Preparing for Hybernation

Well I think this year will be a little easier to tidy as we have already covered a lot of it.
I have given my sister some bags to put her horses poo in and watched the green manure come to life, so for the time being its bonfires and the occasional hoeing to keep the little weeds from popping up!
At the moment we are enjoying our first proper harvest so far of mizuna and mibuna. I would recommend growing these to anyone as once they get going you have months of fresh greens with everything. They don't have a strong flavour like rocket but have a distinctive fresh green flavour,the leaves are very pretty and can be used in salads or stir-fries. I have been enjoying them with a little butter to go with fish or potatoes. I find them a nice alternative to spinach. The best thing though is that they grow best in colder climates as they tend to bolt if they get to warm.
I have learnt a lot already though that as much as the packet says you can plant things straight into the ground I will definitely start everything in seed modules first. I have planted rainbow chard and lettuces and as neat as I have kept the rows they just got lost amongst all the weeds that seem to grow at the same speed if not faster and the seedlings that don't get munched by some very lucky slugs get lost. I spent a very long time trying to distinguish which was a lettuce and which was a weed and then carefully pulled the weeds out around them ,so next time I am going to grow them till they are stronger in the modules,in the mean time keep all the weed at bay in the seed beds do that when I transfer them the lettuces etc have had a good head start!
Ed doesn't know it yet but I am planning on lifting all the covers off one more time to rotavate some manure in quickly think cover it back up so it has time to get worked into the ground with the frost and worms in time for next spring. We are also going to have some bonfires to get rid of all the left over weeds we dug up in the summer and cover that space to become the boys play area next year.
I am afraid I have gotten a little ahead if myself and already ordered all my seeds for next year from the real seed company which you can find on www.realseeds.co.uk , they are a brilliant family company with an amazing collection of seeds that they have tried and tested themselves for success in production and taste. You will find a anything from big croppers to rare heirlooms! So I have 23 new things to look forward to next year and in fear of boring you to death here is just a few that I am excited about : purple ukraine tomato, patti pan, summer crook neck, and tondo do placena which is a spherical courgette apparently better than the traditional long shape as they have more surface area for the sun but taste and behave pretty much the same when cooked.
So, sad as it may be I am very excited about the autumn, for me the most romantic cosy time of the year where we can prepare for and anticipate the spring and all the beautiful fruits it will give us!

step 4 ...rotavating and covering!!!

Well all i can say is ouch and ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............
This has got to be the most exhausting thing i have ever undertaken!Even more than having a baby with colic, well i guess if i tried to fit the 10 months of screaming and crying into 2 months i reckon it probably wouldn't be here to say i have an allotment.
It has been a race against time, and we made it, now it is somewhat under control for now i can safely say 'commitment' is the word that most covers what having an allotment means.
i had a very hot week mid august digging up the last of the obvious bramble roots (buggers!!) and going back over areas that we had dug, taking out those  cheeky dock leaves that were threatening to come back with a vengeance. once that was done i had a little break as i had a tummy bug and couldn't lift a fork let alone dig with it,  so i made a birthday request; i think must be the most romantic thing i have ever asked for, a rotavator of my very own!

My wonderful husband obliged and got me a Honda FG110. Or as we like to call it the red wizard! When it arrived i couldn't contain my excitement, it was all shiny and conjured images of perfectly ploughed fields and scenes from a Thomas Hardy book or a kitchen garden from a Jane Austin novel, all these were suddenly possible, it was the wizard that would make a veggie patch to make the mouth of any growers mouth water.
we started early on the Saturday morning and i managed to get 3/4 of the way through, once we had worked out what it was that upset it, eg stones, old buried carpet, once the aid for killing weeds (clearly didn't work),we were away, steaming ahead through the rows of weeds that were once again taking over. i say steam ahead we actually discovered going backwards worked better, if we went forward it had a mind of its own and i was in danger of taking off through all the neighbouring plots!

I was very greedy with it and only allowed ed the odd couple of rows before i couldn't bare it any more i had to take over!Heres a picture of my beautiful helpers;

ed was so sweet though he took the bored boys off in the car and kept them amused until the village flower show at 2 o'clock. we had a lovely afternoon and a big success as Theo one first prize for his miniature dinosaur garden in a seed tray and his painting of his house (the fact that there was only the two of them entering the garden one and only himself entered the painting competition is irrelevant we were most pleased!).Despite its old fashioned layout, unbearable stuffy rules and clicky gang, it was an inspiring afternoon, seeing all the giant onions and perfectly formed tomatoes and carrots.

we went back the following day to finish off the rotavating, we left the boys with mum for the morning so we could tackle it uninterrupted. This bit was a killer as the ground was hard and hadn't been turned for god knows how long. Once it was done we covered over bits that i wanted to rest and kill off the weeds over the autumn and winter. I decided to cover a 2 m strip then sow green manure seeds for 2 m then allocate 2 m to sewing winter veg, the cover 2m, green manure 2m, sew veg for 2 m and so on. It was such a relief! The membrane sheeting that we used was easy to roll out just time consuming and we wanted to make sure it was weighted down properly as it gets quite windy there. We used any thing we could find really from old  bricks to trunks of an old tree i cut down earlier that month. we also used tent pegs which look very professional thanks to ed!

That evening ed took the boys to my in laws for tea and i went down to my perfect blank canvas. I had a wonderful afternoon in the setting sun and peaceful surroundings sewing my seeds and watering them in. I have sewn all things hardy to hopefully take us through the winter. Cos lettuce, can can lettuce, dwarf beans,mizuna, mibuna, rainbow chard, spinach and spring onions. although i not sure they will work?! This is what it was all about and the moment made it all worth while, i felt such a sense of calm and satisfaction that i just don't think anyone could deny its simple grounding and humbleness.    
i have rewarded myself with a new hoe and some more tunnel cloches as i not sure the lettuces will like the frost. I have also installed my snazzy bird scarers made of old free Cd's courtesy of my pa and an old octopus peg thing, and an old umbrella frame. they look shall we say a little !pottie! but they actually make really pretty rainbow reflections along the ground, all of which will hopefully scare away those pesky birds.
so for now i am eagerly awaiting the delivery of my new tool and then i will quite happily spend the rest of the long summer evenings down there then the early mornings once i have dropped Theo off at his new school in September nipping off the top of those dastardly weeds! Let the battle commence!

step 3, weed control!What am i growing?grass!!!aaaargh!

So now this is what they call commitment. luckily I'm still in the honeymoon period of the relationship and i would be down there all the time if my back and children would allow it, but unfortunately not at the moment as it is quite hot. No amount of bribing from ice-creams to watching favourite films all afternoon seems to be working as there is no shade down there. so every time we go back it is as if someone has secretly sewn quick grow grass seed all over my newly rotivated and partially turned soil!
A plan of action needs to be made! We have decided to get weed control or membrane sheeting and have it at 2m widths all the way up the allotment, hold them all down with blocks or whatever we can find, then rotate the plots for now maybe uncover 2 at a time depending on how much space i need. I am also going to try phacelia tanacetifolia, green manure, as recommended by Dee from Green Side Up Veg. I am also going to rotate this so we can be feeding a bit of ground at the same time as using some of the other parts. You can get this at most garden centers i believe. I got mine from Millbrook Garden center. Anyway that's the plan so this hopefully is the last time you will see my allotment looking like a scene from a war film!(without the soldiers(sadly!))

Step 2......all it takes is patience and vision,a lot of vision!!!

When you are faced with 2 children and a husband who don't have the same vision let alone enthusiasm for digging all morning or afternoon you have to become inventive and dig deep in yourself for the want to carry on!

We had to spend two long weeks every morning myself and the boys and every evening with my husband too just pulling out the roots that run at least 2m along the ground. My boys have nick named them the monsters!They really do look like strange alien things.

one of the many champions!

After we had done for as long as we felt possible we gathered all the little piles into one giant heap at the end of the plot:

one of the little heaps of weeds and roots

We then built the boys a little pond (an old washing up bowl and lots of stones), and planted some sun flowers. It was time for Tom the allotment man the man who can and long standing member for over 30 years,to come down with the rotavator!!

After a cup of tea and a local history lesson he got stuck in and made the allotment a lovely blank canvas.This is when you really start to see things take shape. Now we have to dig through taking out any roots he has loosened and he will turn it again.We are very lucky the soil is rich and soft and begging for plants.

Week one.......getting started.

Having walked past the allotments for 4 years it has been an ambition of mine to own one, and now that my eldest is starting school in September and my youngest is happiest outdoors,muddy and running I thought now is the time to take on the challenge. Time for me and basically i feel a skill everyone should learn. Back to basics. By no means self sufficient i am not that deluded but for now learning the basics to survival, probably something i have needed since becoming a mummy.

Little did I know how big a challenge this would be, i knew it would be a slog at times but i had the picture of an allotment that someone had given up recently, something with a little structure or at least some soil that was visible. When Jackie our parish council clerk met me and my 2 boys at the allotments a month ago it was a lovely hot sunny day, peoples plots were really coming to life and I could see all the different ways that people were creating their own little haven. Then she said to me "right well the plot I have for you is down this end of the path, you can probably see the one i mean from here!" Well in fact I could not see a bloody thing, it was covered in 1m high weeds and we had to access it by walking through the neighbouring plot.

It is 30m long and about 6m wide. Don't get me wrong i was blinded by love and all i could think was how was i going to persuade my husband that this is a wonderful idea with so much potential, a life lesson for our boys and a good reason to get outdoors.I took him to see it that night with all the excitement of a 6 yr old going to the toy shop. His first reaction was where is it? Luckily for me he is a wonderful optimist with the need for sunshine as he is always in the office!

Once we had agreed to take it on and i had received the rules and laws of the land we headed down there with a big brush cutter/strimmer and fork number 1!

I have to say that i actually could quite happily have pulled all the weeds up one by one, making sure to get out the roots, but the blisters and numerous splinters from brambles everyday got the better of me and i had to keep Ed happy some how and what better way than to give him an opportunity to use some heavy duty power tools, (even had ear defenders, a helmet and visor!!!woooo!)

This scared my youngest but the grandparents came down to muck in and keep them happy for a while. unfortunately we picked the hottest day of the year so far and so we were all melting under the full sun which is what you want when growing your veg, but maybe not for digging out 1m long bramble and dock roots!We hung up our sweaty socks (and goggles!) and waited for the next day when we could start to see what was there already that we wanted to keep and what needed to come out.

We discovered a large crop of horse radish which we have decided to keep as it apparently keeps away the green fly etc. this is a handy website for companion planting :  http://www.ghorganics.com/page2.html .

Also handily we found an old table and chair amongst the weeds which the boys have used as a shelter and a camp!