The 2015 allotment plan is now up and ready to read, Hooray! I’ve created a new page along the top so it’s easy to find, and I’ve just posted a little video where I talk through my plans as well.
I am so unbelievably excited for the year ahead and cannot wait to start sowing seeds and watch them come to life! I’m longing for lazy days up the allotment watching the bees buzzing, frogs hoping around, picking raspberries straight from the cane and being surrounded by sweet smelling flowers. Spring is just around the corner however, there’s big plans and some interesting varieties to grow this year, and not forgetting the anticipated arrival of the chickens (I will post more about them later, I promise!)
But for now, I thought I would share all my plans, hopes and dreams of what my allotment will look like this year and I hope you all enjoying reading (or watching!) x
I have a big favour to ask you all and that is to give your honest and much appreciated opinion. Please feel free to drop me a private message to my email address [email protected].
Me and my Dad have been talking about opening up a small business since before Christmas now and for a few months we have been planning and jotting ideas down including setting up a website, blog and designing products. The shop will be called ‘The Allotment Gardener’ and we will be selling handmade and vintage items with gardeners in mind. There will be vintage items such as pots, galvanised tubs, sieves, containers, enamel ware, jugs and tools etc. We would also be crafting wooden dibbers, plant rulers, boot scrapers and tool racks as well as sewing jackets, shirts, aprons, bags and tunics.
We were simply wondering what you guys think, would you buy items like this and how much would you spend for a handmade item? We would always try to keep the cost as low as possible, taking in account the price and quality of fabric, the time it took to make etc. Here’s a few rough prices: Jackets would be £95.00, tunics and dresses £50.00, shirts £55.00, bags £19.00 upwards, Dibbers £15.00, Notebooks £15.00.
We just wanted to do a bit of market research before diving straight into making all the items, because obviously you are who we want to be making these items for and we don’t want to get it all wrong
For now though, at this precise moment I currently have 4 hessian harvesting bags for sale. I made one for myself last year and it’s proved so handy! You can harvest and carry flowers aswell as vegetables, use it as a groundsheet when pruning fruit bushes or weeding and also use it as a small log carrier. I wouldn’t be without mine so I wanted to create some more to share with everyone. They are 75cm square, have a handle on each corner and are made from superior hessian. They are £19.00 each with £3.00 postage to the UK (£4.00 EU and £5.00 Everywhere else)
The bottom three photographs feature my own bag which has been used for the past 7 months. The photograph below is a brand new, freshly made version.
If you are interested in buying one then please comment below and I will send you an email and we can proceed through Paypal. There are 4 currently for sale right now but I can always make up some more
What a complete and utterly glorious day it’s been today! The sun has been shining, the birds are singing and theres not a gust of wind or signs of rain in the air, Springtime is just around the corner and I cannot wait!
It is however, still too early to sow any seeds and I’m being patient and not risking it, there’s nothing worse then sowing seeds for them to only be destroyed by cold weather a few weeks down the line. Instead there’s a few jobs that need to be done so off I went nice and early to spend the day up the allotment in the sunshine. I miss this place terribly during the working week and especially in the Winter when evening visits are out of the question. I long for Summer days when I can relax outside the shed, surrounded by flowers, butterflies, bees and eat raspberries straight from the canes.
That is all to come though and right now my mind is set on sorting out the fruit cage, ideally I would like it netted and secure before the bushes start producing so I can actually enjoy my homegrown berries this year! It is only the bushes 2nd and 3rd years so I’m not expecting a lot, but last year the cage was unprotected and the birds beat me to it, let’s just say I was not at all happy.
The first job on the list was to sort the ground out. Now I’ve always liked the idea of having a layer of bark on the ground of the fruit cage; one, it would make my life a lot easier because I wouldn’t have to weed, and two, did I mention I wouldn’t have to weed? Ok I admit I’m a tad lazy! However, fate intervened when my Dad decided to prune some large trees in the back garden, he brought a second hand shredder and then all of a sudden we were inundated with tubs of shredded, bark sized brances. So today I find myself on hands and knees, carefully rolling out weed control fabric around the fruit bushes and securing it into the soil with pegs.
I managed to take 5 tubs of bark up to the allotment and it covered roughly about 1/4 of the cage, there’s still a huge mountain of branches to shread at home so it’s going to be a busy few days but so far I’m rather pleased with how it looks. I’ve left around 8 inches of fabric around the edges so it can be attached to the planks of wood that I’m planning on putting around the edge of the cage. The netting will also be attached to the wooden edge and a stronger net will be attached to the roof (which needs to be made higher so I can actually stand up in it!) I also mulched the 4 blackcurrants and 2 gooseberry bushes with a layer of well rotted manure and the next job will be to prune the older bushes. Once the cage is complete then hopefully the fruit can just do it’s thing, with the exception of harvesting and pruning, and I’m hoping all the hard work pays off with buckets full of berries
I also took advantage of driving the car up to drop off my new vintage trestle table. I’m planning on using it in future cooking videos aswell as for picnics and BBQ’s on the plot. The legs fold up for easy storage and so far it’s been very useful for potting on snow drops and for planning out the plot on. Now all I need is a bigger plot and then I can invite you all round for a picnic! x
I’ve just realised that I never officially announced that I’m getting chickens so here goes… I’m getting chickens! (can you tell that I’m a tad over excited!?)
I’ve always wanted chickens, I love the lifestyle and idealism of collecting eggs in the morning, letting the chickens roam the allotment and simply enjoying they’re company. So when I checked the allotment rules regarding keeping chickens it said ‘No birds or animals other than hens or rabbits shall be kept on the allotment garden(s).’ I decided to write to the local parish council to see what they said on the matter and they basically said yes! I was over the moon! I started to look for a chicken coop straight away and fell in love with this rustic, second hand coop on Ebay and after days of waiting for it to end I managed to get it for a bargain price of £10.00! It needs a fair bit of work, a good clean and it is extremely heavy, it took 4 grown adults to carry it up the driveway but I’m determined to make it into a perfect little house for my future chickens.
I instantly knew that I need to take some weight off of the coop so that we could lift it a little easier, my allotment is at the back of the site with a 60cm wide pathway leading up to it so it would have been impossible for 4 people to carry the coop up to my lottie. Therefore we decided to take off the nesting box which would lessen the load but also gave me the chance to build a new one to put on the side of the coop. This would make my life a little easier as access to the side would be far better for me to collect the eggs. The nesting box is also being made so that it is removable so we can attach this part to to the coop once it is in position up the allotment. The original roof and the floor have also been removed and these will both be cut at home and then attached to the coop up the allotment.
All that is left to do now is to finish cladding the nesting box, make a lid for it and add some bolts and locks to stop the foxes getting in. I also need to cut the floor and the roof to attach them later and I’m going to make a new roosting pole which will be removable so I can clean it easier. New bolts for the front doors and I’m even tempted to make either some little curtains for the windows, or make some small wooden shutters! Last but not least is the paint, I can’t wait to see it all finished with a nice bright paint job, all I need to do is decided what colour!
