Bad weather, lots to do

Heavy rain and strong winds have kept us away from the allotment recently. There's so much work I want to do down there still before the winter really sets in, so I watch the weather reports carefully and if there's any chance of a dry day I abandon any other plans and head off to get a few more jobs done. We had one dry but cold morning this week, so I packed up a bag with flasks and sandwiches--the house jobs would just have to wait.

Looking around the other allotments I could see that quite a few of our neighbours plots were looking very tidy, with beds manured and everything cleared away. I wished my plot looked so good. But then we are still in the process of moving stuff to my plot from Helen's plot which she is giving up at the end of the year. We have about six weeks left and as we never know how bad the weather may get--not just rain but frost and snow, we decided our first job would be to dig up the two gooseberry bushes which we want to replant on Plot8, my plot. It was not an easy job, as gooseberry plants are so prickly. Richard dug them out and I potted them up into large pots for the time being as the fruit bed on Plot 8 needs a tidy up before we can plant them. As usual it was a job which took much longer than I thought. The next job will be to dig up and move the rhubarb to my plot. I dug one plant up a few weeks ago and was amazed at how big the roots were. 

Gooseberry plants ready for potting up

Back on Plot 8 I looked at what needs to be done there. Some of the beds have been cleared and manured, but there's still a lot to do.

One bed weeded and manured

I cut back some of the asparagus foliage which has started to go yellow. As soon as it has all been cut back, I will weed the ground and cover with manure. The last time I was there I started to cut down the sweet peas,cosmos and other flowers which have now gone over, but ran out of time. Finishing that off is another  job for next time. The fruit bed is in a bad state with strawberry runners all over the place and of course there are now some gooseberry plants waiting to be rehoused there. 

The weather forecast says we could have snow at the weekend, I hope not.

Falling leaves

The leaves are falling fast now from the big sycamore tree at the top of the allotment and every time we go there are even more.  It's time to start sweeping them up to put in the leaf bin. It's an ongoing job at the moment as soon as we  have swept up one lot of leaves there is another layer of them covering the beds and paths. But they are too good not to save, they make such wonderful compost.

Richard spent a few days recently weeding the leaf composting  area which hasn't been emptied in the two years we have had the allotment. The weeds were mainly bindweed coming from the allotment next door, which is a sadly neglected plot and I get very cross about all the weeds which come through onto our plot.  He weeded the leaf mould,cleared as many weeds as he could which were poking through the fence from the next door plot and then  fixed an old door against the fence to try to suppress them. All these bits of wood which we save come in useful eventually!

We have recently been given two of the plastic type of compost bins. At the time I was a bit doubtful that they would be of any use and even wondered where to keep them as we have a good sized composting area already on the plot. But when you have an allotment you don't like to refuse anything which is free and could be of some use. I am pleased to say that we have now found a use for them as storage bins for the rotted down leaf mould. The leaf mould has turned into a  lovely, crumbly compost and is ready to put on the beds as a mulch over the winter.  Leaf mould is wonderful stuff and so easy to make. Now that the rotted down stuff is out of the bin we can now start collecting leaves again to make a new leaf pile.

Digging up the daffodils

This week I have been planting daffodil bulbs on Plot 8.  I dug them up from Plot10b where they were planted in a long, narrow trench in front of the greenhouse.  They did really well there even though the soil was solid clay with some compost added. I hadn't expected them to do well, because of the heavy soil.But each year for the last three years they have provided us with lots of cheerful colour in the spring along with some crocus.

Now we are giving up Plot10b and thinking about what we want to take with us and have room for on Plot8, I decided I really didn't want to leave the daffodils behind.  So earlier in the summer I dug them up.  It wasn't easy getting them out of that sticky, compacted soil, but I ended up with a big tray of bulbs. Many more than I had originally planted. I also found some of the crocus bulbs.

The next step was to find somewhere on Plot 8 to plant them. I finally found a spot under the conifer hedge, which we had cut back drastically when we first took the plot on. It gets some sun for part of the day. I added a mixture of well rotted manure and home made compost to the soil. I planted them in clumps, so that if I wanted to put any other plants in there would be room.

The last time I dug up daffodil bulbs and replanted them, they didn't flower.  I will wait until spring and hope that I will once again have some cheerful colour to brighten up the allotment.

Greedy cat

 Back from our holidays and there is so much to catch up on at the allotment. We went down at the weekend to do a few jobs and check on Ziggy the cat.  It appears that, unknown to us Ziggy has been well looked after by several other allotmenteers as well as Helen. I think she does the rounds of people who she knows will feed her. That cat will not starve, in fact she might burst if she doesn't stop eating.

Ziggy came to us when Helen took on Plot 10b, she had been owned by the previous tenants who asked us if we would feed her.  She has become quite a character. When we first took on the plot, she eyed us up warily from a distance only eating her food after we had left.  She got braver and started to accept us but was a very bad tempered cat, and used to snarl and hiss at us even when we were giving her food. Now she greets us very noisily when we arrive, demanding food and even allows us to stroke her. We only get the occasional hiss or snarl. We have become quite fond of her. She sleeps on a bed of straw under the shed. She's about 15 years old now and struggles with the cold every winter. We always wonder if she will survive, but as soon as the warmer weather arrives she's back to normal.

Now that Helen is giving up Plot 10b at the end of the year we have been wondering what will happen to Ziggy.  Will she follow us to my plot Plot 8 which is only 2 plots down the lane? The lady who is taking on Helen's plot next year, has said she will feed Ziggy if she stays on Plot 10b.  But we would love to keep her.  So I have made another bed of straw for her under the shed on my plot and in the last week we have managed to entice her over for meals.  She knows where we are and sometimes comes yowling, a bit hesitantly.  Sometimes we have found her sitting in the sunshine on one of the beds.

 I am not too worried now, I know that she won't starve and  there will always be someone who will feed her. Plot 10b is her territory and she may be too old to want to change homes, but we would love her to make her home on Plot 8.  Click here to read more of Ziggy's story.

All over the place

All over the place is what my allotment flowers have been this year.  Last year I had a few beds on our two allotments especially for cutting flowers.  But this year as we are giving up one of the allotments later, we decided to concentrate on growing just on the one allotment.  We realised that we wouldn't have enough room on plot 8 to give up a bed just for flowers, so instead we have planted them in amongst the vegetables.

I got carried away with my seed sowing and did far too many. Some of them didn't grow well at all, they were very thin and straggly, some had poor germination.  I don't know if I sowed them too late or if it was the weather or the wrong growing conditions. The best ones have been Rudbekia, Calendula, Zinnia, Malope, Dahlias, Sweet peas. Cosmos has grown well with lots of foliage but is only just starting to flower. I'm hoping they will produce plenty before the frosts, I love their different shades of pink.

These Rudbekias are planted amongst the sweetcorn. They are a very reliable flower, this variety is 'Marmalade'

The sunflowers are also planted near the sweetcorn. I think this variety is 'Vanilla Ice'.it doesn't grow tall, but produces lots of smaller flowers, ideal for cutting.

This is the second year we have grown Zinnia and I really love them. Lots of pink, yellow, white, red and orange.

Calendula is an old favourite. I planted these along the edge of the long path.  They flop about a lot but keep on going despite getting knocked as we walk past.

I like growing the flowers amongst the vegetables, it certainly brightens up the plot. I shall do the same next year. And although I haven't grown as many flowers as I did last year I have still had plenty to cut for the house.

Sweet peas

The sweet peas at the allotment have been brilliant this year. It's the first time we've grown them on Plot8 and they really seem to like growing there. When I planted them I didn't have much hope for them. They looked a bit straggly and weary and for a while didn't do much  but after what seemed like weeks and weeks they really took off.  They've grown so big, climbing up the support frame that it's difficult to get past them on the path.

People have often asked me what the secret of growing sweet peas is. I really don't know. I have grown them in the garden at home successfully for a few years but then in recent years they have not done well. We grew them on Plot 10b last year and they did well, but this year's crop on Plot 8 is probably the best ever. They get plenty of sun and the soil was  manured last autumn.  They seem to be very happy with that.

We're still cutting big  bunches of them every time we go to the allotment and it's lovely to always have vases of them around the house. As the days start to get cooler I'm wondering how much longer they will keep looking so good. I will enjoy them for as long as I can.

Into September

Where did August go and July for that matter? The summer holidays have gone by so quickly. I was looking forward to leisurely days, pottering about in the garden, catching up with a few jobs and not watching the clock for school pick ups. Well I didn't have to watch the clock, and my days were probably leisurely but not in the way I'd planned. We had some lovely days out with the grandchildren. We had family to stay and more days out with more grandchildren. We've done garden visits, been to the seaside, explored historic houses and walked a lot. It seems to have been a whirl of activity but lovely too.

So here we are in September. There's a quieter feel to the days now the grandchildren are back at school. And things are different with the eldest now at high school. There are a lot of changes to our routine.

September brings changes to the garden and the countryside as everything changes colour and berries appear. I feel I need to go out and pick blackberries even though there are some in the freezer from last year. And after last year discovering a secret place where we found sloe berries I want to return to pick more, make more sloe gin.

The garden has been very good at looking after itself these last few weeks, but I know there is much to be done. The allotment  is producing plenty, but our work on the two plots we have at the moment is of sorting stuff out and making more storage space as we prepare to give up one of them at the end of the year.
It's like moving house.

We are looking forward to some time away later this month, time to slow down, to rest, to walk, to enjoy new scenery.