Plotting At Christmastime

Since the beginning of December things have been slow and restful down my plots, compared with previous years. Over the past couple of weeks, air temperatures have risen and I have spent several pleasant days in the sunshine, mainly replacing the storm damaged vents in the walls of my poly tunnel. This involved fixing wooden battens along the sides of the tunnel, inside and out and replacing the original torn vents with stronger pieces of nylon mesh. To date one side of the tunnel has been completed and the other side partially completed. A bit of a fiddly job to say the least, trying to fix battens to both sides of the tunnel walls at the same time and definitely a 2 man job.

It Always Looks Good On Paper (Next Seasons Squash Seeds) Dec 2014

Most of the allotments are looking tidy if not devoid of crops at this time of the year and compared with previous years, few plot holders seem to have been tending their plots lately, compared to last year over the same time period. With the final pruning done to my blackcurrant bushes two days ago, just some pruning to the red and white currants and fruit trees remains to be done later this Winter, leaving the plum tree pruning until June. My rhubarb plants are already showing early signs of new growth. If this mild weather continues it could well be an early start to next season. I mentioned in an earlier post that I thought this Winter would bring extremely bad weather with it. Wrong so far!! But I wonder now if Winter will be late with snow, frost etc around Easter time. I had a good harvest of cabbage (round headed and cavolo nero) parsnips, carrots, mixed lettuce and lambs lettuce today most of which will be eaten and hopefully enjoyed on Christmas day.

Poly Tunnel Vents Needing Repair (Dec 2014)

New Vents & Battens Being Fixed To My Poly Tunnel (Dec 2014)

A Few Veggies For Christmas Day

A FEAST OF VEGGIES

(A gardeners poem with apologies to any poets reading it)

It was Christmas day in the kitchen and the turkey was cooking well

The giblets still inside their polythene bag were exuding an odorous smell

Brussels sprouts were purchased from Asda this year

I forgot to sow some last Spring

My planning was wrong, my memory was short and definitely needed some zing

The carrots were simmering nicely smelling sweeter with each passing minute

The pan they were in was full to the brim, after I spilled some bleach right in it
Parsnips and peas looked delicious, as they cooked alongside the spuds
But the yorkshires were somewhat deflated not rising just how they should
The runner beans were a wonderful green and looking ever so tasty
But the gravy was thick and lumpy, because I had been too hasty
 The custard and pud were coming along very well, as I added a little more rum
Spirit and flame from the gas hob combined, to give off a bl**dy great flash
Christmas dinner was lost in the blink of an eye, just as the first guests appeared
Sod it I thought I'm off down my plots, to sow some more seeds for next years'
 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE 

 

Autumn Colours

After another chilly and drab Autumn week, but with a beautiful sunny day yesterday, which cleared away the dampness in the air and on the ground I decide to spuddle off to my plots today in the late morning. With not a great deal to do around my allotments, the intention was to make a short visit and do a cursory inspection of everything. Most of the ground areas were reasonably dry, except where the fallen Autumn leaves were strewn around, holding in moisture, mainly across the southern lower parts of my plots, close to the hedgerow. The grass areas of the plots were also a little damp, as only recently has the grass stopped growing to any degree. As I wandered around my plots checking the beds, borders, paths, cloches and ground covers, I noticed a surprising and varied amount of new growth, despite the recent cold, damp weather. Many spring flowering bulbs were showing well above soil level. The autumn sown veggies which would be expected to develop were doing well and even my mixed lettuce, (uncovered as yet), was growing away, unaffected by the recent frosts. 

Passiflora Still Flowering End of Nov 2014

 Seven or eight other plot holders were working away on their plots when I arrived and were in the process of some rough digging or clearing decaying vegetation from their planting areas. By about midday most of them had left for home. I dug over a few feet of soil at the top end of No1 bed. After about forty minutes of digging, I decided to remove my runner bean plants, which were still in situ on the L-Shaped bed and still growing, although they were looking bedraggled, having been ravaged by a recent heavy overnight frost. This task took me longer than I anticipated. After cutting away the plants ties, removing the supporting canes and cleaning them of soil and sooty mould, salvaging some beans for seed, disposing of the foliage onto the compost heap and putting away the hundred or so canes, into my shed, 2 hours had gone by. I then cleared the ground, on the drainage ditch bank beneath my fruit trees, of more fallen leaves, depositing them into my "leaf mould bin". By the time this task was finished I called it a day, locked up the sheds and spuddled off home.

Camelia In Full Bud End of Nov 2014

Groundsel Flowering End Nov 2014

Inkcaps Like It Damp Dec 2014

More Inkcaps Dec 2014

And More Dec 2014

(This One Usually Dies Back in Late Autumn) Dec 2014

Feverfew Flowering Dec 2014

There's Always Tomorrow!!!

Rooko's December Top 10 Tips & Tryouts

1 to 10.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR

If you don't celebrate Christmas be happy anyway!!

Now Remember Don't Overeat This Christmas

  

There's Always Tomorrow!!!

2015 Re-designed Plots N1 & N2 Plots

 There's Always Tomorrow!!

Free Vegetable Growing E-Book

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Another Overcast Week

With just 2 visits to my plots this week again, today and last Monday. Only a little tidying up needed doing and a few weeds required pulling and disposing of, onto the compost heap, so things are moving slowly. I may get around to the 2 main tasks I have left over this year, some time next week, those of repairing my poly tunnel vents and replacing several water butt taps which have worked loose. The plots are mainly damp and looking very Autumnal, although the soil is still workable, (using walking boards), any remaining preparation can now wait until early Spring next year, as I am taking a few well earned breaks from most gardening tasks until then.

Broad beans (Aquadulche) Mid Nov 2014

 In one of my earlier posts I remarked that I thought this coming Winter would bring some extremely bad weather. When I visited my plots last Monday I found beds 3 and 4 already had approximately 6 inches of standing rainwater across their lowest ends. Despite some heavy overnight rain and daytime showery rain this week, the water had drained away by the time I visited the plots today. Hopefully the clearing of the drainage ditch I carried out earlier this year has paid off, as there was no sign of further underground water running into the ditch from the plots, as there was on Monday. Anyone who watched the Andrew Marr show this morning, on the B.B.C. (Bulls******s Baffling the Country) may have heard him comment about the wettest Winter on record, to come, this Winter.

Having harvested a couple of excellent sized cabbages and some spring onions earlier today the rest of the crops growing around the plots need little attention at this time of the year. My parsnips growing in one of my raised beds were weeded out for the first time this season, mainly due to a wasps nest close by them. Having been left to their own devices since being sown, I forked over and weeded the damp and compacted soil around the plants, uncovering the shoulders of the roots to discover some excellent sized specimens. Just some frost needed now to add a little flavour to them, or so the experts say??

Parsnips (Hollow Crown) Mid Nov 2014

 There's Always Tomorrow!!!

Motivation

With outdoor temperatures dropping somewhat this week compared to ones of 20 degrees C last week, I've only made a couple of visits to my plots on last Monday and Tuesday. Both days were pleasant enough with some weak sunshine during the late mornings to mid-afternoons. This allowed me to rid a couple of areas of N1 Plot of annual weeds and fallen leaves which were added to my compost heaps. Tuesday was spent harvesting my remaining marrows and squashes from No1 bed On N1 Plot, before any expected frosts take hold. The squash and marrow plants, along with some sparse weeds also being consigned to the compost heaps.

Some Weeds Will Grow Almost Anywhere (Oct 2014)

No1 bed was then partially forked over, adjacent to my fruit cage, and then the heaps of nitrogen rich mud I had recently cleared from the drainage ditch, situated at the southern end of my plots, was broken down and spread across the bed, in lieu of animal manure. Later in the afternoon the remnants of my tomato and cucumber plants were removed from my poly tunnel and after adding some compost to the poly tunnel borders the compost was then forked into them. With the grass paths and other grass areas of my plots having been mowed a fortnight ago, it just left some tidying of the edging around various planting beds to do.
By about 3-30 p.m. and sunlight fading it was time to call it a day. The rest of this week has seen colder temperatures with some rain and breezy weather conditions, so I have stayed indoors doing some decorating and D.I.Y. tasks.

Still Growing End of October 2014

Strawberries Still Growing (End of Oct 2014)

My Asparagus Can't Figure Out the Seasons Either (End Oct 2014)

Winter Onions & Lettuce N2 Plot (End of Oct 2014)

4th Flush of Rhubarb (End of Oct 2014)

Some More Runner Beans Left to Seed (End Oct 2014)

Pampas Grass Split from Another Gardening Job (Oct 2014)

Gooseberry & Extra Strawberry Bed N1 Plot Weeded (Oct 2014)

There's Always Tomorrow!!!