Preparation work
I’ve been up to my allotment plot on two occasions this week, on both occasions my time was largely spent wheel barrowing salvaged bricks from one of my plots to the other with the usual punctuating scenario of ‘Hard rain stopped play’ The bricks, around three hundred and fifty in number are being stacked in readiness for one of my plots as it slowly begins its transformation from a wooden raised bed organic fruit and vegetable plot to a perennial low maintenance high yield permaculture system.
Why tidying your shed is important
Enough of brick moving for one day, it was time to tackle the plot shed, this is something that I do once a year, usually between October and December. Having a tidy shed was never something that I imagined I’d ever be bothered out before I started gardening, but I’ve opened the shed door on a number of occasions only to be met by an avalanche of bamboo canes, drying twigs and branches for my Rocket stove and assorted bits of tools, boxes and fruit tree mesh.
Seriously, I have virtually been pushed back from the spring effect of having so much stuff crammed into such a small area, this is one the occupational hazards of being one of life’s scavengers and not having the ability to say no when one of the old allotment guys offers me the end of a ball of twine or some old plant pots. Keeping your shed tidy also means that you’ve got somewhere to sit over the autumn and winter months when it rains and snows. After a flurry of movement, getting tangled and trapped and many expletives the shed was finally tidy and there was room to sit inside and pause for a moment at the filthy gray skies above as they rained down hard upon me.
Late crops
Due to the wild weather we have been having through October up until the early part of December, I have managed to crop a few bits and pieces from my plot.The German Radishes are now almost parsnip size in length and already as wide, this a variety that I have never grown before and they will certainly feature in next years late vegetable garden because they grow quickly, and are spicy as I remember radishes to be when I was a child. The Carrots that are growing in the old school recycling boxes are doing well; I pulled up a fair sized bunch of them to go in tonight’s heavy winter casserole. There are also still herbs to be had around the plot, the Greek Oregano is still in there, there is some rocket, and some lovely green and purple sage, which, along with everything else that has been cropped today, will go straight into the pot when I get home.