Creating the garden part of the allotment...

So thanks to the typical English summer, there has been a lot of rain and not enough sunshine! Thankfully today, the clouds finally moved off and we were able to get something productive done

 As I've said before I've always wanted the back part of the allotment to also act as a garden and a place to relax. We live in an old house and our backyard is tiny and North facing, so I really wanted a place to relax. 

 Next to the wildflower and pond area we spent this morning turning over the rest. Thankfully thanks to all the rain it made turning the patch over incredibly easy so we were able to get it all sorted before noon!

So my next job is to get even more plants and flowers around the grass area and pop up the rest of the little blue fence.

We also found the cutest little (though quite large) hawk caterpillar hiding in the turned over soil. We decided to move him across to the wildflowers instead. 

We didn't seem to have any success with the strawberries I was given from an allotment neighbour. We only got a few and they were pretty short lived. Though I decided that I didn't want to grow strawberries in the ground again next year so I weeded the strawberry patch and removed the strawbs. Instead I used it as an opportunity to put three of the butternut squash into the ground. So fingers crossed they will turn into something. There's a fair few flowers on all of the plants and a few have started to form into fruits in the pots, so fingers crossed they will become an edible fruit- though there doesn't seem to be much to summer left! 

 Fingers crossed we get more decent weather before winter begins! 

A cloudy but productive Saturday...

Well, the sun may not have been shining so much today, and it may not have been as warm as it has been, but I still managed to spend 4 ours at the allotment in my t-shirt today. 

Yesterday I took various things to the local tip, leftover rotten/scrap bits of wood from when the shed was built, a large compost bag full of rubbish that had accumulated over the last few months (we find a lot of glass and metal on the allotment still) and we had a large double glazed window that we needed to take along as it had cracked along the middle and water had started to get in. So- after the tip run we stopped at a can and carry like shop to pick up a few things, compost, a few paving slabs and a little wooden dividing fence.

So today I got to work putting things in place and doing some more organising! 

I painted the little wooden diving fence blue- the same colour as the shed and gate of course! I wanted that put down just to edge the wild area as things had started to creep over into the celery bed. 

I've discovered in photos the allotment is quite deceptive: 

It doesn't appear to be in any incline at all- but when I photo is taken from the gate you really don't seem to be able to tell how long it is. I always think the pond area looks tiny from this angle - but when you get up there and stand at the edge of the blue fence, there's another 3 metres until you reach the back of the allotment. Strange how it does that! 

I also placed the 4 paving slabs I bought down (4 for £12) I think I'll buy another 4 for in front just to define the area a little more- it will still allow me to either plant things along the fence in the ground or put pots along there too.

 You can also see to the left of the photo in the yellow buckets- I planted out 2 of the butternut squash plants. They're verging on flowering and were clearly too big for their little pots so this is quite a change in size! So hopefully they will grow on ok. 

 I think I am going to take up the strawberries as well and plant the remaining butternut squash plants into the ground. The strawberries haven't been great- I was given them from a kind neighbour but for some reason the yield was very small and other creates often beat me to the ones that were there.

 I think next year if I grow strawberries I will do it in pots on/around the shed. 

And here's a final photo today of the pond in all it's glory. If you look carefully you'll be able to see a few frogs. I counted six at one point. Two didn't move an inch the whole time I was there. But it seems really healthy! There's still plenty of pond skaters on the top and the plants are all looking really good. We keep having to remove some of the green plant from the top of the water- we're quite ruthless when we do, as it grows so quickly I don't want it taking over and suffocating everything. Though I always leave plenty for things to hide in and under. It seems to be working out though! Next plan for next to the pond is to weed/turn over and get some turn to turf the back right area of the allotment. After all, I don't have a garden at home, so I was determined to have a garden area to relax in as well as a growing area for veg and as many flowers as possibly for the bees and other insects that need them. 

 I've still got 6 weeks left of the summer holidays as well, so plenty of time to get things done!