My Surrey Allotment

I scrounged some wooden pallets and some scaffolding planks and have knocked together a number of raised bed collars which are laid onto the dug soil. This should make it a little bit easier to keep those areas under control.

I am a big fan of free stuff and it really pains me to see timber in landfill so I take it as my personal responsibility to rescue as much of it as I can.

I spent the day feeling a bit like a traditional farmer’s wife.
I made some bramble jelly with some of the blackberries that Aiden and I had picked and frozen earlier .Blackberries are by far my favorite fruit and of course the greatest appeal has to be the price of them. Apart from having your hands and clothes ripped to shreds and stained purple and red they are pretty much free. Last year we picked a bucketful and made about 3 litres. This year we only picked half a bucket due to the wasp incident.
I stepped in closer to the thicket to reach some of the berries that were a bit high and must have stood on a wasps’ nest.  I felt a sharp pain on my ankle, thinking it was a thorn I looked down and there was a swarm up to my waist and an angry buzzing at head height it was then that I felt the sustained attack and the stings to my arms. “Run Aiden Run” I shouted and he did. I followed with my bucket swinging and what seemed like a cloud of wasps around my head.
We stopped about a hundred yards from the danger zone but I still had buzzing around my head. “Keep running” I shouted and he did. At last we stopped and I checked myself over and found wasps in pockets up sleeves and even inside my boot. Aiden got stung on his ear and I got stung pretty much everywhere else. I didn’t lose any brambles but was a bit reluctant to go back for more.
Wish I had really as the jelly is really good.
Next on my list was chutney made from excess courgettes and some green tomatoes. Very easy to make and very nice although not quite as exciting as the bramble jelly

It seems strange to still be writing the July update today of all days. Today is the first of September and there seems to be a distinct chill in the air. I am not sure if this is a psychological phenomenon or if it is a real change in the air.

I have been busier on the allotment than I had planned to be. I am coming to realise that there is quite a lot of digging in a no-dig garden.

I have been allowing the weeds to grow throughout the summer and have been cutting them back as soon as they grow. The leaf mass has been mulch and the roots I have left in the ground as planned. The soil is getting better at retaining moisture and has a little bit of structure to it although I am not quite ready to use the word “tilth”

Amaranth flower

Tobacco smaller than I had expected

After reading The One Straw Revolution I knew that I would spend some time observing the land to see what mother nature would advise rather than plough in there and bend nature to my will. I still think that this is a good idea but have to confess that I did have a predetermined outcome that I was expecting and was hoping for and it goes like this.

After 10 months of observation, I would have a small piece of land, which is effectively wild where I would broadcast my seeds. Nature would determine what would thrive or die. I would adapt my eating habits to enjoy those that thrive. However during the observation I noticed a species that altered my opinion and the view of myself within the landscape.

That species was the older and wiser gardener those who had been successfully growing vegetables in Ripley for years. Guys who used advice handed to them as young boys from their older and wiser neighbours.

The experience they have is priceless.

To ignore their methods would be foolish.

I have bought a spade. More to follow.

I had to pop out today to get some decent potting compost. My nearest garden centre is at Wisley. I know that it is not the cheapest place to go, but for convenience and because it is a very well stocked facility off I went.
It really is a fantastic place, the gardens are worth traveling the length of the country just to see but should be done at least quarterly to get the full benefit.
The garden centre is probably the best I have seen.
It was very busy, full of middle aged and middle class gardeners browsing the vast array of lifestyle condiments. I located a map on the wall and knew exactly where I should go for my compost but, indulge me. I want to browse. I was amazed not so much by the variety of supplies available but the prices of things. Every new gardening invention was reverse engineered in my mind and reconstructed using recycled materials. This is my curse.
The thing that really stood out was a ball of string and 2 sticks. There might be a proper title for a device like this but in my eyes it is simply a ball of string wrapped around 2 ergonomically shaped locally sourced pieces of seasoned hardwood that you would use to create a straight line to plant seeds. Guess how much?
FIFTEEN QUID I still cannot believe it. For the price of the annual rent on my allotment I can get 2 sticks and a bit of string. The sticks were branded, they had the name of the company that made them neatly embossed like a status symbol and it was a good name. Traditional quality well made and designed to last this would look good in many gardens but in mine I think I will go for something unique and spontaneous I think I will just find a couple of sticks wrap some string round them and deposit the £15 into my imaginary account.

How it looked 2 weeks ago

How it looks today

I have had the allotment for 2 weeks now and I am quite pleased with the progress. I know that the weeds are still there and that I have merely taken the top growth, but this has given me some much needed mulch and some organic matter to place on top of the soil. Many of the roots are still there and I suspect I should get another flush of foliage before I am ready to plant things.
I have scraped footpaths and placed the soil from these along with the weed foliage onto 8 paralell raised beds.
I have aquired a couple of garden hoses from freecycle with which I can either spray the beds from the tap and then fill the water butt which sits on top of another water butt, again these came free and the bottom one is half full for ballast so that the whole thing doesn’t come crashing down on top of me.
My total spend thus far is £2.89 for a connector to join the two lengths of hosepipe together.
Once I have finished my alloted allotment time I simply fill the butt with water and leave it gently dripping out through the old hosepipe with the holes in it and this gives a slow and steady rate of moisture. This is making a difference and I believe that the soil is better than my first impression.
I am waiting patiently for my free seeds to arrive but have sown some seeds that I have had stored in a converted quality street tin since last year. (more on this later)
I have an old tarpaulin under which I store my tools:
A rake, a hoe and a fork along with a pair of garden shears.
I also have a dainty little trowel but there is no need for that yet.
I am restricting my time to 30 minutes a day 5 days a week and while some days I have been completely absent I would rather avoid a big two and a half hour spell in one hit.
I have met quite a few of my neighbours and they are very friendly and helpful including 3 other middle aged bikers who were quite keen to talk to me when I rolled up on my BMW R80RT
We talked about old bikes, new bikes and broad beans.
I hear that rabbits are a problem in a sort of “lets go down the allotments for the eat all you can buffet” kind of way.
I have been advised that I need  a fence to keep them out.
I am considering a cheaper more natural way of  selecting plants that rabbits don’t want to eat.  I could plant all the garlic and feverfew around the perimiter with the delicate greens on the inside.
Human urine can be used to deter both rabbits and dear and as it is one of the most cost effective nitrogen fertilisers,  I will probably get some next time I am at the garden centre anyway.
Any animal is repelled by the smell of their own species when dead and decaying. I was thinking that perhaps I have found a use for roadkill. Not sure how the neighbours would react to my rabbit on a stick idea?
I will monitor the situation but I am keen to have no fence because I am making use of the path running around the outside of the plot and a fence will lose quite a lot of space.

I got my gift certificate as a reward for my blogging efforts and once again I am very excited.

I have managed to get hold of some old hosepipe and water butts and should soon have a drip irrigation system to show.

I have come to the realisation that not only do I not have enough time to keep an allotment in the traditional manner but I do not have the funds available either. I just blew this years seed budget on 12 months allotment rent and a deposit for the key.

 So you can imagine when I got the email and £10 to spend at https://www.vegetableseeds.net I was both grateful and relieved.

Within minutes my order had been placed:

Lupins are to get some nitrogen fixed into the soil and those tall stems will get mulched at the end of the season.

Nasturnums are probably my favourite salad ingredient and as they spread quite well they should offer some shade while the roots add structure to my soil.

Tomatoes and the onions are for taste of course.

The squash and the beans are part of my cover crop regine and along with some courgettes should shield the bare soil and add lots of biomass to the nulch. Any fruits from this lot will be a bonus.

The greens will be planted later in the year and hopefully by then I should have scraped together some more seed money.

Vegetable Seeds
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The path leading to my little plot

Todays lesson must have been that if you are going to clear a load of stinging nettles then shorts are a bad idea and gloves would have been a good idea.
After a while I pulled my socks up further than is currently in vogue for a man of my age. It didn’t help much, I still got stung. But I think I looked rather fetching.

This is not a tractor

I cycle for a number of reasons one of them is that it is a faster way to travel than by car in many places. Ripley is one of those places.  This might look a bit dangerous, but not half as dangerous as the first method that I tried the word impaled caused me some alarm so I pointed the blades away from my body. This was the safer of the two options.

The healing properties of the doc leaf were tried and tested

Fortunately wherever you find lots of stinging nettles you are likely to find doc leaves in good supply. I find they work best if you chew them up a little and then rub the wet broken stem and sap onto the affected area but if you are using them for the placebo effect then it doesn’t really matter.

Identification required

I am interested to find out what these things are and what herbal use they might have. Otherwise I might just make up a name for them and bung them in a soup.

Bricks weeds and plastic

If you don’t want to read everything and to look at all the pictures then this is a pretty good summary of the site.  See how the plastic has shredded and falls apart when I pull it. Meanwhile there are secret nettles under most of it. Stealth nettles. The special forces of the nettle army.

More nettles

Stinging nettles and the ‘things that look like nettles but don’t sting’ (Translated for those who don’t speak latin)

Quite lush foliage. Quite drought tollerant.

I am not at all dissapointed by the initial state of the allotment. The soil is very sandy in places but these weeds are good caretakers of the soil. The areas that didn’t have that horrible plastic are completely full of growth. Fortunately they haven’t seeded yet so I should get the biomass without breeding more. By not digging the soil I hope not to disturb all those dormant seeds just waiting for me.

No show without Punch

There were always going to be dandelions who was I kidding. I believe that man and dandelion can cohabit, that they and us can live in peace. Either that or I will start eating them and then hunt them to extinction.

I thought this was more of a woodland plant?

I don’t know the name of this one either. I thought I was better at identifying weeds than this. I have seen these by the roadside often in shaded wooded areas and normally in a better condition than this example.

I have mint

I seem to have several clumps of different types of mint. It spreads I am sure. As I was cutting ,hacking and raking I could smell more of it.

Weed suppressant my arse

When I pulled the plastic it tore and there were plenty of weeds under it anyway. Where there were no weeds the soil was dead barren and dusty. I would rather have the weeds to be honest.

Sandy soil with little or no organic matter

Very sandy and it would appear to drain well I am so glad it isn’t heavy clay. All I need to do is mulch lots of organic matter onto the soil and I should see improvements within a reasonable time. (I’m sorry I cannot be any more vague than that)

Weeds in a bag. Lift bag to release contents.

This was funny I lifted the bag, got stung and the bag was so rotten that  all the soil and the weeds fell out the bottom.

At least it was funny the first couple of times.

Nice deep roots on this one

Again I don’t know what everyone else calls this one but I imagine a big old root structure holding my dust together.

I should have brought gloves

I really like brambles they are my favourite fruit, probably because they are so abundant and they are free in most places. I don’t think I need to cultivate them.

I think I have a mole sharing the place

More mint

Under and through the membrane

This is another deeprooted plant that can bring nutrients back up to the surface where I want them to be. Hopefully decent companion plants. I noticed a lot of my neighbours seem to grow this and it seems to be flourishing.

I heard that you can eat the young tender shoots like asparagus. Lightly steam it, season with some sea salt and cracked black pepper and melt half a pound of butter over it.

Cornflower and thistle anyone?

I imagine if you add enough butter you could eat most of this stuff. Just to prove a point.

Hopefully this is Comfrey

Even if this isn’t confrey the big leaves will shelter the soil to retain moisture and should break down nicely.

more weeds getting bored now

I have spent more time blogging about it than I did doing it.

Love my bike!

Weeds in another bag

Catterpillar eggs.

Deputy Head Gardener

Roll up the sheeting and get stung again

Nature abhors a vaccum

Take the shears and remove all foliage (except the mint)

Thirsty work, water nearly all gone.

I rake the chopped foliage over the soil and weed roots

This is the Northern corner of the site and if I was to build a shed or a greenhouse then this corner would be where they would go.

There is a size restriction of 6×4 foot each. I have an idea for a small shed built low for sitting in rather than standing up in. But I will save that one for another day.

I only kept the comfrey and the mint. Don't worry it will all grow back.

Some grass at this end

I have some grass but I think to call it a lawn might be a bit of a stretch. I’d sooner have weeds than grass to be honest.

I'd had enough by now.

Organic matter added to the surface

Some of the mint

Some of the rubbish

Sheet compost?

Mole and nettle casserole with a fresh mint sauce?

That’s all for now.

I was very excited on my first visit and while I have to admit I had thought I might have inherrited some neat rows of beans already in the ground, I wasn’t too dissapointed by the overgrown natural state of the ground. I was somewhat reassured that at least stuff grows here.

Some people might see the green bits as pesky weeds but I see lush foliage that will soon become mulch.

The pesky plastic will have to go! I suspect it was put there to supress weeds but it hasn’t and the weeds are holding bits of it firmly in place while parts of it have shredded and fallen apart. I also found it was weighted down by degrading black bags full of moist soil and weed roots. This was the only moisture that I found in the soil.

This is the view from the Northern corner and if I decide to make a shed or a greenhouse I suspect this would be the best place as it would provide some shelter from that side. There is a limit of 6×4 for sheds and greenhouses and I have a cunning plan for a low profile shed that I could sit in rather than a high one that I could stand in. I could then put a coldframe on top where I could nurture my little seedlings.

But I will save that one for another day.

A Fukuoka Inspired Permaculture Garden