9th April
My husband and I signed up for a Markeaton Leisure Garden - well, an allotment. We have now named it the LG.
Saturday 9th April we were shown our garden and given a tour of the area, where to tip waste, where to get water for the plants when our water butts are dry.
There were two empty water butts left on our garden, apart from that all the beds were cleared clean.
We were handed two keys, one for the main gate and one for the communal area that housed a meeting room, a small kitchen with electric kettle and a microwave and toilets and wash basin.
Exciting times lay ahead.
The garden is huge with 11 defined beds, the soil we have been told is perfect, as the person before us, had put in lot of fertiliser and manure.
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Plan of our LG |
10th April
Sunday 10th April, all excited, we went to our local Wyevale Garden Centre and bought 10 raspberry canes for £7.99.
Our friend, who has had a LG for many years, met us and introduced us to some of the long-established LG residents. We were shown the store, where there many tools left behind by past LG owners. We were told we could help ourselves to whatever we liked and we did.
Came out with a spade, a fork and two hoes.
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Hello, LG |
Once on our LG I was ready to put in my raspberry canes. The soil was so easy to dig into and big holes were dug out and raspberry canes planted.
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Starting out in April sunshine |
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Paths, here we come ! |
Once the raspberry canes were in, I noticed whole clusters what looked like leeks. Just to be sure I dug a few up and went around some of the experienced LG owners to check if it was leeks I had plenty of, and I was told, yes.
I then dug up one of the beds and got going with separating the cluster and planting them in rows.
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Fixing the leeks |
Spent all afternoon putting leeks in....felt so proud of myself.
Once that done found a cluster of chives and began to split them and put them in the same bed.
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On our way |
Whilst Sukh went around with a hoe and turning the soil over, and creating pathways with the bark,
our LG friend came around and gave some red and white onion sets. they also went in the same leeks and chives bed.
Later that day I spoke with my brother Dave and told him all about my leek planting. He said, leeks have to be planted in a certain way.
- make a deep hole with a dibber
- trim the leek plant to about 6 inches
- trim the hairy roots
- drop the leek in the hole
- fill the hole with water
Oooooh, arghhhhh.
Monday 11th April
I could not wait to go back to the LG redo what I had done. So next day we there to redo the leeks.
Someone came and introduced himself to us, I showed him the pulled out leeks and asked for reassurance that they were leeks, he took one look and said, yes.
SO, AND, I pulled out all what I planted as leeks, did as I was told and replanted them all.
Took 5 raspberry canes from home and planted them too.
My mum used to love her garden and she planted so much in her garden in Derby, flowers and fruit trees. I thought of mum and decided to plant some fruit trees in memory of mum. Will get something special.
Bought a blueberry bush £11.99
Dave created a strawberry tower from one of the water butts.
Bought a tray of Mangetout from Wyevale garden centre, planted them in a small bed.
A kind LG owner gave us couple pallets to stand our water butts on.
There are loads bulbs sprouting up all over the place, I began to dig them up and put them all in one bed. The bed near the pathway, bed 1. That is going to be our flower bed.
What I planted as leeks turned out to be garlic chives.
AND by tomorrow they maybe something else, who knows, the mystery of my leeks.
Wyevale Garden Centre for compost for the strawberry tower.
Was told we need John Innes 3
So got JI 3 times 3 and multipurpose times 3.
Back at the LG, I continued to split the bulbs now and got planting them in bed number 1, whilst Sukh connected three water butts and treated the shed.
My mum used to love her garden and she planted so much in her garden in Derby, flowers and fruit trees. I thought of mum and decided to plant some fruit trees in memory of mum. Will get something special.
Wednesday 13th April
Swarkestone Garden centre to shop for fruit trees.Bought a blueberry bush £11.99
Thursday 14th April
Planted french beans in the LG. I had propagated the beans in the conservatory at home.Tuesday 19th April
A very warm day.Dave created a strawberry tower from one of the water butts.
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Strawberry Tower |
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Twigging the mangetout |
There are loads bulbs sprouting up all over the place, I began to dig them up and put them all in one bed. The bed near the pathway, bed 1. That is going to be our flower bed.
What I planted as leeks turned out to be garlic chives.
AND by tomorrow they maybe something else, who knows, the mystery of my leeks.
Wednesday 20th April
Another warm day.Wyevale Garden Centre for compost for the strawberry tower.
Was told we need John Innes 3
So got JI 3 times 3 and multipurpose times 3.
Back at the LG, I continued to split the bulbs now and got planting them in bed number 1, whilst Sukh connected three water butts and treated the shed.
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Looking good |
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Smart, or what ? |
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Our water system |
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