Cold and frosty morning.

I had completely forgotten to order my potatoes in October. It wasn't until last week that I remembered when I went to pay my rent, but because I didn't have the cash to pay for them there and then, I waited until this weekend. While I was there, I asked about the problem I've had with pretty much every crop of potato I have had since I started at the allotment all those years ago. As you can see from the photo, they have holes. They weren't all full of holes, but quite a lot from each crop had holes. I've been told that it's eel worm. The plot used to be mostly grass and uncultivated. All I can really do is keep turning the soil over and keep it cultivated to get rid of it, without using chemicals. I've chosen the the same potatoes as last year, Rocket for my early and Maris Piper for my main crop. Some time soon I'll have a descent crop.

While we were there, my daughter and I, popped to the plot to see what's happening and to dig up some veg to eat today. I passed her my phone to take some photos. I must say they are very good and she only had the phone for about five minutes.

On days like today, my plot doesn't look any worse than any other. Till next time and thanks for reading.

The Root of the problem.

Well, so much for 'No dig beds'. I've made a start on roughly digging this area that will become my six raised beds. I say roughly because all I'm really trying to do is remove bramble roots and the other woody roots that I've uncovered. I haven't identified the other weed, but to be honest, I don't give a monkey's what it is, I just want to get rid of it. I'm led to believe that any other weeds that are left will all die off, hence the rough digging. So far, from this small area dug over, I've got quite a pile of roots ready for the bonfire. I had to leave the plot early due to the first snow fall of the winter. It never really settled, but it was bloody.

This weekend I've paid my rent for the plot for another year. It's cost £21.50 this year. That's up on last year by only 25p. I mentioned it on twitter and got quite a response. As it goes, for 300 square yard's, I pay very little for what I have. Now, I don't want to get on my high horse and I haven't done any research, but for similar sized plots, I've found out, you can pay from as little as £10 to the dizzy heights of £200. The most expensive plots I've heard of aren't even in the London area. It does seem a shame that our basic need to grow fresh produce at a time when we're told the government, doctors and the media in general that we all need to eat healthier, seem to be out of many people's reach and affordability. I hope that something can be done to make allotments more accessible to everyone and that it doesn't become a hobby for the rich. Let's see what the New Year brings. Have a Happy New Year everyone, till next time and thanks for reading.

Digging for Christmas.

This weekend was the last chance I had to dig up some root veg for Christmas dinner as I will be working constantly till late on Christmas Eve. I've dug up what's left of the swede and some more of my bloody great big parsnips, which I'm still astounded by. As regards the size, they really should be the other way around, but they both taste equally as good. 

It does feel like I'm harping on about my parsnips this year, but I don't often get to boast, besides come next year, everything will be back to normal and I'll be back to a harvest of just seven pathetic parsnips. So my point really is, how many different ways I can cook them so it don't get board. So far I've had leek and parsnip soup, really nice, roasted parsnip, goes without saying, parsnip crisps, both fried and in the oven. They cook really quickly when you slice them thinly you know. I did burn a few batches, luckily the fire alarm didn't go off. If anyone has a tried and tested method of making parsnip crisps, please let me know via this blog, twitter or Instagram and any other ways of cooking this lovely root veg, but not pie, I like the filling in pies, it's just the pastry that gets in the way. 

Little progress has been made on my 'No Dig Beds'. I have managed to acquire quite a bit of corrugated cardboard sheets from where I work. It was going to be thrown away, so I've taken full advantage of the big recycle bin. As for the actual No Dig side of things, I fear some more digging will be involved. While I was removing some bramble roots, I discovered some other roots, very thick and very much alive. No amount of cardboard would stop that from coming through. I won't go crazy on the digging, just enough to get rid of the big roots.

Now, I have a confession to make. Due to my change in circumstances, it's not so viable to walk to the allotment any more, I have to drive there now. There, I've said it, it feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. But fear not Eco warriors, I make the most of every journey, this last week, for example, I brought all that cardboard in the car. I would never have been able to do that without the car. These fexable white plastic strips you see pictured below were transported at the same time. It's hard to explain exactly what they are used for, but my boss knows that I like to make use of anything if I can and said to me 'Make use of that if you can'. It took me less than ten seconds to realise that it would be perfect to arch over my strawberries to support the netting. Another thing put to good use rather than being thrown in the recycle bin. 

No strawberries here yet, but you get
the idea

Now I had this great idea to show off my plot by having my daughter on my shoulders to take a photo from the highest angle possible. Trouble is, she doesn't like heights, even if it's only five feet off the ground. So that explains the view of my plot at a jaunty angle. Not looking to shabby for the time of year.

An arty shot of the plot

Well I don't think I will be writing another blogpost before Thursday. So with that, have a Merry Christmas, till next time and thanks for reading.

Sorry for the glum look,
Sunday morning and the sun's in my
face

No dig please, I'm lazy.

I've heard a bit about the 'No Dig' method of gardening and as with most things I do, whether gardening or otherwise, I find out the basics and fumble my way through, wondering afterwards why it didn't work and think what a stupid idea it was in the first place, or on the rare occasion, be bloody amazed that it did work. This I think will be no exception. I did take a look at Charles Dowding's website, he's quite an authority on the subject, but with so much information and so little time, I quickly found what I needed and set of to the allotment. Basically, you can turn a lawned area turn into a veg plot without any digging. All you do is mark out your bed, put cardboard down in that area and wet it, put some leaf mould and/or manure at least 2 inches thick on top of the cardboard and then compost and topsoil on top of that. As far as I can see, that is the bare bones of it, but click on the link to get the full picture. In fact I strongly recommend you do, I'm sure that in my haste, I may have missed some details.

So pictured above is how the area looked as I arrived at the plot. I thought it would be an easy task, clear everything to ground level and put the cardboard down. If only, so much for being lazy. The dreaded brambles had taken root, 'No Dig' was out the window before I had even started. So of I trot to get my fork. Where I was digging out the brambles is also where the raspberries are growing from when I first acquired my plot. To be honest, until they fruit, I can't tell a raspberry from a blackberry. I think it may be a case of starting from scratch with the raspberries and dig it all up. After being whipped in the face a few times by the brambles and a hawthorn piercing through TWO layers of leather gloves, it was a bit chilly today, this is how it was left this afternoon.

I know its hard to tell from these photos exactly what I've done, but I can tell you that I've cleared the width of the plot by five foot deep. I have been working away at the plot these last few weeks, but I've been doing the same task for a while now and it wasn't really blog worthy. Till next time and thanks for reading.

Garden Connect review.

Today was one of those days that I was really in the mood for spending time on the plot and I feel it was a productive day. But to tell you that I moved a few slabs about, dug up some weeds and tidy up sooner than I wanted to because the rain got heavier won't make for very good reading. There is only so many times I can add that sort of stuff to my blog before I'm tiered of it. You now know what I've been up to today, so I'll take this opportunity to review my first year taking part in Garden Connect. For those of you who are not quite familiar with it, here's a brief description. It's the idea of Matt Hiemstra, a young Canadian studying horticulture. In a bed that is 6'x2' and divided into 12 equal squares, myself and many other gardener's across the globe grow the same plants and vegetables in the same order as everyone else. Posting comments on various social media, good or bad, for others to compare and learn from each other. For a more in depth description, you could click on the GC link. This was the planting scheme for the very first year of Garden Connect.

First we have kale. I've never grown it before and as far as this single plant goes, it seemed fairly easy. The seed was sown straight into the soil and seemed to be quite happy in its little corner. I got to eat this little beauty in a soup and I'm pleased to say that I plan to grow more next year.

As you can clearly see, what is growing is not a lemon cucumber, just regular cucumber. These seeds came all the way over from Singapore and although they germinated really well, the British slugs seemed to like them far too much. So much so that from over 40 seeds, only two plants survived the little bugger's. Just as well really, because I was planning on growing as many as possible and then passing them on to fellow gardeners for those that wanted lemon cucumber.

This is supposed to be bush beans, or as we know them in the UK, French beans. But could I get them to grow? It didn't matter whether I tried them in the greenhouse, or directly to the soil, nothing happened. So this is my effort.

All my life while growing up, I was told 'Don't eat flowers, you'll die!' A bit dramatic I know, but it turns out you can eat some flowers. Nasturtiums are edible and after a few weeks of wondering 'Should I, shouldn't I' I finally took the plunge. I wish I'd stuck to the original advice and not bothered, it was awful. What's more, it grows like a weed and self seeds. I think I'm going to be busy trying to get rid of it.

My apologies, this is the best shot I have of the tomatoes. What's worse is that I couldn't get the plum tomatoes to germinate, so I got some yellow tomatoes, golden sun. Considering they were outside and unprotected, I managed to get nearly a pound in weight of tomatoes from one plant.

This is as good as the sweet pepper's ever got. I really didn't expect any more that. It just doesn't get warm enough. A greenhouse is definitely needed.

Parsnips have been my best success this year by far. I had more parsnips in this square foot than I did in all of last year. Four of them were so unbelievably big that I put my fork through them. The seeds where started off in a clear sandwich box, on a wet sheet of kitchen paper. Once they started to sprout, they were sown. This is something I will try again.

Spinach is another vegetable I have not grow until this year. Not knowing what to expect, I let them go to seed before I realized. Oops!

I've never done too well with lettuce in the past due to slugs. Not much has really change, but I got a few to eat.

You see, this is what happens when you don't thin out your carrots. It's something I need to learn to do. I'm just glad to have grown carrots.

I like to think that I've not really had problems with onion sets sown in the spring. I put them in, they got big, I dug them up.

I've never been a fan of beetroot, but this year I've sliced them thinly and fried them. Thank you Garden Connect.

So that was my first year taking part. I'm looking forward to next year to see what I mess up and what I do well with. Till next time and thanks for reading.

Road works.

It has been a couple of weeks since if made an appearance on the plot, but honestly do have a very good excuse, you see I spent last weekend in Suffolk with a few gardening friends I've been wanting to meet for a while now, Phill (AKA @suffikboi), also Sally and Michelle from the 'Big Allotment Challenge'. Three of the nicest, down to earth potty mouthed people you could want to meet. Although it was gardening that brought us together, it was a subject that sometimes came into conversation it's fair to say. We were like a bunch of kids on a school trip that had broken away from the main group. My cheeks have just about recovered from all the laughing.

So with apologies out of the way, this is what I've been up to this week. With the path that was laid two weeks ago, the rest looked a bit shabby. It was only ever a quick fix after getting rid of the grass paths, but a sort out that needed doing. The picture above shows you what it looked like and it doesn't seem so bad, but when you get up close, it's a health and safety nightmare. If anyone goes onto my plot and along the path, they would surely trip over and I would be sued. It was a good job I had my steel toe capped boots on, it was a most useful tool to rest the slab on my toes to then remove or add more soil to make it all level. This is how far I've got with it. I'm nearly at the end of the plot, but that's not even half the job done. 

I didn't just mess about with the slabs today, although by the time I got home I wish I hadn't started, I also dug up a parsnip for our tea. An ugly bugger I will admit, but also a bloody heavy one too. I recently bought some scales and this was my first opportunity to try them out. Can you believe it's just under a kilo in weight, or just over 2lbs in imperial measurements. Till next time and thanks for reading.

Tidy up.

How warm was it today! The last day of October and it felt like spring with temperatures up to 19 Celsius. Going to the allotment today was a must. Although I had left the path repair unfinished, the beds needed attention and the path would just have to wait.

This is how I found the brassica tent and what was left inside looked worse. Let's just say I had ready shredded cabbage. The slugs have had themselves a banquette. The last of the potatoes needed digging up and after only a week the nasturtium is continuing to rear it's ugly head. So digging the beds was what I spent most of my visit doing.

I have been told that the more you work the soil, the more bugs are exposed for the birds to eat. So I'll be turning the soil regularly this winter and feeding the birds, tuppence a bug. I can also keep on top of the weeds as well.

This is how I finished for the day. All the beds on this side are now clear. I still have a few leeks and swede left and I still have a whole load of parsnips.

The best thing about Autumn that many people seem to comment on is the amazing colours. This is my grapevine, the photo doesn't do it real justice, but it's best shot I've got. Till next time and thanks for reading.