Tuesday 17th April 2007 - Weather: Overcast but warm!

I worked this morning so arrived at the allotment just after 12noon. The sky was very dark and heavy and it was quite a muggy afternoon. Today's challenge, get those brassicas in the ground. The new brassica bed is on plot number 2 over with the onions. The theory is, the leeks and Japanese onions will be out of the ground by June leaving me ample room for brussel sprouts and brocolli and any other brassicas that I manage to get planted. The garlic and shallots will be around a bit longer, but I don't think they will cause a problem. The only weeds in this area were buttercups and the volunteer spuds that were left behind last year. Makes me sooooo cross when I dig up a potato volunteer and find a huge, gorgeous, damage free spud that would have been super last autumn. Anyhow, I was rewarded with a handful of little new pots - I reakon they were red duke of york. My darling had them with his chop for supper.

I planted 14 red cabbage and 14 cabbage 'Greyhound'. These are a bit of a cheat as I bought these as already growing plantlets from the nursery. I have completely failed 3 sowings of cabbage this spring, so rather than get left behind, I spend a whole five pound note and treated myself to these. Twenty eight cabbages for a fiver must be good value? I have sat here for ages trying to work out how much each cabbage would cost, but my maths fails me....never did get my o'level in it.

In between these 2 rows I planted Oak leaf lettuce which I had started at home in the greenhouse. Hopefully they will have been harvested long before the cabbages become big.

Finally I planted my cauliflowers 'All the year round'. I have been told that these are a good do-er, and as I have struggled with summer caulis, we shall see.

Everything was watered in, a little lime was scattered and the netting was erected. Have to say, GREAT netting! I brought some net from the aquatic shop for £20. It is netting to cover a pond to keep herons and cats out. Don't ask the measurements, I forgot to look, but it came in a large bag, with 16 or so pegs, it was double the width of my allotment and hugely wide, meaning I was able to net the brassicas in one easy swoop. Definately going to pick up another one when I am there.

Everything that is in and growing, is growing well. The 'Fortune' peas that I planted a couple of weeks ago are coming on well, and the Swiss Chard 'Bright Lights' has overwintered beautifully and will keep us in greens until the spinach grows.

Time was pressing on, so a quick harvest before hot footing it to school to collect the nippers. Picked the last of the purple sprouting brocolli, took my first harvest from the 9 star perennial brocolli, picked my first ever amazing cauliflower and gathered some rhubarb. Considering I was only there for two and a half hours, I think I achieved a lot. Next visit I am going to get the last of my spuds in now that the PSB has all finished.

Friday 13th April 2007 - Weather: overcast but lovely and warm

Adding a couple of photos of the pond. It is now in the final stages and is as twee as can bee! I think my darling would like it to be slightly more grown up, but I like it to be fun, and once the plants all grow I think it will look more settled. (It is the floating plastic ducks he dislikes, but they are the childrens!) At the very front, before the new turf I have raked the ground hard, top dessed the grassy area and reseeded it. The area was quite bald anyhow due to an old climbing frame we had there, and after all the work, what was left of the grass was in pretty bad shape. I will post a photo in a few weeks once this all greens up and the pond plants start to grow.

To the left of the pond as you look at it is a boggy area which now has 2 gunneras planted. The dark looking soil is actually upturned turves that were left over. They will help keep the soil in place whilst everything roots, and will break down and enrich the soil for the bog lovers. At the base is a slate retaining wall. The gunneras are covered in old fern fronds at the moment just until no more frosts are threatened.

To the right is the pot on it's side full of pebbles which has water trickling from it. Here we get the sound of running water and the pond receives some oxygen.

The leaping green fish was mums, given to her by nan, and now it is in our pond looking rather splendid I think. Some of the plants we have are marsh marigolds, a selection of different iris, including a varigated one which I received from Shirlton on the a4all site. There are a couple of reeds, couple of lillies, arrowleaf, umbrella leaf (I have no idea what those two's proper names are) and a few other bits and bobs. I would like the whole back shelf full and at least another 2 waterlillies, but they don't come cheap, so will keep my eyes peeled on things like Freecycle and sales.

Easter Weekend 2007 - Weather - splendid!

This is a little add on to the usual allotment stuff just to mention our new and improved pond at home. We have really done the majority of the work over this Easter weekend. We had a small pond (I will have to try and find a photo), but it really didn't work for us. The fish struggled as room was tight, I wanted much more planting, and the space around it really wasn't being used to it's full potential, so, out with the old pond, and in with the new!

We created a much larger pond - 12 foot long and 7 foot wide. I don't know how deep! There is a large shelf at the back of the pond for marginal plants. This is about calf deep. Then the deeper part at the front of the pond is about mid thigh deep.....this is on me.....at 5 foot 3 inches tall!

The original pond was edged with brand new sleepers, but although this kept the kids out, it did look very unatural and made the pond dark. This time we have edged the pond with turf around the front and slate tiles around the back.

To keep the pond clean we have a UV filter and a pump shifting the water through it and then back out again through a pot filled with pebbles. This gives up the trickling sound that I wanted, and helps oxygenate the water.

We have a few plants in there - mostly plants that have been given to us, but I plan eventually to totally fill the rear shelf with greenery. I also have 2 small waterlillies. Again, want more, but these don't come cheap so will have to bide my time.

I will add more photos tomorrow, as I did all the planting up today, and forgot to take any snaps!

Monday 9th April 2007 - Weather: Glorious!

Oh what a beeeeeeee-utiful day! This Easter weekend has been splendid. I was up with the lark today - alarm went off just after 6am and I was on the plot just after 7am. I wanted an early start as I only had until noon as the old boy was off to Southend to join in with all the other bikers. Amazingly for me, not only did I keep notes, but I also took photos!

The broadbean plants that I set out last visit are looking great. All upright and rigid. I still had about 18 seeds left so inbetween each plant, I planted 2 seeds. Hopefully the voles/mice won't get them.

No show of parsnips or radish sown last visit, but that was only 10 days ago...although I thought the radish might have been up by now. I decided to take advantage of the slow growing parsnips, and following on from the half a row of radish that I sowed inbetween the rows of 'snips, I completed the row with a sowing of Lettuce 'Little Gem'.

The sweetpeas that I planted on plot number 2 all looked nicely settled in, and I have now planted a row of Peas 'Fortune' inbetween. I am trying to make much more use of every available space this year. In front of the sweetpeas/peas I forked over a bed the entire width of the allotment and raked it level. The ground is very wet still. I then constructed a 6 foot high netting support and sowed a 4 seed deep bed of Peas 'Alderman'. I will start another batch of Alderman off in the greenhouse in a couple of weeks time to try and get a more continuous crop of peas. I always forget to sow more peas, and they are so great, but so short and sweet.

More digging. Next to the parsnip bed, again on plot 2, I dug over another bed. This is going to be the carrot bed. I plan to broadcast sow my carrots within this bed and will do a packet everytime I visit the allotment. I had about half a packet of Carrots 'Early Nantes 2' so they went in today. I then sowed a row of Spring Onion 'Toga', a red salad onion, along the edge of the section I had just sown carrots in. I am hoping that this will help reduce the carrot fly, but again, trying to make maximum use of every square inch of space! The carrot bed is about 6 foot wide and is the entire width of the allotment so it should be able to take a fair number of carrots....well that is the plan! I will cover them with fleece to also keep the carrot fly off, but I forgot to take scissors to the plot, and my new fleece is waaaaaaay to wide and long so I want to cut it rather than waste it. As this whole bed is only going to fill gradually, I did sow a short row of Radish 'rainbow mix' at the very end.

Getting exhausted now, but I dug another bed, same dimensions as the carrot bed. I did dig this entire plot in the autumn, but as our soil is pretty heavy and wet, it really compacts down, so I find it needs forking through before sowing seeds, especially for the root crops. This is a busy bed! In here I sowed half a row Lettuce 'salad bowl', a whole row of Beetroot 'Detroit and Bulls Blood', half a row of Beetroot 'Opolski', sent to me in late winter by Super Sprout, and a whole row of Turnips 'Purple Top Globe'.

No more digging now - flagging. I tied in the bamboos for the runner beans. I know this is still very early, but if I get all of these jobs done early, when the time comes to plant, if I am short of time, I can get more done. I must say, getting the bean poles in for me, always makes an allotment look 'proper'!

I brought a big old tub of pelleted chicken manure, so the onions, garlic, rhubarb, daffs, peas, broadbeans and globe artichokes all got a couple of handfuls. Should give them all a nice boost.

Last job of the day - harvesting and just standing back and looking at how things are going. The purple sprouting is almost over now, but the white sprouting and 9 star broc is just starting to take over. Also I have 2 caulis, which I am thrilled about as I am yet to succesfully grow cauliflowers on the allotment. Fingers crossed they keep growing. The globe artichokes didn't die down at all over the winter, and the cardoon suffered in the drought last summer, but in the autumn it started leafing up again, and that to has been loud and proud all winter through. The daffs are coming to an end - they have been a joy, and provided me with over 8 vases of cut flowers for the house. I have gladioli in the ground next to them, so heres hoping they do as well.

As usual, saw so many birds, and heard even more! There was a lot of shooting on the farm first thing, getting those pigeons I imagine. But when all was quiet, woody woodpecker tap tap tapped all morning through!

Friday 30th March 2007 - Weather: wet and windy!

What a miserable day! bbbrrr. However, I had given myself the day off and promised I would spend some serious time on the allotment, so off I went.

First job really was sorting out the brassica bed as a lot of the cabbages and kale had gone to seed and some purple sprouting had finished, so out they came and I started digging. Back breaking work! Because I tromp the ground down on the brassica bed during planting to keep them growing tough, the ground was like concrete. However, I got it smashed down and weeded and I planted a double row of 'Red Epicure' Broad Beans. As I am the only fan of broadies, I don't mind growing fancy ones. I harvested a carrier bag packed full of purple sprouting, and I am glad to report I have 4 cauliflowers, the nine star perrenial broc is starting to head up and the white sprouting has lovely little flowers coming, so the greens should keep going well into late spring. That is the one thing about the seasons climate changing, the 'hungry gap' doesn't seem as long.

I still have loads of spuds to get in, so the next plan was to try and dig another area and get another 2 rows in. Two rows of 'International Kidney' potatoes are in to join the 'Kestrel' that I planted a couple of weeks ago. This leaves me with Pink Fur Apple, Vanessa, Lady Christl and Maxine to get in. I have no idea where yet! I always over do it with the spuds.

I cleared 60 leeks to make room for the potatoes, and this year they are fab. Thick and strong and no sign of rust - the air circulation must be much better up the far end of the allotment. I still have about 50 leeks in the ground over on plot 2, but there is no rush to clear them as I don't need the space at the moment. However, that will be the brassica bed, so their days are numbered.

Over on plot number 2 I forked over an area so I could get 2 rows of 'Tender and True' parsnips sown. I feel like I am very late with everything, but the cold and wet has held me up. Still, things always seem to catch up. I also sowed a short row of 'Big Ben' Radishes in between the 'snips to go with the early cut and come again lettuce that is growing in a trough at home in the greenhouse.

The final job was to plant my sweetpeas. I am determined to grow a few more flowers on the plot as they look great, cheer me up no end, encourage all the good bugs, and give me pretty flowers to bring home so I had a selection of sweetpeas germinated and growing strong in pots at home, and they are now planted up against netting on plot number 2. I also have 20 giant yellow sunflowers in pots at home in the greenhouse as I would like to do an entire row of them like you see in France.

I was hoping to get up there today (Wednesday) with the urchins, but they weren't terribly keen, so I did some pottering in the greenhouse - potted on some red hibiscus I have grown from seed, and spinach, gave everything a good watering and then continued digging the new pond! I will post photos of the ponds progress over the weekend as fingers crossed, by then the sand and lining will be in.

Last piece of news for now - finally I have an appointment to go to the hernia clinic on 3rd May. Hopefully they will decide what to do about it and then I should get a date for the operation. I can't imagine it will be this side of the summer, so by the time I am layed up for a couple of weeks, hopefully things will be quiet on the allotment. Anyhow, mum is coming to stay, so I shall have to boss her around and get her doing my weeding for me.

Saturday 24th March 2007 - Weather: cold and overcast

I am having my first major day at the allotment this coming Friday and will be taking the new camera with me, although I will be sowing lots of seeds, so not really sure quite what I will be taking photos of. However, I have been clicking away today taking snaps of all of the seedlings I have on the go. So here is just a little gallery of how the sowing schedule is going for me.

What a jumble! Anyhow, there are tomato seedlings, cauliflower seedlings, beetroot seedlings, and the two window boxes are number one sons, one with carrots in and one with cut and come again lettuce in. Everything is looking very good and I will be pleased to get the sweetpeas and broadbeans planted out onto the allotment on Friday.

Sunday 11th March 2007 - Weather: Glorious, sunny with a light breeze.

In memory of my dear friend, Sarah. AKA Supersprout.

What a glorious day, in fact, what a lovely weekend. Are we being lulled into a false sense of security with this blast of sunshine? Well, whatever trick mother nature plans to pull, we made an executive decision today, and dragged the kids to the allotment. Normally, an hour max before they start fighting and moaning, but today was oh so different. We were there until the sun started to set, and they are angels. We managed to achieve so much.

First job of the day for my love was repairing the shed roof. When we acquired the shed we didn't have any roof felt, so as a temporary measure, he used some thin metal sheeting he had in the garage. This has lasted over 2 years, but finally the high winds earlier this year lifted them and the rain has been getting into the shed, so he nipped up onto the roof and refelted it for me. The children stood on the compost heap shouting moral support and feeding him bisciuts!

Meanwhile I managed to plant, with some help from the children, 4 rows of Kestrel spuds. I still have enough for one more row, but at the moment the path is blocked by 6 purple sprouting brocoli plants, which I don't want to pull up yet as they are just starting to crop. Only a couple of weeks and they will be gone and the rest of the spuds can go in. Number one son was very good at digging the holes for the spuds, and together they planted the seed potatos being very careful not to knock of any of the sprouts.

Next we planted a row of Gladioli which I brought for 99p in Aldi. Forty bulbs - a bargain! They are mums favourite flower, so I am growing them for her.

By now lunch time was fast approaching so we popped home for a bite to eat, then my love dropped me and our son back at the plot, whilst he and our daughter shot to Wicks to get some wood and metposts as the next major allotment job is building a new, sturdier, higher fruit cage. Number one son and I had a ball. His little girlie friend arrived so they sat and chatted for a while, then he did some raking whilst I did some weeding. Then we went around and did some picking. Filled a bag with purple sprouting, brussel sprouts, leeks, beetroot, mooli, the last parsnip and chard. Not a bad collection for this time of year. We also chewed the fat with several allotment holders who were out taking advantage of the lovely weather. Amazingly enough for our quiet site, I reakon at least three quarters of plot holders came over during the course of the day.

Once the rest of the family were back on the plot, construction began, but after about an hour, the children were begining to get irritable. Whilst my love did some building and packed up, the sprogs and I went for a wander around the site. Everyone else had gone home so it is a good time to see what everybody has planted already, and the admire some of the neater plots. We had a good look in the nature pond but we couldn't see any frogspawn. now the fruit cage is well under way, I need to order a roll of netting to cover it.

Back at home....here are the tomatos I currently have sown:

Maygous , Litche, Metschalubitela, Gardeners delight, Roma, Lidl, Ghianti, Green zebra, Golden queen, Brazillian paste, Missouri love apple, White beauty, Golden green, Orange berry, Costolouto fiorontino, Extreme north, Triple ‘n crop, Federele, peacevine, Red pear, Galina, Picardy, Jersey sunrise, Teton de venus.

Wedensday 21st February 2007 - Weather: bright and breezy

Just a flying visit today - the second one this week. I popped up to take delivery of a cage! Actually, you know when you go to B&Q and see all the large rockery rocks stacked up in a circular cage, well I am now the proud owner of one of those. My boss had a large delivery of slate for a pond project we worked on, and they came complete with cages. Mine is going to be a leaf mould composter. I also had 2 more sacks of shreddings from jobs, and a bucket of veggie stuff for the compost heap.

The snow has once again flattened my brassica cage, but to be honest, there isn't much left now. I brought home all the cavalo nero as I could see it was starting to get flower buds. My purple and white sprouting is showing signs of flower clusters, so we should be enjoying that soon enough, but the sprouts have all gone now.

The onions and garlics are looking very robust and I have keeping everything crossed for a good season for them. It would be lovely to have onions that weren't full of rot and lasted a little longer into the year. I have chanced my arm and planted some maincrop red onions, so fingers crossed.

Back at home, seeds are germinating. Most of the toms are now up, along with leeks, sweetpeas, cauliflower and my very first chilli poked it's head out of the ground this morning. With the toms, I have so many now that I am planning on sowing a pinch of each, and if any don't germinate at all, I will give them a second chance, but if nothing, I will throw the seeds away. I have to be more organised!

I have taken part in a seed round robin and I think the parcel is now winging it's way to me. Very exciting. With these parcels, you never know what you are going to find. Don't really know what I am looking for, but am hoping for something a little out of the ordinary. I have started to packet up a selection to put back in, and I am hoping they are fancy enough to please the next person on the mailing list. I will let you know what I acquire.

The gasboard are coming to visit tomorrow to fit a new meter for us, so I am stuck in, so I will be sowing some more seeds. YIPPEE!!

Wednesday 31st January 2007 - Weather: frosty start, brightening later

At last, some time on the allotment. Not masses to do really, but the brassicas needed a serious talking to. Anything looking scruffy or scrawny came out and onto the compost heap. Next, staking. No matter how well I drive the bamboos into the ground, a windy day has them all laying flat again, so this time I used metal stakes - old tent poles. They ain't goin' anywhere, nohow! Finally, reassemble the netting which had all blow off in the gales. The pigeons had already started on my purple sprouting, and I could hear them coo cooing in the oak tree behind my plot, all eyeing up their supper, so if nothing else, I needed to get that net back in place. I picked a bowl full of sprouts, some cavalo nero kale and 3 heads of calabrese, Perfect for Sunday lunch. I hope the purple sprouting sprouts soon. Some of the plants are way over 5 foot tall and reaching for the heavens.

Next I planted my shallot sets and red onion sets. I know this is probably rather early, but as I have to try and fit the allotment in around the rest of my whirlwind life, they have to take their chances. The Japanese onions that Growmore sent me are looking great and are all growing strongly. I don't think I have ever had so many good looking hunions before. I will have to ask him where he gets them as it is obviously a very good source. I dug up about 6 leeks, all with at least 8 to 12 inches of thick white stem. These have only been 'earthed up' using mulches of straw or shredded paper. It's meant the leeks are very clean which is handy in the kitchen.

Next on the agenda, runner bean trench. I am moving the location of my runners this year purely because I want to swap them with the tomatos. The beans are grown up one side of my tom house, toms along the other, but I don't want to grow toms in the same place year in and year out, so they will swap with the runners. I dug my trench and filled it with soaking wet shredded paper and 2 sacks of shreddings that the boss gave me from one of the jobs. I backfilled the trench and that should provide the runners with a moisture retentive foot hold. I also plan to mulch the runner bean plants when they go in during May. I am shredding all the junk mail we receive and am keeping it bagged. When I plant, I will water the young plants well, then mulch them with wet shreddings to try and keep the moisture trapped for longer. The runners do great at the start and the end of the season, but in the middle, because we don't have access to water, they fizzle out and the beans don't always develop properly. I need to try and combat this problem, so the mulching and fresh bean trench are this years trial.

The last job was planting 3 Jerusalem artichokes that Supersprout sent me. I didn't want loads as I don't think they will be a family favourite, however, they are a good winter staple so a few will go a long way. Plus, once I have a harvest, I can multiply my future crops from my own stock as I see fit. The tubers were lovely and plump with fresh buds on the tips and they weren't too nobbly. I have planted them right at the start of the first plot, down by the shed. It is in dappled shade there, so although they might not perform as well as they could in full sun, I am sure they will do well enough for us.

That was it - I headed for home at lunch time. I then spent the afternoon making a start on my seed sowing. I will add a list over the weekend as my book is downstairs. However, I sowed toms, chillis, sweet peppers, aubergines, caulis 'all the year round' and leeks. At last it feels like spring is just around the corner.

Saturday 27th January 2007 - Weather: changeable

This isn't really a proper, I've been to the plot post, more a, I popped up to check out things after the wind, and thankfully alls well type post. Yes, after the huge winds that the country suffered a couple of weeks back, I shot to the plot, fearing the worse, but nothing had really happened. My brassica cage had collapsed, but to be honest, a lot of the brassicas have nearly finished so I do need to get up to the plot and get them sorted, which I am hoping to do on Thursday. Also, my fruit cage structure that I had started had moved around a little, but I have had a chat with the old man and he has put together some plans, and has said that it is okay to go to Wicks and spend a couple of bob on some wood and bits for the plot, so I am going to make a much more professional cage. That was it really. I pulled some chard and some leeks and some greens, but other than that, the ground was to wet to dig, and I didn't have time.

However, just to show you some colour, here are a selection of shots taken from my conservatory this month. Amazing how these wonderful things only really do their stuff during the coldest, darkest time of year.

Thursday 4th January 2007 - Weather: Bright but very windy

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

At last, the children are back at school, I have the day off, so I can get to the plot. I have been desperate to get to the plot, not for the digging, or weeding, but because I just wanted to get out into the fresh air, all on my own. I know it sounds selfish, but my allotment really is my selfish time. The family get the benefit of great fruit and veggies, and a very happy and refreshed mum.

We have a new gate. Wow the sercurity at our site is high, don't you think? However, for our allotment site, this really is high tech. Up until Christmas time, our gate was hanging on by 2 rusty screws and a good storm would have probably seen the end of it. Also it didn't shut properly which meant the deer could wander in. Lovely to see, but boy do they like young brassicas and runner beans. Hopefully now things are a little more secure.

The first job of the day was a slightly cosmetic one. Over Christmas we have received our lovely new range cooker, and it was packed inside a box, inside a box, leaving us with a vast amount of thick, plain brown cardboard. It was destined for the recyling men, but I asked around, and the general consensus agreed that if I lay is out under the apple trees, the card would smother the nettles and brambles that grow beneath, making weeding under the trees problem free (well almost), would look better than a jumble of horrid weeds, and in time, the card would break down, and add more organic matter to the ground. Well, the card looked okay, but ugly, when I had a brainwave. I had 4 sacks full of shreddings that my boss had given me for the compost heap. I tipped these onto the card, and not only did they look much nicer, they weighed the card down, stopping it blowing away in the gales, and now, the combined pile of card and shreddings will break down and really improve the ground, and hopfully give the trees a boost.
















The wind had played havoc with the brassicas knocking most of them flat. Job number two for the day was untangling the pigeon proof netting, restaking the brassicas - purple sprouting broccoli, caulis, cabbages kales, and sprouts, and then re-draping the netting over to try and keep the flying cabbage munchers away. At one point when I looked up, I was certain they were circling over head like a pack of vultures.

By now, I needed a pee, so unlocked the shed for the first time in probably 2 months. Now I have known ever since owning my shed that I am not the only resident. I have found signs of our furry rodent chums in there from time to time, but when I opened the door to be confronted by rat poop on the floor, I knew I had to have a clear out and block up any holes. As the shed was a second hand one, it came with plenty of holes around the edges. This was fine as they were covered by a work bench and stuff. Of course, rattus rattus and his mates have been coming and going as they pleased. I suppose with the cold snap a couple of weeks ago, they moved in for the warmth. So, rather dubiously, I emptied the shed. No sign of him or his mates, but plenty of chewed up netting, net curtains, fleece, a couple of chewed rotten apples and a stripped corn on the cob, all I guess from the compost heap. Patched the floor, swept the shed, and refilled it. Filled three bags with rubbish for the dustbin. I now have a lovely tidy shed. I am sure Ratty will come back, but at least I am taken away all of the nesting type stuff, and have made it a bit harder for him to break in.

After my lunch I started to dig over the plot, starting at the top end. I had dug it in the autumn, this was more of a fluff up and general weed. I also dug the last of the parsnips, a few leeks, some black winter radish, a big bunch of carrots and a few small beetroots. I am making lamb casserole from tea tomorrow so they will all go into the pot. Also cut the last of the romensco broccoli. This has been a lovely late performer and I will definately grow it again this year.

Once exhausted, I did a little more fruit cage construction. By the time I left, the basic cage was up and very strong. It is about 6 foot tall this time, so my darling better half won't have to duck when he is in there scrumping for rapsberries. I plan to buy some better netting for it as I was using a bit of a patch work quilt of different nets, and they were a pain in the bum to remove. I want something easy to use...any suggestions?

All in all, a great day. Got loads done and the plot looks great. Jobs outstanding are finishing the fruit cage and buying some corregated plastic and fittings to make a proper, permanent roof on my tomato house, because, as it does every year, it has blow away. The corregated plastic on their was recycled when I first got the plot and it has become more and more brittle over the years. I am going to go to a builders merchants and try to get something a lot more robust, and buy the proper fixtures and fittings so it stands the test of time.

Sunday 24th December 2006 - CHRISTMAS EVE

Wow, another year has flown by, and once again, I am visiting the allotment on Christmas Eve to gather veggies for the big day. Daughter number one came with me to keep me company and it was lovely. We giggled and got muddy and gathered loads. I was chuffed to see the plot still looking in tip top condition.

We dug parnsips - 'gladiator', carrots - 'Kingston', leeks and a celeriac - 'alabaster'. We cut a nice bowl full of sprouts, not as many as last year, they seem to be really late for me this year, but there will be enough for dinner. Also gathered brussel tops, cavalo nero kale, bright lights rainbow chard and plenty of romanesco brocolli. Cut a nice big bunch of flat leaf parsley to make chestnut and parsley stuffing with and we both enjoyed a suprise treat.......raspberries! Couldn't believe my eyes to see them hanging there, like Christmas jewels.

Once the children get back to school in January I will be able to spend more time on the allotment and get ready for the new year. I certainly have plenty of seeds to get sowing!

Jobs outstanding - rebuild the fruit cage!

Friday 8th December 2006 - Weather: Cold, windy and WET!

Cor, a whole month since my last entry! I have popped to the plot from time to time, but only to check all is well, and to pick things I have needed. The same thing today really. Just a general check over after all the wind we had at the weekend and through this week, and to take stock of what will be available for Christmas dinner! Can't believe Christmas is upon us again already! Where did that year go???

A general tour down plot number one heading for the shed. Still a good patch of flat leaf parsley. Must decide what to do with it really - the frost hasn't touched it at all! The leeks up there are slow at fattening up, I can't remember the variety but the ones that were given to me by the site secretary are already huge. At least I should be able to harvest over a long period. The parsnip foliage has started to die back. I dug a couple just to see and they are fabulous long chunky clean roots with no sign of canker. The carrots alongside are also looking great, and again I dug a few. Some splitting and a little slug damage, but considering they have been left in the ground, they are huge and look great! The globe artichokes are in full growth, looking lusher now than they did in the summer, the same with the cardoon! I fear that a really hard frost is going to kill the lot, although maybe all that foliage will protect the crowns.....we shall have to wait and see. There are still lots of beetroots in the ground from a late summer sowing. I am going to leave them in and take them as I want them. The French beans never flowered, even with cloche protection. Well it was an experiment really. Next year, if I am more organised, I will try some in the greenhouse with more protection to see if that works. Nothing ventured etc. I have two half rows of mooli - one white and one black. They are all lovely and thick and useable over the winter. I pulled one of each to have over the weekend. Down to the greens. WOW! The rainbow chards look great at this time of year. I'm sure the cold air brings out their colours even more, and my cavalo nero kale is looking good and dark so the frost did it's job. I will have just enough sprouts for this Christmas dinner, but they haven't grown as well as last year. All I can really put it down to was the incredibly long dry summer/autumn we had. My allotment really suffers being very open, yet sheltered - a real suntrap, and with no water on site things do struggle through July and August. I plan to try and irrigate plants more next year....if I can get enough water on site before the dry spell begins. Loads of romansco brocolli coming. I couldn't believe my eyes! I am hoping as it is cold that they won't make significant growth now and go over before Christmas as they will be lovely with our dinner! The cabbages have slowed right down, but they will bulk up for spring. Nothing showing on the purple sprouting broc yet.

On plot two I have my onions and garlics and I am pleased to report everything is up and growing like mad! Hopefully the cold snap will have help the garlic start to clove up. The onions have a good 3 inches of top growth, which considering they went in quite late, I think is excellent! Spud volunteers everywhere! I never know whether the heavily fleece some to see if I can get some new spuds or just to dig them out and dump them. The leeks on this plot are huge and because I 'earthed' them up with shredded paper and straw, they have lovely long white shafts. Down the far end I do have some red and green kale for spring greens, but they suffered a real check in growth when they were infested with caterpillas. I am sure they will be fine as the days warm up again in the New Year and will provide well wanted veggies at a time when most other things are nearly used up.

Overall, thrilled! After all that wind and rain I didn't really know what I would find up there, but alls well in the world. I imagine I won't go back now until Chrissy weekend to harvest enough veggies to feed us all - but if I am pasing and have the camera, I may well stop by and take a few snaps!

Tuesday 7th November - Weather: dull and overcast

An apology, no photos today, I forgot the camera yet again!

A nippy start to the day, but I needed to clear the runner beans now as we have had a couple of frosty mornings so there will be no more beans this year. What a carry on that is. How on earth do you easily detangle the twisted mass of thick wirey stems? With some, if the bamboo was loose I was able to just slide the bean plant off the pole, but some were so tangled and webbed I was cutting and moaning and cutting away. Anyhow, job done so that area was dug over followed by the tomato bed. I picked three teeny courgettes, 2 white volunteers and one green baby, and I had a handful of runners. Plot number 2 looks very clean and tidy, if a little naked now. The leeks at the top of the plot are lovely and thick and the garlics are all through. The onions that I set last week are all still nicely settled and haven't (yet) been oiked out by the local bird population. As I was finished off and gathering my tools, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Foxy baby! Such a brazen creature, he strolled right up to me, sniffed the air then wandered around the neighbouring allotments before strolling back passed me again, and wandering around my shed. I followed him to see where he was heading, and he walked up the dry stream bed and leaped into Laurette's garden and chased the birds. Apparently he has been around a lot lately. We only ever seem to see him in the autumn and winter - I guess times are hard so he is on the look out for a free meal.

Then Jack arrived. He tipped me the wink, and we sneaked off together through the hole in the hedge and into the neighbouring farms orchard. One of the ladies who works at the farm was in there having a pick also, and still there are masses and masses of pears! There must be over 100 pear trees. We filled up 4 carriers again and I asked Jack what on earth he is doing with all of his. He has stored 4 trays worth, all wrapped in newspaper, in his shed to see if he can keep them to eat through the winter. The farmers wife (is there a name for the famers wife? Farmlet maybe??) told Jack that they had managed to keep lots good for Christmas. Other than that, he is just eating them. I have bottled some, juiced some, and am eating at least 1 a day, but still, there are hundreds so now I have 4 trays of pears, delicately wrapped in the local peper, residing in our cool dark garage to see if I will be able to deliver fresh pears to mum in December when Nanny and Taxi come up from Devon. I am also going to have a go at pear jelly as I have been told it is delicious, if a little hard to get to set.

We returned to the plot, back through the hole in the hedge, chewed the fat for 10 minutes, then we went our seperate ways and as the lovely Jack left, he left me a big bundle of spring onions by the car. He is a real sweetie and hinted that he wouldn't be able to carry on for much long as he is approaching 80. I told him to get that crazy idea out of his mind, he's going nowhere. If I can help, I will!!

I have been toying with the idea of improving and enlarging my fruit cage, but have been putting the job of as it is such a palava getting all the netting down and dealing with dock and nettles, but today I decided to press on. Actually, thanks to the wet spell and the frosts, the ground was lovely and soft and weeding was a breeze. Getting the net down on the other hand was a pain in the bum, but I got there in the end. I am moving the front of the cage out by about 18inches to allow more room for moving around and picking. Once I have cleared all of the weeds, cut back anything dead, pruned the fruit bushes and gently forked over the area, I am hoping to put down a good thick layer of compost as this years raspberry harvest wasn't great. There were plenty of currant and jostaberries, but the gooseberries and raspberries were small and a little on the dry side. I think a good watering, and a good mulch over the autumn and winter, followed by more watering and a really serious feed in the spring will give them all a well needed boost. I also plan to make the roof of the cage higher so Mark doesn't have to crouch when he is in there with the children picking the fruits.

That was it, time up! I am half way through the weeding of the fruit bed which I will finish next visit. The visit after that I hope to get the cage constructed - minus the netting, the next visit will be mulching time and then netting time. Should keep me out of mischief!

Tuesday 31st October 2006 - Weather: blustery and decidedly chilly!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

You may have been wondering where I have been hiding for the last few weeks? We lost our broadband connection due to Garner Digital going bust, and we had to wait 10 days for the new company to switch us over and for BT to switch us on! However, I am back with avengance and managed to get to the allotment for a couple of hours this afternoon.

There isn't much really growing now - even the weeds have started to slow down. So, job number one, planting the 200 odd Radar onion sets that the lovely Growmore sent me after Marshalls completely let me down. They are planted on plot number 2 at the end away from the stream. I have divided the top section of this plot in half, the right half has the leeks and garlics, which I am pleased to say are poking through, and the left section has the onions. Looks very neat! I used some old straw to mulch up the leeks a couple of weeks ago to help with blanching becuase I plant very closely to make the most of the room and don't have the surrounding soil available for earthing up. Mulching with straw, grass cuttings, or my most recent mulch material, shredded bills creates lovely long, CLEAN white stems. I dug one up just to see how they were blanching and as you can see, they are looking very good indeed!

With a chilly weekend forecast I wanted to bring in the last of the tomatos and courgettes and managed a tray of toms, 3 courgettes and 1 cucumber. If we escape the cold I reakon the courgettes will just keep going! The beans however have finished. They are lovely and green and lush looking, but there isn't a flower or bean in sight, so next visit, they will be cleared.

I have grown black and white moolis this year for a winter veg - the whites although patchy germination, they produce big roots. The blacks have huge top growth and thick germination but smaller roots in the same space of growing time.

Still growing/just growing:

Leeks - autumn giant and musselburough

garlics - purple wight and elephant

onions - radar

courgettes - white volunteer, black beauty, 2 yellows and 1 green with no labels

cucumber - lemon

chard - bright lights

kale - red russian, green curly, cavalo nero

brussel sprouts - red bull, green variety

cabbage - savoy, pointy and round with no labels

purple sprouting brocolli

9 star perrenial brocolli

carrots

moolis - white and black

beetroot - detroit, boltardy

celeriac - alabaster

french beans under cloches - currently in flower!

radish - salad rainbow

globe artichokes

cardoon

parsnips - gladiator (I think)

selection of fruit and 2 thick rows of daffodils for cutting.

Not a bad selection for this time of year I feel.

Anyhow, just started to think about packing up when I spotted Old Jack looking for me. He asked me if I fancied going scrumping in the woods with him!! Well, I told him I'm not that sort of girl, which he thought was very funny, so off we went into the undergrowth. Alongside our allotment is a farm and they have a couple of huge ornamental lakes around which are orchards. The pear orchard, a mix of Commice and Conference pears, are still full of fruit and the farm didn't want anymore so they were being left to the birds. The farm owner told Jack to help himself and spread the word to the other allotmenteers. Well, an hour of giggling and pear picking later and I came away with 2 big carriers packed full of fruit, all perfect and fabulous looking! I spent some very nervous minutes whilst with Jack because he decided to climb up an old wooden step ladder, an old, rotten step ladder, and then leeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeean across trees to get that last big pear! My heart skipped several beats as I was trying to work out how to explain to the 999 operator where on earth we were! He is a funny old soul, full of stories and jokes and he such a generous man. As he left he told me to help myself to all of his beetroots that he had piled up as he had enough for him and he didn't want any more. 'Shame I hadn't been on the plot in the morning', he told me, he filled a 2 litre icecream tub with rasberries!!!!

I will go back later in the week for a full day just to finish off really. A bit of weeding - might try and clear under the apple trees, and also have a tidy up in the shed. Then to be honest, other than to pop down and pick, very little will be happening. Gives me plenty of time to plan though - and I want to try to start a few things of very early in the greenhouse to try and steal a march on spring!

Monday 9th October 2006 - Weather: started overcast and damp but brightened into a lovely afternoon!

HAPPY 61ST BIRTHDAY DAD!

Today was plot number two's day. Having not been to the plot for much more than harvesting over the last couple of weeks, and after all of the lovely rain, and warm spells, things have started to turn into a tropical rainforrest, so, boots on, gloves on, digging head on! I re-edged the plot as I went along which I do by slicing down and turning the slab of earth into the plot - this leaves a ditch around the plot which prevents the couch grass from the paths creeping in. I oiked out most of the squashes - the last stragglers were brought home last week and dug over that half of the plot. In this portion I already have some pruple sprouting broc and some red and green curly kale. This will be my brassica section for this coming season. There are still four courgette plants insitu - 2 yellow, 1 green and 1 white volunteer. I don't know how much fruit they will produce, but they all have baby fruits at the moment so I will leave them until the weather takes it's toll. I also have the lemon cucumber still under the cold frame, although it is beginging to look rather sickly (yippee!!). Once again, picked nearly a dozen cucumbers. I think this monster holds the world record for cucumber production! A very satisfying mornings work - I love the look of a freshly 'fluffed' allotment!

Next into the tomato section. I pulled up all of the tomatos that were in the open last week, but there was still a lot of debris and canes around, so I gave that area a really good tidy and carefully forked it over - why carefully, well I have 100 daffodil bulbs planted in that area and I didn't want to dig them up. Then into the tomato tunnel. A couple of plants quite obviously had blight, so they came out and onto the rubbish, and a couple had no fruits left, so they came out. This has left about 8 plants still with fruits. As they are undercover, I am hopeful that the fruits will start to ripen a little. I will bring them all home in the next couple of weeks, but if they can ripen on the vine, so much the better! As it was I filled my trug with blighted toms, windfalls and ripe ones. Picked a large handful of runner beans again - they really have started producing amazing long tender beans. Fingers crossed they will keep going. Next year I will grow the toms where my runner beans are, and my beans where my toms were to give the ground a rest. I also plan to put down a monster pile of manure along both sides of the tomato house, and inside to give everything a really good start next year.

At the end of plot number 2 are my Autumn Giant Leeks, and they are really begining to bulk bip now. I weeded around them and then used to last of this years straw bale to mulch between them. The plan is the straw will help with the blanching, and can be dug into the ground in the spring to help with the soil structure and moisture retention. I have a couple of sacks of partly rotted leaf mould at home and I am also going to use that to 'earth up' my leeks. This section of plot number 2 will be my onion and garlic section, if Marshalls ever bother to send me my sets!

Chuffed with plot number 2 - looks tidy and weed free, and still in production, which is very satisfying at this time of year.

Had a quick flick over plot number one, but that is a job for later in the week/next week. I did take the second half of my cold frame over from plot number 2 to plot number 1 and have placed it over my newly growing French Beans. These are dwarf frenchies that we brought in France - a late sowing I know, but I am really hoping that with the protection of the cold frame, they will produce a desirable crop in November/December. French Beans are perfect flowers and do not need bugs to do the pollinating, so as long as they are warm enough, they should produce beans.

The sweetcorn have all finished now so I need to clear those out and dig over that area. The great thing I spotted is the cardoon, which I feared had died after the long dry summer, is in growth again - at least 4 new shoots at the base, so they will get a good mulch as I clear to help them along. I have found a local smallholding who sells bales of straw quite cheaply, so I may pick one up to snuggle my cardoon and globe artichokes.

Picked an amazing cabbage - I will photograph it tomorrow. No idea what type but it is a conical boy. Also picked some white romanesco brocolli so tomorrow night we are on roast chicken with all the trimmings.

A couple of people have given up their allotments so I am expecting to see a few new faces next year. Most importantly for me, I will have a new neighbour, a retiring headmistress. Fingers crossed she spends more time working her plot than my previous neighbours who have left me with an amazing crop of groundsel!

Oh, and another rant! Those Chapmans have cut a lot out of the old bramley apple tree which hung over one of their plots - and it was full of mistltoe! There is only 2 or 3 tiny pieces left growing in the tree now - the rest is piled up ready for a bonfire! GGRR. I wish wish wish I could get the darn stuff to grow in one of my apple trees. I have lost count of how many berries I have squished and wedged in the bark and nooks and crannies of my trees!

Tuesday 3rd October 2006 - Frustrated of Essex!

All around me people are planting their overwintering onion sets and their garlic, but oh no, no not me, and why I hear you cry? Because I ordered them back in the summer from Marshalls and trusted they would arrive when ready. Yesterday I telephoned Marshalls to ask when I could expect them, and I was informed they were posted to me on the 21st September and I should have had them by now. As I clearly hadn't it was my responsibility to go to the postoffice and insist they look through their undelivered parcels to see if they had my onions! I did mention to the young lady that perhaps the postoffice would have hundreds of parcels and mine would hardly stand out.....she informed me that they wouldn't have hundreds of parcels with onion sets in!! Anyhow, if the postoffice didn't have them, I was to telephone again and they would see what they could do. By now, I was getting rather cross. I asked if they would take responsibility for my £22.00 plus P&P parcel, and she said, they would see what they could do!! As expected, no joy at the postoffice, so I called Marshalls again and explained the situation, and after a brief pause whilst she 'checked' she confirmed they would send me a replacement parcel immediately. Not very impressed I have to say. I think I will resist mail order next year and buy my onions, garlics and spuds from DIY stores and garden centres! At least then it will be my responsibility to purchase decent goods and get them home in one piece rather than trust a mail order service, and the less than impressive Royal Mail system.

Rant and grumble over now.