It,s Wet, Very, Very Wet

Finally made it to my patch or should I say patches as I have one and a half plots
a short walk apart.I have been concerned about the winter brassicas which I had mulched with "soil improver" from a local composting site,I worried that they didn,t look as happy as before, so I bought a kit in case I had put a lot of acid soil on them, it didn,t show the actual PH but showed up dark green not orange which put my mind to rest. however I vowed to test first before I put unknown stuff on them
well they didn,t look too bad today the kale was sending out new leaves and sprouts and PSB werelooking OK. The nets had stood up to the storms but everywhere was slushy with standing water.I dug up parsnip and carrots,picked kale and some sprouts
then noticed the sky was darkening again, the few hours of sunshine between storms was over, took this pic as I left

Trust Nature To Lift Depression

Yes there I was feeling headachy and flat as I looked out of my front window at the sparrows and starlings eating sunflower oil and bread, what a pity I don,t see greenfinches any more I thought, mourning their absence seemed to suit my mood, then a flash of red caught my eye, I raced up stairs for the binoculars ( which I had only found the day before)and saw to my delight a pair of goldfinches feasting on
the teazles. I managed to get some pics through the (not very clean)window


I love the starlings and sparrows we mostly get in the garden joined by bluetits and more recently a robin but I have only saw a goldfinch once before in my life so my special visitor made a dark dreary day a bit brighter

It.s Winter I,m hibernating

Havn,t done much at the allotment just popping up for parsnip, swede, carrots and kale which seems to be going over a bit sprouts and PSB are almost ready. here is my favourite e-mail funny
GONNA BE A BEAR
In this life I,m a woman. in the next life I would like to come back as a bear
When your a bear , you get to hibernate,you do nothing but sleep for six months
I could deal with that!
Before you hibernate, your supposed to eat yourself stupid.
I could deal with that too!
When your a girl bear, you birth your children( who are the size of walnuts)while you are sleeping and wake to partially grown ,cute ,cuddly cubs.
I could definitely deal with that
IF you are a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business
You swot anyone who bothers your cubs and if your cubs get out of line you swot them too
I could deal with that!
If your a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling.
He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat
YEP,GOING TO BE A BEAR

Champion Muck Spreader

Well didn,t need a champian to spread that! It only streched over the bare bits of the full plot but anyway its done.was asked will I dig it in? it seems the modern way is to let the worms take it down, time will tell

Nothing much has been happening. Harvesting carrots,swede,parsnips,sprouts,red cabbage,kale still eating beetroot,onion,potatoes from store also eating sweet pepper and lettuce from greenhouse which I have cleaned but not got around to insulating yet.

Talking Dirty (and smelly)

Well it arrived!! a big pile of cow poo! truck driver didn,t want to reverse down grass path and when he did, wouldn,t go off it to dump on adrians plot so the lot went on the grass path, we did put some plastic down which helped but it took Ian and I app 1 hour to move about 4ton of manure here is my share

I went back up in the afternoon to begin spreading it. just enough for the full plot could have used the lot. know better next time if I am barmey enough for there to be a next time
also have ordered next years potatoes. wow I am thinking ahead. thought I would go for some really good ones this time so I ordered from Thompson and Morgan if these don,t do well nothing will. I am trying blight resistant main crop here is my list
Accent 1st for new potatoes these usually crop before blight appears £3.69 for 20
Romano 2nds B+ slug resistant these are red skinned £3.69 for 20
Sarpo Axona late maincrop B is around bad when these are ready £4.49 for 20
Sarpo Mira late maincrop again these are B busters £4.49 for 20

It Does Not Feel Like October

Just digging the rest of the plot to be ready for the manure which should be delivered on Tuesday and I get the feeling the season is all mixed up as the sun is shining the sky is blue and feels warmer then it was in July! the Buzzards are calling above I managed to get a picy of one

not very good but it showsthe mood of the day!!
strawbs are still trying to fruit even tho we are getting quite hard frosts some nights

and the jerusalem artichokes are determined they are going to be the tallest thing around

Wisley

This year our allotment trip was at Wisley.It was a lovely day her are some pictures

Another Boring Bare Earth Picture

But bare earth is beautiful this time of year, it means things have been harvested and the hard but very satisfying digging has been done before the rain makes the clay soil into a clinging paste or the frost makes it too hard to dig!! The bean trench has been dug ,filled with the bits we couldn,t eat, spring greens are all tucked up for the winter perhaps time to rest and reflect.......except for a small matter of app 5 tons of manure ordered for week after next and to be shared by ,I am glad to say my lotty neighbour adrian. plans are to dump it at the bottom of his plot and spread it over the empty areas of my 1.5 plots and let the worms work on it over winter!! saw 3 tons delivered to another plot today and it,s a LOT
heres the before the cow poo picture


and heres a less boring prettier picture from the halfplot

Is this what you call forked?

I dug up the first parsnip today and got a bit of a shock!! Is it a alien or perhaps the ground was a bit too rich



Also identified the grubs that I found when planting spring greens they were cabbage root fly and the grubs were eating the roots!! it seems that is why you have to put a "collar" around the base of brassicas the fly lays eggs around the plant which then go underground and start munching the roots.Dug two ailing plants up and found a couple on one of them, I then soaked the whole lot with derris. had a good look at the spares back home and they seem to be clean so hopefully I have caught it in time
Back home in the greenhouse the peppers are looking brilliant, don,t know why I grew them the mild ones are OK but I can,t stand the hot ones. I think I just like the look of them well I did say I was a confused grannie didn,t I?

Thats the planting done for this year

Yes the spring greens are all in.They were started in pots in the greenhouse and then hardened off in the garden Ifigure they are big enough to look after thenselves now tho I am concerned about some small grubs found in the roots of some time will tell.They are Early Queen,Flower of Spring and Spring Hero I planted them deep and firm watered well then covered with net. robin watched and sang to me



and the bee,s still buzzed on the borage

Looking forward to spring

You have to look well ahead in this game!! the F1 sonic onions just planted will be harvested in june and the leaminton cauli should be ready in march, all being well of course. if we didn,t live in hope seeds would never get sown.These overwinter cauli grow very tall so are planted right up to the 1st leaves,it will help them stand firm I have also packed the earth down very hard around the roots and covered with a net as skyrats love them. While I was working I was watched by a Robin hoping to grab a tasty worm

We,v eaten the green cabbage.....

Now theres two rows of red to get through and then the kale and sprouts will be ready
all in the half plot where the potatoes will go next year. In the garden are Leaminton cauli and three sorts of spring greens bursting out of their pots to get in the bit by the strawbs( now reduced to four rows) which is where next years cabbage patch will be -----------------------------

out with the old ,in with the new

After clearing the ground of summer stuff I,v started putting in winter onions. with all the rain we are having the dug ground is breaking down nicely. would like to start a trench for next years beans but the lettuce has at decided to go on and on .......................................................

I,v dug up a family of mice

Yes today I,v continued with digging the ex-sweetcorn and bean patch when around six mice darted out from under my spade and into the discarded foilage. when I continued digging Ifound I had killed one with the spade ! neighbours (ones with nibbled corn) thought I should have finished the lot off ! by mistake is one thing, on purpose is quite another.

It worked I,m well away now

This week I have been sorting out the strawbs. I have been really brutal ripping out plants that were still fruiting ,in september!! I was delighted to see a lizard scuttling away 1st I,v ever seen in the wild. Today Ian went up with me and we dug up the sweetcorn patch, I,v had loads off them this year thanks to plastic bottles. here is a pic of them protecting the cobbs


and here is the difference between the covered and the uncovered

cabbage patch on half plot

another attempt at posting a picture from photo bucket. it works every where else. I really am a confused grannie

It,s been quite a good year

07 has had it,s ups and downs, breaking an ankle mid march was def a down! the rainfall we had
saved a lot of watering which seems to be good for a lot of things including my still weak ankle but it did bring potatoe blight on very early . I only grow 1st and 2nds because blight gets bad on our site and this usually misses it but as they went in late and blight was early some of mine got caught. should have enough to last a few months but will have to watch them
Putting a plastic bottle on the swollen cobbs of corn was a success and I have enjoyed eating unprenibbled corn this year unlike the last two
blue moon french beans have been very poor but the runners after a terrible start of the saved seed rotting and having to get new, produced bag after bag until they gave up at the begining of september. I think perhaps the delayed start of the other root crops was a good thing as they missed aprils heat and grew well right from the start. most brassicas did well exepting caulis and broccoli nasturtions def helped lure the cabbage whites from them. onons did well ex spring ones and leeks funny aint it different needs i suppose