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

Post 2

This is our fourth weekend at the plot. Already we feel totally at home. I have been going there a few times in the week, but it was nice to have three people working there today. When we first got the site L cleared a lot of the ground, and pruned the corkscrew hazel at the front of the plot right back which immediately made it look better. Strawberries covered all the beds and when we started to get into these we discovered the four main beds at the front of the plot and a sweet flower bed facing the main path through the allotment. Obviously we'll keep a good strawberry bed going, but we don't want only strawbs!

Corkscrew hazels before pruning seem to lose their corkscrewy-ness

The paths at the front bit of the plot are made of some sort of heavy duty weed suppressant material and once we'd cleared off the strawberry runners we laid some wood chippings over them, kindly donated to the allotments by a new tenant. Today at the back we took up the carpet and black bin bags that formed the (also overgrown) paths. Whoever made them had done a really good job, but we just didn't want the carpet decaying in to the ground or the plastic breaking up, so L took it up, and N tipped more chipping down after I had placed a thick layer of cardboard down. It looked great at the end, it was so nice to see the beds taking shape through having the paths defined.  I don't expect the paths to last that long but I really like the idea of incorporating them directly into the beds when they have broked down.

A path uncovered

Everyone we have met at the plot is really friendly and I have also met a new neighbour in the road directly because of the allotment- when I knocked on her door to ask if I could take away some cardboard and two packing crates she left out- she was really pleased that I could make use of them! Having the allotment has already been such a pleasure in social terms: I have been off work with ME (sometimes called chronic fatigue syndrome) for over 4 years now and I find it very isolating, so it is great to meet new people. Talking of the dreaded ME, which I don't intend to too much as it is a pain in the a*se even thinking about it, I must ensure I don't overdo it at the plot. To be honest I have got pretty good at knowing my energy limits, not overdoing it, and tyrannically directing others to do my will, but I've got to do something to control the thoughts racing through my head in the middle of the night:  how to design pigeon protection without snaring birds in the netting.... what is the best mulch....  will my onions shoot up soon...... will my leeks get rust... what vaiety of sweet pea shall I go for... and how soon can I get down the plot again?!   btw when I've worked out how to upload photos I will do!

First Post

We have just started the fourth week of allotment gardening in East London, and are loving it. Thought it would be useful to record our experiences, for our own interest really, and anyone else who wants to read it. Perhaps I  won't keep this up, but will see how it goes.  I've seen some really good gardening and allotment blogs and the ones I like best have some lovely photos and useful tips, so I'll try to keep it simple.

There's some fruit trees there somewhere...apparently

I have had my own garden since I was about 7, my brother and I each had a patch in Mum and Dad's garden.  Dad used to let me order what I wanted from his seed catalogue, and I'd order loads of things from herbs to ferns and cacti- needless to say the cacti were never sown, but I enjoyed growing lots of other things and discovering what was easy and what was never going to work. When I left home and went to university I grew tomatoes and nasturtiums on my hall of residence windowsill and as I moved around various rented houses in London, so my burgeoning garden came with me, in tubs and pots. The last time we moved we had one van load for the contents of the house and one for the garden, and it was jammed to the roof of the lorry.  However when you are renting you never know when you might have to move and it's difficult to let your garden really put down roots.

I reckon we can find some beds and paths in this patch

So when the opportunity arose to get an allotment at the end of our road we couldn't wait, and last month we were handed the keys to the allotment and our new plot. Within minutes we had started work, pruning shrubs and clearing the beds. With a friend on board there are three of us excited and willing to get the allotment into shape. I would like something which looks good, gives us some tasty veg and lets wildlife get on with it! Let the plot adventure begin!