Here are a few photos from the allotment this year showing some of the little guys who helped spread happiness over the flowers and on to us.
Monday 30 December 2013
our allotment review of 2013
We got our allotment around the middle of May 2013, this was
the first year for growing on the allotments so we had to start from scratch on
land that had been paddock for many years. When we first arrived the land had
been ploughed, worked then divided into plots with woodchip paths laid out
around each plot, the rest of it was now up to the new tenants. Awesome, let
the fun begin. This is a collection of photos moving through the months up
until December 2013.
Saturday 23 November 2013
at the allotment early november 2013
Growing over the allotment forming a world of white magic are the first frosts, winter is up on
us. It’s also time to finish enhancing the flow of the allotment by creating a
small hugelkultur bed at the far end of the allotment. What is a hugelkultur
bed? Paul Wheaton can explain this so much better than I can so check out his article
here http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
. I used wood from a plum tree and a large pile of organic material that I
never got around to composting this year as the base of our hugelkultur bed
then covered it with all the dugout soil from the new paths and our newly
created sun sitting space. We’re very happy how it turned out despite the strange
looks we kept getting from the alpacas when we were working away in the driving
rain, even these seemed to be celebrating our success or something like that, I’m
sure by watching the end of the video you may have your own opinions on the
lovely alpacas. Left to do now is to bring more mulch to cover the new bed and
start planning what we are going to be planting next season.
Wednesday 23 October 2013
october at the allotment
It’s October and it’s time to drop the crop. After a summer
with an allotment full of bees of all shapes and sizes it’s now time to cut
back what we have had growing as a cover crop which was mostly buckwheat and
phacelia and to lay it down over our beds ready to give the soil some
protection from the winter to come, also this will give all the soil microbes
and worms lots of food for the winter. We also have a load of strawberry plants
that have been growing at home in pots that are needing to be moved, they are
well rooted so hopefully they will be happy in their new home. As you will see after the drop things are
looking very different...
Thursday 29 August 2013
Having Vision.....
Thursday 15 August 2013
bee paradise
Through the allotment.
On the plant front the buckwheat is flowering exceptionally
well sweeping high over most of the other plants, of course it’s the
sunflowers, the sentinels waiting each dawn for the sun to rise so they can
follow its movement day after day noticing how the days length is shortening
turning the august sunlight into spirals of seeds so once again it can awaken
to follow the sun for another year. The phacelia with her sea of blue flowers
is most popular at the moment enticing in more bumble bees in a day than most
people see in a lifetime The bumble bees don’t come alone hoverflies manoeuvre
for air space and when you put your head deep into the jungle of storks below
you enter into another world. In this
warm moist air the hoverflies dart in and out with effortless precision, by
observing them time comes to a standstill. With all the wind we have been
having of late this underworld must provide a welcome place of shelter for all
the insect life.
In the area that was planted with a few vegetables whilst we
planned the main part of the garden we have now also sown alfalfa and clover,
we will be moving the soil around once the vegetables have been harvested so
this new crop will be dug in to enhance the soils nitrogen levels.
All in all the
allotment garden is full of so much wonder we stand in amazement at what you
can help create by listening to nature.
sown
alfalfa (organic)
Wednesday 24 July 2013
lots of plants.....
It's august and time for another short walk Everything is
looking green at the moment it’s late July the summer has been just that, a
summer like we used to have when we were children, long warm days. With all the
sun the borage is coming into its own at the moment, certainly very pleasing
for the bees as are the calendula flowers. The buckwheat is taking on a life of
its own, I’m sure it has great plans. Chard, phacelia, wild rocket, burnet,
sunflowers, sweet peas, they are all sending down good roots. The radishes are
very dominant at the moment, I’m sure they are only too aware of the plans of
the buckwheat.
It’s nice to see so much life been attracted into the
allotment garden, we hope they enjoy their stay.
planted
rosemary
lovage
hyssop
nasturtium
January king winter cabbage (biodynamic)
curly kale westland winter (biodynamic)
Tuesday 16 July 2013
a look what's growing
It’s July so time for a quick tour of the small garden at the front of the house.....
Friday 21 June 2013
Seeds
The first plants have arrived into the new beds, we have
sown, buckwheat, phacelia, fenugreek and radish. It’s now time for nature to
take control and awaken the seeds.
planted
sunflower’s (biodynamic)
salad burnet (biodynamic)
wild rocket (biodynamic)
chard (five colours) (biodynamic)
borage (organic)
calendula (biodynamic)
sown
buckwheat (biodynamic)
phacelia (biodynamic)
fenugreek (organic)
santigo radish (organic)
Sunday 16 June 2013
making beds
The fence is up, it’s now time to move some soil. The idea
is to create beds and not to dig again giving the soil the chance to become a
whole universe of life again, each time soil is ploughed or dug in any way the
soil ecosystem is sent into chaos hence why we only want to do this part once.
Monday 3 June 2013
the allotment
Monday 27 May 2013
Growing in nature with nature
This our first short video taken at Brompton allotments
which is a new project put together by a few very dedicated people, we have
been fortunate enough to rent a 14m x 8m plot located in the middle of the
allotment space. As you can see from the video we have lots of work to do to
transform our small space into a low maintenance productive garden.
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