The allotment - 4 months later

So here's an updated pic of the plot - it might not look like much to the non-gardeners amongst you but I promise that this has taken a lot of work!

The first time I dug each rectangular bed I could just about scrape across the surface and get most of the weeds out... then a couple of weeks later nature had broken the soil up a bit for me so I could get the fork into the soil at least! After a third dig it looks like a veggie plot rather than wasteground so it gets covered up quickly before a new selection of weeds can take hold!

The next stage is to put planks in as borders then put woodchip down on the pathways... maybe this weekend ??

The (new) plot thickens...

So this is the plot we've just inherited at the Vectis Road Allotments (VERA) site - not much work to do to get it going then (!) Apparently the previous tenants were a primary school who didn't do anything much to the plot in the holidays so it was always a mess and they were eventually evicted. Do I feel guilty? actually, no !

The plot measures 25 metres by 5 metres (with a pathway down the left-hand side which has a willow archway at the beginning of it)... So far we've covered some of the ground towards the back in weed repellant fabric and sprayed the front half with weedkiller - had to be done I'm afraid!

Back Fence

The first step towards re-organising the garden - making it secure! Fency guy turned up yesterday as promised, but didn't get a lot done due to the awful weather! bit it's a start.... Nothing had been moved inside the house - not a biscuit was touched! I think he'd forgotten his keys and broken into the back garden somehow... it's just a theory but.... bless...















and 24 hours later ...



It's a fence... and it's straight...! This means we have about an extra 8 inches of pathway at some points - particularly between the fence and the greenhouse doorway.


Worth every penny....

Three queens,a princess and a squirrel

As seen from the Red Osprey - two queens and the princess going out from between them... if only I had a zoom on my camera...

We were hoping that the ferry would be delayed, as the port was supposed to be closed down... but noooo out it went so we missed the Queen Mary 2 coming over to join the other two queens by Mayflower Park and then the Vic and the Mary going out.... but the Mary was just about to move from Town Quay as we went by...



And for those of you who think that RedFunnel is a serious company with grown up marketing campaigns... their latest idea is that grey squirrels should be allowed to holiday on the island too...
or something like that and so for some reason have done this to the Red Eagle :

Springtime

And the new projects begin... firstly plants! I've spent about 4 hours in total this weekend potting things up which we've bought over the past few weeks - there's not much space left in the greenhouse - even after I constructed the bunk-bed type thing at the right hand side of the pic... so it's just as well I'm running out of things to plant up. Just the potatoes and raspberries to go!

The way things used to be...

Lovely blue isn't it? it was an interesting design feature - the ability to hit the sink with your knee whilst using the loo...


You'd think that a bath built for midgets would be a bonus for me wouldn't you? but at 110cm long even I couldn't straighten my knees...



It was quite handy to be able to sit on the sofa and peer round the lounge door and chat with someone who was in the bath... but

Kitchen - finished

With the bathroom moved upstairs, the dividing wall demolished... a nice big(ger) kitchen!