Adventures in the life of an English allotment
Despite the overcast weather, it was pleasantly warm as I walked down to the allotment this morning. I arrived laden with chicken supplies. My husband had dropped me off at the pet food supplier before he left for work so I could stock up on vitals including chick crumb, grit, porridge oats, sunflower seeds and... Continue Reading →
This morning I escaped my mountain of paperwork and disappeared down the allotment for a couple of hours. Upon my arrival, I went around the site to check on the bees. The wild bumble bee hive wasn't active and there was minimal activity in the other three hives. The high wind and threat of rain... Continue Reading →
This morning I arrived to find Phil and Steve had been busy sorting out the hives. They had removed the frames from the nuc box and placed them into the box. Unfortunately, Phil had forgotten to check the frames as he was transferring into the hive. They took exception to Phil moving the frames for... Continue Reading →
Late this morning, I dragged myself out to the allotment. It's been a manic week at work and I am absolutely wiped. I arrived and spent a happy hour nattering to Cliff, Phil and Geoff. It turns out that while I have been at work, the bees have spent a week away before Phil brought... Continue Reading →
This morning I walked down to the allotment in the glorious May sunshine. Everyone clearly had the same idea, and it was lovely to see everyone out and busy. First job was to open up the greenhouse to make sure Emily and her chicks had some fresh cool air. I topped up their food and... Continue Reading →
This morning I arrived onto site late but just in time for the mid-morning tea bell. I ran into Cliff and Geoff by the greenhouse, trying to fix the door which spontaneously detached itself and launched onto the main path. Between Cliff, Geoff, Will and myself, we reattached it and put in new glass. All... Continue Reading →
This evening, I realised that we have had our plot for 5 years! The time has flown! So in the spirit of celebration, I have dug out photos from each year to share with you. Our first year saw us gain a shed, a large greenhouse and several chickens. We learnt how fast weeds grew... Continue Reading →
This morning, armed with cleaning supplies, I lugged the stove back to the allotment. It had occurred to me that the strong chemicals needed to clean the stove wouldn't be a good mix with my idiot cats. I arrived on site, dumped the cleaning supplies and stove outside the greenhouse and went to join the... Continue Reading →
I woke up this morning to a sound I knew vaguely. I pondered it a while, trying to think what it was. Then it struck me. Rain! It was finally raining! The rest of the country has had rain and spectacular thunderstorms in the last couple of days but there has been absolutely nothing here.... Continue Reading →
It's been a busy couple of weeks and now that technical issues are finally sorted, I can recommence normal updates!The last two weeks have seen huge growth down the allotment as we have (very unusually for Northern England) had two weeks of glorious sunshine! Our daughter's tree has been planted and looks perfect in the... Continue Reading →
Today was the day for splitting the feisty hive on Phil's far plot. The build up was intense, everyone focused deeply the issue of putting down the main path.It was definitely a team effort with Neil and Steve taking the lead with Dave the Plod, Cliff and Will busy running back and forth to deliver... Continue Reading →
Being Sunday, it was hive inspection day! Phil was back, dosed up on painkillers due to his back injury and was put in charge of hive inspection by Steve. Steve has led the previous hive inspections and decided it was time for Phil to get some practice. Hive 1 on Phil's plot has been massively... Continue Reading →
Today was the first check of the new Bee hives on site. I have decided to do separate posts for the bees as this is different from my usual posts about chickens and the unending war on weeds. The bees have been on site for a week and appeared be flying in and out of... Continue Reading →
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