Ever a sucker for something 'free' I bought the June edition of Organic Life magazine today, which contains a free Vegetable Planning Chart to stick in the shed. It terrifies me to see how far behind we have got on Allotment 21...
Here we are, England, late May, mid 'drought'.
I have been getting slightly envious of other blogger's radish crops. Allotment News, Dig for Victory, Losing the Plot, Mildew and Petunia have all been publishing photographs of big, red plump radishes. Eager to join this growing band, I pulled up one of ours up on Sunday and took a photograph.
I didn't make it to the allotment on Saturday as I was at the Hereford United Football ground watching Nephew's under 9's cup final. The HUFC pitch was the scene of Ronnie Radford's famous goal in 1972 against Newcastle when there was an almighty pitch invasion from thousands of Herefordians sporting parka coats.
Sister told me off for booing the opposition, apparently this is not match etiquette. I was also told off for hissing, calling the Ref. a girl and shouting "diver" at one of the kids on the other team. A nail-biting (and very quiet on my part) match ended 2 all and went straight to penalties. This is bad enough when it's Beckham et al, when it is Nephew with a bus load of relatives watching... Nephew did score as you can see from Sister's reaction but the team lost the match.
I read the R.H.S. page on carrots with a sinking heart. We have done everything possible to attract the dreaded carrot fly.
I am hoping to make some tomato feed by leaving our comfrey leaves in a sealed bucket of water for a few weeks. Sealed because I have been warned about the smell...
More advice please... Derris dust or Derris liquid?? And any idea why some of the other plot holders have wrapped fleece around the bottom 3 feet of their bean poles? Is there some other dreaded insect that we have yet to discover?
I was in an extremely good mood today as Spouse & I have survived 12 years of marriage and guitars and are off to the Stagg for dinner tonight. Then I nipped up to the plot and discovered that someone else has been enjoying a good meal - and it's not a person.
Simon-the-giant-marrow is fast outgrowing his recycled plastic cup and will be planted out this weekend. I took the opportunity to take him into work this week in order for Clare to practice her reiki on him.
Apparently the hair on your head contains 30 times more nitrogen than manure and is very good for composting. Sister, a hairdresser who peaked in the 1980s has turned me into Hazel O'Conner and Spouse looks like Jason Donovan. Neither of us will venture out without a hat.
Sister, eschewing the traditional spade and sweat method, hired a man and a mini-digger to create her vegetable patch.
I found some 'past the sell by date' grass seed in the shed and put it in the car ready to sprinkle on the bare patch where our manure heap had been. It just so happened that all four of us went up to the allotment for a spot of watering and Mel sowed the seed. A touch of Primary School Assembly came over me and I couldn't resist the chorus of, 'We plough the fields and scatter...'.
I am sure that a neighbouring plot holder was merely giving a helpful tip when he pointed out that our car was parked in a turning area (where everyone leaves their cars). He spurred us to move the manure heap off the grass verge and onto the plot. Luckily, Steve arrived and did most of the work as both Mel and I were struggling. Spouse managed to completely evade shovelling as he was on safety duty at Llangorse.
I have been very envious of another blogger who has Google Earthed his plot and posted the picture.
Steve was not impressed with our request for a bottle of homebrew to fill the slug traps. He grudgingly brought along a large bottle with some glasses in order to prove that it would be wasted on our slimy predators.
The moment Mel has been waiting for finally arrived. We decided that the end of April must mean the end of frosts (and we are running out of space in the greenhouse). Mel dug some trenches and all that needed to be done was to shake and tip the guttering and out came the salad leaves into the trench.
Steve had pointed out that the birds like our bean poles for perching during the day. We now know why... the little b****rs are pecking away at the twine for nesting material. Here is one caught in the act.
