It's all go on the allotment!

It seems to be all go everywhere in fact! Spring is pressing on, despite the fact I'm freezing my proverbials off. So much is getting done on the plot, and we are trying not to neglect the garden too. I'm throwing myself into my remaining MA in Managing Archaeological Sites coursework and starting on my dissertation which is about managing and interpreting museum gardens. Phew!  I'm also entering every competition I can find to win tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show.

Oak Leaves in Essex

So. The allotment:  the two cherries, pear and apple are in full bloom.  And the Hibiscus trees at the front of the plot are starting their leaf bud.  The fruit bushes have all sprung into vigorous life. The onions, shallots and garlic look....much the same as they have done for months.  The peas and broad beans are surviving in a subtle and undemanding way. The sweet peas on wigwams are alive....and peaky looking.  The strawberries are wildly flowering. 

Apples, please be pollinated

The flowers in the front beds are looking lovely. I can't claim credit for most of them, but I can for the stripy tulips- I love them!  

The herb bed is filling out a little.

Seedling-wise everything is coming on, much later than it should probably, but I've never found that a problem before but then I've never grown a tenth of what we have put in for the allotment!

Do not allow your cat to sit on the nice warm seed trays for your tomatoes will come up squashed and wiggly

To summarise the sowing since the last update:

Purple sprouting brocolli; beetroot; leeks; spring onion; salsify; radishes; lettuce; french bean (cobra and a normal type!); runner bean (Enorma and a friend's unknown variety); carrots; rocket (nothing doing with that, despite all promises on the packet!); sorrel; mixed oriental mustard leaves. 

Black eyed Susan; nasturtium; more sweet peas; sunflower; pot marigold; tagetes and french marigold; teasel; flax; poached egg plant. 

Potted up:

Peppers; chillies; tomatoes (Sungold, Gardeners' Delight; Moneymaker; Bloody Butcher; Roma); tomatillos (wonder if they are any good?); celeriac

Do not idiotically lose track of pots you have put seeds in and accidentally sow another lot in the same holes for you will lose track of the variety

And other work on the allotment has included loads of toil by L to create a defined wild area at the back, in which we have planted wild garlic, foxgloves, snow drops, and celandine, and will allow some of the existing "weeds" to grow.  L has also cleared out Big Greenhouse 2,  painted up the others and been on a dandelion annihilation spree. N has been weeding like a man possessed..... Indeed, it is all go.

My Gardening Inspiration

Like many people I find smells take me back in a second to childhood memory. The explosive fumes from a strimmer starting is the reek of petrol as Dad puffs and blows, starting the old mower;  rich catty tomato-leaf stink is helping pinch out the burgeoning plants;  smoky autumnal bonfire  is the flames in the in the trees at the bottom of the garden with my brother and I spluttering and weeping whilst “smoking”  dried hollow cow parsley stalks; hot rubbery plastic is the little paddling pool used over and over in the drought of 1976, seeming like an Olympic length swimming pool then.

Those aromatic memories complement the more prosaic visual ones of plants I loved in the garden: the ones I knew from a tiny age, minute themselves and best viewed nose to ground. Heartsease: that open faced sweetie with a captivating name;  scarlet pimpernel, wonderful dusky pink elusive bloom, its shutting flower sign of rain to come; speedwell, the pimpernel's partner and a little  wonder eye to eye; forget-me-not’s bright patchwork flowers; toadflax, exotic bananary crescent moon curved blooms;  and eyebright, smallest of them all, perky, bright-white and a mowed lawn survivor. I learnt the names of these (from whom? Mum? Grandparents?)  and picked an example of each to press and label, earning a Brownie Badge in Nature, and inspiring me later to undertake tough-girl grafting sowing sunflowers, love-in-a-mist, marigolds and radishes to gain my Gardening badge.

Unforgettable

When you are that small the important adults around you have a proportionally big influence, and luckily for me gardening seemed natural as it was what Dad and Grandad did. Like Grandad’s, Dad’s gardening was instinctive, not necessarily  neat, or ordered,  and not obsessional; and they wouldn’t admit to having green fingers but they did. Grandad was of the Percy Thrower garden-in-shirt-sleeves-and-tie generation, and the tiny near double-bed sized garden I knew was full of colour and veg: just the classics nothing fancy. Runner beans, tomatoes (Alicante, Gardeners’ Delight, MoneyMaker) , lettuce (Webbs Wonderful) Spring Onion (White Lisbon) Radish (French Breakfast) : I’ll probably remember these varieties after I’ve forgotten my partner’s name as it is what Grandad, and Dad grew, and now I do too. 

Gardening Grandad style

I bracket Dad’s gardening more with the wonderful Geoff Hamilton's; they had a relaxed attitude, worked with nature and they both stopped using peat at the same time.  Dad urged me: have a go, plant it and if it lives it lives, and you’ll know what works next time. I  find that I naturally garden in much the same way as Dad- and re-using his labels I find I sow  my tomatoes  at exactly the same date he did in the past- and the advantage is I often don’t even have to change the name, as the variety is the same.  I can't bring myself to rub out his labelling yet.

Dad's writing; my writing

All my inspiration wasn't from men by the way- Mum, Grandma and Nanna all encouraged me, and Auntie Bren had just the same style as me- nasturtiums all round and- and she gave me this gift of a childrens'  book, that, amazingly I still refer to!

Clear, instructive, attractive, inspirational

That was the past,  but what additionally inspires me now, to even a greater extent, is the natural world. Monty Don said something about however artfully arrange your border you cannot improve on a summer meadow or a spring hedge bank. This is true, but I find more and more I want to bring nature and the countryside in my  part of London, into the garden and into my allotment. I want to nurture the wildlife we see and I love studying a hoverfly as it busies round my (non sprayed) greenfly; or a caterpillar arching its way up my soon to be munched nasturtiums.   I love seeing the naturalistic displays in the places  we visit through the wonderful “yellow book” open gardens scheme and my annual treat of the Hampton Court Show, visiting with my very own Hampton Court Gardener and best pal, where I get to admire her wonderfully bright and inspiring borders as a bonus. 

Jane's Hampton Court Garden border

Today knowledgeable bloggers add to what I gained from Dad, their insight inspiring me to push and do more. Particularly in the new venture of the allotment this practical advice has supplemented my dreams and ambitions for the plot. 

I feel with our tiny rented backgarden and our more permanent, and much larger allotment plot, I have come full circle.  I am able to repeat some of Dad’s successes with standard veg, and expand into more exotic territory with access to not one but three greenhouses; exoticism he started with the growth of the adventurous spaghetti squash that Mum served with bolognaise; and the beautifully named Patty Pan.  I fear I have inherited the family gene for failing with sweet peas; but I will have a glut of tomato plants for friends and family as Dad always had.  I will use the same brand of extra strong organic fertiliser that Dad did, I will tie up plants as he and Grandad did.

At my Nanna and Grandad’s bungalow they had a garden themed thermometer on the wall: a gift long ago to garden lovers  from a relative’s  trip to Tenby.  The sentiment on it is cheesy; the little pad recording air humidity is dirty and rubbed by years of grandchildrens’ garden soil- besmirched fingers. But it’s the only thing I really wanted when the bungalow was finally vacated and cleared out.  I know the legend off by heart:

“Serene he stands amidst the flowers

And only counts life sunny hours

For him dull days do not exist

Evermore the optimist”

Pretty daft really, and I have only just realised the starting letter of each phrase spells safe.  But, ignoring the male bias to the phrase,  I love the imagery, and I do think it has some validity, despite the lack of sunny hours that we have had of late. To garden is to be optimistic, to look forward, to be creative, and thinking about that, I find, is inspirational. 

The inspiration for this piece about inspiration is a competition run through the instructive allotment blog run by Sue of Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments on behalf of Select Furnishings who make rather coveatable firepits 

Wake up Call

The name of this post reflects that I'd felt I'd had a dose of reality after the induction day for fellow new allotmenteers held at the site on Sunday. We had a lovely introduction from the treasurer and other committee members, then had a walk around the 62 plots on site. It was great to meet some of the other newbies.

A head scratching moment for a fellow newbie as we admire a freshly erected  DIY greenhouse

The thing is- suddenly everyone elses' plots looked really good!  I was suffering allotment-doubt, like self-doubt I suppose: a crash in allotment esteem!  A lot of the plastic had been whipped away from the plots revealing burgeoning broad beans and neat rows of garlic and onions. And, taking a closer look in to the greenhouses, I could see tray after tray of seedlings.

Now I don't think the very cold wind helped, and bear in mind that the treasurer said our plot looked great: it hadn't looked as good for years, and we'd done an excellent job. But my spirits were a little low.

I felt too tired and knackered to do much in the afternoon, so I sat in the warm of the greenhouses allowing the boys to get on with the work!

Which was:

Weeding, weeding, weeding- mostly dandelions.

And the painting of long greenhouse number one. L used the blue and white paint he'd used on our last shed, turning it into a bit of a beach hut. Greenhouse number one looked great afterwards, and now it has a bit more protection from the weather.

Other work has included potting up the peppers and chillies at home, and keeping up with keeping our tiny greenhouse based seedlings damp, which are liable to dry up within one or two of days of watering.

I've been pleased that the tulips I put in have come up, and are a nice "strawberries and cream" colour.  Good to see that the Bleeding Hearts are doing well too. 

Everything's coming up Tulips

Once again these flower pictures are from other plots on the site, but hopefully we'll have something to show on ours soon!

I've struggled to find good pictures of our plot, but it just looks bare in the piccies, though it looks better in real life. Having said that I don't think the grey dry looking soil helps. I can't wait to for the manure to rot down enough to add to it. 

This is the view from my sitting and thinking place- out on to the nearest bed of broad beans, peas, mange tout, and sweet peas (not that you'd know it from this picture) to the new herb bed beyond (with another sweetpea wigwam). Beyond that is the main path with our water tank so handily placed for us.  Yesterday I watched a magpie come right up to within a few feet of where I was sat, oblivious to me- its colours were gorgeous in the sun.

We do have one or two blooms.

But I hope that our plot neighbours might allow us to have a little bit of this saxifrage to add to the spring colour. 

Since the last update we've:

Planted up the herb garden - with the sweetpea wigwam in the centre we have bronze fennel; three varieties of thyme; golden oregano; purple sage; feverfew; lemon balm (in a pot to restrict it) and chives. To add- lavender; a couple of mints in pots; borage and calendula. Then we'll see how it progresses. We have divided it into four quarters with a brick "path" - a bit lacking in bricks.

Sown- at home- more sweet peas (late but never mind); more tomatoes (ditto) Bloody Butcher (I just liked the name, ordered in the week a certain rather well known former PM bit the dust. Sorry couldn't help it) and Roma (a plum)  

Sown- in the greenhouse- a cut and come again lettuce; cosmos; french marigold from saved seeds; flax (lovely looking red annual, good for insects)  and some other stuff I've forgotten about.

L and N have been busy weeding.  L has a particularly relaxed technique for optimal dandelion leverage.

New Life

As a tribute to a lovely friend and former colleague who died recently here are some pictures to remind us of Spring and new life, and the fact that if we were still working together in our boisterous and banter-rich office I would no doubt be banging on to Steve about the joys of the allotment!  Here's to you Brock. 

 Cherry blossom in the sun

The apples are on their way 

 Butterfly-like pea blossom

New rose shoots

The pear flowers should be next

And so nature constantly renews and delights.

Does it look like an Allotment yet?

Finally we've been able to get quite a lot done. I've been juggling allotment activities with feeling a-bit-more-rubbish-than-normal with ME, struggling to get my MA done, and starting my project to redesign signs and interpretation in the garden of my local museum. Also we had a great trip to Brighton where we met up with old friends E and H, and had a very animated chat, occasionally verging on a rant, covering ways to avoid allotment fatigue amongst other things. 

At the plot it has been a treat to get out in the sun and get on with starting plants off and planting out.

The little wagon/planter came before we arrived on the plot by the way!  I think it might be moving along a bit. The bricks on the bed behind it will mark out a divisions in the proposed herb bed.

Focus on the water tank! Behind it is a hibiscus tree, more alive than it looks

L putting in the potatoes

In went the peas, and along came the slugs, so down went the slug barrier

Sweet peas beginning to twirl

Primulas on a neighbour's plot

All the flowers dotted around should help the two hives of bees on the site 

It's been suggested that I should be keeping more of a record of what we've doing: so I'll do an occasional summary of tasks we've done.  In the last week or so we:

Sowed (at home)  Tomatoes: Sungold, Gardeners' Delight, Moneymaker

                                Celeriac: Monarch

                                Thyme, Basil, parsley

                                 More broad beans and peas (normal- Meteor- and mangetout/ sugarsnap)

Sowed (unheated greenhouse on the plot)   Carrots, Rocket, Leeks, Radish,  Spinach

I've got to sort out my labelling system. If I actually remember to provide labels, I forget a pencil. 

Planted out on the plot   Potatoes: Arran Pilot and Charlotte  (a couple of bags in the                        greenhouse, most in the ground)

                                          Peas (normal- Meteor- and mangetout/ sugarsnap)

                                          Broad beans

                                          Sweet peas

Dahlias set out to sprout in a tray of slightly damp compost.

At the plot we've continued to clear ground that has been very weedy (from the previous occupant!). 

Wild garlic and snowdrops have gone in to the wild/ woodland area (very shaded by trees outside the site boundary) .

I've added a few perennial flowers to the front borders.

I can't wait for the manure to rot down enough for us to feed the soil: the sun has dried the surface of the soil and it's really grey and dry, lacking in organic materials.

And we've got loads to do still at the back of the plot (behind the greenhouses).

                  

Fortunately, out the back the rhubarb has decided it might just live!  Hurray! 

A week to remember

The world has somehow seemed a slightly better place to me since the beginning of the week. Maybe it's the hint of Spring in the air...or perhaps it was something else.  Anyway I have posted some recent pictures from the allotment and garden that reflect my mood.  

Bright and breezy in the garden

Cheerful daffs in a neighbouring allotment  plot.

Viburnum Plic Mariesii:  a lovely shrub in Spring, with bright green leaves, white bubbly flowers, and good colour in Autumn, kept by us in a pot in the garden.

At the allotment: maybe a tulip, could be an allium...

The crocuses haven't croaked yet

Marjoram from the garden , which was looking really good until I divided into five plants, to take four to the plot to start off our new herb patch.  It seems to have killed it (maybe temporarily). But it hasn't dampened my mood!