Pot of Gold?

Shortly after taking this photo, at the beginning of December, I found out what is actually at the end of the rainbow:

Rain.

Vampires Beware

Moog thought I should report, with great pride, that we have now planted our first actual allotment crop!

I like cooking things like Chinese food with lots of garlic, so I have finally managed to make room for the bulbs I ordered a couple of months ago from The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight. I didn’t know where to start so I ordered a special set of everything; we’ll see what comes up. Thankfully the instructions say that it can be planted any time from autumn to spring, as it needs a period of cold weather to get it going. Moog thinks that’s why supermarket garlic sprouts when you keep it in the fridge too long… I’ve also dug in lots of manure as Moog thinks the garlic will like that.

Moog thought we should use the blog to record what we plant; otherwise we’ll forget what we put there by the time it (hopefully) grows. There’s a good chance we’ll also lose the instructions that came with the bulbs, and forget when to harvest the stuff too. So, this is what we planted at the beginning of December 2007:



Early Purple Wight. A purple hard-necked garlic from China. Ready to harvest around May/June. Harvest as soon as it’s ready, should keep for 2-3 months.
Chesnock Wight. Hard-necked garlic from around the Black Sea. A flowering head is supposed to appear in June, which should be cut off above leaf level to increase bulb size (seems a shame). Harvested in June after Early Wight, should keep until Christmas.
Iberian Wight. Soft-neck large white early garlic originating from the Mediterranean, grows nearly on the surface, ready in June.

Garlic likes it if you spread sulphate of potash around the plants in Feb/March; they need to be kept weed free and watered like anything else, but stop watering 3 weeks before harvesting. Assuming any of this grows at all, I may have to leave harvesting a week or two later than it says, as I’m later planting than I wanted, and, as Moog rightly points out, we don’t live on the Isle of Wight.

You're Sacked!

Just arrived, a pile of hessian sacks , courtesy of new official Friends of the Moog, Sam and Wes. Thanks guys. The advice (that I carefully ignored) not to leave them in the car for too long was quite correct. There is now a distinctly sacky odour pervading the interior... still at least it covers up the odour of The Moog, which is no bad thing, I can tell you.

Moog thought the sacks were brilliant, and rubbed his face on them until he sneezed. Then he lost interest (he has a woefully short attention span).

Green Manure and free turf

I am very proud to say I have now had time to do my first proper digging on my plot. It is bloody hard work, because although the soil is actually quite nice it is full of thick roots, stones, bricks, and tiny bits of rubbish, everything from sweet wrappers to sheets of glass (see below).

First, I cleared the edge next to the riding and sowed some grass seeds to re-establish the verge now the weeds have gone. While I was doing that, another new allotmenteer (I prefer the term allotmentalist) came along and started chatting. He noticed I was seeding and offered me a couple of square metres of turf for free. Moog likes free stuff so I accepted, even though it was looking a bit dead to me Moog thinks it might re-establish when we get a bit of rain.

The second bit of digging was over toward the centre of my plot, where I have dug two squares and planted some of my green manure seeds. On Saturday I had two willing helpers to help clear the soil, where we were delighted to find a massive sheet of glass, buried under a big piece of plastic sheet, and shattered into a million pieces in my soil. We got quite a bit of it out, but I think I'd better be careful what I plant!

Moog thinks I could always open up a sideline selling glass-spiked veg to secret agents, stalkers, animal rights activists etc. but I think he is being silly again.

Bored of carpeting

Moog is distinctly bored of carpet collecting now, not least due to the fact that it is turning into a fox's public convenience. The fox must enjoy the soft carpet pile against its butt.

So to relieve Moog's boredom, and mine, I have ordered some green manure to plant on my plot. Green manures are grown on spare soil, to be dug in as fertiliser when you're ready to start planting. I've ordered winter field beans and grazing rye from http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/. They arrived quickly despite the postal strike - good service, and a good website - highly recommended.

Outfox the Fox!

Well

Moog thought leaving his own smell might put Mr Fox off, but I returned to drop off some more 2nd hand carpet after work yesterday to find he'd pushed down my board and brick barrier, and laid a fresh turd for me on the carpet again.

I now have a picture in my head of the crafty vulpine intruder. Resplendant in a top hat, red hunting jacket and brandishing a cigarette, mocking me from the comfort of a wing-back chair in his Edwardian-style lair. No, I don't know why but it just fits. Maybe it's that fox from the 1980's mint adverts.

The other image is of course of him (or her) banging his head against the six bricks and three pieces of wood that Moog suggested I put over the hole. Let's see if he can get through that lot. I expect he's probably got a saw, clever little blighter.

Moog digs the allotment

We all visited on Sunday - Mrs Moog-Keeper, The Moog and his friend Pepper. We spent a couple of hours sorting out the site. We’ve moved the carpet round to the side where all the long grass is, as we found it is working really well, not just to smother new seedlings, but to compost the dead top growth. The long grass is hardest to get rid of, so we’ll give it the carpet treatment for a while.

Moog spent most of the time in the corner tied to the fence, digging. The Moog loves to dig! Moog thought he was 'helping', and in fact he made a fairly good attempt at clearing a corner of the plot all by himself. I’d have posted a picture but I didn’t take my camera. Pepper just barked at him in encouragement until she was banished to the car boot for being a nuisance and not helping.

Moog spent the rest of the day looking very sleepy indeed – he thinks he might leave the digging to me in future!

Conversation with John

Whilst I was building my compost bins, my neighbour turned up and pottered around his plot. Before long I was drawn over by the smell of fresh produce to see what he was doing. There before me, five perfect leeks, fresh, tender, and smelling delicious. What an excellent incentive to carry on with my work! Leeks are certainly on my list of things to grow.
It turns out my neighbour is called John. I’m pleased to say he seemed impressed with what I’d done so far, and said I was “doing it right.” So that’s a good start. He also pointed out the access hole in the fence where the fox comes through to sh*t on my plot. I have blocked it with a piece of board and a brick. Foxy can find another toilet.

John also let me know that we share a fairly sheltered spot, which isn’t prone to waterlogging like some others. He thought my side was a “decent bit of dirt, underneath.” He said there are a few tree roots at the top though, which extend a surprising distance into the allotments from the hedge on the other side of the fence.

Compost bin

Moog thought that instead of building a shed I ought to sort out some more space for compost first. After clearing a lot of the weeds I noticed that the front corner of my plot slopes downward, and after this year’s floods I don’t want to plant things where they are likely to get waterlogged so I used the spot to build two compost bays out of the old pallets that I found on the site. Moog’s very pleased with the results.

Moog's Poetry Corner: #2

Moog thinks the most surprising thing about having his own allotment-based blog, is the amount of poetry people have been sending him.

Moog has spent most of his summer recovering from having cruciate ligament surgery on his knee, and thinks a spot of poetry is just the thing to help him relax. Who am I to disagree?

This one's hot off the press from Wise Mike's Wisdom Shed:

When the wind through lonely grass stems blows.
And naught but wretched bindweed grows,
Take heart, and from your shed look out,
Upon your kingdom, parched from drought,
But ever upon the turning of the soil,they say,
New life will spring, so come the 'morrow; more weeds so gay!

I would tell you what Moog thinks, but he's dropped quietly off to sleep, and I don't want to disturb him.

Mike’s Wisdom proved correct

There’s a small patch of grass at the front of my plot, which Moog thought made a good place to sit but needed mowing. I resolved to get hold of a push mower or petrol strimmer to sort it out.
I returned on Tuesday to drop off another carpet donation, to find that someone has already mown it – Moog thinks the chap next door must have done it for me.

Excellent news, the wisdom tips are already paying off!

Moog’s Visit: First signs of a change

Moog thought it was a while since the blog was updated, and that it would be good to go and visit the allotment, so I took him:

Moog thinks the weedkiller has done a great job on the bindweed, with only a few green leaves still showing. I’m quite pleased myself to see that it has worked, too! Moog thinks the last bit in the bottle of weedkiller will be enough to finish off the last few stragglers.

Moog thinks the carpet is building up nicely, thanks to more donations from my colleagues at work. About half, maybe, is covered now so any weed seeds in the soil shouldn’t have chance to germinate.

Unfortunately I now have to start digging… Moog thinks, "I love digging!" He's right, of course, The Moog loves to dig. Unfotunately I feel his 'help' will be more of a hindrance; that's a shame, since he's ever so keen on digging. Here's a picture of Moog digging on the beach (his favourite place to dig).

A poem from Moog’s friend

Moog’s friend Nicola has sent in an allotment poem for the blog. Moog thinks his friend has got a vivid imagination (unlike his good self) but perhaps she shouldn’t give up her day job. Not just yet anyway:

There was a young man from Bletchley,
who tried hard to grow his own tea.
He got an allotment,
but the number of weeds meant
he got awfully bored and hungry!

Moog thinks rhyming “allotment” and “weeds meant” was nicely done, considering they can only rhyme depending on the reader’s pronunciation of allotment. Moog would have been more impressed if his friend found a rhyme for ‘Wolverton’ instead of ‘Bletchley’. [Ed: 'Wolverton' wouldn't scan, Moog].

While he had his literary criticism hat on, Moog thought it was interesting to note that if you read this limerick as prose, it actually makes very good sense; Moog’s friend hasn’t had to use any techniques such as poetic inversion to make it rhyme and force the words into the limerick format. However, if you take away the enforced rhythm and read the poem as prose you also take away the feeling of comedy that Moog’s friend has brought to the story. She uses a familiar comic tone to indicate to the reader that this isn’t meant to be taken as a pure statement of fact. So although the words aren’t funny in themselves, the limerick and the ending exclamation mark bring comic appeal to the poem.

I don’t know where Moog gets this sort of stuff from, I really don’t. We changed his food recently, it might be that I suppose.

Shed thoughts

I've decided on the location of my shed, it will be in the top right hand corner, with compost bins, water butt etc. placed behind it out of sight. I have received a donation of 4 metal post holders with which to start construction, these, with fence posts in, will form the corners, and I'm going to nail planks between them to create the shed. A bit of work, I know, but cheaper and more satisfying than buying one, and my one won't blow away.

Moog thinks it will be unique, I don't know whether that's a complement or an insult!

Weed blockers

The cheapest weed control fabric I've found is £19.00 for 1x150 metres, from Wickes, which isn't bad but I'd prefer it to be free of course.

Moog thinks asking around at work will be a good way to secure some old carpet, to cover the earth before I get round to working it. So I posted a note on the Intranet, and I've had about 5 offers already, amazing how many people have old carpet lying around, that they're all keen to get rid of!





Picked up the first batch today.. (see picture below) only a few more square metres to go!

Work Starts - Buried Treasure Found!

Moog thought we should take advantage of the sunny bank holiday weather to get the work started on the allotment. So it begins.

I started by looking round the site and found a pile of old pallets and timber in the middle, which after stepping on and hurting my foot, I stacked at the side of the site. They could come in useful. I found a small section dug in the middle of the plot about 2ft x 6ft that the last occupant left covered with orange polythene, Moog thinks they were trying to provide a perfect home for slugs, snails and ants. I think they succeeded. Half the plot is bindweed and thistles, the other half is long grass.

There are some small hawthorn saplings, which I know from experience will be harder to uproot than they have any right to be; but I found no evidence of any useful plants growing. I did however find a nice old fashioned metal watering can buried in the undergrowth. Hurrah! Treasure! Unfortunately there's a small split in the bottom, so I took it home to use as a decorative planter in my garden.

After a trip round three different shops I found that Wyevale has the best selection of weedkillers. I chose a glyphosate concentrate (like Roundup, but not as expensive) and a couple of wide sprinkler heads for my watering cans rather than using a spray, because I didn't want it drifting on to anyone elses crops. Most people seem to have had a fairly poor year this year due to all the rain and lack of sun so I don't want to add to their woes with weedkiller!

It took two of us about an hour to cover the whole plot with trips back to the tap; unfortunately I'll have to wait and see if it works, since the stuff takes a couple of weeks to get going. Shame, as we had to leave the plot looking almost the same as when we found it.. I'm used to jobs with more instant results!

Mike's Wisdom Shed: Tip No.4: Carrots

"Carrots are liable to carrot fly, rake in some naphthalene flake (moth-balls), if you can still get such stuff. Don't worry, the carrots taste fine! Grow two types of carrots, early & late, they will germinate profusely so thin them out a bit, not too much, then as they fill out, the small ones will make excellent eating as you continue to thin. The later ones will take a long time to fill out, but by autumn, you should have a good crop which can be stored in, say, a cardboard or wooden box full of dry-ish earth; they keep well like that, & can be used as required. Carrots will tend to fork root if in over manured ground, but still taste as good!"

Moog thinks carrots are not real food. If I give him one, he takes it ever so gently in his mouth and sits with it in his bed, maybe making a few cursory bites in case it turns out to be meat-filled, before leaving it on the floor for the other scavenger in the house to find and devour.

Mike's Wisdom Shed: Tip No.3

"Best results only come from a well-manured ground. Never buy manure from dodgy unauthorized people who may come around, they'll quote one price, then after delivery claim a higher price. Compost from mushroom farms is supposed to be the best, but may be difficult to source. Keep tetanus booster jabs up to date; it is easy to cut oneself in the course of digging, etc. There is no substitute for deep digging, get that manure down there; turn weeds over & bury them, keep the soil broken up & open using a good wide rake, use a hoe (both types) to eradicate germinating weeds. "


Moog thinks dodgy unauthorised people should stay away. They come past the house often, and get barked at for their trouble. Moog thinks: "I like to bite dodgy unauthorised people on the leg. They tend to go away when I do that."

The Moog, In full thought

Here is Moog on his thinking bench. As soon as the sun comes out, he wanders over and makes himself comfortable. It's where he has lots of his best ideas. Most of the time, he just daydreams and snoozes the afternoons away.

Who can blame him? I would too, if I was The Moog.

Mike's Wisdom Shed: Tip No.2

"If you want to cheat, get a second hand rotavator! Get some parsnips in for the winter, try cylinder beetroot instead of the round kind, they are awesome!

You need two kinds of peas, early & maincrop. "Little Marvel" best early ones, Kelvedon wonder, best main. Germinating peas will be eaten by birds if you don't use twigs & black cotton to deter them. Hope you get a chance to try, it's very satisfying!"

Moog thinks it would be nice to grow bonios, but he doesn't really understand where these things come from.

Mike's Wisdom Shed: Tip No.1

Moog thinks we should use the blog to collect any advice we get about the allotment. So I'm posting this tip from my Dad, who's advice is normally very valuable and gained through experience. Moog likes Dad, he sits on his feet and stares up at him in silent admiration whenever he comes round. Tickling behind the ears often helps.

Top Allotment Tip Number 1:

"Yes, a plot with an active old gent next door is good. My neighbour once dug my bit for me when it got a bit overgrown! Never did get the hang of how people like that can do so much with apparent ease, when I used to sweat, but he was an ex BR fireman on steam trains! Next point, if there isn't a hut, build one, just a small one, saves carting all your tools around, provides shelter from downpours, & you can always have a pee if necessary! Of course you need to make it really strong & properly locked, but mine, built from scrap wood lasted many years after I gave up.

Don't worry too much about bindweed, couch grass etc, it's an ongoing problem, but has little overall effect on output.

Depending on whether your plot has been recently cultivated or not, it is always a good plan to break the ground up initially by growing potatoes the first year. You can spend money on expensive Scottish seed potatoes, or just use your favourite supermarket variety,"shopping basket specials" always seem to do well. Expect to have enough potatoes to last the year out, stored in paper or hessian sacks they keep well, but don't use them as seed for next year, it encourages disease problems. A good idea is to stagger production by planting an early variety first. They are very simple to plant & grow, all you need is to keep earthing them up to protect against late frost. The bonus is you can eat them an hour or so after digging them up & they tase SO much better, as does all fresh produce! (Some folk don't understand this, and say why bother when you can get veg. from the supermarket these days? D'oh!)."

More top tips to follow from Old Mike's Wisdom Shed.

Moog thinks: 'I like the idea of peeing in a shed...' I've told Moog there's actually a toilet provided by the council so that shouldn't be necessary, but he's got that faraway look in his eyes again. Moog pees on just about everything and is always keen to expand his horizons.

Number 29

Today The Moog has mainly been thinking about my new allotment. Number 29. I chose a site that was (a) nice and close to the water tap; (b) in full sun but next to the tall boundary hedge for shelter; (c) next to an active old gent who can offer me advice, and (d) not too badly overgrown. Moog thinks No. 29 will be far enough up the hill to avoid being waterlogged. He thought I should pick up the keys yesterday, so I did.

Moog thinks the first job will be to clear the whole site of the choking weeds that have arisen(personally I think he copied this idea off the old man next door on Plot 28). Luckily the site has been worked a little bit in the last couple of years so most of the weeds are not too high, there aren't any massive brambles, or overgrown trees. There is plenty of bindweed to contend with, amongst other things. Moog thinks that, on the plus side, the weeds are a good sign that the soil is fertile. I agree.

Moog thinks that although he'd like the allotment to be as organic as possible, that glyphosate weedkiller to get into the roots is going to be necessary, as suggested by my new allotment neighbour, otherwise we'll be here till kingdom come trying to get the site ready to grow things on. Looking at the amount of digging that will be necessary if I don't use weedkiller, I'm inclined to agree with The Moog.

Moog thought it would be good to order a cheap compost bin from the council, they are subsidised and only cost £9.00 including delivery. So I ordered one today. Good call, Moog. Moog thinks it will be OK to compost the weeds, when they've died back, as the weedkiller won't remain toxic once it's done its initial job and will deactivate in the soil so I can grow stuff again. Where he gets his info from I'm not sure but it sounds fairly well researched.

The other things Moog has been thinking about are where to get some black plastic or carpet to put over the ground to stop the weeds growing back, and what the best spot will be for a little shed, so I can have a cup of tea. Moog thinks that I should build my own shed, as prefabricated ones are over £100 for the very smallest. Thrifty Moog, good job I'm handy with a saw.