Spring has sprung ...

April is living up to it's reputation as being a wet month, one minute we have a beautiful clear blue sky then 5 minutes later it's bloody pouring down!!

I've just had the allotment mower serviced and last weekend we managed to take it to the plot on Sunday afternoon, as we left the house the sky became darker and darker, as I started the mower it proceeded to snow like mad, I carried on mowing looking like a walking snowman, 10 minutes later we had blazing sunshine again ... British weather!

On Monday I went up to the plot in the afternoon and ended up spending approx. 4 hours there. It was so peaceful and apart from one other person arriving for about an hour I had the entire site to myself.I have been trying out chitting parsnip seeds prior to sowing them, this process is very simple and hopefully eliminates the renowned poor germination rate of parsnips. An empty tupperware type container is used with a wet paper towel in the bottom, the seed are sprinkled onto the paper and the lid put on, this is then left in a warm place (airing cupboard, on top of radiator etc.) for the seeds to sprout, it takes about 5 days to a week. Once this has happened you sow the seed into a seed drill using a pair of tweezers to gently transfer them. I station sowed 3 seeds every 6-9", when they show on the surface they can be thinned out to leave the best one.It sounds quite fiddly but it really isn't and hopefully it means that you are guaranteed a perfect row of parsnips. I also put in a row of unchitted parsnip seed so it will be interesting to see if there is much difference between them. (Varieties, Tender and true and white gem)

Chitting Parsnip seed ... 'White Gem'

One of the things I love about allotments is the make do and mend mentality, my shed is a prime example of that, it looks as if it has had another layer added every 10 years for the last 40 years and it leans slightly to one side, it's so ramshackle looking that when D's Mum and Dad were with us his Mum thought it was just a pile of old wood and metal waiting to be used for something, she didn't realise that it was a shed!! For ages I've been wanting to make the inside look a little better and I decided to staple all the old seed packets to the wall to almost wallpaper it, there are some lovely designs on the packets and it also becomes a visual reminder of what you have planted in previous seasons and years.

Seed packet wallpaper (and brewing tea!)

The last couple of jobs were to sow some carrots 1 row each of Early Nantes 2, Fly away and Amsterdam forcing and then dig over one of the beds on the new plot to put onions in.

Likal ... Gloucester Community Website

I received a rather interesting email the other day from LIKAL a community website saying that they hoped it was ok with me that they had taken a picture from my blog to promote Gloucestershire allotments!! I'm slightly stunned and quite chuffed to think they feel my plot and blog are that good. (D is more suspicous and wants to know who they are!)

Anyway when you go onto their home page there is a thumbnail pic of my plot advertising allotments and then when you go onto the allotments page there is a bigger pic and a link to my blog saying ...." Gloucester Guy Blogs his Allotment experience - read and be inspired."

How nice is that, if only they knew I haven't got a clue and make it up as I go along!!!

Easter weekend

D with his Mum and Dad

Well, we had HUGE plans for Easter, then I saw the forecasts on Metcheck and BBC weather and didn't hold out much hope for our planned allotment bonanza.

Our main plans for this weekend (apart from the plot) was the arrival of D's Mum and Dad for the Easter break, they came on Friday morning and stayed until Monday and we had a fantastic weekend of too much wine, food and some allotment visiting!

The forecasts had promised snow and more but in the end although we had the odd flurry we luckily escaped with just freezing wind and the odd hail storm intermingled with sunny periods (see I have the technical talk now!) We took D's parents up to the plot on Friday to have a look, they'd never been to it before so it was great to be able to show them where we spend half of our life! I took up some broad beans that I'd grown in newspaper pots to fill in the gaps where the slugs/pigeons had taken some.

Spuds in shredded paper and manured trenches

Saturday we decided to get some spuds in, tradition has it that they go in on Good Friday as this was the first holiday for the working class man when he was able to get the spuds in and the veg patch started. I have decided to try a new method of planting preparation this year to see if it makes much difference to the crop. I dug out trenches and filled them with a layer of shredded paper and well rotted manure, then in went the spuds before being covered up with soil.

As Easter is a bit earlier this year I decided to only put in my earlies (International Kidney, Belle de Fontenay and Winston) I'm going to give it a couple more weeks before I put in the maincrops as we could still have some bad frosts especially the way it's been lately!

Green Manure ... Phacalia Tancetifolia

I then dug in the green manure, I planted Phacalia Tancetifolia, a plant which is sown as a green manure, in a vacant patch of ground to prevent goodness in the soil being leached out by the rain. Before it gets too big and flowers, you dig it back into the soil so that it breaks down in the ground and deposits back all the goodness it has taken from the soil and it also creates a blanket cover to stop weeds growing on empty ground.The mad Strimming Dad

D's dad came up with us on Sunday and strimmed some of the grass, our mower seems to have given up the ghost so we had to use the petrol strimmer in the meantime, we only thought there would be enough time to go around each bed to define it and keep the main bits down but he was like something possessed and just went for it and never stopped. We'll have to invite them down sooner next time!!

On Monday I dug out the remaining leeks and prepared the bed for the French and Runner Beans, I dug the whole bed over to get rid of any perennial weed roots and then I dug trenches out where the bean poles will be going. Similar to the potato trenches I filled them with sheets of newspaper and composted manure, the idea with this is that it will help to retain the moisture in the soil during the hot summer, presuming we don't get flooded out like last year! Beans don't like to dry out when they are setting flowers otherwise they won't produce the bean pods, so hopefully this method should help keep them in peak condition.

I did a very quick video on Sunday afternoon just to show what it looks like now and maybe I'll do another in a month or two to see the progress, excuse the comedy wurzle impersonation at the beginning, I don't know what came over me, maybe too much exercise!!!!!!

Roses and beans.

The broad beans that I sowed into some of my newspaper pots have developed really well. The above picture is about a fortnight old so they are now well established little plants and probably ready to go into the plot just as soon as I can get there! When they do go into the ground the entire pot will be planted and the newspaper will just rot away leaving the plant to romp away without any transplant shock. I went mad the other day and spent £2 on a new rose from Woolworths, I love allotments that have a mixture of ornamental and veg and places like Wilkos or woolies are great for these sorts of bargains, I'm going to take regular pics of this rose throughout the year to show how it does and see if cheap roses like this do any good. I have a large bed at the front of the plot which already has one rose in it (from a cutting I did last year) and a Globe artichoke which I love for it's architectural leaves. so I threw 'Woolie rose' in there (with lots of manure and TLC!)
You can also see in the above pic the autumn sown broad beans in the 2nd bed back. They're doing well despite a couple of casualties either from slugs or pigeons. Once I get up to the plot with my bean plants from home I'll fill in the gaps.

Behind that bed is the remains of my leeks, these were a smaller crop than I wanted but due to me not potting on the seedlings earlier than I should have, I'm thinking of starting them in a seed bed at home this year rather than seed trays and then moving them up to the plot once they're tall enough.

We haven't manage a trip up to the plot for a few weeks now, a combination of appalling weather and us spending time decorating at home. D's parents are coming to us for Easter and we stupidly told them that we would have a nicely decorated bedroom for them to stay in so we've been slogging our guts out to try and finish it. One of the joys of living in a house built in the 1800's is wonky walls and crumbling plaster, so normal decorating takes twice as long to do. I mustn't grumble really, this will be our third year in this house and we've been very lazy in our restoration approach, gardening just seems to get in the way!!

Anyway, Easter is the BIG weekend for working at the allotment, last year was amazing weather at Easter but then this year it falls much earlier, so fingers crossed for a bit of sun. We plan to do lots there anyway and the first potatoes have GOT to be put in on Good Friday (it's gardening law!!)

Newspaper pots

There is nothing nicer at this time of year than to be sat inside by a roaring log fire preparing for the forth coming growing season. I'm in full swing at the moment making newspaper pots for plug plants and seedlings.

An easy guide to making pots from newspaper.

1. Take a sheet of newspaper and cut in half, lay on surface and using the inside from a loo roll, roll the paper around it, with one end of the loo roll right up against the paper edge.2. At the other end push the paper into the loo roll, this is going to form the base of the pot.3. Pull the loo roll out of the pot.4. Turn the paper edge over to form a 1cm fold at the other end to make the top of the pot.5. The top of the pot with the 1 cm turned over lip.

6. To make the base of the pot get a cylindrical object (I use an aerosol spray) and push it inside the pot and bash down the turned in paper you did in step 2 to form the base.
The finished pot!

These pots are really useful, they replace the need to buy small plastic pots and can be used in exactly the same way as peat pots. Fill them with compost, sow seed into them, when the plant is ready to be planted outside you plant the entire pot as it will rot away naturally allowing the plant to grow without having had any transplant shock! I use these for all sorts, when I buy small plug plants (Busy Lizzies last year) I use these to grow them on before planting into the garden, I've also used them for Tomatoes, Peas, Runner beans, French beans etc. The added bonus is that they are very eco friendly as you are recycling old paper and not using Peat pots! Happy pot making!!!!!

(p.s. if your pots grow mould on the outside whilst your seedlings are developing don't panic, mine always do this with no harm to the seedling plant.)

Wilko's Cheap Onion sets

I find the lure of the seed catalogues very hard to avoid but this year I decided not to buy my onion sets from Marshalls or other seed company. I might regret the decision to buy them from Wilkinsons but price wise they could not be beaten! I went to a couple of cheap pound type shops and ended up buying a bag of white onions (stuttgarter) and red onions (red karmen) from Wilkinsons @ £1 each and some Sturon from the '99p store' this is a big saving on the seed companies who charge between £2 an nearly £5 depending on variety.

At the moment they're sat waiting for warmer weather before they go into the plot, our plot neighbour (Will) starts them off in little pots in the greenhouse so that they have a head start, might be worth a try.

Starling aerobatics

Below is a video of the spectacle we are subject to every evening as the local flock of starlings performs it's aerobatics. It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, they cover the roads, houses and cars in muck but for us it is a small price to pay to watch this natural phenomenon.(Excuse the quality and VERY anoying clicking it's from a digital camera)

Keeping a note

I started this blog for two reasons, the first reason was to keep a record for myself, I wanted to be able to keep a digital record of my allotment from day one before we had done anything and it was an overgrown meadow, to have somewhere that I could have notes and records plus photos of the progression. The other reason was that I wanted to make my notes and musings available to others, to offer other people my experience and mistakes so that my experience may help them ( that sounds big headed and it's not meant to!) I gained so much information and help from other peoples blogs before I took on our plot and I still refer to lots of blogs to see what others are doing, so I wanted to do the same and offer up my experience.

I've also kept notes in an old journal in which I draw a plan and keep copious pages of notes and diary entries, as much as this blog is a fantastic way to record stuff there is something very satisfying about putting pen/pencil to paper and doing little scribbles and notes which by the end of the year has produced (in my mind) a thing of beauty. My journal from last year ended up with scribbling, things crossed out and others added when we decided to add a new crop, it has left a mish mash of a plan, sometimes splattered with mud when we were at the plot, I can look at it and remember at a second what went where and it instantly brings back memories of the previous growing year, the successes and the failures. Technology is great but sometimes good old pen and paper can serve much better.

One potato, two potato, three potato, MORE!!!!!!! Lots more!

Ever heard of a potato day? Well basically it's an idea that has gained huge following in the last few years as growing your own has become more popular. Potato days (or in this instance an entire weekend!!) are events where a nursery sell around 100-200 different varieties of potato by the tuber or by weight. Obviously there are lots of different types of spuds available to the home gardener and this is a brilliant way to be able to buy just a couple of a variety to try out rather than having to buy an entire sack.

Our local potato day was held at Dundry's nursery between Gloucester and Cheltenham a fab small nursery that is a rare small nursery that seems dedicated to the gardener and very unlike one of those huge 'garden centres' that seems set on selling you perfumed candles and has an overpriced bistro cafe.

We went on Saturday afternoon not long before they closed and we were greeted by a HUGE selection of spuds in one of their glasshouses, I'd worked out before hand roughly what I wanted but I still ended up buying more than I had planned, the list as follows...

Earlies

Belle de Fontenay (10)
International Kidney (Jersey Royals 10)
Winston (10)

Main Crop

Cara (10)
Pentland Squire (5)
Picasso (5)

Chitting is the process that now follows, this is the process of allowing the spuds to sprout in a cool place before planting them, some people disagree that this does any good but others swear that this helps produce quicker and better plants. One of the best ways to put spuds out to chit is to put one per section of an egg box and then put them into a shed, greenhouse or garage to form shoots, then plant them out in March (sheltered areas) or April in more exposed areas.

Potatoes in egg boxes ready for chitting

Seed Swap Heaven

Box of seeds on dining table

I've just been involved in a seed swap 'pass the parcel' through the fab website Allotments 4 all. I'd seen several 'pass the parcel' swaps being set up through the forum over the last year or so that I have been a member but I'd never been involved with one.

The basic idea is that a dozen or so members are involved in a parcel of seeds being posted to each other, one person sets it up and posts a parcel of seed packets to the first person on the list who takes out a selection of what they would like and then adds unwanted seeds from their own seed collection. By the time it arrived to me it was a small box packed to bursting point with an amazing collection of seeds. I had a really fab time sorting through the massive selection and selected quite a few varieties of seeds that I probably wouldn't have gone out and bought and it gave me the chance to go through my own collection of seeds and pass onto the parcel those seeds that I know I wont sow or I just have too many of. Such a simple idea but a really good one!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Ok, hands up I've been a lazy so and so for not posting anything on here for a few weeks, in my defence I will tell you that I have been mega busy with work as we head up to the big day and also to be honest there ain't much happening horticulturally at the moment!

I have got some peas growing in gutters at home which are doing well and I will run them up to the allotment some time over the Christmas break to bed them in. We have decided to try these a bit earlier this year as others were having fab crops a lot earlier than us with our later spring sowing.

I've managed to race up to the plot most weekends to pull up some carrots and parsnips for our Sunday roast plus the odd cabbage so we're still managing to provide a lot of our own veg. The plot does tend to get a bit waterlogged so it's not easy to do much else up there at the moment even though we have loads of work to do on the new next door plot.

Anyway, I will take some up to date pics of the said pea plants and plots soon and let you know about my plans for a mini greenhouse on the new plot soon (recycling here we go!!!)

Have a FABULOUS Christmas and New Year!!!

One Year old!!!

Yes it's true, this blog is officially one year old today!!! I've amazed myself that I have updated it on a reasonably regular basis, I'm normally the sort of person that starts something with great gusto and then the initial buzz and enthusiasm fades away, we've also just had our first anniversary at the allotment.

Last visit up to the plot was a couple of weeks ago when we spent the day shovelling horse shit!!! I finally managed to get D to come to the biggest pile of shit you've ever seen at the local riding stables and help me fill bags. The heat generated from the heap was incredible and even when we'd driven it back to the plot in bags it still steamed when spread across the beds!

We spread muck on all the empty beds and then filled up the muck bin that I built at the front of the plot with the rest to rot down for later on and next year.

The biggest shit heap in the world!! (...and I don't mean the car, although it is knackered!)

Steaming beds!

It feels sad that most things have now finished for this year, I can't complain really as we've had a fantastic year considering the unbelievable weather (Gloucester was just a tad wet!) and also considering that we converted the overgrown plot that we found into this ...

The pic shows the front part of the plot. The front left bed has Japanese / overwintering onions in it with the tail end of some spinach and gladioloi.

The right hand bed with the canes is the broad bean bed with the beans I sowed about 3 weeks ago, the b. beans I sowed in spring were not really a good crop and loads of people have told me to sow in November for an earlier crop in spring which will also hopefully avoid the blackfly problem. Will and Sue (plot neighbours) did theirs like that and had an amazing crop this spring.

The 2 nearest beds show one covered in muck and the tiny leeks that we planted out quite late, I'm hoping they'll come to something at some point but I'm not holding my breath! I've learnt loads about the timing and planning of crop growing this year, hopefully as we have already got beds dug and a proper plot working now I'll be able to stay on top of things.

D has been continuing with clearing plot no. 2 which has been mown several times and beds marked out, the next pic shows the first bed de-turfed and now it has been dug properly and manured.

I feel even more excited about next spring than I did this time last year, we've now got one plot working reasonably well and plot no.2 well on the way plus some experience under our belt.

The influx of new people on the site is great with several of the old overgrown plots already being well tended and promising looking plots developed. In a way it was nice when it was just a few of us as it felt like our own secret garden and the overgrown plots kind of gave it hidden feel, of course at the time I moaned like mad at not having a full and well tended site, no pleasing some people hey!

One year down, loads more to come ....

We are now 2 plots!!!

A very long story which I won't bore you with but D has now officially got his own plot at the allotments!! It is the vacant one adjacent to our current plot which we had been strimming the weeds to stop the seeds straying over us. So although that will be 'HIS' plot and the current one will remain 'MINE' we will actually be making some changes and blurring the lines between the two plots so we'll have one huge one!

'D' standing admiring 'HIS' plot next to 'MY' Plot!

We had talked about it for a long time, wondering if we would be slightly mad to take on another plot ( I think we probably are!) but what the hell, you only live once. We plan to use it to grow more veg on but also there will be a lot of flowers for cutting. We spend a small fortune on flowers from supermarkets, for ourselves and for friends when we go for dinner or the weekend, so we're hoping this will put an end to that and enable us to grow our own.

I went up to the plot on Monday to dig over the bed for the broad beans to go in. When I arrived Sue and Will were busy digging next door but kindly stopped long enough to inform me that I have a family of rats living by my shed!! I HATE RATS!!!
Sue was telling me that they had seen them climbing up the sweetcorn plants, so we walked over to find that the little bastards had stripped every single cob completely clean. Over the next half hour we saw THREE of the buggers which just makes my skin crawl, I am not going to mess about, I've already got some poison from mice we had earlier in the year at home so come the weekend Roland and his friends will have to say bye bye! I'm also looking at getting a battery operated sonic wotsit which I can put in the shed to keep any others away.

Oh the joys of communing with nature!!!

Champagne and onions

We wizzed up to the plot on Sunday for a quick half hour session and we ended up being there for about three hours instead!

I had decided to take the Japanese (over wintering) onion sets to put into the plot, I managed to get them in plus one row of garlic before Sue and Will, our plot neighbours, arrived. They really are fantastic people, always offering help and advice and on Sunday as a sort of toast to the end of the growing year and to challenge us to more and better next year they had brought a bottle of bubbly to share with us!!! Will called us over to be presented with a paper cup each of bubbly, it was one of the most surreal things to be stood on an allotment site toasting each others good health etc with champagne. Who said allotments is old men and flat caps!

Japanese Onion bed

So after our liquid refreshment it was back to digging some of the beds over in preparation for spring cabbages and manuring, I still haven't made my trip to the stables yet to collect some muck, something to look forward to!

Holiday (Yes another one!) and Malvern Autumn Garden Show

The panorama that heads this page is of Southwold in Suffolk, we've just spent a glorious week at D's parents down there and had a fab time. Much to the annoyance of my hairdressing clients who always, without exception exclaim "Another holiday?!" when I tell them I'm going away for a week. This is, I have to insist, only a week out of the four weeks that I take off from work but the buggers think I have too much!! Anyway......

Our trip to Beth Chatto's Garden near Colchester should have been the highlight of the week but sadly ended up being a washout, we went in the pouring rain and when we arrived we went around her garden nursery, spent money there and in the tea room (V. V. expensive) and then left! Oh well maybe next time it'll be dry for us to go around the gardens.

Beth Chatto Nursery

In contrast the place that we went to thinking that it might be a quick jaunt was Wyken hall and Vineyards.

From the moment we drove down the impressive drive to be greated by the Great barn converted into Country store and restaurant I suspected we'd be there for longer than we initially thought.

Again not a cheap place to go to but if you are in the Suffolk/Essex area it really is a stunning place. The Elizabethan hall at the heart of the estate is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens including knot garden, maze, kitchen garden etc. Not huge gardens but beautifully executed and the entire place ooooooooozes style and sophistication!

Wyken Hall

One thing I had decided to do this year having gone down the grow your own path was to exhibit some of the produce from the plot. I'd love to say that below are some pictures of my produce but sadly for one reason and another I didn't get around to doing it.

The show in question is the Autumn garden show at the Three Counties Showground in Malvern (Worcestershire) which is only around 20 mins drive from us and just down the road from Ledbury where my salon is.

I love these type's of shows, they do a Spring garden show too (click here to read of our trip to that) which to be honest is the better one but the Autumn one is fab for the Harvest Pavillion with the veg exhibits. I have never seen such impressive veg in all my life!! Thank the lord we didn't try this year!!!!! I am however determined to try something next year....watch this space!!

Mowers and cabbages

The plot is looking really good at the moment, I replied to a FREECYCLE offered email for a Mountfield petrol mower which needed a bit of tweaking to get it back into workable order but it is now running well and helping us to keep the plot looking neat and tidy! I'm amazed at what people are willing to chuck or give away, this mower is only 2 years old!!! It cost us £15 to have it serviced and Bob's your Uncle!

D is doing a bit of a catalogue pose here in this picture as he waters the new leek plants....bless him!!

Several of the beds are now empty and need to be properly dug over to remove perrenial weed root which still persists from our initial digging at the beginning of the year, we are beating it though!

Once dug I'm going to be sowing some green manure on them to stop weeds growing and to add some goodness to the soil.

The beds by the shed are really coming into their own now as the crops in them are growing like mad. My favourite bed is this one with Cabbage, carrots, parsnips and french marigolds in, I think it looks really fab.

The sweetcorn is also nearly ready, I'm really looking forward to trying this as it's supposed to be fantastic when eaten fresh from the plant.
There is now a real feeling of Autumn coming, the mornings have had a definite cold feeling to them and the nights are drawing in (which I hate!) I'm determined to get the broad beans in during the Autumn to get a head start and I'm also wanting to put Japanese onions and Garlic in.

We've seen several new people up at the plot the last few times that we've been up, there has been a bit of a push to let out the empty plots and apparently we have a waiting list now to get onto this site.
It feels odd to see strange faces after being only a handful of us for so long but it is nice and hopefully it'll secure the future of the site a bit more and give the place some life!

Littleover allotments open

Whilst visiting friends in Derby this weekend we managed to shoe horn in a trip to an allotment site which was open to the public under the 'National Garden Scheme' which helps raise money for charity.

I am an avid fan of the website 'Allotments 4 all' and it was through this site that I found out that the allotments would be open.

I have to say that I am SO jealous of the plot holders that manage to get a plot on this site. 'Littleover' allotment site is the most wonderful place with it's own museum, school reception centre and purpose built loos!!

It's a huge site with long pathways between neatly clipped hedges and the mix of different plot styles is fantastic.

The 2 pictures below show plots owned by 2 fellow 'Allotments 4 all' users and in my humble are 2 of the most amazing plots I have ever seen!

Above and below

Plots belonging to 'Allotments 4 all' membersThe next 2 pictures show an amazing plot which belongs to a wonderful lady who insisted that we take some plants home with us. She has created a mix between ornamental and productive garden and it looks fantastic!

A lot of these plots also back onto houses so people have been able to rent the plot behind their house and extend their growing space.

Above and below

Ornamental and productive plot

The next pic was taken whilst standing inside a Dahlia growers plot, the most amazing array of dahlias I have ever seen, this pic only shows a small selection of them but it also shows the incredibly neat hedging between plots and the sweet little gateways that each plot has.
And the last couple of pics show how inventive we allotmenteers are when it comes to shed building. Regular readers of my blog will know I LOVE allotment buildings and especially ones that look wonky and are quite obviously made from left over bits!

I would urge anyone to visit this site when it is next open, we had a great couple of hours, the site was beautiful , very peaceful and the people were some of the friendliest people I have ever met. They opened in May aswell this year so I'm hoping they will do the same next year and we'll squeeze in another trip.