Amateur Ramblings

A plot too far.

This week saw the end of our twelve-month dabble in the world of allotments. Despite all the hours I put in last Autumn, I didn't get the feeling that sufficient headway was being made. I hardly visited over Christmas, although I did put in some Garlic and Winter Onions. Storms in January and February caused significant damage to the greenhouse (which shift back a foot and twisted, causing numerous panes to pop out), and I think blew away any remaining interest in trying to maintain the plot. I definitely would like to have an allotment in the future, but until then I will have to be content with growing herbs and cherries in our back garden.

Last weekend some friends came over and took away the the shed (which we discover had been broken into*), the greenhouse, and various allotment paraphernalia to their plot over on Dewsbury Road. So at least things have gone to a good, if slightly more urban**) home.

I'd like to thank everyone who has helped us over the last twelve months, especially Andrew Davies for helping to erect the shed, and Gemma's Dad for helping to transport this over from Wakefield; Martin, for all the help with the greenhouse; and my Mum and Dad for the tools, seedlings, digging and advice.

*Our wheelbarrow was taken, and was used to assist in the stealing of a number of rotavators.
**When we got to their plot, they discovered a used syringe in their unlocked shed.

Smashy and Nicey

I ventured down to the allotment on Sunday, for the first time this year. I had been putting off going because of all the work that needs doing, and I was worried about whether there would be any damage caused by the recent gales. And there was, but it wasn't too bad. The greenhouse and the shed had both suffered some damage, but were thankfully still standing. The shed just has a couple of small panels missing from near the door, and the greenhouse has six panes smashed, and has been blown a foot back and is now a parallelogram kinda shape.

I'll get to work on fixing things up in the next few weeks, I'm sure. In the meantime, lets remember happy times, with a photo depicting some of the glut of peppers and chillies we produced last autumn.

crop news

I have been quite busy at the allotment since returning from being away in August / September (despite remaining busy and therefore unavailable most weekends). As mentioned previously, the tomatoes are goners; additionally, i feel that the aubergines have underachieved. The peppers have faired better, and we had a reasonable crop, though they did tend to be vulnerable to going bad for no apparent reason. The chillies faired the best, and produced (and continue to produce) a large amount of fairly-but-not-too-hot green fruits.

Outside, the runner beans have also done well. If anything, we grew too many beans and chillies. At least the chillies freeze well, but the beans are best eaten freshly picked, and this isn't always possible for me and Gemma, what with the busy cosmopolitan lives we lead. The sprouts (above) seem to have stalled, but at least the copper wire I laid down appears to have kept the slugs at bay. The spinach has done well, a little too well as we haven't always been able to pick the leaves and it's the baby leaves that are the best.

The pumpkins are doing ok, but the plants seem too concerned in spreading out rather than producing there beautiful orange globes. It's worth mentioning flowers - the sunflowers, both yellow and red, have of course been well behaved, and the long-given-up-on wild flowers in the same patch have belatedly started to appear.

Weeds are a never-ending problem on our patch, but a couple of hours with a spade has sorted out the top end. I have also tidied-up the 'walls', and extended these to create a sectioned off top quarter, where we plan to grow only flowers and maybe herbs. Although to be honest these are more useful being grown in pots at home. I still plan to maybe hire a strimer and have a massive go at the rest of our overgrown plot, and then dig over as much as I can before it turns really cold and frosty (if indeed it does this winter).

catch-up (1) - graft and hitch

in the four days before returning to work, we were both so, so busy. gemma had to complete three essays and revise for a mid-week exam. i took care of the washing, shopping, and three weeks of neglected housework. i also began the mammoth task of rescuing the portion of the allotment we have managed to develop from the ravages of the weeds. we also found time at the weekend to hang out with andrew and michelle, and deb, who clearly hasn't had enough of me and gemma was visiting them and their fast-growing daughter.

i really didn't want to go back to work, and it took me all week to get back into the swing of things. i was really missing austria, and in particular salzburg. after spending just four days there, it was apparent that leeds just doesn't compare. i would even go as far as saying that i could live in salzburg (although i'd have to learn to speak the language properly). i certainly wouldn't mind moving to another country.

after five days at work which seemed to drag, and during which i seemed to contract a weird headache-cold thing, i could have done with having the weekend off. unfortunately, our diaries didn't allow for this. friday night saw us meeting some friends from work at the elbow rooms for a quick drink, prior to boarding a mini-bus bound for walton hall, which was where a girl i work with had earlier in the day become married. gemma hasn't met most of my colleagues, but they instantly liked her, and she liked them back.

baby greens (and oranges, and purples)

more exciting new growth down at the allotment. we have the first (tiny) beans coming through:

the pumpkins are doing well; one in particular has recently had an amazing growth spurt, and appears to be about to bear fruit (or should that be vegetable?):

meanwhile, in the greenhouse, a couple of aubergine flowers have started to convert themselves into aubergines:

strange star and spinach

our pumpkins have started to flower.

i think this is the crop that i am most excited about. but the rest is not far behind. last night we harvested some spinach, and it is modelled here by gemma, as if it were some chips. ooh, how creative!

ask the family

this weekend, my mum and dad have been visiting. they reported that the journey from birmingham was pretty horrendous, with the friday rush, roadworks, and unescorted wide loads to contend with.

we tried to go to howarth in the day on saturday, but were thwarted by some massive roadworks in shipley. we decided to go to salts mill instead. here, we had strange scones, and saw a chair on sale for £3,300. we went (with gemma's mum and step-dad) to little tokyo in the evening, where our bento boxes were accompanied by a japanese elvis. sorry, i didn't have my camera with me.

today, mum and dad were keen to see, and indeed dig, the allotment. dad impressed me with his knowledge of plants (and we have plenty of wild flora on the lower two-thirds), and both seemed generally satisfied with progress so far (considering i work, and gemma studies, both full time).

whilst mum got to work on the knotweed around the side of the greenhouse, dad dug over the former onion patch. thanks, parents. tharents.

harvest festival

on wednesday, we had josie mills round for tea. she is one of the people in our friend set who is is compulsory to address by her full name. (i am know by my full name only at work). prior to cooking, we decided to go down the allotment to get some ingredients for the frittata that gemma was going to make. we took some spinach, a pepper, and a chilli.

there are loads of peppers coming through; they might not be as smooth as those you might pick up in safeburys or morrasda, but they are just as big, and they are tastier and fresher. and of course, the food miles are excellent! we also took up the onions. they are still quite small, and really it's a little earlier to be picking these, but we only had a handful in and the amount of time i was spending weeding the onion patch was a bit annoying.

that's sweet!

as i was removing the ragged stems of the eaten sprouts tonight, gemma noticed tonight that we have a new-born sweet pepper.

allotment update

things are going well, despite the fact that we haven't had as much time as we would have liked to get down to the allotment. and let's not mention the recent weather!  all the rain has encouraged weeds and wild flowers alike to shoot up on the two-thirds of our plot that we haven't yet worked on. look, the path is totally shadowed by the rampant growth!

nevertheless, the pumpkins and the onions are doing well, and the greenhouse is going mad, with everything we sow doing nothing but growing, and growing quickly.

i'm glad we decided to start the runner beans off in the greenhouse - they seem to doing great. not so the sprouts, which have been well and truly eaten. but by what? my money is on slugs.