What Preps are you doing this week? Part 10

[Medusa]

Oh my goodness GeeGee I am glad that you are ok. Very scary for you but quite a funny story.

[jansman]

This week I have no medical appointments- woo hoo! So I have unbroken days to sort stuff out. I don’t know about anyone else,but my prepping isn’t totally about ‘emergencies’. It’s about domestic routine and organisation,in order to skip along easily in life.
For instance,enough tins of baked beans in storage means that you don’t have to go running for them when needed and wasting time. Time is precious,especially when rather poorly.
So this week I am putting a simple clipboard on the door of the pantry for my wife’s use. I normally sort our stock , and when there are gaps on the shelves I drop it into my phone. I am not a technical guy,but the phone is with me anyway in my cargo pocket,as I have it for health emergencies . My wife leaves her phone everywhere so paper will be easier. We have reduced stock enormously ,everything in date and suitable amounts for one to two people. The girls are not with us now ,so the huge amounts we needed are just not necessary.
Another ‘prep’ is showing my wife how to use our weedkiller. Big property,big weed population! Once every six weeks and takes about thirty minutes. Another is showing how to use hedge clippers. Fortunately there’s not too much hedge nowadays,and I will replace my corded job with cordless to make it even easier for her.
The garden is a big issue for my wife,and it’s as maintenance free as possible. The veg garden was the big one. I decided that it would be raised bedded/ bark chipped etc. 4 years ago. Great move! Fortunately ,apart from two beds,the veg garden is perennial. I have shown her how to sow the seeds for the veg she enjoys that are grown in there! Home grown food happens with no efforts!

Another thing done is a list of local tradesmen/ mates who can deal with stuff on the house. Most of the work here I do,but time and illness is taking that away. So she has a good list of good guys who can deal with stuff. Local blokes who I have known for years,or are their sons! Let’s face it,fixing a leaking roof is good prepping!

[Yorkshire Andy]

Got a naughty letter from the town council about our allotment been uncultivated....

Put no end of stuff in this year and couldn't water it enough early on in the season... Most stuff died.. turned it over with the rotorvator and left it just kept the greenhouse going and chickens clean and fed...

Then went on holiday for a week returned then did my foot to the point for about 5 weeks I could hardly walk .. got to love the council always strapped for cash but can afford first class stamps and a4 colour print outs

I've got a month to improve apparently took me 45 minutes last night to rotorvate the area I'd done about a month and a half ago and turn in the weeds.

I transplanted my strawberry plants again that dry spell saw most of those die as they hadn't got their roots deep down so ripped them out I've got new plants coming ...

Then I took a pump up sprayer and nuked the edges and another area that was a bit too weed infested to turn in

[GeeGee]

Got a naughty letter from the town council about our allotment been uncultivated....

Put no end of stuff in this year and couldn't water it enough early on in the season... Most stuff died.. turned it over with the rotorvator and left it just kept the greenhouse going and chickens clean and fed...

Then went on holiday for a week returned then did my foot to the point for about 5 weeks I could hardly walk .. got to love the council always strapped for cash but can afford first class stamps and a4 colour print outs

I've got a month to improve apparently took me 45 minutes last night to rotorvate the area I'd done about a month and a half ago and turn in the weeds.

I transplanted my strawberry plants again that dry spell saw most of those die as they hadn't got their roots deep down so ripped them out I've got new plants coming ...

Then I took a pump up sprayer and nuked the edges and another area that was a bit too weed infested to turn in

How does that work ? Is it another disgruntled allotment owner who has complained or is it a council inspection ?
I know someone who has allotment she has apple trees nice rosy red apples been a big fuss over the fact that she can't allow anyone to have them for free in case they keel over after chomping on them ( she had a free basket of them ) but then when told left them where they fell and someone complained it was untidy and she had to clear them up and compost them
I never realised that there were so many stipulations to a allotment

[jennyjj01]

Got a naughty letter from the town council about our allotment been uncultivated....

How does that work ? Is it another disgruntled allotment owner who has complained or is it a council inspection ? ...

I never realised that there were so many stipulations to a allotment

Varies by site. There are many stipulations, enforced unevenly.

Mine has a 'site manager' who is also the first port of call for complaining neighbours. He generally visits the site frequently to tend his own plot and is easy going. If a plot is overgrown with weeds or rat infested or just generally untended, he will take complaints, or his own opinion and politely email the offender. He MIGHT escalate to the formal process where rules and 'cultivation targets' will come into play. He reports to a committee who might do a site inspection. Cultivation targets can be very strict and it's often a case of Use it or Lose it.

YA seems to have had the gentle nudge email stage bypassed. I had the email when rats were reported munching my compost heap. Site Manager asked me to meet him on site to discuss within the week and we resolved it by me confirming no meat was going into my heap and by laying ONE trap as a gesture. I feel likely to get a none cultivation or weeds infringement email soon. About 1/5 of the plots are in weedy states, some totally untended. I support enforcement on those because it's a shame to have years long waiting lists. I try to keep that at bay with frequent little gestures like tarping up or digging one bed. Tarping counts as cultivation.

[Yorkshire Andy]

I've got 2 trays of brassicas to put in, in the greenhouse.. it'll get another rotorvate later on this week then I'll bring them in under netting tunnels

I'm going to do a batch load of current cuttings too this back end and do one half as soft fruit little maintenance then on half the plot as they are cropping (and blooming expensive to buy in the supermarket)

I've just been physically unfit to do much for over a month (capsulitis of the big toe / metatarsal joint) but I'm back on my feet now laced into big haix combat boots (Dr advised walking boots for stiff sole / support )

I've kept the weeds knocked back to the point nothing got to the point of seeding and there's about 4 plots WAY worse than mine so I think I'll be in the good books as less than 24 hours from the post mark it's been actioned

Currently growing apples / pears / plums..

Harvested earlier this year a few strawberrys, raspberrys, gooseberrys, red / black / white currents..

Dad weighed off the gooseberrys and there was £45 based on Tesco's price per kg

But under the weeds the one surviving marrow plant has done well..

Once I graft the spuds up I topped them last night I'm planting field beans as it's a food crop / green manure for next year being nitrogen fixing

[GillyBee]

When I had my plot, I had a good sized batch down to autumn raspberries. At one point I was picking a kilo a day. I think the kids ate half, the rest went into jam for the winter. I dont miss the labour of the plot but I do miss those raspberries. They just don't do well in my current garden.

[Yorkshire Andy]

When I had my plot, I had a good sized batch down to autumn raspberries. At one point I was picking a kilo a day. I think the kids ate half, the rest went into jam for the winter. I dont miss the labour of the plot but I do miss those raspberries. They just don't do well in my current garden.

I put in 8 rooted twigs 2 years ago they are spreading nicely

Little man has loved the allotment from toddling age he sussed ouchie brambles he's a dab hand at picking them he will scrump for a good hour before returning home for supper

[jansman]

I shall knock a couple of temporary shelves together today to season squash on at the end of the month. I normally stack them on the log piles ,but I have plastic tarps on those - not good for vegetables. Come the frosts there’s room in the outbuildings. Runner beans need picking too. Some we will eat,the rest for the freezer.
Got to go to the post office with some important stuff,and at the same time I shall send some Egyptian onion sets to my elderly aunt who is still a fabulous gardener.

[Frnc]

Printed off some notes I'd made about emergency bike repairs. I print something every month to stop the jets drying up.

Put the notes in a spare A4 plastic zip lock bag. I got a few of these to keep maps in (obviously I have a proper map case). I'll keep it in my bike bag. I don't bother carrying paper maps normally, but I probably will if I start doing longer rides, eg overnight. Komoot is usually OK, but it did eat a lot of my battery one time, on a three hour ride. For some reason it kept the screen on most of the time. I use it for voice nav, so it shouldn't do that. I'll carry a small powerbank as well if I do.

Printer only prints black if a colour cartridge costing nearly as much as the printer is inserted. A pretty diabolical setup if you ask me. So I put a bit of colour in my notes to stop the colour jet drying.

Map case
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0044LX1I4/

Zip lock bags
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002FKLO6M/