The only downside to the allotment has been neighbour trouble. One side decided to start to dig up the shared up path to extend his plot onto the path ! That resulted in the first confrontation.....all the members of the allotment committee have visited and told him that he is to maintain the path as it is not dig it up. So with him first stealing from our plot and then trying to claim the path as growing ground, he needs to be kept a careful eye on......he's had my calm version of confrontation...not the next time though !
Then yesterday the other side decided she would launch at us in a completely out of the blue, it came from nowhere this rant , again over paths. This neighbour doesn't want a dividing path between the allotments, she thinks its ok to dig up to the boundary and then walk on our plot. She is going to be hauled in front of the committee as she refused to see sense yesterday and just ranted and raved at us and the secretary of the allotment association !Kim tried to speak to her, I gave up and rather have a row I left her to her insane logic.
The white sticks were put in by the allotment association to mark the centre of the pathway when the original plot was divided into two half plots. There is supposed to be a path at least two feet wide so a foot either side of the centre line.
That then gives both parties room to tend their beds and have access with a wheel barrow. Except the loony next door has dug up and planted up to the centre line ! If we'd done the same then we'd be walking on each others crops every time we needed to walk along the end of the beds.
This was how it was marked out when we took over the plot :
Then as it is today, a half path down our side and no path down the
loony's side. The funny thing is she said she didn't have to maintain a path
because she could use Pete's path that he keeps neat and tidy, so why
did she need a path when she could use his ! ....Priceless !
Oh well, not to worry, it did cross my mind last night to execute a midnight stealth glyphosate weedkiller raid on both neighbours crops, kill off their crops and hope that they gave it all up as a bad job.....only joking...honest ;0)
We got the whole plot weeded yesterday in between arguments...lol and even helped the association by clearing a stretch of the road verge to give folk some more parking space.The bushes were out to the level with the container before.
Sylvia (our back neighbour) brought us a couple of steak pies to have for tea as a thank you....they were lovely and at least we've got some nice plot neighbours.I did ask her if she could move in next to us as a swap for the idiot....but she just laughed and said she liked being on the end because then she had only half the worry of a bad neighbour.
A few pics of where things are at :
Our first beefsteak tomato.
The sunflowers should be ready to go outside next week (chicken feed as well as adding some colour to the plot)
The first chilli starting to develop, all the other plants are just starting to flower so fruits should follow.
Even the struggling Pear tree has put on some new growth, so there is hope yet. We'll need to put another pear tree in though as we did't read the lable and this one needs another to fertilize it ....so no pears until it gets a mate.
The squashes are going mad, new growth is appearing daily and they are just starting to climb up the netting.
The onions are coming along and now bulbing up nicely. The first crop of radish made way for a couple of rows of spring onions.
Courgettes and a couple of rows of beetroots. The beets need thinning today before they get too big.
The butter beans are just about touching the top of the frame now, no flowers as such on them. The dwarf beans at the other side are all flowering now so we should start to get some french beans very soon.
The swedes are struggling a little with something eating the tops, I'm not sure if its birds, slugs or flea beetles but something is nibbling away at the leaves. The turnips next to them are just showing above the soil surface now.
All the brassicas are doing fine under the mesh. The purple sprouts I'm really hoping do well.
We tied the peas up as they were starting to flop about and look untidy. I think I might sow another couple of rows of peas into bed two where the failed parsnips were growing but have now been dug over.
Last but not least the mixed spuds are just in flower. I'm having to try hard not to dig some up for new potatoes. I'll give it another couple of weeks before lifting a plant just to see.
So that's about it really, it's just coming up 5am and I've been up an hour or so as I just couldn't sleep......I think I might have a wander round to the allotment before breakfast and do an hour or so then back for a butty when Kim has woken from a nightly coma !
