Welcome to our plot!

I'm Hazel, and in Nov 2006 my friend Jane and I took on a half plot at Hill Allotments, Sutton Coldfield - we want the satisfaction of growing and eating our own fruit and veg, and to improve our diet (and fitness!).

This is the story of what happened next...........

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Last Sunday it was bitterly cold, but I wrapped up warm and went to the Hill with the aim of digging over another bed, and to dig some parsnips in order to make soup.  It's good soup weather.

I finished what I wanted to do, and once I'd warmed up at home set the pan on to make butternut squash (Aldi, 49p), carrot and parsnip soup.  Yum.

Towards the end of the end of the week, the cold weather turned to snow, which is beautiful to look at, but  it doesn't get you down to the Hill come Sunday to get your beds dug over.  No matter, I thought that it would be a good day for sorting out seeds for the potato day at Ryton in a couple of weeks, so that was today's job, after I wrapped up to go and get the Sunday paper this morning.

This is what greeted me when I opened the front door:


In my quest to 'do something' with the out of control compost area (can't call it a compost bin as it has overflowed the allotted area many times over and can only be approached with a big stick to whack any particularly unruly bits) I have taken the advice of Rhubarb Brian, who suggested daleks rather than a bin.

'The compost can't get out of hand, and it rots down much quicker than just in a heap; then when you want to empty it, if you had the dalek actually on the bed, you can just pull it over to empty it and spread the compost from there.'

Clearly this was a cracking idea which I squirreled away for further thought.  Over the New Year, Richard from three plots down said 'Did you know that the Council have composters on offer?  I've had a couple delivered, I just have to work out how to get them here, as they won't fit in the car!'

My ears pricked up at the 'on offer' bit of that sentence, so I ordered a couple too which arrived on a Sunday morning, in the snow.  I wish that I'd given it more thought, because if I had, I would have ordered four, one for each pair of beds which would have a pleasing symmetry.

Meanwhile, I should take that bit about fitting in the car seriously - it'll  be quite a walk to the Hill with them otherwise...


2 comments:

  1. You're wrestling Daleks and Kris is dealing with the Wrath of Khan, there's a definite science fiction theme to my favourite blogs this week!

    I had those plastic daleks from the council a couple of years back, they are lasting surprisingly well given the abuse they get here. I drilled holes in mine to provide ventilation. (Bag End 14/06/2010 - can't get my head around embedding a link, sorry!)

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    Replies
    1. That's interesting about the holes, Bilbo - I'll think about that.

      Mind you, I was more concerned that they'd get too dry and I should maybe have to chuck a bucket of water in them every now and again. What do you think?

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