First Day At Work

It's been seemingly a long time in coming, but the day has arrived-- The first day of work in the allotment.

The weather was sunny and dry, but the wind was ice cold and cut like a knife. It was incentive to work, work hard and to keep working.
The main job was getting the soil removed from the greenhouse and the new soil mix put in.
It was also time to cut the decorative grasses. They must be cut off to near ground level now, before the new growth begins (you don't want to cut those new shoots coming up).
Intermingled in the work must be the social obligations(which I relish)...and there were many yesterday. Folks kept coming by for a chat and they had questions about different things, as well. There were quite a few allotmenteers present this weekend because it was so sunny...but I think that we were practically the only ones actually beginning work.
The soil conditions were not ideal, to be sure...but that soil had to be changed in the greenhouse because it has to have been rained on a few times and the micro-organism layers need time to form before I begin planting things in there. I shall leave the glass out of the house another three weeks or so, to that end...but the glass goes back in in the first week of april no matter what. By then all my window sills at home with be burgeoning with plantlets and seedlings, and I will need to continuing my sowing in the greenhouse as well as get those first lettuces going.

Ok then...The main task was the soil exchange. One of the visitors asked why I was doing that, because it was alot of work.
I told her it was to keep warm...and she just gave me one of those crooked mouthed expressions. I winked chuckled telling her that it was like crop rotation, except the greenhouse is stationary-- so I rotate the soil, not the crops. I explained that toms are such demanding feeders that the soil would be depleted of certain minerals and so it had to be replaced.
"...and the old soil, then?", she inquired.
I told her that I just put it on the other garden plots or in the flower garden to let it mingle with the native soil....and so it went.

Digging out the inside of the greenhouse.


A closer look. You can see how deeply I dig to.


Here you can see the adjacent plot where old garden soil was dug up to mix with compost and manure to fill the holes with "new" soil for the tomatos.
The pointy "mountain" of soil is the old soil from inside the greenhouse which will be pushed over into the hole dug when taking native soil to mix with the compost and manure. Then the whole thing will be levelled and the broad beans will be planted there and in the adjacent plot .


The adjacent plot (also for broadies). Notice how the borrage has "melted away", leaving a thin protective film over the soil's surface. The nutrients will have already been released into the underlying soil. This will also disapper when I min-till the bed before planting.


We worked off and on on this task most of the day, because there were punctuations by visitors, as I said...but the job was finished before leaving for home.

This is probably the hardest job of the whole season, but what a satisfaction upon it's completion...in fact one is satisfied twice--also when the fruits begin to come through, the result of all that hard work.

But all is not peaches and cream on the lottie--there are also set backs, disappointments and failures. Perhaps you have noticed the absence of fotos or comments about my winter harvesting of purple sprouting broccoli, leeks and Swiss chard--all frozen to death. It never happened. Look at this sad sight:


The purple sprouting broccoli.

I can't moan about this too much, because there are acres and acres that have died this winter. Fields belonging to the farmers surrounding my town. It's a sad sight to behold.

All in all, it was a good first day--and I'm not all that sore either. Spring is on the way here!

 

ahha sjoerd! i see in the background of the first pics some 'Tubtrugs'! i bought some for the first time this year and LOVE them! love the colors, too!

looks like you got a lot accomplished. how exciting. i'm so anxious to get into our gardens, but they're very muddy and wet right now...and...they're calling for snow tonight through Thursday...grumble grumble...NOW we get snow???!

too bad about the purple sprouting broccoli. do you think there's any life in it? ours sometimes looks dead like that, but comes alive with warmer weather.

thanks for sharing!

 

I so envy you Sjoerd, being able to play in the dirt! We will still have snow and frozen ground for quite a while yet.

 

Sjoerd, looks like you've really been doing some digging! Your topic brings me to a question I've had: Tell me about allotments... I've seen mention of them, but I'm not familiar with the term. Are they like community garden plots? I'd like to hear more about what they are.
Forgive my ignorance...

 

Congratulations on your good start! I can almost smell the dirt all the way here... *closing my eyes and inhaling deeply* My turn will come. Sorry about your veggies being frozen. I like frozen veggies, but preferably in bags.

 

Very jealous Sjoerd. My first full day at the allotment will be next Friday, and I plan to get plenty done also. Seeing all of your hard work has made me get itchy fingers to get a move on. We have daffs opening here in Essex, so I think spring is really trying it's best, so I should follow your lead and start tackling the old plot.

 

Aaaannnddd, you're off and running. Wow, you got a lot done in one day! When I read this the first time, I was going to ask how you get the new soil to the lottie each year but then, upon re-reading, I see that you're exchanging it with older soil, reconditioned, so to speak, outside. Very smart, you guys are! What is the benefit of the soil being rained on?

Sorry about your frozen veggies... It does look pretty sad...

Looking at the background in the photos I'm struck by how BROWN it all is. Soon enough it will be green again. Such an inspiration.

 

Thanks EILEEN-- I am so sorry to hear about your greenhouse deaths. That really is too bad.
It was envigorating working out there at the lotties this past weekend. I am ready for the the season to begin now.

Hiyah BUNKIE--So, you have an eagle eye. Yes, I have been using those for several years now and can't do without them. I like them colourful--it helps me keep from loosing them. Ha ha ha
I use those things for anything and everything. I have managed to snip a couple of them with the hedge clippers whilst chopping up weeds to be composted. I am sometimes a bit over-enthusiastic.
The purple sprouting broccoli is a total loss. I have already dug-up one patch and they were decomposing alreast down into the roots. Such a shame.
The jobs that I did was about the limit too, as the plots are soppy wet and one's foot just sinks down to the ankle. We will all have to wait a bit longer until the ground dries-out a bit more before we can seriously do ground work.

Thanks for your note, NETTY--Don't be too envious, your time's coming. I hope your snow melts very soon.

Hiya KAY-- Allotments are plots of land that one gardens on. There are complexes that are made up of any number of these allotments.
In most cases allotment complexes are owned and run by city or county councils, but some like ours are are privately owned. Since we own our own land we can make rules by which members must abide. This helps to keep things organised and tidy.
I have two allotments--one is 265 square yards and the other is 100 square yards in size.
Most allotments on our complex are 100 square yards of rectangular parcels.
I use the term "allotment" and sometimes, "lottie" to refer to my gardens because the dutch word, Volkstuin really wouldn't mean anything to anyone.
I do not think that the concept of allotments and allotment complexes are very common in the u.s. at all. When I visited your country, I never saw one anywhere that I went. I suppose that's why you have never heard of them.

Hi TONI-- It really was good to see my fellow allotmenteers. I really do like to socialize, you know.

Thanks fro your comments, DROOPY-- The earth did smell good, but you know what smelled even better--my compost that I mixed-in. mmmmmmmmmm. That was so good and it had composted so well. I plan to get some supplimrentary compost from the council though, because I am still building-up the new plot.
I had a good chuckle about your frozen veg in bags quip. Good one.

Hi EJ-- Oh, I am really excited to hear how things will go for you on friday over at your lottie. I read on your blog that you have been there already sniffing-around.
Your daffs are what have made ME jelous. I have one clump of snow bells and some green narcissis points above ground, and that's it. Onr thing that I really like to do inthe spring is to clip and bring home a handfull of daffs for the coffee table.

BTW--it's nice to see you back on here. I have not seen you for a while.

 

Ha! And you told me not to work too hard. I'm glad to hear you weren't too sore though. I've cut most of the brush out of the front. Just a bit of clean up to do and maybe will start on roots. But, I do want to see about a raised bed for a "kitchen" garden outside the backdoor. Things for salad & herbs, etc. I'm really not sure how much of a large garden will get done. I hope your ground dries out quickly so you can get back to work.

dooley

 

Want to spare some of that energy? I could use some. Just send some on the wind and I am sure to pick it up. I'm impressed with how much you have gotten accomplished

Sorry about the broccoli, I lost kale, all-season cauliflower and brussel sprouts this year. Too cold with non snow...quite unusual here.

It's wonderful seeing gardens melting.

 

Good to hear you are back to work at the lottie. The prep work is always my least favorite. I was going to ask how large your plots were but I saw your reply to Kay's question. We do have community gardens in the U.S. I think they are becoming more popular with more focus on "Going Green".

 

Oh Sjoerd, with all that digging, i am not that far away from you. I have shovels right here also, we can begin to dig out the 2 meters of snow and maybe by june see some dirt,,,what say you? lol.

Actually you have done another fine job there on your lot. I am sure all your Toms will be the best around! Sorry about your veggies,,but like Droopy said,,i do prefer mine in bags also. Thats to bad. I guess the price of leeks will go up here,,,lol. *grumbles*

 

Thanks for reading, DOOLEY--Making a raised herb bed near to your kitchen sure sounds like a good idea to me.

Ok JEWELL-- it's on the way.
Sorry to hear about your losses. T'was a bigger loss than mine.

Hi GAIL--I had no idea that you guys had them. That is so good to hear, I must look around the internet to see what I can discover.

BIITA--I say "Get those shovels ready"!
You could get a little heat wave outta nowhere and melt the whole thing. You gots to be ready.
The leeks are in very bad shape, but not frozen dead, I don't think.
We can buy a thing called "Leek Mix" in the super markets here. When you add leeks and the rest, it cooks-up to be a very tasty dish. The same company makes mixes for cauliflower, broccoli etc. They are great for a quick and hardy meal when one is dog-tired after a full day's work in the lottie.

Did I mention how glad I am that you are back?