Today I made what will be my last visit of the year. It was a trifle windy but warm for December and the sky was clear. A couple of neighbours had suffered damage; I zipped down a plastic greenhouse for one and rescued some plastic greenhouse panels for another, texting him to tell him. Having been down only occasionally over Christmas (for obvious reasons) I felt I needed to start on some of the winter tasks that were pending. I arrived with the usual bin of kitchen waste but also the haulms from the sweet peas that grew so well in my garden in 2015. The three sacks full of brown stalks will do much to balance the green material such as grass cuttings that currently dominate the additions to the bin. I then set about digging over the paths beside the raspberry rows. Raspberries send out roots far and wide and then send up shoots well away from the plants. Despite mulching the paths either side of the row with pine needles (the only way I can use these donated sacks from a neighbour) the shoot come up all over the place. My strategy for controlling them is to periodically dig up the path and extract all the roots I can, so after scraping away the mulch I cut a slot with the spade all the way down the side of the row about 6" - 12" away and then dig the path from one end to the other removing any roots/shoots I find. On this occasion I also cut a slot with the spade down the outside of the path to prevent me digging up the leeks that are growing beside the path. About halfway down the path I took a break and went to fix the rest of my greenhouse frame down, drilling into the blocks and using 'Hammerfix' screws with a washer to finish the job. I only used about half the holes provided in the frame as the weight of the glass will do most of the job of holding the structure down.
Over Christmas my grand-daughter, who is just starting a degree in 'Conservation Biology and Ecology', reminded me that the Sparrow Hawks and occasional Buzzards we see round the site would be poisoned by the rats and mice eating my rat poison, so I need to take care where I use the rat-bait. Inside the shed is essential at present - or at least until I get it so tidy they have nowhere to hide. They were digging up my beans so fast (I lost 2/3rds of my plants) that I needed to do something, though perhaps traps might have been almost as successful. However, in the compost heap they do very little damage from my point of view; in fact they burrow through the bin creating air pockets that benefit the decomposition, so I will stop baiting the compost bin. It is impossible to eliminate rats and mice so we must learn to live with them and deal with them only where they cause problems. That said I shall work to avoid them by good husbandry whenever possible. Afterwards I took several general photos of the plot to keep (for records) to help me remember the plot at the end of this year. To finish off I called home to be told all we needed were leeks so I dug up three and cleaned them up to take home.
Today I made a very quick visit. I knew before we went away for Christmas that there was a cauliflower developing in the Brassica cage and I had meant to drop in on my way to my Christmas hosts to cut it and take it with me. However, I forgot.
Thinking it must be very mature by now I nipped down to the plot to cut it. When I got to the cage I was very surprised to find the wind had blown open the doorway to one cage completely but was pleased that the pigeons had not found the way in! Then when I looked the re were three fully developed heads so I cut all three. One head was in rather a bad state as it had been attacked by caterpillars or slugs but I thought we might get something from it. At home we decided to try the bedraggled one straight away and found that there was a lot of detritus in the stalks but everything just washed off and it was all usable and tasted lovely. I made my usual Sunday morning trip to the allotment. However, this time I visited my neighbour first with my trailer to collect 3 bags of leaves he had for me. As I went to the car I saw another neighbour had left me 3 bins of grass cuttings as well. I loaded everything and added my kitchen waste bin; plenty for the compost and leaf bins. At the plot my neighbour John helped me offload the heavy leaf bags and I trod them down just a bit as I am not sure whether leaves need to have plenty of air in the mix to rot. I do know they need to be wet but nature will take care of that. Being a mixture of oak and beech leaves they will take about two years to rot down anyway. The grass cuttings covered over the rather smelly kitchen waste and I added a few leaves from the leaf bin to balance the mix. The bins covered over and the rat poison replenished I started on digging over the pumpkin/cucumber patch. As usual I had dug a trench out along the fence last time I was down so I just had to rake a strip of the chippings from the horse litter into the trench before beginning to dig with my 'Backsaver' spade. Two spits and rake in another strip of 'litter' ready for the next two spits. Before long I was halfway across the plot - but time was getting on and I needed to take home the veg for dinner so I left it to finish later and went to pick crops.
I dug up a parsnip that I thought would be too small as there were just 2 or 3 leaves poking out of the soil only to find broad shoulders nearly 4" across. However, under the surface it was not a traditional shape. It had split into several roots but they were thick enough to use so we will eat it. I also picked a couple of leeks that were big enough to eat. A quick visit to pick crops as I knew there was a cauliflower ready to eat. However, There were lots of yellow leaves lying around in the brassica cages so I set about clearing them and any weeds as well. The leaves just needed picking up and but I had to hoe between the plants to get the weeds out. While I was there I filled in the holes the taller brassicas were planted in and firming them in so they will stand against the wind rather better. The tallest ones may need staking. All the rubbish went to the compost heap.
I then took a little time to dig the trench along the fence on the old pumpkin/cucumber patch ready to dig it next time I come down. I left the soil in the wheel barrow ready to move to the other end of the plot to fill in the last spit. Despite me treating the thistles and bindweed with Roundup there were still quite a few live roots so I was careful to pick them out and will leave them soaking in water for a few weeks to kill them. Then I picked a parsnip that was a beauty, long smooth and tapering. A couple of reasonable of leeks were ready to pull. There were also lots of turnips needing thinning out that were big enough to eat so we'll have a good supply over Christmas Last night a neighbour telephoned to say he had 4 large bags of leaves for me. I picked up the builders bags this morning. Two fitted into the back of the Shogun and two in trailer. I wasn't sure if I could fit all the leaves into my leaf bin but even before this I needed to transfer the contents of one bin into the other. It took quite a while to remove the stuff, carpet and netting, I had left on top of the composting leaves and then quite a bit of effort to fork and shovel everything over to the other bin. Much of it will be ready to use next Spring. I then emptied two bags into the newly emptied bin and trod it down before finding the other two bags would fit in and once trodden down only half filled the bin. Room for more! I covered both bins with carpet.
Not having any other tools with me I wondered what I could do. I found my ball of string in the shed so I set about tying up the summer raspberries and staking the rather tall broad bean plants from the Trading Hut that I am using to fill in the gaps left after my mouse/rat attack. I finished just as the rain started to fall so was grateful to get into the shelter of my car and drive home for lunch. Today a large number of us enjoyed mulled wine and mince pies at the café thanks to Kay Power and Jane Merret with contributions of mince pies etc. from a number of others. While there were lots of familiar faces, there were a few very welcome new arrivals. If you missed the event it is a great pity but you are welcome when the café reopens on Sunday mornings in the spring. After enjoying the refreshments I visited the plot to find that the mice (or maybe rats) have continued to decimate my Broad Bean plants. I have now lost nearly 2/3rds of my plants! However, whatever is eating the beans out of the ground is also taking the poison I have put out inside the bottles pegged down around the beans. Everything I left has disappeared from the bottomless bottles but there was still bait in the complete bottle. This suggests it is rats as they tend only to enter enclosed spaces when they can see an exit whereas mice will poke their noses in anywhere, including complete bottles. I renewed the bait. I then tidied up the brassica cages, picking out the yellow leaves and firming in the taller plants. While in there I found a small cauliflower that will be most welcome at home. I also picked over the Calabrese (my wife insists I call it broccoli) and got a couple of meals worth. Seeing a few slugs still active I put down a thin scattering of slugbait. There was nothing I could do about the clouds of whitefly except pray for a cold snap! I scraped the old pine needles from the path beside the summer raspberries ready to dig over the ground underneath to remove the spreading roots and shoots. Then I dug the trench along the fence ready to dig over the old pumpkin plot with my 'Backsaver' spade. Finally I started harvesting in earnest. I dug up a parsnip and was pleased that it was a nice straight root not the multiple rootlets I have had so far. I started to pick a few turnips but soon found they needed thinning out so went home with quite a few. (I will need to check online for ways to use them or store them.) And last I dug out a couple of leeks. They are all a bit small and are gradually thickening up but I can't wait! Being the second Sunday I spent most of the time with the Working Party being helped by my two stalwarts, the two Johns, Batchelor and Lack, who always seem to turn out. Jim from plot 41 joined in and did some shovelling and Hugh Merret, who was on 'Shop' duty, lent a hand by using a pickaxe to break up the heap of road-stone while the rest of us spread it to fill the potholes in the main track from the gate and past the Trading Hut. This should make it better for next Sunday's Mince Pies and Mulled Wine celebration at the café. Afterwards I emptied the kitchen waste bin into my compost heap and covered it with grass cuttings from a neighbour's garden. It is still so warm the grass is still growing strongly. As I lifted the carpet covering I saw a rat scurry away into the heap from under the old runner bean plants covering the top of the heap. Checking the plastic milk bottle lying on its side at the edge I found all the rat poison had gone but, as it was a complete bottle a rat is unlikely to go in. Apparently rats always want to see their escape route when entering a space so I swapped the bottle with one from my Broad Bean patch which has both ends cut open so it is a tube. Then I replenished the poison in all the bottles around the plot; in the hut, alongside the Broad Beans and in the compost. Almost all the poison I put down a few days ago had gone so the mice and, I hope, the rats are eating it. I started to rake the woodchip off my old pumpkin patch but there is so much of it that I think I shall have to bury it deep down at the bottom of the trench when I dig the patch over. I hope then it will absorb any nutrients that get washed down through the soil and rot down without spoiling the fertility of the soil. I still need to cover next year's brassica patch before the weeds get to any size or the mulch will not work! A very worthwhile morning's work started badly when I realised that, while I had remembered to bring my cordless drill, I had not picked up the screws and fixings I needed to finally complete fixing down the greenhouse frame!
However, once I had cursed myself, I set about planting the 5 Durham Early spring cabbage plants that I found flourishing in my growhouse at home. They were in individual 3" pots so had grown on well. It is very late for planting them out but it remains very warm for this time of year and I will probably protect them under a polythene tunnel when the weather gets colder. They were a bit leggy so I still followed my usual practice of digging a square hole 4" deep and a spade width across, then using a bulb planter to cut a round hole in the bottom of the bigger hole before scattering a teasing in a good spoonful of lime. The plants with their 3" rootball fitted very nicely into the bulb planter hole and soon they were set in with a layer of soil dragged into the larger hole to support the long stems so the holes were already partially filled in. A thin scattering of slug pellets and the job was complete. Next I turned my attention to the raspberries. I had remembered to bring my secateurs so cutting down the autumn fruiting raspberries was easy. The summer fruiting ones were a different matter. I had great difficulty deciding which were the old stems and which were the new. One or two were obviously old stems and usually snapped off easily as they were already dead. I decided the ones that had side branches may well be older so removed them as I did the thin weak ones. Any shoots that came up away from the line of plants was unceremoniously pulled up, though the odd one needed digging out as it had such strong roots. It still remains to tie in the stems to the wire and then dig the pathway each side of the row after cutting down either side of the row with my spade. I already have a few bags of pine needles that I will use to mulch the pathway. The needles are too acid to use anywhere else on the plot. Before finishing I had to deal with the mice! A third of my Broad Bean plants have been dug up and the bean seed eaten and I disturbed a couple in my (very untidy) shed. I also see them disappear rapidly whenever I uncover my compost bins. It must be the warm weather! I therefore put some poison bait in a plastic bottle and place it strategically on its side. Those in the open need fixing so they don't blow away. I use milk bottles with a handle so a cane stuck through the handle into the ground stops it going walk-about. Finally I dismantled the framework for the climbing French Beans and sorted the canes out into 3 categories; one of new canes, a second of old canes and a third of canes that have broken so are too short to use next time. The only produce I took home was a couple of the celery plants as the frost has not yet destroyed them. I think they will be too woody but it is worth checking as they have grown quite big this year. |
Your Comment!To add your thoughts to any of my posts, click on the title and then go to the 'Reply' box that should appear at the bottom of the post.
Otherwise go to the 'Contact Us' page. AuthorHi! As "Webmaster" for this site I feel a bit of a fraud. CategoriesArchives
May 2023
|