March 2013 - Updates from the allotment!

Potato chitting - to get the potatoes off to a strong early start, chitting them - allowing the shoots to develop before planting, see here for more info: http://www.rhs.org.uk/Children/For-families/Grow-it!/Chit-early-potatoes : we retrieved some large cardboard egg boxes from the cafe we visit to put the potatoes in;

Potato chitting: eyes up!

Seed sorting and recognition - we worked on how to recognise the difference between various seeds such as larger seeds, like pumpkin, and smaller ones, like carrot. Some were very similar, so we worked on seeds which were noticeably different in sizes.

Looking for the difference in the seeds...

... and noting the differences

Re-using pallets - the allotment had a delivery of pallets, of which we secured 6 for building projects. We currently have no outdoor table, or shelves on which to grow our seeds in trays - so we decided to start to build these out of the pallet wood;

1. Separating the pallet into single pieces of wood

2. Taking out the unwanted nails

... more nails being taken out of the wood

3. Sawing the wood to size

4. Measuring the pieces of wood

5. Adding supports to keep the table strong

6. Finishing by adding the work surface from more pallet wood with the nails taken out!

Our soil - and clay! - We spent half a day having a look at the soil types we have on our allotment; we found at the top of the plot we had a heavy clay, down to more of a good quality loam towards the middle and base of the plot;

Digging the hole to see the soil

Discovering the clay type of soil through rolling between our fingers - the clay type stuck together

One person on the allotment made a clay oven from the clay on his allotment!

More in April!