Keeping on top of Things

Sunday 26/05/13

Katie, Dwayne joined by James Naomi & Dasiy

As you can see with the weather being lovely we have had an explosion of activity going on up the site,

the plants are coming through and we cannot keep on top of planting out and watering everything

so we would just like to say a big thank you to all our volunteers.

This weekend we were joined by a young family with a baby with them, 

 as the up and coming blog entries will show how far this project has come on  we are having trouble to keep  the plants fed and watered.

Here is Naomi with Daisy watering the onions, shes taking an interest from a very early age

Here is James watering the French beans he has just help plant

And here are all three enjoying the sun getting the ground ready to plant out the peas

We have a lot going on over the next few weeks so please watch this space but even better, come up and get involved, we have people from all walks of life getting involved.

Eversheds Give & Gain Day

Friday
17/05/13

Volunteers - Leon, Ben, Huw & James

We have been very busy up at the allotment the last few weeks with organising planting, weeding, and most importantly watering. – it is true what they say that a couple of good weeks of weather make all the difference

So sorry for neglecting this blog..........

So this week we must say a huge thank you to Eversheds the solicitors firm. They have very kindly made a substantial donation from their charity pot, which has gone a very long way in helping us buy much needed equipment for the project.
....not only that, but they also sent four strapping lads down for a day of hard labour through their 'give and gain' scheme.

Heres Katie and the boys from Eversheds Cardiff......

With the money Eversheds donated we were able to purchase a number of items on our 'bucket' list.
A lantern for when when the dark nights draw in, gardening gloves, rake, trowels, a table for seeding and planting in the poly tunnel as well as a water butt and thermometer (it got to 44 degrees in the poly tunnel  this weekend!)

The volunteers were fantastic and extremely productive. They were valuable help and worked efficiently in a team - something they must of learned from working at Eversheds.....

They helped to collect stinging nettles to make a liquid fertilizer. Ben got stuck right in there.....and stung several times too. Thats dedication to the cause Ben!

other jobs they did included painstakingly weeding the potatoes, planting out the runner beans and netting them to protect them from the pesky birds............

The team work I witnessed whilst the guys were building the bamboo teepee's reminded me of those school projects where you had to build the tallest structure out of straws and make it hold a certain weight! There were some very scientific suggestions of the most efficient bamboo teepee structure design, loving your work boys.........

they also proved to be a very dab hand at DIY and built us a few raised beds.

The boys told us they enjoyed their day, and we certainly enjoyed having them join us on the plot. Thank You all so much. You are more than welcome any time boys..........

........................Please come back!!!! 

Doors, Floors and Seedlings!

Saturday & Sunday & Bank Holiday Monday

04 - 06th May 2013

Volunteers - Austin, Dwayne, Liz, Keris, Katie & Katie

The boys made a door very resourcefully from bits and bobs from around the allotment! The poly tunnel company has helpfully only given us enough wood to make half of one door - we need two! 

We had received another delivery of wood chippings - this time we went for 5 tonnes instead of 2. We are learning that this project is much bigger than we expected. We are using this to re-cover the paths now we have edged them.

 The woodchipping is also being used to cover the floor in the poly tunnel. Using the same principle as the paths outside, we laid mesh across the whole floor and then woodchipped over the mesh. We have run this throughout the poly tunnel including under the raised beds as we don't want weeds to grow through the plastic.

It was time to transport all the seedlings from my dining room into the poly tunnel. Austin is happy that we are finally getting our dining room table back, as I have been using it as a greenhouse for the last two months! 

We planted some more seedlings to start their lives in the poly tunnel. We have planted seedlings at four week intervals to ensure that we have a steady flow of growth & so we dont have a glut of one particular thing come harvest season. 

 It was all go this weekend, we had a new volunteer join us, also named Katie (easy to remember). She and I made this rather delightful bamboo structure to house the runner beans when they come through.

Keris and I then went along next to each stick, burrowed a hole, filled it with compost and a runner bean seed.