Saturday 31st May 2008 - Weather: cloudy and humid

What luxury, the chance to spend a whole day on the plot, but with so much to do, a day isn't going to be enough. Anyhow, we filled up both cars with all the plants I had left in the greenhouse and staging area along the side of the house - a selection of squashes, toms, brassicas, beans and corn. Arrived on site and couldn't believe my eyes! Now I have had an allotment here for 5 years and in all of my time I have never known it busy, a few old timers in the early days, but at most there would be 4 of us on site. Well today there was a swarm of activity with 9 members, not including me, all working away, weeding and trying to battle with the slugs and pigeons which are loving this wet, warm weather.

Speaking of slugs, I would just like to point out that everyone on the allotment site was moaning about them! Everyone has lost plants, the ground is covered in shiny slug slime trails and people are trying everything rather than the dreaded pellets, but the choice is, use the pellets or loose your crops. One guy planted 6 courgette plants and they were eaten overnight! I swear the slugs have grazed my parsnip seedlings down as there are slime trails all over the seed row and I was finding them everywhere, small little black slugs and big sticky orange buggers. SHUDDER! I'm afraid I now have a scattering of blue over my plots.

Back on track..... the kids played in the stream, hubby earthed up my spuds and I set to work planting the rest of my tomato plants. They are all looking really strong and most have flower trusses on now. I still have about 30 tom plants but no room at the inn but I'm sure I will be able to squeeze a few in here and there as gaps appear. I also completed the planting of the sweetcorn 'swift' which I have interplanted with a few squash plants. Then finally in this section of my allotment I put up some more bean poles and planted a double row of runner beans 'achievement' and a wigwam of climbing borlotti beans. So, the top half of allotment number 2 is looking great, well planted and currently weed free. At this point, the kids were getting bored, so we all went home for lunch.

I was back on site within the hour and I was alone so could now concentrate on the lower half of plot number 2. Considering all the rain we have had, and bearing in mind this half of the plot borders the stream, the ground was quite dry. I weeded around my Japanese onions which are bulbing up really nicely now - thanks again lovely 'Growmore' who sent me the sets. I did plant half a row of the climbing borlotti beans agains the tomato house as I just couldn't bring myself to chuck them on the compost heap. My leeks were so late in last year that they never really bulked up and had all gone to seed, so I dug those out, such a shame, but in the new gap I planted a large block of sweetcorn 'minipop'. Now I know I don't need to plant this variety in a block as it doesn't need to be pollinated as the baby corns are removed before this, but I had a square of ground available, so a block it had to be. Next to those, as I had another spare patch, I planted a dozen young cavalo nero kale plants. I hope they will be okay as they were terribly small. I shall prick some out into pots to keep at home as a back up - I can always plant them out later in the season as space becomes available.

As I was working away, I heard the unmistakeable noise of a diesel engine, and sure enough, hubby and the kids were back to lend a hand. He had the petrol strimmer so went around massacring the nettles around the shed whilst the kids played in the shed. He then netted my strawberries for me, a very worthwhile job as they fruits are swelling fast and some are already turning pink. Don't want the birdies to get in there first. I am hoping that this is going to be a good year for fruit on the allotment as the fruit cage was absolutely alive with bees. I have never seen so many working the raspberry flowers. Plenty of young fruit already developed. Now all we need is that lovely sunshine back to ripen them.

The broad beans of course are infested with blackfly, and a lovely thick carpet of weeds where I mulched thickly with my own compost - the downside of having a coldish heap, the seeds don't get killed, but it is a small price to pay for the lovely goodness the compost puts into the ground, and these weeds pull out so easily and satisfyingly, and they all end up back on the heap so what goes around comes around. In amongst these lovely broadies I planted a row of brussel sprout plants - I think the variety was bedford. I am getting short of space, so I end up doubling up and squeezing plants in where I can. I then had to just sort out the pigeon proof netting over all the brassica's and that was it for plot number 2. Really chuffed with everything we achieved.

As the afternoon was drawing on I made a start weeding the seed bed on plot number one. The row of parsnips is pretty patchy so I will bung some more seed in tomorrow. I do however have a rather splendid row of spring onions and little gem lettuce. I also noticed the Alderman peas I sowed last visit against the fruit cage netting are poking their noses through the ground. Still plenty to do, still masses of seeds I would like to sow, just not sure where now I have planted so much. I will have to squeeze things in here and there. So the plan is, back tomorrow afternoon for a couple of hours to get the top half of plot number 1 weeded and any seeds sown that I can, then I don't think I will be able to get back for a week thanks to work, but the following week I am hoping to get a good couple of days on the plot... famous last words!

Wednesday 14th May 2008 - weather: hot hot hot!

Had to work for a couple of hours this morning, but as soon as I finished, I loaded my sweetcorn plants and blue lake french bean plants into the car and shot to the allotment. These plants have been hardening off in the garden now for about a week so I am perfectly happy to get them planted out. These plants were all destined for plot number 2 and I am almost doing the 3 sisters method of planting, mixing corn, beans and squashes, but I am not trying to grow bean up corns or anything, however the squash will meander amongst the beans and corns. The corns I planted today were Rainbow Inca, a multicoloured variety that my dear friend from the states sent me, and another trusted variety called Swift. As I have already said, the frenchies are a climber called blue lake. My crowd prefer the frenchies over the runners and I do find them more versatile, but I will be doing plenty of runners also. Each plant had a big handful of my own rotted compost in the bottom of the planting hole, and once they were in and watered, each plant was mulched with a handful of my compost. I am trying to do everything I can to conserve water as we don't have piped water on site so we can only use that which mother nature provides. By the time I left I had emptied 3 waterbutts, however, with the rain that is forecast, I expect them to be full again before I return on Monday to plant out yet more beans, tomatoes, minipop corn, squashes and sow seeds.

Friday 9th May - Weather: glorious sunshine, not a cloud in the sky, 26'c

What a lovely day! Sun sun sun all the way. Is this our summer? If so, hope it lasts. Anyhow, didn't get on the plot until about 10 as we had daughter number ones assembly. A lovely show about healthy eating. Expected to see a few people on the plot as it was such a delicious day, but alas, only Joe turned up around mid morning. Today the car was full of plants to get in. No digging or seed sowing planned. First to get in, brussel sprouts followed by cauliflowers and lettuce. The lettuce are being interplanted with the brassicas and I think that will work well. As I extended the brassica bed, of course I had to extend the netting cage which is a palava. Whoever invented net needs shooting as it tangles and twists. At least it was a still day so it didn't blow all over the place. Once the cage was sorted I went on to plant a row of bright lights swiss chard. Next in, sunflowers. Trying to grow a few more flowers this year, I have the room if I am sensible with my space, and they kids love them, I love cutting them to bring them home, and of course, I can enter them in the horticultural show in July and again in September. So, to add to the sunflowers, I planted 2 rows of dahlias that I have grown from seed. I never have a great deal of luck with these, so fingers crossed they do well. There is a lady on our site and she grew some lovely dahlias from seed last year on her plot, so I figure if she can, so can I. Of course, I don't really water once plants are established, so that could go against me, but we shall see. I planted 4 mixed gourd plants as they were trying to take over my greenhouse and that was all I had time for really. I gave everything I planted a really good watering, which completely emptied my big waterbutt on plot 2, and I'm ashamed to admit, I sprinkled a few 'wildlife friendly' slug pellets around - if I didn't, there would be nothing left by the next visit.

As I still had about an hour spare, I went into the fruit cage and had a good weed, there are trillions of dock seedlings to get out, and whilst in there I noticed that the redcurrants are already dripping in fruit, as are the gooseberries. I then finished clearing the last of the brassicas that had gone to seed and we still hanging around. On inspection of plot number one I noticed I have a lovely row of rocket and little gem lettuce seedlings all up. Also plenty of marestail, but I deal with that as I weed, it doesn't drive me potty like it does some.

Next visit will be next Wednesday and I shall be taking my sweetcorn, some more lettuce, and a small selection of tomatos which have been hardening off nicely in a cosy corner of the garden. I also hope to sow some more seeds, but if we don't have any rain before then, I may lay off sowing as the ground has a hard crust at the moment.

Thursday 1st May 2008 - Weather: Sun, hail, wind, rain, thunder and more rain!

Whatever the weather, today was destined to be an allotment day. Dropped the kids off and was on site by 9am and the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and all was well with the world. Plan of attack today, just get both allotments absolutely ready for this growing year, get the last of the spuds in and sow sow sow like crazy.

I finally finished clearing the last weeds from the old strawberry bed, mostly creeping buttercup which seems to the be the thug on our site, and them planted a row of Pink Fur Apple spuds, Ratte and half a row of Estima and half of Majestic. So relieved to have gotten those in. If I had to go home then, I could have gone home happy as I was starting the worry that I would never get them in.

From there I raked over last years spud bed which had been dug once as the spuds were lifted, and then again in the winter so the soil is lovely and crumbly and raked down to a very fine tilth. I started to do some sowing and got in parsnips 'Gladiator', rocket, beetroot 'Detroit', radish 'French Breakfast', spring onions 'Lisbon', lettuce 'Little Gem', flat leaf and culey leaf parsley and some carrots whose name escapes me as I brought them in France.

I now wanted to get my red cabbages, purple sprouting broc and lollo rosso lettuce in on plot number 2, but the weather decided I should cower in my shed. Hail, rain, strong biting cold wind, then more hail lashed around me. I thought it was lifting, so I should over to the plot and started planting, only for the heavens to open and for mother nature to start lobbing ice cubes at me. But, I had started so I planned to finish, and I got wet through, but the plants all went in nicely and I am being much more generous with the spacing this year as I think half of my problem with low yields on some crops is because I try to cram too many in. I figure that I will get just as big a harvest from 5 well spaced plants as I would from 10 cramped plants, possibly more. I also plan to plant my lettuces inbetween the various brassicas rather than dedicate lashings of room for them in the main plot. At the front of the bed with the cabbages in I sowed a row of the dwarf bean 'Ying Yang'. In theory, they won't take up a lot of space and crowd the cabbages. Anyhow, as I planted my brassicas the darned pigeons started gathering above me in the trees, so once they were in I got busy with my netting and by the time I had finished the pigeons would have to get training from the SAS to break through and get to my greens!

As they day was pressing on I finished up by weeding and raking the top end of plot number one and tidying up the now finished daffs. The glads planted in amongst the daffs are just starting to poke their noses through Hopefully they will put on a good show this year as they are for mum as they are her fave flower. At the end of their row is a gap where I have some small white alpine strawberries, so I scattered a few cosmos seeds there, I love cosmos and it is a funny little space, no good for veggies, and just right for flowers. I weeded amongst the strawbs in their new bed and am pleased to report that at least 75% of the plants have flowers on so although I expect a smaller than usual harvest this year as all the plants were moved in the autumn, I should still get a good picking of fruits for the children. By the time I had finished, both plots looked great. I won't be back now until next Friday by which time I will have finished hardening off a few more crops to get in and I want to sow more peas as the first batch sown a couple of weeks ago are all through and growing away.

I just love this picture. This is Red Duke of York shoing his nose through the ground. Such a lovely purple leaf. I have a feeling it turns completely green as it matures, but for now I am loving these purple sprouts.

Photos as promised from the last couple of visits



My newly divided compost bins, half green, half black gold.















Plenty going on in the greenhouse. Now this was taken 10 days ago and things have moved on somewhat and I now have completely covered all surfaces and the floor!



















And let me introduce you to my taddies that are living in the pond in the garden, not at the allotment. This is the first time we have had spawn. We have plenty of frogs, toads and newts in the pond and garden, but they always go elsewhere for their nookie. Not this time! An orgy took place and we had lashings of spawn.

Saturday 19th April 2008 - Weather: Overcast and damp

Managed to convince the family to pop to the plot with me today. Daughter number one wasn't very impressed to start with, but she soon got into the swing of things. Mum gave me her old fig tree a few monthes back and it has been sitting in it's pot on our deck since. Well, I decided to plant it on a corner of the plot where it wouldn't shade or bother anyone, and hopefully, it might produce a crop of one of my fave tropical fruits. I plan to train it as a fan to allow maximum air circulation and sunlight so we get a ripe crop. We shall see. Anyhow, that was the first job for the old man. Once that was in situ, he then created a small bed for the children to have as their own to grow sunflowers and whatever else takes their fancy. I had a large section of 'log roll' which they used to create a fenced area. We then raked it over and it is already for action. The old man then did some weeding whilst I sowed a row of Peas 'Greensage', a patch of early nantes carrots and a small area of spicy salad leaves. At last, a start at sowing directly on the plot. Almost finished clearing the old strawberry bed of weeds as I need to get another 4 rows of spuds in! I may only do 3 and plant the 4th batch in tree buckets that I have at home. All in all, a productive couple of hours. The kids played in the stream, collected stones for my cobble path I am slowely creating at the end of plot 2 and they raked lots. They enjoy raking. I don't know when I will next get to the plot as I am working all of next week, but I might try and cram a couple of early morning hours in over the weekend. Fingers crossed, if I keep ontop of my work commitments, I will be able to then spend a whole day there the following week. I shall keep you informed.

Sunday 13th April 2008 - Weather: sunny the cold, then wet, then sunny, then windy, then hail, then big rain!

At last, I got to spend some quality time at the allotment. Got up bright and early and was on site by 8am and the sun was shining and all was well with the world. The plan for today, get last years seed area on plot number 2 dug and prepared for the brassicas that will be arriving from my greenhouse in about 3 weeks time.

The plot was incredibly noisy and thinking about it, I could have probably recorded the deafening noise on the camera but at the time I just listened happily. The birds were everywhere and honestly, they were all shouting at the top of their beaks! Even the woodpeckers seemed to be out in force sending morse code messages all over the trees. I love the location of our allotment because it is in a very rural location with a farmers field one side, private huge gardens at each end and a dirt track lane the other side. It is very peaceful with the occasional rambler or horserider using the lane and the distant chug of the tractor in the field. It is just lovely.

Anyhow, I digress. I dug and dug and forked and weeded for hours until I was bored rigid, so I decided to sort out the compost heap for this coming year. I have always just had one big heap which I pile up during the spring, summer and autumn, then in the winter and early spring I pull off all the chunky, not rotted stuff at the top, use the compost then fling the chunky stuff back in and start filling it again. So, the plan for this year is to divide the heap into 2 halves, which I did with a pallet, and have one half filling, and at the moment, one half full of useable compost. Once all the compost is gone I guess I will cover the other heap with some carpet or sacking and start filling the empty area. This is the plan anyhow. Plenty of black gold to enrich my plot and I plan to use it on the squash bed and around my sweetcorn. I never produce enough to cover both allotments, so in the same way I rotate my crops, I also rotate my compost adding it to different areas. I also have leaf mould at home in sacks which needs to go to the plot and I will use this to mulch my brassicas I think.

From the heap I went back to plot number 2 and finished off the digging. In the bed nearest the onions, which I must say are coming on strong, thanks to the lovely Growmore who sent them to me, I needed to plant my broadbeans. This is the first year ever I have grown an abundance of a variety called Express. I seem to loose lots every year to furry and feathered critters, so this year I have planted them in a sunny, more exposed spot as nobody else seems to have this problem. I may use net later in the season, but we shall see. I forked a couple of barrows of my compost into this bed, and then the torrential rain came down. But, I had started the job, so I got on with it. Planted my lovely broadies, and mother nature watered them in for me. I also planted some sweetpeas up a few of my runner bean canes. I am hoping to grow them up and get some really lovely long stemmed blooms for the summer show.

Before I left for the day, having been on the plot for a fab 6 hours, I sprinkled some lime over the soon to be brassica beds. The weather should have worked this into the soil and I will use more when I plant them out in a checkerboard fashion like Tee Gee from a4all once showed us. This helps deter the slugs, resist clubroot and give the brassicas a tasty treat.

Back home, as you can see, I hope....the greenhouse is bulging. I have a mass of brassica's, tomatos, chillis, peppers, aubergines, flowers, lettuce, chard, onions, sweetcorn and squashes already growing like mad and I have so much still to sow, and so little room! I am pricking the brassicas and chards out and hardening them up like crazy to make more space for the more tender plants and the seed trays. Must not fall behind with my sowing this year!

Can't put on pics at the moment so will add them later. Bugger!

Tuesday 8th April 2008 - Weather: freezing cold but beautiful

Not an allotment visit, just checking in as I am planning to spend the whole of Sunday on the plot...oo, should check the weather so I might swap to Saturday. Anyhow, I have been sowing like crazy over the last few weeks, determined to be organised this year, and have a host of brassica's up, along with a selection of squashes, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, chillies and flowers. Broadbeans and sweetpeas are a good 8 inches tall now and growing fast, so they will go to the plot at the weekend to be planted out. They are hardening up in a shelter against the conservatory. Not sure of the best way to do the sweet peas this year....last year I grew them up netting, but they collapsed everywhere and I lost a lot of flowers. I don't want to grow them tall for showing, although that might be an idea for the summer show.....okay, me thinks I will do some investigating and I might grow some up canes to try and get show flowers, and the rest up a wigwam with netting wrapped around it.

This year I am determined to have a better go with melons, so have selected where I am going to grow them and they are off to plot number 2 at the top end which gets drenched in sun all day through. Brassica's are going at the bottom end of plot 2 in dappled shade. Beans and toms are along the centre of plot 2 in the growing tunnel - not a polytunnel, I should be so lucky, but I have a structure with a corregated roof on which serves several purposes. Firstly, the roof provides a huge surface to collect rainwater into my 3 butts, secondly, keeping the rain off the tomato plants helps slow down the risk of blight - mine are normally the only ones producing in the autumn, and thirdly, it does raise the temperature a little, keeping the toms warm for an earlier crop. Plot number one has spuds at the bottom damp end in dappled shade, apple trees and fruit cage along the middle then the top end will have the directly sown stuff and 'others'. The strawbs, globe artichokes and cardoon are also up that end, along with a row of glads at the very end.

I shall get up to the greenhouse over the next couple of days with the camera and take some truly exciting photos of my veggie babies and post.

Thursday 3rd April 2008 - Weather: gorgeous, warm and sunny with a light breeze.

At last, normal play is resumed and I got to the allotment for more than a 10 minute visit. Today was only for a couple of hours, but in that time I managed to get nearly all of my spuds planted. I got in, Epicure, International Kidney, Kestrel, Romano, Picasso and Red Duke of York. I still have Ratte, Pink Fur Apple and 2 others whose name escapes me, but they are destined for plot number 2. I also moved 3 asparagus crowns, but luck rather than judgement as the new spud bed is where the 'sparagrass grows. I have no idea if they will survive the move, but to be honest they are so unproductive for me, producing only a couple of spears a year that I have stuck them in a corner with my sorrel and jerusalem fartichokes, and of course, they will grow like the clappers!

Picked some rhubarb which is growing better this year than ever before. I don't know if that is the chicken manure I have been using throughout the season, or the thick layer of home made compost I piled over the crowns last autumn. I also puled the last of the kale and picked a bundle of young chard. Plot one is ready for action and the far end is going to be my seed bed this coming year for roots like carrots, snips, nips, swedes, spring onions and salads etc. Plot number 2 is going to be divided into squashes and brassicas and onions. I am trying to be much more organised this year - famous last words - so I get plenty in, staggered, making the most of the room. The toms and beans will go in their usual place along the centre of plot 2.

Before I left I picked a lovely bundle of daffs. They have been great this year on plot one, those on plot 2 struggle as I am forever digging them up or damaging them because I planted those when I first took on plot 2, and I only had half of the plot so planted them at what was then, the end of my plot. Of course, once I got the lot, I ended up with them running smack bang through the middle. Oh well, maybe if I am organised enough, now they have finished I can dig them up and dig a big hole under the apple trees and chuck them in there.

Glad to see Peter, my lottie neighbour, is back and working hard. He also has 2 plots and it seems he has turned one completely over to fruit with strawbs, rasps, currents and goosegogs all planted. I wonder if he will build a fruit cage to protect them becuase on our site, any fruit is stripped the minute is starts to colour up. His other plant seems to be 50% spuds at the moment. Hopefully, once the kids get back to school and my job levels out, I will get to the plot more and I will see him and be able to catch up.

Thursday 13th March 2008 - Weather: overcast and breezy

I know, I know, it has been an age since I last updated the old blog, but to be honest, I have been working very hard both in the garden at home, and getting my gardening business properly up and running so my visits to the allotment have been brief, really only to check things are okay and to have a little pick. Well, I popped up there on my way home tonight and not only did I pick a lovely cabbage, a handful of mixed salad leaves and a dozen daffs, but I pulled 5 lovely pink rhubarb stems. I have gently roasted them and will have them in my porridge for brekky tomorrow before work to set me up for the day. Fingers and toes crossed, next Thursday I will be spending the day on my plot getting things sorted and getting my early spuds and peas in. I shall post a full blown drama, with lashings of piccies then.

Wednesday 9th January 2008 - Weather: chilly but sunny

After a night of gales and rain the garden I should have been working in today was flooded so I decided to nip to the allotment and see what was what and to see if I could continue with clearing the strawberry bed. After a good hours digging I was squelching and sliding all over the place so I decided enough was enough and I came home to sow some seeds in the greenhouse. Now I know I am a tad early and rather keen, but if I don't do these things when I have the time, I end up missing out.

So today I sowed:

Ramata di Milano
Ailsa Craig
Bedfordordshire champion
Brown pickling
Rijnsburger - all onions

Prisma shallot (supposed to be white rot resistant)

Autumn Giant
Musselburgh
Bleu de Solaise - all Leeks

What a lot of aliums I hear you cry. Well, I have never grow bulbing onions from seed before, and we eat a lot of onions, using at least 2 pretty much every day and, well, why not.

I then went to the nursery as I knew Wyvales have their seed spuds in and sure enough I had a little potato spending spree coming home with 12 tubers of each of the following: Picasso, Romano, Red Duke of York, Ratte, Pink Fur Apple, Majestic, Epicure, Kestrel and Estima. Seems like a lot, but because I only had 12 of each it means I will have more room for more varieties, and I love to try lots of different tatters. PFA are my faves as they make the best chips and roasties, and kestrel for me last year were whoppers, perfect for baking. They had loads of varieties, and when it gets to planting time, if I have the room, I may do a few more, but with all those onions to plant out at some point, I might not have the room!

Friday 4th January 2008 - Weather: chilly but bright

As promised, and as Mr Titchmarsh would say, day two. Less digging on the agenda today after a hard slog yesterday.

Firstly I remember the sacks of willow leaves from the back garden and I filled my leaf mould cage. Then, the big one, removing a large part of the apple tree that overhangs the fruit cage. I don't know why we didn't take it out when we built the new fruit cage really. What a job! I lopped out all of the smaller branches, but I didn't really appreciate quite how big the bough was. When I finally sawed through it, it went with a crash. Nothing broken and what a difference. Hopefully there will be more fruit this coming year, and it should ripen quicker as more sun can reach the fruits. Once all of the tree bits were removed, I got into the fruit cage and cut back all of last years fruited raspberry canes, a job long overdue. Lots of lovely new canes so hopefully, another bumper soft fruit year. I did cut a few branches from the gooseberries, red currants and jostaberries, just to open them up a little. I still need to get in there will my hoe and scrape over the ground to cut out all of the weed seedlings - I would dig them out, but raspberry canes are shallow rooted and I don't want to damage the plants. I could do with a good mulch in there really.....maybe I shall take a couple of barrows from the compost heap and spread around in there.

From here I moved to the globe artichokes and cardoon. Such monsters. They haven't died back at all this year and have been in full growth all through the autumn and winter. I even have a few teeny gobe artichokes, but I removed them so the plants don't waste any energy. I keep a metal fence around the globes to try and keep them from flopping all over the beds either side and taking up room. There were plenty of weeds around the globes, that horrid creeping buttercup which infests my plot if I don't keep it in check, so I took the fencing down and got in and got mean with the weeds. The plants looked fab once they were tidy and the fences were put back. I shall give them a sprinkling of pelleted chicken manure in a couple of weeks time, give them a boost so they do me proud this year. The cardoon wasn't quite so bad as he stands alone. I removed the old flower spikes now and any dead leaves and just tidied around the base. Lots of young pup plants around it. I don't use the cardoon for culinary purposes, just for architectural stature. I know it might seem like a waste of space, but I don't mind, and I have plenty of room. Maybe one day I will find out exactly which part it is one should blanch and then have a kitchen experiment.

After a bite to eat I started digging out the old strawberry bed. At the back end of the autumn I moved my best strawb plants to a new position in lovely straight lines! Very out of character for me, me with the wonky allotment. I was left with the old strawb bed, packed full of that bloody creeping buttercup again so I have that to dig through and get rid off. I shall keep any healthy plants and plant up another row as we do love strawberrys in this house, but they had become such a jungle that is was almost impossible to pick the fruits, the slugs and birds had a field day and the buttercup was definately out competing the strawb plants. Did some digging, did some raking, did some levelling, and did some more raking, and before I knew where I was, it was time to pack up and head on the school run. I did gather a lovely big handful of carrots and had a rootle around the Jerusalem Fartichokes and came home with a lovely trug of roots.

Things on the plot are looking really ship shape. I probably won't get back for a week and I need to start thinking about sowing some bits in the greenhouse now - especially things for the forthcoming horticultural shows. I also have big plans for my own back garden. So I may have the odd blog entry about the homestead.

Thursday 3rd January 2008 - Weather: Cold Cold Cold!

So, 2008 is upon us. A new year. What plans for the plot this year. Well, nothing terribly out of the ordinary, just grow as much fruit and veg as I can. I would like to grow melons as I never have a good success rate with them, and I would love a small polytunnel or greenhouse on the plot to grow aubergines and peppers in, but that might be a project for 2009. My main hope for 2008 is to get to the plot more often and keep better order of things. I worked almost full time in 2007, which I know lots of people do, but it meant only getting to the allotment for short spells and during the summer holidays things really ran away from me. The other big thing this year is Marks involvement. He has laid down a challenge to one of my fellow allotmenteers - who can grow the heaviest marrow. Mr Chapman has won this prestigious contest every year for the past 4 years - Mark wants to put a stop to that lucky run. He has been on Medwyns seed site and purchased a selection of champion marrow seeds and he is going to grow plenty using different techniques. Of course, muggings here will have to look after them day to day, and he will get all the glory, but I don't mind. A little healthy competition doesn't hurt.

Anyhow, back to business. I was on the plot by 9am and boy was it nippy. Good job I had 5 layers of clothes on. My main plan for today was to finish tidying and digging plot number 2. Several hours of digging later and the top half of plot number 2 looked fab. The ground crumbled into a soft, friable tilth, so all of my compost adding is obviously begining to pay off.

Next job, Mr Scarecrow. Okay, so he will never be Mr Universe, but he looks much better now. I will try to remember some gloves for him and maybe a scarf as this cold weather looks like it is going to hang around.

Then I tidied the brassicas up. Pulled out all the stumps and the cabbages that had rotted. Why do some do that? Never grow properly, form a ball which then proceeds to rot. Probably something to do with a check in growth due to poor watering, but with my lack of site water, there isn't much I can do about that.

Lastly I had a bag of mistletoe berries saved, so I smeared them all over the lower branches of both apple trees. I know there is the slimmest of chances of any of these germinating and growing, but hey, I have nothing to loose, so why not. The blackbirds were really enjoying all the fallen apples that I leave under the trees.

That took me to 2pm by which time I was knackered and cold so I called it a day. Tomorrow I plan to take a saw with me along with the sacks of leaves in the garden to get my leaf mould bin underway. The saw is because I want to remove one very large branch from the apple tree that overhangs my fruit cage. I also want to edge the lower half of plot number 2 and tidy up the cardoon and globe artichokes on plot 1. Of course, this all depends on the weather. We didn't get any snow at all today, but according to the weatherman, poor weather is set for tomorrow so goodness knows what I will wake up to.

Christmas Eve 2007 - weather: chilly and damp

Today we had our annual journey to the plot to gather veggies for the Christmas festivities. Number one son came with me as our little girl was quite poorly with a shocking cough and cold. It was chilly and damp and we both got quite muddy, but we were able to gather carrots, parsnips, chard, cabbages, turnips, celeriac, salad leaves, red and white winter radish (mooli) and beetroot to feed family and friends during the festive period.

As you can see, the moolis have put on some serious growth considering I didn't sow until after the longest day back in the summer. They have the typical radish pepperiness if eaten raw, but chopped up or grated, they are a valuable winter root for soups and stews where they loose that heat and turn sweet and tender.

Red cabbage and savoy cabbages came home with us. The red was braised with onion and apple, a slosh of white wine vinegar, a little water, Christmas spices, salt and pepper for a couple of hours very very gently until it was tender and sweet with a hint of sour and delicious. It will definately be on my winter menu again. And of course, the parsnips. Not as massive as in previous years, but they were buggers to germinate so didn't get going until late in the spring. However there are 2 rows of these beauties, another great root for this time of year.

Friday 14th December 2007 - Weather: chilly and overcast

Wow, has it really been over a month since I last posted? I have popped to the plot a couple of times, but only when passing just to check everything is okay. Pretty much the same thing today. I had a hot date with old Jack to go over to the orchard and pick some miseltoo and as he wasn't arriving until 10, I had a whole hour to knuckle down. Started digging, did a section on the brassica patch, then cleared the runner beans and the few tomato plants that I hadn't gotten around to oiking out. My waterbutt had fallen over, not vandals I am certain, but the moles seem to have been burrowing around that area, and the bricks the butt was up on were at an angle, and I imagine the strong winds we have had recently were enough to tip it over, so I sorted that out. An hour is no time on the allotment, and I still have some tidying to do on plot number 2, number one is spick and span and ready for 2008.

Still in the ground and growing well are Japanese onions, garlic, leeks, chard, cabbages, purple sprouting, brussel sprouts, kale, mooli, long red radish, carrots, parsnips, swedes, turnips, a big selection of salad leaves like mustard, corn salad, oakleaf, mizuna, etc and beetroots. Should have plenty of veg for the Christmas hols.

Hopefully, weather permitting, I will go to the allotment for a couple of hours Monday afternoon, and Tuesday afternoon.

Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th November 2007 - weather: brighty and breezy

In memory of Nanny Shipley - 1906 - 2007

I know, I know, I have waited a whole week to get the blog updated, but honestly, I have been so busy with family and 'stuff' that only now do I have time to sit down and properly get this info up to date. A lovely time of year on the allotment, a time of tidying and preperation and sitting back and enjoying the colours of this season. I spent several coffee breaks sitting watching the squirrels larking about in the trees, and blue tits and wrens in the brambles. The sound of birdsong was so incredibly loud.

The main aim of this 2 day stint was to get everything cleared and all vacant beds dug ready for the winter weather to do it's thing. The squashes hadn't liked the cold nights and they were all black and shrivelled - fortunately the squashes all came home a couple of weeks ago. I dug and dug and dug, tidied the aspargus patch and the rhubarb and turned out some of my compost heap. Not bad stuff - too chunky to be used as potting compost, but as a mulch on the plot to improve moisture and open the texture up, just perfect. The rhubarb and sparagrass both had a good top dressing. I will continue to empty the heap and spread it about with gay abandon throughout the autumn, winter and spring.

I finally cleared the last of the spuds that were in the ground, filled a bucket, some slug damage, but considering I should have had them out a few months back, they were in pretty good shape. I dug a couple of Kestrel, the size of a rugby ball, and as clean as could be. They are a must for next year - the obviously love my allotment.

I made the decision some time back to sort out the strawberry patch as I don't really tend to it, just let the runners root at will all over the place, which is great as there are hundreds and hundreds of plants, but it is a real pain to pick the fruits as it is a complete tangle of strawberry plants, and dreaded creeping buttercups. So, I dug up large clumps, seperated out the plants chucking out any big, old, gnarly plants and started planting up neat rows of fresh young plants. Looks very neat - quite a worry for me as I rarely plant things in lovely straight lines. It will mean however I will be able to straw them nicely in the early summer, and hopefully pick them a lot easier. The other bonus is I have relocated them at the top end of plot number one, the sunniest spot on that allotment, so fingers crossed for a bumper harvest.

Most of the apples have finally fallen from the trees, so I gathered a few okay windfalls to use in crumbles, the rest are left in cider scented heaps under the trees for the birds and other critters to enjoy. By spring hey are usually all rotted down and I put fresh mulch under the trees. It seems to work okay.

Jack gave me a lovely green cabbage called Lion. I haven't heard of this one before, but they have grown very quickly for him and have made very tight cabbages, very green with a lovely sweet flavour. I also picked a red cabbage and dug some carrots. Still lashings of carrots in the ground and I may through some fleece over them to keep the a little bit cosy before the day time temperatures fall too low.

The tomatos have all finished now, along with the beans, and I will clear those next time and get the area dug over. The corn have also all finished and I picked the last of the rainbow cobs. Daughter number one loves these so am hoping to grow more next year.

Currently in the ground I have brussel sprouts - red and green, savoy cabbages, green cabbages, red cabbages, brocolli, purple sprouting, kale, kohl rabi, spring cabbages, lettuce, leeks, japanese onions, garlic, celeriac, rainbow chard, spinach, carrots, mooli, radish, spring onions, parsnips, turnips, swedes, pak choi and red mustard. A large amount still growing which is brilliant as I like to be able to visit the allotment year round and have something to harvest.

A PS to add - here are our various pumpkin carvings, basic I know, but the childrens designs. As you can tell, we went from large round pumpkins, right down to little baby gourds.

Saturday 20th October 2007 - Weather: sunny with a nip in the air

Flying visit time of year with the kids on half term and not much growing now. I popped up to assess the situation and to bring home the squashes now the mornings are frosty. Not as many as I would have hoped but in the rotation plan this year, the squash bed was unfortunately in dappled shade and of course, with the old hernia problems, I could pamper them, so they were left to get on with it. However, I am pleased with what I brought home, and it will give us some to carve at Halloween and the rest for soups and stews. My lot aren't keen on squash as a veg on it's own, but it is great in soups and they don't mind it then, so to be honest, this is enough.

Looks like this is the last courgette for 2007. I don't buy them in the supermarket at other times in the year, so looks like I will have to wait until next May or June. I made a chunky season veg soup and in it went. Delicious!

Picked a red and green cabbage - the green called Greyhound, sorry about the pic quality. The red will be a coleslaw base, and I will have some braised with apple, the green has already been scoffed, with Sundays roast chicken. It was so sweet. You cannot beat picking something and cooking it soon after.

I plan to get up to the allotment once the kids go back to school for 2 or 3 days on the trot, to dig every where that needs it and to get the compost out of the heap and start getting that on any bare areas. I am also tempted to dig a bean trench and fill it over the winter with kitchen and garden waste to try and give them a good boost next year. It will help with water retention.

In my vague rotation plan for next year, the cabbages will remain on plot 2, but will shift down into the shadier area at the bottom of the plot. The spuds will be on plot 1 down by the shed, the squash on plot 1 up in the sun beyond the apples and my 'others', so roots, salads, etc will be on plot 2 in the sun at the top end. I don't really do maincrop onions due to the white rot - the over wintering onions are already in and growing on plot number 2 at the lower end. They will be cleared as the brassicas go in. Leeks are also in with them.

Forgot to add...

On allotment one I had a rogue alpine strawberry plant grow last year. I was going to weed it out, but never did get round to it, so it now has pride of place up amongst my flowers. I have been keeping an eye on it waiting for the perfect little strawbs to turn red, but they just weren't budging, so I picked one and popped it into my mouth. Soft, sugar sweet, a ZAP of pure strawberry flavour. Amazing. So I have a white alpine strawberry plant on the plot! I should save a couple of fruits and dry the seed and see if any off spring are white also.

Tuesday 25th September 2007 - Weather: bright but rain threatening

Today I had to meet Old Jack on the plot as we had a scrumping date over on the farm. Filled my carriers with plums, pears and crab apples. The owners are thrilled that we go and have a pick as none of the fruit is used in bulk and most of it falls to the ground and rots, which is such a shame. The crab apples will be transformed into chilli jelly, some of the plums will be turned into jam, the rest into plum gin and vodka and the pears will be eaten, frozen, bottled and given to the neighbours.

Once back on the plot I cleared the old pea and sweetpea area infront on the runner beans as this is the overwintering onion, leeks and garlic patch. The leeks that the site secretary gave me a few weeks ago are already in and settled and looking good. The area was dug, raked, dug and raked some more until I was left with something resembling a fine tilth. Then I planted my 75 white onions and 25 red onions. My mate Growmore sends me these from Yorkshire and the quality is outstanding, much better than I have ever received mail order. They are strong firm sets which seem to shrug of the dreaded white rot, giving me a great useable harvest in early summer. I also planted 2 bulbs of purple hard neck garlic, purchased from the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight. I have tried garlic from other mail order suppliers, and had rubbish harvests - the Garlic Farm were the best when I first used them, and I tried to be cheap, and paid the price. From now on I will stick with quality. I have saved 2 bulbs to break up and plant at home in a large trough. These should be white rot free and give me clean specimens for platting.

From there I did some harvesting. Still plenty on the plot and I picked a couple of cucumbers, a couple of crystal lemon cucumbers, courgettes, chard, turnips, radish, salad leaves and the bonus, a bowl of strawberries. There are lots of flowers and immature fruits still on the plants, but the nights are getting a lot colder now, so whether they will ripen, we will have to wait and see. I also picked the last raspberries from Jacks plot as he didn't want them. They went straight into the freezer as they turn mouldy so quickly this late in the season.

I did harvest a couple of the red sweetcorns, but they hadn't developed very big cobs. I don't know if it was due to the weather, or if they got checked when I planted them out, but they perfect, sweet, and beautiful.

Clearing time really. I still have a few spuds in the ground so I cleared the last of the kestrel and Maxine and I have a few pink fur apples to go. So, after an hour of digging, the rain started setting in, so I set off for home. I will be back next Friday for another farm rendevous and to clear the last of the spuds, pick all the apples I can reach and finish any digging I have left to do.

Saturday 15th September 2007

Danbury & Little Baddow Autumn Horticultural Show 2007

Finally show day arrived. The kids had worked very hard Friday night, daughter number one made a lovely fruit salad with peaches, kiwi, apples, melon, rapsberries, apples, blackberries, strawberries and alpine strawberries. She then made an edible necklace with a mix if little fruits and veggies. Son number one made a dinosaur from vegetables - a marrowsaurus.

We got up early to shoot to the allotment to decide what flowers to put into the annuals section and to try and pick some good apples. We decided that the 3 sunflowers were gorgeous and they would be winners, so we loaded the car and arrived at the school hall at around 10am. I showed:

5 culinary apples

3 beetroot

3 carrots

3 courgettes

1 outdoor grown cucumber

1 table top marrow

5 onions grown from sets

12 shallots

5 coloured potatoes

5 white potatoes

7 runner beans

3 beefsteak tomatoes

5 medium tomatoes

7 cherry tomatoes

any other root veg - turnips

any other veg - turks turban squash

top tray - collection of 3 types of veg

vase of annual flowers

recipe using plums (Mulled plum jelly)

jam made from soft fruit (Strawberry jam)

jam made from stone fruit (Greengage jam)

chutney (curried rhubarb chutney)

We left the hall and went off to do our chores, heading back there at around 3.30 for prize giving at 4.15. I wasn't expection to do great as I hadn't had lots of time over the summer to molycoddle my veggies, what with the hernia op and going away on our hols. Also the toms had some blight, and I had trouble matching veggies - for example, I had 2 smashing big beetroots, but the rest were all small like golfballs, same problem with the carrots. All the whoppers were slightly twisted or had green shoulders, so we went with the smaller ones that we could match.

I left the inlaws and hubby to look at my veggies whilst I went with the children to see how they did. They were very proud as son took a first for his Marrowsaurus and daughter took seconds for her fruit salad and necklace. By now the inlaws and hubby were very excited as I had managed to take a few firsts myself. In fact, I took 7 firsts, 7 seconds, 4 thirds and my greengage jam was highly commended. My top tray came second and I won a £5 gift voucher for DT Browns. I took the most points in the show to won the prestigious RHS Banksian Medal and the Dawson Challenge Cup. I was thrilled and the chairman of the society made a point of telling everyone how tough it is on our allotment because there is no water, we have to save what we can, or lug water from home. He went on to tell the audience that I work the plot on my own, as well as working, and being chief mum and head bottle washer. Gush Gush.

The next show is in the spring and is usually only flowers. Wonder if I have time to plant more daff bulbs as it is the daffodil society in the spring,

Now my photos of my winning entries.

Firsts:

Seconds

Thirds