HAPPY NEW YEAR

A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL

CELEBRATE WITH A DRINK

Rooko's January Top 10 Tryouts & Tips

1. Are you a pet owner? Dogs Cats Rabbits etc. When you have groomed them save up the hair/fur. This can be deposited around your garden/allotment so that birds can use it for lining their nests. If the birds don't use it up, it may well discourage slugs from the area.

2. Slugs and Snails will be loving the wet weather we have experienced in UK this year and know doubt their populations will have drastically increased. One good method of killing them off is to spread oatmeal around on slug infested areas. Cheap and effective this method it be! (thanks Yoda).

3. Some allotment holders say they have little work to do on the allotment during the Winter months. If your soil is dry enough digging and/or rotavating it and adding compost or manure, will add nutrients and structure to it. This will give you a head start by the time Spring arrives.

4. Apply some mulch to your garden plants before any permanent frost sets in. The contents of used grow bags can be re-used for this. Lettuce or similar veggies can also be sown in old grow bags in the greenhouse.

5. Make sure your houseplants are not drying out, courtesy of your central heating being on during the Winter.

6. Many shrubs and trees can be planted in January. Try adding some evergreens to your garden, for permanent colour.

7. January is a good month to start chitting your seed potatoes. Lay them out in trays in a dry frost free place. Discard any damaged or diseased specimens.

8. This is an old tip I posted many moons ago but I thought it was worth re-posting. When you discard your (real) Christmas tree this year, saw the trunk into sections just below each set of branches, leaving a few inches of trunk intact above the branches. The branches on most Christmas trees grow around the trunk at the same height. Cut the branches down to a manageable length. Drill a hole through the trunk above the branches. Screw the completed "hooks" in place in your shed for hanging tools etc up on. Or sharpen the trunk piece and use for pegging down netting etc.

Christmas Tree Peg

9. Cleaning out your shed, greenhouse/outbuilding now is a good idea. Get rid of all the unusable clutter, "that has been kept for later" before the sowing/planting season starts.

10. If you intend to carry out any Winter pruning, check the weather forecast first. Heavy frosts can damage recently pruned trees and shrubs easily.

Reindeers Make Good Compost

A Nice Christmas Present

 The continuing rain finally eased off during mid morning today. With my Christmas celebrations over for another year and the last of the minced pies eaten, I decided to visit my plots. It has become a post Christmas ritual for me to take the used, discarded Christmas wrapping paper, cardboard and kitchen waste down to the plot, before new year and deposit it onto the compost heap. Having checked over the mass of paper and cardboard for any none compost able materials it was duly loaded into the back of my car, along with the bagged up kitchen waste and I set off for the allotments.

Two of my fellow allotmenteers arrived at the same time as I did, with the intention of checking over their plots for flooding and wind damage. They remarked that not much work would be possible due to the saturated condition of the ground. Leaving my car on the allotment road next to Plot N2, (my grass parking areas were far too wet and soggy to park on), I unloaded the car and deposited the paper, card and kitchen waste onto the compost heap.

Not Real Reindeers On The Compost Heap Of Course

  All of the grass paths around the plots were sodden with surface rainwater, with several inches of standing water on the lower end of both plots. The weak Winter sun was by now just showing through the broken cloud, but not warm enough to dry out the ground. Jason, who's plot is next to mine was the fourth person in attendance. He was busy digging trenches along the length of his plot and installing a drainage system, so that the rainwater would run off down the sloping ground into the drainage ditch at the lower, southern, end of our plots. I checked out my sheds for water damage and any leaks, tidied up some paper and vegetation that had been blown onto my plot, depositing onto the compost heap. I then checked over the beds of both plots. The Rhubarb plants were growing well, each with several new stalks already well developed. The Chives and Welsh Onions and Strawberry trees seemed unaffected by the wet ground, as did the Senshyu Onions at the top end of N1 plot. My Spring Cabbages were just about surviving the wet conditions but by now they badly need thinning out. My overwintering Lettuces, under cloches, were at about the same stage of growth, as they were the last time I visited the plot. I shelled a few more Runner beans inside my shed then left for home, deciding that nothing else could be achieved.

Latest news flash from Sky News, Potatoes selling at approximately £12 per bag (Somerset).

Mud Splattered Leeks

Waterlogged

Lower End of N2 Plot 30/12/2012

Rhubarb Looking O.K. Top of N2 Plot 30/12/2012

Welsh Onions Chives & Strawberry Trees Looking O.K. Top of N2 Plot 30/12/2012

Waterlogged Alpine Strawberries 30/12/2012

There's always tomorrow.

Fantasy Allotment Plans For 2013

Many of the gardening/allotment blog posts I have read over this past Christmas week had a similar theme of either planning for next years sowing and planting, or re-capping on this years successes and failures. Despite the common factor of too much rain, all of them were interesting in their own way. One or two blogs mentioned the possibility that gardeners and indeed farmers, may have to grow different types of crops to the "norm", in future, to offset the effects of both flooding and climate change. 2 gardening magazines which I have read recently expressed the same opinions.

 Are you attempting to grow different crops next year? Leave me a comment, I would be interested to know what differences may be taking place into the future. I will publish a post in mid 2013, on the outcome, if enough people are interested in commenting.

As for my 2 plots, (If I ever get plot N2 cleared of weeds), I will be sticking to the usual crops, I normally grow, next year. I usually order larger quantities of seeds, from my supplier, than the common sizes found in the majority of retail outlets, therefor it would be silly to waste the seeds I have left from last seasons order.

 I also received news today that I will be having my current hip replacement, replaced, in mid January. I expect to be out of action, down the plot for at least 3 months after that. Of course that will be well into the new sowing and planting season. I now have just over 20 days to finish clearing N2 plot, if the rain stops, which looks unlikely.

 I visited my plots on Sunday last, when I lifted several Leeks, another batch of Sprouts for Christmas dinner and I also harvested my Oca, (see my post of 13/3/2012), from the surviving 4 plants, on my old plot. The Oca was cooked for boxing day dinner and wasn't up to expectations. Not so much tasting of Potato with a Lemony tang, as just a bland very soft (mushy) Potato taste. The amount of tubers I harvested from the 4 plants was greater than expected but not enough to justify planting out in 15 or 20 foot rows over a large allotment area. The original 6 tubers that I purchased panned out at £1 each. So for my money not a crop to bother with again. I maybe wrong but the Oca could have been adversely affected by too much rainwater over their long growing period, or my cooking method (same as spuds) was incorrect.

1 Large Bowl of Oca After They Were Cleaned

 Prior to last Sunday I managed 2 days down the plot, a week last Monday and Tuesday. The rain had held off for a while so another 2 foot of the central bed on N2 Plot was double dug and cleared of Dandelion roots and other weeds. I also managed to completely clear one of the smaller beds of weeds and double dig it, leaving one more smaller bed to complete from a total of 4. Heavy rain during most other days for the past fortnight has halted further progress. It was recently suggested to me that I should use the Dandelions to make wine from. I reckon if I did, I could supply half the country with Dandelion wine in the process?? (No checkout available by the way).

THE FOLLOWING PLANS ARE NEXT YEARS FANTASY LAYOUT

My Main Plot 2013

N2 Plot Layout for 2013

I will be sowing/planting the following vegetables next season, weather and time permitting of course.

Beans Runner (Scarlet Emporer & Enorma) - seeds from this years plants.

Beans Climbing (Cobra) - seeds from this years plants

Beans Borlotti - ordering later

Beetroot Bolthardy - from this years seeds

Brussels Sprouts - 3 varieties from this years seeds

Cabbages Derby Day - from this years seed

Carrot - at least 3 varieties as early as possible

Chard - Not chosen yet

Cucumber - 2 Ridge varieties (none under glass)

Khol-rabi - Balot - ordering later

Leeks Musselburgh - from this years seeds

Lettuce - several different varieties (especially the B&Q mixed variety)??

Onions Ailsa Craig - maincrop 

Onion Senshyu - already sown and growing

Onion Salad - White Lisbon & Ramrod - from this years seeds

Parsnips Gladiator - from this years seeds

Peas Feltham First, Kevedon Wonder & Hursts Greenshaft from this years seeds

Potatoes Desiree - Main crop only, to be ordered

Pumpkin Atlantic Giant - from saved seed

Radish - undecided

Swede Marion - from this years seeds

Sweetcorn Lark F1 - ordering later

Tomatoes - A couple of indoor varieties only to be ordered later

Turnips Purple Top Milan - from this years seeds

Although todays weather has been mainly dry, cold and breezy, I can hear the rain just starting again. Think I will have another couple of minced pies and a cuppa.

There's always tomorrow.

 

Don't Drink and Drive

Well after an extremely frustrating gardening year  for most gardeners and "allotmenteers" in UK, I would just like to wish all of my readers and followers a very happy and merry Christmas.

 

 Don't Lose the Plot at Christmas !!

Still Digging (Part 7)!! Restarted !

A Touch of Frost

I had fully expected the digging and removal of the Dandelions, Creeping Buttercups and other weeds, from the main, central bed on N2 plot to have been completed before Christmas. Up until Sunday last, the soil was still too wet to walk or work on. I finally managed to resume digging by late morning on Sunday the 9th, which was a cold but gloriously sunny day. By late afternoon, working across the bed, I had double dug, back approximately 2 feet of ground, removing roots, weeds and debris as I turned over the damp clay soil.

Frozen Raspberry Bed N1 Plot

 Heavy overnight ground frosts have been a feature of our local weather, for a week or so recently. Any newly dug soil is breaking down nicely thanks to the effects of the frost, although the weak Winter sunshine has left the grounds' surface fairly damp and sticky, as it melted away the frost. I spent most of last Monday continuing the work on the central bed. Many of the large Dandelion roots were slightly easier to remove from the soil encasing them, due to the fact that the combination of frost and sunlight had made the soil less sticky and more friable, across most of the bed. I continued with the digging and weeding on Tuesday and by the time it was getting dark, I had progressed back down the bed another 2 feet or so.

About 15 Feet to Complete

There was a particularly heavy frost on Tuesday night and as it melted on Wednesday morning, it left the soils' surface slippery underfoot so I decided to move my digging efforts to one of the smaller beds. These smaller beds seem to have a greater depth of top soil on them, as opposed to clay, thus making the digging easier and removal of weeds slightly quicker to do. By Wednesday evening this bed was almost fully dug over and weed free, with only a couple of feet of ground left to deal with. One and a half good sized barrow loads of roots and weeds were removed from this bed alone. It has been very noticeable, (and probably due to this years wet weather), just how many Slugs, Earwigs and Cut worms, plus their eggs, have been apparent within the soil, whilst I have been turning it over. I expect there will be a large rise in the number of these particular pests next year, with an upsurge in their efforts to attack various vegetable crops at will. I was glad to see a few Cut worms, still encased in their tombs of soil, where they had been frozen to death, by the recent frosts.

First Barrow Load of  Roots from Small Bed N2 Plot

 Yesterday was a none starter due to the fact that someone told me it was only 12 days to Christmas, (that's funny I thought, I haven't seen any Partridges in my Pear tree lately). I decided it was time to get some shopping done. Having eaten a host of mince pies, already, since yesterday, it was time for my favorite shopping experience again today, (the local supermarket). Just as well as its been raining heavily for most of the day, making more digging etc out of the question, except for digging into some more mince pies that is, love em!

  There's always tomorrow!

1 Creeping Buttercup Root

Frozen Leaf & a Few Snowflakes

      

Baahh Humbug!!

I ventured down to my plots again, last Saturday in the hope that I could achieve some constructive work there, after a dry cold week with most days being breezy and sunny. Not a bit of it. The ground was still incredibly wet with even the grass paths squelching underfoot. After a quick perusal of the situation I deposited more kitchen waste on the compost heap and left for home in my car which skidded in the mud, as I reversed out of my parking space at the top end of plot N2.

Last Wednesday night I attended a regular pub quiz at one of our local rural pubs. Four of the regular teams couldn't make the quiz, due to the fact that their villages were still cut off from the rest of civilization by the recent floods.

At present 16 huge extra pumps (along with 20 other pumping stations) are pumping excess rain water from the Somerset levels (3rd time this year) at a rate of 10 tonnes per second, into the local rivers. If there is no further rainfall, it will take a full month to bring the water levels down to acceptable levels. Guess what, it's been raining here again since about midday yesterday.

Several villages around the levels area are still cut off by the flood waters. As of last Friday repair crews were still working to clear some of the 13 landslips from the rail lines between Exeter and Plymouth.  One statistic I heard recently, was that Somerset was subjected to 280% more rainfall than it "normally" gets in November. What were the figures for your area??

This is a link to the BBC's article about the pumping operations CLICK HERE.

UPDATE TO THE ABOVE POST 

5 more pumps have recently been added to the ones already pumping rain water from the Somerset Levels and surrounding areas. 20 Tonnes of water per second are now being pumped out. The main Taunton to Glastonbury trunk road is still under water as is the A361 between East Lyng and Burrowbridge, along with other areas in between. Muchelney is still badly affected by the flood waters. It is estimated that it will take at least until Christmas to deal with the estimated 43 million Tonnes of water, currently swamping the Levels.

FURTHER (LOCAL) UPDATE (31/12/2012)

 
 The River Yeo at Pen Mill and Ilchester peaked in the early hours of Sunday morning, and has now fallen to safer levels. High river levels remain further downstream where the River Yeo and River Parrett meet, near Langport. The risk of flooding remains in these areas, particularly to low lying land and roads near Muchelney and Thorney. A band of persistent rain is forecast to arrive on Monday morning. This will be followed by more showery conditions on Monday afternoon, and Monday evening. Total accumulations of 12 mm of rain are expected on Monday. We may well see river levels in this area rise for a time again on Monday in response to this rain. Pumping will start at Huish Episcopi pumping station as soon as the level of the River Yeo drops enough to safely allow this.

  “Contains Environment Agency information © Environment Agency and database right”

On the upside I've almost finished decorating my house, throughout, this year thanks to the rain.

There's always tomorrow??

Rooko's December Top 10 Tryouts & Tips!!

1. Most Brassica require the presence of Boron in the soil for their healthy growth. Boron deficiency occurs more quickly in dry light, sandy soils and leaches out of soils fairly easily. Some of the ways that Boron aids plant development are in pollination, moving sugars within the plants and fixing nitrogen. A high concentration of organic matter in the soil where Brassicas are being grown will help to retain Boron. If you are having difficulty with your Cauliflower curds not developing or going brown, Boron deficiency could be the cause. Turnips and Swedes also react badly to Boron deficiency.

2. If you are one of those kind people who feed wild birds during the Winter, ensure that they also have a supply of drinking water and that it does not freeze over.

3. Try the following method to keep Wood Pigeons off your vegetables. Place canes/sticks in the ground upright, spaced approximately 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20cm) apart, around the perimeter of the growing area. This method is probably best used over smallish areas, i.e. 2 or 3, 15 foot rows of for instance Cabbages. If you find that this method works it will do away with the need to use netting or other fiddly protection, giving you easier access to any areas needing weeding etc.

4. Although I like to keep my allotments as weed free as possible, weeds can be of assistance in some cases. Birds feed on weed seeds, weeds help to maintain moisture/ nitrogen in the soil.

5. Try leaving a few crushed Garlic cloves around in your shed/greenhouse over the Winter, to deter vermin.

6. December is a good time to remove dead foliage and stems from your perennial plants, if you have not done so already.

7. December is a good time to plant Rhubarb Crowns. Keep them covered with straw, cardboard or wooden boxes. If you use plastic containers to cover Rhubarb (or other plants) it is likely to "sweat" inside, so beware of the moisture freezing.

8. Christmas will be here soon, remember that the discarded packaging such as cardboard and paper can be composted and all those pieces of string/ribbon used around Christmas presents, will make good plant ties later.

9.  Now maybe a good time to check all your garden tools and equipment for damage and clean/maintain them. If any are beyond repair, put the word out to friends and family about ideas for Christmas presents?

10. Most gardeners need more Thyme down the plot or out in the garden. Take some Thyme for family, Thyme for friends, Thyme for each other, Thyme to reflect and leave some Thyme on your hands.

Still Digging (Part 6)!! Not Bl***y Likely!

A Quick Visit to The Plot

 Although I appreciate that many parts of the UK are again suffering from the ravages of continuous rain and high winds, we are certainly taking a hammering south and south west of Bristol. With even more flood warnings issued for Somerset tonight there's more wind and rain to come. Cornwall and Devon are badly affected too, with danger to life warnings issued by the Environment Agency, earlier this evening, for parts of Cornwall. The rain is torrential here as I write this post and the winds are expected to reach 70 mph later on tonight. Although we have received many and frequent weather updates, from our local news bulletins and weather forecasters, there seems to be a distinct lack of so called experts to tell us WHY we are being subjected to such dramatic weather conditions. I expect if and when the rain finally stops, the usual comment will be "we have lessons to learn".

What's your opinion about the recent deluges? Is it just another "typical British Winter setting in", Is it one aspect of global warming? Is it due to carbon footprints? Is it due to global pollution, deforestation, building on flood plains, antiquated infrastructure or an alien plot etc etc. If you haven't yet seen the disaster film (movie), called The Day After Tomorrow (2004), starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, have a look. Although its fictional, perhaps the film makers know something the experts don't about the weather.

Brussels Blown Over

  I visited my plots this morning, for a mere 10 minutes, in the rain, to check things out for the first time since last weekend. The lower part of my new plot is under water with the water level in the nearby drainage ditch rising steadily. A few of my cloches, which were well pegged down? had been blown about by the recent high winds. A few of my Brussels had also been blown over. The allotments were looking totally windswept and sopping wet, with many of the plots to the North of the top road having several inches of standing water on them, adjacent to the road. Apart from some plastic compost bins a few tree branches and several pieces of plastic sheeting being blown about, there didn't seem to be too much serious damage. After I had deposited a couple of bag fulls of kitchen waste onto my compost heap I left for home to warm up and dry off.

Lower End of My New Plot 24/Nov/12

No Digging the Dandelions Here

Cloches Displaced by the Winds

 Never mind there's always the day after tomorrow.

 

Ceasefire (But Still Digging Part 5)!!

Saturday Evenings Sky Over the Plot

 The battle against the Dandelions on the central bed of my new plot was put on hold last week, mainly due to 2 factors. The first being misty damp weather making the soil just a bit too sticky to work with, using a garden fork or spade. The second reason was that my main plot was being neglected in favour of the new plot, over the last four weeks. Having "Hamassed" approximately 140 hours digging over the new plot recently I decided it "Israelly" time to finish preparing my main plot for next year, before the Winter weather takes a turn for the worse, so a standoff was implemented and the ground forces moved to the main plot.

Next Years Brassica Bed Dug and Weeded 6 Barrow Loads of Compost Added

 Last Tuesday was spent digging over this years roots bed, removing 2 part rows of unusable carrots and a few annual weeds. The soil over most of my main plot is far more "workable" than that of my new plot, despite the overnight foggy and misty weather of late. Having completed this bed I then cleared out my old compost bin, depositing 6 barrow loads of well rotted compost onto the recently dug bed to be used for next years Brassicas, keeping the compost away from the Senshyu Onions growing along the top edge of the bed.

Old Compost Bin Almost Empty

New Compost Bin Full Already

This Years Roots Bed Weeded and Dug Leaving Leeks in Situ

 With 3 out of 4 of my beds now ready for next season, on Wednesday I decided to turn over the soil on the L-shaped bed at the lower end of my plot. The 3 Rhubarb plants growing in this bed were manured and earthed up first. Working down the slope I turned the soil, down to a depth of 1 spit, removing weeds, fallen leaves, from the nearby trees, and any other unwanted debris as I progressed. By Wednesday evening I had reached the lower end of the slope with the "foot" of the L-shape to be completed. On Thursday digging along the bed continued at a slower pace, as I needed to remove lots of roots left behind from the 4 Goji Trees I removed from this area, earlier this year. My main Blackberry plant, protected by 2 car tyres, was secured to a nearby fencing panel and 3 other, badly situated, Blackberry plants were moved and re-planted in front of the same fence panel.

Side of L-shape Bed Dug and Weeded

Base of L-shape Almost Finished

Blackberry Plant Protected by Tyres

Raspberry Canes Pruned Back (This Bed Still To Be Weeded)

Blackcurrant Bed Still To Be Weeded and Bushes Pruned (Bushes Are Well in Bud Already)

     It was a misty damp day on Friday with extremely heavy rain on Friday evening, my next visit to the plot was on Saturday afternoon. The beds were too damp for any digging, so a few tidying up jobs were done and I pruned back the Raspberry canes on my main plot, moved a couple frogs, which were hibernating amongst the mulch around the Raspberry plants, taking them to the sanctuary of the drainage ditch at the bottom of my plot and consigned the Raspberry canes to the new compost heap/bin minus any frogs.

Strawberry/Gooseberry Bed Remains Weed Free

  On Sunday I carried on with the digging from where I left off on Thursday, removing more Goji roots and annual weeds. Todays' weather was damp and overcast with a few showers, but not serious enough to stop the digging process. Hopefully the L-shape will be finished by tomorrow evening, although the rain is back again at the moment.

Brussels for Christmas (This years Brassica Bed to Be Tidied Up After The Brussels Are Picked)

Spring Cabbages for Transplanting Later On

Pirate, Cricketer or Lion Tamer Still Digging (Part 4)

Anyone who has compiled their own C.V. will know that 2 of the "required fields" on a C.V. are, qualifications and experiences. It's also quite a common phenomenon that when you are carrying out continual repeated tasks, such as digging, that your mind ponders over other subjects at the same time. It's been slow progress again this week down the plot, only turning over another 4 feet of ground to remove the weeds from the central bed on plot N2. As I progress down the slightly sloping ground more and more of the Dandelion roots are reaching down into the sub-soil levels. There have been 3 or 4 pleasant dry days since last Monday but with overnight and evening rain, torrential again last night, the soil has been too wet and sticky to achieve much consistent digging. This brings me back to my opening comment about C.V.'s. Having to dig down well over 2 spits to remove many of the roots embedded in the sub-soils, I was thinking about how Pirates felt when they were burying their treasure on some uncharted island or elsewhere. How was their backache? (First qualification done). Cricketers? Well that's an easy one this year, spending most of their time in the pavilion, (shed), in my case, due to rain stopping play. (Second qualification done). Lion Tamer (Third qualification done). Dande Lions that is, the real Lions are too dangerous to mess about with. 

Now on with the more serious stuff. Yesterday I set about removing the remaining French Climbing beans, Borlotties and late Pea plants from the legumes bed on my main plot. I picked a container full of beans, to be used for next years seeds, but due to their dampness I don't hold out much hope for their survival. The variety of garden canes used for supports, along with the pea sticks were cleaned and stored away in my shed, until they are needed again. The weaker/decaying canes and sticks were broken up and consigned to the compost heap. By yesterday evening, I had forked over this bed, (the soil is lighter and more workable than N2 plot), except for a couple of feet at the top end, where 3 rows of Senshyu Onions are currently growing well. My next job with this bed will be to add some compost to it, before it is used for next years Brassicas. Although the grass areas of the plots are wet and not likely to completely dry out without a prolonged dry spell of weather, I decided to mow them. My mower has just been serviced and the blades sharpened which was just as well. Cutting wet grass is not generally a good idea. On the up side, the grass cuttings will make good compost/mulch.

As I have mentioned in some of my previous posts, when the wet weather has prevented me from visiting the plots this year I have been decorating and doing some D.I.Y.
 I thought it was time this week to start doing some planning for next years sowing and planting. The following diagram of my new N2 plot, (not to scale), is a rough outline of next years crops, what goes where? Once the weeds and Dandelions have been removed that is.

My New Plot (N2) Situated Alongside My Main Plot (N1) The Central Bed is Currently Being Cleared of Dandelions

                                                                                                                  

Still Digging (Not)!! (Part 3)

O.K. so the post title is still boring, well so was this past week in the main, for me anyway. With only 2 and a half days spent down the plot since the beginning of last week, thanks to the rainy weather, particularly over the weekend. At least there's been no snow in this area, as there has been in many surrounding areas with 3 inches (8cm) in some places yesterday. By mid-week the soil was still unworkable so I decided to do a little maintenance on some garden furniture which had been standing neglected on my new plot for quite some time.

One of the Chairs Before Re-furbishing It

  I brushed off the dirt, mould, spiders, snails and various other grime and left the 2 chairs and bench inside my shed to dry out. By Thursday afternoon the furniture was dry and after a couple of hours cleaning and rubbing the wood down it was ready to be treated with waterproof wood preserver (dark mahogany in colour). The finished articles now looks almost as good as new, hopefully the preservative will do what it says on the tin.   I managed to get a little weeding done on my main plot on Thursday around the Senshyu Onions, mainly carrying out the work from the grass paths, thus avoiding walking on the saturated soil. I ventured down the plot again on Friday afternoon but with more rain overnight the only other work I got done was to move the compost from an old, well decomposed compost heap, situated at the lower end of my new plot. The compost was forked into my wheelbarrow where various items such as old plant pots, bits of netting and large stones were removed. I then tipped several barrow loads of the compost onto my Autumn fruiting Raspberry bed before leveling it off with a rake, around the previously pruned Raspberry canes. Having achieved a depth of approximately 6 inches (15cm) with the compost, across the bed, I think this will feed the plants for some time to come.

Garden (Plot) Furniture Before (Left) and After Re-furbishing

With more rain over the weekend, visiting the plot was again out of the question. Today a clear blue sky lasted all day, along with the sunshine and a cold breeze. Hopefully the ground will have dried out sufficiently by tomorrow, so that I can resume the battle against the Dandelions.

Rooko's November Top 10 Tryouts & Tips!!

1. Don't forget the yearly ritual of checking over bonfires, before they are lit, to ensure any wildlife is not hibernating inside them.

2. Although the weather is wet cold and dreary over most of the UK, if you can collect fallen leaves from trees and shrubs, it will make good leaf mould for later use in the garden or down the plot.

3. Probably your last chance to plant the following in November. Garlic, Broad beans, Overwintering Peas, Overwintering Onion and Shallot sets. Try the following in a frost free greenhouse or under protection. Winter Lettuce, Endive, Pak-Choi, Spinach.

4. Save those long plastic containers discarded from curtain poles or window blinds. Cut away one side of the container and use them for light weight cloches to cover seeds/seedlings.

5. If you have a fish pond in your garden which may become frozen during the Winter, put a tennis ball, or 2, into the water to prevent it completely freezing over. Keep any water movement going during the Winter months.

6. Winter protection in cold areas for Rhubarb may consist of covering the crowns with about 10 inches (25cm) of straw. Mulching around the crowns will supply nutrients to the roots and may provide protection from frost also.

7. Some green manures can still be sown now. They will help to subdue weeds, which is helpful during spells of bad weather when the ground cannot be weeded. The green manure can be turned into the soil at a later date to disperse their nutrients.

8. This years extremely wet weather in UK has seen a large rise in the snail and slug populations. It may be prudent to purchase some nematode products to combat them, prior to next seasons sowing and growing begins.

9. One method of cleaning used plant pots is as follows. Firstly soak the pots in cold clean tap water for a few hours to loosen up any dirt on them. Fill a container with 2 gallons of clean water and add a half cup of bleach to the water. (Use protective clothing when handling bleach). Thoroughly scrub the pots until clean and rinse them again with fresh water. Leave them to dry before storing or using them again.

10. If you are storing seeds over the Winter months, keep them in tins. This will stop mice and other vermin knawing their way through containers made from less robust materials.

Still Digging (Part 2)

Meticulously the removal of the myriad of Dandelions continues on the center bed of my new plot. Monday and Tuesday of last week were wet and rainy so the war against the weeds was delayed yet again. Wednesday was sunny but cold along with Thursday. A fresh wind was drying out the soil by Thursday afternoon, helping the soil to break up more quickly as I continued digging. The rain returned on Friday, making the soil too wet to do much digging on Saturday morning which I spent moving the remaining items of my gardening equipment from my old 2nd plot to the new one. On completion of this some time was spent tidying up the shed on my new plot, installing various hooks and a potting bench in one corner of the shed. I have now officially handed back my old 2nd plot to our site representative. I understand that the plot will be split into 2 halves for letting out to the next 2 tenants.  One of the main complaints I've heard, in the past,  from new tenants is about the untidy conditions of the plots they are taking over. Well at least I've left mine in good order, apart from mowing the grass surrounding the plot.

How My Old 2nd Plot Looked Today

Top End of Old 2nd Plot Sown with Mustard to Keep the Weeds Down

 Sunday, Monday and today have seen dry, cold weather with a few sunny spells. This has enabled me to carry on digging up the Dandelions. As the work was going too slowly for my liking, due to the vast amount of small Dandelions smothering the grounds surface, I decided to remove, not only the Dandelions, individually, but also a few inches of soil with each batch of roots. This method sped things up considerably, yesterday and today. Although the larger Dandelion plants have been easier to remove than the smaller ones, many are rooted well into the sub-soil, so by the time the bed has been cleared of weeds it will have been well and truly "double dug". In fact late this afternoon a chap from the antipodes popped his head up out of the soil to say hi?

Just 2 Forkfuls of Dandelion  Roots

The Root of the Problem?

Halfway There

 More rain is forecast for this area tonight and for the next few days so more digging looks like being out of the question until at least this coming weekend. It looks like a good opportunity to do some work inside my shed cleaning tools, pots and trays.

Still Digging

First of all many thanks to everyone who has looked in on my blog in the past week. Not enough hours in each day over the past week, but I've been busy waging war against the Dandelions growing in my central bed on my new plot. This bed is the largest in area, equivalent to approximately a half plot in its own right. Up until Friday the clay soil was still wet and sticky, which meant that every fork full of soil turned had to be picked up by hand to remove hoards of Dandelions, roots and all. Generally the weather has been quite pleasant with a few sunny spells. Saturday and Sunday was breezy and reasonably warm and the soil was beginning to dry out as I continued digging the bed and removing weeds and any large stones I came across. The drying soil was breaking up better than earlier in the week which made the digging easier, good news, especially after putting in about 6 hours digging per day since last Monday. 

Not much else of interest (if digging can be considered interesting). I have harvested 2 lots of Runner beans several Lettuces, Cucumbers and the last of my Sweetcorn during the past week. I also harvested the first of my Leeks on Saturday which made a superb Leek and Potato soup for the weekend.

The annoying drizzly Autumn rain returned today so the Dandelion war was called off in favour of some D.I.Y.

My apologies for the lack of content and photographs within this post, hopefully the next post will be more interesting.

For all of you who have gardening jobs to do and haven't got round to it yet the following is just for you.

             This is a Round Tuit Just for You