Off at a tangent

I used to have an allotment – actually, I’ve had 2, but not at the same time. For a while now I’ve been missing having one – I miss the banter, I miss excitement of seeing how it’s doing, I miss showing it off to people, I miss the ritual of “going down the plot” and I miss the escape.

Friends have an allotment in a nearby town, and they very kindly let me plant my over wintering onions there when I discovered I had white rot at home. They also said I could use as much of it as I liked, but that’s never felt right to me. I’m the sort that would always ask if was OK for me to do something – which could become wearing for them, but the way I see it that’s surely better than them turning up ready to plant something out only to find I’d used the space they had earmarked.

Last week I confessed to the OH that I might ask them to let me know if a plot comes up – these things don’t come up very often and it’s only a small site.

On Saturday, I was out collecting manure with one of the aforementioned friends. He asked if I’d like an allotment, and after a few seconds of deliberation, I admitted that yes, I’re really like one. “There’s one just come up, I’ll get you the guy’s number”. Oh, OK. So maybe not next year then, maybe rather sooner.

I didn’t hold my breath, as I knew my friend had to jump through hoops to get one himself. Saturday lunchime (in between manure runs – so to speak), I gave the guy to call. Having quickly established that there was a plot available and how I’d found out about it, I asked if I could put my name forward (thinking there was probably a list of people wanting one). “It’s yours” he says. Oh, OK. Thanks. So maybe right now then!!!

I think my friends were a little miffed – they’d had a struggle to get theirs and I’d walked straight into one. Not only that, it’s a good one – fenced, with shed, the beds are edged, loads of strawberry plants, well dug, hardly a weed in sight.

I’ve already planned it out and planted my onions out. Found some old drums in the shed that I’ve now installed as waterbutts. There are some changes I’d like to make to it, but most of the major ones will be made in the autumn and winter. For now I’ll concentrate on the rowing bit and worry about the structure later.

It’s funny actually, After I had a look at it I thought “what on earth am I going to fill that with?”. Then I got home and had a look round the greenhouse. I’m careful with seed – only sowing what I need plus a bit extra for spares (I hate “pricking out” – it’s my least favorite gardening job. I’d rather do the weeding!), but this year I’ve sown far more than I’d need for the beds in the garden. Spooky!

That didn’t last long

The OH has decided he doesn’t need a shed to work in – he can use the sunroom. So that means we’re down to 2 sheds and a chicken coup to build.

Frosty again

Really glad I managed to get down the plot yesterday – it’s really frosty again today so I’d not have been able to get some of the veg out.

While I was thinking about the shed projects, it occurred to me it would be a good idea to incorporate a chicken coop into the main shed plan or separate but within the area the shed will be. This means the location of the chicken will be different from where I’d originally planned to house them (behind the garage) and as with all plans it comes with pros and cons.

Pros include:
1 – Guaranteeing I’ll be in the veg beds everyday therefore likely to spot potential problems before they develop + generally keep the area tidier.
2 – Keep them away from the house (less likely to attract rats to the house).
3 – Hopefully they’ll make an impact on the slug + bug
population.
4 – They’ll be further away from our neighbour, who has a bird phobia.
5 – The area is already well fenced on 3 sides, and should provide better protection from foxes.
6 – They’ll have a varied area to forage in (grass, under bushes etc) – the area behind the garage has no grass, it’s mostly bare soil + plants.
7 – It’s flat – the area behind the garage is very steep which would provide additional challenges to by building skills and balance when it came to the coop.

Cons include:
1 – I’ll really need to keep the veg beds well netted
2 – Our dog runs along the other side of the fence and considers it her duty to bark at anything among the veg beds – rabbits, blackbirds, sheep (yes there have been a few).
3 – I’m not sure of the wisdom of keeping chickens near a polytunnel (would they peck/scratch at the cover?).

Hmm, the pros rather outweigh the cons at the minute.

This then, also raises another issue. There is an area in the veg beds that I don’t really want to make another bed in because it’s shaded in the afternoon by trees and a fence. It’s usually a bit (read as very) overgrown because I don’t pay any attention to it as, until now, it had little potential and therefore didn’t exist/I couldn’t see it.

So, in theory, I could put the coup there. It wouldn’t have to be very big – I only want 3 chooks. There’s enough room for an enclosed run (for if I didn’t want them on the loose all the time). It would mean a problem area became a useful area. I could have all the shed space to myself and therefore have more storage.

I think a quick expedition with a tape measure is in order, then a forage in the shed to see if I’ve any timber to construct a small coop, then LOTS of tea and biscuits for the OH (soften him up a bit), the a bit of pleading. Then, if I have permission, I need to get on with it! “The New Shed” has rapidly gone from one to 3 and chicken coop!

So, anyone got any spare timber, old shed, old coop they no longer need?

I’ve come to the conclusion that frosty days are dangerous – they give me too much time to think!

And then there were three

Well, it looks like we might end up a 3 shed household (I dread to think how many we’ll have by the end of the year!). We were going to utilise the garage for more veg storage this season, but having given it some thought it’s too wet really. There’ll be too much mould growth, a chest freezer wouldn’t last in there and mice/rat proofing stuff will be a nightmare.

There is however a handy little space beside the house that the OH looked at as a potential location for his shed. I think the space will be too narrow for him, but it might suit my veg very well!

Really must get round to doing something about it now.

Welcome the new year?

It always strikes me as odd, how the first thing we do in the “bright new year” is take down the Christmas decs and make everything look dull and drab. That’s what we did today, but unlike previous years, today was bright and sunny, so it felt more like we were allowing the natural beauty of things to be seen again than condemming ourselves to the duldrums.

To balance this, we also took some measurements of potential sites for the OH’s new shed. It’s amazing how complicated we make things here – every site had it’s pros and cons, all of which will have to be taken into account before final decisions are made about the site, design and alignment.