Mrs Tea's Allotment

Hello all,

We bought an old terraced house from the early 20th century in 2014. Those old miner's houses didn't have the space to add a garden/allotment, so the gardens/allotments were moved off the actual house. Our lies about 30 yards off the house behind our garage, and is surrounded by thick hedges.

Most of the plots have been bought up by a local lad who is using them for storage for his building company, and only six can still be considered proper gardening plots. Unfortunately only 3 of them are still maintained. It's a shame really especially when you consider how many people wait for an allotment (including my sister and her husband). I think if people don't use their plot of land they should give others the option to use it.

Anyway, this is our allotment, it's wild and unmaintained, but we are working on it.

The greenhouse you can see is coming down in the next few weeks.



Text & Images ©Beautiful Northeast 2015-2016

 

Very nice @MrsTea

Looks like you've got a fair old plot of land there to do something with

 

There's plenty there to keep you busy MrsTea....enjoy!

 

Thank you all !

Hi John, yes, this is the greenhouse that is so badly damaged. The pictures are from last May. Now even more panes are missing or broken. We were thinking about replacing the panes, but so far haven't found a good offer. The brackets for the panes are missing, so we have to replace them too. As things stand for now it might be cheaper to completely replace the greenhouse.

 

That's a great sized plot you have there, so close to home too...it's perfect.

The greenhouse looks to be a good size too, is it 8 x 8?

Personally, I would keep the greenhouse and shop around perhaps asking manufacturers for a glazing pack, and re glaze it. The fittings are just standard "z" and "w" clips like these.



And they are pennies to buy http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FREE-DELIVERY-Greenhouse-Glass-Pane-Glazing-Clips-/261144397786

With greenhouses as soon as one pane goes wind can get in and blow more out, which is probably what has happened to yours, also after a few years the clips corrode and need replacing. Other than that a glass greenhouse like yours should put up with the highest of winds our weather can throw at it....mine certainly has and here in Cumbria we have had some proper hoolies blow here. After eight years or so I'm just at the point of replacing a few clips, their failure has meant the first few broken panes caused by weather.

I would think it is worth investing in new glazing, and would ask if you can to post some more photos of the greenhouse, closer ones to see any damage to the frame etc.

Keep us posted.

Steve...

 

Have you checked local classifieds and free ads? Your often find people giving away greenhouses if the buyer dismantles and takes it away, you could probably get enough glass to replace your missing plains quite cheaply like this.

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Hello Steve, hello IceColdRum,

The greenhouse is 6x8, and thank you for the link to get some clips. It actually never occurred to me that I could check the local classified ads for people giving away greenhouses they no longer want. I will definitely have a look, with us living fairly rural there is a good chance that people want to get rid of some old greenhouses or maybe only the glass panes?

Steve, I will take some photos on the weekend, but from what I know the frame is absolutely fine and very sturdy, it's only the panes that are missing.

 

I have just posted an ad in the local classified ads, asking for some free glass panes. You never know.. shy bairn gets nowt, right?

 

Often people will sell them for £1 or so if they intend to scrap the greenhouse anyway and if you have any special size panes you can cut them to size with a cheap hand held glass cutting tool without much trouble

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Also look up freecycle and freegle, there is a clue in the name and advertise there.

Steve...

 

I will advertise there now, thank you Steve

 

My propagator has arrived! (better late than never )

I am now contemplating what to sow? Definitely chillies for the better half, and I have seeds for round cucumber (lemon cucumber) & kohlrabi which I have been looking forward to sowing since last year.

Do you think it's worth sowing tomatoes, or is it easier just to get the plants?

 

The season has officially started for us!

After a quick but fairly successful shopping trip to our local garden centre, we decided to finally make a start in our garden. We hadn't touched it since last September, because the summer was a complete wash-out, and then we went on holiday.

Quite to our surprise the garden wasn't in too bad a shape, but I think weeding will keep us busy until the end of ours days.

This might sound silly, but my sister had a dream a few weeks ago. She dreamt that roses were growing wildly in the bed in the far corner of our garden. And that my husband and I had an argument because he wanted yellow roses but I don't like them (well I do, but in my sister's dream I didn't). Today we decided to move our two existing roses into this bed, and add another two. One of them a yellow rose.



The mini bed where our two roses used to live has new tenants as well.


Despite the wet weather and the considerable length of the grass, my husband managed to cut most of it. Unfortunately our grass trimmer isn't playing along. We will give it another go tomorrow, but I think a new one might be in order.

Tomorrow I will sow the seeds that I bought today, plus some from last year, so watch this space!

And finally... not even gel nails survive digging in the dirt. I know I could wear gloves, but where is the fun in that?

See you soon! x


Text & Images ©Beautiful Northeast 2015-2016

 

Today I finally made use of the latest addition to my gardening education: my electric propagator.

Let's see how the seeds develop, because I admittedly have no talent for growing seedlings. They normally die a tragic death caused by overwatering.. or they freeze.. or both. So wish me luck!




The following seeds have found a new home in the propagator:

Kohlrabi - both green and purple
Cucumber Crystal Apple (they're round)
Tumbling Tom tomatoes
Lovage
Brussels Sprouts
Scotch Bonnet Chillies

I will keep you up to date about their development.

See you soon! x

Text & Images ©Beautiful Northeast 2015-2016