13th August 2021, Construction, Food, Compost, Blight, and Sunsets
The raised bed wall is up (well, almost). You can see what it will look like. The last few planks need to be screwed onto the retaining posts but we are pretty much there now. You can also see a couple of bricks in front of the pallets which is how the row of bricks will be positioned to (kind of) finish off the underneath of the decking from the front perspective. All finally coming together. Hasn’t really taken that long, but full days (as far as we could) with the showers and wet weather.
The next picture is a look from the other side. You can more clearly see that the raised wall nearest the tap has yet to be affixed but we’re quite pleased with how it is looking now. Can’t wait to get the decking down which has been purchased (occupying the length of Desi's house) but we need a full day to get it all in position, cut as necessary and then screwed into place.
Meanwhile in other parts of the allotment:
The compost bins are looking nice and tidy. Desi has nailed some white plastic around the bins. This is an attempt to manage the heat conditioned inside the compost. The bacteria works best when it is warm and so the addition of the white sheet helps to keep the compost warmer.
The fire is in full use today too. Unfortunately, blight has hit both the potatoes and the tomatoes. The foliage and stems have been cut and now we are burning them. The jury is out on whether the infected leaves etc. can be composted, but for safety we are burning them. The ashes can then be scattered onto the soil.
The weather is probably the culprit for the blight. There was just too much rain, not enough sun and maybe even not really warm enough. One of the problems with having an allotment where you grow tomatoes / potatoes is that once one of the plots gets it, then it quickly spreads throughout the local area. Everyone has had blight this year! Maybe we will investigate blight-resistant crops, as in our particular circumstance, on this allotment it looks like we need those. We’ll see what happens next year, if blight returns then we’ll do this. Chris says he can’t remember his father having blight in all the years he grew tomatoes, but then again, Chris wasn't too interested then, he might just not have noticed.
And here is a beautiful August Sunset to end the day.
