A lovely day today although a fair bit colder than of late. I popped up to the allotment to carry on the general tidy up work that needs to take place at this time of year. This time it was making a start on the area where some of the beans have been grown this year. A few beans are still on the plants drying out but most are now inside drying on newspaper in a bedroom. I must start podding these soon before the girls come back from university as they may wish to get to their beds!
Although I have heard quite a bit about no-dig methods, I still feel that hoeing the area then digging over is the best for our allotment, although we don't dig the permanent areas where all the fruit and the asparagus is. Often a local robin or blackbird will come and have a look and gobble up a few tasty worms or grubs! It also is a good way of getting rid of the grass that seems to invade at times, as well as some perennial weeds such as docks. We don't have any raised beds, originally we did put some wooden borders around some of the areas but they rotted over time and as we know where our paths are there wasn't really much point in replacing them.
The only remaining areas left to dig are where the swing frame is, that our beans grow up, and out of shot a wigwam made from hazel poles. The other structures made from hazel have been moved down to the section of the allotment that they will be needed in next year, and the remaining ones will follow once the remaining beans are harvested.
The pot lemon tree is now fully wrapped up, with just a small area of the soil outside the wrapping to allow for rainwater to go into the pot. There's a slight frost forecast tonight although I don't expect it will be bad and will I think be gone by morning.
I have been leaving the nasturtiums thinking that a frost will kill the leaves and save me having to weed them but it looks like this is a job for the weekend otherwise the leeks and parsnips will disappear under them!
The bird feeder at the allotment is visited by rather excitable coal tits and blue tits, as well as a local tribe of house sparrows. A dunnock cleans up underneath! Starlings are clinging onto the bird feeder in the garden which is way too small for them to get a proper grip but they do seem to get something to eat although they spill a lot of bird food onto the ground. There is a dunnock and a robin that will appreciate the seed scattered on the ground though! The sparrows in the garden will be fat ball shaped soon!
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