dirtyhoes

2008-04-21T22:11:00.001Z

10-4-8 At the allotment
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

The view from the path as the last of the digging is completed on the left-hand side. It's looking much happier than it did this time last year!

10-4-8 At the allotment

2008-04-21T22:10:00.001Z

10-4-8 At the allotment
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

After digging 4-4-8

2008-04-06T09:37:00.001Z

After digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

It's looking more healthy up there - three rows of potatoes are planted by the broad beans (under the white wire tunnels) and it doesn't look like an abandoned wasteland any more.

In other news, lots of the seeds we planted have sprouted, so we've got squash, courgettes, tomatoes, peppers, chilis, and artichokes popping through. Hurrah!

After digging 4-4-8

2008-04-06T09:34:00.001Z

After digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I went and hired a rotavator-type thing, which was a bit lightweight, but did a quicker job than I would have done with a fork.

Before digging

2008-04-06T09:32:00.001Z

Before digging 4-4-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

The left-hand side of the allotment, looking from the path. It looks far worse here than it did in real life, but it was still bad enough for us to get a letter from the council asking if we really wanted an allotment. Pah.

Broad beans

2008-03-30T20:06:00.001Z

Broad beans
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Growing happily

Surprise harvest

2008-03-30T19:58:00.001Z

Surprise harvest
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We'd forgotten/neglected to harvest the potatoes we planted at the allotment last year, but - in preparation for this year's crop - we had to dig them out, and found this lot. Several were slug-eaten, hollow or squishy, and two actually exploded potato goo everywhere, but there are several decent ones ready to eat. Hurrah!

Broad bean

2008-03-30T19:56:00.001Z

Broad bean
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Not quite in focus, but my camera phone's rubbish.

Rob spent all afternoon at the allotment, and I joined him once I'd woken from my accidental sleep. The broad beans look quite happy and there are one or two other signs of life. There's still a lot to be done, but I'm going to hire a rotavator at some point in the next fortnight and sort it out.

2008-02-24T15:51:00.006Z

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We made it to the allotment today, just before it started raining. It all looks quite sad, but by no means as bad as some of the other plots. We picked the remaining beetroot, and made some plans for this year's planting.

In other news, the broad beans haven't sprouted and are clearly too old. Pah. Need to get some new seeds.

2008-02-24T15:51:00.005Z

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

2008-02-24T15:51:00.001Z

Allotment 24-02-8
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

Planted broad beans

2008-02-03T16:54:00.001Z

February 3rd: planted broad beans
Originally uploaded by Planet Mad

We used newspaper pots a bit last year and they did the job, from what I can remember, so we're using them again this year. This is the first succession of broad beans - three types - with more to come in a few weeks' time. We had a really successful broad bean harvest last year, so I've got my fingers crossed that it's good again this year.

The rain stopped today...

2007-05-29T21:05:00.000Z

...for the first time in AGES, or at least, that's how it felt. OK, so I had to wear my thermals to fight off the cold, but at least it was dry enough to do some decent digging. I spent the morning at Plot 9, earthing up the potatoes and digging out some more of the weeds. I've done most of the lower half of one side, and Rob promptly planted some carrots in it when he returned from work. That's just about half the plot under control now - Rob planted out some purple sprouting broccoli, globe artichokes, red cabbages and pea asparagus last week - so the whinging old boy will have less to whinge about now! (If only!)

This afternoon was spent at the Vicar's with Julia. We weeded various bits, caressed the legumes (all growing beautifully), planted a couple of courgettes, and then escaped to the local garden centre. Once we'd been mistaken for staff (it must have been the wellies and dirty hands that did it!) we pottered around the cafe, poked George the Giant Fish, and bought more seeds. After all, when there's no earth to be seen through the weeds, and there's a lot of preparation work to be done, the best thing to do is to sow more plants as a displacement activity. We're so organised!

Tempus fugit...

2007-05-22T20:24:00.000Z

These last few weeks have been very work busy and, more importantly, wet. Let's face it, digging is a bind at any time, and digging in the rain is one of the most unappealing pastimes I can imagine. Except perhaps wet-paint observing. Or poo tasting. Anyway, I digress...

Things are growing well at the vicar's garden: the potatoes look very happy; the broad beans are in flower; the second planting of peas are creeping up the netting; and there are lots and lots of blackcurrants on the bushes. The goosegogs are a disappointment, as once again they've been covered in mildew, in spite of our radical pruning. Rob's sprayed them with some stuff, but it doesn't seem to have made much difference so far. We'll keep trying. On Sunday, we planted out the spaghetti squash and the tomatoes, so the only major things left to plant are the sweetcorn and the squashes/courgettes. Julia's in charge of germination, so hopefully they're growing gently as we speak.

Plot 9, however, has been quite neglected in the post-rain fight to get the Vic's back on track. However, we spent a reasonable amount of time up there on Sunday and planted out globe artichokes and did some weeding. We also got accosted by one of the old boys who has the allotment opposite ours. The conversation went something like this:

Old Boy: There's something that's puzzling me
Me: Oh yes?
OB: Why have you put two trenches here, right in the middle of the allotment?
Me: That's for asparagus
OB: Well, yes, but you'll have to wait two years for that.
Me: We know that
OB: Why haven't you put it at the ends of the allotment? There's no sense putting it in the middle.
Me: Eurm, because we wanted to?
OB: But it doesn't make sense.
Me: All of this top bit is going to be permanent - fruit bushes and the like - so it doesn't matter that we won't get an asparagus harvest for a couple of years.
OB: Oh.

....and on, and on, and on. We apologise now for not posting a notice explaining exactly what we are planning to do, and justifying our reasons for putting the plants where we've chosen to put them. Had we realised quite the level of interrogation we'd have to endure, we'd have personally spoken to you, Mr Old Boy, before putting spade to earth. As it is, you'll just have to lump it.

Talking of spades, earth and lumps, the soil at the allotment seems beautiful - Rob's done most of the digging up there (planted so far: cabbages, purple sprouting, beetroots, turnips, asparagus pea) - but the spits I've turned over have been good crumbly stuff, with far fewer stones than the vicar's, so there's even chance for the carrots!

It's starting to look a little like a garden again!

2007-04-22T15:28:00.000Z

We've been at the vicar's this morning. Julia and Jerome got a pass-out today because they're off wearing out their legs in some run down in That There London. I know that the gardening/marathoning decision is a difficult one to make, but somehow I'm glad that I've got the bindweed end of the deal!

The intention was to plant another two feet of peas (in a succession-planting sort of way) and to do some general weeding around the place. We got the peas in no bother, although there were some rogue potatoes growing in the pea bed: we obviously failed to harvest them all last year! Rob did some hardcore weeding round the fruit bushes, which are looking really very happy, although some of the blackcurrant leaves have the same raised brown patch on them that I noticed last year. Let's hope it's not serious.

I had finished weeding the legume bed and was just contemplating going home for some lunch, when I (perhaps foolishly) turned over a bit of the soil where the tomatoes will be planted. BINDWEED ROOT PAYDIRT!! It seemed that I had uncovered a veritable mine of bindweedy badness, so hopefully that will help this year's toms to grow without being strangled!

By the time we came to leave, it was all looking far better: the broad beans we planted in the soil have grown quite a bit in the last week; the transplanted broad beans are looking good; some of the first planting of peas have sprouted; and - perhaps most excitingly of all - the potatoes are starting to sprout. Hurrah!

Sproutlings

2007-04-17T16:50:00.000Z

I popped into the vicar's to do some watering and there are little green leaves poking through the soil in the right places for broad beans and for peas. I'm going to send Rob off tonight to plant out the broad beans that are currently hardening off at Julia's (that'll keep him out of the pub for a bit!) so we have growing things at last.

The bindweed's growing nicely too, damn it.

Harrumph

2007-04-16T21:26:00.001Z

I'm not sure that Plot 9 is good for Rob. Twice now he's been "kidnapped" on the way home and dragged, kicking and screaming, into the pub on the way home. Pah.

Lovely weather for...

2007-04-14T21:31:00.000Z

...mostly bindweed, which seems to be all that's sprouting in the Vic's garden right now. There's no sign of peas or broad beans, and the potatoes are still hiding under the soil, and it's all quite depressing on the annual plant front. The fruit is looking far more promising: there are flowers (and micro fruit) on the gooseberry; the blackcurrants are starting to flower; and the raspberries are suddenly more than just a pair of leaves on a bare stalk.

This lack of foliage has made it quite easy to spot the nasty, pernicious bindweed as it starts to pop its head above the ground. We spent quite some time today de-bindweed-ing the currants and rasps, and we're trying to work out how to tackle the next wave that's lurking just below the soil's surface. At the moment, the most promising strategy is the "let it grow up a stick and then caress it with a glove covered in weedkiller" technique. All we needs are some pea sticks and some gentle caressing action, and I'm sure we can manage to find those.

Up at Plot 9, the soil is still damn hard - probably something to do with the lack of precipitation - but Rob won't let me hire a rotavator to break it up. Not even when the young couple from two plots down offered us use of theirs. In fact, not even when I did my best pleading face. Instead, he has bought a mattock. He's spent the Easter weekend doing digging and mattocking, and there are now two trenches full of asparagus, some turnips and some beetroot. We'll let you know if the former grows in, oh, three years' time; this is one long-term project!

Plot 9

2007-04-05T21:14:00.000Z

We officially took over at Plot 9 on Sunday. It's a big plot...

...and it's at the top of a hill overlooking the village.

The soil seems very sandy and hard, and is certainly in need of some TLC and vast amounts of compost. It was quite breezy while we were up there, and "overexposed" is perhaps a polite word for it. It does have a seating area at the top end though...

...from which point you can admire the right-hand side of the plot...

...which has already had a sprinkling of green manure seeds, which will be dug in around late summer and then re-sown with green manure to over-winter.

From the seat you can also admire the view of the left-hand side of the plot...

...which has raspberries and a bean/pea frame already in place. This bed is going to have more fruit bushes, the asparagus and the globe artichokes - all permanent stuff.

The only other thing that plot 9 has is lots of rabbits. Well, not just plot 9. There's clearly a massive bunny problem up there, and we have a chicken-wire fence all the way round the plot. Other allotment holders seem to have all sorts of ingenious anti-rabbit devices protecting their tender new crops, so I'll have to get my thinking cap on. Or bring in the services of Julia, Jerome, Rob and the guns. Pop pop bang bang!!

The garden

2007-04-05T21:06:00.000Z

The vicar's garden is looking remarkably bare, apart from the currant bushes, which seem to be happy after their major pruning. The damn peas haven't sprouted yet either. It's been a whole five days since they were planted and everything. Pah.

Getting our hands dirty

2007-03-31T16:51:00.000Z

Today was the day when it suddenly all fell into place: decent weather, spare time, ready-chitted potatoes. We've just spent the afternoon at the allotment (vicar's garden not allotment allotment) and we've planted the whole of bed 1 with potatoes (2 rows of International Kidney, 4 rows of Desiree and 4 rows of Cara). There's just space at the end to fit two squash/courgette type plants, so that's an added bonus!

We also planted the first of the peas (1 foot length of first earlies and 1 foot length of second earlies) and the first of the broad beans. Well, I say first, but in reality they're the second: Julia and Jerome have already planted some broad beans in jiffy pots, which are currently growing on a windowsill. Julia knows that they're growing even though there's no green showing yet because she's dug them up to check on their progress. We know that we're very late planting the broad beans, but hopefully they'll still grow fine - we'll just have to wait longer for them!

Tomorrow we officially take over our "proper" allotment - plot 9. We're quite excited about this, but we're already confused about what to call it: does "allotment" refer to the vicar's garden or to plot 9? Eeeek. The plan is to sketch it tomorrow morning, so that we can make plans over lunch, and then start planting. There are a few Cara seed potatoes that can fill a gap; Rob has his eye on some asparagus crowns; the globe artichokes are already growing on a windowsill. I suspect that quite a bit of it will end up under green manure, just to prevent weeds growing while we decide what to plant.

The empire grows...

2007-03-14T15:24:00.000Z

When Rob first moved to the village, we phoned the clerk of the parish council asking after allotments. We were added to the waiting list, but heard nothing for months and months and months and in the end we gave up. Since then, we've got cats, married, a new flat, chickens, and finally we got the call to say that there's an allotment with our name on it!

We take over in April (right in the middle of the school holidays, so we can do some intensive preparation as soon as we get it) and Rob's already got plans for permaculture - globe artichokes, fruit bushes, asparagus. Vegs away!

New Year, New Intentions

2007-02-14T14:18:00.000Z

Like this blog, much of the allotment has been dormant for the winter. We were harvesting the raspberries until nearly the end of October, and collected the final pumpkins and squashes in early November; however, not a lot has happened since then. Our lives moved on, our respective jobs took over for a bit, and we almost forgot that we had a garden.

Last month, Rob fought his way through the undergrowth to rediscover the wreck that was our carefully dug beds. Weeds had taken over bed one, the bed that all four of us had worked so hard to rescue last year, and the fruit cage was leaning at a precarious angle. By the time he'd persuaded me to get the wellies on again, it was early February. Rob dug over bed one and emptied one of the compost heaps onto it: all that composty-goodness is now working its way into the soil and (hopefully!) fighting off some of the weeds as we speak. I took down the collapsed fruit cage and set about the blackcurrants and gooseberry with avengance. Last year, we didn't really know what to do with the soft-fruit bushes, so left them alone. I suspect that all the problems we had with mildew were caused by our inaction. This year is going to be different!
I'm not sure I'm going to be allowed to use secateurs again, but it felt very theraputic!

Today I've sat in our flat's garden, watched the chickens pecking round the garlic, and planned the planting for this year. Now I'm still outside, writing this post, with Your Cat warming my lap and the chickens off somewhere, causing trouble no doubt. Tim for some resolutions, methinks. This year will be so much better than last - we won't have the dilemmas caused by too many cabbages, we will recognised sawfly BEFORE it strips the gooseberry of leaves, we will remember to pick everything we plant - and I'm going to be more organised about recording it.

Whoops!

2006-10-29T14:27:00.000Z

Oh dear it's been a long time since any of us have managed to write anything. Mea culpa. We've eaten our way through most of the gluts - runner beans, anyone?! - and made all sorts of chutney and jam. Julia's even attempted wine, I think. Now, though, the days are drawing in and it's time to uproot this season's old stuff and to get thinking about soil management and crop rotation. We spent a couple of hours at the allotment this morning digging up the old tomato plants, runner beans and courgettes. We came away with a surprise crop of raspberries (it seems they're autumn-fruiting after all!), a few round courgettes and a cabbage.

The cabbages have been one of our key successes this summer; so much so that we won a second prize at the village show with our mighty specimen. It was in the "Any Other Vegetable" class, so was beaten by a fine ear of sweetcorn, but was by far and away the best cabbage there. We were smug. Oh yes.

Ready to show

Chilling in the fridge!

Gluts A-Go-Go

2006-08-15T11:48:00.000Z

The other 3 are away at the moment and I am starting to wonder how many more beans I can stand.
I'll have to start investigating how to preserve them. We don't have a freezer, is it possible to dry /pickle / salt them as a way of keeping them? Maybe I should invest in a small cannery.
Bean chutney might be the way forward.

And then there's the courgettes....

The exciting news is the discovery of two little Butternut Squashes. Butternut Squash is my third favourite vegetable (after sweetcorn and broccoli, it's important know these things) so I'll be spending extra time talking to them, to give them as much advice and encouragement as I can offer.