Cuckoo in the Nest

I haven't been to the Hill today as I was busy getting muddy elsewhere - ha! - but this evening I thought that I would pod some of the beans that have been drying in the attic room.

They are a bit of a mystery as they are all from one plant that was supposed to be a dwarf bean ('triomphe de farcy'); but it climbed and set a multitude of pods.

These are definitely not 'triomphe de farcy' which are slender brown speckled beans - in my hand in the pic on the left - these are more of a borlotti type, but relatively small.

No idea what happened there, but given how prolific that a single plant has been, assuming they taste nice, I might just plant a row of them next year.

Unexpected Goodies

Whilst we are waiting for Jason to send me the photos that he took at the AGM on Tuesday evening - in particular of the assorted silverware that was presented at the end of the meeting - we can have a look at this delightful courgette loaf that Woodchippings Paul has baked for me.

He had baked a loaf for the buffet after the AGM, and it was so delicious that I asked him for the recipe.

'Oh - do you really like it?' he beamed, 'Jackie P has just said the same thing - I'm going to bake her one.  Do you want one too?'  Well, you can't say no to that offer, and on my way to the Hill today, I collected it.  Delicious - great with butter and cheese.

It's the season for tidying and clearing, so besides wanting to dig up the final potatoes (picasso - fabulous bakers), I also wanted to get the pea wigwams down.

The Autumn has been so wet that the soil is heavy and difficult to work, so it was hard going on the potato bed; but the upside is that when it came to taking the pea plants down from the wigwams, the string supports easily broke and the dead plants could pulled up and composted in no time.

But before I took the sweet pea wigwam down, I spotted plenty of sweet pea pods ripe and ready to pick on the plants.  Brilliant - they will come in for next year, and there are plenty of them  So I picked them all the plants and took them home to dry and pod; and came home for tea and courgette bread.

Marvellous.

Making a List

A terrific amount of rain fell yesterday but today was fine and dry, so I set of to the Hill this afternoon to see if I could do a few jobs.

I didn't have much planned, but wanted to dig some potatoes and have a look at what maintenance jobs will need looking at this winter.

There is some general tidying up to do, of course, but no great rush - and I don't want to trim the lavender at the front of the plot yet, as it still has some flowers

I got the fork out the toolshed - noting that it is getting increasing rickety, and the wood is so rotten that if I replace all the timbers that need renewing, and the roof, and the felt; I will, in fact, have a new shed.

I dug up the golden wonder maincrop potatoes.  Not the heaviest crop this year, I must say, but I still have the picasso to dig, and I have high hopes of these based on last year's successful crop.

I was careful around the one side of the bed where the side timber is loose.  The raised beds have been in situ for just about 5 years, and some of the stakes that I used as pegs have rotted and snapped, so they need replacing.

With that bed now empty, I turned the wood-chippings from the path onto the bed.  The chippings rot down every couple of years, so I'll need to put new ones down this winter.

Before picking some kale to bring home to eat this week, I had a look at the compost bins.  I'd declared these redundant when I got the dalek composters, but with the prunings of the currant bushes and the raspberry canes they are more heaped than ever

Need to do something about that too, I think.

But not today - I had more than enough food for thought, and came home for a well deserved cup of tea.

Rain - and lots of it

It's been mild all week again; but from today, it looks like temperatures are dropping to single figures.  The change in the weather was heralded by a band of heavy rain this afternoon, coinciding almost exactly with my visit to the Hill.

I can take or leave most jobs at the moment - the clearing up doesn't have to be done all at once - but I did want to get the garlic planted.  I keep a few bulbs back to replant each year, but this year has not been a good year for it for me, and the bulbs have been noticeably smaller that usual.

I don't know whether that is because we had a dry May and June when the bulbs are meant to be swelling, or perhaps because I didn't plant them until last December, a few weeks later than I usually do.  Or maybe it was just a rubbish year for garlic.

So after a bit of weeding in the pouring rain, cutting the asparagus down, and filling the raspberry bed with a deep layer of leaves, I took the biggest of the garlic that I had from this summer, and after forking over half a bed (where the courgettes had been) I split them and planted the cloves.

Besides getting very wet, once I'd finished it did strike me that I probably should have mixed in some sort of feed before planting - I'll have to do it afterwards now.

Hopefully when it is not raining.

Autumn Catch Up

What an inconsistent blogger I have become!  I've missed telling you about the summer crops, the annual show, and showing you this year's scarecrow - shocking!

I'll maybe save those for another day, though, as if I try to catch up, I'll be in danger of chasing my tail for ever.  So we'll 'draw a line' as they say in Knobsville, and set off from now.

The weather has been mild to date, with some storms blowing in, just to keep us on our toes.  I went to the Hill today - the clocks went back last night, so the first weekend of Autumn - to see what's been going on whilst I've been away on holiday, and everything is looking like it wants a good tidy up.

I pruned the currant bushes before I went away - for better or worse, and today I wanted to do the same with the raspberry canes which have got rather unruly.  My secateurs are not really up to the job of dealing with the forest of intermingled summer and autumn plants, so in frustration I put my head down and gaining sore hands and blister, blundered on and chopped down the whole lot.

The autumn ones will be fine next year, growing and fruiting on new shoots which will come up in the Spring - I may have sacrificed a crop from the summer ones, though, as they fruit on the older canes, which are no more. On the plus side, with the canes out the way, I can replace the rotten wooden posts at the one end of the bed which hold the support wires, and can put down a thick mulch of either manure or wood chippings.

I turfed out the courgette plants, taking the last giants home where they will be grated and frozen in batches - I can use them for chocolate courgette cake (delicious) and to bulk out stews and mince.

I started to pick some of the bean pods - hunter - which are dry and rattle, and they can have a final dry out on newspaper in the attic room before I pod them.

The weeds have continued to grow, particularly under the netting tunnel.  I was pleased when I cleared them to find that about half of the cabbage and cauliflower seedlings have survived - they were too little when I planted them out, I think, and was worried that the slugs/snails would have had the lot.

The final job before coming home was to pick a few carrots (which look ok, but I haven't washed them yet); and the first of the tuscan kale. Then the challenge was to get home with my booty without being accompanied by a blizzard of whitefly from the kale - failed on that one!

And as I was packing away, satisfied that I'd at least made a start on the end of season tidy-up, Richard-three-plots-down arrived.  Until then I'd had no company at all - it was surprising not to see a few plotters on what really was a fine Autumn morning.

New Season's Pickings!

Isn't June lovely?  I've been able to nip to the Hill any evening that I fancy a run, do a little light weeding, have a quick beer at the clubhouse and home in time for supper.

Mind you, it's been a season for slugs and snails - my beans have only just shrugged off the attacks, and it's the same with the tender crops - the courgettes and squash, and some lettuce.  But they all just about live to grow another day - which is more than can be said for my bed of spring onions, carrots and parsnips!

The tomatoes at home are romping away - a weekly feed and regular watering (every other day) seem to be paying off, so I have high hopes for them.

I don't grow tomatoes at the Hill any longer - a couple of dispiriting years when the plants were cut down by blight means that I am happier with them here, where they are at less risk.

And this week has been a week of first crops - later than other years, simply as I seem to have been a bit behind, for no particular reason.  All the sweeter, then, were these red berries, broad beans and the very first potatoes.

Magic.

Seed Sowing, Seedlings Growing

I do seem to be terribly behind this year (and no, not just with the blog, you wags at the back) - it's just that the time rushes by so quickly!

Since I last blogged, I went on holiday, I came back and we had the dahlia talk in the club house and the seed swap; I planted my seed potatoes; and sowed the beans, peas and tender crops in pots at home.

And a month on, all but the tender squash, cucumber and sweetcorn are now in their beds.

In my never-ending quest to grow some bloody carrots, I've made a tunnel, covered with netting. Now, I would be really pleased with this, as it was so easy to put together (once I'd scrounged some blue pipe from Chris at the bottom - thank you m'dear), except that the sharp-eyed will note from the photo that the tunnel is open ended,

This is not deliberate, but a miscalculation of how much debris netting that I had to buy from the store-shed.  It is not so much a protected bed as a windtunnel, or shelter for pigeons.  So a bit of a fail on that one at the mo, then, but I have extra netting now, and will be wielding a needle and shirring elastic at the weekend in order to complete the job.

I can see me doing more of these tunnels if it means that I can protect the beds from pests whilst the plants are young.  It looks like I'll have to resort to slugs pellets for the asparagus bed in future if I want to eat any of the spears myself - but I'm not keen on pellets without excluding birds or other wildlife with some sort of cover.

As ever at this time of year, I can't wait for the first veg to be ready.  

Dalek Emptying and Filling

Another fine week, but with increasing chilly winds, so I wrapped up warm when I went to the Hill today.

I had the place to myself until Fuchsia Allen came by with his unfeasibly large dog, and stopped to say hello. We chatted about the talk on dahlias that is taking place in the club house next month, and I suggested a seed swap at the same time.  We'll see if the committee think it's a good idea.

I jigged about with the second of the four dalek composters until I could release the contents in a controlled fashion on the bed.  Only about half the contents were ready to use, and it was quite dry in the bin - perhaps I should empty a watering can into the bins each visit in future.  It's a shame that the lids aren't porous.

I put the uncomposted stuff back in the bin once it was newly positioned in the next bed up, and also half a dozen bags of manure that a kind soul had put on one side for me on the plot when the muck was last delivered.  It tends to arrive in the week, and there is often none left by the time I get to it - I think my fairy godmother was Woodchippings Paul - I must thank him when I next see him.

I forked over this bed and the adjacent one before digging some parsnips to take home - and spent the journey back pondering how to use the rest of these along with half a dozen or so fat celeriac which will all need lifting soon in time for the new season's planting.

Dancing with Daleks

Spring weather continues to be as it should, with warm sunshine and a brisk chilly breeze. The spring bulbs are all flowering, and that means that the weeds will not be far behind.

It'll soon be time to get the potatoes in, but first I must do some bed preparation which means emptying and moving the compost daleks.  I made a start this weekend by digging most of the last of the leeks up in the bed nearest the front, then undertook a vigourous and ungainly jig with the first dalek to get all the lovely compost out of the bottom.

There's a small amount un-composted which I put back in the bin once it was in it's new position of other-end-of-the-next-bed-up (mostly paper shreddings and the stalks from the sweetcorn) , but in the main I spread about some quite reasonable stuff.  Not quite what you might call seed compost - a bit 'robust' - but I'm sure it'll be fine in due course.

I made sure that I left enough room by the new dalek position to plant a couple of dozen shallots - these were such a success last year having kept far better that any onions I have ever grown.  I'm still using them in the kitchen now.

I picked kale to go along with the leeks I'd dug - all of a sudden under the cage I have some fabulous new leaves - and also dug a couple of parsnip and celeriac.

And by that time it was so dark I couldn't take any pictures, so it was time to come home.

Missing: Winter Weather

I've got bored of waiting for Winter to arrive.   Wet is most certainly has been - the floods have been devastating for many in Somerset and along the Thames - but cold, no.

Of course we may well have a cold snap ahead, and frosts and maybe even snow; but the nights are lighter, the birds are singing the snowdrops have been fabulous and the crocus' and daffodills are now bursting out all over.  I even heard a woodpecker in one of our local parks the other day.

What does that mean for the plot?  It means that until it dries out a bit, there's not much happening, bar digging up parsnips, leek and celariac to use in the kitchen.

But it is the first week of March, and I've had enough of looking at chitting potatoes, so last week I spent a merry evening with all the seed packets out to see what I can get underway.  I rescued last year's compost from the mini greenhouse and some pots and trays from the garage, and off we go.

I've chosen six varieties of tomatoes to grow in buckets again at home in the courtyard garden, sown a trough of miscellaneous salad leaves to cut and come again and some sweet peas, saved from last year.

I've also finally podded out all the broad beans from their dry and blackened pods.  Broad beans don't come true year on year, which is a shame as the crimson flowered variety is the absolute best in the world in appearance and taste.

I can't stop them cross pollinating, but I can take a good guess which out of all these saved beans are likely to be the most similar to the crimson flowered/green beaned parents.

The season starts here.

Seeds, Potatoes and a Nice Day Out

This winter has not been particularly cold this year (as yet) - just very wet - and now that the evenings are perceptibly lighter, it means that the gardener's thoughts turn to Spring.

Not enough to actually get down to the Hill - the ground is far too wet, and it would be far too miserable, but to think about what I want to sow this year.

It's pretty easy on the seed front - I have so many seed packets that I would never use them all in my entire lifetime (despite never seemingly actually buying any) so it's just a case of what to leave out.

I've made a start by shelling out last year's bean seeds which have been drying on newspaper in the attic room.

Choosing potatoes are slightly different, and in years gone by I have spent many happy hours poring over lists of varieties with their various merits, then trotting off to Ryton to the potato day and seed swap at the end of January.

But this year, Ryton have not held a potato day because, according to a chap who was on one of their courses, they recently got rid of their commercial interests to focus on the education side.  And there's me thinking that the potato day is not only a money-spinner for them in it's own right, but a perfect membership recruitment opportunity and showcase for the entire operation, educational facilitates and all, but I guess I'm wrong.

The nearest alternative potato day was hosted by Nottingham Organic Gardening Society, and so this Saturday I headed off there with mum, who found the idea of a little trip out with the offer of tea and cake and possibly a garden centre outweighed the potential boredom of watching me spending ages discussing the merits of about a hundred trays of seemingly identical seed potatoes.

In the event, I had a rough idea of what I wanted, so spun round the well-organised event (entry: £1) in double quick time, and we splashed out £1.50 each for coffee and delicious homemade cakes afterwards in the church hall.

And we even found a garden centre on the way home where mum bought me a jasmine houseplant because - and I quote - 'that wasn't nearly as boring as I thought it would be'. Marvellous.

Happy New Year

Somewhat belated, perhaps, but it coincides with my first trip to the Hill of the New Year.

Much to the disapproval of Reg-next-plot, I don't visit the plot much in the middle of winter when the weather is bad.  This is because I can see little point in getting cold and/or wet for the sake of it just in order to do some jobs which can just as easily be undertaken in another couple of months when the world is a more cheerful place.

However, it being relatively dry and bright this morning, I thought that it was high time that I dug up the remainder of the year's potatoes, and to make sure that all was in one piece after the recent stormy weather.

Unsurprisingly, I had the place to myself, and spent a good hour or so forking up the potatoes and turning over the bed.  The day became increasingly gloomy, however, and by the time the Richard three plots down arrived, it started with a cold drizzle too.

I was just bagging up the potatoes and digging a couple of leeks at that point, and after we'd had a quick mull over of varieties of potato to be considered for growing this season, was glad to go home an defrost and leave him to it.

I had one of the potatoes as a jacket for tea with stew and veg - good warming fare - and can report that picasso potatoes are the best bakers ever, so that's a definite to grow again this year.

If there is a downside, it is that they weigh best part of a pound a piece and are the size of my head, so are rather substantial - but I think we can live with that!