Anyone with an allotment?

Nice!

Yeah agreed. Our site volunteers are pretty "on it", so I think mostly they leave us too it.

That's kind of you to say, but probably not actually true.

Here goes:

On Radio 4 Gardener's Question Time someone asked for a veg recommendation that his allotment neighbour wouldn't have heard of as part of a unspoken competition/rivalry. Someone suggested Fat Baby aka achocha, Cyclanthera brachystachya.

I bought some seeds from ebay. And my youngest child (toddler at the time) and I grew them in our veg patch.

My wife didn't approve of me referring to them as Fat Baby in front of a toddler as she thought it wasn't kind language.

They are climbers and very easy to grow. But fundamentally it's not a great vegetable in my opinion.

Ahhh ! All clear now.

Thanks Babe !

😬

Just picked the first lot of kalettes. The snails didn't touch them so I've got 5 more plants after this. Success!

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Put my polytunnel frame together. It’s definitely cheap but it’s all nut n bolt, not spring button to hold it together which is at least something. Taped all the joins prior to bolting so hopefully it’ll be a bit stiffer.
Was on my own today so just wanted to assemble it. Will trench it in a couple of inches tomorrow.

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Is the one of the cheap ones? Be interesting to see how it lasts. Can buy some stakes either side and put cord around them.

Building a big poly tunnel is on my list for this winter. The local custom is to use rebar steel mesh and rebar with Hazel's for reinforcement and bury the plastic in a trench either side.

Yep, it’s a £45 job, discussed a page or two back. I don’t have high hopes for it but it’s an experiment to see if I get away with it and set precedent for a greenhouse in future. Only really allowed one structure so will see if I get away with it. The frame is as cheap as these things usually are so hopefully taping the joins will help. I’ve also bought 20x 18” long rebar u-staples to hold it down properly.
I’ve not unwrapped the cover yet so will see what that looks like tomorrow. It’s the woven plastic, not just clear sheet but I find it’s the stitches that go, not the material itself.
Have got a few rolls of gauze bandage to wrap the whole frame in so it rubs less on the cover.
I know it’s quite shit but it’s in a very sheltered spot and I’ll do what I can to get it as tight as possible. It has guy lines which I can tie to the arches behind.

I have also bought one,but won't have time to do anything with it until next year.Looking forward to see what you do with yours.
I've been skip diving lots of timber and even some railway sleepers for a base and door frame.seems like proper door frames in each end really improves their stability.
Lots of YouTube videos with hints and tips and how to improve them.
This looks a good one.

https://youtu.be/mhFEMP0xLSs?si=jJVoXjU_2iIxOMAy

Good luck with it.

That looks like a great upgrade. I won’t be doing anything quite that advanced, just leaving it stock aside from wrapping the frame and adding some cord to grow stuff up. It’s only 3x2m so won’t have a footpath up it, just fully plant it like a bed. The sides roll up as well as one end so no problem with access.

Put the cover on today, rushed a bit as was pissing it down.
Skirt round the bottom is very short, only like 6” so should really dig it in properly or ideally wrap it under the frame. It’s definitely cheap. Could always upgrade the plastic in future.

Shovelled 5 cubic metres of compost today, gonna be achey in the morning.

The only storm damage was a fallen over compost heap, despite red warnings being sent to our phones in a rather over the top way.

But that completes my list of jobs to do before Christmas so am feeling good. Seed catalogues and planning what to grow next...

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Teaser shots of my Xmas pressie from my father. He’s a blacksmith so can whip up pretty much anything.
Asked for a furrowing hoe, he did not disappoint. According to him it’s a bit rough and ready but solid. Future pieces will be a bit cleaner round the socket.
He’s open to commissions but in France so postage could be an issue.

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Looking very smart!

That’s giving me feels I don’t understand

I know right? It’s based on one in the sneeboer catalogue.
We don’t normally sow in trenches but looking forward to trying it next year.

Cover nuked itself in the storm despite being guy roped and covered on all edges.
Doesn’t look like the cover itself has shredded, just all the tabs that attach it to the frame. All the zips had opened up so guess the wind just blew it straight open.

That's annoying. Guess you can buy some decent plastic now and see how that goes.

In the spring I’ll investigate the cover and see if it’s salvageable and buy some plastic if not. The price I paid was worth it for the frame so even if I just grow beans up it I’m good.

Polytunnel tale -
2004 I bought a 8 x 10 ft First Tunnels polytunnel and it was 90% completed when we had a wind storm in July. There was no door on it and not finally secured at the ground tubes. I found it the next morning in a crumpled heap 200 yards from my plot where it had landed in an unused plot.
I salvaged most of it and took the parts to my present allotment in 2005 where it has been stacked up outside round the back of the shed. I did put one hoop up about 10 years ago just to grow stuff up .

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... I now need a fruit cage so I unearthed the old polytunnel parts and found most of it useable .
I contacted First Tunnels and asked about the 3 hoop joiner bits , 2 of which are bent from the storm ... Malcolm at First Tunnels was adamant that these parts don't exist and never had but 20 years ago I gave the assembly instructions to our allotment secretary and discovered he still had them.

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...

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I emailed him back with this -

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.

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Just a few bits to get from them and I'll get the whole thing up as a fruit cage .

Cover nuked itself in the storm despite being guy roped and covered on all edges.

Doesn’t look like the cover itself has shredded, just all the tabs that attach it to the frame. All the zips had opened up so guess the wind just blew it straight open.

Well that was quick 🫢 -

That thing has guy ropes - wouldn't last long on an allotment site -
might be ok as a back garden play tent.