Thursday 3 January 2013

A rain-free digging opportunity

What a useful way to start a new year: mild and rain free! Having today received the news that 2012 was the 2nd wettest year on record in the UK, I used the opportunity of a day of dry weather to begin preparing one of the large beds on our allotment for planting. A look around the rest of the allotment shows just how heavy the rain has been in recent months. Paths are still mud tracks and who beds have been flooded so often that nothing grows on them.

One of the biggest tasks coming up therefore is to put in drainage and pave some of the paths. We will dig some channels across the allotment and fill them with gravel. These will drain into the existing pond from which we will dig an overflow channel to a new pond to go into the bottom corner of the allotment.

The ground in the chicken run is also very muddy so we will be putting guttering onto the henhouses connected to waterbutts. This will help to stop rainwater leaking into the nest boxes therefore prolonging the life of the henhouses.

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