Festive scarecrows

It's a quiet time of year down at the allotments, so it was time at the weekend to give the scarecrow a festive spruce-up:

The Santa suit was £2.99 and the red felt was so bright it hurt my eyes

Also spotted this Cyberman on guard over a nearby plot:

Cabbages safe from marauding Time Lords - for now.

Frosts and crumble

Our expedition to collect apples was a great success this weekend. We collected windfalls in two carrier bags and later my wife made the most delicious apple crumble for tea. She has also frozen a further five portions, which judging by yesterday's first taste will not be around for very long. A great way to spend Sunday afternoon.

We also found time to plant a sack full of daffodil bulbs along the front of the plot. I always wanted the allotment to be like a garden, not just a working plot, so I hope we haven't put them in too late. These came half-price from Wyevale Garden Centre in Woburn Sands. They often have offers on if you go in regularly, especially toward the end of the traditional season, when they're making room for their Christmas junk. I'm not sure when garden centres became specialists in Christmas decorations but you have to admit it's a pretty good way of getting over the winter which would otherwise be a quiet time for them.

Speaking of winter, It's finally starting to feel like that season has arrived, so I'm glad I got a few jobs done before it got really cold. We have now had a couple of hard frosts, one last week and a proper chill last night (28 November) so I hope my parsnips will be ready to try the next time I go to the plot.  Hopefully the garlic will be kick-started into life now we've had some really low temperatures, as there is no sign yet. Two rows of garlic are sharing a bed with a row of Radar overwintering onions which came as a kind donation from work colleague and fellow allotmenteer Derek. The broccoli is doing well although I do need to raise the netting a bit higher before the pigeons find it.

Broccoli seems to be growing well, hopefully it will be ready in around March to give us some produce at an otherwise lean time of year on the allotment

A good day's work

I booked a day off work last week and spent most of it at the plot. What a great way to spend my day. I managed to get rid of a lot weeds and rubbish, starting in the morning by setting a good fire which smouldered all day. I also dumped a few wheelbarrow loads of rubbish and weeds and dug up two more massive blocks of concrete (as well as a bucket full of big stones). I dug over some ground and laid several new paths ready for next year. 

Thanks to being out all day I also got chatting to a fellow plot holder who has a huge apple tree on her plot. She had run out of things to do with cooking apples, and with a pleading look in her eyes invited me to gather as many windfalls as I wanted. When I had a look there really were hundreds, so an expedition with the tiny human has been planned for the weekend to collect some.

New tidy paths. the dug strip in the foreground was just weeds  when I started.

More neat and tidiness. Path on the left was overgrown with weeds before I started.

A very satisfying bonfire of weeds

Two nicely prepared beds with a mulch of compost applied by my wife and the tiny human last weekend

A close call

Disaster was narrowly avoided last week when, after forgetting to pay my annual rent on time, the council threatened to evict me from my plot!

After calculating a suitable opportunity during the wafer-thin window that the council offices are actually open, my good wife popped in clutching the cash. There, she was told in no uncertain terms by Clerk No.1 (excessively rude and unhelpful) that we were too late and we had to collect our stuff and be gone by Monday! On hearing this, I went down there myself and had a polite, yet heated debate with Clerk No.2 (excessively jolly but still unhelpful). She, despite not really appearing to know what their own rules were, waved a copy of the allotment agreement in my face and kept repeating the words 'it's a legal document' until I finally convinced her to check to see if I'd been sent an official Notice To Quit (I knew damn well that I hadn't). After a few minutes of panicked searching through folders with Miserable Clerk No.1, Jolly Clerk No.2 came back and promised me that Clerk No.3 (demeanour to be confirmed) would phone me back in the afternoon when she rolled into the office after lunch. This she duly did (turned out to be very helpful and polite, if somewhat abrupt) and I was allowed to pay my rent at last, as long as I could get there between 2.30 and 3.00 and pay cash or cheque only before they closed for the week.

So there we are. Disaster averted, no friends made, I fear.

Surprise crop

It's one thing going to the plot to harvest a long-awaited crop but quite another when you come home with a pocket full of something you didn't even plant. Today I found a truss of ripe tomatoes, nestling in amongst the skeletal remains of my Aster daisies. I hadn't seen the plant or fruits develop but they must have been there for some time.

Digging in

I wonder if there is anything under my allotment? Apart from my parsnips, I mean, which are patiently awaiting the first frosts.

Moog used to do a bit of enthusiastic digging on the plot in his younger days, but he never found anything much, just soil. However, I came across an interesting local history website which mentions that the area was used for a large military exercise in the months before World War One, beginning on 29 August 1913:


http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/la/DaysofPride/docs/partone.html

Apparently a large division of British soldiers camped in the area very close to my plot and even held a party at Stacey Hill Farm when they left. they were only there for a short time but built quite a bustling camp. The army relied heavily on horse power at that time, and the Royal Engineers built a 200ft platform for unloading horses from trains, as well building a temporary veterinary hospital. No doubt the rural nature of the area (for the military exercises) and the railway (for moving troops) were a factor in choosing the site. Some local residents have reported unearthing things like brass buttons and other fragments of military kit in their gardens, so there may well be something of interest lurking under plot 29.

Sleep well, old friend.

We took Moog to be put to sleep on Tuesday 25th October 2011 at 3.15pm. His last days were filled with cuddles, fuss and treats as we ignored his symptoms as best we could.

With his spotty coat still slightly damp from the torrential rain outside, he died quietly in our arms. He looked at peace for the first time in months, and we knew we had done the right thing.

He is very sorely missed.

Canine Cognitive Dysfunction

Regular visitors to my allotment blog will be familiar with the description of my dog in the heading:

A Moog is a type of dog. Blessed with very little brainpower, he cannot think.

I am saddened to report that our very kind (albeit wealthy) vet has now confirmed what we had begun to suspect. What started as a good-natured joke with a companion who, let’s face it, actually couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag, has become his diagnosis:

Moog can’t think.

Poor old Moog, or Max to use his real name for once, is slipping away from us. ‘Canine Cognitive Dysfunction,’ Senior Dementia, Doggy Alzheimer’s; - call it what you like, but the end result is the same. He’s here in body, but not in mind, and it’s not going to get better. Now I realise the symptoms can be grouped under one heading, there’s no mistaking the disease. Gradually, but with increasing frequency in recent months, Max has displayed all of these patterns:

• Gets lost in familiar places
• Trouble negotiating doors and furniture
• Does not respond to familiar commands or signals
• Does not recognise or is startled by familiar people or objects
• Paces or wanders aimlessly through the house
• Soils indoors, regardless of access to outdoors
• Stares at walls or into space
• Seeks less attention, praise and play
• Spends much time asleep during the day and paces at night
• General confusion between day and night, or indoors and outdoors
• Develops separation anxiety
• Frequently trembles or shakes
• Forget they ate/drank and want to eat/drink again and again
• Altered relationships with humans/other pets

So it is with heavy hearts that we will soon be taking the vet’s advice and helping him on his way to some much needed sleep before things get any worse. The day isn’t here yet, but when it is, it will be our last act of kindness for the poor frightened thing we rescued from the kennels 10 years ago.

The Thoughts of Moog will continue. Let’s face it, they were never really his to begin with. But for now, let’s celebrate his life with all the nicknames he has accumulated over the years.

Doglet (like piglet, but a dog); Maxin Andrelaxin; Maximillion; Moog (who could not think). Moogfish (who could swim and swim and swim); Max Factor International Stunt Dog (See him leap through closed windows in a single bound). T.H.E. Moog; Old Moog; Moogos Moogos Gali (former Secretary General to the United Dog Nations, often shortened just to Moogos); Moof; Moogfishdotcom (n.b. to be sung to the tune of ‘moonpig.com’ advert), and Plumbo Columbo (no I don’t know why either). There are probably many more that I have forgotten.

If you’re missing him feel free to sing ‘You were always in the way’ to the tune of ‘You were always on my mind’ by Elvis Presley. 

Maincrop harvest

Finally harvested the 'Cara' maincrop potatoes last week, quite a big haul - two big shopping bags as heavy as I could lift into the car. A few have been spoiled by slugs and little worms (not sure if they are wireworm or eelworm, and can't be bothered to look it up right now). Those will be used first, and hopefully we'll have enough to last until Christmas.

Free seeds

I have been down to the garden centre to redeem my reward vouchers, Only £3.00 this time but at least that means I haven't spent as much money this year. As with this time last year their seeds are reduced to 50p a pack. I've left it a bit late so not much to choose from, but I quite like that, it helps me choose! I plumped for:

Sweetcorn, Mirai. Early, extra sweet variety. Plant Feb-May, harvest Aug-Sept.
Celery, Granada. High yielding, stores well. Sow Feb-Mar, harvest Aug-Oct
Pea, Twinkle: Early, disease resistant variety. Sow Feb-April, Harvest June-July.
Pea, Lincoln, long cropping heritage variety, Sow March - June, harvest June-Aug

For the garden:
Nigella Mulberry Rose
Cosmos Purity

Evening tranquility

I mentioned in a previous post that I've been combining trips to the plot with walking the dogs all this summer. This means I often find myself there at sunset. the nights are already drawing in so much that I won't be able to go after work at all soon, and I will miss the peaceful atmosphere until next year.

Here are a couple of examples both taken standing on my plot using my Panasonic digital camera.

April 2011

August 2011

Time to stop and think

 Things seem to slow down a bit in late summer, after the huge explosion of growth in June and July that has kept me away from the blog. Time to slow down, have a think and post a few photos.

First here's a self-portrait I took for my photo-a-week project over on Flickr (follow the link if you're interested in the results of one of my other hobbies).

31st August, officially the last day of summer

I'm pleased I grew the Aster daisies and sunflowers (foreground), they've given us a steady supply of long-lasting flowers for the house since July, and they're still going. Behind those you can see the pumpkins, the biggest I have ever grown. Behind that, parsnips, slow to start but now catching up and waiting for the first frost before I try them. Behind that, surprisingly good dwarf French beans, a steady, manageable supply of good beans from tiny 8-inch high plants, rather than a massive glut all at once. Behind that, well you can't see the cabbages they are too small, and behind that; me. It's OK, I'm a long way from the lens.

Compare this to a shot  I took from roughly the same position earlier in the year, it's such a contrast it seems hard to believe it's the same place.

Taken on 9th June, just 12 weeks ago.

Infant asters, sunflowers and pumpkins shortly after planting out

Pumpkins doing well, this is only a small one. Recipes welcome

Rudbeckia in full bloom. Excellent for cut flowers.

Summer update: jam

It's been a while since I've had time to blog. Work continues on the plot of course, assisted, sometimes punctuated by, the tiny human. Over the summer I've been combining evening trips to the plot with dog-walking duties, so Moog has had more than his normal share of visits.

Mrs Moog Keeper has mastered the art of making jam this year, so instead of having no idea what to do with all our raspberries, we now have a steady supply of delicious jam. In fact I now can't keep up the supply of raspberries to match Mrs Moog Keeper's new-found appetite for jam-making. Thankfully the autumn bliss variety is just coming through to keep her in fruit. I may have to extend the amount of fruit I grow at this rate. Jam can be very easily made in the microwave, I recommend trying it. All you need is the fruit, some jars, plus some special jam sugar (easily found in the sugar section of the supermarket)- there's a recipe on the side of the pack.

Sadly we were not able to make such good use of the strawberries which looked so promising earlier in the year. The plants were laden with young fruit at one point, but I think mainly due to a lack of watering at the critical time (remember the really dry spring we had?), lots of them dropped off the plants, still green. We had a reasonable crop but not as good as I was expecting. Better luck next year.

Public Enemy Number One: And the winner is...

Each year brings different conditions and some veggies do better than others. Unfortunately this also applies to weeds as my old enemies seem to devise new ways of taking over my plot.

Here are the top 5 worst offenders on my plot:

1. Dandelion
2. Bindweed
3. Creeping Buttercup
4. Couch grass
5. Stinging nettles

Dandy

This year there seems to have been a particularly strong dandelion crop. It’s levelling off a bit now but around April, conditions were nigh-on perfect and they just seemed to be everywhere. Thankfully the picture here was a local roadside verge, not my plot. I’ve dug up hundreds of them, and cut the tops of plenty more that I didn’t have time to dig out. Like Arnie, they'll be back. As plants, you almost have to admire them; cheerful bright flowers, lush foliage, tough long roots, all thriving with no care and attention whatsoever.

Second on my list is bindweed. There’s just no stopping this stuff. The only way is to remove the roots from the soil, but they’re so brittle and go so deep they always break off to leave a bit behind. Again, so devious you could almost admire them if they weren’t choking my strawberries and getting tangled in my netting.

Next are buttercups. Yes they look lovely in a meadow, but they creep their way round the edge of my raised beds like crazed groupies trying to get into a boy band’s tour bus. You literally have to beat them off. My main reason for hating these is they have particularly tough roots and will cling on, under the assault of a hoe or trowel to come back when you’re not expecting them, usually right next to an onion or somewhere hard to get at.

Finally, the creeping menace of nettles and couch grass. You neglect weeding for a couple of weeks and before you know it they’re back! Thankfully they are mainly restricted to one side of my plot where they weave their nasty secret way through the soil from the neglected plot next door. I find the searching white roots quite revolting for some reason and take a grim satisfaction in pulling them up and burning them. The nettles also make a fine compost tea which seems a fitting end, especially if they’ve managed to sting me whilst raspberry picking.

So those are the plants I could happily live without. Close runners up, if I was doing a list of 10, are plantains, volunteer potatoes, speedwell, dock, and oilseed rape.

What’s on your hit-list this year?

Help has arrived

The Tiny Human is now just big enough to help out on the plot. She enjoys carrying the empty watering can down to the tap and watching it being filled up. She also wanted to carry the full can back to the plot, which was very sweet but it was too heavy for her to lift. I should add, I'm not enforcing child labour here, she volunteers by taking the watering can out of my hands, in fact it's hard to stop her!

My little helper

Her reward is a go on the new swing.

Reward after all that hard work

Roll up, roll up

Gather round ladies and gentlemen, can I interest any of you in some of the things that have been left on my plot for me by a previous tenant?

A sample of some of the unearthed treasures

First up, who likes plastic? I've got plastic bottles, plastic cups, plastic plant pots; plastic bags, plastic mesh, green tinted plastic, clear plastic, plastic string. Plastic not your thing? What about metal then? I've got metal nails, metal bars, metal scissors, metal penknife (rusted solid, sorry), metal wire? Glass (hurry, only small pieces left); gloves (two, not the same)? a single very long woolly sock? What about a tub of slug killer - vintage circa 1980s at a guess. What's that? have I got any stones? well yes but sorry, you can't have the full bucket of great big stones, I've decided to use them in my drainage channel.

Don't worry if you miss this opportunity, there'll be more. ALL the above items have come out of one patch of ground about 8ft by 4ft in the last week...

Talking poo

I wanted to have some compost delivered to the plot again this year, but the council have banned anything bigger than a car from the site due to damage to the ridings. They said I could still have it delivered to the gate, but I don't fancy wheelbarrowing a tonne of compost from the top of the site to my plot, so it's back to the drawing board. According to the council, the ridings are too wet, but I think they're talking poo.

My wife then started talking poo. let me clarify; she was talking poo with a lady who owns a horse. An unlimited free supply was promised, so I got all excited and went to have a look.

The pile was located about two miles from home. There was a huge amount of material, about 10 metres by 5, and nearly 2 metres tall. Unfortunately most of it was straw and woodchips. The decent rotted manure was right at the bottom, the owner of the farm told me, and would need digging out. Hmm, two metres deep of heavily packed straw? Well, I bravely dug into the pile, heaving straw out of the way and eventually getting down to some decent rotted stuff. With lots of huffing and puffing, I managed to extract two car loads before I lost the will to carry on. I don't think I'll rush back; it's useable stuff, but needs further rotting down on my own heap.

Some poo

Hopefully someone else will want to talk poo soon.

Soil



Some soil



Alliums

Varying degrees of success so far with my allium crops.

Garlic is doing well and has now received a dose of organic (blood, fish and bone) fertilizer to get it going. I've been able to keep the bed weed-free so far, but I know that won't last long once it gets a bit warmer. This year I've only grown one bed of garlic, the last two years I got carried away and had too much.

Leeks are looking healthy at home in a propagator. nice strong green seedlings are now all pricked out into individual paper pots. I've had patchy results getting decent sized leeks over the last few years, let's hope we get some big ones this year.

Onions started well but are now looking very sickly, after potting on they didn't really get going and haven't adapted very well to life in the cold frame. Not all are completely dead yet, but for the effort that is going to be required, for the production of about 10 onions, I think I will write them off shortly and reclaim the cold frame for something else.


Rather sorry looking onion seedlings



Structural jobs

Lengthening days and rising temperatures have meant I've been able to get some gardening done again, at last!

I've been getting on with a few structural tasks around the plot. After the new compost area, I moved my lawnmower storage box up to the top of the plot as well, and began reclaiming the vacated ground for a new bed. I had forgotten what a state my soil was in when I first arrived three years ago; out came bits of plastic, metal mesh, broken glass, concrete, even an old spade head.

The new bed.

I found time to box in another bed with timber to make a raised area and have refreshed all my wood-chip paths. I've also dug up one of the grass paths and replaced it with wood-chip, that's another path that won't need mowing or strimming this year, hopefully leaving me time to tend my crops, or even sit and look at them! I'm pleased to say my plot is starting to look like one of the more tidy examples, although there's a bit of work to go yet. 



New raised beds and paths, and a bonfire on the go

Next on the list is to grub up the rosemary hedge at the front of the plot, sadly this has been killed off by the cold winter. It's just clinging on to life to be fair, but it tends to shade out the edge of the first bed, so it will be coming up soon.

Rosemary, decimated by the cold weather

Garlic progress

Garlic is making good progress down at the plot.

Potatoes 2011

I have sourced seed potatoes from the garden centre this year rather than mail order, as I am normally disappointed by how long it takes for them to arrive. Often by the time they get here there's not much time for them to develop decent shoots before planting time. Plus, I'm impatient. So, two types of potatoes are now busy chitting on various window sills. I have Cara maincrop from Thompson & Morgan again, because I was very happy with results last year - not only a good crop but tasty potatoes. I am also trying Pentland Javelin first earlies, which are supposed to be ready only 10-12 weeks after planting. These are from Taylor's, according to the packet.

Not rotten enough yet

The council have delivered some stable manure to the allotments. My neighbour John pointed this out to me in the late Autumn when he started to add mounds of the stuff to his beds. I went and inspected the pile, but to me it looks a bit too fresh to be incorporated just yet. There's hardly any muck, it's mainly fresh straw and wood shavings. In his book (that I have mentioned before here) Terry Walton notes that manure with wood chippings and sawdust is to be avoided, as it takes too long to break down, making plant growth poor. So, I have opted to stack a few barrow-loads in my new compost heap and maybe use it next year.

Roll on to January and John has now covered virtually all his 10 poles in the stuff, and I was a bit concerned to see another experienced plot holder, Roy, wandering off with barrow-loads of the same. However, when I spoke to Roy (a dangerous thing to do if you've got less than half an hour to spare), he volunteered that he wasn't using it on his plot, but was stacking it 'for a year, maybe two' before using any. Great, at least that's two of us with the same opinion. We mused a bit on the worn state of the ridings, and Roy told me how they used to bring sewage and waste from Wolverton Works down for allotmenteers to use. That was, until they discovered that due to the industrial processes it was full of poisons like lead. Hardly what you want on your vegetables. In those days, enterprising gardeners used to stack up the sewage (animal and human I guess) into a smelly pile, set a fire in the middle and let it burn for a couple of days to dry it out enough to use. I went away fairly pleased that we don't need to do that any more!

More seeds

Leek seeds were sown indoors last week. Must remember to label them because they look exactly like onions when they first come up.

Onion progress

Some very cheerful progess by my onion seeds. At first I thought they looked a little weak and pale, with one or two going down to a white fluffy mould. I removed the sickly ones so they didn't pass on any infection and the best examples have now managed to get enough light and are starting to grow strongly. I have negotiated a more sunny position with the boss so hopefully the rest will catch up.

Onion seedlings ready to pot on

Advice on Terry Walton's website http://www.gardenersclick.com/ is that these now need to be potted on whilst they are still at the 'hairpin' stage, so that is my job this weekend if I can find something to pot them into.

Parsnip success



A 14" parsnip

There's always one crop that does particularly well every year, even if everything else fails. This year it's parsnips.

New compost bins

Rain again this morning, but by the afternoon the sky changed from its usual grey to a funny blue colour and a strange, bright yellow light appeared in the sky, so I took a chance and disappeared off to the plot for a couple of hours until the light disappeared again.

 I cleared out my 'rubbish corner' and used a combination of new and old pallets to make two new compost bins. It's been nearly a year since I dismantled my previous heap, and I've missed it.

Now harvesting: leeks, parsnips.

The new compost heap

Never make plans

I was looking forward to heading down to the plot today, as for the first time in ages I expected to be free of other commitments for a few hours, but the heavens opened and it lashed down with rain most of the day. The moral of the story, never get your hopes up, you'll only be disappointed.

First seeds of 2011

The plot has been a virtual no-go area for several weeks, but I spent a few minutes sowing some onion seeds earlier today. I usually order onion sets but always end up ordering too many and spending too much, only to get patchy results, so this is a new approach for me. These seeds were some of the ones I got in the sale at the garden centre, using my garden centre reward vouchers, so hopefully if they grow well my onions will all be completely free this year! At least that's the plan...

Tradition has it that onions are sown on Boxing Day, but this is most likely a rumour started by men who, by 26th December, needed a bit of alone time in the shed to escape the Christmas madness! It's true they need a long growing season, so any time in January should be fine according to Terry Walton on http://www.gardenersclick.com/.  They need to be kept at about room temperature to germinate, so two trays of Duchy Organic Sturon onion seeds are now on the window sill under plastic propagator lids. My windowsills are quite dark so I have stuck silver foil on one side of the clear lid, in an effort to reflect as much light in to the seeds as possible at this time of year, a trick I saw on Gardener's World. The seeds are exactly the same as leek seeds which I have had good success with so hopefully these will do well.