Is Procrastination an art form?

Well it’s been a busy week and weekend with work and puppy sitting but have managed a few lunchtime and evening here and there and although the main beds are still weed bound some progress has been made. A new fence and gate has gone up along the front of the plot using old pallets and a hopeful for the donation of fence posts and wire to fence off the last remaining side (one side is already secure by a neighbours fence and the rear of the plot has the boundary fence of the main allotment site.

The courgettes are now doing well now the “marrows” have been removed and have harvested 2 good sized ones today and have new growth of at least 15 more. I almost forgot in my previous post that the pea’s suddenly appeared from nowhere in the raise beds going from 2 sorry looking plants to 13 plants almost overnight!! Some good picking have been had here too and a new cage to hopefully get a few more before the end of the season.

The strawberry planter have been cleared of weeds and, although they have borne no fruit this year they are looking strong and giving off plenty of runners that will be potted up to overwinter in the greenhouse. It’s strange as the plants we have here were all donated from another plot holder who had runners coming out of her ears – Half we planted on the farm and half went into the garden at home and it was the ones at home that actually gave us fruit this year!

I have also finally secured all the pallets and other material needed for my new pallet built shed which is very exciting although I am still toying with idea’s on the size and style I will go for but either way the plan is to get it built over the bank holiday weekend from start to finish – I have offered the use of our spare room to be brother for that weekend so we can have a good catch up – not sure if he has realised that the catch will include a lot of grafting ;- )

In the meantime I have less than 2 weeks to clear the whole site of weeds and prepare the area for shed building and then it’s on to the digging over of the main and follow beds to get them ready for winter season and mulching down for next!!   

Hmm, I have been accused of turning procrastination into an art form in choosing fence building over weeding but it all forms the master plan…. From first glance the site is looking better (apart from the huge weeds in the beds) but i'm no longer filled with a sense of dread when I arrive and feel that i am getting somewhere just by having the fence up and a raised beds and paths clear!     

The Challenge awaits...

Just to give you all an idea of what we’re dealing with I though i'd upload a few images taken during my lunch break today...

Can you see the beds and the path?!

The remains on the master bed...

Raised beds and lorry tyre beds...

Fallow bed and raised beds looking a little better in the background

The first part of the plan is the get rid of all of these weeds, which will be a large job in itself, and then the exciting parts of the plan can start to be put in to action!!!

Saving the Farm – Season 2, Episode 1 – (Back to basics.. and the beginning)

From my previous post you will understand that we’ve left the farm to its own devices and, apart from a small haul of fresh veg, it has basically gone to pot!!

To put it in perspective our young tender courgette plants provided the basis for a “STUFFED MARROW” dinner last night ;-) Absolutely delicious (recipe to follow…)

It’s been unloved and neglected and mother nature has paid us back for our lack of effort by trying to reclaim what is rightfully hers but NO MORE!! I have a plan the make the most of £25 yearly rent and intend to turn our little wasteland into a frugal food producing farm.. I love it when I am down there working but it’s always been to effort of “going to the farm” that has let in slide into the abyss.

The small haul from this year (see previous post) has re-kindled the passion to get down there and make it work for us to provide us with the pleasure of growing and eating our own veg and using the money (that would otherwise have gone to tesco’s) on something a little more worthwhile (like swimming lessons for the dog…)

This blog will be the “diary of the farm” - turning it from the state it is now back to working, operational and fun place to be!!

Hopefully I’ll provide tips to other like-minded people along the way and, more importantly, hopefully get a few tips myself

This is going to be hard work…. But hopefully, in the end, worth every second!!

history of the farm...

Right, so we got the allotment AKA “the farm” way back in May 2011 and I’ll be first to admit we may have rushed things a bit (or a lot)

In the excitement of getting the farm I rather hastily dug out 2 beds and filled them with potato’s and onion sets and, to be fair, we had a good haul of potato’s in September 2011.

I had also built a range of raised beds from scrap decking boards but sadly these were destroyed (along with a few neighbouring sheds) by an arson attack on the allotment site.

Spring 2012 started off well with the addition of 7 x lorry tyres for raised beds (hopefully a little more fire resistant) and some further wooden raised beds built from scrap pallets from work.

A path was laid and barked leading to the main area’s with one master bed on the right hand side of the plot.

This was planted with potatoes, courgettes, broccoli, onions, garlic and beetroot as well as carrots and parsnips in the raised beds J A great haul of fresh veg soon followed at the end of July 2012

 

However, I’m sad to say that on the whole the farm has been WOEFULLY NEGLECTED!!! L

 

Weeds have taken over every bare patch of earth and well as the raised and master bed, the path has all but been destroyed due to mixture of weeds and the recent bad weather!

Apart from few onions left in the ground the farm is now basically no better off than when we took in on 18 months ago (apart from the materials for the pathways and raised beds being there this time)

This brings me on the “Saving the Farm – Season 2, Episode 1 – (Back to basics.. and the beginning)”