Quick trip

This is what the site looked like today and today my plot appears to be on an even playing field with the others, the snow hides what lurks beneath. I can just about pretend that large amounts of it have been dug and prepared for planting because you can't see. They should judge best kept plot on days like today.

What was I doing there on a day like today? well I had some kitchen scraps for composting that were starting to get out of control in the kitchen. Plus the spud orders were in for collection unsurprisingly I was the only punter at the shop and across the site.

Wicked wind

We have had a bit of a topsy turvey weekend where our plans were put on hold. Which meant we had a little gap to visit the allotment and check what was happening. As we loaded the car I thought it unlikely the kids would last long, so did not really expect to get anything done.

At the site all was well, the storage box was secure and my recent ground cover was still in place. The plot was just screaming dig me, dig me now. Across the site the wind was strong and icy. It quickly chilled us all to our bones. My hands could no longer feel or do anything, not even take a picture with the camera. We left very rapidly.

I popped into the site shop to see if the potato orders were ready, there were loads of allotmenteers helping to sort the delivery into individual orders and they will be ready next week. I also wanted some other bits for the gardening club but was out of luck and did not want to interrupt the complex work.

On the way across the site I bumped into a new allotmenteer who is in the photography society I go to, so it will provide a good mix of things to discuss on the society evenings.

Good news is our 'jedi' garlic has some shoots, some cloves have been disturbed by animals. I popped to a garden center and got some modules and some mung beans to sprout. I thought the modules could be used to plant up some left over garlic cloves both at home, and in school. I thought sprouting seeds would be a good bad weather thing for the gardening club I hope the teacher agrees. She wasn't at her plot to ask.


I got home and planted some left over garlic cloves rather than wasting them (also cooked some fairy cakes as seen in the picture). Do you think I have a potting shed with an oven or a small multi functioning kitchen?

As I post the back garden has been dusted with what looks like white icing I doubt there will be gardening club on Tuesday if the forecast is correct

The weather man says..

....its raining.


I'd planned to do a little allotment work today in the forecasted gap in the rain, but the gap has not appeared at all. Owen's weather house (a Christmas pressie from gran) has been much more precise than the BBC. I love weather houses when I was a girl I had a 1970's style orange one that I looked at every day with out fail, its a shame that it didn't survive into my adulthood as it would look very cool and retro now. Owen seems quite pleased with his and I catch him checking it regularly - perhaps one day the lady will come out.

As it was raining we all took part in the RSPB garden birdwatch today and counted for a hour through the patio windows. Owen was much more engaged in taking part than I thought he would be, Huw also made squawking sounds when he saw a blackbird. I wasn't hopeful that we would see much as we haven't got feeders in the tree this year. We actually saw a lot more birds than I thought we would and I'm now sure that a wren is living in the ivy on the back fence. I'll be submitting our results later this evening.

I bought a red gooseberry bush yesterday on a whim and the afternoons are getting lighter so maybe I'll get a quick visit in in the week to plant it. that is if Owen is willing to go after school.

Plans and Forecasts

Looking ahead to the weekend I could not believe that the forecast for the weather meant that I would be able to go to the allotment on Sunday. Even better that on Saturday while at a collograph printing workshop I would not have any regrets about using precious time to learn to print as it would be raining outside. I should have known that things were not going as predicted, when out of the window were loads of rowing crews competing on the Cam in good winter conditions. Hmm.

When I was woken at 5:30 am today (baby decides its a early breakfast day) the BBC weather still gave me hope of tending to the patch today, but by 9:30 there was definitely cloud in our area of East Anglia on the latest forecast. Shortly after this forecast it rained. It only seemed to rain over us. When we drove just 10 miles down the road there was no rain, as we came back closer to home a little later in the day the cloud was still sitting over our little town. Grrrr!!

This is my (sadly ornamental) cherry tree, photographed today in the wet with its last few leaves clinging to the branches. It needs to be cut back and reshaped. Does anyone know the best time to do this? I sort of know what I want to do but any advice would be helpful.



Still despite my missing the best bits of the weekend weather it's not all bad - I may have a print that I can use with a bit of scanning and adjusting for making Christmas cards this year.

Our potatoes

Am I the only person who wishes that our weather forecasts weren't so scaremongering? Not to mention inaccurate? If I had listened I would not dare to poke my nose out of the front door. When I did, I found that it was dry. Yes, we had a couple of light showers but I managed to wash our campervan (a whole family event), then go into town for a spot of lunch and to buy new school shoes with the rest of the tardy mothers. There is nothing quite like being last minute tomorrow I better check that the trousers etc fit although if its warm I might get away with sending him in shorts on Wednesday. The new school year signals more change for us, my plan is to get very organised.

When I got back from town the severe weather warning storms that the bbc had expressed such concern about had yet to materialise. So I shot down to the allotment alone to dig up our pink fir potatoes. I dug up a whole row and have to say were pleasantly surprised with my haul. These potatoes went in exceedingly late, they had chitted for months, once planted they had been ignored I planted them deep and then intended to earth them up further but this got slightly forgotten. I must of planted them deep enough as only a couple are green. So all in all this is much better than I had hoped for.
Just as I had finished the digging up the row there was the most almighty crash of thunder, my feet separated from the ground as I jumped in fright. I hate thunderstorms so I legged it rapidly from the site, we have had a little heavy rain this evening but it didn't develop into a proper storm.

Every day the bbc forecasters warn of weather problems it seems to me they are scared that if they don't say its severe people might complain of not being warned but in fact all they are saying is that we will be having some typical British weather. What will we do if it really is severe and we are all become immune to their warnings.

April showers

Well I did manage to do what I set out to do today - I dug, I finished the section John started yesterday. It took a while as the heavens opened twice. I sheltered under a tree and watched hail stones bounce off next doors rhubarb leaves I also heard thunder rumbling in the distance. The baby slept in the pushchair unaware of the weather. It was amazing to watch the steam rise off the black landscaping fabric after each down pour. The earth smelled good as I dug it the rain seemed to release it's aroma.

Anyway when I got to the plot today our scarecrow was at a jaunty angle so my first job was to straighten him. Some animal had left muddy footprints on our landscaping fabric, my fears of the deadly dog return! It's sad to say that the 'surviving' peas/mange tout are well and truely dead probably from injuries sustained in the bike attack.

There is not a lot happening on our neighbours plots at the moment which is a little concerning. 16D put up a lovely shed several weeks ago now and there was talk of visiting for a cup of tea but I've not seen them since. 16B has started to clear a little strip of land but I've never seen them on any of my visits. It's funny because I thought that this time of year would be when I was most likely to see the other allotmenteers.

I did do some planting today. I found five forgotten allium bulbs which I bought in the autumn for the garden, but today I thought I'd put them in the allotment as I'm not expecting much from them now. My garden is not really sorted I'm in the process of planning what to do in it as it doesn't really work as it is and it hasn't been touched for years. (To be honest my neighbours would be shocked to know I have an allotment and interest in gardening). If anything grows from these bulbs it will be a pretty bonus.

Additional news is I have read the rules for the marrowthon, which says that the marrows must be germinated and grown on your plot. How will they know if they are sown on the plot? The variety is 'long green bush' (I''ve added a web page link on marrows to the blog which I found as part of my research yummy recipes too.) The upshot of it all is that I think we need to make a little 'marrow house' on the allotment for them to germinate in. Time to scavenge some glass etc

Hail

We got to the plot early enough to go to the allotment shop. We now have the seeds for the marrowthon, Owen was too scared to ask the 'blokes' what the prize was so mum had to. Pleasingly the prize has a trophy attached to it, which I know once we start the growing will be dreamt about by Owen in much the same way as he dreams of football trophies. So let the competition begin! I'll read the rules tonight.

The main area of our plot we planned to use this year is becoming rock hard and solid with weeds its very difficult to dig now. We bought some heavy duty ground cover for part of this our original planned digging area and put it down today. So instead we have now raised some of the fabric and mulch we put down in the autumn and John dug this today until the hail started. The mulching seems to have worked reasonably well and we found some potatoes (planted by the previous plot holder) still in the ground. The soil in this bit seems good. I plan to go back tomorrow and finish the section.

When the heavens opened with hailstones it should be noted that those who do not digg enough are pelted by ice as a punishment. Let that be a warning to the lazy one with the yellow spade. The little prince that sleeps in the red pushchair while all around work was woken by the stinging stones and his indignant bawling really meant it was time to go.

No wind damage

Went to the allotment yesterday as the weather looked like it was going to be OK and it was. Who knows what the weekend will bring weather wise, so best to get on with it. I was concerned that we might have had some wind related changes to the plot after the last few stormy days but the mulching and ground covering had remained pretty much in place. I just had to hunt the top of our composting bin luckily it had only travelled a short distance.

Digging and weeding was the focus of the day but it is so, so slow going but we are making some progress. I've been digging up some things that look like carrots or parsnips but are exceedingly woody and have shot up over night what are they? See the photo for an example. Will I get rid of them by just digging them out?

On the ground that Owen had so dutifully raked are some strange impressions in the soil. Its a bit of a mystery. Have the rabbits been digging, or the toddler from the next plot wandered over it. Or do badgers have very big boots. I am filled with fear that they are the foot prints of the scary dog that barks at us all the time from the garden that backs onto our patch. If this dog can hop the fence what am I going to do as it is capable of eating both me and the baby. So does anyone have any tips for taming dogs that neighbour their plots? Or will I need to learn how to subdue it with garden implements if it clears the fence when we are there?