Treasure

In the past couple of weeks I have found two interesting pieces of buried treasure on the plot. First was an old penny, heavily worn but still clearly marked 1908 on one side. It could have been in circulation for many years after 1908 of course, and judging by its condition it has had a hard life, but I wonder who dropped it and what they were doing there. I would like to think it was dropped by a soldier during the big military exercise that was held on Stacey Hill farmland before the outbreak of WWI, but it could just as easily have had a more mundane life and been dropped at any time in the last 100 years. At least it makes a change from bits of broken glass and plastic.

My second find was a bit more modern, an aluminium petrol token dating probably from the mid 1970s with a picture of a car on it. This has also seen better days but it's just possible to make out that it was issued by Shell and features a 1950s Mercedes Benz 300SL. I wonder if someone was disappointed to lose it from their collection.

It's taken me a few years of repeatedly digging the same soil to unearth this stuff, so I wonder what else lies beneath the surface. Actually, I don't need to wonder that hard. I'm always unearthing things, since these finds I also dug out three whole house bricks and a couple of broken concrete roof tiles. So although it is is theoretically possible someone buried a whole house, the real answer is probably 'a load more old rubbish'...

...and it started on the first pull

...and it started on the first pull.

Sounds so much like a joke punchline, doesn't it, but I am referring to my trusty allotment lawnmower, which burst into spluttering life the first time I pulled the cord this weekend.

I actually made three visits to the plot in as many days, some accompanied by sunshine, and some by hail showers. Buoyed by a couple of weeks of settled and warm spring weather I had intended to get my main onion sets in the ground, but as the weather has now turned cold again I settled for a mixture of jobs. This is the first real activity on the plot since last year when I actually had time to dig over about half the plot in time for winter. The winter rains have done their bit and the soil is quite workable now.

This spring has been much warmer than last year, so one of the first jobs had to be to get the mower out and tame the grass.Getting rid of some of the paths and raised bed borders has done wonders for my time-efficiency and it is much easier to keep on top of what needs doing when you don't have to spend ages on silly unproductive jobs like mowing. I suppose there is a small benefit to mowing, apart from keeping the place neat and accessible, it means my compost heap gets a nice big nitrogen fix.

After the grass, I also weeded my overwintering onions which were being slowly mugged by weeds, mostly grass and speedwell at this time of year, although dandelions have made remarkable progress on some other parts of the plot. I will need to weed the garlic soon as well, which has put on some fairly good growth with all the bulbs I planted coming up well. The onions are looking a little weedy in comparison, they could both do with a high potash feed to give them a boost. This phrase sounds like I know what I am talking about after all these years, doesn't it, but I don't  know really what makes a high-potash feed; I will have to go to the garden centre and look at the labels.

I did start to prepare some ground for the onions, this was hard work and has made the plot start to look loved again, at least in one corner. I didn't rush to get them in the ground, as I said above I'm fairly relaxed about the timing when the weather is not reliably warm. Dismantling my bed system has also made me dither a bit more about where to put things so I may need to draw up another plan soon. Otherwise I will start at one corner and put things in as they become ready - a strategy which seems to work. All I do is try to avoid putting the same crop in the same bed two years running.

Main crop potatoes have been selected, King Edward this year to make a change. An easily available variety but they must be popular for a reason, methinks. They are chitting at home in the spare room and will not be put in the ground too early either. Easter is late this year so I may not wait that long, but I won't hurry them. They will have all year to catch up. Besides, it will take me a while to prepare all the ground; I still don't know where I'm going to put them.

Soil (no pictures)

It's mid-April and it looks like it's time to start catching up with all the jobs I should have been doing in February and March. The cold has kept me indoors and nature has taken a break too, with most plants only now springing into life. I have noticed they wake up with amazing speed when the time is right. Last week I (finally) started pruning my raspberry canes, a job usually done sometime just after Christmas. The longer you leave it, the harder it is to tell which canes to prune. Well, last week they were just canes. This week, most of them have buds or small leaves on.

Last year's onion sets were planted in February and were well-established by April. This year with two weeks of April gone they're not even in the ground yet. I don't mind because I have some over-wintering onions which all seem to be doing OK - therefore it won't matter if my main crop is a bit late, I'll have some to fill the gap. 

So one of my first jobs of spring has been to prepare ground for the onions. I decided I ought to add more pictures of this sort of thing but being quite a fussy photographer I find it hard to capture images I'm happy with. Also, being easily distracted, I rarely remember to stop what I'm doing and take a picture when I'm working on the plot. I'm sure some of the mundane things I do would be best described by a picture. But I seem to have developed a strong urge to post pictures of bare patches of soil. I've taken some pictures and then realised when I got home that it's just an empty bit of brown earth. It's like getting home from a walk in the countryside and finding the picture you took of that brilliant view doesn't really do it justice. Perhaps another allotment gardener reading this blog might understand the feeling of having created something that goes with gardening. When I've prepared a bed I keep going back and looking at it. It feels good. Unfortunately, to the casual observer, it probably doesn't look like much.

There's a huge amount of satisfaction involved in preparing a vegetable patch. I start with a weedy square of vacant ground then remove as many weeds as I can by hand or by digging them up with a spade. I try to get as much root as possible. Then I begin turning the soil over, digging out big stones and other rubbish, and roughly chopping the big clods of soil, trying to avoid murdering worms in the process. Then I go to my compost heap and sift a wheelbarrow full of compost and return to spread it over the surface. Then I mix the compost into the top layer of soil (the worms can do the rest). I find the rake is my favoured tool for this stage, it is also used to bash big lumps of soil into smaller ones until the whole thing turns into a fine tilth ready for planting. 

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.

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

Digging it

I can't seem to bend in the middle these days. So, I've been looking at ways that I can still achieve what I want without hurting myself.

Normal spades and forks are just too short. So the first thing I tried was a long-handled shovel. I've seen these advertised as Irish or Cornish shovels, but I always think of them as American, the sort you see in the movies with a long handle. This is OK, but it's very heavy, and really isn't much use for proper digging, because the pointed, curved blade is the wrong shape. It is still great for shifting compost and, unsurprisingly, shovelling. The label on it said 'good for shovelling material.' clearly the person in charge of labelling had run out of ideas that day.

Second I considered the no-dig technique. This is more complicated than it sounds - it's described all over the web, so I won't repeat it here, if you're interested there are several good articles on Charles Dowding's website. I've discounted using the full version of this technique, mainly because of the huge volume of compost that seems to be needed for it to be really effective, but also because I'm not convinced that it's the best answer for my soil. I think, on reflection, I just haven't been adding enough compost, manure etc to my plot. The amounts described in the no-dig technique are massively higher than I've been using.

Finally, we come to my new friend, pictured above, the Azada, a tool imported from Spain by Get Digging.  The Get Digging website is well worth a look, there are literally hundreds of customer testimonials on there as well as descriptions of the tool itself, as well as lots of other backsaver tools. Intrigued, I ordered a heavy-medium azada a couple of weeks ago and waited anxiously for the snow to melt so I could see if it was all it was cracked up to be. Well. I don't like to speak too soon, but I think this could be what I've been waiting for. It's really easy to use, you chop into the ground with the heavy blade, and lever the soil up with the long handle, no bending required. You have to be quite energetic, but it doesn't put the stress directly on your spine like a spade. Brilliant! I've used it twice now, and so far, quite a lot of digging done and no bad back. I reserve my final judgement until I get the chance to do a bit more with it, but so far, I'm very impressed.

In Praise of Luther

I reported a week or two ago that my back had gone on strike. I was playing touch rugby when I bent down to place the ball on the ground and my spine just locked solid. I managed to straighten up and get home but after the weekend I could still barely move. Digging was slow and laborious and Mrs Moog Keeper had to do the lion’s share of any allotment work. Then a friend at work said he’d been suffering with a stiff neck and recommended a good clinic, so I got the number and made an appointment as soon as I could.

Enter Luther the Chiropractor. Managing effortlessly to look smart and casual at the same time, he didn’t look old enough at first glance to have completed the training. Nevertheless he has three sets of letters after his name and I’m left in no doubt that he knows what he’s doing. After an initial consultation he proceeded to fold me into various positions of the sort you might find on an ancient Egyptian frieze, before performing what seemed like a cross between emergency heart massage and sitting on your holiday suitcase to get it shut. My spine made a noise like a Rubik’s Cube going through a mangle.

And now, what joy! After one visit to Luther I could move and sleep again, and after a few follow up visits I’m happy to say I’m totally mobile, and what a difference it has made to my work rate. I dug over three of my abandoned beds last week, all 3m x 1.8m, without having to keep stopping every other spade-full. “Ooh, you’ve done loads,” said Mrs Moog Keeper. Long may it continue. Thanks Luther.

And So To Bed

As it is fast approaching planting time for most of this year’s crops I urgently need to get my beds sorted out and decide where things are going to go. With this in mind I took Mrs Moog-Keeper and a notepad down to the plot at the weekend. My intention was to make some sort of plan or maybe start marking out.

We decided we needed a clearer view, so with considerable effort from my other half, and manly supervision on my part (I have a bad back this week and can’t bend in the middle that well) we got the carpet removed and exposed the plot to the light of day for the first time since last September. What this has revealed, now the tall grass has nearly rotted away, are the outlines of beds that haven’t been used for years. I knew the ground under the grass was lumpy, because I kept turning my ankle, but seeing it for the first time without weeds was a very pleasant surprise.

The joint decision was that the most economical way of using the space would be to follow the line of the existing beds with paths in between. As the plot hasn’t been worked for years and years, hopefully soil-borne diseases and pests will not be a problem. Also digging should be marginally easier if the soil has been dug before.

We got to work marking out the beds with string until the string got hopelessly tangled after one bed. Then we started using wire until the wire got hopelessly tangled after one more bed. We could have tried the Alexander the Great trick of cutting the knot but that would have left us with lots of tiny useless pieces of wire/string, so we just started digging the first bed instead. I was reminded of Monty Python’s String Sketch - what to do with 122,000 miles of string in 3 inch pieces. "Simpson's Individual Stringettes!"A MILLION HOUSEHOLD USES!" but I digress. One bed down, many to go!

All in all a successful weekend of activity.

Tttthhhppppp!

This weekend I received my raspberry canes by mail order. They were bare root plants so I needed to put them in straight away, and managed to do so on Saturday before the rugby kicked off. I started by digging over about 18' x 3' of soil down one side of the allotment, with some help from the Moog, until I had to tie him to the fence to stop him getting carried away. After that I mixed in some manure; I could only get pellets unfortunately, I'd have rather had some well-rotted stuff to bulk up the soil but mine's not ready yet. I soaked the canes in a bucket of water and then planted them about 2ft apart. There are 9 in total, which seems a lot, but there are 3 of each variety - early, mid-season and autumn. Hopefully they'll settle in and last for years. Next job with those will be to protect them from the birds.

The only observation I can make about raspberry canes is the roots look a lot like the weeds I have just pulled out. Having said that, I'm happy to say there weren't as many roots in the eastern edge of the plot, so digging wasn't as hard as it has been in the past but there was still a good sprinkling of glass, plastic, wire, string and old batteries to remove.

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.

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!

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).

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."

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.