The Hay Wayne

Back "by popular demand"

2012-01-30T20:12:00.013Z

I’m a bad blogger.

There, I said it.

It’s been almost a year since my last post, and I feel terrible. Of course, nothing much has happened in that time – such is the life of a Wayne.

I’m lying of course, a vain attempt at placating my guilt and buying myself a bit of time whilst I think about what to put here in my first post of 2012.

Suffice it to say that last year was possibly a bit of a write-off where the plot is concerned. A flurry of activity toward the beginning of the year, which Wayned (pun intended and badly executed) as the year progressed.

Thanks to the wonders of modern Facebookology however I now have a timeline of what I did, and when I did it (to a certain extent), so a quick recap reveals:

• 2 weddings
• 1 cut finger
• 1 Vegas stag do
• A bike ride
• A job change
• The beginning of pre-school
• A beard

2011 in a nutshell.

So, why the renewed efforts to get blogging? Well, at this juncture I should probably mention a few people – so I will. Via the wonder that is the Twitter machine @allyssaroxx @victony01 @anita_neet and various pals on the Grapevine (growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine) all convinced me in their own way to get blogging again, so here I am…

Is that enough explaining?

Good.

So – during a conversation between LadyWayne and myself a number of weeks ago, I aired my concerns at being able to carry on with the plot. “We’ll make it more of a family activity” she replied. We’d had this discussion before…

A promise of spending every Sunday morning (weather/schedule permitting) on the plot as a family was offered. I took it – with open arms.

So, after the Christmas mayhem (we hosted again – gladly) I set about gathering my seed catalogues and the search began for my own seed stash. That search is still going on – I’ve lost my tin.

Writing this I’d like to make you aware that I am at present, a little bit edgy at the prospect of having yet to sow a single seed. Other gardeners (of any level) will understand this apprehension, as the season fast approaches, the knowledge that in a month or so, chaos will reign supreme as I try in vain to get seeds to germinate, eke out every second of daylight, run out of room….

Deep breath.

Of course, before one embarks on the annual seed-fest and subsequent flurry of activity, it is important to prepare the final resting…..growing place of the plants you intend to grow.

Wait.

I’ve missed a step.

This often happens (again, beginners like me will understand).

Firstly, it’s probably a good idea to decide on what you want to grow. Previous years have been a bit hit and miss – the last 4-5 years have been a steep learning curve, understanding what grows well on the plot, what you like to grow and so on.

So, I’ve drawn up a list of the produce I am looking to grow this year – based on our likes and successes:

• Sweetcorn (lots of)
• Beetroot (lots of)
• Carrots (successional sowings of)
• Peas (podded and “mange tout” types)
• Potatoes (2nd early & main)
• Courgettes (green only)
• Squashes (butternut & one other type)
• Gherkins (although not a big success last year)
• Chillies (see previous item)
• Onions
• Garlic
• Fennel
• Celeriac
• Brussels Sprouts
• Broccoli
• Spring Onions
• Runner Beans
• French Beans
• Parsnips
• Swede
• Turnips
• Herbs (oregano/mint/rosemary/thyme/sage/basil/parsley)
• Rhubarb
• Apples
• Strawberries
• Raspberries
• Flowers of various descriptions (one year on looking at my plot I decided it was too “green” and vowed to inject more colour in subsequent years)

I’m sure there are some things I’ve forgotten – but that seems enough to be getting on with for now.

So, I’ve started to order seeds from numerous suppliers in the absence of my own stash – I will learn to put it in a safe place, I will.

This Sunday just passed was out first “day” as a family on the plot. Sods law that only days before the pretty weather ladies (and a few chaps) suggest that we are in for a four-week long cold snap! They of course are right, and a quick recce out the front window on Sunday morning revealed a frost – confirmed by the blast of cold air as the kitchen window was opened as we prepared breakfast.

Breakfast done, I loaded the car up with the basic paraphernalia required this time of year – the lopper, pruning shears, secateurs, long-handled spade, 3 bags of leaves and several layers of clothing.

TheBoyWayne and myself dressed as one would expect, boots, scruffy trousers/jeans, jumper and body warmers (though I think they’re called “Gilets” nowadays). LadyWayne however, perhaps less as one would expect:

Car now unloaded LadyWayne and TheBoyWayne awaited instruction – I uttered a few basic requests and set about tackling the apple tree with my pruning shears. The tree was in need of a haircut:

I started tentatively as always – keeping the “goblet” shape in mind, and soon realised that I perhaps needed to be a little more ruthless and clambered onto the tree to access the more meaningful branches. After about 45 minutes, several branch stabs and a cut finger, it started to take shape. I took a step back and glanced over onto the plot to notice that LadyWayne had made great progress and had cleared several beds already!

“Wow!”

I have omitted the numerous "raised-voice" instructions that TheBoyWayne had already received at this stage – as they will most likely add nothing to the sense of progress.

“The beds are in good shape – makes it a lot easier to dig” uttered LadyWayne after another couple of beds had been cleared.

Now in itself this probably doesn’t mean much to many of you – but to me it meant that the years of hard work that have been put in to date, are finally starting to pay off. I remember spending hours on some of the beds – pulling up roots, pulling weeds, digging in leaf mulch, compost, cardboard and so on. The soil it seems is starting to improve.

*takes a moment*

Once the tree was nearly complete, TheBoyWayne decided he’d had enough of being “talked to” because he kept walking over the beds instead of using the paths, and wandered off a few plots up to go and see the “bock-bock chickens”. He soon returned pronouncing he didn’t like the chickens – but wanted mummy to go and have another look with him anyway.

Off they went as I finished off the tree. It always looks harsh after its haircut – but hopefully I’ve done what is required for another year:

LadyWayne had cleared tens beds by this point, TheBoyWayne helping deposit the discarded weeds, roots and dead plants onto the “compostarium” (parents/viewers of Mr Bloom’s Nursery will sympathise). So, they decided to go for a walk around the allotment site – which gave me about half an hour to prune the roses, cut back the raspberries and have a bit of a tidy up.

Now, the raspberries have just been decimated in this photo - I intend to tidy them up, and stake the canes properly this year.

The rose doesn't look much like this, but last year saw plenty of blooms - I'm hoping this year will be the same:

It also gave me the opportunity to picture in my head where things are going to go this year. More organised gardeners/allotment holders will have charts and crop rotation plans, but as with most things I tend to rely on what’s in my head at the time– which is why I’ll never be more than a pottering gardener.

The vision I have will manifest itself into a living plot one day – I know it will. For now - it just looks a bit like this:

(I know it looks a bit untidy, but I will tidy it up as the year progresses, I promise. The lack of shed doesn't help)

Parents of young gardeners will know that it having children on the plot will probably mean that a ten minute job will most likely take fifteen with them “helping”, and that it can sometimes be a little frustrating – but, the rewards far outweigh the hardships.

It’s those little moments – peeing on the compost heap (male wee is a well-known compost accelerator – I discussed this with a friend recently), which he of course takes great pleasure in doing. The “daddy, look what I’ve found!” as he runs over clasping something in his hand – the look of panic on my face as he presents me with this:

(on taking this photo the chrysalis moved in my hand and I very nearly created my own little chrysalis!)

TheBoyWayne will have his own bed this year to grow whatever takes his fancy – I may need to employ some cheating tactics to get things moving a bit quicker – patience are not a 3 year old’s strong point.

I’m looking forward to 2012.

Now where did I put those seeds…?

p.s. someone remind me to bale everything properly please.

Apologies for the mammoth post - I've had some making up to do. Time for s sit down...

And in other news...

2011-04-15T12:44:00.002+01:00

Garden related again.

Well, plot to be more precise.

Managed to get to the plot for a whole day on Sunday with the family Wayne - with the addition of two extra pairs of hands in the form of my parents.

Dad cleared a whole load of couch grass - call it what you will, but I say couch, others say couch....

Raspberries are looking far neater after EdWayne Scissorhands set to them with his secateurs. No idea if I've done the right thing or not as some are Summer fruiting, and others are Autumn fruiting, but Ill be darned if I can tell them apart! Will know better at the end of the year I'm sure.

Planted a whole row of peas, a load of broad beans and finally managed to get my potatoes in - all 6 rows. 3 of each early and main crop. Just need to remember which ones are which...*

*Demonstrated my mobile phones endless abilities, and took a photo of the the bed with my hand holding the label aloft so I know which one is which. There's no app for that!

Also got the remaining onions into a couple of beds - about 100 spring planted onions to go with the 100 or so autumn planted ones that are already showing green.

Took our old plastic patio furniture, a little drum barbecue and LadyWayne took charge of refreshments and sustenance. All fed and we carried on.

I de-flowered* the rhubarb as it had started to bolt due to the dry weather we've been having, and cleared the weeds from around the plants stinging my hands to buggery in the process on the surrounding nettles.

*no, not in that sense!!

Finally I (with the help of Dad) built the raised bed for Bean that I have been promising, and now that I have a plentiful supply of green garden paint I can coat it, line it and fill it.

On the subject of filling, it would appear that I have found a source of topsoil courtesy of FreeCycle - I just need to sort out how I get it from source to plot....

Maybe that's for the next post.

I will update with some more interesting matter (photos) shortly, once I remember to take the camera with me..

Until then.

The "death wobble"

2011-02-12T21:34:00.001Z

At this rate I'll need a bit of their help myself!

This post is not in the slightest bit garden related (well apart from the hedge mention a bit later), but I feel the need to impart.

As many of you know I took part in the British Heart Foundation's London to Brighton Bike Ride last year and loved it. I was also fortunate to raise a decent amount of money for them thanks to the generocity of friends, family and you guys on-vine.

I decided to enter again this year, and as I'm a former participant I get a guaranteed place and also enter a team myself.

Having completed the course last year I had a number of friends, neighbours and colleagues who said they'd take part this year and of the four "definites" only LadyWayne's brother is taking part.

So, I sold him my bike and bought a new one and we eventually managed to get out for our first ride this afternoon. The weather was forecast for sunshine so I have to admit the hail we set out to was a bit of a surprise. Then we tackled the big hill just outside the village. Brother-in-law behind me I set off and rapidly dropped down through the gears. "We'll get to the top even if it takes half an hour" said b-i-l. So I plodded on, breath puffing in front of me, lungs heaving, throat rasping.

There was a steady stream of water running down the hill from the now dissipating rain and hail - it became mildly hypnotic and before I knew it I'd reached the last corner - not long now. To this point I hadn't dared look behind me to see if Chris was still there or not.

Eventually the hill began to flatten out and I glanced behind me to see nothing but empty road. I decided (not before time) to stop and have a bit of a drink. After a few minutes I saw Chris come sauntering round the corner huffing and puffing. As he drew nearer he mounted the bike again and made it up the rest of the hill. "Well done lad" I uttered. "I think I've bitten off more than I can chew" came the reply.

We carried on.

Chatting away for the next couple of miles I mentioned that it gets easier with practise and that a lot of it is down to gear selection. Not minutes later we approached a small hill and Chris began to falter in front of me. "Perfect illustration of gear selection" he uttered as I passed him.

We then reached a turning point in the road. Right would take us on a longer loop and a bit of dual carriageway and left would take us on a shorter route but down a really steep hill - where last year I reached my fastest speed.

Left we went.

As we approached the apex I began to push hard in top gear, chasing down the cars that had passed us shortly before.

"See you at the bottom" I heard from behind me.

Now I should point out at this stage that I am on a new bike that I had never ridden before. I had replaced the stem before we had come out, and it's a smaller, lighter bike than the one behind me that I rode last year.

As I approached a bend I hunkered down and tucked in my elbows.

Then my heart leapt.

I felt the bike start to shake.

Then it started shaking more violently.

I feathered the rear brake (discs) and started to look at the hedges flying past as a "softer" option.

The bike eventually started to settle down and my heart worked its way back down into my chest.

As I slowed my brother in law came flying past not realising how scared I'd just been.

At the bottom of the hill there was a pub. We stopped for a pint and I recounted my tale over a medicinal Tribute.

The rest of the journey home was much more sedate and enjoyable.

I have since looked into what I'd experienced and have read that the "death wobble" (and it did feel like I might have been hurt quite a lot had it have gotten worse) is a relatively rare occurence - not one I wish to repeat any time soon.

Neeldess to say - if I make it up Ditchling Beacon again this year I will take things a little more steadily on the downhills into Brighton.

Terrible two's?

2011-02-01T20:54:00.003Z

And so it begins! The terrible two's - well that's not exactly true. In fact it's a downright lie! We couldn't ask for more from a son - he's our absolute treasure and even if the two's do turn out to be "terrible" he'll still be our gorgeous boy at the end of it all.

Speaking of two's it also seems that he may well skip the potty (which is about right given that we've spent a fortune on potties and paraphernalia) and go straight to the loo. He much prefers a "toilet wee wee" or "toilet poo poo".

Moving on from one manure related tpoic to another.

It's that time of year when those of you in the gardening community will know that although there isn't much growing going on, there is plenty or work - be it planning, moving, sowing, planning, pruning, browsing, planning or otherwise.

As such I am thinking bout all of those things - admittedly doing little about it to date, but am getting twitchy at the prospect of teh lighter days and warmer temperatures.

Among the tasks that are forming in my mind are to create a couple of raised beds specifically for Hayden (aka Bean) to grow his own little produce or flora. I also need to move the compost heap outside the plot boundaries, create a herb bed....

I may have aleady posted all this - but it's too late to check as my browser has opened the edit page in the same place.

Anyways - I'm pretty sure I haven't posted this before. A couple of years ago I bought a number of raspberry canes - 6 summer, and 6 autumn fruiting. At the time I didn't quite appreciate how rampant raspberries could be, so managed to somehow end up with a mass of raspberry "bush".

My options are thus as I see it;

Try and work out which ones are which (probably resulting in another year without any raspberries) and move them into a more formal arrangement.

Dig them up, throw them out and start again with neat rows, supports and trainers.

I haven't quite made up my mind yet, but optyion 2 is my current favourite.

The more I write, the more I am itching to get onto the plot and get started.

On that note, I am going to stop typing, and concentrate on tomorrow for now. I'm off to the Williams F1 conference centre tomorrow for a work related presentation and meet and greet so I'll leave you with a couple of piccies taken during Bean's birthday weekend.

Ciao for now!

Blowing out his candles all by himself.

Mobile blogging

2011-01-25T12:52:00.001Z

This is a test to see if I can actually blog from my phone, hopefully making it easier - and more likely that I blog more often.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.5

So, where do I begin?

2011-01-20T19:38:00.002Z

Since I last posted so much has changed.

I've been made redundant,worked as a consultant and then found a new job (which is great). Working in the sameplace for eight and a half years it's amazing how much you miss out on in the outside world.

My brother-in-law and his partner have had a baby girl making me an uncle. She's a real beaut.

LadyWayne has changed job, and has more time to spend with her boys - for which we are all grateful.

Christmas has come and gone, which we hosted again (we're good like that).

I have a new phone - it's one of those "smart" phones, and I'm not proud to admit that it is way smarter than me.

The X-Factor came and went - let's hope it stays that way!

When written down in a short list such as this they all seem fairly mundane and insignificant, but life has changed dramatically and fundamentally - yet life is still very good and full of enjoyment.

Enjoyable not least because of our little boy - Bean, who will be two years old in a matter of weeks. It's hard to believe that I was posting on here (and in a large part on the Grapevine) about his arrival.

He's now more a little boy than a baby - the old cliche's about children growing up fast are proving to all be true. He's talking loads, running round, causing havoc and being what all boys are at that age I'm sure.

In terms of the allotment and plot- well, I've been almost as neglectful of that as I have been to this blog. It's been weeks, if not months since I have been on the plot in earnest and I'm feeling equally as guilty about that as I am about my lack of posts here.

Both of these things I intend to address.

I have plans for the plot which include moving my raspberry canes. I might have to start again as the autumn and summer fruiting varieties have merged into such a fashion that distinguishing them is nigh-on impossible.

I also intend to build a couple of high raised beds for Bean, so that he can really get involved. On the odd occasions that he has ventured to the plot with Daddy he has had great fun, so I imagine his own little plot will be great fun for us both.

I need to relocate my compost bins outside of the plot boundaries as I'm getting to the point where the whole plot is almost in use (whoop whoop I hear a call).

I also want to create a dedicated herb bed - and this will hopefully end up in the space the compost bin will vacate.

What else?

I'm sure there have been plenty of things that have happened that a 35 year old like me is struggling to recall, but for now I think I'll call it a post and perhaps interject future posts with sudden recall to try and keep things interesting.

Oh, to "square the circle" (a bonkers saying if I ever heard one) I have signed up to take part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride again this year, and this time have my own team - Wayne's Wheeled Wobblers. I have a few people signed up to take part with me, so what this space for further news.

No, can't remember anything else at the moment - plus Human Planet has just started on BBC HD and it looks interesting....

Oh - here's one of those recall moments. I've just remembered that my potatoes have "gone over" (a bit squishy for consumption), so I'm looking into the possibility of making my own Vodka, but it involves a bit of investement in terms of kit, so it may well be another idea dead in the water. Or should that be Vodka?

No, that's really it for tonight.

G'night.

I'm still here!

2011-01-18T21:03:00.002Z

Have managed to recover my login info - so will hopefully be blogging again soon. If anyone is still watching that is?

I nearly made 30 miles

2010-06-14T08:19:00.012+01:00

Just a quick update on my cycling training in preparation for this weekend's London to Brighton bike ride. I managed a 28 mile ride on Saturday, and only stopped because I ran out of miles.

Hopefully this works - here's a map of the route...

I also conquered my nemesis - 'the hill'. According to the roadsign at the top of the hill it's a 15% gradient, but it only shows up as a 5% on the map above. It felt very much like a 15% gradient, so we'll stick with that!

Then, if that wasn't enough physical exertion for one weekend I decided that I should get to the plot and do some much needed weeding and planting.

I started off by burning the prunings from the apple tree that had been a bit of an eyesore at the front of the plot - which took about an hour all in. I had to keep feeding the fire, so a constant stream of broken branches and twigs were supplied by my goodself - and I got a bit of a roasting too - but more on that later.

I planted my Celeriac "Giant Prague", my Spinach Beet, two lots of beans - Madeira Maroon (on 8ft Ash canes trimmed from the tree next to the house) and another row of 11 plants, HSL I think, but the name escapes me at the moment.

I'd also intended to plant out my Chicago Warted Hubbard, courgettes (all green bush) and Patty Pans, but kind of ran out of time as is often the case.

Of course, with all this weather we've been having of late (sunshine and showers) everything seem to be growing well, including the weeds of course, but just as a note of proof here are some photos of how things are doing.

The car boot, loaded and ready to go!

Rows, and rows, of potatoes.

Foreground - Kestrel, then Pink Fir Apple, then King Edwards and in the distance, Golden Wonder.

The HSL Crimson Flowered broad beans are blooming nicely, so should hopefully get a decent crop from these with plenty left over for seed saving/swapping.

The self saved seeds from last seasons crop are also doing pretty well - Martock.

I am also growing two different types of HSL peas, Victorian Purple - which are living up to their name.

And 'Poppet', with the most agitated looking tendrils I've ever seen!. Not much in the way of bloom, or pods as yet, but fingers crossed.

And lastly, Stephens - well, technically they're mine, but....

I had also meant to create a little bit of a herb bed, but thus far I've only managed to plant/grow some dill - but what a fantastic smell. I was down on the ground pulling up some weeds when I caught a whaft of this fantastic scent. One of the 'branches' had snapped - I don't know how, but I felt obliged to snap it off completely and the smell seemed amplified. Lush!

Everything else seemed to be doing ok - the onions are starting to swell, the garlic leaves are just beginning to yellow. I pulled up a bulb to see ho they are doing - and it was smaller than I expected, but I'm still hopeful of a decent harvest. The Swish chard has filled out nicely and my first sowing of beetroot are starting to form little bulbs.

I'll plant out the courgettes and hubbards one night this week hopefully.

In other news, the pond is full of life and full of blanket weed. I keep turfing it out, but it keeps on coming back. Still, the snails seem fairly happy.

Just in case you thought there would be no rhubarb news - have faith, I did have some rhubarb action at the weekend.

Before I set off to the plot yesterday I made a rhubarb and custard cake, recipe again from the BBC Good Food website:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/10500/rhubarb-and-custard-cake

Ok, mine doesn't look quite as light and fluffy, but it tastes pretty darned good. So much so, I might just make another one.

T'is the season to eat rhubarb, tralalalalaaa

2010-06-09T08:22:00.013+01:00

And boy are we eating rhubarb!

Inspired by my good friends on The Grapevine http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/
I have recently been making all things rhubarb related. Short of bursting into "Jerusalem" and donning a WI pinny I'm pretty sure I'm almost ready for my membership!

Thus far I have made:

Rhubarb Schnapps.

Recipe; Rhubarb Liqueur / Schnapps

in a large sterilised jar put 2 finely sliced sticks of rhubarb
3 cloves (if liked, I hate it)
1 cinnamon stick
3 tbsp sugar
1 litre brandy/gin/vodka

shake well, leave in a cool dark place for 4 weeks, shaking daily.
Strain through muslin into another sterilised jar, and leave for 3 months to mature.

Here's mine, currently maturing. Looks nice and clear - better than I'd hoped for.

I have also made Rhubarb and Ginger Jam

1kg (2lb 4oz) trimmed Rhubarb, chopped
1kg (2lb 4oz) Sugar
600ml (1 pint) Water
100g (4oz) Crystallised Ginger, chopped
25g (1oz) Root Ginger
2 Small Lemons, juice only

Trim and chop the rhubarb.
Bruise the ginger well and tie in a muslin bag.
Place the rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice and muslin bag into a heavy bottomed saucepan and cover with water.
Bring to the boil.
Boil, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until the fruit is tender.
Remove the muslin bag.
Add the chopped crystallised ginger.
Return to the boil and simmer until the rhubarb is clear, stirring frequently.
Test for a set, when the setting point is reached, remove from the heat.
Skim the surface with a slotted spoon.
Pot the jam into sterilised jars.

Though I don't recall adding the water.....

Still, seems to have turned out ok.

Tastes sweet - which I guess will be down to the mountain of sugar, and has a little bit of a tang, which is undoubtedly the ginger.

I have also made two lots of chutney. Firstly, just called "Rhubarb Chutney" as mentioned by a fellow 'Grape' on-vine:

I found this by Mike Robinson:

500g rhubarb
200g brown sugar
6 banan shallots, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp thyme leaves
1 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove
3 garlic cloves, chopped
100g cherry tomatoes
200ml red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juice and zest

Place the rhubarb into a pan with a drop of water and add the sugar. Cook on a medium heat until softened.
Add the shallots, spices, garlic and tomatoes and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Add red wine vinegar and lemon juice and zest. Simmer for 2 hours until most of the liquid has evaporated. Check for seasoning and leave to cool. Store in clean, airtight jars.

This only made a small amount of chutney - but plenty for us.

And last night I made some rhubarb and date chutney - recipe from the BBC website:

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5885/rhubarb-and-date-chutney

Be warned though, the recipe doesn't print out the ingredients if you press the 'print recipe' icon, which is why you'll see my scrawlings in one of the pictures.

Oh, and it needs to cook for way longer than the 15-20 mins they say, but then again that might be down to my chunky chopping?

I have also previsously made rhubarb bellini's - very successful, and rhubarb flapjacks, not so successful. They were very 'wet' and just ended up like a rhubarb version of bread pudding.

On another note, I've been tidying up the garden a bit and trying to get my sweet peas to liven up a bit. Whilst doing so I took a few quick snaps of the various flora that seems to be coming to life at the moment.

There's this one (which I can't remember the name of - so if anyone has any pointers...)

Lavender.

Alliums (though they look a little fuller now)

The foxgloves have finally started to show bloom too - which is always a mood lifter.

Now, I know they look a bit straggly, but the Viola just keep on coming on the hanging baskets at the back of the house. I don't have the heart to pull them out and start again!

One more thing before I go - Bean is starting to really 'get' his climbing frame (which now occupies half of the garden). He has started to attempt climbing up the various ladders, and I managed to get him sat on the swing the other day. His shouts of "weeeee" tell me he enjoyed it.

Whilst harvesting the rhubarb last night (quickly, to avoid getting drenched through) I had a quick gander around the plot and was encouraged (and a little disheartened), by what I saw. The peas seem to be doing great - as do most things, including the darned weeds.

Looks like I need to get hoeing!

Forgive me farther.

2010-05-26T12:20:00.014+01:00

For I have sinned.

It has been 3 months since my last post - but I have thought about you on more than one occasion.

I have given up on trying to blog at home - our BT connection is so rubbish. 0.256MB! Crazy. Hopefully we'll soon be with Virgin who quote 'up to' 10MB - but let's face it, even 1MB will be an improvement!

Anyway - back to the plot.

I shan't bore you with a run down of what I've done since my last post. A) it would take too long and you'd never read it, B) I can't actually remember what I've done in all those three months. So, I'll start here, where we are now and we'll go from there...

These first pictures give you a good idea of how things look currently. The first is from the gate and you can just make out the compost heap (which needs turning) on the left bottom of the picture. There are a number of beds now created - most of which are being used and some still awaiting tenants.

At the back of the picture (top right) you can see the rhubarb which has done really well this year (although it keeps bolting due to the shortage of rain - no matter how much I water it), and next to that the raspberries. The raspberries need a good weeding as there is a lot of grass and other weeds growing up through it - so it's a hands and knees job.

The next photo is from the other side of the plot and you can make out the four beds of potatoes (yes, four). This is pretty much how I started when I first started planting on the plot - scroll back through the posts and you'll see. Kind of completion of the circle I guess.

The bench is still holding up - though I will probably move this to the back of the plot - away from the pond and create a kind of area for Hayden to play in and Bev to relax in - make it a kind of family friendly plot. There is already a load of timber there that I intend to use, when I find the time of course!

So, here's a quick run down of what's in the ground.

Onions - 'Sturion'. Spring planted and I feared that I might be a bate late with these, but with the cold weather it may have been a blessing in disguise as I may have caught up with everyone.

My garlic seems to be coming along nicely - growing fat necks and a decent amount of foliage. I can't recall the variety but they are not a supermarket garlic - which is what I grew last year. These are 'proper' growing garlic, so I may be a convert. They even received a compliment from one of my fellow allotmenters.

I have three types of peas growing - all HSL varieties. Some 'Stephens' that are self saved seeds from last year - and some Victorian Purple Podded and Poppet.

There are also Martock Broad Beans - again, grown from self saved seeds, and also some Crimson Flowered (HSL) which look to be doing ok.

I'm trying 4 varieties of potatoes this year - Kestrel, Pink Fir Apple, King Edward and Golden Wonder. My heart sank when we had the late frosts - almost all my plants were hit - I didn't realise that they would come back, and come back they are thankfully. Might be a bit later than usual, but hopefully will still bear fruit (as it were).

I also planted a rose (Dublin Bay) against one of the rose arches I bought a couple of years ago. I've never grown a rose before - so thought I'd give it a try. It seems happy enough at the moment - time will tell of course.

What else...

Oh yeah - I have a row of beetroot (did really well last year) and a row of Swiss Chard. Never tried chard before, so will probably stick to the one row. Might need a bit of thinning out at some point, but still exciting trying new things to grow!

I've also made a bit of a start on growing herbs - not a great start, just some Dill - but it's a start right?

I have also planted two lots of sweetcorn - one standard 'sweetcorn' and another double coloured variety. I can't tell which one's which from the photos, but hopefully will be able to tell them apart when they fruit...

In some 'spare time' I also made myself a cold frame - I know it's a bit late in the year but not having a garage or a shed big enough I'm restricted to working outside on things like this and with the weather we've been having of late. Well. I had some left over chipboard from the bike shed and some odd bits of timber in the main shed - so drew up some plans (in my head) and set about putting it together. It needs a lick of paint, and I'm hopefully going to pick up some acrylic. I'm quite pleased with the result and look forward to making use of it next year.

I think that's probably about enough for now.

Oh, just one more thing - my other Bean is growing well, and should be helping me in the garden before long. ;)

Edit - just noticed the potato photos are skewiff - bladdy Picasa! I'll do better next time.

Boggy, boggy, boggy - oi, oi, oi!

2010-02-22T19:12:00.002Z

I'd planned to get down to the allotment for a whole day yesterday, but as is the way with such things the weather (snow early on) conspired against me so I pottered about the house doing odd jobs (painting bookshelves, clearing the office, organising my potatoes to chit, washing and so on) so didn't manage to get to the plot until late afternoon.

When I got there it was clear that the ground was way too boggy to do any real work so I trundled down to the bottom of the site and loaded up a few barrows full of manure to add to the compost heap.

I also decided that I would build a pergola - inspired by a fellow "Grape" from my second home: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/

I managed to dig two holes and place the uprights before deciding that it was indeed still to boggy to dig.

The weather will improve soon, of that I'm sure - we've had another full day of snow today so there must be some sunshine making its way to us...

Speaking loosely of weather - whilst in the garden yesterday I noticed quite a few clumps of leaves poking through in the 'trough' at the top of the garden,and one clump in particular has little white flowers - yes, Snowdrops. Odd that only one clump is showing, but that's probably the work of the local hoddie wearing squirrels.

Not sure what the rest of the leaves are, but it adds to the excitement of this time of year I guess.

One more thing before I go (I know it's a quick post), for anyone not already pestered for money - I am taking part in the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton Bike Ride this year and would be grateful (if you haven't already) of any donation. I am only £5 away from my target of £150, but it would be great to smash through my target.

If you would like to sponsor me you can donate online (as is the modern way) at the following site:

http://original.justgiving.com/HeyWayne

Things are never as bad as you think

2010-02-09T12:59:00.005Z

Well, that's the case it would seem when it came to the allotment.

I haven't really paid a visit since before Christmas of last year, so I was expecting the worst.

I loaded the car up with three trays of garlic that I'd had in the mini greenhouse since autumn of last year. They'd been growing happily in vending cup pots in the greenhouse with the door open most days.

I also loaded the long handled loppers, the saw, and the extendable extra long lopper (the type you hook over the branch and then use the pull-cord to action the blade) as I intended to give the apple tree a good winter prune.

I arrived at the allotment and unlocked the gate - there wasn't another soul in sight. Drove up the path with a sense of trepidation and arrived at plot 35 and things didn't look too bad.

Sure, there's a lot of tidying up to do - there are planks of wood strewn about in readiness to be made into various things, there are some bits of metal that will come in handy I'm sure.

However, the overall sense is that it's manageable - which is far greater than I'd expected.

I set about pruning the apple tree and it took me about 45 minutes I guess by the time I'd trimmed back several of the lower, wider branches, then attacked what I could reach with the loppers. There were a few to thick for both loppers that required me climbing the tree, saw in hand and then steadily sawing them off where I could reach.

All in all it looks like a healthier tree now which should provide a good harvest this year fingers crossed.

There a lot of discussion over which method is best, "traditional" or raised beds. Well, for me I'd have to say raised. If I'd have looked at my plot laid out in a "traditional" manner then it would apear daunting and I would have fealt disheartened for sure. As it is the raised beds help the eye to seperate out the space and divide it up mentally into manageable chunks - well it works for me.

I planted three rows of garlic in one of the smaller beds with room left over for some onions perhaps or maybe some flowers of some description - I haven't decided yet.

I then tidied up the canes and laid them across the bottom rungs of the rose arch so that they're off the ground with room for air to circulate so that they don't rot too much.

There were also 6 big garden sacks in the back of the car full of the leaves raked up from the garden. I placed them onto some cardboard on a couple of the raised beds which should hopefully keep the weeds at bay. Tidied up a couple of the other beds - just scraping some weeds off and decided to call it a day.

Drove home with a renewed sense of optimism for the year ahead.

Oh, before I go - in other news we celebrated the 1st birthday of our son (yes, it does indeed fly by).

Just a couple of photos of the day that his Aunty Rach managed to send us.

Leaf it out!

2010-01-17T20:08:00.007Z

Well, I think that's the longest I've been away from the blog. Busy busy busy.

Not really much to report as I unfortunately haven't been to the plot for months now. I'm planning to give a good go in a few weeks time. Get stuff in the ground, get some manure etc on and dug in. Late I know, but you know what they say about late - better than never right?

It's hard to believe that it's nearly a whole year since our son was born, but it will be exactly that in a couple of weeks. It's impossible to imagine life without him now, and he's only been here 11 and a bit months!

After the record breaking snow we've had of late the garden finally thawed out this weekend, so today I managed to get out there and rake up the leaves that have been on the ground for far too long. It's my friend late again...

Anyhoo. I attacked them with gusto and managed to get them all (well, I gave up on getting every last leaf some years ago) in about an hour.

As you can see, it was well over due.

But, quite literally some minutes later...

and then, some more minutes later...

Bagged and tagged.

I'd forgotten how much you ache after some 'ard graft, and I haven't got time these days for long hot baths!

Until next time - which hopefully won't be as far away.

Oh, forgot one thing! I noticed what I think (due to the label next to it) is Flat Leaf Parsley growing out from beneath the leaves:

Have pumpkin, will carve

2009-10-29T21:22:00.004Z

Ok, just a quickie.

Was considering carving up one of the small chestnut squashes for Halloween, and Beans first at that.

Then, someone (who shall remane nameless on their request) kindly donated a massive pumpkin.

Here's the before shot:

The resultant seeds (of which there's quite literally, lots!):

And, some hours later:

Won't win any awards, but as a first go I'm kinda happy. Knackered, but happy.

Onion marmalade disaster averted?

2009-10-01T08:54:00.001+01:00

I didn't have a particularly good onion crop this year - and those I did have were'nt great. So I decided to use what I have to make some onion marmalade.

Patience is a virtue.

I knew the basic ingredients - onions (obviously), wine vinegar, sugar, but wasn't sure on the rest. Method etc.

So I asked LadyWayne if I could borrow her notebook (mini laptop) when she'd finished as it's nice and small to have in the kitchen rather than my great lump of a thing.

So I waited.

Did a bit more waiting.

After some minutes I decided that I'd make a start and chopped up the onions and garlic, put some butter and a blob of oil in the pan.

Started to sweat down the onions nice and slow, all was going well.

I then opened the bottle of white wine vinegar which had a decent sized splash in the bottom (a few tablespoons worth probably). I then added the brown sugar - probably about 150-200g.

Then I opened the full bottle of white wine vinegar and proceeded to empty this bottle into the pan.

(those that know how to make onion vinegar have already seen the error of my ways, bear with me those that don't)

It was at that point that (having poked my head round the living room door and seen LadyWayne in conversation with someone on the phone whilst faffing with the laptop) I decided I'd wait no more and went to get my laptop to check the recipe.

The recipe I was "following" http://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/recipe.php?catid=9&recipeid=153 called for 5 tablespoons of wine vinegar.

Oh dear.

So, the suggested cooking time of 10 minutes was ever so slightly longer in an attempt to allow the vinegar to evaporate.

The kitchen at this point was a decongestant chamber - in that any attempt to breathe through your nose resulted in a stinging sensation at the back of your nose, and gave you the urge to cough (and that was only LadyWayne who is full of cold and can't smell a thing at the moment).

So, after quite some time simmering, stirring, simmering and so on, the mixture had reduced to quite a gloopy/sticky consistency. However, there was still a quite strong smell of vinegar to the marmalade.

I decided to empty it into my Kilner jar anyway (just the right amount to fill it coincidentally), and we'll see how it tastes in a few days.

Can anyone smell vinegar?

Squashes, Beans and babies

2009-09-20T19:37:00.017+01:00

Just realised, this post is going to take a while (I got about halfway through, and have just come back up here to warn you).

Well, with the sun shining and the temperature outside being very decent it seemed only right to get our backsides down to the plot once we'd made ourselves decent and fed our faces.

So - we packed a bag into the car (with the view of bringing back produce) and off we went.

I remembered to take the camera with me so that I could hopefully solve the bean identity conundrum.

As we arrived on the plot I noticed that my neighbour had cleared a load of the foliage from his pumpkins, and the fruits that were now in full show were fantastic, which convinced me, I have to grow them from next year on. They looked fantastic, and would make great lanterns for Halloween when Bean gets older.

Given that we're quite late in the season I'd pretty much given up hope on getting any more fruits from my courgettes (having had maybe three or four - two of which were 2kg whoppers), and given up hope of getting any at all from the "exotic" varieties that I'd tried. However, I saw peeking through from behind the leaves, that my Lebanese had a couple of fruits on it - not sure if it's over grown, or if this is how it's supposed to look. Don't think I'll grow them again next year regardless, but you live and learn.

One thing I will be growing again however - Chestnut Squash. On the same patch of ground they seem to have flourished, I'm properly pleased and can't wait to try them.

Oh, and I finally remembered to take a snap of my prize Chicago Warted Hubbard, which I'll save the seeds from and grow again next year. Apparently the flesh is a bright orange. Can't wait to cut it open and have some roasted. It's got tan lines at the moment so I moved it a bit for that "all over" tan.

Picked a couple of cobs from the standard sweetcorn which we should have had for dinner tonight, but will have to be tomorrow instead, and noticed that the baby corn had a load of cobs on with reddich tassles on. I'd also given up host on these, but I'm hopeful that they'll have some decent cobs on, but will do a bit of research to see if the reddish colour indicates that they're ready.

Whilst up by the sweetcorn I noticed that the raspberries are a little "unkempt", so I will have to get busy with the secateurs pretty darned soon I guess...

Whilst up at the "top end" I thought I'd take a quick snap of the plot in general, and I have to say (modesty aside), I'm pretty pleased with how things are looking. Thankfully the weeds have slowed down this time of year, so keeping it tidy is a little easier.

I left LadyWayne and Bean sat on the bench next to the carrots, and shouted over that they shoudl help themselves as we were having them for lunch when my folks came over later. I took a quick sneaky peek of them sat there:

Then closed in to see that Bean was indeed helping himself and tucking in like a good boy!

The carrots, were smaller than I'd hoped, so my theory on prize winning using the grown in tubes method, may be misguided.

In some investigative work that would rival Columbo himself, I finally managed to work out which beans where which. I simply took the camera, snapped the label at the bottom of each plant, and then took a photo of the pods growing on that plant. Genius I know!

Anyway, the mystery unravelled...

and...

also...

finally (I think these are right)....

By the end of it all, it was all a little tiring for our very own Bean.

Phew - it's been a busy weekend. I'm going to get some shuteye now (well after Waking the Dead).

Tata.

It's harvest time

2009-09-06T19:14:00.009+01:00

In a rare break in the weather that coincided with me being able to have time to get to the plot, myself, LadyWayne and Bean drove down to the plot this afternoon to harvest some veg for dinners this week.

We set Bean down on his favourite quilt - next to the beans so that LadyWayne could keep an eye on him whilst picking beans.

As you can see - he was quite happily sat playing with his toys and enjoying the outside air.

and of course, LadyWayne was loving the bean picking.

By the time she'd finished, LadyWayne was carrying a carrier bag (ironic that) bursting to the seams with a variety of runner beans, climbing French beans and dwarf French beans. Her words to me were "we're gonna need some help with these". I fear she's not wrong - our previous attempts at freezing runners (and any other type of bean) have been less than successful. Beans often going mushy, or a dark colour and tasting - lets say "funky".

I've grown 4-5 different types of beans this year, and I have yet to find the labels in amongst the foliage and mass of vines/leaves/beans that the plants have thankfully produced. I do love beans - so forgiving to grow, and most satisfying.

There are some bog standard runners, some "patterned" pods (seen below) and some that produce beans that look like they're made of porcelain (see below below).

LadyWayne has just bought my dinner through (which I cooked earlier - chilli), and it's accompanied by a damned fine looking cob of corn which I harvested earlier today. Last year I opened up the cobs to find sporadic corn on the cob. This year however - as you can see the cobs (thus far) are completely "corned". I'm confident that they'll taste just as good as they look - perhaps better.

.....sorry, I had to break for dinner, and I'm pleased to report the sweetcorn was exactly that, sweet and oh so tasty! Boiled for just under 10 minutes and then coated with butter.

Next on the menu is a pie - not just any old pie either.

A couple of weeks ago I took the remaining apples from the tree (those that I could reach) and they've been in the fridge since then until we had the time and inclination to do something with them (having used the previous harvests with some of the rhubarb in a crumble).

Today I decided to pick a load of elderberries with the intention of making an elderberry and blackberry jam from a recipe that I'd seen online. However, having picked and de-stemmed 500g (the recipe calles for 1kg!!) elderberries I discovered that the blackberries were not so abundant - well, not in the back garden anyway. So I decided to make an apple and blackberry pie.

Having bling baked the base, I then filled the case with the cooked apples (with plenty of sugar and a good dose of cinnamon. Pastry for the lid was a little short on supply, so I had to be a little artistic.

Anyway - here's a before and after for posterity.

Lasty, I dug up another pound or so of spuds and we'll have them with our dinners during the week.

Now, what to do with those elderberries....

Oh, and I forgot - I pulled up some more beetroot. Just baby ones for roasting!

It's been a long time

2009-08-25T12:50:00.003+01:00

Having had lots of problems logging in (in no small part due to transferring from Tiscali to BT and subsequently losing access to all emails) I have finally managed to wade through the google "help" pages and regain access here! Whoop whoop.

Clearly the main growing focus for me has been our gorgeous son - who, not surprisingly is growing at a decent rate, and is quite literally off the chart.

Anyway - you guys having seen him for a while, so it's only right I post an update pic.

Well, here we are again almost at the end of another season - this will have been my third I think. Several things growing well, and some that have not faired too well at all.

Going well:

Sweetcorn - albeit once again growing at 45 degrees due to the wind.
Beetroot
Carrots - in the tubes, in a wheelbarrow
Cabbages - but have mostly been eaten by something
Kohl Rabi - just need to figure out how to cook/eat it
Beans - Runners, French Dwarf & Climbers
Rhubarb (after initial worries)
Raspberries - although the plants are threatening to take over the plot unless I get busy pruning!
Potatoes - although I'm not sure if they were blighted or not (guess we'll find out when we try and store them)
Squash - Chicago Warted Hubbard. This was a real surprise, it's a HSL variety and I'd almost given up hope on, until the weekend when we had some friend over and they helped with some weeding in return for roast dinner. During the process I uncovered a football sized fruit looking really good, so I'll keep an eye out for more, and watch this one with interest.
Chillies - plants from last year are all fruiting well, with some already dried and stored
Broad Beans - Martock. Seeds saved form last year and plenty of plants/pods. All died now, but will have more next year.

Not so great:

Peas - again, far too few planted and not tended properly
Onions - some decent sized, some like shallots. All planted at the same time.
Courgettes - only just started producing fruits now. Bout 5 varieties and only 1-2 plants are fruiting.
Baby corn - planted at a similar time to sweetcorn but seems a long way off any cobs starting.
Swiss Chard - got forgotten about
Tomatoes - 1 tomato fruit growing from 3 plants. Don't think I'll bother next year, maybe try some outdoor varieties

The plot still needs a lot of work to get it to a point where input is minimal from me - having Hayden has really made me realise that time on the plot will be a premium, at least until he's toddling.

Plenty of plans for the winter months to include moving my compost bin and adding another two. Hard pruning the apple tree. Creating more raised beds - maybe a nursery bed of some sort. Creating a bit of a flower bed under/around teh apple tree to help attract beneficial insects. Get the rest of the plot "bedded out" and create mulched pathways between to help surpress weeds.

I've been a bit lax with the camera as I've not been posting here so have seen little point, but hopefully now I'll start to log progress again and have some visual references too.

Until then - it's good to be back.

Wooohooo!! I'm back

2009-08-25T10:42:00.000+01:00

Finally managed to get logged on after many many attempts/emails etc.

I can get back to logging my progress - or lack of it!

So much to say, so little time to say it.

Proof of Bean

2009-03-12T12:33:00.003Z

Sorry, been a bit pre-occupied of late. Can't imagine why!

Oh yeah, this little fella!

Life has not been the same since he arrived - yet I'm still hopeful I'll be able to keep at the allotment, and grow him some good old veg which can of course be mashed and frozen!

Changes happen daily - and I don't mean just the nappies. Each day I come home from work and he seems to have changed again since I saw him last. The photos above were taken a couple of weeks ago, he looks different already.

I'm in danger of gushing here, but he is the most fantastic thing to have ever happened.

Can't wait to buy him his first pair of wellies, and a spade.

Look out for his first blog!

Back to thge gardening stuff - I've garlic and autumn sown onions sets in the greenhouse along with some allium flower bulbs. I've now also sown some broad beans - Martock harvested from my last seasons crops, so I'm hopefull they'll germinate and grow.

I've also planted various bedding plant seeds - hopefully to give a bit more colour to the garden this year and encourage both Bean, and bees into the garden (though perhaps not at the same time?). I'm twitching to get some more seeds into propagators indoors - tomatoes, chillies, basil.

Seed potatoes are once again chitting on the kitchen floor by the back door - Kestrel, Pentland Javelin and Sante.

Recently bought a small bag of spring planting onion sets too, as I seem to run out of onions to use early in the year, so hopefully will bolster stocks this year and be able to last right through.

Anyway, just a quickie for now. I'll hopefully be able to update again soon.

Who's the daddy?!

2009-02-07T16:20:00.002Z

Well, that'd be me! My beautiful wife gave birth to our gorgeous son last Saturday - in actual fact, in about an hours time he'll be exactly 1 week old.

When people say that having a child changes your life - they were severely under-egging the cake. Having our little Hayden is the most profound experience I've ever known and he's altered my/our life in so many ways - every one of them for the better.

With the recent weather ("the worst snow for decades") we've not really had much chance to venture out, and certainly not to the allotment, though I'd dearly love to get out into the fresh air with him. If we're not careful, he's going to start thinking the world outside is permanently white!

Back to work n just over a week, and I'm dreading having to leave him home. I've only known the guy for just a week, but my heart aches whenever I'm away from him.

I'm looking forward to sharing life with our little Bean, I'm sure I'll post on here when he gets his first spade!

For now, tata.

Bean's arrival, back problems and Christmas

2009-01-06T15:42:00.002Z

Not great as individual excuses, but combined they've all I've got to explain my reasons for not gardening and blogging.

Back when we visited Tuscany I felt a twang in my lower back, but having had several of these in the past I thought nothing much of it and get on with the holiday and made sure I performed my exercises every morning/evening which had always sorted it in the past.

After we'd been back a few weeks I saw no real improvement so bit the bullet and booked to see my osteopath, something I had put off due to the £30 a session fee. Again after seeing no real improvement I eventually went to the doctors and asked for a referral. Having had surgery on my back in the past to rectify 3 slipped discs, my doctor referred me back to the same surgeon/specialist. Once I'd seen him I was sent to have an MRI scan which confirmed what I'd feared - more slipped discs. This time the disc that had been operated on before was fine, having not much disc left it didn't really have much to slip. The problem this time is the discs above and below the "healed" one.

So, I was then booked in to have an epidural (at this point I had to check he was looking at my notes and not LadyWaynes). I've just got back from the hospital having had the needles stuck in my back and I feel ok.

It was a very surreal experience - I was taken from my room down to the operating room, and was one of several having the same treatment that day. I was laid out face down, and had a tap inserted into my hand - from that moment on it's all a bit fuzzy. I remember feeling the needles going in, and it being quite painful, but it was as if I was detached from the pain. I do however remember saying that hurt out loud, but I can't be certain.

Came round not long after and seemed very chatty, then taken back to my room where LadyWayne was quite happily watching some tosh on the telly - don't ask me what as things were still a bit fuzzy at thi stage.

Food was brought round a little while later and I was left to recover, with only the odd occasion where the nurse came to check bp and so on.

Just home now and the drugs are wearing off slightly, so I can again feel a "niggle" down my right leg, but I guess that's to be expected.

Fingers crossed the injections work, otherwise it's another operation, which whilst it doesn't worry me - I am concerned that I will not be up to full health to assist when Bean arrives - which is only just over 4 weeks away if all goes to plan.

The early signs are good, but I don't want to get my hopes up just yet. Cross your fingers for me.

In terms of growing I haven't done much other than plant onions and garlic in pots and put them in the mini greenhouse along with some bulbs of various descriptions.

The plot is looking decidely untidy, but with the abundance of cardboard we've acquired due to all the baby stuff I've simply covered a few of the beds and placed black bags full of leaves swept off the lawn to hold it down.

Here's hoping 2009 is a healthier year.

The importance of labelling

2008-11-30T15:25:00.002Z

This year I "successfully" (as in the plants have yet to die) grown 4 varieties of chillies - all of which have fruited to some extent. When sowing the seeds/planting them on I labelled them each with "chilli" and the initial of the variety - J=Jalepeno, PT=Purple Tiger, T=Twilight and C........

For the life of me I cannot remember what the C stands for, I have searched back through my posts on here and on The Grapevine to no avail.

Lesson for today children - label clearly and comprehensively.

Anyway, probably wondering why you haven't heard from me for a while? No? Well, I'll tell you anyway.

A combination of badly timed weather and a slightly dodgy back (yes, again) has mean that I have not been on the plot for soem weeks now, and I haven't really been able to do anything productive in the garden either - so little point on reporting if there's been very little going on.

I've been off work now for 2 and a half weeks, and I'm going somewhat stir crazy as a result. Been to see my osteopath several times - who in the past has managed to solve whatever problem I've been having. This time however, we seem to have drawn a blank. I'm on a cocktail of painkillers and still I have bouts of severe pain down my right leg (sciatica) which can keep me awake at night. I finally managed to pluck up the courage to ask my GP to refer me to a spinal specialist (something I'd been avoiding for fear of having to have a second operation which could result in fusion of vertebrae). My GP reassured me, stating that it's very unusual for them to operate a second time.

Anyway, I'm currently waiting to hear back (2-3 weeks wait apparently - and that's private!), and I've been referred to the same specialist that operated on me last time - which does give me some confidence as he fixed me in the past.

I'm now looking forward to just getting myself fixed so that I can make a bit of headway on the plot and get things ready for planting out plenty of fresh veg to help feed our new arrival when they get here in February - I'm planning to grow plenty of baby-friendly veg, and hopefully make the plot more productive.

LadyWayne has suggested that she may help out a bit more next year - she's suggesting going to the plot during the daytimes with Bean to potter about. Time will tell of course.

I'm not going to lie - my back has really been getting me down of late, and I am actually looking forward to getting back into the office tomorrow to hopefully take my mind of it for a while (with the aid of painkillers). Fingers crossed.

Timing seems to be the biggest factor in this gardening lark - some will tell you compost in the most important thing, others will suggest hard work etc, but in my epxerience timing is everything. Timing is the one thing I seem to be unable to get to grips with yet - my garlic is still as yet unplanted.

2009 should be better - there's always hope!

Not wishing my life away...

2008-11-10T09:38:00.000Z

But, where does the time go?

It’s been ages since I’ve been to the plot (or posted here) – or even done any real gardening.

A combination of rubbish weather, nursery preparations and a dodgy back/hamstring/sciatic nerve has kept me away.

A couple of weekends ago LadyWayne and I gave the garden a bit of a spruce up – mowed the grass for what I think will be the last time this year, clipped back a few of the perennials, and swept up the leaves (not that you’d know to look this morning after last night’s winds!!).

I’m now at a point where I’m concerned that I’m getting behind – the greenhouse needs emptying (I’ve moved three chili plants indoors already – 1 each Jalapeño, Purple Tiger and Twilight) and cleaning, onions/garlic still need planting, ground needs turning over and the dead plants on the plot need lifting and throwing on the compost.

I still have a few things in the ground – parsnips, celeriac and purple sprouting broccoli (which I fear has outgrown its netting), but with people coming to visit, the fact that the ground is sodden, and whenever I get the time to go to the plot the weather is dire, time has slipped away.

It’s only going to get worse I’m sure when Bean arrives!

Anyway – one must look to the positives…

Bean will arrive in around 13 weeks or so – doesn’t sound that far away when you say it like that does it? There’s Christmas to look forward to. My neighbours are top of the list to get a plot.

Having pretty much given up on this year (I hear shouts of “again?” from the back), I am starting to think ahead to next season and what to grow/concentrate on. Let’s consider year 1 and 2 as foundation years. Not that one ever stops learning of course, but I now have a good idea about what grows well on the plot, where the most exposed areas are, what problems I’ll face etc .

So, plans for next year revolve around Bean – R-Kid, not the runner/string/French/broad varieties.

Potatoes seem to do well – so they’re definitely on the list.
Squashes – I know to get them in earlier this year.
Carrots – will plant plenty more this year, and net them in.
Parsnips – as per carrots.
Sweetcorn – plant them somewhere more sheltered, or plant something to shelter them.
Swede – root crops seem to do well.
Beetroot – will plant successional.
Peas – planted earlier and will plant closer together.
Beans – seem to be foolproof.
Onions – will plant more (and soon!).
Garlic – as per onions.
Courgettes – will plant a few varieties – including yellow ones, just to make things more interesting.
Apples – will take the ladder to the plot come harvest time.

There are other things I intend on growing, but in terms of staple crops, those are mine.
As you can see – there are a large number of “mashable” veg among the list, which is deliberate – I aim to get Bean eating as much home grown from an early age as possible. Teaching them what’s in season, what/how to cook, etc. Stuff I never really had as kid, but wish to an extent that I had.
Time (or the lack of it), will tell of course!
Of course, sitting on one’s backside isn’t good either – physically or psychologically, so I’ve been busy doing other things. The main “thing” being the nursery, and I’m pleased to report that it’s just about there now – just awaiting the arrival of the cot and more importantly, Bean (although they will be in with us initially of course).

2009 is going to be an interesting year – for many reasons. 2008 was just a hint.

Tuscany

2008-09-27T13:38:00.010+01:00

We flew out the day before my birthday and when we landed in Pisa we were greeted by 37 degree heat and blazing sunshine. We then stood in the heat waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the car hire area. Twenty minutes passed, and the buss finally arrived. We got off the bus two minutes later having travelled no further then 2-300 hundred yards! Good job us Brits are World Champion Queuers (read that carefully).

We then plugged our destination into Sat Nev and set on our journey.

Two hours later we arrived in Radicondoli and attempted to find the house where the owners of our villa lived. Finding every house but, we drove into town and parked outside the bakers and called the owners (guiseppe & Pasquelina) on the telephone. It was then that I discovered they didn't speak a word of English and that my Italian was woefully inadequate. They arrived and told us to follow them to the villa. Once again we set off on the beautiful Italian mountain roads until Guiseppe turned off onto a dirt track. We duly followed.

Guiseppe in his 4x4 was clearly acustomed to this road and my brother-in-law, armed with his meaty Peugeot 307 1.6 diesel estate car gave chase up the steep "track" in a cloud of dust and rubble. I decided to take the more leisurely approach in my Fiat Bravo 1.6 turbo diesel and the bangs and loud scrapes that were coming from beneath the car confirmed my choice. Until that is I stopped because I couldn't now see where I was going and I was very conscious of the steep drops either side of me. I tried to set off again, but modern technology was not doing me any favours. The traction control monster had other ideas about getting us up this slope. Eventually (after 6 attempts) I managed to get enough momentum going to carry us up the drive. We arrived at the top greeted by a "what took you so long" look from our hosts.

The strugle was worth it though, because at the top of the drive we were greeted with this stunning site:

With views like this around us:

View from the upper balcony.

This one is of the view of the town Radicondoli (top of the hill)

LadyWayne talking to our neighbourly sheeps.

Views to the south.

Pasquelina gave us a tour of the frankly massive villa and we chose our rooms. For the first week there were only four of us rattling around in the villa, and we set about soaking up some of the sunshine...

Little did we know that we needed to make the most of it. We enjoyed two days of glorious weather - including the day we'd arrived, and then we experienced 4 days of typically British weather. Rain - well, showers for the first day, then that night we had the most viscious storm I have ever experienced. Thunder and lightning like I'd never seen (or heard), the closest bang was less than two "elephants" away. None of us slept vry well that night, it hit home how isolated we actually were.

Here's an idea of how exposed we were - our villa is the building in the centre of this picture (viewed from Radicondli).

After the storms had passed we had typically British summer weather - temperatures no greater than 24 degrees and most days were sunny with some cloud. The upside of that was that whenever we visited the tourist destinations, the queues were pretty much non existent. There's an upside to everything.

We visited the usual places - Siena, San Gimignano, Pisa, and to be honest they all tended to look pretty much the same, narrow streets, full of charm, but just smaller or larger scale versions of each other. I have loads of photos, but here's just a selection.

Pisa - the tower of.

LadyWayne propping it up (well, when in ........Pisa).

I also stumbled upon (quite literally) the lesser known tourist atttraction in Pisa, which is just around the corner from the tower.

The Leaning Bollard of Pisa.

Just some more random photos.

Typical Tuscan street, complete with car.

LadyWayne loving Siena.

One of the stunning sunsets we had during our stay.

British weather in Siena (I think).

World Champion ice cream - yes, we had one, and yes it was bladdy lush!

An allotment (of sorts) - by jove did they know how to grow tomatoes. If only I could find some seeds....

Dining out - Italian style.

The best fresh produce I've seen on sale - in a tiny town called Casole D'Elsa. Lovely.

In the same town the residents seemed to have this fascination with sticking tiles on their walls and painting them. Charming.

My favourite sunset photo.

Looking through the photos - there are far too many for me to post here. In Tuscany almost every view is a photo opportunity so I'm sure you can imagine there are quite a few.

Any of my Bookface friends wll be able to view the whole album once I'v uploaded them all.

Now, to see what's happened down the plot....

I've been a bit neglectful!

2008-08-25T17:01:00.009+01:00

And it doesn't take long for the weeds to make their mark.

With the weather having been what it's been this "summer" visits to the plot have been a rare occurence as I may have already said and certain things have done really well despite my neglect, and others haven't faired so well. Peas have been a disaster with beans coming a close second in the rubbishness stakes.

Thankfully two of the varieties growing this year have been Heritage varieties - so should be ok to grow from next year (unlike F1 varieties).

Some of the peas/beans have dried in their pods and others I'll have to dry "manually" as you can see.

Martock broad beans:

Stephens peas:

In other bean news - the Blauhilde climbing beans have finally started to produce and I walked away with a fair decent haul - two hands full from the 5 plants that have survived. A sample of which we'll be trying with dinner tonight (slow roasted lamb).

I pulled up the last of the beetroot today too - the final two. One of them was a respectable cricket all size and the other slightly smaller. I also pulled up a few more carrots, three of which had been keeping slugs in food and shelter for some considerable time it would appear (one slug was sat halfway down a carrot with one whole half having been stripped away. I also had a pretty decent harvest of courgettes of various sizes as you can see.

However - that isn't all my courgettes. One of the consequences of neglect and rain has meant that in place of a couple of my courgettes some monsters have taken their place!

Monster 1 (7lb in weight)

Monster 2 (8lb)

I had to weigh them on our "big" scales as the kitchen scales just kept displaying "err". Not sure if it couldn't make up it's mind if it was a courgette or marrow, or if the cour-marrows were just too heavy for the scales. Either way, I still have to figure out what to do with them.

The apple tree is nicely laden with apples and I managed to reach (ok, so I can reach higher than most) a whole carrier bag full - which should see us ok for apple sauce and crumbles for a while. I was going to pick some blackberries too, but I ran out of bags/carrying recepticles.

I'm going to need a ladder to get the rest.

Dug up the rest of the Kestrel potatoes to - 5 plants that gave me a big carrier bag full. Not enough to last through the winter, but should give us enough spuds for some weeks to come yet anyway.

In my haste to get to the plot today I forgot to take the camera - hence all the photos are post-harvest, and my phone is low on battery having left the charger at work (d'oh). Anyway, there are a few things still growing well en-plot. The sweetcorn plants are all showing a husk (?) or two - I only hope that they don't all come to harvest whilst we're away on holiday.

The sweetcorns' neighbour - celeriac is also growing seemingly well and some of them are about the size of tennis balls now - so I'm pretty sure it won't be long now before we taste our first home grown.

The Achocha is in need of further support - I may put the second garden arch next to it to give it some height (the short canes and netting are looking woefully inadequate).

Asparagus peas are chucking them out at a rate of knots - yet we have still only eaten them once (they go beyond being "edible" rather quickly).

The brassicas all look quite happy under the netting - purple sprouting broccoli, cauliflower and brussels sprouts - I'm just hopeful I'm not too late. Maybe a winter harvest?

Squash has established itself quite well, with several flower "buds" along its length, but again I fear I may be too late - unless we have some of those trendy "baby" squash. The same can be said of the pumpkins, I think I was too lax in getting them out of the pots and into the ground. Hey there's always next year!

I had some spare Sub-Arctic plenty tomatoes and I thought I'd stick them in the ground to see what would happen - and to my surprise I noticed a few green fruits on a couple of the plants (I only planted three). If they're anything like the ones I've got in the greenhouse though - they'll be green for sme time yet!

We've been using the herbs for some time now - regular cutting from the oregano, rosemary (some is cooking with the lamb as we speak), sage and thyme. Some of the decent sized onions are nicely dry in the greenhouse now, and the ones I forgot about and left on the floor didn't dry out so wel, so I may have to make some chutney/marmalade with those.

Oh, one more thing before I go - as fellow Grapevine members will know one of us (Hazel) recently entered into her village show and came away with some top prizes. Well, yesterday was our village show and no, I didn't enter, but did go along to see what all the fuss is about having never been to one before. I have to say I was somewhat disappointed. In part because it was just the village hall with four lines of tables with various things on them - some vegetable/fruit, some cakes and jams/chutneys. some with flowers/pot plants and others with kids "art". I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. Also what was slightly disappointing was the number of entrants - our resident "expert" seemed to feature quite a lot and also the village gardening society's secretary. LadyWayne has convinced me to enter next year if for no other reason than to up the numbers.

Watch this space!

Well, after all that typing I think I deserve an ale, so I'm off for a bottle and a feed.

Which reminds me - did I tell you I'm going to be a dad?

If it ain't one thing...

2008-08-10T20:22:00.002+01:00

Well, yesterday was a complete wash out - rain from the moment I got up to the moment I went to bed. Surely clouds run out of rain after a certain time?

Weather is not my best friend at the moment - any time I get to go to the allotment is usually - no in fact always, met with equal amounts of persistent rain.

Today, LadyWayne had booked her hairdresser to come and visit us at 11 am. So I thought - I'll wait until she arrives before going to the plot, so I waited. LadyWayne suggested that Tina, her hairdresser would probably arrive early, so we expected her at around 10:30. At 11:45 LadyWayne started to doubt herself and considered she maybe had the wrong day. Guess what? Yip, we're booked in next week.

So, after getting myself together I headed on down to plot 35 with a spring in my step - well, it wasn't raining!

Weeds!!

Why is it that mother nature decided to make it so that weeds are the fastest growing plants known to man?

I set to it, hoe in hand and made inroads on the weeds formerly known as paths, but if I'm anything I'm easily distracted......

One thing I did notice was the strength of the wind on the plot. I think next year I'll grow something along the south face to try and soften the strength of the force ten gales that seem to rattle through. My 45 degree sweetcorn will thank me for it I'm sure.

Can an allotment be maintained effectively with a once a week visit? I've had my doubts - but then I saw Jow Swift on Gardeners World on Friday and he mentioned that he only gets to the plot once a week. His plot looks great - from what I saw on the telly anyway. Well, if Joe can do it....

In my quest for a low(er) maintenance plot, I think a surefire way of helping achieve it is to complete the raised beds for the entire plot. One thing it does is gives clearly defined borders, edges, seperations - call them what you will. I noticed this with one particular bed today. Weeds as we know don't take long to take hold and the lines soon became blurred between path and bed.

Anyway, that's for another time. For now, back to the plot in it's current state.

Oh, one thing before I start. I won't have any photos to show this update. Reason? Well, I forgot to take the camera but fear not, I have the trusty Swiss camera phone. You know the one that can play music, surf the interweb, make calls, send text and media messages, make a cup of tea, iron your shirts and take pictures...

Well, not mine. For a completely unknown (and hopefully not for long) reason the phone has no screen - well, none that works anyway. If someone is in the market for a Samsung U600 just stand outside my window and there should be one on it's way shortly, you just need to be able to catch.

Plot 35.

The last of my Kestrel potatoes are just about ready to pull up. I pulled up two plants today and some of the spuds are whoppers - really great baked potato size. Next to them where the 1st and 2nd early spuds perviously grew I've now planted some Falstaff and Bedford Fillbasket sprouts - nicely netted over to keep the pesky flying rats off.

I've also planted 4 pumpkin plants - they'd previously been growing in vending cups, but they do have some small flowers on them. I have a feeling that they're a bit late - well, I am not the pumpkins.

In one of the beds previously occupied by the onions and garlic is now home to some cauliflower plants and purple sprouting broccoli.

The Stephens peas have definitely seen better days - yellowing stalks and no more flowers or pods appearing. I've given up on their neighbours too - the Mange Touts that live next door. Hopefully I'll be able to let enough of the Stephens get to the stage where I can harvest seed pods for next year - just need to work out how to dry and store them...

Broad beans are also on their way out - the Aquadulce are in a worst state than the Martock - it won't be long now. I'm hopeful that the Martock will save and store too.

Pulled up a few more carrots today too - only minor slug damage. Two more beetroot too.

Courgettes are going well now too - cut 6 of varying sizes and donated some to the brother-in-law.

Squashes are starting to spread across their bed - not sure if they'll set fruit in time, but hey, we'll see I guess.

Achocha needs more support - I think I saw some flower buds starting to form - so I'll be keeping a close eye on him - and weather permitting I'll hopefully get on to the plot one night this week to put up some more supports.

Celeriac still looks good, asparagus peas are taking over and throwing out little pods like there's no tomorrow. I haven't tried any yet, but am hopeful that todays harvest will be consumed this week - maybe with some nice fish.

Bindweed has once again taken over the pile of manure - I'll have to resort to some Roundup to try and get on top of it.

Well, the battery is just about to die on the laptop, so before I lose this post - which has taken enough time for me to avoid watching most of some rubbish Jennifer Aniston film that LadyWayne is watching.

Goodbye for now.

Long time no see

2008-08-06T07:47:00.020+01:00

Remember me? It's been such a long time since I last posted, I bet you'd forgotten about me.

There are no excuses for my neglect so I will just get right back on into it and update what's been going on. I apologise.

But first.

Myself and LadyWayne are growing something extra special this year, and with a bit of luck and a prevailing wind we'll be parents in February next year - real parents!!!

Exciting and nervous times ahead, and I fear that the plot/blog may suffer as a result. I will do my utmost to ensure that neither are completely neglected, but priorities in all aspects of our lives will change from now on.

Now then, back to my other growings on...

With the recent mixed bag of weather we've had - typical British weather in it's most varied form, my ventures to the allotment have been equally sporadic. Law of the sod that when the weather is good, I am unable to get to the plot for one reason or another.

However, I have also found new joys in all things floral - and a combination of garden and plot floral displays have lifted the spirits and kept me going.

Having thought some time ago that our garden was too green (in terms of colour not environmentalism) I decided I would create a flower bed - something I'd been threatening to do for some time. Anyway, it all started off quite simply, mark out an area of lawn to be sacrificed and get digging.

Then plant like mad a series of bulbs, seedlings and the odd shop bought plant and you're left with...

Ok, it doesn't look particularly great as a whole yet, but there are elements within.

Short stemmed lillies.

Love in a mist (seeds donated by Hazel on the Hill - Grapevine friend)

There are also some Marigolds, some ground cover plant I've no idea the name of (LadyWayne bought them and threw away the label) and some red hot pokers grown from seed, some foxgloves grown from seed and some other bulbs including gladioli and sparaxis (all of which I think must have died or gone into hiding as there's no sign of them.

Of the seven Astilbe bulbs planted only one has grown. Looks quite pretty in the sunshine though I think you'll agree...

We also planted a Jasmine about 18 months ago and it didn't really do much - I even thought about moving it as it's in the shaded part of the garden. It never really grew and some of the leaves started to yellow. Over the last 3-4 weeks it's had a new lease of life. Beforehand it never grew any higher than the wall it's in front of, but as you can see from the picture it's started to work it's way up and through the trellis we put of top of the wall for this very purpose.

Now all we need is plenty of flowers and a few balmy evenings to really get the scent going!!

To the plot...

Over the past couple of months (yes, it's been that long), a number of things have happened - namely the weeds have grown and are putting up a good fight. However, a few things have settled in quite nicely that can be harvested. There are a few acceptions - the Stephens peas after a decent start are now showing signs of deteriation after only a couple of crops. The mange tout never really got started (I may yet get some early cropping varieties in).

I've lifted both the first and second early potatoes - the main crops are almost ready, so they'll be lifted within the next week or so.

Casualties:

Melons that looked quite healthy when I planted them (I bought and erected a rose arch to grow them up) died with the sudden chilly/windy snap we had.

Every garlic bulb bolted, along with the red onions (onions were made into onion marmalade courtesy of recipe posted by pigletwillie on the Grapevine:

Red Onion Marmalade

6 large onions, thinly sliced
3 cups sherry or red wine vinegar
3 cups sugar
2-4 bay leaves
20 black peppercorns, cracked (mixed ones work too)

Place all ingredients in a non-reactive, thick-bottomed pan over low heat. Simmer until almost all liquid has evaporated and onions are translucent. Set aside to cool. Place in sterilised jars and seal. Will keep for up to six months.

If you dont have red onions, normal ones will do just as well.

One of the easiest things to make, so if you have a surplus I'd thoroughly recommend it.

I planted 5 Achocha seedlings some time ago and again these were healthy plants when I put them in, but they seemingly all suffered our inclement weather - or so I thought...

One of the plants only just survived - there was a tiny bit of greenery visible above the soil. I decided to leave it and see if anything would happen. I wasn't very hopeful.

I should have been. The plant as you can see, is now doing really rather well, so much so that I need to put some larger stakes and netting in to help support it. It has the most fantastic little spirals shooting out in search of somewhere to grab hold of.

If you look closely at the leaves, they do look remarkably like a certain plant that thrives in warm loft spaces across the country...so I'm told.

You can also see the asparagus peas have filled out the rest of the bed behind the achocha. These are cropping nicely - although I've been too slow to harvest them and they grew too large to eat. They should be harvested when the pods are and inch or so long.

I had a similar situation with the squash that I planted the same time as the melons - they seemingly disappeared and I gave up hope.

They too proved me wrong.

There are even a couple of flowers forming which in time I'm hoping will become squash.

Sweetcorn is now nicely established too - I've only grown 12 plants as the harvesting period is quite short, and likely to be whilst I'm away on holiday, but we live in hope. Over the past couple of weeks they seem to have grown significantly with the little "tufts" now clearly visible.

You can also see alongside the sweetcorn that the celeriac is doing quite nicely. I had fears that this would be a difficult crop to grow, but it seems my fears were unjustified - touch wood. The foliage looks good and healthy and the "bulbs" or roots are starting to swell nicely.

All my onions were pulled up on Monday - and to be honest I should have done this a couple of weeks ago and let them dry out properly. As it is, I've had to put them in the greenhouse to dry out. I might be making some more of that marmalade!

There have been three lots of beetroot harvested and my brother-in-laws girlfriends father (still with me?) boiled them up for me, and today I will have my first taste - in my sandwiches. I'd like to get some more in the ground, but I'll need to be quick I think!

Here's the first three I harvested a few weeks ago - along with my first courgette, some potatoes and broad beans (Aquadulce Claudia).

Parsnips are also going really well, having adopted the toilet roll centre method to get them germinating I think I'll do the same thing next year! I'm just hopeful the slugs don't get hold of them. I pulled a few carrots the other night and they are showing some slight slug damage, but I still think they're salvagable. I'll use one of them when making a chilli tonight.

Don't look bad from a distance though do they?

Those are asparagus peas you can see beneath them.

Not long to go now, I promise - it's been a long time, I've lots to say.

The pond is starting to establish itself nicely now too. I've let the plants around it run a little wild in the hope that it will provide some decent shelter for the wildlife. I had my first glimpse of one of my frogs (at least I think it was mine - it was tiny) but I was too slow with the camera so you'll have to take my word for it. Here's where I hope he calls home though.

Another little wildlife "project" was my mini meadow. You may recall my seeds that I bought from The Eden Project and the little bed I made to sow them in last year. Well, I sowed the seeds and waited, and waited, and waited. I'd almost given up hope, when all of a sudden - within about a week or two, this happened...

I've taken a few close ups - mainly because I'm so happy they flowered, but also because I think they look quite spectacular individually.

Finally, I'm glad I gave my apple tree a good hard prune during the winter. Last year I think I managed to get about 5 apples from the tree. This year however....

I haven't counted them (I don't have that many fingers), but I think there are more than five!

Ok, that's me done for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update a little sooner than 2 months from now!

Until then.

I've been tagged

2008-06-17T13:37:00.009+01:00

I was tagged by http://courgettes.wordpress.com/

Not quite sure what it means, but due to my long arms I always enjoyed tag at school so here goes.

First rule of tagging - there is no tagging. No wait, that's wrong....

Here's the rules:

Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself.
Tag six people at the end of your post linking to their blog.
Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Here's my six facts:

In my stockinged feet I stand at 5ft 19
I'm afraid of horses
Coffee doesn't agree with me
I think I have a menthol illness
Gardening is new to me
I can speak English

Now, to perform the other tasks in the rules...

I am tagging: http://pigletsplots.blogspot.com/, http://vegheaven.blogspot.com/, http://hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com/, http://hollycottagegarden.blogspot.com/, http://dobbyspumpkinpatch.blogspot.com/, http://www.etribes.com/madderbat

Apples!

2008-06-11T10:00:00.003+01:00

Just a quickie.

Went to the plot last night, just to water and check up on things. Found two more ladybirds - great news, but slightly more exciting was the apple tree. It's covered in baby apples!!!

Now, I'm pretty sure that from memnory they are "eating" apples - of the 5 the tree produced last year I think we ate 3.

So, my next task is to work out what the hell to do with all these apples. Apple pies, apple sauces, chutneys, jams (?) ideas on email to:.....

Whilst on the plot, met up with a mate and swapped plants, he gave me some broccoli in return for some of my spare Sparaxis (Harlequin flowers). Then stopped of on the way home for a jar or two of fine ale.

Now the weather's turning - so they say...

We live in an extreme world

2008-06-08T21:12:00.012+01:00

As in, it goes from one extreme to another with the great British Weather!

For the last few weeks we've had persistent rain, the only dry days have been midweek when I'm stuck in the office looking longingly out at the glorious sunshine.

Oh well, I had some time today to get down to the plot and make a little headway - whilst I still can.

The pile of horse manure I have maturing nicely is now almost entirely covered in bindweed. I know the organic brigade would have me dig it out bit by bit, but time is of the essence, and quite honestly the thought of getting stuck into horse crap just to rid the bidnweed does not appeal. I've therefore resorted to glyphosate (Roundup) to kill it off.

The rest of the plot was also starting to get taken over by some weeds - far less troublesome varieties which I have yet to look up, but I tackled them with a pair of extendable shears and the hoe.

On to what's now been planted.

I planted the rest of the Stephens peas, so I now have 2 rows of 5 plants - hopefully enough to get a decent crop and allow me to save some seeds over for next year. One of the rows has started to develop flowers. Appologies for the camera skills (or lack of), but I was hot and hungry so they were a bit rushed.

I also planted a row of Sugar Snap Peas that someone kindly gave me - Sugar Ann.

A few days ago I also planted out the sweetcorn (9 plants) and celeriac (9 plants). The sweetcorn looks much like grass at the moment - I'm hoping they soon start to flurish and catch up with some of my plot neighbours, time will of course tell. The celeriac looked very healthy when I planted them out, but a day or so without rain has left them looking a little lacklustre. Well watered today I'm hoping they perk up a bit.

Some of the other plants I'm somewhat more pleased with are the parsnips and beetroot. The parsnips are the result of the loo roll centre method - where seeds are planted in the cardboard loo roll centres filled with compost and stood in a seed tray. The beetroots were simply planted in a seed tray and thinned out as required. The carrots alongside the beetroot were also planted using the loo roll method but don't seem to be doing so well.

I'm going to sow some more carrot seeds over the next few days to extend the harvest - I'm not sure the same can be done with parnsips, but it looks like I'll have a few for Christmas dinner at least (sorry to mention the "C" word so early on in the year, but such is my mindset now that I'm planning so far ahead with what to plant and when...)

Potatoes seem to have recovered from the frost - in most cases anyway. I'm getting twitchy now waiting to have a "furtle" under the plants to see if any tubers have formed yet - the first earlies can't be far away now!!

The garlic and onions are looking pretty good - not sure how much longer to leave the garlic in, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that you wait until the leaves turn yellow and "flop" - again we wait!

Some of the onions are doing a great impression of the Kremlin...

Again apologies for the fuzziness, but I just could not get the camera to focus on the "bulbs". I think the onions are "bolting" - going to seed. I'll need to look up what needs doing again, if they can still be used, or if I've lost them. Thankfully only 4-5 are showing the flower heads, so I should still have plenty of onions.

Broad beans have also picked up pace since my last visit - so much so that I've removed the netting that had until today been covering them. I did also pinch out the tops as one of the plants seemed to be quite badly infested with black fly.

However, I may have come across a bit of a plan! Whilst mooching about I discovered a couple of little friends...

The ladybirds, not the parsnips! I moved them onto the broad bean plants and they seemed pretty interested in their new flatmates - go get 'em girls!

One of the more established allotmenteer dudes kindly donated some lettuces to my neighbour and me a few weeks ago, and they're doing pretty well. Not exactly sure which type they are, but I'm sure it'll be obvious when they're ready...

The seven runner beans that I planted seem to have suffered over the past few days, but hopefuly they'll pick up. I'll save them the embarassment of having their faces shown - likewise with the courgettes, although they've got some decent looking new growth at their centres.

I spotted a couple of tadpoles in the pond so it looks like there's still a chance that I'll have some frogs.

Also had a quick look at the apple tree and it seems that as I suspected the blossom that was covering the plant earlier in the year is turning into apples - there are loads of tiny little apples growing. If only I had the rhubarb to go with it!!

I'm sure there's loads of other stuff I did - spending 5 hours down there you'd hope so wouldn't you?

Anyway, looks like it's time for bed (plus my typing's getting a little erratic), so for now....

Looks like it's time for bed, so for now...

The rain on Wayne never feels like in Spain

2008-05-17T15:15:00.010+01:00

Following last weeks scorcher, the weather feels decidedly less inviting today. Just been out shopping and it's raining that misty, drizzly rain. You know the stuff that soaks you right through (?!). Well, it's not really that bad, but it's chuffin miserable out.

Just popped outside quickly to make sure the greenhouse was warm enough for the tomatoes and chillies and the temperature gauge reads a healthy 20c. It's colder than that outside, but that's the magic that is a greenhouse I suppose.

Here's how things look today (apologies in advance for the small image sizes - some techno-witchcraft happened to my phone):

The grenhouse looking resplendent amongst the tubs that are now srpouting with Peonies, Hostas and something else I've no idea the name of.

The Emir melons are looking quite healthy - given that they're restricted to vending cup pots.

Conqueror sweetcorn in two batches, the first sowing in the foreground standing approximately 3-4 inches tall.

Asparagus peas growing well, and searching for sunlight.

The celeriac - which I thought I might have doen some harm to because when I removed them from the cell trays I had to pull at the roots and was worried about root damage. But they seem to be growing quite nicely and will soon go into the ground.

On the floral side of things -the Sparaxis seem to be shooting up all over the place (with a couple of stray sunflower seeds it would appear). Some of the shoots have sprung up to about 6 inches tall - while the rest all seem a little less relaxed about the whole growing process.

And then finally there's a couple of bulbs I planted in pots a while ago (again - can't remember the name of them but I'm sure I've posted their name on here before) and one is coming through and developing into a distinctive looking plant, whilst the other seems a little more shy.

Got people round for dinner later so I'm going to go and start on that now. The forecast for tomorrow looks more promising, but I've promised my brother-in-law I'll go car shopping with him, so I might have to wait until later in the day.

Until then....

More bulbs than Blackpool Illuminations!

2008-05-08T20:09:00.013+01:00

You know when you just keep putting a job off, and then eventually your hand is forced and you really have to get on with it. Well, that's just about to happen.

The job in question is my flower bed/border that I keep threatening to create in the garden.

Tonight I got in from work and we'd had a delivery of some bits I'd ordered from J Parkers:

100 Sparaxis (Harlequin Flowers) bulbs
6 Red Hot Pokers
1 Viburnum Opulus (Snowball Bush)
and 10 Short Stemmed Lillies - which were free

I planted them all in trays/tubs just until I've got this bed dug/created. Add to that lot the Gladioli and other seedlings and bulbs I've got and I reckon my bed'll be pretty full. Well, it may new be pretty, but I'm new to all this flower mallarky, so give me a break.

Here's tonights efforts:

Sparaxis (granted you cant really see anything, but trust me there's two bulbs per pot:

Plonked the Red Hot Pokers and Short Stemmed Lillies in the same tray - individual pots obviously!

Finally the viburnum:

Or Twigburnum as I like to call it. It needs moving, but until I can buy a bigger pot tomorrow, it'll have to do.

Another purchase we made (well, LadyWayne actually) was a Monkey Puzzle tree. We've both wanted one for ages, so LadyWayne went online and picked up a small tree. Well, I say tree....

The Blauhilde Beans, Negritos Dwarf French Beans and squash that I planted a little while ago have started to grow, quite quickly too:

I've not had much success with chillis and tomatoes - a combination of impatience (planting them too early) and laziness (not bringing them in of a night) has probably been my downfall. Some are now growing, but the chillies seem to have "curly" leaves, not quite sure why, but here's what they look like.

I also finally have a tomato plant that starting to look like a tomato plant!

It's one of the Golden Sunrise that a friend of mine, Flummery kindly donated to me (look ma, doing alright innit?)

Whilst potting on and sowing in the shed one tends to notice the wildlife, and with the mice (which I'm now "managing") I also had a wasp making it's home in my shed. I'd never seen a nest up close, let a lone one during construction.

And it would appear that I've had a few spiders nesting in there too - there are teenie weenie baby spiders on all the windows. I shan't bore you with all the photos, but you get the picture.........no? Ok, here's one then.

Well, that's me for another night. I might get down to the plot tomorrow night to water the plants again - the only drawback with this great weather we've been having!

Tata.

Every chance you get

2008-05-01T19:41:00.006+01:00

Plant something!

Got in from work tonight and quickly nipped out to the back garden and into the shed to get some more seeds planted - I'm like a man possesed.

Tonight I managed to plant the Achocha which I received from the Heritage Seed Library. They are the strangest looking seeds I think I've ever seen...

I also planted the dwarf beans - Negritos, Some Squash - Avalon F1, Sweetcorn - Conqueror and some climbing beans - Blauhilde. I think I'll have to sow some more sweetcorn and climbing beans - I ran out of compost and space to plant any this evening, but hopefully as they're all in the electric propagator they shouldn't take long to get going and I'll transfer them into the greenhouse.

Speaking of moving things on, looking at the beetroot, parsnips and carrots, I think I'll be planting them into their final positions at the weekend. The beetroot is starting to take a bit of colour now.

Someone on The Grapevine came up with the idea of growing some sunflowers from bird seed, and having a bit of a competition to see who could grow the tallest. Given my own height, I'm hopeful I can nurture a lanky plant. I only planted two, but I think I'll be planting some more at the weekend, they seem to be doing great. See if you can spot which ones they are amongst this lot.

Tonight I also moved the chillies indoors for the first time. They sprouted a few days ago, but they are starting to get leggy due to the lack of light in the shed, so I'll keep them indoors overnight now, and move them into the greenhouse during the day, fingers crossed I do better with these ones than my previous attempt.

Just a quickie

2008-04-28T20:08:00.003+01:00

Popped down to the plot after work this evening - after some advice I recieved on The Grapevine I decided to bit the bullet and get the broad beans in the ground and see what happens.

Planted both sets of broad beans side by side in rows of three by three. Placed the old mini greenhouse tops over them and them simply draped some old netting over the top of the lot to keep the birds off.

Fingers crossed they make it.

Had a quick look at the pond too, and the water hasn't dropped - which I guess is a good sign.

Make hay while the sun shines

2008-04-26T20:55:00.013+01:00

OK, now I’m hacked off – I just spent the last 20 minutes typing out todays blog entry and a little slip of the keyboard and it’s all gone. I’m now using Word, and I’ll copy the text into blogger, at least Word has an “undo” function!

I set off for the plot at 10 am this morning with the intention of planting out my peas (Stephens – Heritage), broad beans (both Aquadulce and Martock – Heritage) and my raspberries (yet to be discovered). I returned home at 6pm having planted my peas.

Needless to say that’s not all I did! I’m not that rubbish! However, during the eight hours I was down the plot I left the peas in the sun whilst tackling some of the other jobs (which I’ll cover later), and the result is they look a bit sorry for themselves. I placed them in bottle cloches to give them a bit of protection, not only form the birds, but also the low night time temperatures we’re forecast for the next few days. Speaking of forecasts, it seems that we’ll be having a few days of grey skies, which should also help perk my peas up a bit! I’m a bit worried about them truth be told, with them being Heritage varieties I only received 5 seeds – luckily all of them germinated, let’s hope they last.

The broad beans seem to have suffered the same fate as me – sunburned. I was wearing my hat, and factor 25, but it seems to have not been enough. Maybe I should have also tried factor 25 on the beans.

As I was getting myself ready this morning – ferrying backward and forward to the car laden with trays, tools and sustenance, I noticed a couple of paving slabs that we had left over when we had the patio redone a couple of years ago. I kept them thinking I’d do something with them eventually – well, here’s what I did, albeit two years later.

All I need now is a welcome mat and a doorbell and I’m set!

One thing I noticed today was that the apple tree is looking a bit better after I gave it a haircut toward the end of last year. A couple of weeks ago I was wondering if I’d done the right thing or not as it seemed that nothing was happening – no buds, no new growth. Well, as you can see, things look a bit different now. I’m hoping that blossom means fruit?

Lat year, LadyWayne and I visited the Eden Project, and whilst there I picked up a couple of meadow flower seed packs, and it was one of those spur of the moment things – I didn’t really know what I was going to do with them to be perfectly honest. In my quest for home grown I have neglected to grow anything floral. So a while back I created a little flower bed at the front of the plot with the specific purpose of having flowers, just to brighten the place up a bit. I raked it over this morning and planted the seeds which include poppies. I laid some of the apple tree cuttings over the bed and draped some chicken wire over the top in the hope that it discourages the birds from nicking them all!

I had a couple of minutes spare so decided to make a pond. I walked round to the neighbouring aquatic superstore – Chiltern Aquatics, and asked the dude behind the counter if they sold off cuts of pond liner. He said they did, and sold me a 18x20ft piece of butyl liner for £20 which seemed reasonable to me. Back to the plot I trotted, with my new pond liner under my arm and about an hour (and a trip to the local garden centre to buy sand and a couple of pond plants) later I give you – Pond, Wayne’s Pond.

I used some of the old tiles that Dad gave me last year to neaten things up a bit, and placed a few in the pond so that there is a place for anything in the pond to get out – frogs being the obvious choice, children the lesser.

Now, I’m sitting here, my hands hurt, my back aches, I’ve got a sun burned neck, hands and forehead despite my best efforts, my feet are sore and I keep getting cramp in the backs of my thighs. This allotmenteering is good for you they say!

Oh, one last thing before I forget - which I'm prone to do as LadyWayne will vouch, I had some old bits of bamboo can lying about, so I chopped them up, bundled them together and hung them from one of the fence posts as a little home for some aphid eating ladybirds or lacewings.

I’m having a day off tomorrow.

Ready, steady........

2008-04-13T19:00:00.004+01:00

The weather's a funny old thing isn't it? The British are famous for talking about it, but then, when we have so much of it, it's gardly surprising is it.

So, here's me talking about it like everyone else, and the reason I am is that all week I'd been watching the weather reports in the hope that they'd change their minds along the way, and forecast us a lovely weekend.

Well, they didn't, but we had a good one anyway!

Woke up on Saturday morning, looked out the window and the sun was shining brightly. Watched the early morning forecast and it foretold of another washout day, so I stayed in bed a little longer. The next forecast had changed more favourably, so I jumped out of bed, loaded the car up and headed down to the plot.

Several weeks of neglect (result of the apalling weather recently) are not dificult to spot. The plot is looking a little barren.

The garlic is coming on nicely, a few of the onions are showing through finally and I have a couple of rhubarbs poking through - two out of five ain't bad surely?

I'd brought a tray of garlic that had been growing in tubs with me, not sure if they'll split as they've not been exposed to frost as yet, but we'll see. I planted them in one of the new raised beds, along with the remaining onions (about 30 in total, equal amounts of red, white and standard).

The brussels sprouts have just about done their stuff so I pulled them up - not without a fight! Stripped the remaining foliage from them and cast them aside to rot of their own accord.

I then set about preparing one of the beds to take my first early potatoes - Arran Pilots. I planted a row of them, about 10-12 as I remember, gave the rest to my neighbours as they looked after me last year.

Obviously with a day of good weather I wasn't alone on the plot, and I was speaking to one of the neighbours immediately next to me Lawrence, and he said that I had a weasel on my plot! Apparently there had been a few of them (plot holders, not weasels) watching this little thing poke it's head up from behind a stack of roof tiles I've had sitting whilst I figure out what to do with them. The weasel apparently didn't seem overly bothered with his audience. One of the other plot holders (John) further up the allotment appeared a little while later and told me I had a stoat on my plot! John's the kind of guy that will have gone away and looked it up, so I'm inclined to believe I have a stoat.

Anyway, do you think I saw him yesterday? Not a chance! I'll keep my eye out though.

I pottered about for about 3 hours in all, ended up with a sunburnt neck (which the wife chastised me for upon returning home), aching limbs, sore hands (one of which I managed to cut on something whilst weeding between the onions). Whoever said this wasn't fun? I'd either become acustomed to the aches and pains last year, or just got used to them, I haven't decided yet.

Back home things are a little less strenuous. I've planted numerous seeds and things in my new greenhouse. So far we have:

Beetroot - boltardy. These are all about an inch high now.
Pea - Stephens. Growing nicely, transferred into small pots now as they'd outgrown their modules.
Broad beans - Martock and Aquadulce. Both growing well in their trays, probably about 2 inches high.
Parsnips - can't remember which types but I've listed them previously. They all doing pretty well having been started off in loo rolls in the heated propagator.
Celeriac - plenty of little seedlings showing their faces now, will take some thinning out I think!
Asparagus peas - these have yet to show their true leaves yet, but seem to be doing ok.
I planted some Tiger Tom tomatoes and they're yet to appear, but I'm sure they will. Also planted some of what I thought were called "Pomodoro" - only to look them up and find out Pomodoro is actually Italian for Tomato! Should do well when we go to Tuscany later in the year then!
There are a few Melon seedlings growing too, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, and asparagus seedlings (which look a bit feeble if I'm honest).

Someone of the Grapevine had an idea to grow sunflowers from the birdseed that we buy and have a kind of mini "competition" so I sowed a few and they're coming on nicely - show winners? We'll see.

I also bought some raspberry canes from ebay recently, some Autumn Bliss and some other earlier fruiting ones. Three of each and I've simply pot them in pots for the time being until I plant them properly on the plot - I think I know where they'll go.

Whilst out and about today we popped into Dobbies Garden World near Bletchley and I picked up some flower bulbs for the border that I have promised to create for ages - but again, because of the weather haven't. Can't remember what they are at the moment, but no doubt over the coming months I'll introduce them to you. I also have some Aquelegia seeds in a tray in the propagator, which I'm hoping to use in the border.

Ooh, just remembered, some of the above mentioned bulbs are Gladiola - Ice Cream.

I'm sure there's more, but I have the memory of a goldfish, so I'll quit whilst I'm ahead.

One more thing - I chuffin hate mice!

It would appear that I have a resident mouse/mices on my shed who has an appetite for summer flowering bulbs! I'd left a load of some bulbs I received free with an online order for plants in pots on the shelves, then went in the shed one evening last week and noticed a load of holes in the compost where the bulbs should have been. The cats round here - of which there are plenty, are clearly rubbish hunters.

Until next time...

I dunno, you go away for a few days...

2008-03-11T18:39:00.003Z

Had our yearly trip to Centre Parcs at the weekend, and during our stay there was more and more talk about horrific winds and storms etc etc. To be honest, I didn't take much notice - the weather at Centre Parcs was fantastic (Sherwood Forest).

Until Monday that is! On our journey back, there was high winds, torrential rain, it was 'orrible! When we got home I discovered that my newly erected mini greenhouse had been blown over, spilling its contents (garlic and onions in pots, and a few tom seedlings). I then set about screwing the greenhouse base onto the decking to hopefully stop the same happening again.

Then armed with some newly bought seed trays (I needed more!), and a few bags of seed compost, I started planting some seeds to get me going - and cheer me up a little if truth be known.

Here's what I planted:

Broad beans - both Aquadulce and the Martock HSL ones. I know they could go straight in the ground, but given the peas have been devoured by mices, I didn't want the same fate for my broadies.

Some parsnips in loo roll centres. Hopefully I have more success than last year (which shouldn't be hard), but time will tell I guess...

Also planted some celeriac - even the seeds smell gorgeous!

Peas - Stephens. These should be ok, well I hope so as I've only got 10 seeds.

Planted a few Kohl Rabi too - never tried these to eat, and I've got plenty of the seed so I'm hoping we like them!

I'm sure there were some more but I just can't remember, and it's too cold, wet and windy to go outside and check.

In my electric propagator in the shed I also have a few chillis - Jalepeno and Mixed, and Asparagus. The asparagus is nearly touching the top of the porpagator, so I think I'll have to move them into the greenhouse before they get too cosy, unless I'm already too late of course.

Planning to get some more planting done this weekend too, and I'll hopefully take some photos as I haven't done any for a few weeks.

Seeds, seeds, and more seeds.

2008-02-17T18:11:00.002Z

As the weather starts to pick up I guess it's time to start thinking about what to plant and when.

Over the previous few months I have amassed a fair number of seeds, and they have all been quite happily sat in my biscuit tin waiting their turn for planting out.

I though it might be a good time to list what I have - if to serve no better purpose other than to remind me next year what to do and what not to do.

Here's what I have still in packets (in no particular order):

Runner beans (saved from last years plant)
Broad Bean - Aquadulce Claudia
Kohl Rabi - Blusta
Celery - Lathom Self Blanching Galaxy
Spicy Mixed Salas Leaves (freebie on GYO magazine)
Brussels Sprout - Falstaff
Calabrese - Marathon F1
Cauliflower - Atyr
Cabbage - Derby Day
Onion - Ailsa Craig
Beetroot - Boltardy
Broc Pse - Red Arrow (no, me neither, but that's what it says on the packet
Climbing Bean - Blauhide
Leek - Musselburgh
Carrot - Early Nantes
Parsnip - Gladiator
Parsnip - Cobham Improved Marrow
Thyme
Sage
Rosemary
Oregano
Carrot - F1 Maestro
Melon - Emir F1
Pumpkin - Aspen F1
Garlic Chives
Broccoli - White Eye
Broccoli - Late Purple Sprouting
Sweetcorn - Conqueror F1 Hybrid
Winter Squash - Barbara Butternut F1 Hybrid
Squash - Avalon F1 Hybrid
Celeriac - Monarch
Corn Salad - Cavallo
Organis Spinach - Palco F1 Hybrid
Tomato - Gardener's Delight (another GYO freebie)
Brussels Sprout - Bedford
Asparagus Pea
Pomodoro (given to me as a present - they're the Franchi ones so it's all in Italian)

I also have some seeds from the Heritage Seed Library (who do great work keeping varieties going that would otherwise disappear). They are:

Pea - Stephens (chosen as that's the name of my father-in-law, Stephen that is, not Pea!)
Tomato - Tiger Tom (chosen as Tom was my late Grandfathers name)
Pepper - Traffetti
Achocha (also known as slipper gourd apparently)
Leek - Early Market
Broad Bean - Martock
Dwarf French Bean - Negritos (these where my "lucky dip" seeds)
Lettuce - Stoke (these are the seeds I was given on joining the HSL)

The only problem with the HSL (Heritage Seed Library) seeds is that there are no instructions regarding planting them. I'll just have to do a bit of research.

Now all I have to do is sort out what to plant and when...

I've got three varieties of potatoes chitting, some Aran Pilot 1st earlies, some Kestrel 2nds, and Sante main crop. As per last year I'll probably plant them out around St Patrick's day.

Beds, birds and getting dirty

2008-02-03T16:14:00.000Z

Sounds like a standard night out for Russel Brand, but alas no, just another day down at the HayWayne - or plot 35 as it's known locally.

Following on from my previous post, I thought I'd just try and explain a little better how the raised beds were made...

1. To make the corners, simply make a cut on opposing lips of the "channel" (I think I'm going to resort to usin tin snips as a hacksaw makes a hell of a racket, and it's bladdy hard work!)

2. Fold one edge "inwards" and the other "outwards" - repeat on both sides of the cut. After doing several of these the heels of your hands will start to hurt, mine did!

3. The next bit is probably the easiest bit. Simply bend the whole thing until it forms a 90 degree angle, like so...

5. To form the long straight edges, just simply bend one lip in, and the other out, as per step 2.

6. Lay them on the floor, position them until they form the size/shape of bed you want, then simply tap them into the ground until they are sturdy enough to stand unsupported. Et, viola!

Having now discovered a better material to make my raised beds (and so they don't look like graves!), I had some left over paving edges, so decided to use them and make a flower bed on a bit of "spare" land. At the front of the plot - outside the fence, where the defunct water tap is, and my boot scraper.

My intention is to plant it with meadow plant/flower seeds that I picked up last year at the Eden Project. Hopefully to brighten it up a bit and provide somewhere for pollenating insects to visit.

Whilst on the subject of insects, I mentioned a while ago that I had been nominated Member of the Month on The Grapevine. Well, as part of my prize, I was given a bug box - something I had been planning on buying myself anyway. I've fixed it to one of my fence posts where it will hopefully provide somewhere for aphid-eating ladybirds and perhaps lacewings to nest. It's also supposed to provide a place for "solitary" bees - who will help with pollenation. No idea if it's in the right place, time will tell I guess.

Speaking of bugs and wildlife - I'm sure I've mentioned Mildred my resident "starling". Well, as I had my camera with me I managed to actually get a photo of her (she was quite happy posing with me no more than 6ft away). As those of you in the know will undoubtedly notice, Mildred is in fact a female blackbird (or so one of my neighbours informed me). Every day's a school day!

In between breaks whilst making my beds I had a bit of a poke around some of the other beds to see how things were doing. My neighbour Lester gave me some over winter peas to plant a few weeks ago and I'd seen no sign of them, so had pretty much given up the ghost. However, I was pulling up a few weeds and noticed that there were two little plants at the end of one of the rows.

Along the rows I also noticed a series of "holes" that are suspiciously spaced at intervals which I'm pretty sure match where I had planted the seeds. Mices! Oh well, looks like I'll have to invest in some form of hawk nest too?!

Before I sign off, here's a quick overall look at the plot in it's current state from the gate end.

..and the opposite corner (you can just make out the garlic in the edged bed nearest to you)

I don't know about anyone else, but I do find the auto-save thing that blogger does a bit annoying. My typing isn't great at the best of times, but as you type blogger autosaves and when you're on an archaic PC like mine at the end of a rural version of wideband it makes the machine stutter, and results in typed words with missing letters - most annoying! It's just taken me 3-4 minutes to go back over this post and check forspelling mistakes - of which there were a few!

Until next time!

The first bit of real work for 2008

2008-01-27T13:58:00.000Z

I'm either turning into some weird form of magpie, or developing some sort of Diarmuid Gavin personality complex, and started being drawn to, and making stuff out of shiny metal.

It all started a while back when I saw a skip full of scrap metal at work. We recycle a load of this stuff all the time, but it never struck me until recently that I could put some of it to good use.

Here's what I saw on that epiphanous moment:

Isn't it a beautiful thing!?

After a little thought, I decided that I'd turn this scrap metal into edges for raised beds, so here's what happened earlier today...

It started with me and a bootful of this scrap metal, I then flatted out one of the "lips" of the bits of metal and bent the other over to form a neat edge. I bent some at 90 degrees to form corners and help give the whole thing a bit of rigidity, and then simply bashed them into the ground, linking them onto each other as I went.

As you can see, the first ended up a bit squiffy, but I like to look at it as quirky character! Or manufacture/nature juxtaposition.

The second was a bit more successful:

Only another 16 to go!

On another note, my garlic is showing signs of life (finally)!!

The onions either side have yet to show any signs that they're still there, but those in the shed have started to poke through. I've about 10 of each red, white and standard onions just in case those in the ground fail completely.

After all that my knees were hurting and my wrists aching from bending the metal, so I'll attack this in chunks I think, I'll get there in the end - hopefully before the spring!

What with these and my planned pond, I should have plenty to keep me busy over the coming weeks...

Unexpected start to 2008

2008-01-10T19:18:00.000Z

Nothing much to report as far as the plot goes, hoping to get down there this weekend (in between showers) and get some work done. What with Chistmas and New Year to recover from, haven't had much time to tend to plot 35!

Anyway, the real reason I'm sat here madly typing away listening to Nik Kershaw is that yesterday I had some really good news - well I think so anyway.

When I first started out on this adventure I was (and still am to a great extent), very green around the gills as far as what growing veg involved. So, armed only with the modern marvel that is the internerd I looked up sources of information and stumbled on a forum - The Grapevine. The forum is run by Grow Your Own magazine (another great source of information), and is populated by a brilliant bunch of people (at least I think they're real!?) who are knowledgeable, friendly, helpful and altogether a humourous bunch. They've kept me going and helped maintain my enthusiasm - if any of you are reading this, thanks!

Whilst I don't know much about gardening yet, I often pop in and post the odd thing or two, questions and alike, sometimes gardening related, mostly not and they have accepted me into the fold (I think I could be classed as some form of forum stalker in actual fact).

Quite unexepectedly and completely out of the blue I was yesterday awarded Member of the Month for January 2008 - the first of the year. I was shell-shocked! I thought this particular accolade only went to those that helped others on the forum, and those that brought something to the table as it were. It may seem like an odd thing to get excited about, but when you just go onto the forum to "chat" to others, share experiences, successes, failures, laughs etc, you don't expect recognition. I even get some goodies into the bargain, and a banner by my name - how cool is that!?

If any of the voting members are reading this, thank you!

Here was the moment it happened: http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/general-chitchat/gyo-member-month-january-2008-a_11566.html

One valuable lesson I've learnt over the (almost) year I've been doing this, is that a sense of humour goes a long way, and hopefully having made a few people smile has been my contribution to all those fellow grapes who've helped me.

I'll post photos of my goodies when they arrive, I can hardly wait!

Happy as a pig in sh*t!

2007-12-31T16:48:00.000Z

Well, manure to precise!

It's a sad day when, at age 32 you get all excited about a truck load of sh*t being delivered, but I'm sorry to say that was me on Sunday morning!

Via the wonder that is freecycle I managed to obtain a load of horse manure absolutely free of charge courtesey of a lovely lady called Sue and her partner, who delivered the muck in the back of their horse box - here's how it arrived:

There were around 40 bags (my sore hands will testify) which I then had to barrow up to the other end of the plot. After emptying all the bags I ended up with a right old pile!

That's what it looked like about halfway through - I was surprised how much there actually was. Sue said that she used to deliver it to some dude near her and he used to dig it in straight away - but I think I'll let it rot down a bit over the winter and maybe use some of it in the spring.

Isn't it lovely?

Anyway other than that, there isn't much to tell.

I bought a little bird roost to attach to my now pruned apple tree:

It's a bit blurry, but it was getting dark and my phone doesn't like the dark!

Also bought a little hanging bird feeder (I plan to make a bird table in the new year - using the old trunks of the conifers that we cut down last year).

That's about it for the plot. I'm looking forward to a more productive 2008 and have just purchased a heated propagator to help get things started.

Have a great New Year - see you in 2008!

If I had a pallet - or six.

2007-12-03T18:32:00.000Z

It's been on the cards now for months - I obtained a number of pallets from work (cheers Spence!) and they've been sat waiting to do something useful for ages, so this weekend I pulled my finger out and got to making a compost bin of the most rustic variety.

I had some fence posts left ovr from when Dad and I made the fence earlier in the year, so I simply laid out the pallets and hammered in four fence posts to keep them from falling over. They're not tied or nailed together, jus all propped against each other with the posts keeping them upright.

Before and after:

I also had a bit of a go at doing a little apple tree pruning. At first I was a bit tentative, but cut quite a bit off after all.

The tree: The bits:

The JCB tracks aren't mine, I promise - Stuart next door had a massive load of horse muck dumped on his plot - I think he asked for it personally.

It's only a quick post today, but before I go have a look at my latest cauliflower (you know you want to) - I'd say it's my best yet, but then I would.

The plate on the right (that's real steam too by the way!) is what it looked like after Lady ayWayne had turned it into a Cauliflower Bhaji for dinner one night - t'was yummeh, thank you please!

The winter cometh!

2007-11-17T17:25:00.000Z

With a day off work on my hands yesterday I thought it was about time I did a bit of serious preparation on the plot, so I set about digging myself a few beds (turning over existing, and creating new).

Not that it's easy to tell from the photo (the sun was quite low at this point), but here's how I left things...

There's space for about another four or five beds - once I've cleared the strawberries that is.

For now though I thought about making myself a "cage" for all the leaves that have been falling on my lawn at home. Leaving them to rot down for use as a leaf mulch, or soil conditioner next year

Firstly, here's how the leaves looked on the lawn at home.

...and in their new home.

Don't they look happy? (I've since doubled the amount in there by having another leaf sweep this afternoon).

There's plenty more where they came from mind, here's the oak tree at the bottom of the garden.

Not much else happening on the plot at this time of year. Everthing is damp cold and blummin 'orrible. Although with the sun out yesterday I did end up in my t-shirt with steam coming off me.

Well, nothing much happening unless of course you happen to wander over to where my brassicas (look it up on wikipedia if you don't know) are!!!!

My first ever cauliflower!! Ent she purdy?

Before, and after harvest.

The cabbages I planted it would seem are spring cabbages - they are conical in shape (those that have survived being eaten by something - one presumes slugs!!) Once the outer leaves have been removed there's not a lot of them to be honest, so I'm doubtful that I'll grow them again next year. That's part of the fun of all this I think - finding out what you like, what grows and what doesn't. Every day is a school day.

Here's how the cabbages looked yesterday anyway. Again, before and after.

The sprouts it would seem are maybe not in firm enough ground - as soon as they seem of about the right size, they have "blown". Several weeks of them left yet, so hopefully some will be ok at least...

Remaining plans for this year:

Build proper compost heap/s
Edge beds with scrap metal from work
Prune the apple tree
Create little "meadow" at the front of the plot
Think of something to do with old compost area

That should keep me going through the winter months I reckon!

Tata for now.

Yes, I'm still here

2007-11-07T20:13:00.000Z

Now that the majority of the pre-Christmas DIY jobs are out of the way, I can get back to my plot, and of course this blog.....

Holy shmo! I can't believe I haven't posted since way back in September! Bare with me, this could go on for some time.

Either the T.V over the past month or so has been really good, or I've been completely rubbish at keeping this little page of mine updated. As there is a greater chance of the latter - we'll go with that.

Ok, quick recap on what has been happening over the past month or so....

Everything is dead.

Ok, that's not strictly true, but when I visited the plot after a period of abandonment that's what first crossed my mind. Closer inspection revealed that in fact I wasn't far from the truth. If I've learned one thing in this, my first year it's that seasons do mean more than just the clocks going forward and back once a year. Things actually happen.

Working my way round I'll start with the cabbages. They're doing well, still under the netting with a few signs of slug damage I'm quite encouraged by how they're coming on, the same can be said of the cauliflowers. When doing a little light maintenance recently (hoeing to the well informed) I noticed that a couple actually have the "flower" (the white bit you eat), one of which is close to being ready for consumption! Imagine my joy!!

Brussel sprouts are all doing really well, despite what seems like an infestation of what I have recently discovered to be white fly. I was removing some dead foliage from the plants when I was surrounded by clouds of the little blighters!! Several remedies have been suggested to me, including the trusty washing up liquid/water solution - which was liberally applied last weekend, so we'll see what happens. Anyway, I plucked a few sprouts off the most abundantly adorned plant took them home and unfortunately realised that they were in fact too "loose" - I fear I left them on the plant too long. Oh well, plenty more where they came from...

Peas have now been completely lifted, the canes removed and stored and the earth dug over with plenty of compost added. A number of other beds have also had the same treatment - some new, some had been used previously. The runner beans have finally given up the game, and the recent frosts, although mild, were enough to finish them off. I hunted for the fattest pods I could find in the hope that they would still hold some mature seeds that I could harvest for use next year - there were a few, so fingers crossed I'll have my first succession (?). The same can be said of the French beans, but I am too late to rescue any swollen pods as the plants have started to turn to mush already, never mind.

The onions that I grew from seed (Bedfordshire Champions) didn't quite make it - and through no fault of their own. I simply didn't get them in the ground early enough. I am not growing from seed next year, and am going to stick to growing from sets - far easier, and more productive it would appear.

Courgettes finally packed up and buggered off for the winter - I don't think they'll be back. The butternut squashes never really amounted to much. That said, we had one of the little baby ones in a risotto for dinner tonight and it tasted really good, and there wasn't much wastage due to the lack of the large seed area on the fruit yu get on larger squashes. Lady HayWayne even commented that the texture was far creamier than the shop bought ones. Hopefully next years crops will be a little more succesful. I'm going to grow them on trelisses (?) next year.

Carrots seem to be doing ok, but I guess as is with all root vegetables, they don't really let on how well things are going due to the fact that the bit you're interested in is buried underground! I hear baby carrots are in this year - so we might have a fashionable Christmas dinner.

After about 3 hours digging at the weekend, my back started to grumble, so I looked around for something else to occupy my time. Weeds! The large area that used to be my strawberries, but latterly succumbed to bindweed, and various other pain-in-the-butt-weeds was next on my hitlist. I pulled up all of the weeds - which had mostly died and dried out, and using my relativelynewly acquired incinerator, burnt the lot. Most satisfying, and now I have a load of potash fertiliser to use...

I managed to create a couple of my very own "biomes" (those that have been to The Eden Project will know) from old bed frames and a load of plastic sheeting and bubblewrap. No idea what I'm going to do with them yet, but it killed a bit of time.

So, what next?

Over the winter months, whilst the plants (and weeds hopefully) are having a nap, I plan to make a series of compost heaps in the hope that next year I can speed up the composting process and start using my own home grown. I am also going to make use of all the leaves that fall on my lawn courtesy of the oak tree at the bottom of the garden, by making a kind of cage to hold them in and allow them to rot down into a leaf mulch.

Next year's just round the corner, and if this year has been anything to go by, I'm going to be a busy boy next year!

You may have noted a lack of photographic evidence on this posting, and that's due in part to the lack of me taking the photos in the first place, but also because I don't think there's much room left in this pos

Time to play catch up!

2007-09-23T16:04:00.000+01:00

Well it's been a busy few weeks, and unfortunately I don't mean on the plot. The past couple of weekends we've had visitors to entertain - and whilst the thought did cross my mind to hand them each a spade or a hoe, and make use of free labour - I thought better of it for the health of my marriage, and decided to place a drink in the hand of each of our guests before I changed my mind!

Just reading through my previous posts I'm amazed at how long it is since I've last posted let alone done any meaningful work on the plot.

I've been harvesting runner beans now for a few weeks, and they show no signs of letting up - flowers are still appearing and I'm giving away a fair number, but all to good homes I'm sure. The same can also be said of courgettes - some of which have ended up the size of small children!

The peas I think have had it. They have pretty much all succumbed to mildew. The old plants managed to produce a decent drop before being struck, but the second lot didn't really get going before they were covered in the white powder. I attempted a spray solution of milk/water, but I think I may have been too late...

In other news, my onions received a little bit of praise from our award winning plotholder. He was wondering around the allotment taking photos for a slide presentation (do people still do that!?) somewhere locally, and he asked if he could take a photo of my onions. Well, who was I to deny my onions' moment of glory!?

This is the exact same onions taken about a week later, during their "drying out" phase (which it turns out, is nothing to do with The Priory?!) - so when you see them on the cover of.....

...ok, so I'm running away with myself, but I was proud as punch!

The Dwarf, or French beans are romping away nicely now and I'm harvesting them pretty much every week. For such small plants I'm amazed at how much they produce - and like the runner beans they are still flowering, so who knows how long they'll keep it up.

Cabbages and cauliflowers (seen on the left of the below photograph) are coming along nicely. I've left them netted over, but they still have a few holes which I suspect are evidence of yet more slugs. Generally I'm quite pleased at how they're doing and am hopeful to have them ready in time for Christmas. Likewise with the sprouts (on the right) - although I spotted a few caterpillers on them only yesterday when I ventured down to the plot. Needless to say, the offending caterpillers were quickly "dispatched"!

The straw cowboy hat in the foreground is a little more difficult to explain...

I recently even managed to get the lady wife to venture down to the plot with me on the promise of some sugarsnap peas. Here's a rare photo of my glamorous assistant...

I did eventually manage to get the carrots planted, though how well they'll do I've no idea. I hear baby carrots are in this year....

Dad recently bought over a load of edging slabs for me, and until recently they just sat in a pile. Then like a bolt out of the blue I thought "I know, I'll use them to edge a bed!" Genius!

Here's the resulting bed:

Yeah, I though much the same - it's missing something, like a headstone and a pot of flowers or something!?!

Anyway, I sowed (?) some Corn Salad - or Lambs Lettuce to see how I get on.

Maybe lillies would be better...

Ooh, I nearly forgot! I spotted some half decent looking butternut squashes that I'd almost given up on - what do you think?

It's quite obvious that the season is now coming to an end, and reading the books I have, and the advise I've received it seems that the fun really starts now - getting the ground ready for next year!

Looking back at what I started with in February - I'm quite excited for next year!

Here's how things looked in February 2007:

Hopefully thing will look a little different in February next year...

After the rain

2007-08-25T21:51:00.000+01:00

I ventured to the plot on Friday just to see how things were after a brief break in the constant deluge that we seemed to have had for the last few weeks.

Generally, things look ok. The weeds have gone mad, and the ground has become really soft - so I'm hoping to finally get the carrots in the ground and maybe make a start getting the rest of the plot in shape ready for next year (I know, talking about next year already, but I think we can write off the rest of this year...).

Here's how the plot looks from the gate.

You can even see the shadow of my Brokeback hat! - keeps the sun off my neck!

Anyway, I checked the onions and they seem to be close to being ready to pull up. The leaves are starting to "fall over", so I guess I'll soon be pulling them up and drying them out ready for storage. Here's how they look collectively...

..and a how they compare to my hands (?), not bad eh? (onions that is, not my manicure!)

I also checked on how the butternut squashes were doing and they seem to be romping away nicely - even if they are starting to sprawl accross the paths. I was given a tip by someone to put them onto some old tiles to keep them off the ground, so I placed some old roofing tiles that Dad gave me underneath the trail of squashes. Some have already been eaten by something - I've no idea what.

The cabbages and cauliflowers seem to have settled in - albeit with a little munching from some creature, slug or caterpiller. They are at least starting to show signs that they are growing.

Sprouts seem to have settled in nicely too - although some of them seem to be a little on the p*ss, so I've propped them up with the bamboo canes, and crossed my fingers they sort themselves out in due course!

I had a quick look at the apple tree that I mentioned before and noticed that there are in fact a grand total of around 10 apples on the tree - two of which were within my reach so I plucked them off. To my untrained eye they look like Bramley's, but I'm no apple expert - if you think otherwise, please feel free to comment.

I also think that the tree itself could do with some t.l.c, so any apple tree expertise would be greatly appreciated - I think it need a bit of pruning personally, but as previously mentioned - I'm no expert!

Anyway, with the kind genourosity of my good neighbour Stuart here's my harvest for the day...

Two courgettes, a handful of runner beans and sugarsnap peas, two Bramley apples and a load of plums.

I gave Stuart a load of runner beans and in return he said for me to help myself to his plums (ooh-er missus). His trees are absolutely laden with ripe plums, and they are even starting to fall to the ground they are so ripe. I think I'm going to make some spiced plum "butter" that is in the current issue of Good Food that landed on my doorstep this morning. I'll let you know if I'm successful or not...

Back on track - ish!

2007-08-12T17:35:00.001+01:00

After a week of convalescing (nurses orders), I have discovered two things. 1. Daytime television can rot your mind. 2. Weeds grow faster than you'd imagined possible.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised when I ventured back down to plot 35 for a good bit of old fashioned hard work.

I set off at 8:30 with a bootful of tools and goodies (only half of which I have so far learned how to use), and spent a good 4 hours weeding, planting, harvesting and generally "zenning out" man.

First on my list of to-do's was dig up one of the beds of potatoes to see how they'd faired after what I thought was an attack of blight. about half an hour later (and with a slightly stiff back), ladies and gentlemens, I give you - potatoes....

I found this cute little freak of a potato too - isn't that veird, look it has a nubbin!

Please don't ask me how many there are(I'm rubbish with weights), but it was a trug-load as you can see. I have another bed of the same variety (King Edwards) to dig over, but I need to save something else for another day!

Once these were removed I dug in a load of compost into the bed and planted 6 cauliflower plants and 12 cabbages - lord only knows if they'll survive, I had somewhat neglected them of late due to my foot swellage.

It was my most fruitful harvest yet - I think I may be starting to enjoy this damnit!

Here we have this weeks shopping:

Runner beans

Corgies

Some sneaky blackberries I spotted.

I grew impatient waiting for the onions to be ready so pulled a couple up to see what they're like - surprisingly, they're like onions...

I'd posted (I think), earlier about the fact that I have some form of apple tree on my plot, and that it had no blossom on it earlier this year. Imagine my surprise when I saw this on the tree...

Yes, I was underwhelmed too! There are about 20-30 apples on the whole entire tree, maybe enough for a crumble someday?

Had a little rummage around the butternut squash plants whilst I was there too - look what I sawed!

Here be my first ever tomato - I think it's a plum. I'll keep this photo in an album, along with a lock of it's first hair.

Well, the lady wife's cooking a roast, and the tatties I pulled up earlier smell lovely - that, and I'm afew glasses of red down, so I'm going to call it a day here, before I really start to ramble!

Bitten by the bug - in the truest sense!

2007-08-04T12:09:00.000+01:00

A few days ago I visited the plot just to do a bit of tinkering. Wearing my flip-flops my feet were constantly tickled by plants and weeds as I walked around. Anyway, I was crouched down and was picking some peas when I felt a more persistent "tickle" looked down at my left foot and saw some kind of bug on it, at the same time I brushed the bug off without much thought. Then saw a little dot of blood and realised I'd been bitten.

Thought nothing of it and carried on life as usual, until yesterday when it got too painful and swollen that I resorted to seeing the nurse.

She told me I should have come sooner as the poison looked as if it was travelling up my leg (a red "line" halfway up my shin). She prescribed double-dose anti-biotics, along with antihistamine, no alcohol, plenty of rest and stay out of the sun.

I took a photo of my feet side by side:

...but it doesn't really show home much the left foot has swollen up, so I took a picture of each, flipped the one of the right foot round so you can see what difference there is. This is my right foot, and how my left pretty much looked before the bite:

..and this is the bitten foot:

All in all, it's pretty much scuppered my weekend plans - last night it was really painful (these pictures where taken this morning, and it's died down a bit already), but the drugs seem to be having the desired effect.

I've got to go back to the doctors on Tuesday (or sooner if it gets worse), so looks like I'll miss out on a good weekends work!

Blummin insects!

Moral of the story - wear wellies!

Gathering pace

2007-07-30T09:47:00.000+01:00

On what turned out to be a rather busy weekend I only managed to get to the allotment briefly on Sunday for about an hour and a half. However, it was the most productive hour and a half in terms of harvesting that I've had thus far.

I harvested another handful of peas (pods, not single peas!) - around 15-20. I dug up a few potato plants (King Edwards) and gave some to my in-laws to take back with them. And, I harvested my first ever courgette!! Woohoo. It won't win any prizes, and to be honest I could have left it their another day or two, but impatience won the day. Here's a picture of my potatoes and you can see the courgette at the top of the picture. The yellow ones were given to me by Stuart, one of my allotment neighbours.

The courgette plants have grown enormous - well, to me. I put a watering can in for perspective.

I also had a quick check on the rest of the plot and there are a few areas of concern. The brussels sprouts are growing, but some are showing signs of attack, and others are looking decidedly unhealthy - I've no idea what's up, but I'm sure a quick bit of revision of my many allotment/gardening books will tell me. They're still partially protected by chicken wire, and I think I might have to cover them in netting to give them a bit more protection still. One more job for the list.

The onions are looking swell (sorry, couldn't resist), and some are the size of cricket balls now, and others are slightly larger still - they even drew comment from Stuart. "They might be show winners". I'm not bothered about that, as long as they taste good - was my response.

Also had a quick look at the runner beans, and there are a few small beans starting to develop. Some of the plants seem unwilling to climb, and are spreading out across the ground, but they seem healthy enough, and are producing fruit which is the main aim. Aren't they cute?

I've also planted up on of each tomato plant - plum, cherry and beef, in a grow bag to see how they get on out in the open. I have another of each back in the mini-greenhouses which are growing well and a couple of them have flowers, so hopefully not long now before we get some fruit.

The weather is supposed to be a bit better this week, so I'm hoping for a couple of evenings down there so I can get a few more things planted out. I have some cauliflowers that could do with going in the ground, some cabbages, a few more onions and the carrots are probably nearing the point when they can be planted out.

Blighted

2007-07-19T08:48:00.000+01:00

I think I, like many people accross the country am suffering from potato blight due to the wet weather we've been having for what seems like an eternity. Here's some photographic evidence of what I suspect is blight:

On a lighter note, I do have a few things starting to fruit. Look verrrry closely at this photo and you can just make out the startings of a courgette! Can you see it?

I've also had a few of my sugarsnap peas - hardly enough for a banquet, but they did taste good. Nice and sweet.

I also planted some more sugarsnap peas (top image) which will hopefully provide a harvest this year, and also planted some dwarf beans (bottom image) at the same time.

There are also some sprouts that I planted last week, but in my excitement at harvesting my first "major" crop of peas, and dealing with the blighted potatoes, I forgot to take a snap of them. Most are growing well, with the exception of one that seems to have some tiny light grey furry speckles on the underside of some of the leaves. It seems to have stunted it's growth.

Wanna see my onions?

2007-07-12T19:15:00.000+01:00

Here they are. Starting to grow well. The "stems" are about an inch thick, some less, some more. A few of them are even starting to swell and look like onions. Crazy stuff!

The peas. They're growing at various rates, a few have flowers now which you can just about make out from the photo...

Runner beans are doing pretty much the same thing. Some seem to be able to grab hold of teh cane and climb without problems, some need a little more coaxing. I also planted some sprouts (or they could be cauliflowers) in between three of the uprights. I have no idea why, just inspiration took hold - that or sheer madness!

The courgettes that I planted out, are starting to show real signs of growth - finally! I think I can even spy a few flowers in there. Fancy that! They're the bush variety so shouldn't trail accross the ground too much - but then again...

"Once upon a time my lad, all this was strawberries...."

Well, the green bit at the back was. Unfortunately the weeds have taken hold. Bindweed is rife and I think I'll have to save what I can in terms of strawberry plants and lift them for next year. The get rid of the weeds.....

Planted a few brussuls sprouts too. Having heard horrow stories about pigeon attacks, I fenced them in with chicken wire, and hung a load of blank CD's from bamboos. Hopefully it'll keep them off until they're big enough to fend for themselves.

Overall though, I think things are starting to actually take shape, and it's starting to look like a proper allotment. Waddya reckon?

Long time no see

2007-07-09T18:04:00.000+01:00

With the recent rubbish weather I haven't really been able to do much on the allotment apart from the occasional weeding between showers. My mini-greenhouses are starting to fill up, and I have my first ever courgette flower!

Look!:There are a few other things starting to grow, and I am getting eager to plant them out now.

Here are a few other seedlings that have shown their "faces" of late:

Dwarf beans.

Mixed lettuce.

Sugarsnap Peas.

After my last abysmal attempt at carrots, it's encouraging to see these:

Here are my various tomatoes (cherry, plum and beef), and a few chilli plants (middle three pots).

Hoping to get onto the plot one night this week, and I'll hopefully take some piccies of how things are going.

Photographic proof

2007-06-12T08:21:00.000+01:00

Here are some photos i took last night. They don't really do the fence justice, but hopefully you can see it at least?

My new gate, isn't it sweet?

How's this for a corner!?

I'm pleased to report that there was no damage done to any plants last night, my runner beans are still intact, as are the peas, and the onions seem to be doing a lot better (maybe they're starting to taste a bit more like onions now, and the culprits aren't so keen..

2007-06-11T08:19:00.000+01:00

Well, the weekend was spent on the allotment, finishing off the anti-rabbit fencing. Saturday morning the brother-in-law and I arrived on the plot at 7:30 in the hope of beating the mid-day heat. By 9 o'clock the temperature had already reached 19c (66f in old money)!! We dug out a trench along one side and part way along the back by about 10am (at which time I lost the aid of aforementioned brother-in-law to a prior engagement). A foot deep and about the same wide, this would take the mesh later.

My Dad turned up at about 12 and we continued around the rest of the plot, digging the trench until about 5:30 and getting everything ready for the mesh.

Sunday morning my Dad and I arrived on the plot and started attaching the mesh to the fence posts. The weather was a little more forgiving today. The bottom foot or so of the mesh was buried in the trench and then compacted down with a sledgehammer.

One tip: If you're using a 50m roll of chicken wire, make sure you have a pole or something to go through the centre of the roll to make it easier to move along as you go.

Anyhoo, we put the mesh in place, filled in the trench and then put "bull wire" along the top to keep the mesh from sagging, pulling it tight as we went to make sure everything looked neat and tidy.

The finale, was attaching the gate. But, before we could do that we had to install a "rabbit not welcome" mat. This was simply lifting the turf under the gate, laying a "mat" of chicken wire underneath and then replacing the turf on top.

Gate was then installed, fence posts were touched up with a final bit of paint and we went home.

I'll take some photos of the fence tonight - I was too busy during the weekend to even notice that I had been burnt to a crisp, let alone taking snaps as I went.

Needless to say, I am really happy with the fence - fellow plot holders commented "that looks like it's going to be there for some time" and "that is a text-book fence", which made me really proud.

If any rabbits get in now, then they deserve a bite to eat at least.

Now for the pigeons....

I'm a dad!!

2007-06-06T08:52:00.000+01:00

Went down to the allotment last night to plant some runner beans, have a bit of a tidy up and generally potter.

After planting the beans, doing a bit of hoe-ing and de-weeding (filled a wheel barrow full of bindweed root from a 6x4ft bed) I thought I'd have a "furtle" under the Maris Peer potatoes. Look what I found!!

Now obviously, they weren't in the basket, but this is the result of two plants. There were some really small spuds too, but I discarded them. Looks like we're having spuds for dinner tonight!

Rabbit-proofing

2007-06-04T09:17:00.000+01:00

This weekend my father and I set about rabbit-proofing my plot. Saturday morning we picked up some large pallets (3mx1.5m) from my place of work. Each pallet was sat on 4 bearer beams which were 1.5m long and 3-4inches thick. We loaded up the pallets onto a van, took them to my Dads and started dismantling them. Once dismantled we made some points on the posts with a chop-saw. They were then treated in nice harmonious green and left to dry.

Saturday afternoon, and yesterday we put the posts in place driving them in a good 500mm to leave a metre above ground. I now have no feeling in either of my hands, and if I see another sledgehammer I'll cry. I have a 50m x 1.5m roll of chicken wire being delivered today (hopefully), and then another (30m x 1.5m) being delivered later in the week. We'll then attach it probably at the weekend, digging down and then bending out the chicken wire 90 degrees to leave approx 1 metre above ground. We'll use supports at 45 degree angles to the posts at the corners (to hold them upright), and then use some "bull wire" to support the chicker wire around the top. Hopefully, this will stop the whole thing sagging over time.

Each time I dropped the sledgehammer onto the top of the posts yesterday I said "hear that bunnies? That's the sound of the end of free meals, you little bleeders!" - ok, maybe I said that in my head, but the sentiment was there. We also dug up a load of bramble that had grown at the back of the plot - it would have compromised the fence otherwise. I can hardly wait to be fenced in. I must say, I am proud and grateful to my Dad for helping me out, he's the best!

I'll post some photos up as soon as I've taken some.

Photos added of the posts as they now stand. The photo with the two people is of my brother-in-law and his girlfriend - to give a sense of scale for my potatoes in the foreground, he is 6ft 4. Well, I was impressed!

This is the fence along the back of the plot...

The area between the two "fences" was completely covered in bramble, making it an ideal run for the rabbits. Not any more!

This is one looking back toward the potatoes.

More donations to the Hay Wayne charitable fund

2007-06-01T21:06:00.000+01:00

A friend of mine gave me some cucumbers and runner beans today, hopefully the cucumbers will do a little better than the last attempt. I am hoping to get a lot of the plot fenced in tomorrow with the help of my Pops. Bearer beams from work, all free and plentiful - what more could I ask. I'll take some progress shots as we go along - watch this space. I'll be rabbit-free in no time with a bit of luck!

Poorly courgettes?

2007-05-30T13:03:00.000+01:00

Here's how things currently look on the plot (ok, a couple of weeks ago now), nothing much has changed since this photo was taken other than the potatoes are about twice the size shown, and you can actually see onions now rather than me just pointing them out.

I've been keeping various seedlings in my little mini-greenhouses. Some seem to be doing ok, but my courgettes don't look so well! They are now in a mini cold frame waiting for the weather to calm down and warm up a bit, before going to their final place:

Likewise, the cucumber that someone gave me looks a little unwell, but there is some good looking growth around the main stem:

However, I am having some success (ish). Some of the other plants seem to be doing ok, like my butternut squash:

There are a couple of courgette seedlings that have come through several weeks after the first lot, which look good at the moment, but time will tell.

Hoping to get some more fencing material soon to keep the rabbits out, and I've found a load of old CD's which I'm planning to use as anti-pigeon devices. I'm learning the value of time at the moment, and that one needs patience in order to achieve the "perfect plot" - should such a thing exist.

The story so far...

2007-05-29T13:10:00.000+01:00

Growing on the plot I currently have:

Potatoes - Maris Peer and King Edwards, both of which were planted on March 18th (10 weeks ago now)

Onions - no idea what variety, I was given them by a friend. These were planted out as sets on 22nd April, and have just started to grow (3-4 inches now) Woohoo!

Sugar Snap Peas - These were planted on the 28th April and were promptly eaten by some little beggar!

At Home I have various other plants growing at various stages in my mini-greenhouses (no expense spent!). As I plant them out I'll probably log it here. Knew you'd apprecaite that!

The first of many

2007-05-29T12:52:00.000+01:00

Well, that's the plan anyway.

Back in February of this year I decided it was about time I got myself an allotment - something I've been toying with for some time now. Since then, I have dabbled a bit on the plot and planted various plants and vegetables with varying degrees of success.

Not being known for my memory and organisational skills I thought it might be a good idea to set myself up with a web-log to keep track of what I've done and when I've done it. So Here goes........