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A day-to-day guide to creating an allotment garden from a starting point of absolutely no knowledge and no experience.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
My dad agrees to come down and help me do some work this morning. I want to combine the compost from two bins, leaving one free to make leafmould and also spread the horse manure I got on Sunday over the bed at the back.
When we get there I show dad the progress since he was last here - green manure growing, peas and beans coming through, onions growing and a clean, well-ordered shed. I then fork the manure over the bed at the back and then go to see what dad is up to at the compost bins. One of the bins has a huge lump of concrete in it that we haven't been able to shift. Dad has brought a sledge hammer and together we smash the slab to bits and lift the pieces out. Dad has also brought some planks of wood and we saw them to size and nail them over the holes in the bins where the old wood has rotted away. I then fork all the compost from the bin at the end into the neighbouring one. We then nail some chicken wire over the open side of the last bin and empty four bags of leaves in. This is going to be my bin for leafmould which the HDRA have convinced me is worth doing - even if it takes two to three years to break down effectively. I have loads of leaves bagged up in my back garden waiting to be added to the pile.
When we get there I show dad the progress since he was last here - green manure growing, peas and beans coming through, onions growing and a clean, well-ordered shed. I then fork the manure over the bed at the back and then go to see what dad is up to at the compost bins. One of the bins has a huge lump of concrete in it that we haven't been able to shift. Dad has brought a sledge hammer and together we smash the slab to bits and lift the pieces out. Dad has also brought some planks of wood and we saw them to size and nail them over the holes in the bins where the old wood has rotted away. I then fork all the compost from the bin at the end into the neighbouring one. We then nail some chicken wire over the open side of the last bin and empty four bags of leaves in. This is going to be my bin for leafmould which the HDRA have convinced me is worth doing - even if it takes two to three years to break down effectively. I have loads of leaves bagged up in my back garden waiting to be added to the pile.