Weeds

We didn't make it to the allotment last weekend, and as a result the plot was covered in weeds again, so I spent half an hour weeding while the kids played with water.

Having emptied the trug'o'weeds into the compost heap and dug out some more couch grass I got on with planting out the broad beans which were too small last time. The beans that are in seems to have been nibbled by insects, nothing too drastic and looking around neighbouring plots have the same problem.

A few fairly leggy Broccoli plants went in  too, in the area where I'd planted parsnips which didn't germinate. These will probably be replaced by some of the better ones growing in the greenhouse, I'm not sure what made me plant them other than not wanting to waste seedlings...

Leeks are up now, really tiny compared to the seedlings I have growing in the greenhouse. Planting seeds too early was not such a good idea. I should just get away with the Borlotti beams and sweetcorn in the greenhouse, but next year I need to set up a planting calendar.

No showing from the spuds yet. Hopefully I didn't under-chit them.

Just before leaving I weedkilled pretty much all the non-cultivated parts of the plot to keep weeds down and prepare for digging in a week or so when I'm on holiday.

At home, sowing loads of seeds-mainly flowers. I'm using up old packs that are past their plant-by date, putting several seeds into each pot to see if I get any results.

Seeds

Planted courgettes and pumpkins in the greenhouse.

First spuds are in

The early spuds went in on Saturday, along with some broad beans. The bed they went into was double dug and manured about a month ago, then covered in plastic while the spuds chitted. I was expecting it to be pretty dry, but the earth was very damp so I forked over the row before planting and didn't bother raking. Three kilos of Rocket earlies did two and a half rows spuds about a foot apart, just dropped into a troweled hole about six inches deep.

Broad beans carried on at the end of the half row. I don't know if beans should share a bed with potatoes but planting is driven by availability of space so this year it'll all go where there is space avaiable when seedlings are ready to come out of the greenhouse. There are another dozen or so plants almost ready.

There were a few bits of couch grass growing from inch-long bits of root which I hadn't picked out while digging/forking. The allotment won't be seeing a rotovator until it's been hand dug to get the couch grass out!

The weedkiller has effective, leaving a swathe of death which marks the next bed to be dug. I'll nip down one evening and windmill some more; once the weeds are red the newly weedkilled bit can go under plastic till it gets dug.

Seeded the onion bed-need to hoe it next time. Dug some very deep rooted weeds out of the seedbed where my early sowings are not doing much.

Plenty of seedlings in the greenhouse: Borlotti beans and sweetcorn will need beds digging next month.

Next job:dig!

Slash and burn

A couple of short stings on the plot. Friday was an inset day for the kids, so I took the day off and we went to the allotment in the morning. I dug out the small patch of raspberry canes while the kids dug holes and went to talk to Brian's chickens. After lunch Jess and I planted Borlotti beans, broccoli, marigolds, more tomatoes and chillis.
Back at the allotment today Jake and I burnt the raspberry canes.
Garlic leaves are slightly yellowing,
Some of the white onions are ok, not much sign of growth from the red onions or shallots. No signs of germination from the leeks or parsnips yet.

Forking ell

Another afternoon spent digging couch grass out of the bed, though I now have a fully dug bed warming up under black polythene, waiting for beans later on. The garlic is growing well and the onions seem ok but they haven't really done too much. The leeks and parsnips which went in a fortnight ago haven't shown at all yet so I hope they didn't go in too early. The cloche over the leeks is pretty crap, it's sagged with the rain, I need to buy some proper cloches from ebay. The parsnip seeds are now tucked up under some fleece.

I am not an organic gardener. Roundup went on the remaining uncultivated bits at the top of the plot, including the path down the middle. This is my next bit to dig, hopefully starting on Friday unless I dig up the raspberries, much will depend on delivery of muck.

Other people's plots are really well dug over. This is not good when mine is still 75% weedscape. What will the neighbours think?

Tomatoes are germinating on the windowsill, no sign of chillis or broad beans yet. Rhubarb is doing really well.

The kids enjoyed themselves digging holes today, they'll be gutted when their 'craters' need to be filled in with muck for planting pumpkins.

Next jobs: score more free muck, dig,weed,dig, plant

First seeds in the ground

It's probably a touch too early but today I finished off the seed bed and planted the first few rows of seeds. There are leeks under the cloches and a few rows of parsnip at the front of the bed. The kids had a go with their new child-sized fork and spade, Jess weeded her plot a little and raked it down, Jake dug holes. Little else was done, the second bed needs double digging to finish and forking over to remove couch grass roots and the parsnips could do with covering with a bit of fleece as it's still pretty cold. We met Martin from the plot next door, his large pile of muck was 60 quid delivered so I think I will be picking more up in Jon's trailer as that's a shedload of money for shite...

At home we planted a tray of tomatoes-yellow tumbling toms, red Sweet Millions (cherry), Moneymakers and Super Marmelades (beefsteaks), mainly for the greenhouse. I planted a tray of chillis too, so the invasion of the windowsills has finally begun. In the greenhouse Jake and I planted 50 odd broad beans for the allotment as the bed they're going into isn't ready yet.

Next job..digging. Must get the second bed ready for the broad beans within the next three weeks.

Another hard day at the allotment

Double dug about half of the second bed, stripped out a few raspberries amd leveled the end of the first bed to become a seed bed.

I dug in all the compost we picked up last weekend so we're going to need another load, ideally delivered unless I can get hold of a larger trailer.
The garlic is coming up quite well and a few onions are sprouting too, first signs of new crops, exciting. We will be planting leeks in the new seed bed this weekend once we've been to Norcuts to buy the kids some child-size tools.

Last week's visit

Jees and I went down on Saturday afternoon, planting red onions and shallots to fill the first bed. I also knocked up a very dubious compost heap out of three pallets. The heap is pretty badly constructed and will need rebuilding.

We were only there for an hour and a half, not really long enough to do much.

Allotment plans

First stage- weed and dig over existing beds.

Not straying too far, just sorting out what is already there ready for planting.

Build compost bin from pallets.

Next stage- second bed at the front of the plot. Lots of weeds but some has been covered in polythene so should be ok. Want to have this done by the end of February, incorporating the leaf mould I already have at home.

Next- kids' plot- clear of weeds, prepare areas to plant some of Jake's tomatoes and some pumpkins. Kids can then sow flowers around pumpkins for a nice looking plot- try to choose companion flowers for the rest of the crops.

Weed strawberries, buy straw.

Clear area between kids' plot and blackberries for tomatoes.

Next- clear area between compost heap and raspberries for sweet corn this will become the soft fruit area next year.

By this time all the existing beds should be clear.

Plant next lot of crops
First bed- last 1/4 Not sure yet. Likely to be some potatoes but it hasn't been maured. Could also do some climbing beans put it's at the SE corner of the plot so they will shade other crops.

Second bed- Peas and broad beans, beans to dry.

Kids Bed- pumpkins and some tomatoes

Gap between raspberries and compost- sweetcorn.

Greenhouse
Tomato seedlings- start some now to raise in the greenhouse, more in late February/early March for outdoors. Also get some beef tomato seeds to grow in greenhouse, raised bed and allotment to see where works best.

Pumpkin seedlings

Peas in gutters.

Dried bean sedlings

Sweet pea
Marigolds

Chillis for greenhouse patio and raised beds.

Next allotment project
Remove the raspberry canes, gaining a bed.

Double digging is doubleplus hardwork

Finished digging the first bed, first plantings, originally uploaded by mike1727.

I cheated by (deeply) forking over the first bit of the bed. That seemed to be ok at fishing out weeds but couch grass appeared like exploding spaghetti in the rest so deep digging was called for. Dig, fish out handful of roots, turn soil, pick out the bits you didn't see first time. Repeat till end of row.Fork bottom of trench.goto 10. One dustbin and two trugs of weeds, carpet amd crap later the top quarter of the bed is done. It's a bit higher than the rest but needs leveling so it will come out roughly flat.

I'm concerned that I've left some fragments of couch grass in there. Time will tell, I'll spot weed with fork or roundup later in the year if weeds come up.

Garlic and white onions in, reds and shallots to go in next weekend, leaving about one row for leeks later in the spring

Not sure about the rest of the bed yet. Too square for the amount of broad beans or peas I want to plant.

Down the plot

first bed 3/4 done., originally uploaded by mike1727.

After two years on the waiting list I finally got am allotment. It's in a bit of a state, beds needs serious weeding and digging because I don't think it has been properly worked for a while. There are two raspberry thickets which need to come out cos they're in the way and pretty crap canes.
Apart from that it seems fine, soil ok but a bit stony so will need manure, probably in the autumn now.

I need a shed....

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/32796/Giant-store-opens-in-Radlett?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bikebiz%2FiOZl+%28Bicycle+business+news+with+BikeBiz%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

It ain't what you do

I did the longest ride in a few years yesterday- 40 miles on the St Albans Rotary Charity ride, riding north from St Albans towards Hitchin. It wasn't a huge distance compared to what most club cyclists do every weekend but for someone more used to a 5 mile commute and a few 20 mile rides it was plenty! The ride went well, even though my average speed was a bit lower than what I was expecting. There were a couple of steep hils- I walked one just outside Preston but scraped up the other steep climbs, including a 1 in 10 just outside Kimpton which I was quite happy with. There were a few good downhills too, clocking 36.9 mph freewheeling down one of them. My power-to-weight (or more like my weight to power) ratio isn't exactly optimal for hills...The weather was kind - the forecast rain held off until after I'd finished, though it could have been a bit warmer.

There were plenty of people riding too, though most were doing the 10 or 20 mile version. Plenty of kids out there too, including one boy riding with his dad wearing Welwyn Wheelers kit- chapeux to the youg fella as he was keeping well ahead of me for the entire circuit. It would be nice to get my kids up to that level, I'll have to work on that one over the next few years.

It was good training for Ride for a Reason next month. You are sponsoring me on that, aren't you?...

Sponsor me

Sponsor me, originally uploaded by mike1727.

In January 2008 I had a stroke.

Unlike the 2/3 of stroke sufferers who die or are left permanently disabled I recovered fully from the symptoms very quickly, regaining speech, movement and what passes for my normal mental functions within a few days and leaving hospital within a week.

Two years later I'm going to ride the Ride for a reason charity bike ride to rise money for the Stroke Association, a charity which provides funding for research into strokes and support for survivors and their carers.

Sponsor me. You know it makes sense- someday the person having a stroke could be you, or a close friend/relative.

Click on this link, give what you can. It's not (just) about the bike.
www.justgiving.com/fatty-on-a-bike

New bike coming

Nice Hurdle, originally uploaded by OregonVelo.

Like a kid before Christmas

The insurance still hasn't some since my MTB was hit at the end of February- no apparent progress from anyone yet so I'm left in a situation where I have no 'proper' off road bike. The pub bike is just about off road capable but gears are limited and it's really heavy. Off-road lights are required too since my Vistalite batteries failed some time ago. To top it all I'm getting sick of using my road bike in the wet since the detachable mudguards are a bit of a pain in the ass and I want the expensive groupset to stay working for a long time.

All these things at a time when the bike to work benefit window is opening. Oh dear...So, a brief battle with conscience and I'm on the max voucher.

Bikery ensues. I don't want a mountain bike since there should be one (or a rebuild) coming sometime this summer when the insurance is sorted out. I want to be able to ride it on easy off-road, mostly when I'm with the kids- the farmer's track up to Heartwood forest and local hardpacked bridleways through Symmondshyde are really the sort of riding I'm thinking about. It needs decent full-length mudguards mounted on real eyelets and a rack. It has to be reasonably fast on the road. That makes it Hybrid vs Cyclocross...

Hybrids....hmm, there are a few around but most of the lighter ones like the Boardman look less than off-road capable.

'Crosser then!

A quick look around at my budget point (pretty much as low as possible given the fact I want to buy decent lights) reveals the Specialised Tricross triple as the bike for me. Nothing top-spec but it will take guards and racks- essential for the bike's winter commuting role.

Now..lights.. Hope springs eternal as a UK manufacturer with a good reputation and long-term spares support. The Hope vision 2 sits in my price band and will do just fine.

Halfords can source all of this for me, I just need to wait until the voucher arrives, should be within the next few weeks.

Result!

Went to see the bike at Rock and Road on Friday, looks excellent.

Please Mr Motorist Watch Out For Me

Please Mr Motorist Watch Out For Me, originally uploaded by carltonreid.

I was hit by a van a couple of weeks ago. Riding home from work down Hatfield road, huge bang, sense of flying, ground impact. Shocked and bruised but otherwise ok- helmet cracked but the rucksack i was wearing protected me from road rash. Police and ambulance turned up, I went home in a police car. The police won't record the crash since I wasn't badly enough injured, despite the fact the driver overtook me in a no-overtaking area.

I'm ok now- though I was off work for 3 days with shock and bruising. Shock isn't a pleasant experience at all. The mountain bike is f*cked , the day after I spent time replacing the drivetrain to get it moving again...

The van's insurers have accepted liabilty and will pay, I'm going to claim for a personal injury too, but really I'd rather the whole thing hadn't happened.

BSO- bicycle shaped object

Asda style bike assembly, originally uploaded by mike1727.

BBC TV consumer rights programme Watchdog has just run an article on assembling flatpack bikes bought from supermarkets for under £100. The article is fairly good, since the bikes are put together by normal, unbikeskilled people, just the sort of people who would mistakenly buy a cheap and nasty bike.

"All of our volunteers struggled with their instructions and the tools often seemed inadequate for the job. All five made crucial mistakes that left their bikes unsafe to ride..."Whether it was down to our cyclists and their assembly, or problems with the individual bikes we happened to buy, they all ended up with faults that only someone in the know would be able to put right."

There's a blog about BSOs here, here's a good article on the program in Bikeradar .

And here's the evidence in the wild- outside the Quadrant shops in Marshalswick.

First, if there's one thing that pisses me off, it's shite riding of bikes around St Albans. The other day I was driving the kids into town, and as we drove up to the bridge next to the station this 20ish lad bimbles his way on to the road, riding between the yellow lines- ie in the gutter- but looking like he's going to peel off in any direction pretty soon. I clocked him, giving him a wide berth as I pass and join the queue at the traffic lights, keeping tabs in my mirrors. Sure enough he pulls out in front of another car then fires down the lane to jump the lights. Watching him as he goes up Victoria street he jumps the next set, then turns left down a one-way against the traffic.

People like this are the main reason reason bike riders get slagged off by drivers. This small(ish) group of stupid, risk taking, law breaking twats wind 'normal' people up so much that they see stupid roadsense as the average biker's skills. The result is that that those of us who do act as traffic get slagged off as roadscum by a large proportion of drivers and get agrro from the very aggressive few.

Next, retailing. This morning me and the kids went for a ride to meet my wife for lunch. I was riding the town bike since my mtb is still in bits and the townie needed air in the tubes especially the pancake front. I didn't have a pump on the bike and I didn't realise until we were on our way. No problem, plenty of time. We diverted, arriving at a garage to use their air line with limited success so we pushed on towards the triathlon shop on Hatfield road. They're bound to have a pump and probably have some HRMs for me to look at since my Polar has failed and I'm looking for a replacement some nice bikes to look at too, I definitely need some new shorts and I bet they've got some funky accessories to look at too. I have my card, I've just been paid. I'm impluse-buying retail fodder.

"Can I borrow your pump for a second please? I'm out on a ride with the kids and I don't have a pump"
"We don't have one to lend to people. We can sell you one"
Me- fx- looks flabbergasted
"People come in all the time to borrow a pump"
Me- fx- remains flabbergasted. Mutters about duty to the community, could charge people £1 for charity to use a pump. Leaves shop. Rides carefully for the rest of the day before topping up at home.

Doesn't this shop realise the value of good customer relations? A quick go on a track pump isn't really much of a hassle, after all. You could buy one for buttons and chain it to a wall inside if you think it will get nicked. Yes, I appreciate that you're a business and you'd like to sell pumps and being a triathlon shop you probably don't give a crap about a fat guy on a £300 hybrid with his kids or a scruffy teens from a few streets down or anyone else who just wants to put some air in a tyre. I would've spent £40+ pretty much without any sales talk. That kid you turn away could grow up into someone who would buy a bike from you in five years time, that older person could recommend you to a grandchild.

Fuck you, Triathlon Zone. Enjoy your karma.

cracked rim

cracked rim, originally uploaded by mike1727.

Today's design flip-flop

Today's design flip-flop, originally uploaded by mike1727.