Goodbye Plot 11

We had our committee meeting today. Less said about it the better. The only two things I will share from it is that D has decided to join the committee (rather him than me); and we have officially given up our first allotment plot. So here are few words from me for Plot 11.

Goodbye to the nettles...
that introduced me to nettle stings - ouch
But also nettle gnocchi, nettle risotto and nettle mash,
goodbye to the bindweed that tried to strangle my raspberry canes,
goodbye to the raspberries that fed me like a princess,
goodbye to the endless grass-cutting, weeding and burning
goodbye to the boggy ground when it rained even a little bit,
goodbye to my hand-made pond that only saw one frog come and go,
goodbye to the yellow submarine shed,
goodbye to the pretty bird houses, that saw a blue tit or two
goodbye to the neds shouting abuse and throwing stones over now and again,
goodbye to the midgies that tried to sabotage my toiling and digging,
goodbye to my cranky gate, that let me in and let me out,
goodbye to our labour of love.
Goodbye to my first ever allotment plot, it was lovely while it lasted.
Goodbye Plot 11.

Meow....kittens under the shed

Today D and me spent five hours at plot 11. I am rapidly losing love for plot 11. It is getting so tiresome, the grass is already up to my knees and all the beds need weeding. Staying on top of two plots sometimes takes up most of our weekends. I am seriously thinking of giving it up. We have paid up until October, so will have to give it some real consideration then.

Today we weeded two of the beds. In one of the beds I planted the tangled scarlet runner beans. Whilst doing this we started hearing meowing. That silly cat, no not Beryl the allotment cat, a different cat started meowing. Previous to today, this black cat had meowed and we thought it was trapped in the yellow submarine shed. So I opened the door, hoping the cat would walk out. It was not in the shed at all, just beside it. So again, today it was meowing, I ignored it as I could see it was sunbathing in the sun. Then from the corner of my eye, whilst weeding I saw a little kitten head poke out from the bottom of the shed, I yelled out loud to let D know what I had just seen. He hurried over just as excited as me. Upon investigation further, we realised why this cat was meowing a lot more than usual and why she had become so territorial around the plot, she had three kittens under the shed.

I was tempted to take one of the kittens home, but hesitated. Is it right to take a kitten from its mother in these circumstances?

Brassicas and me

Yesterday, I spent two hours at Plot 11 while D tended to the tomatoes. I planted some more cabbages: hispi; greyhound and red marner and natalino cauliflowers. All the ones I had planted early last month, had either been munched by the slugs or the pigeons, hence needed replacing.

I have not been very successful at growing Brassicas, namely cabbages and cauliflowers. I feel like I am the only one having this problem as other fellow plot holders, have them growing well, albeit amongst the weeds and uncovered. Perhaps, I have trouble because I go for the lesser known varieties and they stick to tried, tested old fashioned brassicas. Perhaps…..Anyway, after looking at some of my fellow plots, I decided not to cover them with netting, just sprinkled some organic slug deterrent.
This coming weekend, D will have to build me a climbing frame at plot 11, for the runner beans that are literally dying to get out of their pots.

We also harvested some more potatoes, Toscana di nero, three rainbow carrots, 500g of raspberries, some strawberries and a handful of pea pods, that were consumed straight from the pod at the plot.

First Harvest of 2009

Here is my first official harvest of the 2009.
From left: sage and mint leaves; lollo rosso salad leaves; strawberries and raspberries; one sad looking purple top Milan turnip; maris bard new potatoes; broad beans, and at the back: a bag full of turnip leaves.

D tending to his tomatoes in the greenhouse. While I sowed some more seeds. We spent about 4 hours at the plot, even though the plan was to spend an hour or so.

These are my alliums, I think I said early in the week that I had snipped off their heads as they were beginning to bolt.

However, I am allowing these leeks from last year, to go to seed for the wildlife. Plus they're quite pretty to the eye.

It’s not easy being green

A different kind of green that is, Plot 11 is more au naturale and mish mash, unlike the uniform beds and inviting paving slabs at Plot 45, and this is what happens to us when we go away on holiday or when family come up, the grass just grows and grows and grows and it’s too tough to cut even with a grass cutter. Err where’s the pond?
So after saying bye to the in-laws, working the early shift and watering the plants at Plot 45, D and I got to work on Plot 11 this afternoon.

I was pretty much crawling on my knees most of the afternoon, with the shears cutting the tough stem greens. To make this a pleasant experience, now and again I would share a joke or two with Fitzy our charming allotment neighbour at Plot 10, who is slowly moving over to a new plot. We also spoke about how hard it was to maintain two plots, especially the plots on this side as they were usually waterlogged. Fitzy will definitely be giving up his plot in September though, unlike us with Plot 11. D is too attached to it that he resents the idea of giving it up at present, but I am sure the time will come, when we will only be able to manage one, but until then the work of two plots it is. The grass cutting was a long, arduous and tedious job, but it had to be done in order to bring the plot back up to scratch. I also don’t want to give the so called committee any excuse to moan at me either, as they are hell bent on evicting ‘people who don’t share their thinking’, at present they are targeting a Goth couple, they say its to do with low maintenance of their plot, but truthfully and everyone here knows it, the secretary has had a clash with one of the occupants.

Anyway, back to my workload, whilst shearing the tall strands of grass, I came across a couple of drowsy bees, falling over like little drunkards, some had even buried themselves into the ground, buzzing very loudly to warn me not to come any closer.

In between D mowing and me shearing, we also got some weeding done in some of the beds including the broad bean bed above.

You need to stay on top of cutting the grass, otherwise you double the workload and the frustrations that come with it - but its all worth it in the end!

I am whacked, that’s us for the day, the rest will have to be done this weekend.

Flowering fruit and flowering vegetables

We took Ds parents over to the allotment for a little while. Most of the loopy lupins have bloomed. Some of the tomatoes in the greenhouse are beginning to flower, so are the peas and even some of the potatoes. The fennel is standing upright and seems happy with its recent transplanting and the climbing beans are starting to climb up the frame.

I have never seen so many bees on one lavender plant before, and I was even more delighted it was my two tone lavender plant. It is all looking good at Plot 45. Unlike Plot 11, Oh my goodness, you would not think it had the grass cut recently. It is so overgrown and looks really, really unkempt. I am embarrassed of it. So embarrassed that I could not bare to take a photo of it. It looks like we don’t care about this plot, and we do. The grass cutting will have to wait until next weekend, as we have commitments with family this week, but it is going to need more than the grass cut, it needs a serious makeover. I know whose going to be on her knees next week.

But it’s not all bad, the broad beans at plot 11 are flowering well, there was sign of some baby pods
and the raspberries, well look at them

But the Brassicas: mainly cabbages have been ravaged once again by the slugs. My fault really, normally I cover them with recycled bottle cloches, until they are strong, but D has nicked all my bottles for building the wigwam canes, that the poor little Brassica plants have been left exposed and had to fend for themselves, only to be defeated by the mighty fat slug. There is hardly any sign of the plant except for its veins. They will have to be dug up too. Fortunately, I do have some more Brassica plants that take their place, but I am going to wait until they have grown up a little more, as I do not want them to share the same fate as their older siblings.

One thing good about plot 11 today, it showcased one of the best roses I have seen in a while. You can’t complain about that now, can you?

The bog that is plot 11

When it looked like the rain was easing off, D went over to his plot to tie the broad beans to canes, as they grow they get quite big and heavy, therefore need support, plus this stops them from rocking in the breeze and getting damaged. I decided to join D about 30 minutes later, passing these beautiful bluebells on the way.
When I entered Ds plot, I felt like a sinking ship. I am not kidding you, I am about 5 foot 2 and I was sinking into the boggy ground. Look at my foot below.

D had to hold both my hands to pull my feet out of this muddy bog, sucking me in like quick sand. I am surprised I came out in one go. It could have easily been one of those scenes your little feet come out, but your socks and wellies are still stuck in the mud.

It's times like this when I think, why are we still working on Plot 11. It's too boggy, will anything grow here.

Even the rhubarb is looking sorry for itself.

I am also concerned about some of the potatoes, they will probably rot with all the standing water. We will just have to wait and see.

Shelter from the rain

The sunshine was fooling around with us today. When we left home the sun was out, by the time we got out of the car and walked onto the allotment site, it started pouring down. Typical. Look at the guttering and you can see the rain pouring in. Good job we recycle the rainwater which slowly, or in this case very quickly makes its way to the water butts behind the hut. An ingenious system developed wee Alex, my plots previous owner.

D decided to hide, I mean shelter in the tomato greenhouse, where he began the process of pricking the tomato side shoots, whereas I spent most of the time inside the other greenhouse. So let me give you a little up-date on what's happening indoors.

Rainbow swiss chard coming along very nicely. These did really well last year, plus they made the plot look rather vibrant.

A whole list of other seedlings including green beans, cabbages and lettuces are stacked on this rack. Some of the trays need up-potting, a job for tomorrow I think.

This broad bean plant is beginning to flower, it needs to find it's way to Ds plot tomorrow.

Hestia is a dwarf runner bean. It shows of some lovely red flowers that later develop into the edible runner bean. It's a good productive plant for pots, a good one for the balcony, veranda or porch.

Silverline white sprouting broccoli.

When the rain stopped, which it did now and again, I managed to transplant both the white and purple sprouting broccoli into its allocated brassica bed, which D then covered over with netting.

The strawberry bed is starting to perk up even more. I wish I knew what variety these were. I transplanted these last year from D's plot, as they were getting overcrowded by the raspberries.

A good tip I picked from Celia Brooks Brown blog was to move leeks that you are not ready to use, which I have done. I will cook with these when I get back from Paris. At the back of this plot are my potatoes which are starting to emerge through the soil.

D also took of the netting that was covering the alliums (red and white onions) to stop the magpies from pulling the allium seeds out. I think they should be safe from the magpies now.

Carrot seedling coming up too, all in a nice neat line.

I also took a peek under the netting of the other brassica bed where I had planted some cabbages, turnips and cauliflower - they seem to be okay too, not swished or dislodged by the downpour.

Even though it rained on and off, I managed to spend about 4 hours at the allotment today. Most of it undoubtedly in the greenhouse, hence the number of pictures in this entry.

Haircut No. 11

One of those days when I think, 'why am I not out at the shopping malls like some other girls shopping with their friends, looking at pretty floral dresses for their holidays, looking at bags and shoes'. No, today here I was ready to put in another day of hard labour, this time on Ds plot. I like it really!
All that grass needs cutting, all that comfrey, that nettle, and weeds

Err where do I start? No not my hair, it's the grass that needs cutting!

We have a manual grass cutter. No electricity or petrol required, but physical labour. It's not the best, but it has served us well for four years. It was originally bought for the home garden, but has moved onto bigger pastures - Plot 11. While D got on with the manual grass cutting, I got on with the shearing. Down on my knees, cutting where the grass cutter could not: around the beds, around the pond and around the borders. One of my other jobs was also to collect the comfrey leaves as D wanted to make some liquid feed. Comfrey is really a weed, but for vegetable growers like myself it has many benefits. It provides veg growers with free liquid feed for plants, as it contains high levels of basic NPK nutrients. It is also a great compost activator.

Ds plot is covered with comfrey. I managed to collect loads, i couldn't tell you how much exactly, but it was a lot, but once compressed down into two small tubs by some bricks and my feet, it didn't look like much.

D then topped the crushed comfrey with some water and put a lid on it. Now it will ferment for a month or so, before it can be used on plants as food.

What a difference a haircut can make? Whilst clearing parts of Ds plot, especially a corner masked by nettle. As I chopped and pulled away the overgrown nettle, wearing thick gloves of course, I came across a good pile of natural compost - compost not made by D and me, but by nature. This was a corner, where D and me were throwing branches, twigs, dead wood, weeds and the such. It was never designed to create compost, just a dumping corner. But once again, nature has rewarded us well. This time with compost, that would have probably cost us about £10.00. We had to use a soil sifter, also known as a 'riddle' to remove some small stones and glass shards. Otherwise it was really good stuff. I shovelled it into two wheelbarrows, both without wheels that I have transformed into planters.

As we both left Plot 45, we smiled - we did good.

Unexpected gifts from nature

Just spent a couple of hours on Ds plot today. The weather is not too inviting today. Typical as its the official start of my holidays. The sky was clouding over as if it were to burst with rain any minute, plus I got the sniffles and I don't want it to get worse especially for my travels and visit down South. The lupins are looking quite pretty with the water droplets on them though, like little diamonds.
D had to put in the last of the maincrop potatoes in the ground, so while he was doing that I cleared up one of his beds that was overgrown with weeds. And guess what I found, some purple sprouting broccoli - Yipee. I am so delighted with this unexpected gift from nature, as I thought all my PSB had been nabbed by those pigeons. This will be part of a light lunch later.

All the potatoes are in now.

We have asked Fitzy to water the plants in the greenhouse while we are away visiting family and friends down London way. But I will still be worrying about the plants like a mother leaving her children behind, or a pet behind. Who would have thought that growing fruit and veg would have such an effect on you. Plants are a bit like children I guess, you water them, feed them, nurture them, tend to them...

Please note my dear in-laws don't have Internet yet, so I will not be able to blog for the next few days, so please be patient with me. I will however be back with some photos and reviews of my visit to the Incredible Veggie Show and maybe some images from Covent Garden. Who knows?

Walking Greenhouse

We finally moved the greenhouse from Plot 11 to Plot 45. Although it was light (not made of glass), we did need a couple of extra pair of hands. Thank you. The lifting was not the hard part, it was the manoeuvring through the tight pathways and dodging the low tree branches above. Once we got past that the rest was easy peasy. The greenhouse slotted perfectly into the space we had been clearing up the past few weeks. There were two reasons for moving the greenhouse. The first is, D may finally decide to give up Plot 11 in September (no signs of that yet) and as this greenhouse cost me a couple of hundred pounds, I wanted to keep hold of it. The second reason is, when we are both rushing home after work, watering and tending to growing plants in two plot greenhouses in two different directions can be tiring, so we decided to have them on the same plot. This in the long term will save us both time, especially on rainy days - when all you want to do is get home, eat and rest.
Look at the empty space on Plot 11 now where the greenhouse once stood. As there are paved slabs there, D said he wants to keep it as a seating area. We have decided on Plot 11, we will be growing veg and fruit that will need low maintenance.

After putting the greenhouse in it's new home. We got back over to Plot 11 and continued with our weeding and digging. You may have noticed that Ds plot is greener than mine. D likes to have a bit of grass for the wildlife and bugs - but this means cutting grass, and it is already needing it. We have a manual grass cutter, I can see that coming over in a couple of weeks time, not this weekend as I we are off down to London to see my in-laws and go the Incredible Veggie Show.

I had already weeded this plot, but D was forking it over ready for the broad beans to be transplanted - maybe tomorrow - if I have any energy.

We also placed this bit of heavy wood donated a few years ago to the allotment from one of the shipping yards. We decided to use if as a border. I rather like it, it's au naturale and rather pleasing to the eye.

Sometimes, I am bad for nabbing things. I dragged this old dirty bath over when I saw a new allotment holder dumping it in a corner. D thinks I should be realistic with what I want to do with it, otherwise I may end up becoming a hoarder of junk. He is right. I have to think about it NOW, I have till tomorrow to think about it as it will be my chance to return it back to where I dragged it from, after that it becomes my responsibility.

This is D's scrawny gooseberry plant. Mine is not looking any better, (maybe I will show you tomorrow why), but his rhubarb is looking starting to look good. The rhubarb crowns on my plot do not seem to have burst from the ground.

There are many benefits about having two plots including more choice of vegetables to grow: all those varieties. The drawback, more work, more weeds and more digging. 'It will all be worth it in the end' she says through gritted teeth. Follow us and see how we cope.

The plot on the other side

As you may remember, I have been helping D with ‘our’ original Plot 11, now it is primarily his. I thought I would show you some lovely pictures and a digital film of Plot 11 before I decided to transfer to Plot 45.

The photographs below were taken in 2007 after all the hard work and time we had invested in it. Other than the quirky greenhouse, that I painted yellow, and some make shift raised beds, there was nothing there. We had completely transformed it to a little oasis, then we discovered that the left side of the plot was really boggy and problematic. Everything above the ground grew relatively well, but everything below it just rotted, including the potatoes. D has been thinking about planting some fruit trees there, whereas I have been trying to persuade him to give it up and concentrate on Plot 45.

At the committee meeting that was held this Sunday for the first time since October. The Committee members mentioned they were going to let the empty and overgrown plots next to Plot 11 out. D was glad to hear this as this would address some of the dumping and weeds, but he was not optimistic about the land there.
This is a photo of Plot 11s wildlife pond.

Look closer you can see a frog. Not a real one unfortunately. We only sighted a real frog once and D was so excited by it, that I swear he’s frightened it to come back again, as we have not seen one since. But the birds love it and the diving beetles.

Next to Plot 11, there is our friendly neighbour Fitzy. Fitzy has a lovely plot with a gorgeous plum tree. But recently he transferred to another plot. He has been allocated a plot in the middle of the site that requires a lot of work. Fitzy’s reason for transferring is a little similar to mine, he’s not happy with the land there – no worms for a start, but he is also unhappy with the 'neds' shouting abuse and sometimes throwing glass bottles over. I also think he secretly misses Ds company, as D spends more time at Plot 45 than Plot 11 and he is often there on his own. Fitzy has paid up until September so is moving things to the new plot slowly and at his pace.

Below is a short film of Plot 11 from Spring 2008 taken with my digital camera. Enjoy!

The greenhouse presently is a little battered and mangled by the strong winds, but salvageable. It is going to be moved to my Plot 45 at some point.