Dave's Allotment

Friday, February 29, 2008

February

Shed support post in place

I turned up to the allotment a few weeks back to discover my shed lying on it's side instead of standing upright! I don't know if it was blown over by some very strong winds or if it had a little helping hand courtesy of the local youths. Anyway, I managed to put the shed back upright and have now hammered in a large wooden post either side of the shed and bolted the shed walls firmly to the posts - as seen in the photos above and below. Hopefully this will prevent the shed ending up on its side again.

Bolted to the wall

Another job this month was to build 2 simple beds (see below). One is basically just a border around the new Raspberry canes (planted in December) and the other forms a bed that my wife will use to grow salads and other things. These new beds are next to the existing Asparagus bed and Strawberry cage. I emptied the contents of last years growbags into the salad bed to give it a good start.

New beds

At the weekend I planted out my Onion sets and Shallots. I've planted one row of Shallots and 3 rows each of Red and White Onions.

Planting onion sets

After planting the Onions I covered the ground with some netting (see below) to prevent the birds pulling up the sets, or cats walking over the freshly dug ground and disturbing them. I usually leave the net in place until the Onions have all established and sent up their shoots.

Onions covered with net

February has also seen the first picking of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli (see below). There are quite a few heads on the plants now, some more purple than others.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli