Another day, another frog rescue... Plus harvesting and DIY!

Hi,

First thing's first, the frog rescue op.  Here is the lucky escapee:

Isn't he/she cute??! Although it's also in total shock here as it's just going through the same realisation as yesterday's lucky ones that there is a world out there.  And poor thing looked so skinny from surviving all its life so far in a compost bin half-filled with water, and possibly being the only survivor of its clan.  So not only is it in shock and seriously under nourished, but its also in mourning probably.  Anyway he/she is out and about now, who knows how long they'll survive out in the big bad world, but at least they will have lived a little. And met me, which of course is an added bonus. Although on second thoughts I probably seemed like some sort of giant alien to them and who knows maybe they wanted to stay where they were.  Hopefully not though.

So, frogs aside, had a good few hours at the allotment today.  Did my usual trick of taking about two hours to leave the flat, having faffed about and done loads of other necessary and unnecessary jobs in the meantime... Anyway, got there at 130pm, having got there on foot today as B's bike is out of action so he borrowed mine to get to work.  It took 25 minutes to walk there which ain't bad at all. I loved arriving at the site and wandering past everyone else's plots- like M said to me on our way out today "You can see everyone's personalities reflected in them".  I just like seeing how people make use of their space and seeing different sorts of environments everywhere.

Oh one more thing on the frogs- after taking out Froggy, I had to make an escape route for any others who were lurking under the surface who I didn't spot.  And this was harder than you might imagine due to the shape of the bin and the fact that I don't have the most logical brain, but I got there in the end with the use of an old bit of a branch and bits of plank.  I wasn't sure if this would mean critters entering as well but, anyway it's done now.

I'd been to good ol' Wickes this morning to exchange the padlock and hasp and staple (no I didn't know they were called that and I'll probably never remember that again) for better ones than I got yesterday.  Jeez, I never imagined it would be so hard to decide on what lock and hasp and staple (!) to get for a shed, although I am incredibly indecisive and have limited tools-and-stuff knowledge so that might have been why.  I was all set anyway to fit it all on.  And away I went, though I kind of, well maybe 'did it wrong' isn't accurate, more that I didn't quite do it the way most people do it.  But the point is it's on now and who cares if it took me three times as long as it should have?

Here is me feeling overjoyed that I managed to saw through a piece of wood, so that I had a piece to attach to the inside of the door so that the screws I was screwing in from the outside had something to screw into:

I look a bit happier than the frog don't I?

Sawing isn't something I've really done before, so that took a little while to figure out how to do it most effectively! I also didn't have any nails with me so I looked through the dusty old toolbox from the shed and what did I find in amongst hundreds of screw and bolts and spanners?  Two nails! So I attempted to bash them in to fix the wood on.  Let's just say it's not perfect, but then what (or who) is? It is now a shed with a lock on and that's all that matters. Plus I feel a massive sense of achievement.  And due to my errors and timewasting, I was able to pass on my new-found padlock fitting knowledge onto M who arrived just as I was finishing, and he was very grateful indeed.

I sorted out some more of the stuff from the shed as well.  I just had one more box to go through so that's done now. Yay.  And I half sorted the tool box which I was going to let B do as I'm pretty sure he loves to empty and refill toolboxes, well there's half left if he wants it. 

Harvesting!! We saw yesterday that there is some kale and chard growing in one of the beds.  So I started to pick the kale.  But it was totally covered in these little white flies.  I just looked them up and they are indeed called white flies. So I left the kale and we can deal with that later.  I went to look at the chard and it was white fly free so picked some (which we'll be having for dinner, lovingly cooked by B) and then decided I should weed all around the chard and also take off any dead leaves, as well as thin them out a little because down one end there were loads clumped together.  Here are the before and after pics:

There were a lot of prickly weeds! Not nice when you haven't got gloves on. Whilst I was doing that, a guy came over and chatted to me who has a plot about 20 down from me.  He was really friendly and he gave me some tips.  F suggested we plant some mustard seeds, as they're a green fertiliser, and if I wanted any seeds he can get them for me at a good rate.  I was thinking of sowing something that would be a green fertiliser- when I was on a recent food growing course in Brighton I learnt about doing this and we saw some rye being grown for this reason.  So that's something we need to sort out too...

I've printed off some stuff to read up on from a vegan organic website so that's what I'll be looking at tonight.  I'm also trying to get hold of some onion and garlic sets, though I learnt the other week that you can just buy healthy looking bulbs from a shop and plant them, but either way we need to get them in soon.  People keep saying "broad beans and peas!" but they're pretty much my least favourite vegetables so I don't have much enthusiasm for sowing any.  However, B does love peas and the poor guy doesn't ever get to eat them because of my weird aversion to them, so we really should put some in.

Ok that's me done.  Thanks again for reading.
xx

oh lastly here is my wood in the process of being sawed in half:

First day, halloween and frogs!

Hi,

Firstly, the reason for 'it finally happened' (which I'm sure you are dying to know and I secretly got you here because you wanted to know, what did happen?) is three-fold.

1. I, we- me and B (that's my boyfriend)- finally got an allotment and an outside, hell any-side, space for growing food!!!

2. I had this sneaky suspicion about five or six years ago, I can remember it well as I had a sinking feeling inside when my ex-boyfriend's parents put on a gardening programme on TV and I started to think what excuse I could make to leave the room, anyway, then, I had this feeling that maybe, just maybe, one day in the future I too would be into gardening and growing things, and I half accepted that notion but also disliked my future self for this silly new hobby and also couldn't quite believe that would ever be me.  But here I am. And a lot younger than I thought.  But now I am here, I am so happy and glad and can laugh at the naive, ignorant, gardening-hating former me.

and 3. I only thought of this after starting to write, but actually it is another 'finally happened', because for a few years now I've contemplated doing a blog but always brushed off the idea and came to the conclusion it wasn't for me, but anyway it did finally happen, who knows how long it will last or whether anyone other than me and B will actually read it, but hurrah here we are at blogger.


Ahem.

Yesterday me and B got an allotment!!! In  Hove, not too far from where we live, and today was our first day.  When we looked around yesterday and got given our plot, there was another couple who got the one right next to ours.  We met the guy, let's just call him M- he does have a name longer than just one letter but to follow on from B I thought it would make more sense, and now he sounds to me like a James Bond character, but what do I know I've hardly ever watched James Bond- we met up with M today, I helped him get some of his stuff from his car and the three of us, B, M and me, started work.

I think that ours and M's plot used to all be one, and from talking to our allotment neighbour E today it seems like they also had hers and her sister's next door.  Anyway, so about a quarter of ours and M's down the bottom is, for the moment, a bit of a communal space, where there are two greenhouses, two sheds, some strange makeshift ponds and a massive great pile of wood and stuff.

When you take on an allotment, you also apparently inherit whatever is on it.  Which in our case is amazing since when we got into our shed ('our shed'!!) we discovered a load of tools, more than we could even ever use, as well as a lot of rubbish, but essentially the tools bit is totally amazing as we couldn't afford to buy any tools for a while.  And now we don't need to!! They're old and cobwebby, but they work.

So I cleared out the shed, had a few arachnophobia moments, and just about got it all back in again before darkness fell.  B cleared loads of the wood and stuff, ready for a bonfire night fire, as well as fixed the fence, took off the front gate and started to clear the path.  Oh and he also put up with me being all bossy and spider-scared.

At the front of our allotment are three containers with water in, and yesterday I noticed lots of frogs in one of them.  Today I showed M and he pointed out they couldn't get out, which I'm so glad about as I hadn't even realised and I quickly set up a little escape route for them.  The best thing was that just as we were leaving there were three on their way out!  I just hope I haven't led them to a quicker death...say by fox or something.  I don't really know what eats frogs, but I'm going to pretend nothing does and that they all live happily ever after. And at least now, if nothing else, they know there's more to this world than a plastic cylinder, some green plant life and a circle of sky. 

So far as the plot goes, we are so lucky.  We have a shed, M is going to let us have one of the greenhouses on his side, we have a fruit tree, and there are already beds, some with food still growing in them.  Which is one of tomorrow's jobs: harvest the kale and chard. Brilliant!!

Really have to go now, as White Night shenanigans last night left me and B feeling pretty tired and the endless questions I now have about composting and the complicated world of organics, and who knows what else, have totally knackered out my already mooshed brain. So from me and Jack the pumpkin whose (tea) light I need to extinguish in a minute, happy halloween and thanks for reading. It's been swell.

x x x x