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.