Adventures in the life of an English allotment
A string of messages last night and this morning found me down the allotment early having one last cuddle with Lucky. It turns out Lucky's concerned owner has been knocking on doors and posting online trying to find her. Somehow, one of the wonders of living in a small tight knit community, Andy knew the... Continue Reading →
I love days like today. Days when you go down not expecting anything exciting to happen, especially during winter when there is so much less work to be done. I arrived just as the kettle in Cliff's shed started to boil and sat down outside with Cliff and Geoff. After several minutes of chat, Cliff... Continue Reading →
And so as the January weather continues to make the third lockdown more miserable than the last, I escaped down to the allotment for some fresh air. Over the past couple of weeks, I have told myself that I must clean out the main coop. In winter, with the water supply off, the freezing temperatures... Continue Reading →
And just like that, it's a new year with new plans and opportunities. In the works are big plans to continue the shed upgrade, a new growing area, add raised beds to the greenhouse, finish the vertical garden and build a small terrarium area as well as finally getting some more quail (much to my... Continue Reading →
This morning, we braced ourselves for feeding the chickens in the freezing temperatures. It was one of those beautiful clear, sunny and crisp winter days. Upon our arrival, we discovered that every water feeder and water butt was completely frozen over! Welding a large screwdriver, my husband set to work smashing the thick layer of... Continue Reading →
Down at the allotment today, occured a small miracle. In the greenhouse Sadie, Leia and Lilja has spent around 24 hours unsupervised. Unsure of what I would find, I cautiously looked through the glass. What I saw amazed me. Sadie was on the top shelf with Leia and Lilja pottering around on the floor. No... Continue Reading →
This morning I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. It's been overdue for a few days and we managed to get hold of some new shavings late last night before the shops closed for Christmas. I arrived on site and stopped to say a quick hello to Geoff. Due to the... Continue Reading →
Yesterday I picked up an old tyre from a local seller to make a swing for the chickens in the main coop. Lugging the tyre down to the allotment was rather amusing and I wish I had gone with my first plan which was to roll it all the way. For some unknown reason, I... Continue Reading →
With the rapidly impending DEFRA deadline for ensuring every coop is secured against wild birds, we dashed down to the allotment armed with a 50m roll of scoffolding netting and a bag of cable ties. Unfortunately, there have been a a number of bird flu cases in Cheshire and across the UK over the past... Continue Reading →
I had a missed call from Geoff this evening. When I called back, it turned out that one of his chickens is being quite severely picked on by the girls higher up in the pecking order. What makes it worse, is the bullied bird is then picking on the two youngest birds. Geoff has run... Continue Reading →
The main challenge we have over winter is trying to keep the chickens off the mud in their coop. Every autumn, we put in a layer of chippings and hope they last the winter. Unfortunately, this year, despite a thick new layer being added in September, the chickens are back on mud again. However, our... Continue Reading →
After days of ran, we finally have a glimpse of some winter sunshine. The weather is surprisingly warm considering we are now in mid-November. Down on site, I spotted Alan and Billy and went to say hello. They were both busy doing some winter jobs. On the plot, we still have some digging to do... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. Phil and Steve were down and stopped to say hello. It turns out that the new people on Plot 1 were down. I walked across to say welcome to the site. John, his wife and all three children were all busy digging... Continue Reading →
Late morning, I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens. Happily, the weather was dry and there even was a hint of sunshine. Upon arrival, I found Phil in the Clubhouse. It turns out Steve has done a big clear out of the clubhouse, taking out the chairs and carpet. I walked across... Continue Reading →
Suddenly the days are much shorter, the nights longer and the temperature drops. The clocks went back yesterday and the change in daylight is really noticeable. I ambled down to the allotment at lunchtime to feed the chickens. As I arrived at the gate, I saw Cliff busy fixing his trailer. Apparently it had come... Continue Reading →
This evening, I introduced Lilja to Leia. Safe to say this did not do entirely according to plan! First, we went to Phil's coop to collect Lilja. Unfortunately she was out and thus would be harder to catch. Between us, we managed to trap her in the nest box without getting attacked by the cockerel.... Continue Reading →
The past two days the weather has taken a distinct cold turn and whilst the sun has been out, it doesn't seem to have the heat of the past few months. The wind also takes a few degrees off the air temperature. So all in all, autumn has definitely come. Everyone is busy on site,... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to make a start on autumn jobs. It's always the part of the year I dislike most as harvesting is slowing, the weather changing and the nights draw in. In the greenhouse, Pop and Leia were busy scratching for food they had thrown all over the floor.... Continue Reading →
This afternoon, we both pottered down to the allotment to feed the chickens. The hot weather continues although there was a nice cool breeze. It was important to ensure that Pop and Leia had access to their outside coop so they didn't over heat. As I cleared the poo from the greenhouse, my husband watched... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I walked down to the allotment ready to sort out the enormous builder's bag of mulch my husband dropped off outside our greenhouse last night. There was far too much for me to use but I took the opportunity to finish off the fruit section. Each time we get chippings, I always forget... Continue Reading →
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