Normally on Bonfire Night, we try to burn any rubbish we have laying around on the plot. We are allowed to have a fire at the allotment but they can only be lit one hour before dusk. We’d been hoping for a dry night on Bonfire Night in order to get rid of some old coppiced branches that had become brittle and were no longer any good for supports. Last year it was wet on Bonfire Night so we had a couple of years’ worth of branches to burn. These were all moved onto plot 30 early in the afternoon.
I’d also got some old fencing panels and pallets to get rid of. I thought they were too wet to burn but I moved a couple of the old fencing panels onto the bed where I was going to light the bonfire. I thought the heat from the fire would dry out the panels and that they would eventually catch fire. Once everything was in place it was late afternoon so I decided to light my bonfire. It took a little while to get it started but once it decided to go it really took hold.
However, once the fire took hold and all the old branches had been added to the fire I decided to add the old fencing panels and see what would happen. At its height, it was difficult to get close to the fire due to the heat. Even though the fencing panels were on the damp side they didn’t stand much chance once they were thrown into the middle of the fire. After a couple of minutes in the flames they were well alight.
We watched the fire burn down until only hot embers remained and the fire was considered safe to be left without causing any damage.
Before starting on getting the bonfire ready we did manage a little bit of harvesting.
I was surprised that the dahlias had survived as on Thursday night the temperature fell to 1.1°C (34.0°F) and I was expecting them to have been transformed into a black mush. As you can see we still had some flowers to pick. The strawberries will hopefully ripen at home.
First, I’m glad to know it was Blogger and not you that was sick. This is a very interesting post. I don’t know much about Bonfire Night and you have some gorgeous dahlias!
We celebrate bonfire because in 1605 Guy Fawkes was part of the Gunpowder Plot and the idea was to blow up King James I and his government which failed. I’m amazed our dahlias are still producing flowers. We need to lift them before any really cold weather arrives but rightly or wrongly I’m leaving them while they are producing flowers for cutting.
After painting the fruit cage frame, shed, bench and greenhouse I was too tired to start fire raising this bonfire night.
I didn’t manage to do anything else on the plot other than sort out the bonfire.