Mama H cradling a very wonky striato Di Napoli courgette and a bush baby marrow. Only my mother would cradle it like a newborn. Have romped on over the last few days.
Bit of weigh in. 3lbs and 7 ounces. A very Bonny, bouncing, Bostin’ baby.
Ma plans to curry it, I’ll have you know.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Here we have the first batch of summer squashes. We have Striato Di Napoli-those would be the stripy ones, astia would be the uniform green ones, and summer ball which is the yellow one that looks a lot like a tennis ball. Is in fact the same size as one, so was harvested.
Striato Di Napoli is the product of seeds from Real Seeds, and I am honestly quite impressed by them. In a week, we have what four or five of them. Yes, I know that the the Astia look a bit tiny. I think with the last week or so, it has decided that it wants to produce babies. Only it was caught a bit off guard by the weather, and has only produce what would be termed baby courgettes. They’ve all been taken off, so that the one or two that remain on the plant might get bigger. I have know Astia to produce courgettes that are like truncheons.
Having never had yellow courgettes, we have one of two. This is summer ball, one ball is producing little babies as we speak. Beautiful round tennis ball thing, that was almost jumping off the plant. Mama H been huffing and puffing, that she’s not going to curry it. Of course she will, will not be left by its lonesome.
Now, I spoke previously about truncheons. Well, not one of these things, summer ball aside, is straight. Their beauty lies in their wonky-ness.
Today, was Mama H’s day of birth, so that mean bhajis. She’s just had some, made from the caulis, spinach and spuds from the plot. Were most definitely enjoyed. We have waiting on the plot, a bush baby marrow. It’s currently look at us, but mother is trying to work out when to cook it.
Yours in Anticipation
Horticultural Hobbit
Gardening, and allotmenteering, lays itself open to be very expensive. At least in the outset, and making preparations. Flicking through seed catalogues, surfing the companies online can also mean for pennies and pounds being spent.
Seed saving, as well as swapping, goes some way towards alleviating that cost. I have benefited from a number of swapped seeds, in addition I have passed on seeds for others to try. This particularly true, of people who wish to sow heritage seeds. Many seed varieties of yore, have been forgotten, save for the efforts of studious seed savers who have diligently saved seeds to keep them in circulation. There are off course many techniques, some simple others less so, that allow this to happen. With chillies, for example, one needs asbestos gloves given how potent some chillies can be. With tomatoes, one needs a penchant for slime in fishing them out of a jam jar. Beans, can be left to dry, and plucked from a crispy pod. It is that is simple. You will also get those plants and vegetables that are wont to sow their wild oats and cross widely. So that is seed saving, encouraged and plausible.
In tending the plot, an interesting experiment has developed. There are some roses that are more expensive than some of their plot counterparts, bought from a mail order company. The counterparts, are from a shop, where everything is priced at one pound or from a shop where goods are priced at being a penny below the pound. You can see the statement of the obvious. There is not much in the price of these two groups of roses, approximately £1.50 would separate the roses from online and the high street bought ones. Before the snow descended, the online ordered ones were actually demonstrating some growth on the thorny stems. The high street ones, did actually look a bit sorry for themselves. They were also still covered in green protective wax, that I had thought would have disappeared by now.
Previously, spring flowering bulbs had been planted. It would be a surprise if any of these actually came up now,to be fair. All, generally, from those high street shops where you spend a pound. In the past, these have been reasonably successful. There are also some blueberries and redcurrant plants.
As I venture into these high street shops, I do wonder about the success rate. More recently, there have potatoes, onions, different seed varieties on the shelves. A reflection perhaps of how more and more people are choosing to grow their own food. The variety does seem to be getting more and more extensive, and more value compared to the stock held by garden centres. For many years, there has always been a clamour for Aldi and Lidl with their gardening GYO offers. With Wilkinsons also proving themselves to be a useful resource.
Then there is the pot making contraption, Whilst it is labour intensive, it is incredibly useful. Made me reconsider, just how much money could be spent on pots that weren’t going to be occupied for very long. With the broadbeans currently in paper pots, I hope that this will also help the rather challenging clay soil on the plot.
It remains to be seen, if being savvy with pounds and pence makes any difference,
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
After the freeze, comes the that. As you can see, that means puddles. Lots of them, and fairly deep too. I ventured down there today; it’s been over a week and a half since that snow fell. More than once, my wellies got stuck in the mud. On one occasion, I felt myself about to lose my centre of gravity. There would have been a splash, I tell you. I righted myself, and kept plodding on. Being heavy clay, the word plodding is the operative verb here.
The agenda, was to do something about the poop that Pops and I had gathered some weeks ago. An allotment neighbour had also found me some-from the same source-and was kind enough to stash it on the plot for me. I had to haul the bags towards the larger 2m x 1m beds. Today, four out twelve beds had poop added to them. I often feel that I have made a rod for my own back, in having so many raised beds, that subsequently need filling with dirt. The thought process required therein, was how that would happen. Two of the rectangular beds have poop in them, as do two of the smaller beds. A fifth larger bed, was filled entirely with a whole builders bag of leaf mold. I think that it roughly one tone of leaves. One is a little bit closer to having filled raised beds. The next part of the plan, is to use the remainder of the builders bag and the three bags that sit at the back of the plot. These are very heavy! I struggled somewhat with them today, there was way no I could physically lift them. So I will have to think of a creative way to fill a rectangular raised with them. it is the central bed, in the third picture that is left to fill with poo. I can have a bottom layer of leaf mold, and put the poop on top. There is some luck, in that the smaller beds, are already full of leaf mold. What they would need, is to be topped up with compost. Something to be done in phases, I think, over the next couple of months.
On the sowing front. The chilli adventure is altogether frustrating. Once out of the propogator, the baby chillies keel over on the window sill. They are probably too cold. Aquadulce claudia Broadbeans as well as suttons dwarf broadbeans have been sown. A good 53 paper pots worth of seed. One of the allotment neighbours shared the wisdom of ‘if in doubt, sow beans.’ I therefore intend to test this hypothesis. Further to this, there are baby cauliflowers. These are all year around, purple cape and I think, Mayflower. They took their time, as did golden self blanching celery. I will be intrigued to see how that copes really. And if the plot is always going to be wet, then maybe it has a fighting chance. There are also baby lyon2 prizewinner leeks. I don’t think mussleberg ones have taken off.
In another month or so, I will think about tomatoes. There are many different varieties in the seed stashers, and it would be lovely; if something actually came off. There are yellow, red and even black cherry tomatoes. In addition, there will be further beans. Dwarf french and also runner beans. Mama H has been really quite vocal about these. What can be envisaged, is lots and lots of dwarf beans all over the plot. This is going to mean alot of paper pots. Paper pots, that mama h has developed a technique for making. She simply takes the paper from me, as I try to make them; and makes them for me. Who am I to argue?
In the spirit of growing, I have also donated a batch of seeds to http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/seed-swap/68032-virtual-seed-parcel-v4-uk-france-3.html
As the growing season is only yet in its infancy; anything can happen.
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Good old Aunty Beeb took her remit to educate, inform and entertain to a whole new level with this show last night. Out of curiosity, I was compelled to watch.
I am only in my second year of being an allotment holder, though I have been attempting to grow my own for a few years longer. That said, to date, I have had a very positive experience. There is nothing overt, that I can or would wish to complain about. I am very appreciative of the community that I belong to, despite the challenges that might be presented. Dodgy clay, occasional tutting and frowning not withstanding.
What allotment wars demonstrated-it’s on Iplayer somewhere-that the rosy ideal of allotmenteering is not the case. With shed break ins-swanky sheds, I hasten to add-a closed community attitude, and competitiveness that wouldn’t be out of place on a football field; such a documentary was best described as frightening.
Over the last few years, there has been increase in the demand for allotments. One could argue that this is product of the recent economic trouble. Perhaps it is, there may well be a correlation, between the economic down term and the turn towards GYO as produce becomes increasingly more expensive and people consider sustainability. The notion of having an allotment, is romantic. An activity, that during the war gave people the opportunity to contribute to the war effort, requires effort, commitment and some level of endurance. It also, perhaps mistakenly, has a reputation for being an old man’s game.
I am neither old, nor a man.
It still takes a bit of graft though.
The allotments featured, were pretty. I don’t doubt that effort and hardwork had been put into them. That was blatantly obvious. What took me by surprise, was the negativity, Yes, all right, the clue is in the title. But this begs the question. Why?
Why have such nastiness, a condescending attitude towards those that want to have a go, and most importantly, why pinch someone else’s veg?
The competition veg growing was amusing. The sheer work, shouldn’t be detracted from. That is commendable. I can’t get those sort of results. Good luck and well done, to those that want to, and do. But stealing crops, by way of sabotage. That has to be despicable. The burning down of greenhouses, the weedkilling of tomatos. Pulling up of carrots. You couldn’t make this up, really. Perhaps Aunty Beeb did…who knows?
Then there was the spare boudoir, I mean the swanky shed. That’s lovely, it really is. But when it is broken into repeatedly, why have one? It was a nice shed, a well kept one. I had been debating the notion of having one. The Jury has been sent out again.
And the old boy network. Whilst there were two ladies, they were the only two. In addition, only one person who could be termed younger than the gentlemen of more mature years. The show demonstrated a very skewed representation of allotmenteering. For many, having an allotment is a positive experience. Some folks join gyms, others sow and harvest fruit and vegetables. You will always have horses for courses, that is the way life works. The show would have benefited from that, yes, I know it’s allotment wars. But why a war? That I really don’t understand. You’d think Allotmenteering had a seering dark underbelly that was once consigned to victorian social commentary a la Charles Dickens. It surely doesn’t!
May be, in the same vein as Freemasons, allotments need to open their gates; debunk and demystify their nature. Mud slinging, is probably not the best way. It’s fairly useful, mud. Just not in this case. What alarms me the most, is the programme. Bordering on sensationalist, tabloid, and gutter like, the montage of allotmenteering does it no justice whatsoever. Waiting lists have increased over the years, the quantity of plots does not meet the level of demand. With some sites, poorly run, others being tyrannical dictatorships, and attitudes within them being hard to encapsulate; a muddy and confused picture is what we have.
Aligning freemasons with Allotmeentering. What a scary thought!
Yours in anticipation
Horticultural Hobbit
Having not paid a visit to the plot for the duration of the festivities, today I ventured down. Not before, though, purchases had been made on the behalf of Santa Clause.
Purchased today from Poundland
3 x Red Beauty Roses
1 x Pink Rosa
1 x Kronenbourg rose
2 x Blueberry
2 x Red Currant
I had been wanting to get the roses, I kicked myself last year having missed them. That, and I have now cottoned onto the bargains that certain pound and ninety nine pence places present. There are opponents and proponents of this approach, there will always be naysayers. I would like to find out and explore. In addition to this, I know of a certain value supermarkets that are renowned for their GYO offers.
If it goes pear shaped, it will go pear shaped. There was also the eight Raspberry canes that were being planted out. These are a continuity collection, in that these are meant to crop from Summer through to Autumn. I bought sixteen, and shared these with Aunty Tish who is planting these on her plot. She had given me a redcurrant last year. I may well have killed it by not planting it properly and then pulling it out as it looked brown and stick-y.
Brown and sticky, is what everything looks like, to be honest. The roses were covered in a thick layer of green wax. I had read about this, and perhaps need to look into that. It will be interesting to see how these roses, each costing a pound each will fare with the other roses. The other roses, are Hybrid Tea Roses and were purchased as the ten items were in a collection that was marked as being half price. So how will a rose costing a pound, fare against a rose that was meant be four times that (The roses were £2.10 each when I found them).
And the puddles. There are still puddles, and puddles of standing water. Slightly wiffy, standing water, I might add. The plot is best described as wonky, entirely uneven and all over the shop at that.
Onions, shallots and garlic have made some progress. There are certainly more garlic shoots than there are any other allieums. I was pleasantly surprised, but the garlic shoots standing proudly and like sentries. That is a sight, that perhaps I had not anticipated. So very, very nice to see. There are may be two, broad bean shoots. These would be the claudia aquadulce. Not surprised by that, though one was very nibbled looking. There are shallots present, and they are sending up shoots. Again, not many, but it is happening. I had to return a few onion sets to the ground as they were pulled up; most likely by birdies. A couple of sets were littered around, having been snacked on by them horrible creatures that are squirrels.
Leeks, there were a few. I think Aunty Tish had given me 22 babies. I couldn’t put a figure on the number that I saw. Only that there were a few,standing up right and paying attention, amongst the rather moody and muddy looking strawberry runners.
Bulbs. There are some. Sprouting in a border. It was a blink and you missed it moment; but I assure you. They were there. I must have planted hundred in the early autumn. Not many at all, have started to sprout. That may well be because it is still early, and spring bulbs have some time yet to make themselves known. Or, they too have become a casualty of the deluge. It is difficult to make any absolute comment based on the observation of the plot at the moment.
A moment of bah humbag, the headline news this evening that Blighty is going to suffer further extreme weather. Honestly, tch.
Yours in Anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
…yes, sling it. Go away, you’ve done quite enough damage, muchas gracias.
It has been a turbulent year on Plot 2a. With the exception of garlic, over wintering onions and shallots, the only horticultural cultivation has been that of malevolent weeds and ankle deep puddles. You could argue, that perhaps I didn’t pay attention to various bits and pieces, that the weather played havoc-my money is on this one-or that I really should have listened to various plot neighbours and moved else where. I am standing by the bad weather.
There was much hope for this year. Only for most hope to be dashed. There is no time now to wallow. Though, given the puddles, that would be the fairly easy option. Clay, is very good apparently, full of all sorts of goodies. It most certainly was, it sustained and nourished all those weeds during the Olympics and Jubilee Celebrations.
If one things has been understood this year, then it is not to make concrete plans. Listen, perhaps to the elements, and declare war on slugs. We speak not of small, singular slugs. Oh, no, we speak of fairly sizeable, abnormally large slugs in their masses. It is a case of growing and propagating and nurturing slugs. Beer traps, have failed. Broken ceramic tiles, have failed. Blue pellets, have failed. There is only so much slug lobbing that you can do. Slugs, however, are a mother nature bug bear.Managed perhaps, and tolerated. Just impossible to complete obliterate.
So, we have a damp, dreary, depressing plot 2a. A bit of a muddy canvas. A muddy canvas, that is going to require a bit of thinking about really. There are raised beds, which should help. What remains to be seen, is whether any of the over wintering things have survived.
There are a stack of GYO books, a veggie growing planner, copies of a GYO magazine sat for perusal and reference.
If only that jet stream really would just sling it…
Yours in anticipation
Horticultural Hobbit
With the misplaced jet stream, this year has been somewhat of a torrid affair. Nothing, has quite come off. It is all well and good making plans. Above, you can see the paper and ink plan of what went where. The wendy house, as you’ve already gathered is a shadow if it’s former self. It is an ex-wendy house, it has more or less ceased to exist. In the most simplest sense, the plan does say what went where. I think I drew this about eight weeks ago, I was still feeling buoyed that the there was possibility of the over wintering garlic, onion and shallots coming off.
Now, I do hope that you have enjoyed the festivities. There is always a great deal of anticipation, a chance to rest, reflect, harvest your Christmas dinner.
Alas, the third and final point didn’t quite come off. A lofty ambition, but unrealised. If ever that was realised, one might have to make a song and dance about it.
The run up the Christmas Festivities, has been damp, deluge after deluge, diabolical if such a strong word could be used as adjective for the weather. Already demoralised, this has not helped. I am yet to go wander down to the plot. I may well need super strength wellingtons. Though the ones that I have, will have to suffice. In the next few days, that will certainly be an endeavour. There is most definitely some plot withdrawal symptoms setting in. One must remain positive. All the tellers of the world, suggest that the misplace jet stream was in fact a freak, anomalous occurrence. No solace, in being a first year allotmenteer, but the key there is anomalous. It happens, from time to time.
In addition, there a eight raspberry canes and a blackberry to be sunk. The latter is driving Mama H potty in having resided on her kitchen sill for far longer than she would like. I must remember to ask her to make paper pots. One has acquired the wooden contraption to manufacture them. The purpose of such an exercise?
To sow seeds, and propagate on the window sills of the classroom next to the cacti. The cacti, that you see below, would be their neighbours.
You will have seen how Pops and I have managed to get some horse poop. This won’t fill all the beds, oh, how I was hoping! No, it won’t. It is a start. I will have get some more at a later point. There is off course the builders bags of leave mold. I am rather proud of that! That is the value of taking advice, of learning, Things start to fall into place, and generally for a reason. So those bags can be used to some extent, to fill the raised beds.
Above, are the classroom cacti. Most of which, are rescued from a garden centre. Each one was named by my students, some of the names are from textbooks, some are named after students! They add a bit of colour to the classroom, beyond the green, the flowers are what we all eagerly anticipate. Quite a collection, has been amassed. I can honestly say, that I am not really a fan of the spiky ones. The ones you see here, with the Santa hats. Not sure how long they will reside in the classroom. The removal of the hat, requires the stick that runs straight through the cactus to be pulled out. So that, and the propensity of the cactus to bit you, my well be the death knell. Only time will tell.
Think I will avoided more cacti in the classroom. As mentioned above, I would like to sow some chillies, tomatoes, peppers perhaps on the window sills. That means rummaging in the seed stasher!
Yours in anticipation,
Horticultural Hobbit
Last year, the one true result, had to be Bruno the Ghost rider Pumpkin. Mama H took pity on a £1.50 seedling whilst we were visiting the Garden Cafe in Kings Heath. I was dubious, at first. Pumpkins have never really hit my radar, I wouldn’t have given them much thought. So why not?
Planted in a tomato grow bag-the £1 sort from poundland-the seedling was observed at close quarters in Dad’s garden. He was protected, first of all, with the bottom of a pop bottle. Cut off and used as a cloche. A good move, else slugs and bad weather would have taken Bruno before his time. He grew, grew, and grew; becoming a triffid of one sort. It was a heartening process, to see something so small, grow into a beast!
By late summer last year, there were something like four babies. I couldn’t quite decide what to do with the fruits. There was no knowing, would one take off; would all four? Well one did. Precious and therefore pampered, the one fruit did come off. About six weeks before Hallowe’en, the fruit was taken off the vine. Dad reckoned that if it wasn’t removed, it would probably go bad. Taken off, it was left to ripen on the window sill.
Then what happened? Well, Ma curried it.
Yours in anticipation
Horticultural Hobbit
Soggy still, the plot yeilds a wearied shake of the head. As we anticipate another dose from the Siberian beast from the east; there does not seem to be any let up from the elements. My heart well and truly sinks, each and every time a drop of rain falls.
The water is, as you can see, still standing, and does not seem to be any hurry to go anywhere. The puddles are more than a couple of inches deep. One step in the wrong direction, and you will need to be fished out somehow. I took a walk down there as dusk fell, to see what exactly the damage was. The raised beds seem to be okay. It is the surrounding flat that is in the most trouble; especially the far side of the plot. There a lot of water has pooled, covering a third of the plot and submerging one rose bush.
On the near side, one would have expected some of the over wintering onions to have risen. I had to delicately return a few today into their holes; they had exited, most likely at the beaks of a bird or two. I couldn’t see many if any that had started to sprout. Perhaps it is still early; though they were sunk in October some time. Or perhaps, with the increased levels of precipitation, the hungry water logged clay has eaten them. I am feeling sorely disappointed about it really. I don’t recall last autumn or winter being so damp and squalid. There will be a lot of surprise, if anything that is over wintered actually comes off.
The wendy house really is a shadow of its former self. With no cover, it looks like a bare skeleton with its flesh picked off. I am debating the investment into a proper wooden wendy house,-yes, a shed- of the same proportions. One that won’t take flight or keel over. Though you cannot be sure of that not happening, given the erratic nature of the elements. One has been window shopped, and may well be purchased before Christmas. From first glance it does fit within the allowed parameters. The one job that is also weighing heavy on my mind, is the filling of the raised beds with compost. There are 12 beds in all. Whilst there builders bags full of leaf mold; these take time to break down. It would be nice to have the beds usable within time. I have yet to get my head around finding manure possibly, to put into the beds. That would at least break down and cook over the winter months. Ultimately, I think the entire plot will be raised beds; a shame, since the clay could actually be quite useful in being so nutrient rich.
The seed stashers have been fished out of Dad’s shed. There is vast plethora of seeds between the two boxes. Some which I will try and use, others which I may not. For example, the aubergine seeds; I have a number of varieties. The aubergine experiment failed to work, in that there were no fruits at all. Lots of foliage based plants, with pretty purple flowers. But nothing else. So they may well go. One thing I plan to have a go at, is to sown some seeds and place them onto the classroom windows. Perhaps some tomatoes, chillies, courgettes; various things that could be transplanted with growing season.
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