Happy Festivities!

Dear Readers, Friends and Family,  Have a lovely time this festive season whatever you are up to, and wherever you are in the world: gardening, allotmenting, eating, drinking, sitting and thinking, partying, whatever!

Made from allotment materials!

Hopefully this time next year I will be able to join some of the great allotment blogs I have enjoyed this year, in reporting back on what we have produced.  But, at only 2 months in, no veggies or fruits to show so far, though we've just managed to keep some tomatoes from our garden going until Christmas day! And we dug up some very  long radishes yesterday that the previous allotment holder had grown. I haven't dared cut into them yet to check if they are edible.  And we are already growing garlic, onions, shallots, leeks, peas and broad beans, and learning that the greenhouse mice are very hungry little fellows! 

Watch this space in 2013 and thank you for reading! XXX

Making Paths

There are a number of existing  path styles on the plot- grass paths between plots, concrete slabs and stepping stones at the front by the flower bed. The grass ones look good but are a bit muddy at present.  Slabs and stones are nice and permanent, but slippery when muddy and good at hiding couch grass roots.

When we got the plot in October we took up all the old carpet that formed the paths at the back of the site.  These were doing a reasonable job at supressing weeds, but they were now decaying into the ground and generally being yucky, slippery and unpleasant. I know, too, that on some allotments sites they are banned due to toxic chemicals from fire retardents and cleaners leaching into the soil.  After we'd done away with the carpet we laid down a double layer of thick cardboard and topped it off with wood chippings donated by a fellow plot holder. It was pretty easy really! 

At the front of the plot we found there was a criss-cross of four paths dividing the space into four beds.  By getting in there with a spade it was just a case of shovelling off the strawberry runners and build-up of old leaves etc. Underneath was some very thick rubbery path material.  This we left and covered with chippings.

Before.....

After......

So that is our paths in a nutshell!  We'll see how they fare in terms of weed suppressing, a good firm surface (including for wheelbarrows), and looks!  I'll report back....

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday 19th December 2012

Happy Birthday L!  Hope you liked this allotment themed cake......

Welcome Readers!

I just thought I'd say hello to any new readers and thank you to people who have been reading so far.  I'm new to blogging so am probably making  mistakes, but I'm enjoying it!

Thought I'd post a picture taken at the weekend to show what a lovely green and pleasant place the allotment site is:

As we are but a 10 minute train ride to Liverpool St Station in London, I am very happy with that view!

Also seen at the site on Sunday this flower- a bit out of focus but can you name it?

Finally, also from this weekend, some fungi on a log at the front of a neighbouring plot, showing that by not clearing everything away and neatening up our plots and gardens nature will do the work of creating something beautiful itself:

Enjoy the sun whilst it shines!

Pea-ved

So it begins... the battle twixt pea shoot and mouse. We were greeted by a scene of devastation at the greenhouse today: the pea seedlings were down by about a third.  Several were bitten off cleanly at the base.  First we suspected Dino- he does look a bit suspicious here:

Then Motorbike Boy:  Motorbike Boy, what's that on the back of your bike?

But I think it is actually mice......

So I've put some netting over them now, I'll pop down in the week and see if it has worked. If anyone else has any  (non- mouse-death-related) mouse deterrent ideas I'd love to know!

Guitars Are Not The Only Fruit

The Corkscrew Hazel is now coming into its own- the catkins are out, but I also spotted this unusual fruit amongst the wiggly twigs.  Don't know where it came from !

I may only just be starting in allotmenteering, but I think even I can tell these are the more typical "lambs' tails" of hazels:

Elsewhere on the plot it's all looking generally like Winter now, as it should!

The tayberry has lost its leaves, but you can see here the frame L has constructed to support it: sometime soon we'll have to make a fruit cage for the tayberry and currants, or the buds and fruit will be lost to the pigeons.

Finally today here's a picture from the back of the plot ("the wilderness"!) towards the green houses: beyond them you can see the lovely (lime?) trees that border the allotment and really look lovely: majestic in winter, gloriously zingily green in the spring, providing dappled shade in summer, and lovely whippy future plant supports and leaf mold after gales in the autumn!

Still to come, in future posts: path construction (I know you've all been waiting for it!) and a pea and broad bean update!

Pre-Christmas Deer Cheer

I didn't get up the lottie today despite the lovely winter sun.  I was busy being driven around Essex, secretly enjoying ordering game for my family's christmas meal, despite me being a vegetarian for over 20 years! So I have reserved a haunch of muntjac deer and a pheasant, both of which will hopefully have had jolly lives before obliteration. I'd prefer the obliteration to not have to happen, but then the family will be eating meat anyway, so we may as well make it as happy-before-death as possible. This is where we get it  http://www.ashlynsfarmshop.co.uk/

Anyway muntjacs have spent the last 40 years making a delicious feast of Mum and Dad's veg and flowers in their lovely garden in Buckinghamshire, and a muntjac wrote off my cousin's car, so we could consider this apt justice.

Essex Sundown 08/12/12

Then it was on to the garden centre: the aim was to purchase some allotment supplies for my family to give to me for christmas- and I was excited at the prospect. I knew they have a huge range of seeds, and their perennial plant selection is extensive and imaginative.

http://www.harlowgardencentre.co.uk/

However there was nothing I wanted this time: they didn't have any peat free compost and I couldn't locate any labels or string. I'll visit again if we need fleece or netting, as it all came by the metre and was good value.  This time the one thing I did take away from the visit was, coming through into the main retail area, I had the impression I'd accidentally wandered into Santa's Grotto-On-Acid.

Essex Festival of Psychedelic Penguin and Reindeer 08/12/12

Wordless Wednesday 5th December 2012

 

 

Birdlife

The robin is the bravest and cheekiest of our avian visitors. There's a number of robins, and they are busy sorting out their territories at the moment I think, to judge by their stand-offish behaviour to each other.  This one found a lovely juicy caterpillar as we cleared the paths of leaves.

Other than Mr/Mrs or Ms Robin, N noted these birds at the allotment on Sunday:

Ring-necked parakeet   (many!)

Crow    (ditto)

Starling  (ditto, roosting)

Goldcrest  (one)

Great tit  (several)

Blue tit  (several)

Long-tailed tit  (many)

Wood pigeon (several. Overheard co-oing, "Non-netted brassicas eh? Nom, Nom, Nom")

Mistle thrush (a pair)

Herring gull (Don't ask me how many they all look like seagulls to me- Ed)

Black-headed gull (Ditto)

Magpie (3- for a girl)

Chaffinch (several)

Robin (several)

The noisiest are the parakeets. The cutest is the goldfinch! 



On the subject of wildlife this flower gives really welcome nectar over winter to any bees, wasps or flies which are still around. It's from quite a thuggish shrub called Fatsia Japonica or False Castor Oil Plant.  In our small garden we cut it back hard in the Spring so it doesn't take over, but it really earns its place come Autumn/ Winter for the insects,  and the dried flower heads look nice in a jar in the house.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardens/Wisley/About-Wisley/Plant-of-the-month/November/Fatsia-japonica   

Feeling Non-Groovy

Today and for the past few weeks I have been feeling distinctly non-groovy. The antithesis of Simon and Garfunkel's 59th Bridge St Song. So I thought I would try to outline what ME/CFS can feel like under these circumstances:

1. Unconquerably knackering

2. Debilitatingly dizzy-making and nauseous

3. Like I am about to go down with a hideous case of flu, feverish and wobbly

4. Or, like I am just recovering from the worse case of flu, but unremittingly, for weeks

5. Achey-breaky and generally flaky

6. Like I have a really crap hangover (Ah, those were the days,  when I could actually drink...)

7. If I was working... (Ah, those were the days, when I could actually work...)... I would be phoning in to say I feel goddam awful and I'll have to take the day off.  However feeling like this will go on for weeks if not months, and I can't take my life off.

There are lots of other symptoms, too tedious to go into, but an odd one is when I have an intense bout of ill-health like the one at the moment I seem to lose a lot of hair! My hairdresser remarked on this first (Ah, those were the days, when I could actually afford a hairdresser...sorry it's getting boring now), and over the last six months of better health my locks came springing back but now it's coming out again- arrgh what does it all mean?!!

I still have questions as to the cause of this, as it feels like a really intense virus I can't shake- I sometimes nearly do, but then something will bring it back (this time I think a cold, followed by a weird stomachy bug, maybe then topped off by the flu jab?)  Who knows, but I wish it would BUGGER OFF!  I really want to get back to work (and desperately need to financially). What's more I hear the sound of the allotment calling.....

New Door!

Not a very exciting blog title admittedly! But it was very satisfying today to see the results of L's hard work creating a new greenhouse door from scratch. Wood was scavenged from the plot and perspex came from freegle some time ago (the rest had been used to make 2 cold frames for the garden)
Here are the steps for making a new greenhouse door:

1. No door!

2. Make a door!

3. Put the door in place!

4. Ta Da!  Door!

And that's it- new greenhouse door in 3 easy steps.  Next time: path making in 2 easy steps.

Dirty Rat...and Dirty Rat???

Today the main development at the allotment was the deposition of a poor dead, slightly chewed looking rat on the main path- don't look below if you don't want to see it!  I suspect this was left by Bobtail the stump-tailed fox- he came up to me when I got to the allotments this afternoon, probably expecting to be fed as I know some of the other allotmenteers do so. I was quite glad he had the rat to eat (assuming it wasn't poisoned) as there was no-one else there to bring him food this evening.

'"Nom nom nom"- Bobtail'

Now the other "dirty rat" incident was a bit weird. Yesterday was miserably dull  and I popped up the lottie quite late in the day.  After pottering about a bit and taking the pics for Wordless Wednesday I realised a figure had appeared directly outside the perimeter fence, next to our shed. He looked majorly dodgy.  He had a big metal bar in his hand.  The area he was in isn't on a public path or anything, it's just a narrow strip with a muddy stream the other side.  I hid in the greenhouse and watched him for about 10mins as he moved along the fence poking in the ground, oddly pulling at some living tree branches, occasionally knocking against the fence with the bar. At some time over last weekend the fence had been breached at that point,and I believe stuff was stolen but I'm not sure.

My suspicions were up at this point, and I felt some apprehension!  With my heart beating fast, and having rung L with a quick whispered summary of my last will and testament, I stood out in the open and coughed loudly. Mr Rat's reaction was not that of an upright citizen going about his lawful business. He actually looked more like a terrified meercat, he kind of reared up in panic, swivelled round then tried to hide behind a leafless sapling. Then he leapt up and ran. Heart now thumping, I left to meet L as he came down to join me, and as we both walked back to the lottie through the public park the fellow passed us, minus the metal bar, but with a big, light looking, plastic bag.

See him off, Dino

My dodgy friend did not look at all like he was seeking a place to sleep, and had he been doing so, he could  have slipped through the fence and kipped in our shed. (And I would much rather have that than him sleep out in the cold last night to be honest)  He had that large plastic bag which didn't seem very heavy. And a scary looking metal bar. We have a (probable fox) hole under our shed accessible from where he was.  What do you think was going on?

Wordless Wednesday- 28th November 2012

Wednesday 28th November, 2012.

First Green Shoots of Recovery

I said I'd post some pictures of the first signs of new growth at the plot, (intentionally planted new growth that is, not the lush looking little couch grass shoots that are eagerly poking their little heads up), so here we go. We have garlic, planted directly into the newly dug beds, and peas planted in loo rolls and pots in the greenhouse.

Ok, it doesn't look much, but it's a start!  I took the pictures a few weeks ago  and since then the garlic has shot up and the peas have all come through.  Now I'm seeing if the broad beans can do the same.  I've sown the peas and beans in different mixtures of potting compost, and labelled them to see how they do.

Your bonus picture today is of some leek seedlings that I got for 15p from Homebase. Don't laugh experienced gardeners! I expect them to sit there nicely without doing much over winter, until it's time for them to grow again. I've done it before with leeks that stayed as seedlings for about 2 years before planting them out, hope it works this time.

By the way I am new to blogging as you may have realised, and I'm trying a variation to the font today.  Which may or may not look any different.  I have just had a lesson on typography from a fellow teaching student which has made me realise the importance of style, although I don't seem to be able to do much about mine! 

Next time- look out for a stimulating account of how we made our paths and hopefully a thrilling treatise on greenhouse doors! Stay tuned.....

November Tomatoes

Before posting about the first new shoots of plants for next season, here are the remains of this season's tomato crop. Plenty of toms to take us into December with the aim of having a couple of grilled ones on Christmas morning!  If they don't look like making it till then I'll turn them into pasta sauce (baking in the oven with some herbs and garlic)

Most are Sungold which last for such a long time, taste delicious, are the first to ripen and the last to finish up. I know there are some issues with F1 varieties (not least because you can't save and grow from seed very successfully) but I just haven't found anything to beat Sungold!  We also grew the old favourites Gardeners' Delight and Moneymaker, some of which are still ripening. And Maskokta (spelling?) was a new variety this year, small plum toms, they were ok, but they didn't keep too well. We had no blight but are fortunate in that we have a very small, sheltered, South facing garden.  I wonder if we'll try any new varieties in the greenhouses at the plot this year?  Any suggestions?

Before and After

It's encouraging to see from these before and after pictures that we are progressing.  The first two pictures are from our initial viewing of the plot- you can see it's overgrown: brambles, bindweed and strawberries, frankly though it could have been a lot worse! It's clear the plot hasn't been left for too long and that it had been very well looked after previously.  There were some verbenas that we kept as well as most of the strawbs.  The beds and paths couldn't be seen.

After a few weekends  it now looks more like this:

 The blue stool looks like it's supervising the workers:

Here's the new fruit tree area, with blackcurrants, and tayberry, with more fruit yet to go in:

Finally the view to the back of the plot as the sun swiftly disappears. We are keeping a wild patch here, by the way, just in case you think the "before" pictures looked better. We want more wildlife, not less, and this very shaded part of the plot is ideal:

 

Future posts will show how we made the paths....and the first green shoots of recovery!  Stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment.

Windy day

Just popped up the plot to see if anything had blown down in the windy weather. All was well, and it was good to meet someone else at the allotments despite the brisk conditions.  Instead of destruction the wind had brought a little benefit: on my walk to the plot I picked up a bundle of long whippy sticks blown down in the breeze, so I added them to the stick pile, to be used in the Spring for...something or other....

And then there was a nice pile of vivid Autumn leaves on the doorstep when I returned home.

Inspiration

 Beetroot leaf from our garden

 Bee on Cow Parsley, Epping Forest

 Olympic Park, 2012