 Tuesday afternoon. 21st March I need space to sow some early root veg, carrots, beetroot, turnip - and I must get some parsnips sown as well. However, I first needed to clear the spent woodchip I had used for last year's potatoes. I used the rake and my bent prong fork to pull the woodchip into a heap by the path then barrowed it to this year's potato plot. This was a much slower join than I expected because a large amount of bindweed was revealed. It pulled out fairly easily in long lengths but I filled my bucket more than twice and dumped the roots to drown in the adapted water butt I plan to use to generate liquid fertilizer using comfrey leaves. I let them go to waste last year! I left a small amount of well rotted woodchip to use as my mulch but mixed with homemade compost from the bin. To get at the bindweed roots I removed the netting over the gooseberries but that just reminded me that the bushes still needed pruning and they have started into growth! That done I turned to the supports for the summer raspberries.  Having brought the screws and cordless screwdriver down I needed to fix the bracing bar along the top of the posts. Unfortunately the 3 metre length of timber was a few inches short so I had to cut it in two and insert a short extension in the middle, fixed to the centre post. Now I just need to transfer the cross pieces from the old posts and rewire them. The bracing bar stops the wire pulling the end posts inwards and the plastic shrink wrapping at the bottom will delay the post rotting off at ground level - I hope! Finally, after consulting my wife, the chef, by telephone, I harvested, as instructed, some forced rhubarb, some leeks and some spring greens and went home after a good afternoons work. - Since the last posting?
I cannot believe it was the end of January when I made my last entry! Mind you I have had one or two other issues to contend with. Initially it was the unwelcome experience of dealing with another two sets of intruders - to no good outcome. I had visitors to my plot who opened my shed (no lock so no damage there) but my electronic rat scarer inside the shed flashed at them so they smashed it by stamping on it and then they vandalised the dummy camera on the outside - which the police victim support officer gave me after some thefts several years ago. They picked up but left behind the new animal scarer lying on the shelf! Then I accepted the kind offer from the Browns on plot 142 to take over maintaining the cameras. I've been making so many mistakes setting them recently they are bound to do a better job, especially as Jim and his son, Kieran and Claire, his wife, will all be involved helping each other out. However it took me quite a bit of my time sorting everything out for the handover. My other job, of looking after the website, suddenly became way out of my ability range when the American company running the editor withdrew the free service we have enjoyed for some years. Fortunately Maggie Frampton, wife of Ray who runs the Trading Hut, has taken over managing the website and she is much more able than I at these things. She has sorted out the immediate problem (so the website will not disappear as could have happened) and has started clearing out some of the old information that had accumulated. Expect some changes, including some more planned than the obvious (but accidental) new look to the top of the page! However, without these responsibilities, I will have more time for things like the Blog - I have a collection of photos covering the last month which I plan to use in some catch up posts. And I might even manage to keep more up to date with my plot!  On Thursday I was dropped off by my wife at the garage on her way to shop so walked in with just my cordless drill to unscrew the brassica tunnel's securing stakes ready for the annual move. However, I wanted some energetic jobs to stay warm so started pulling the metal stakes that form the centre for the climbing bean teepee out of the ground. I then moved on to the autumn raspberry support posts, including one broken and strapped to a support post. The two end ones came up easily, even the support post, but I worked up quite a sweat trying to remove the centre post and eventually gave up to dig it out later (on a No-Dig plot?) when I dig out the raspberries to move them elsewhere. Now nice and warm, I turned to the brassica patch where in the autumn I had planted various brassicas for the spring. I had used several grids and some fleece as protection against pigeons (successful) and frost (unsuccessful). I uprooted the remains of the frosted plants, leaving the few survivors before returning the grids for the time being. I was particularly disappointed at the expensive spring cauliflower seed as all had rotted stems and were dead. The strawberries and asparagus needed rescuing from under heaps of compost or leafmould that had been too frozen to spread out recently. Spreading the compost out on the strawberry bed I soon realised I had left far too much on the bed and scraped nearly half off, barrowing the surplus to my 'Others' bed (sweet corn, squashes etc The asparagus bed was very similar but I just scraped the surplus off leaving it beside the bed ready to remove later. Then, using my cordless drill, I unscrewed the tunnel frame from the stakes securing it to the ground, hoping we don't have a gale before I gather a team of six to lift it and move it on to this year's brassica patch I had just tidied. That done I collected my kneeler from the shed and the barrow and started clearing the tunnel of brassica stumps and weeds. While the stumps needed the No-Dig 'twist and pull' technique to get them up with minimal soil disturbance, the weeds all came out easily being almost all rooted in the old compost mulch. I was pleased that the brassica roots were well developed (we've had a really good cauliflower crop through the winter from Trading Hut plants). There was no sign of clubroot - the addition of lime when planting seems worthwhile. The barrow load of weeds went straight in the compost. Expecting my lift home to arrive anytime I tidied up and was just folding some of the old fleece as the car arrived to take me home. The end of a very successful session!  On Saturday I came down in the morning with my trailer to help with the pothole filling. I had the easy job of driving round transporting the roadstone to where it was needed while the others were shovelling it into the trailer and out into the holes. I did do some shoveling when I could help. At the end I managed to persuade 5 of them to help me move my brassica tunnel to this year's brassica patch. Unfortunately the morning's achievement was somewhat marred by the disappearance of a tailgate to one of the trailers (Fortunately located later that day!) When we finished many of them retired to the chairman's plot for a coffee break but I had to go back to the plot to brew mine with the Ghillie kettle and by the time I had finished lighting it, boiling the water and brewing it they had all finished and were going home. Refreshed by coffee I blocked off possible entry points around the base of the tunnel with planks.
Sunday I had another 10 bags of leaves from my neighbour to bring down in his van. I managed to transfer 3 into larger bags for long term storage and stacked the remainder on a vacant patch of the plot pending proper storage.
I had nothing more to harvest but was very thankful for gifts of a couple of parsnips and a whole stem of Brussels. It's great to have good neighbours! I must return the favour when possible. As I left I placed a tray of spring cabbage plants and some broad bean plants in the greenhouse ready to plant out on a future visit.  This week, with my car off the road with MOT woes, I was unable to visit as usual. However, my neighbour has been clearing his garden of leaves and had filled, well part-filled, 9 bags. He offered to bring them to the plot in his van so on Thursday we got them down there and stacked them on the plot.
On Sunday I managed to get down on the plot as usual and arrived to find Ivor had already loaded 3 bags of leaves into the bin and then 3 into a full-sized builders' bag. He stacked the rest ready to store later. While I made coffee he cleared a weed infested bed ready for a layer of compost - on his next visit. While he finished off I prepared the rest of the Allium bed and planted two rows off garlic, one of Provence Wight and One of Solent Wight, both saved from last year's crop. I now have all my garlic planted in two batches, one done last autumn and one done this spring. Each batch has some garlic bought in fresh and some saved. There's just space for another few rows of shallots. It sounds a large amount but each row is only 4ft and has 9 cloves/sets planted. I folded up the bags to take back home ready for the leaves still left in my neighbour's garden!  Saturday morning I finally got down the plot as it was nice and sunny after not managing to visit at all this week. However it was still cold and the soil was still frozen - as were the heaps of compost and leafmould I had planned to rake out flat. That included the six barrowloads of compost my son, Ivor, had dug out of the bin last week and heaped out on this year's bed for sweet corn etc. It was immediately obvious that the small brassica tunnel had been blown out by the gales. It took quite a while but, with the addition of a few extra pegs, I had it fully enclosed with netting again. Next I tackled the single remaining climbing bean tower. I extracted the canes, sliding them out from the haulms once I had cut through the tier holding them to the top of the central pole. They slid nicely into the rack in the shelter by the shed. The haulms went into the compost bin. I then emptied the kitchen waste bin on top and fetched the two big bags of house dust from a neighbours built-in central vacuum system. Clouds of dust made me stand upwind of the bin to cut open and tip out the bags. Spreading it out meant much of it trickled down through the haulms and mixed with the top layer of compost.
 In the greenhouse I had left the pepper plants hoping they might survive the winter but they hadn't. In fact they were very dead and mouldy so I cut them down and removed the roots, twisting them round so they left as much as possible behind in the grobags. I plan to use the contents of the bags to enrich the soil beneath so I can plant this year's crop directly into the soil in the greenhouse. Finally I folded up the empty builders bags I had used to bring down leaves ready to take home for more leaves from my neighbour and collected the non-functioning electronic animal scarer from the shed to recharge it's batteries at home. The following day, Sunday, I came down as usual in the morning and bought an additional post for the tayberry support from the Trading Hut. My son, Ivor, was otherwise engaged so I on my own. I pruned a couple of big branches off the crab apple tree, trying to continue the process of rebalancing the tree after the gale damage last year. I also chose which of the two leader shoots I would retain and pruned the other down to a few buds. With help from John from a neighbouring plot I loaded my oil drum incinerator into the barrow and, together with the prunings, took it round to Association burning patch, run by Ray. With the rule banning fires on plots he'll be able to make much better use of it than I can. I then harvested the last remaining cauliflower. The spring cauliflowers I had grown from expensive seed and planted out had succumbed to the weather - more protection needed next year! I was about to set off home when I saw John collecting barrowloads of neat fresh manure form the end of the track so I collected two loads for the compost heap, spreading it out over the house dust. Then I went home - late. I've popped down the plot a few times to the odd job like maintain the cameras and on the plot. I have managed to tie in all the canes of the berries to the wires along the boundary. At last I have tidied them all up apart from the newly planted blackberry. I just need to mulch along the fence to limit the growth of the bindweed that is sure to appear.
 Today, however, the rain has abated and I got down for a normal Sunday morning's work. On arrival it was obvious the wind had ripped open the netting round some of my brassicas and it took some time to rearrange everything and peg it down. I then set up my Ghillie kettle and boiled up for a lovely cup of fresh brewed coffee using one of my 'cafetiere' insulated mugs. One of my little luxuries I enjoy! Afterwards I wanted to prepare the patch to plant out the spring batch of garlic and shallots. That meant I had to weed the asparagus so I could barrow the leafmould heap that was in the way over onto the bed. Then I could spread the composted woodchip over the patch ready for planting.  Woodchip mulch newly spread over onion/garlic patch & in the background heaps of leafmould on the asparagus bed.  Before I went home I set out a row of 9 shallots, Escallote Grise, in the new patch, planted through the mulch using a dibber so just the tip showed through the surface. They are a special variety of hard skinned shallots (supposedly a chef's choice!) that I use to dice over a summer salad. I hope the birds don't tug at them looking for worms - that is the whole of last year's crop I had saved.
Checking over the brassicas I see the Aureo F1 cauliflower plants have not survived the cold and wet and the stems have rotted through. The lonely 2 year old cauliflower plant that looked as though it might produce this winter has also collapsed though the single cauliflower left with it in the tunnel looks almost ready. The two 'perenial' cauliflower plants, however, are growing well and have just started to form a heart. I found a folding pruning saw in my tools so tried to start pruning the crab apple on the plot but the saw was so blunt I gave up until I bring down a sharp saw to cut off the two branches I have marked for removing. There is a little more pruning of shoots to do and I will probably remove the fruits for composting before the delicate new shoots appear. The birds don't seem to appreciate them. I finished off with a walk round to the bonfire site with a bundle of prunings from the berries. I did a full circle of tracks 2 & 3 just to see what others are doing. Someone had planted their shallots/onion sets etc in shallow furrows - a good idea to help with watering on our sandy soil. I should do so! - and not just with shallots and onions! I also stopped to chat with a couple of new tenants at the far corner of the site, at the end of track 3 where I had planned,some time ago, a couple of new bins for woodchip and stable litter. I need to get that idea realised! My main task after the long Xmas break was to check the cameras - just a week later than I should but I, and everyone else, was a bit busy!
It didn't help that I had forgotten the wallet containing the SD cards but I carried on checking the batteries. The two cameras covering the gate, though functioning, were low on power so I changed their batteries but the other three seemed okay so I decided to leave them until next week when I will change both batteries and chips. Perhaps the fact that there were few visits to the site meant that there were few photos taken. Quite a few photos of our foxes showed on the cards last time. They visit most nights. Getting to my plot I noticed frost damage on some of the greens but managed to harvest a couple of small Savoy's and even a handful of 'autumn' broccoli. I cleared the carrots from one of my tubs, all but one were tiny! I left the leeks, they will stand whatever the weather. I did, however, pull a couple of Swedes both small with long necks - because I didn't thin them out enough. The surprise was that the cauliflowers are developing. They are well wrapped up in leaves but one looked a bit exposed so I pulled it to take home to add to the bought one we have. I’m still trying to solve the picture problem on the blog. I’m not sure what has changed - they came out perfectly before! The weather has been particularly bitter recently and, if my very few and brief visits to the plot is anything to go by, not many plotholders are spending time on the plot.
In fact the only reason I have been down to my plot recently is to deliver leaves to my leafmould bin. Having emptied the bin containing the leaves/leafmould from the autumn of 2020 and spread it on part of my plot (next year's legume patch) I now have space to store this year's leaves. I'll leave the 4 bags laid out behind the bins containing nearly a cubic metre each, and place the next few bags straight into the bin. When it is full I'll start stacking bags on to of the 4 already laid out. I only come down when my obliging neighbour let's me know he has filled several bags and needs them shifting. On each visit with leaves I do a quick tour of the plot to check for weather damage or for a bit of harvesting. With everything so frozen there's little work that can be done. At least the fork still goes through the frozen crust on the soil so I've harvested leeks (huge, variety Elefant) and parsnips (tiny, I sowed late) and huge beetroot (left too long but still good to eat). The Swedes have, as usual, not swelled though some have a swelling at the bottom that I can use. I think I need to give them more space. However, today was much warmer though very wet but I thought I would visit the Trading Hut to support Ray, who has opened as normal despite the weather, and bought some posts I need to support the summer raspberries. On the way out I drove past the plot just to check nothing has blown away. Today's task today was to service the cameras, replacing the batteries and change the SD cards. With it being so cold now I wondered if I would get right round before my fingers froze up.
However, I managed it, finishing up near my plot so popped in to check things as dusk descended. However, in the greenhouse, I saw lots of tomatoes hanging from the dying plants. Most were green but several were beginning to ripen so I stripped all off the plants to see if I can ripen then at home. I'm not into green tomato chutney! I was pleased to see my new neighbour who arrived to work on his plot. He has struggled to get in often enough to keep the weeds down during this year. I presume he plans to renew and hope he'll manage better next year. Having only made a flying visit yesterday just to empty 4 builders bags of leaves (only part filled) into the bin (to be used as leafmould in 2024!), I came down this morning to collect my seed order from the Trading Hut and to see if I could find something energetic enough to stay warm. I started by raking out the heaps of leafmould on the beds next to the shed to cover the whole bed. It looks as though 6 barrowloads is more than enough to give each bed a 2 inch mulch.  That done I realised I still had to finish clearing the strawberry runners from outside the bed so I set about finishing digging (No-Dig?) a strip to remove the runners. I also reminded the few weeds I found and the bindweed roots I came across. The former went in the compost, the latter left in and on a pot at the end of the row for the frost to kill off. The strawberry runners joined the small pile outside the plot on the track for anyone to help themselves. I then raked the compost heaps along the bed to spread it into a nice mulch. I'll put some woodchip/stable litter down over the path strip alongside the strawberry bed. #photo  Before going home for lunch I did some harvesting; a leek (var. Elefant - one is enough for us two art home), beetroot (one large and several small ones leaving the best leaves on as a possible salad), a few turnips which are probably tough as some have gone to seed, and a Swede. The Swede had a long neck and not much swelling but is the best I seem able to grow. I also picked over the broccoli which is giving it's fourth crop so far, small heads but tasty. That gave a reasonable harvest for the time of year - though the Brussels and kale plants look far too small to make any contribution to Christmas!  |
