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| 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.
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| 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).
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| Mud Splattered Leeks |
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| Waterlogged |
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| Lower End of N2 Plot 30/12/2012 |
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| Rhubarb Looking O.K. Top of N2 Plot 30/12/2012 |
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| Welsh Onions Chives & Strawberry Trees Looking O.K. Top of N2 Plot 30/12/2012 |
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| Waterlogged Alpine Strawberries 30/12/2012 |
There's always tomorrow.
I'm really glad that my veg are mostly grown in raised beds. We haven't had rain as bad as you, but it has still been a pretty wet December. The aquifers will have been well and truly topped-up!
ReplyDeleteWe'll need a month of sunshine to dry things out! At least we have just mud and not standing water - well that was over 10 days ago so maybe by now we have puddles too!
ReplyDelete