couple of plastic bags of potatoes, carrots and shallots - then about 30 seconds later Ellie and Tom appeared carrying 3 buckets of carrots and dumped them on the doorstep! Chris and Steve were not sure whether to laugh or cry! We must have harvested about 20 lbs of carrots! Carrot cake, carrot soup, carrot dips..... what else can you do with carrots?
Well thank goodness the weekend weather was fine, it would have been really horrible if it had been raining. We weeded all the beds and dug out all the roots. Several beds had loads of carrots, shallots and potatoes still growing that we had to remove before we could clear the weeds. I hasten to add we had only just acquired these beds as our neighbours felt the commitment to the allotment was too onerous, so they were not our weeds!!
We did manage to clear all the beds on the Saturday and get them all edged. Tom had great fun setting fire to the debris although at one point it did seem the flames would melt a plastic bin nearby.On Sunday morning in between the rugby final and the football final we managed to mulch the beds with manure and cover them with black polythene. All of this would not have been possible without Tom and Ellie's help - thank you so much!
Now my back aches and I feel sore all over so thank goodness that is over, I have told David that is the last time I do the beds, he is on his own from now on!
The funniest thing was when our neighbour telephoned on Saturday evening to ask if we had managed to harvest any carrots before we prepared the beds, I replied that we did have some and would bring them round. Tom suggested that I take the veg round and then they would bring all the rest of the carrots. So I duly carried round a couple of plastic bags of potatoes, carrots and shallots - then about 30 seconds later Ellie and Tom appeared carrying 3 buckets of carrots and dumped them on the doorstep! Chris and Steve were not sure whether to laugh or cry! We must have harvested about 20 lbs of carrots! Carrot cake, carrot soup, carrot dips..... what else can you do with carrots?
