I really should think about what to sow and grow next year. Reflect on the squashes, chillies and other vegetables that might find themselves being played with on the plot.
We are getting closer to the festive period-the first of December marks the start of Advent, so I will wait til then to feel festive-and that means sowing chillies days after the turkey has been eaten and left overs dealt with. The first thing that I want to sow and grow, I do need to think about what varieties of chillies I would like to have. From cayennes, to habaneros and super hots, there are a number in the seed box.
In the coming weeks, I shall rifle through the seed box and see what the state play is.
WordPress has just informed me that the blog has been running now for three years. I feel that is a really nice milestone, the blog is now officially a toddler.
Growing has been going on a little longer. However three years ago, I decided to make a more formal. more public record of what I had experienced and what I had learned. Initially, I started to record, but this developed to become more about sharing and allowing readers to get a deeper awareness of what was happening on the plot.
I am fortunate, in that I have a lot of help with the plot. From the gallery you will see that both my parents do have an involvement in one way or another. Mum does all the digging, and then also helps with the preserving experiments. Dad is the engineering and structural advice, as well as the leaf mold gatherer who lugs along compost as well.
goodies!
There has been a great deal of progress. Both with the cultivation on the plot, and also beyond in developing a brand and writing a book. The book, builds on the experiences that are documented on the blog and also contains Mum’s recipes. You can rest assured, that she sat next to me and dictated them all whilst I listened and typed.
When I first took on the allotment, I had no idea how much I would learn, and what the journey ahead of me would be. Since then, so much has happened, it is still very difficult to fully understand it all. I still enjoy the plot, and feel very passionate about. Having an allotment is not necessarily a conventional hobby, and there are still many people with a view that I should perhaps occupy my time with something more interesting and socially defined as being acceptable.
I have no plans to leave it, so I guess that I should really carry on….
Not only can you get the book-available on Amazon as a paper and ebook-you can also get the book swag too. There is the canvas bags and tea towels for now. For the bags and tea towels, you just have to message via facebook, twitter and instagram. (And I will get back to you, about the logistics)
Last I checked, petal was on two continents. So it would be interesting to see how far she can go. I might joke about world domination, but at least that’s something to aim for. I never ever expected her to travel across the pond, but she did!
There are a few other things that are actually in the pipeline. I will update with those as soon as possible. You might, for example, want to have a cuppa with petal or haver cooking with you in the kitchen. Watch this space!
Brand petal is not a new idea, petal has been the avatar for the blog, the FB page and the preserves for over eighteen months. The blog, has after all been going now for a few years. It is only recently, that she has unfurled her wings and started to take off on a commercial level.
Petal’s potted preserve is an emerging small British Business, so all successes, no matter how small, are victories to be celebrated. Hopefully, we have lots of folks who can share in them.
the second summer raspberries, the birdies ate the first
home grown strawberries
yellow raspberries and red currants
gooseberries and redcurrant
I had high hopes for the raspberries this year. Newly planted-well, autumn-the canes had been plugged in for a while and i had though they were established well enough to produce fruit. I was wrong. The canes did precious little, and didn’t actually produce a single fruit. On the other hand, the autumn fruiting ones were altogether a bit confused and fruited through the summer.
The black and red currants were also newly planted. They are all two years old, which would suggest that they would start to fruit. There was a few little beads of red and purple. And that was more than I actually expected, as the plants are still young and only fruit on wood that is older than two years old. I do hope that in the coming years that these start to develop more fully.
Gooseberries. These are also young plants. I spent ages last year, plugging in plants to fruit in coming years. Again, the gooseberries weren’t expected to crop a great deal. The 200 or so grams were however enough to form the basis of jam.
It’s miserable outside, and there is a distinct absence of colour. Over the summer and indeed the last few years, the plot roses have come into their own. The bushes are becoming more established, and this has meant that we’ve had an abundance of blooms to sit upon the kitchen window sill.
I have a combination of posh roses, roses that I know the name of; as well as lost label roses that are nameless. In the middle of the plot, I have William Shakespeare 2000. A beautiful bloom that I got for birthday eighteen months ago. At some stage I will add Anne Boleyn to the plot. There is just something about having roses on the plot. The colour and the scent add a great deal of character to the plot that is otherwise used mainly to grow fruit and vegetables.
The second batch of garlic is from The Garlic Farm. This summers crop was by far one of best I have had had, so for me having them again was really a good way of trying to replicate that success for next year. Hopefully it will be just as successful. I was really surprised, and impressed, by the size of the bulbs that cropped. Also there is a real and definite difference in the flavour and strength of home grown garlic compared to that bought in the supermarkets.
picardy wight (I had to resist saying ‘make it so’ as i planted this one)
Vallelado wight
early purple wight (we’ve had this one before)
Provence wight
Solent wight
This batch has been sunk into two raised beds. I had thought that I had too much garlic. As though such a thing might be possible! The worry had been that there wasn’t space. Turns our there was enough space and more. I have saved the elephant garlic to share with my aunty, for some reason it bolted on my plot this year.
At least now all of the autumn garlic has been planted. May be, just maybe, I might try a spring batch.
That is what happened to the assortment of potatoes that the allotment plot yielded this year.
lady balfour
Pink fir apple
aloos! International kidney
There were a number of varieties that sunk on the plot, in the raised beds. We had international kidney, lady balfour, pink fir apple, kestral and red duke of york. The red duke of york were a bit hit and miss having been sunk into the earth in the poly tunnel by way of experiment. I don’t think I will be doing that again.
All the other varieties were sunk into raised beds. These were filled with either leaf mold topped off with multipurpose compost or well rotted and very crumbly farmyard manure. I did this as drainage is an issue with the heavy clay on the plot. In the past, heavy clay has basically eaten the seed potatoes in having caused them to rot due to excess water retention. With raised beds, the drainage is some what improved, and the seed potatoes like sleeping under nice organic material.
Internatioal kidney were cute and bountiful, lots of small round, creamy white potatoes. Pink Fir apple had to be the most abundant, with pounds and pounds being harvested. On average, we harvested one 10kg bucket every week. About four or five harvests were made over the duration of the harvesting period. As you can imagine that is a lot of potatoes. That was even before the lady balfour potatoes were harvested. These, thanks to the farmyard manure, were something of a whopper crop. I have grown these before, but have never harvested potatoes that half the size of a football.
All of these really were mashed, chipped, roasted and boiled. Not to mention put into stuffed chappatis. And the varieties matter. Pink fir apples do go well into stuffed chappatis. Lady balfour make for interesting, sweet flavoured chips. They do also tend to get a bit sloppy when mashed, but do hold together when roasted.
I have never found potatoes to be simple, though for many allotmenteers they are. I was gutted one year when the heavy clay caused them to rot. I learned that they needed soft friable soil. Even then, I don’t earth them as is done traditionally.
The humble spud, seemingly simple; can actually be complicated.
The last week of my summer holidays, and I was about to go on an adventure. I departed Middle England, and boarded a train mid morning. The journey would be long, but the following day I was going to The Eden Project. A number of friends and colleagues have visited, some with good reviews, some with not. The best thing to do, was to experience it myself.
It is the other side of the country from where I am, in fact on the edge of the country. The trek and accommodation was always going take up a lion’s share of the logistics. The entry for the day, seemed reasonable, given the large sprawling nature of the place. Getting there was simple enough, a return trip on a bus from St.Austell. I did go early, basically as soon as it opened. I really did want the most of it, and I would be spending the day there. A hoody and a pair of comfy boots were used to make things easier. As soon as I got there, the heavens opened and I got rained on. A lot. So I had to head to the biomes, through the zig zag gardens that slope down the sides of the former quarry. I did take a moment to take stock. That second picture up there, the one with the biomes, is astounding. And of course the money shot, used by the literature. Though when I sent it to Ma, she did say they were big green houses.
The may well be greenhouses in the most simplest sense, but the tableau does make you stop and think. Least of all about science fiction, and you are momentarily transported to Star Trek if you are that way inclined. There is no indication at that point, as to what is inside. A wonderful tease, if you haven’t done you research. I didn’t, quite deliberately. The premise was to go with a very open mind.
Going to the link between the two biomes,I had to think where I wanted to go first. I had breakfasted like a princess-half a cooked breakfast in not knowing what I would doing all day and I didn’t want to keel over too soon-so I was fed and watered. A little damp, and knowing that I would want feeding properly at lunch time, I headed to the rainforest.
Looking down onto the rainforest
The upper watefall
I actually did a double take at the bananas
A low probability exists, in me ever getting to trek through a rainforest. As far as simulations go, this was pretty close. The rainforest biome is hot, sweaty, and breath taking. And not just because of the humidity as required by the vast assortment of cultivation. The effect of being transported is immediate, least of all because of the ants that run around everywhere. They are everywhere, and that makes sense if they are one of the most populace of creatures on the planet. Least offensive though, they don’t bother you. They make the experience more real, if I am honest.
We see pictures and videos of rainforests, and this small cross section is a stark reminder of how big a body such as rainforest is. It is very difficult to appreciate.
Time was crucial in this biome. I did try to perambulate slowly, and as the forest tapers up and around; you do not do this slowly. There is a lot to take in; a whole universe of rainforest is effectively sampled and the data points collected to form what is called a ‘rainforest in captivity’. A phrase, that I’m made me feel a little uneasy. Captivity is a word we might associate with animals, protected for their own safety. Whilst I can see the idea being applied here, the assortment being protected and cared for. I am at odds with the idea of a rainforest being bundled into a biome as though a creature to be viewed through the figurative looking glass. Don’t get me wrong, there was life in that biome. I just don’t like the phrase ‘rainforest in Captivity.’
For the eager and fastidious student, there is a huge amount to learn. Careful study of the markers and the guide-a bit much at £6-is going to provide you with a wealth of information. Looking at the labels, does take time. Unless you speak to a very willing and well trained member of The Eden team, you do have to look and read to make your own judgements.
It is breathtaking, you travel the world without leaving the biome. Having walked around very slowly, there was of course the other biome.
Lots and lots of chillies
sunflowers
Dionysus and his vineyard
Next, was the Mediterranean biome. This is more cute and cuddly compared to the rainforest biome. It also felt a little smaller, not taking as long, and causing me to question as to where the rest of it was. I did, admittedly, take a lunch time pit stop. I was in need of feeding, my brain was whizzing after the rainforest, and this mean stopping to reflect.I experienced something of a very eerie moment. Rain was scheduled anyway. So it fell, as I had lunch on the terrace. With the exception of a small hungry child, a silence descended on the whole biome. People stopped talking, there was a really cold heavy silence as the clouds gathered over the bioem. A very, very, strange sensation.
Once fed and watered, I did another wander around the second biome. This time, focusing on the chillies, the vineyard and The Roman Garden. The chillies were epic, arguably the envy of the world’s Chilli heads. I took solace in the fact that some of the varieties sown and grown there, were also in my poly tunnel albeit on a smaller scale. It helps, that I know who the seed supplier is. I didn’t pick any, as I was a bit unsure of the rules, and I think they are probably used in the kitchens there.
Sunflowers carpeted part of the area and were a welcome drop of sunshine. The vineyard with it’s sculptures of Dionysus and friends. You cannot miss the big strapping bull, that looks as though he is about to go on a rampage. According to mythology, he is of course a little drunk and full of the carousing spirit. Then there was The Roman Garden. I may not be the biggest fan of this historical time frame; but I did learn something. All the things you might expect on your allotment, the kitchen garden, your cottage garden; has a distinctly Roman heritage.
The seed. The last phase of my exploration was The Core. The central part is this. A huge piece of Cornish stone, hewn down to form this knobbly edifice. I peered in, to take the picture; but felt compelled to pass my hand over the sculpted form. Another slightly surreal Star Trek moment.
I was conscious of not taking too may photographs. Not just because you can put the name into a search engine and find lots of images. If I did that, what would encourage you to actually go?
Not taking more and hundreds of images, was about absorbing the persona experience of the whole thing. Not everyone is a gardener, with horticultural tendencies. One person’s rose bush, might be another’s pernicious weed. You cannot account for experience and perception. I went with an open mind, and there were many parts that resonated with me. So to take loads and loads of photos, would perhaps have diluted the would be perception of others.
About two dozen seeds were started off in damp jiffy pellets, and made quite rapid progress. In my experience, they do grow very quickly, and you do end up potting them up quite rapidly.
The seedling babies were growing quite quickly on the window sill, so did need to be potted up. Otherwise they get leggy, bend, and keel over. Cue emergency pot up. As you can see above, they have placed into small pots and are on their first baby leaves with the true leaves just about to sprout. These are greedy, sun loving creatures. So they do need warmth, light, and for now, water. The compost is full of nutrients for the next six weeks. By which time, it will be necessary to harden them off, having possible put them into bigger pots. They will need to be protected if there is a sharp drop in temperature and a frost.
I have sown two varieties here. These are sunburst, which get to about five tall, and giant sunflowers, which are something even taller and with multiple flowers.
Hopefully these will all continue to thrive and survive. Will hopefully sow a few more and encourage more pollinators on the plot.
If you have sown some sunflowers, then please let me know. Would be lovely to see what is happening ^_^
horticultural 'obbit 