Just live.

You live and learn, so goes the old saying; that is oft appended in our house with "but in my case, you just live." Went to the plot in shorts recently because it was a lovely day, and got bitten twice by whatever bug it is that I have an allergic reaction to (I think it's ants). Now every warm day I have to change back into long trousers to visit the plot. One day I will learn my lesson.

We've had a mild winter and I was able to keep up well with the plot until we went on holiday in May. The warm weather and rain made the weeds grow like mad and I had a real job on my hands when I got back, things only now getting back under control. 

Over-run with weeds in late May. Note bike trailer in background

I planted some French beans direct in the soil in mid-May, judging it to be warm enough, but I didn't bank on the solid week of cold rain that followed, it was more like March than late May. As a result all my beans rotted in the soil. 

I was wondering how to get my compost bin and some plants down to the plot when I didn't have use of the car, and hit upon the brain wave of using the Tiny Human's bike trailer. This worked well for the compost bin but when I went to check the four courgette plants, I found they had tipped upside down in the trailer and scattered the contents. I couldn't have destroyed the seedlings more effectively if I had taken them out and stamped on them. Luckily I left a couple of spare plants at home that wouldn't fit in the trailer.

My disasters have been made up for by generosity on the part of my gardening friends, family and colleagues. I received three home grown cucumber plants from Wise Mike, which are now doing well under a plastic tunnel. I also received 14 sweetcorn plants from Derek, which came in 'Rootrainer' pots which I was very impressed with. I planted up the sweetcorn the same day and bought my own rootrainer pots to start off some replacement French beans at home, which are also coming along nicely. Derek also donated some lovely chilli plants, which have been planted at home in the garden where I can keep a closer eye on them.

Garden gift review slot number 2

My family and friends generosity continues unabated. Here are some other items to add to my list of gifts:

1. Plant labels and labelling pen. I didn't use these initially, in favour of remembering where I'd put stuff or making my own from strips of card. But I started to forget where I'd put stuff, and the bits of cardboard promptly floated away the first time I watered my seedlings, making it hard to work out what was in each pot until the plants got bigger, and I'm still not sure. So this is a great gift, and I used up two packs of labels before I realised the pen has both a wide and narrow nib. Everything is now neatly labelled, especially things that haven't come up yet.

2. Money... I received a cheque from my aunt in Germany, which has been very useful. My strawberries are now safely hidden under netting, my seedlings are now merrily growing on in bigger pots and my carrots and salad leaves are hidden behind a fleece barrier. Aunt Anne has admitted to having not just one, but two allotments when she was in the UK so I may yet be able to glean some useful tips as time goes on.

3. A big open-necked thermos flask for keeping hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold. It's great, I've got two cups of tea and a choc-ice in mine. Boom, boom.

4. Lots of timber. Hot on the heels of the BBC's Joe Swift, I've had a donation of timber planks from my brother-in-law Mike. They were sitting around in his garden, but are now sitting around in my allotment waiting to be used as edging.

Gardening Gift Review Slot

I've received some allotmenty presents recently. This is what Moog thinks of them:

1. The Allotment Keeper's Handbook by Jane Perrone. Moog thinks this is a bit more realistic than most gardening books, in that it's written by a journalist that likes growing things rather than a professional gardener. Jane also has a good blog which is worth a read. Full of interesting, real life anecdotes that I can identify with, for example, trying to use a storage box as shelter from the rain (see Moog's Very Blustery Day). Jane doesn't assume that you know or care what all the long words mean. A much appreciated gift, which is actually next to my keyboard as I type. In fact I couldn't put it down for ages, and Moog points out it's a nice handy pocket size to read in vet's waiting rooms etc. For some inexplicable reason my copy has half the pages printed upside down.

2. The Vegetable and Herb Expert by D.G. Hessayon. Sorry, DOCTOR D.G. Hessayon. Sounds a bit pompous to me, I work in a university and none of the academics feel the need to keep reminding everyone how well qualified they are. This rather self-importantly claims to be the best selling grow-your-own book in the world, well, Moog would like to see the sales figures to back that up, and he thinks that high sales doesn't necessarily mean high quality. There is so much information in this book about pests, diseases, and problems to send any budding allotmentalist running back to the supermarket. I will probably use this for reference but didn't like the style at all.

3. Bionic Gloves! Yes really. I was a bit sceptical at first, and Moog thought someone had bought me a pair of driving gloves as an ageist joke, but actually I used them this week and they're really good! In fact, they're so comfortable I forgot to take them off and drove halfway home from the allotment in them, thus making me look like I was wearing driving gloves ( Moog thinks, thank goodness you weren't wearing your flat cap). Very good I shall be using them again. Can someone get me a bionic spine next, please.

4. The Allotment Book by Andi Clevely. Moog thinks this is a really good book. He knows it is a good book because whenever he sees me lately I'm reading it, or making notes. The writing style is really encouraging, it's laid out well, there are good pictures (for example, of ripe beans, so you know what they look like when they're ripe - which might sound simple, but if you've never grown them...). This book has given me a few new ideas, even simple things like having a bulldog clip on a nail in the shed to keep your gloves on. As soon as I put my shed up, I'm going to do that!

5. "Vintage" stainless steel digging fork. from Wyvale. I'm quite impressed with my local Wyvale store. I've had this since Christmas and I asked for it because Moog thought that stainless steel would make working our clay soil easier. He was right. It feels really nice to use and beats my old plastic-handled cheapo fork hands down. The only criticism I would have is that the handle seems to be working loose a bit, but the last time I used it this had miraculously fixed itself so maybe I'm being a bit premature. In any case, it is covered by a 10 year guarantee so I am fairly confident. A very nice tool to have around, and really looks the part. I have the trowel and secateurs from this range too and they're both good; the trowel is very tough and after a bit of thread lock on the secateurs to stop them working loose, they have a very smooth action. Moog thinks the wooden handles are very smart, and if he had thumbs, he'd use them, too.

6. Sony wind-up radio. This smart little orange thing lets me and Moog listen to the radio at the plot, and the best thing is it never needs any batteries. Moog thinks it actually sounds really good for such a small radio, and it has two different sorts of light on it too - a flashlight, for looking for things you've just dropped when it's getting dark, and an ambient light for reading books, err, attracting moths, etc... very handy and will come home with me rather than being left down at the plot.