The Allotment Fairy has visited !!

Welcome back ! Its been almost a week since I have posted but what a differnece a week makes - can you believe that you are looking at the same allotment. I cannot take the credit for the dramatic changes at the lottie in the last week. I went away for the weekend and had a visit from the Allotment Fairy - other wise known as my Dad. Yet again he has worked his butt off for my benefit - Ooh I do like being a Daddy's girl !

We have paths, we have identifiable plots, we have freshly turned ground awaiting the rotavator, we still have the evil brambles sneaking away at the back but what the hell - stand with your back to them as they told me at Self Sufficient-ish and just marvel at my lottie !!

Not much progress today ....

Yesterday I promised to attack the area by my bench with hedge clippers and enthusiasm I got the clippers out of the shed but realised that I had left my enthusiasm behind. Firstly I had walked to the lottie only to find that I had left the keys on the table in the house. Luckily I live a few mins away but I have a steep set of steps to climb so it makes it hard work for an unfit person like me to climb.Got back down the lottie an it was warm, the were birds singing so I just lay on the ground with my eyes shut enjoying a beautuful morning. after about ten mins I realised I ought to make a start but found it really hard going today, the heat was becoming oppressive - sorry to the people being lashed by gales and torrential rain, but Sunny South Wales has lived up to its name today it is absolutely gorgeous.

Back to the plot, as you can from the photo I have snipped a bit and added to my vast bonfire but it doesn't look that impressive for an hours work, nevermind I've got a few days off over the weekend and will be back on Monday morning straight after school to tackle that grotty patch



I am just waiting to get my spring cabbage, onions and garlic in the ground - shouldn't be to long before we are ready. I am also going to make a sowing of winter lettuce and spring onions (gibbons in my part of the world !) this afternoon into seed trays and hopefully by the time they pop their heads up the ground will be ready for them. Have a nice weekend and will give you an update on Monday !!!

Dig Dig Dig



Didn't really fancy going to the lottie this morning this morning we were a minute or two late for school it was drizzling with rain and I was feeling lazy but I thought to myself shake yourself girl you want to plant your onions ! So off I went and dug a few more feet of land I only have an hour to work in the mornings before I need to go home get changed and collect my daughter from school so I try to do as much as I can At the front of the pic above you can see a bit of a hole, this contains the root of a bramble which appears to be rooted to Australia it doesn't look that impressive in the pic but I was digging the damn thing for ages and in the end decided to go home for a bacon roll and a bath I will tackle it again in the morning.

Tommorrows alloted task will be to find the end of that bramble root and to start to clear the patch of land in the top photo, somehow it missed the strimmer on Saturday so I will tackle it with hedge clippers and enthusiasm !!

Only had a hour to spare yesterday so after I dropped my daughter at school I got changed headed for lottie and looked for a little job - one that would look good when done but wouldn't take much time. I decided to clear the brambles, nettles and thistles from the edge of the plot. Where the bench is sited is a path that goes around the edge of the plot - honestly ! I thought it would be a good idea to clear the paths as where we have been walking through the plot it has been compacting the soil so if the paths are clear it will save compacting my freshly dug soil. There is still a bit bramble root stock to remove from the paths but at least that small section is walkable. I was to lazy to go today - I was supposed to do the ironing instead but the fancy didn't take me ! I will go tomorrow -weather permitting and do a bit of digging

Its all go !!

Its hard to believe I am able to start digging already considering the state things were in just yesterday morning. The big dark patch of freshly dug soil is courtesy of my father, for the second day running he has worked his butt off for my benefit and was completely shattered when we decided to go home for dinner . The feeble patch of digging to the left of the photo is my effort, as I have sat on bum for the last three years and looked after my girl, turning over that measly piece of ground almost finished me off. The reason for the piece of ground in the corner being left alone is that it full of hefty bramble root stock and I am going to tackle those beasties another day.

Big drum roll..... Ta Daaaa !! - Brambles - what Brambles ??

We have gone a bit mad and cleared a plot for my neighbour and have also chopped quite a bit out further up to make it safer for my neighbour to get around the edge of her plot - should she decide to take it on.

As I have arranged for and assisted in the major ground clearence I had the pick of the plots so I chose the plot by the fence - why you may ask I found raspberries and rhubarb trying their damndest to grow and at the back of my plot - from the bench back to the bramble was bagged down with heavy duty plastic and carpet - almost instant soil, the bloody brambles have managed to penetrate through in some parts but the back of the plot is going to be the easiest place to start and try and get turned over.





My Dad picked up the polthene and dragged it forward to the front of the plot and that can start to rot down, I have filled two of the builders sacks that you can see in the above photo with brambles and other crap.



Look at the lovely bare earth in the above photo, I am going back down tomorrow morning and I will finish clearing the loose stuff and try and dig out a few brambles, I will take my camera and if I achieve anything worthy I will post it tomorrow evening.

A plot with a seat !

Whilst I was snip snipping away quite daintily - no power tools for me I'm only five foot ! I came across a bench, perfect spot to sit and survey my plot ! I also found a microwave and some green net which should come in handy for something so I will save it

Is this bramble or is it a triffid ?

I shoved my beloved in front of the brambles just to get some sense of proportion as to the size of these bloody plants, my beloved is approx 5' 8" and as you can see they tower over his head, fortunately what you can see behind him is bugger all to do with me that is somebody elses problem !

Goodbye Brambles !







Goodbye brambles !! Hello ground
I haven't posted anything for over a week as there hasn't been any action down at the plot, however at 10 am this morning that was all change.

We have have chopped, cut, strimmed, swore (lots) and sweated like beasts in the glorious September sun.

I am very lucky to have a friend who works with some serious ground clearance tools, hedge trimmers and strimmer and they cut through those pesky brambles like a hot knife through butter, I have taken plenty of photos just to show the scale of the task. It looke a bit scary before we started but as we got going the full magnitude of our quest become apparent I say we but my Dad, my friend Rees and my beloved husband (he who would like to be obeyed) have worked their butts off today and I am really grateful as I really could not have done it with out them, I was also hard at worked and found a metal bench, a microwave and a rusty former compost bin lurking amongst the brambles more to follow.

More pics of the wilderness !!












Brambles, brambles and more brambles, I am very, very lucky to have a fit and active father who has volunteered his services to scyth these brambles down, at least I will be able to see what I have got, locate my paths and work out a plan of action - I want winter onions and garlic so I need to get my skates on, my beloved daughter starts school on Monday so I will have a few hours in the morning to tackle a bit at a time

So, it appears that this will be the Welsh Girls Allotment, my neighbour has also expressed an interest in taking a plot so we are tackling the wilderness together. My father has volunteerd to chop down the brambles posing as trees and then its down to us to dig dig dig!
The man who was down there today digging up his potatoes told that there are raspberries and rhubarb under there somewhere so they must be pretty tough to survive

Went to the allotment with my father this morning to pick a plot I fancied this one purely because to the left are the only two cultivated plots on the allotment however a gentleman who was working said plot, told us that the rent has been paid on this plot and it belongs to some-one. Not to worry there are plenty of other pockets of wilderness to choose from ....

Hurray Hurray I've got an allotment !!

Well, I may not have posted for a few days but we have sucess at last, I have been telephoning the allotment secretary - Mr C. for about 10 days left messages but to no avail, I didn't want to appear as a deranged stalker type person so I thought I'd pop to his house and if there wasn't an answer I could talk to the neighbours to find out what's what.

No answer, but a friendly neighbour was out on his bench in his front garden and explained that Mr.C was on holidays until October - and if I wanted a plot to go and grab one. He seemed to find it quite amusing that anybody would want to tackle it - I will post pics later in the week you will be able to see the reason for his mirth. He offered me a loan of his key so that I could go in the lottie and assess which plot might be suitable - they all seem equally wild to me but I am lucky to have the knowledge of my Dad who is coming to see the jungle with me and decide which will be the the most viable plot.

So as soon as I choose which plot I want I shall take photos and post them asap and any advice on any aspect of lottying will be gratefully accepted