Plot Notes

A personal journal, open for the world to read, recording the progress of a novice allotmenteer on his allotment.



Weed it and reap.


Monday 12 April 2010

Bed Time

As promised in my previous blog entry (and as requested by Nina) here are a couple of photos of the vines which I planted on Good Friday. I have planted 9 Rondo vines on the allotment and I have another one to grow against a South facing garden wall at home. The vines have been imported from Germany by Winegrowers Supplies of Somerset and have come with their own plant passport which I am told I must retain. I don't know why; perhaps the vines are planning a trip abroad. The vines are grafted onto rootstock and are coated in wax. When the buds grow they will burst through the wax coating (hopefully).

The third photograph shows the three small raised beds which I have made. There are strawberries in the middle one and the others are awaiting rhubarb and asparagus.

The good news today is that the contractor has made a start on constructing the large raised beds on the site. There are about 90 beds to be built. He seems to have made some good progress today and the weather forecast for the rest of the week appears ok and so I am optimistic that by the weekend I will have three large raised beds in which to plant my onions and garlic. I should also be able to transplant a few items from my desparately overcrowded coldframe and get cracking with some direct sowing of the various seeds for the numerous varieties of salad leaf which I seem to have accumulated.

I spent yesterday afternoon disentagling the greenhouse which resembled a large christmas cracker wire puzzle. I am pleased to report that it has gone back together quite nicely. After replacing the previously loose-fitting nuts with new ones and hammering out a few kinks in the aluminium struts it seems to be significantly less flimsy than it was the first time I put it up. Once I have anchored it down to a firm base I will set about glazing it. I have not yet decided upon the best type of base to construct for my needs but my initial thoughts are that I will need to raise the height of the greenhouse by a good few inches to reduce the risk of me smashing my head through the glazed roof; I am tall and quite clumsy.

5 comments:

  1. glad to hear the greenhouse was salvageable and that second time round it was even more sturdy. seems the more practice you get, the better the greenhouse becomes!

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  2. Glad to hear that you managed to save the greenhouse. It will be interesting to see how the vines do for you.

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  3. It's all kicking off now, eh? Glad to hear that the greenhouse went back together. I am currently thinking of building my own greenhouse from scratch, just for a laugh.

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  4. Hi, good to see the photos, thanks. Very interesting to see how small they start. I look forward to seeing how they grow. Glad you have decided to go for the asparagus. I am considering starting to grow it too but am struggling to find a space to designate to it. Would be interested to hear what variety you go for.

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  5. Go high, at 6'5" I'm forever grazing my head as I go in or out of the door on mine. Glad it went back up OK.

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