It was an early start as we had to go to the reclaimed timber yard for 9.15 so that the van could follow us to the allotment with the wood for the raised beds. The owner of the yard told us that the wood we had bought had originally been used in the construction of the new Wembley Stadium. It had been part of the roadway laid for the construction equipment to stop them getting bogged down. Although it wasn't important, it is quite nice to know a bit about where it had come from.
 |
| Timber Pile |
He had also put in quite a few pieces of hardwood including a lot of oak. This would normally have cost about four times as much as the wood we had originally agreed upon, but he let us have it for the same price. This seemed a good deal at the time, but later we had cause to regret taking it, if only slightly.
We travelled in convoy to the allotment, and by 10.15 the van had been unloaded and sent back to the yard. The pile of wood was about three foot high, and each piece was about 7"x3"x10', and very heavy. The oak was shorter, but nearly half as heavy again - an incredilbly dense wood. It took two of us just to lift each piece.
We borrowed a couple of saw horses from a plot neighbour and were just about ready to start trimming the timber to size when the heavens opened on us. It had been raining earlier in the morning, about 6.30, but had been dry since so this was a bit of a blow.
Fortunately for us it only lasted about 20 minutes after which Ken got on with measuring and cutting the first piece while Will and I went to collect the plot rotivator and get some basic training on how to use it.
Five minutes later I started it up on the plot and got to work.
The sun came out and we carried on with Will and me alternating on the rotivator, and either helping Ken or moving more of the manure when we weren't rotivating.
We didn't go with the original plan of rotivating the manure into the soil as we were finding it hard enough without adding extra moisture - all it would have done would have been to clog the blades more often. We would also have been enriching the soil under where the paths were going to go, which would have encouraged the weeds.
As the day went on, we discovered the downside of having the oak timbers - as they were much shorter than the other planks Ken had decided to use them as the short ends for the beds and had trimmed two of them to five foot lengths. The wood was so hard it took ages to saw off the ends, and then when we tried to drive 6" nails into them the nails actually bent rather than go through the wood.
We also discovered that the brand new saw blade I had bought had been blunted as well! Hard wood indeed.
By about two o'clock we had managed to rotivate all of the area we had chosen for the day, and given a special going-over to the section that was to hold the first few beds. The middle of my plot was now looking pretty level, or at least much more level than it had been, and the blades of the rotivator weren't clogging up at all by now - presumably the moisture from the morning's showers had now either dried off or been mixed in, and all the grass was well chopped.
It was now time to assemble the first bed.
Due to the weight of each individual piece we decided to assemble the beds in situe, so we lined the first end up on the edge of the road bordering my plot and put the first side in place and hammered the nails home. The other corners were nailed tight, and we all stood back to look at what we had worked hard all morning to create.
Now it was actually starting to look like an allotment.
I will give him some of the leaf beet, brussels, onions, lettuce, peppers and tomatoes I have already growing at home, and he can have some of my spinach and carrot seeds as well rather than buying his own. As he will only have a single bed to work with he is going to try and use the square foot gardening method which should hopefully work well for him as he won't be able to get to the plot by himself, so is only likely to be there at weekends to do his weeding and watering.
Throughout the day we had been visited by several of the other plot holders coming down to say 'hello' and to have a look at how we were getting on. We were even given a few pounds of potatoes - thanks Diane.
I am still amazed at how friendly and helpful people on the allotment are, and I am so happy that I chose to take a plot here rather than hanging on for a plot elsewhere that might have been in a bit of a better condition.
We had been lucky with the weather up to this point, but the clouds looked like they were starting to get darker so we decided to get one more bed made and in, and to clean off the rotivator before we finished off for the day.
This turned out to be a good call as the rain started again within about an hour of getting everyone home.
 |
| Compost pile next to manure pile |
So, the sum total of the day's work was 400' of timber delivered and stacked in a temporary pile on the roadway, about half a ton of manure moved to the holding pile, two 5' x 9' raised beds made and in place, about 80 square metres of plot turned over and well rotivated, and three very tired men.
The plan was to come back in the morning and carry on making and filling the raised beds, but it has been raining pretty much constantly since the early hours so we have decided to give it a miss today and try to do a couple more hours each evening through next week, weather permitting.
Without the help of my family this weekend I wouldn't have been able to complete half as much as we did so I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks, and I love you both loads.
No comments:
Post a Comment