Greenhouse versus polytunnel

I'm growing a few things that require warmth and therefore I have been investigating the possibility of getting a greenhouse or a polytunnel. The council would only allow one of these, so a choice has to be made.

Greenhouse - Positives

• Maintain heat better than polys
• There is one on the abandoned plot next door free of charge
• Less likely to fly away in the wind

Greenhouse - Negatives

• Smaller than polytunnels
• A greenhouse as large as is allowed on the site would cost too much

Polytunnel - Positives

• Larger growing area
• I can possibly construct one from old trampolines
• I have experience in building polytunnels

Polytunnel - Negatives

Plastic  needs changing every few years

It's a very windy site

So, with there being a greenhouse free for the taking on the next door plot, that makes the decision a really rather easy one. I knew I had to get a move on too, as the site has had several new tenants. Stuff on abandoned plots are up for grabs, first come first served, and I had cleared it with the allotment manager that runs the site. 

So with that in mind, I went to the plot today and cleared the only space suitable for the greenhouse. I shifted the raised bed there, saved the soil, and pulled up the bindweed and  nettle roots. Two very kind fellas on the plot helped me move the polycarbonate greenhouse. It wasn't very heavy, but there's no way I would've been able to do it myself. 

Here it is in all its glory!

There will be a big bed on the left hand side, running up to the blue tub, and of course, I will grow in the ground in the greenhouse.

Then there's only one area left to sort out - the one the other side of the growtunnel. And I need compost bins... and possibly take on the next plot on the right hand side. It's just grass, no carpets - room for a polytunnel! haha

Sowing!

So the last two weeks of January was spent mostly at home sowing seeds!

As my bedroom is the warmest place in the house and the best light, the pasting table is set up in the bay window - only the best for my germinating seeds!

I have sown:

• Cayenne - all come up, despite some of the seeds being very old (6+ years)
• Hopscotch chilli - slower to germinate, took two weeks, but lots have come up
• Tomatoes: Ildi, Red cherry, Gigantomo, Ukrainian purple, Yellow pear, Sweet million, Yellow perfection, Moneymaker - all tomatoes have done very well
• Purple Scarlet kale - all done well
• Borecole kale - Scarlet (they could be the same??) - all done well
• Rossignol kale - not a twitch of germination from any of the modules
• Dwarf curled kale - all done well
• Evesham special brussel sprouts - all done well
• Rubine brussels - one seed has germinated
• Cauliflower All year round - not one seed has germinated
• Monarch celeriac - not one seed has germinated
• Californian Wonder peppers - not one seed has germinated
• Spring onions - not one seed has germinated
• Autumn Mammoth leek - not one seed has germinated
• Ailsa craig onions - all done well
• Kalettes - all done well
• Aubergines  - all done well
• Kohl rabi - not one seed has germinated
• Chard - all done well
• Red drumhead cabbage - all done well
• Golden acre primo 2 - all done well
• Lambs lettuce - all done well
• Restina gherkins - all done well
• Lima beans - look like large butten beans. They didn't want to get soaked as they turned to mush, but once I planted them in compost, four out of nine have germinated! 
• Echinacea purpurea - tiny little seedlings popping up after a week
• Heliotropium Marine - quite a few have come up

There was still time to do work on the allotment though! I spent one day clearing out the growtunnel that is covered in mesh and topping up the beds with lots of horse manure. 

The second day that weekend spent with a good friend of mine who turns out to be very, very hardworking! We managed to clear nearly all the carpet at the start of the plot, shift it all into my van AND get it into the skip at the allotment gates!

Before:


 After!

 

We filled that skip alright!

New year, new path, new bed

It was forecast rain today, but I woke up to bright sunshine, so I quickly packed some lunch, got the dog on a lead and went up to the allotment. I brought some cardboard, shredded paper and coffee grounds with me, armed with a lighter and some candle leftovers (best fire starters ever).

I started off with a fire to burn lots of wood that is half rotten, broken fence panels and lots and lots of weeds that have dried for a couple of weeks. Now smelling like a barbeque, I carried on pulling up the carpet in the new bed that is along the grow tunnel. Three layers... and lots of bindweed roots in between and underneath.

It wasn't too difficult actually, compared to previous areas and the carpet came up fairly easily. The roots not so much and needed to be dug out.

Now that the bed is finished, I need to go fetch more horse manure, coffee grounds, cardboard, anythign to cover the surface with. Tomorrow is for horse manure :)

I turned my attention to the path that will go from the very start of the allotment, straight through the allotment, past the seating area up to the shed. Several barrow loads of half rotted wood chippings laid out. Looking good! And the dog likes it too :)

We had some lunch, then did a few more barrow loads, and then went home, happily knowing a good day's work has been done :)

New year not so bleak!

Happy new year!

I would've wanted to have been more at the allotment over Christmas than I have been, but I went on holiday instead. It's a hard life!

I went up there briefly last weekend, but didn't take any pictures, and to be honest, I didn't get much done either.

I had plans today to get another large bed set up, outside and alongside the grow tunnel. That will leave a wide enough path straight through the plot. I'm imagining that all our beans and peas will go in this bed in the spring! This is it halfway through the day. Look at all them bindweed roots in the barrow!
   
I wasted no time pulling up carpets, and more carpets, and some more carpets, oh and some weed fabric too. One piece of carpet was so big I couldn't pull it off the plot in one piece. It's still there, waiting for me to get help with it. I might tie it to the van and pull it that way lol

Under the carpets were hundreds and hundreds of bindweed roots, the big white fleshy roots that wind their way along any obstacle, and criss cross their way under carpets. I pulled out a whole bin bag full of the stuff, that I've taken home and put in the domestic bin. I can't stand the stuff and daren't compost them.

I spread cardboard on the ground and then the last of the leaves and most of the remaining horse manure. Not bad eh?

   

You can see the carpet in the distance. I cleared a little bit more before I left it for the day, in the rain. The benefit of rain is that you get rainbows!

I had to start the day with clearing the right-hand side of the chicken shed, as I needed somewhere to store all the wood that is littering the site. That turned out a lot better than it was too.

Things are waking up, for sure. The rhubarb and garlic is growing, and I'm not sure what these seedlings are in this tub. Weeds probably!

I have piled up the weeds, blackberry cuttings and bits of wood that I have no use and hoping to have a bonfire next weekend. 

Now I'm enjoying a well-earned rest, taking it easy with my aching fingers after the lovliest shower ever!

Next weekend I am going to have that fire, and clear the rest of that bed, go fetch more horse manure, see if I can clear a space for a greenhouse. I have a broken fork that needs fixing before then - I have had a look and I think I can remove the broken off wood inside the fork and just replace the handle. It won't matter if the handle is a little shorter - I'm not very tall afterall! :D

Early December, second visit

Glorious sunshine and warm winds - a good day to go to the allotment! I brought Effie - she loves having a nose into everything up there while I'm working, and getting herself under my feet!

I pulled up more carpet, and had to split the really large pieces or they're too heavy for me to move off the plot. I need to remember to bring a Stanley knife next time I go up there.

I found loads of weed roots covering the surface underneath the carpet that I pulled off - so many in fact that the massive water butt is half full! I intend to pour water in that water butt and drown the beggars, and use the water as a feed next year.

I managed to pull up all the carpet all the way down to the next tree. I cleared the weed roots, laid out the two unidentified bushes along the fence to replant them, and moved in the rescued rhubarb into their final locations too.



Good progress I'd say! Then it started drizzling a little, and I didn't mind... but the skies went dark and then it was heaving down! We tried waiting it out in the shed, but it was pretty relentless.



Effie was not impressed with the rain!

Winter prep for next year

It's taken some time to get the paperwork sorted, but the allotment is finally ours! I go up there and decide to tackle the corner around the shed first, as I can't open the door properly due to too much growth in front of it.

I'd been up there a couple of times to drop off shredded paper, coffee grounds, cardboard, paper and anything else I have been able to scrounge up that will work as mulch. I'd had real difficulty getting that door open, so that's why I wanted to start there.

The idea is also that there will be one continuous bed all the way down to the start of the plot, in an E shape, if that makes sense.





The apple tree has so much long grass around it, a tyre around the base and it's never been pruned.


And the path running next to it, up to the shed looked relatively tidy. Suspicous.


I'd removed the little raised bed frame on the right there, and I found some rhubarb roots in there. Poor things had only about ten cm of soil to grow in - underneath the raised bed were carpet AND plastic!




And in the corner at the shed, there was tarpaulin underneath a layer of wood chippings. Lots of tarpaulin.


The tree got a prune



And in another tiny raised bed, I found two little bushes that I can't tell what they are. I realise that I'm going to have to get them out of there, because again, there's carpet underneath the raised bed, so the poor roots have nowhere to go!



And this is as far as I got, before the heavens opened.

New beginnings!

My back garden is tiny and although I grow vegetables and fruit there, there's not enough room for what I want to grow. My only option is to get an allotment. Now I am fortunate that where I live there are plenty of allotments to choose from, and one is sited not far from my house.

I have a partner in crime... err gardening, Melissa is a friend from uni. We decided that a no-dig approach would probably suit us best. We looked at plots and came across one that had a huge chicken shed, a grow tunnel, and plenty of fruit trees and various unidentified bushes.

This is what the plot looked like from the road first time I went there.



The grow tunnel is full of weeds, but the infrastructure is in great shape


Lots of carpets, it seems


Lots of room in the shed


And an enormous chicken shed with rhubarb, garlic and blackcurrant growing outside


There seems to be lots of small raised beds dotted randomly over the whole plot. I prefer large beds with no frames, but some of these will be useful for a small hotbed I reckon!


Exciting times!