Plot anniversary

We've had the plot for exactly a year and a week now and it's been great! In my last post I wrote about some of the reasons I enjoyed having the allotment.  Here are some of the things I would have missed out on in the last year had we not had the plot:

1  Posting up "before and after" pictures!  Appropriately here are two views of the plot from the front, on the first day we got the plot last year, and then three taken the same day a year later.

 

 

 

2  Experiencing light and crisp days during last winter, which got me through a much dreaded time of year for me. I loved being on the plot when very few other people were, getting warm and enjoying the quiet.

3  Proudly cropping our first veg-  overwintered  and undersized onions, which we thought at the time were well worth the effort!  And then enjoying the other firsts- like the Charlotte potatoes, my first successful sweetpeas, and the attractive, but not very productive tomatillo
 

 


4  Meeting new allotmenteers- it's been lovely to chat, even if all the chat of late has been about the constant thefts.*

5 ..... And reading great allotment and gardening blogs- and exchanging comments with the authors- very friendly and helpful folk

6  Watching and trying to encourage the wildlife: we've seen  frogs and toads; loads of birds (and hear parakeets all the time); mice; lovely butterflies and moths; and the star for us- the grass snake caught in our fruit nets but released to slither off to one of the most polluted waterways in London, our delightful Dagenham Brook.
 A strange cocoon found last week amongst the fennel

7  Planning- I love to plan!  When we started we had a good framework on the plot, underneath the massive carpet of strangulating bindweed and bramble, and that's really helped. I'm happy with the permanent features (for now) that we have put in like the herb bed, which has thrived.

8  Having friends take an interest and visit- more please!  We had a couple of lovely barbeques, and we've also benefited from advice and seeds.  I hope people enjoy reading my posts- I know  I don't get a huge amount of traffic but I am pleased that some lovely old friends read posts even if they don't comment!

 Thanks for coming along Minnie

9  Having meals made almost entirely from allotment produce.  Not only is the fruit and veg satisfying, fresh tasting and perhaps with more vitamins and minerals than supermarket ones, I am surprised to reflect that the plot has been remarkably cost effective.  There hasn't been much outlay as we have all the tools needed, have used cheap and home-made compost, and employed the traditional allotmenteers' mantra of make-do and mend.

 Potatoes, French Beans, Sungold and Gardeners' Delight tomatoes, lettuce, rocket, fennel. Eggs and mayonnaise not from the plot.

Potatoes, Chard stems and fennel braised in white sauce with veggie sausage done chorizo style, chard and spinach, Bloody Butcher tomato

Autumn Bliss raspberries- we've had these almost every day from June until now

10  Spending hours bottling cherries, freezing masses of soft fruit, using runner and French beans in every meal, and now preserving pears a-plenty.  Some will hopefully find its way to people as presents- as have big bunches of flowers.




11  Enjoying the tiny things- like Borage seeds shaped like little grazing creatures
 and the details of flowers and insects



12 Being able to plant clematis and other things we wouldn't like to chance in our rented garden

 The delightful Polish Spirit

As I hope you've seen we've really enjoyed our first year and hope it may continue!

*  E and H: you may be shocked to hear that whilst we have only suffered from one theft it is the shocking loss of Motorbike Boy- we like to think he is riding in pastures new. Dino has not yet recovered. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How I use my allotment

I can never think of snappy blog titles- this one is what it says it is! 

My allotment is to grow fruit, veg, and flowers- of course!  But it is also, for me, a touch of green, a link with the countryside, a chance to interact with wildlife and experience the changing of the year. 

Here in Walthamstow, East London, the great news recently was the successful prosecution of the first two people for spitting on the street.   (£80 fine, and no they didn't bother turning up in court). I do love living in London and I'll defend my "manor" to outsiders, but really the grey misery of it (in parts!) does get to me occasionally- and this is where the allotment comes in handy.  

Even if the outside impinges with the continued weekly mass thefts from virtually every plot on site, still the green-ness is there, the flowers, the colour, the birds and the still-ness.  I find myself become rather strange if I don't experience  this urban wild for a few days.  I have to be able to experience living things other than humans!

I've just listened to Radio 4's Ramblings in which a listener Cathy Dreyer took Toyah Wilcox on a short walk from her home that she plans to do 365 times- you can see her blog here: http://walkinginacircle.wordpress.com/     I really like this idea of walking the same route every day in all weathers and conditions- the idea of observing in depth the subtle or the larger changes every day. I get that from the allotment too- and I think back gardens can do the same- whether your world is large, or small, it's the detail that makes life more interesting, and can be calming and stimulating in turn.

So, here are some photos taken in the last week of things I am enjoying seeing and eating in the allotment and garden.

Tomato Review

Our tomatoes have been cultivated in three places with very varied results: in the allotment greenhouse in pots; the allotment outside; and in large tubs in our back garden. Most successful results were from our back garden- a sheltered south-facing spot; least successful were the outside tomatoes in the allotment- succumbing to a fast spreading blight early on. I'm reserving judgement on the greenhouse toms as they are still ripening.



Varieties:  this year I grew Sungold (cherry variety,  orange colour),  Gardener's Delight (cherry variety, red colour)  Moneymaker (large red, old favourite),  Roma (medium sized plum) and Bloody Butcher (bright red- a "heritage" variety).  The last two are new to me.  Here I must apologise to those I gave plants to this year- I completely muddled up my labelling!  How I managed this I don't know- I thought I'd been exceptionally organised, but everything has come out all wrong! Ho hum, I know the difference between the fruits by sight anyway.

Sungold: these were most prolific as always and produce the best flavour I believe for salads, and just popping in the mouth whilst gardening.  They also make up the bulk of the toms I oven cook with garlic, rosemary, sage, bay and any other herbs knocking around.  They haven't split on me very much this year.  A firm favourite with me.



Gardener's Delight: due to my mislabelling I didn't have many of these but I have found them to be tasty and a nice red colour and size, I'll always grow a few plants of these.


Moneymaker: due to my mislabelling I have loads of these in greenhouse- huge great fruits, mostly unripe.  Flavour has been ok, but much improved by grilling or other cooking.


Roma: sorry Roma, I won't be growing you again.  Cotton woolly insides, dry and tasteless. No improvement on cooking. Bleh. They look nice though. My search for a tasty plum tomato continues.


Bloody Butcher:  I love you Bloody Butcher! Dark red, juicy, rich tasting. Yum. Due to my mislabelling I have hardly any of these, but someone who I gave plants to has! Lucky them. I'll be growing them again, hopefully from seeds I collect myself this year.  Unlike the expensive Sungolds, they are not an F1 variety so should come true to the parent.


Problems:  On Sue Garrett's excellent allotment and garden blog http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/  she describes problems with blossom-end rot this year. I felt confident that I hadn't got this- but about a month or so ago I found that  I had, and for the very first time! It's been suggested that poor calcium uptake can cause this problem, so I made up a rough-and-ready solution of crushed eggs shells and watered it in.  I didn't have any more problems, but I think this was luck- I don't know that the plants would be able pick up the calcium from egg shells this way and at such a late stage- I think it was more to do with the watering regime- I actually eased off watering as the plants seemed damp enough.

Blight: I have my usual slight blight in the back garden towards the end of the season, and by judicious cutting back and getting the toms off I have fought it successfully. The plot was another matter- within two days the plants were overwhelmed and the fruits totally spoiled. The greenhouse has been healthy- so far.  Blight is so disgusting, handling the plants when ripping them out makes me feel queasy.


At home the dishes of green toms will continue to ripen off for months.  I monitor on a daily basis for any showing signs of blight and chuck'em, and we always manage to keep a few going until Christmas Day!

Finished my MA now back to the Allotment!

At last, after a four year battle, I have finished my MA in managing archaeological sites!  I nervously handed in the dissertation yesterday- on management strategies for historic museum gardens. The wonderful departmental secretary hugged me- I think she thought I'd never do it! What a relief and great thanks to everyone who has supported me over the years. 

Having the allotment and having this blog has helped- it's been really great to escape to the plot, even with manuscript in hand, to get a proper break.  And thinking that friends are reading my posts has been nice, as well as chatting with new bloggerfriends!  Sorry the blog posts have been a bit lax while I've been finishing the academic work. 

Well I will update properly, but since our broadband seems to have given up the ghost that might not be immediately!   What I will say is that sometimes big things from little things can grow (that is a half thought-out analogy about my MA but also refers to big sunflower  above and little sunflower below)

 

 

That analogy is rubbish on a number of levels, not least because little sunflower didn't grow into big flower- poor little sunflower just never got potted on- it's the same variety though!

 

And talking of small things- why have all my squashes failed?! This is the one still trying to grow: it would be spaghetti squash which usually taste of mush anyway.  Looks nice though.

 

 

 

Well I'll sign off before broadband gives up again. And next time I will tell you of my new love for a Bloody Butcher but indifference, bordering on disdain, for a Soggy Plum.



Potatoes have eyes.... they must be alive

I am enjoying the fact that our allotment potatoes are not shaped like those in the shops....and some are quite big. And slightly peculiar.

 Does it think it's an animal?

Is it alive?

What's that you say? You want to play?

Come on then, DO something

Mummy, it's not doing anything

Come on : let's play over there!

Any time you want to "chip" in with a suggestion....

This Arran Pilot isn't flying anywhere

Weirdo

Oh really. Enough.