Lee Moody

Dirty work

Authored

This week has involved some more dirty work. I don't mean the kind which involves moving earth or manure, that's not dirty work. I'm talking about tidying up the mess of other humans.

A slightly stomach turning bucket of human detritus: muddy plastics, rusted metal.
Some of the bags of disintegrating plastic really turns my stomach. You think, what was in there which is now leaking out?

Just when you're getting somewhere you spot a little something. Before you know it, an inch below ground, you find enough plastic and crap to fill a few more rubble bags – including long overpowered weed suppressing membrane, water bottles, rusty old beer cans, batteries, a rusted HSBC pen, and torn bags of mystery.

Open bin-liner sized bags showing rubbish collected from the plot. Includes lots of plastic, including disintegrating bags of compost, weed suppressing membrane – covered with mud and entangled with nature.
The earth hides bags and bags of human rubbish.
15 or more sacks of rubbish in green and black, large plastic bags. All neatly tied and arranged in a corner. Behind them larger items which would not fit including roof slates and scrap metal.
I've bagged a lot up, including the carpet which I started cutting up last week.

Not everything abandoned on the plot has been bad. We found a blue chair, which I've kept. It has seen better days but is a welcome place to perch with a tea after hours at work.

Now we also have a second chair for guests. R spotted it, dumped outside someone's house. It (literally) rocks. Though its pink, elasticated upholstery is frayed and coming apart – we might be taking it to the dump this time next year – for now I think it'll make a nice addition for reading or otherwise lounging.

Two old, found chairs sit empty beneath a tree. They're inviting.
Our two chairs.

I drove to the allotment for the first time to deliver our new chair, and deliver manure. It's nice being able to drive.

A slightly rusty, beaten-up, old rocking chair sits sideways in the boot of a car. Its pink, elasticated upholstery is frayed and coming apart. The car is at the allotment, surrounded by greenery. Through the open boot window Sheffield city tower blocks are visible on a distant hill.
Special delivery. I love the greenery in this photo, contrasting with the car and the tower blocks of the city – visible through the rear windscreen.

It hasn't been all about junk this week. I also moved (yet more) top soil to deepen the very shallow bed, digging in a few barrows of well-rotted manure to improve the soil.

The bed is about 2.3 metres wide, divided into two with a small 30cm route to walk between them. Each is about 2 metres long, one for onions (gifted from a neighbour last week), and another for peas.

A view of the cleared area of the allotment. Potatoes are protected by a white, fleece-alternative. Behind a freshly dug area. Bamboo canes in two rows meet in the middle, reinforced by another cane in the centre of the start and end of the rows, to form a structure for climbers.
The onions are in to the left. The structure of bamboo canes will support mostly mangetout peas (which get quite tall).

Right now the bamboo structure is more suited to beans. Beans would have no problem winding up the bamboo but pea tendrils might have a tougher time holding on. I'll add jute twine or chicken mesh to make for a better pea support.

In other news, previous sowings are beginning to emerge!

Small, green seedlings emerge from a black plastic pot; they are yet to develop true leaves. A wooden lollipop stick indicates they are Cosmos seedlings.
Cosmos flowers have sprouted under the coldframe.
Lush green potato shoots emerge in rows. Between them a clear row of bok choy seedlings stand out against a smattering of weed seedlings
My first early potatoes have also sprouted! They're looking healthy. Between them is a clear row of baby bok choy seedlings too. I don't know how I'll weed these effectively and will wait a week or two before attempting to thin them out.

These allotment updates are chunky, huh? So much is happening! I'll save this weekend's goings on for an update next week, I think.