The Bonfire...and trees!

Had a lovely day yesterday...the bonfire was great and the company better!  Started on chopping down the brambles at the back of the plot so that's a bit clearer now.  Phil turned up on the bike and did some digging - thank you Phil, and for the thoughts about the shed!  The bonfire was lit - it started of with a plume of black smoke which was a bit worrying at first, especially as the neighbours were pottering away.
Cathy, her sister and Luke arrived with sparklers, tea and buns, which were delish, and thank you to them too!  Got the trees potted and sunk into the ground - hopefully no-one will run off with them and if they do, Luke said he'd go and sort them out for us :-D  Anyway, here are the pics......

The blazing bonfire :

 Luke and sparkler:

Alex and his little helper planting trees:

And here's a link to Cathy's photos:
http://yorkshirewints.posterous.com/a-winter-bonfire

First seeds sown

Sweet spanish onions and cauliflowers sown and propogating on the windowsill.  To be planted April-June.

Bonfire

You are all invited to the first allotment bonfire!  Please meet on Saturday 29th Jan at 1pm onwards (weather permitting) in the carpark at Northcliffe woods (Norwood end) and, yes, sparklers are encouraged! :-D
Hope you can make it! x

Destruction of the 'shed'

Finally got the keys so everything is official!!  Got to work on the shed today - yippee!!!!  Can't believe it took most of the day to do (well, yes I can really!)  and it still needs rubbish clearing but that's for another day.  Hopefully, the weedkiller will do it's job and it'll be easier to clear next time. 
Cut back a bush which turned out to be a gooseberry bush.  Haven't cut it all down so will get some goosegogs this year.  A new one will be arriving soon so get ready for gooseberry pie, gooseberry crumble, gooseberry jam....!!
Met the neighbour too - the one on the other 'half' of the plot.  Her name is Adele and she's Irish and is wanting fruit too. 
Anyway...here are the photos:

Before:

After:

The first dig pics

The results!!  Notice the kind-of cleared brambles behind me:

Alex working well:

 The bonfire to be!

Muddy boots (and jeans!)

A soggy Alex!

Website 2

Another website to come back to - especially for the fruit trees that'll go on the plot!! http://www.gardenbargains.com

A Soggy Start

Went up this afternoon in the pouring rain!  First time Alex had seen it too.  We managed to have a dig of the 2 beds, chopped some brambles and piled the rubbish ready for a bonfire.  Not able to put weedkiller down as it was far to wet.  Next time!  Now home getting warm and dry, with a brew, flicking through a seed catalogue! :-)  Pics to follow soon! x

First things first

Next weekend will be the first where I start work on the plot.  The first plans are to measure up and clear the first raised bed ready to sow something (caulies maybe?)  Must remember to get some compost so it's nice and ready!  Once that is sorted, I can get working on clearing the weeds on the rest of the plot - joy! Roundup here we come!
After that (another weekend I think!) will have to get to work on the 'shed' - volunteers to help with the vines inside will be welcome with a promise of bangers and beer (or tea!) 
Will update next weekend on the progress made and hopefully some photos.
Julia.x

A Useful Website

http://www.allotment.org.uk/

The first pic

This is the very first photo of the allotment when we went to have a look and decide if to take it on!  Hope there will be a difference between now and the end of the year (or summer!)

Hello and Welcome!

Welcome to the allotment blog!  Here you'll get uptodate info about the allotment and the progress that's being made.  I'll post info about what's been done and what I've planted so if you go along too and do some work you know what has or hasn't been done!  Please feel free to post anything too - especially if you've done some work there! x