Anyone with an allotment?

Yeah it's not too bad for weeds now tbh, had it covered since we took out the last of the onion/potato crop. My aim is more to improve the consistency of the soil, so I should probably just feed the worms!

Speaking of soil improvement, I've been on the hunt for one of those hanna pH testers on eBay with no luck. I've ordered some pH strips but will I get a result that's anywhere near accurate?

Weeding and tidying today

1 Attachment

That’s a very straight path. 👏

Ha ha! Can’t bear untidy. Very un-allotment :)

Bit more bramble bashing and finally finished and planted the 3rd bed. Plenty of onions, shallots, garlic and green manure in now. Liz planted a ton of flower bulbs as well today.
Toying with a poly tunnel to have somewhere cosy over the winter....
It certainly looks a lot bigger than all the surrounding half plots.

2 Attachments

Yeah so just won a pretty nice 3 x 2m poly tunnel on eBay. Have ordered ground pegs and hotspot tape to go with it.
Any tips for prepping the ground? I’m guessing easier to do it without the tunnel in situ?
I presume I want to ram the earth all the way round the outside edge for the frame to sit on and a path down the middle then just dig either side?
Will borrow a long level from work to flatten off first.

Really need a poly tunnel. What's the tape thing?

Apparently you cover the metal frame in padded self adhesive tape to prevent it wearing thru the cover. An extra tenner to preserve the life of the cover seems worth it.
The tunnel we went for is £150BIN but we got it for £70 as they run it as an auction as well. Proper door, not zips which is what failed on our mini balcony jobbie.

Properly envious. Top work :)

They’ve got another one finishing tomorrow:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164452394794

Ah, ta, watching that.

Looks to be the best made for the money if you get it below the BIN. The shite clip together ones cost £70 in that size...

we dug ours into the ground in a (thus far successful!) attempt to keep it on terra firma

Seems sensible. The sides of the cover appear to have overlap to allow them to be buried too.

Bang up job, there. Props.

We'd taken a few weeks off from the allotment and had assumed that everything would have stopped producing, and went to tidy up this weekend and found a bumper crop thanks to early-October Scottish sunshine! That cloth bag is also full of runner beans. The cucumbers are disappointingly bitter though - apparently a temperature thing. Will do them in a polytunnel if we try them again.

1 Attachment

Toying with a poly tunnel to have somewhere cosy over the winter....

If you regularly water the one that is sprouting there on the left & it gets plenty of winter sun it should grow into a full sized one in a few months.

Anyone know any good sources for polycarbonate greenhouses? We have a glass 8ft x 10ft one currently, which is pretty old and knackered, so thinking of replacing, would ideally like the same size, as have a concrete slab and a course of bricks in place ready. Want polycarbonate, to avoid having to constantly change glass panels...

Happy birthday to me from Mrs Bear

1 Attachment

Haha, would rep.

Moar scalping and burning today cos I had a day off. Turns out the spot I originally picked out and scalped for the tunnel gets fuck all sun so I’ll have to rethink that one...
Did find a flamingo tho.

2 Attachments

Toying with a poly tunnel to have somewhere cosy over the winter....

These people are excellent - I've had loads of stuff from them (and the timber is good).
Proper polytunnels.
https://www.firsttunnels.co.uk/

I have my plot on a small holding, there’s a couple of big polytunnels there. Something that might be worth considering is drainage, as in getting the water in to the tunnels. As the guys at my place are both finding their tunnels get like the Sahara and actually struggling to get stuff to grow at some stages. Despite watering lots as they were just getting so hot and drying out too easily.

Came up with an idea of having French drains running along the edges of the tunnels and in to the tunnel, just to redistribute some moisture to the soil.

Might be worth considering, if at the early stages, it’s a project we’re looking at doing.

Talk to me about mulching and covering.

I’ve scalped prob half to 2/3 of the plot now down to about 6” removing the bramble stumps and any obvious roots as I go, the clods of turf have been stacked upside down for compost .
There’s no way in hell I’ll have time to fully dig and cultivate most of it this winter so I’m guessing I’ll need to cover it to stop the grass and brambles taking over again.
The manure arrives on the 29th so I’ve got a week to make a plan. I’ve got a bit of cardboard stashed but not enough to cover the whole area. I was hoping to avoid tarps or membrane but if I need it covered for a longer period is it my best bet?
Or is just chucking green manure seed over the whole unused area a good idea?