Been 'aving some work done.

We spend a lot of time at the allotment.

I spend every weekend of the spring and autumn at the plot and most weekend s of the summer too. With Coryn & Harry fully retired now there seems to be a lot more going on at the plot and a lot more tidying and organising.

No where is this more obvious than at the bottom of the plot.

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It stared with the shed. The ground was so uneven and dangerous after we finally rescued the shed from its hundred year slumber...

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that we had to put down slabs to make it safe. Before you know it the levelled ground in front of the shed was some two feet lower than the rest of the plot, so we bricked it in and it's kind of a sunken patio. It's nice.

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Then at about the same time the greenhouse came along. Concrete footings and a pathway down one side. All very civilised.

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Then last year came the herb patch which on the other side of the green house. That has now got a proper pathway too. It's meant to be groovy. (pics to follow)


It's a long story how this happened. Looks nice though right? Sometimes, just sometimes, you have a bricky on your hands and you have to keep him busy for an afternoon. (pics to follow)

Finally Harry dropped down some paving outside the greenhouse. Very tidy. (pics to follow)

So this is where most of the work for both plots goes on so it is sensible to have all this safe clean working area to deal with. It's great. (pics to follow)

But how would you react if I told you that now about one sixth of my plot is now concrete.

The prenials plot

I am very lucky to have one and one half allotment plots.

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The half plot contains our fruit trees, the asparagus and the bean frames (as I won't have runner beans and french beans on my plot).



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From time to time we grow other catch crops down there too. This yuear we have squirreled away some cauliflowers down on the plot. With a few exceptions the plot runs itself for 30 weeks of the year. Everyting happens at the same time and the same place every year.



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No crop rotation and nothing too exotic just berries,
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fruit
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aspargus
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and beans.
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With occasional line of something that we could not squeeze on the larger plot.
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It's a happy little place. I like it down here.

Slicing and dicing with death.

First up, the first picture of the Engine Room.




Tricked out and full to bursting just like everyone else's this time of year. A snap shot from late April of the happiest place I know that does not have a wine rack.


Among the many wonderful things growing on my plot this time of year I was most pleased to this year's spring crop of pretty, colourful, and let's face it, deadly fungus.

After the last couple of years of wood chip delivery to the site for our pathways we've been getting some pretty weird and wonderful fungus growing on our highways and byways on the plot. Most of the fungus arrives in great eruptions during October after the first cold snap.

So here are the Spring 2010 runners and riders.

This looks flat out scary.
I'm going to call it "The Purple Nasty". It's also red so it will just have to go.


This one looks like it would sooner kill me as look at me.
Currently lurking with a few of his buddies under my raspberry bushes. Lets call this "The Yellow Peril".

This little guy is lurking on my path by the herb patch.
Just from the smell of this one I'll christen is "The Brown Trouser".

This one however looks like it could be quite, quite delicious.
...or because fungus is such a tricksy and deviuos quarry, it could easily be quite, quite killy.

For argument sake let's call it a Morel. A non edible, now covered by a cage, dangerous, and potentially deadly Morel.

So this little lot could make one of my already pretty spectacular omelets in to a dream breakfast...

or they could put me and a chosen breakfast companion in hospital for ten days.


As reckless and easlily led as I can be, even I know not to muck about then it comes to fungus. I'd better get an expert in for these bad boys. I bet my expert takes them all away for further investigation! I would.

Perhaps we could make a field trip out of the expert's visit. I'll let you know how I get on.