Not posted about this subject in a while. At the end of November 2023 I decided to give one of my plots (the first one I had taken on some eight years ago) as I was finding that time does not now seem to let me cover the work required for two plots.
October 2015December 2023
It has not been used for over three years and after a lot of work, became a very productive plot, which I hope the new tenant will enjoy it as much as I did.
So, over the winter-2023/2024 it was a matter of moving stuff over to the plot I decided to keep. In the end that was just two Blueberry plants as the fruits tree that I had planted 4 years ago had really taken hold and were too big to move. The same was true to be said for the small poly-tunnel that I had for 6 years. I had managed to anchor that down so well it would not budge! I will look at investing in a new one when I have cleared more of my current plot.
Work on the ‘new’ plot continues, I took this over in 2019, again this one had been abandoned for over three years – I do like a challenge! But good progress has been made and it’s become a productive plot.
There had to be some major changes to the plot, one of which was to build a new shed as there was no life left in the old one. I also decided to put some water tanks inside to collect rainwater, which was a very good idea with the recent hot summers we have had. I nearly emptied them a couple of years ago when the on-site water tanks were running low.
Pleased with the progress and looking forward to 2024 season, which I hope is as good as 2023 was.
It’s been eight years since I took on my first ever allotment and over those years I’ve managed to grow quite a variety of produce. The plot had lain unused for two years, so it took quite a bit of work to bring it back into full production. Over that time, I’ve added a couple of dwarf fruit trees and other soft fruits, which have been reasonably successful.
In 2019, I decided to take on a second plot. I do like a challenge; this had also not been used for a number of years. This was of course pre-covid, when not many people were interested in taking on allotments that were ‘unworkable’ without lots of upfront effort. Needless to say, a lot of work has also been carried out on this plot since then to bring this one back into production.
However, time moves on and this year I decided to give up my first plot. Having two plots does require a lot of time/effort to keep up with the various tasks. The Allotment Site run by Woodley Town Council also now has a long waiting list for allotment plots – due to the high interest/uptake of allotments during the Covid period.
So hopefully someone from the waiting list will benefit from an active allotment plot.
Here are a few images from the eight years on that plot.
In the meantime work progresses on the remaining plot, which has taken a little longer than I thought and still have some more tasks stuff to do. However, I do have a good shed!
It has also delivered some great produce and will hopefully keep doing this over the coming years.
Selection of images from remaining plot since 2019
WordPress.com UI Changes – It appears that there have been some changes to the way that the WordPress editor displays and edits it’s posts this last week. Maybe that explains my problems in last post!
I wondered why they have changed it without a general information broadcast which might have saved me having to look up across various sites including WordPress support to discover the changes.
Having worked in software most of my life, I simply don’t understand how companies get away with changes to software without telling the user base that changes are on the way- and when. Looking at the number of posts in the various WordPress forums, I seem not to be the only one who is annoyed.
I don’t mind software updates ‘on-the-fly’ – I’m a big user of Adobe products and they seem able to ‘broadcast’ info about upcoming changes much better – as it means that ‘you’ are always using the latest version, but how about a heads-up first.
COVID-19; the Saga Concludes? – It looks like we are coming to the end of Covid restrictions and the easing of Lockdown – I have my second jab (Pfizer) next week so all should be set for a great big Shindig – or perhaps not. With Covid cases increasing on mainland Europe, based on previous government efforts to keep the virus at bay, I will not be surprised to find us back under some sort of restrictions by the summer!
One area of the Covid reported figures that seems strange to me is the levelling out of the news cases, which seem to be hanging around the daily 6k to 6.5k mark. According to the latest UK Gov. figures 38,937 news cases were found in the last 7 days, up 4% from the previous 7 days.
Does this mean that 38,937 people don’t know how to social distance? On the other hand there seems to be increasing evidence of increased cases amongst children, as this article in the New Scientist seem to indicate.
Beached Whale – With the stricken Ever Given Container ship grabbing a lot of the headlines this week, I saw an interesting article about how in the 1960’s the USA was going to help Israel build an alternative canal as a rival to the Suez original. How? By using some 520 Nuclear Bombs to make the trench all the way from the Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea. Had it gone ahead, it would have brought a whole new meaning to ‘glowing in the dark’, methinks.
On a more serious note, the incident does show how many economies are now so dependant on deliveries of intricate components for their ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing processes via the global supply chain, that incidents like this one can cause serious issues to all sorts of manufactures.
The Allotments – With a new growing season upon us, time to get going on the plots despite the strange spring weather here in the UK – what’s new! My original plot is all tidied up and showing signs of growth on the stuff I planted in the Autumn and ready for early Potatoes, probably next week.
On the other plot, had a good week sorting out and planting some 250 Onion sets! Yes; we like Onions! In fact, we have just finished off the last few from last year, though I did share quite a few around family and neighbours, hence we need more Onions!!! Still have over 120 Reds to plant!!
My new shed is slowing taking shape, there has been a shortage of Cladding, but have now sourced a load and will be doing that over the next few weeks, then the roof and finally I can start to fill the IBC’s.
p.s. Clearly the formatting issues experience with the last post seem to have been cleared up, the update I suppose!
Now that the incessant rain of the last few months seems to have abated a bit; it’s time get back to bringing a second allotment I have out of it period of non-use.
The first one will see its fifth rotation of crops this year and has done very well seeing that it had also been unused for over three years – I so like a challenge!
From a wilderness to a working plot
We get quite few very tasty Christmas Dinner treats this year despite the rain.
The second plot is proven a bit of an extra challenge due to the amount of rubbish that was left on the plot and the amount of nettles that I have discovered at the back of it. However; it has potential as it is a larger than my other plot and faces 180° opposite direction so should get a different amount of sun and with a Poly-tunnel should be good for raising early plants.
Second plot progressing.
Let’s see how we progress this year on both plots.
Beasley's Place 