Adventures in the life of an English allotment
After the end of a very long and tiring week, there is nothing better than heading to the allotment for a day in the fresh air. Happily, it wasn't raining and the sun even put in a few short appearances! I checked on all the girls quickly before spotting Tracy with one of her grandchildren.... Continue Reading →
Up bright and early this morning for my Covid jab and it seemed churlish not to go down to the allotment straight afterwards. Sporting a rather dead arm, my plan was to feed the chickens before watching the world go by from the shed. The bantams greeted me with shouts, complaining about the lack of... Continue Reading →
After running a few errands around town this morning, I walked to the allotment wondering whether the rain would hold off. There had been intermittent heavy showers all morning. As soon as I arrived, I set up the stove and let the weed destroyers out. Sitting watching them is always fun and it's lovely to... Continue Reading →
So here we are. Mid-May and the weather closely resembles the dark, rainy weeks of mid January. It's so frustrating as this puts a hold on so many jobs on the plot. Furthermore, it means that the winter battle to keep the ground in the chicken coops from turning into a quagmire has returned. So... Continue Reading →
The skies were blue, the air crisp and there wasn't a rain cloud in sight when I arrived on site this morning. Lots of people were down, making the most of the dry spell before the inevitable rain forecast for the entirety of the rest of the week. I said hello to Geoff and Andy... Continue Reading →
The weather has really not been what it should be for May. Almost no rain in April saw the allotment emulating the driest parts of the Sahara. The seemingly endless days of drizzle in May has provided enough water to make the weeds grow in abundance. Such are the difficulties when growing plants in the... Continue Reading →
This evening, I walked down to the allotment to check on the chickens. Happily, everyone was busy enjoying the brief respite from the relentless rain of the past week. Roxy and Trixy greeted me with loud shouts and continued to holler at me until I had thrown in enough weeds to satisfy them. It took... Continue Reading →
Today was a plottering day at the allotment. One of those days where you arrive and don't really have much of a plan and spend the day drifting between little jobs. When I arrived, I immediately went to check on the girls in the new coop and say hello to Liz, Sarah and Andy. To... Continue Reading →
An early start this morning saw me down the allotment and sorting out Roxy and Trixy wondering how on earth the nest box would be moved. To be honest, this is the panicked thought that has haunted me over the past few weeks. Will appeared around the shed door and said he and Cliff were... Continue Reading →
This morning after completing several errands in town, I arrived on site determined that the base of the chicken run would be finished today. Cliff appeared and explained his new idea for the base. Rather than put the concrete blocks running parallel to the base of the run, place them perpendicular. This would mean the... Continue Reading →
This morning the weather was so lovely, I got down to the allotment early. I had found a couple of people who were selling breeze blocks and whilst I waited to see whether I could collect them later, I got busy with the blocks we already had. After a brief chat with Cliff and consulting... Continue Reading →
So today was a day of starting many different jobs and not quite finishing any. When I arrived, I opened up the shed and let Roxy and Trixy out. The weather was perfect - clear skies with some sunshine but not too hot. I went to say hello to Koko who was in her favourite... Continue Reading →
This morning I walked down early to let Roxy and Trixy out of the nest box. I am hoping that tomorrow the screws for the fox-proof skirt will arrive along with a few other oddments for the Omlet. But until it arrives, I will be popping down at night and in the morning to close... Continue Reading →
Today I ran down to the allotment ready to work on getting the new chicken run into place. When I arrived, I said hello to Sarah and Cliff who were busy working away on the new greenhouse. By the time I got there, they had managed to get in one of the front panels and... Continue Reading →
Today was the day that nonessential shops could open for the first time since December. Up early, I dashed into town before it got too busy and popped into my favourite shop. Armed with new sewing fabric, I began to wall home. Partway back, I spotted I had a missed call from Steve. I called... Continue Reading →
This morning I dashed down to take advantage of the clear, if very cold, day. My first job was to tilt the solar panel. It's so heavy that in the end, I gave up. The metal tilt props are too tall to use so whilst I was trying to work out how to shorten them... Continue Reading →
The cold and rain that greeted me this morning was rather depressing. Ever since I put up the solar panel, the weather has been either cold, windy but dry or wet and windy. Neither particularly helpful for growing plants or for working solar panels. I'm beginning to think that by putting up the solar panel,... Continue Reading →
After a sleepless night, I had a plan. Well, I hoped it would work. Distressed clucks greeted me when I opened the backdoor. Poor Cirrus was getting some serious grief from Roxy. As I opened the run door, Roxy ran up to me and I grabbed her. The relief was visible on the silkies faces!... Continue Reading →
After spending this morning working, I dashed down to the allotment to feed the chickens. My plan was to just pop down quickly. As it turned out, I spent a manic four hours running around the site trying to complete several jobs simultaneously! The British weather has decided to try to emulate the Mediterranean climate.... Continue Reading →
Today was a busy day! Cliff had found a gorgeous window to replace the ancient and rotting window frame and broken glass panels. I arrived before Cliff and headed up to Liz and Sarah's plot to say hello. I found them both having a chat in the shed and discussed with them their plans for... Continue Reading →
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