Friday 27 December 2013

Post-Christmas Visit

What a lovely, lazy Christmas holiday we've had so far. We had some torrential rain but nothing like what other areas of the country have seen.

We had a soggy walk in the sunshine along the canal to see what's been happening on the allotments in our absence.
View back to town

I was pleased to see that the garlic on our plot has sprouted! It's the Garlic Vayo that I planted at the beginning of December. Apart from all the rain the weather has been very mild; just a couple of days over the last couple of weeks that there's been any frosted windscreens so obviously the garlic's been happy with that.
 
I forgot to check whether the Elephant garlic has sprouted on the HAHA plot. We didn't hang round too long. Far to wet to do anything, though, as usual there's plenty that needs to be done - mostly tidying up the mess we didn't clear in October!

There was a robin by our plot, so he's welcome to take over where our original little Robbie left off last year. Time to start bringing edible treats to the plot again.
We walked back home through town and spotted this grey squirrel dashing back to his little hidey-hole in a tree high above the pavement.



Tuesday 24 December 2013

Merry Christmas Everyone!

This year our Christmas meal will mainly contain leeks, carrots and sprouts.

Merry Christmas!
Belinda

Monday 9 December 2013

Chain Mail Article 3

This year I've been contributing to the Hungerford quarterly newsletter, Chain Mail. 
The latest one is here, in the Christmas edition, under the title 'Digging HAHA?'

The aim of the articles are to highlight the positives one can take from having an allotment - as an individual and as a community. 

Being on private land means that our site will always be at risk, particularly with the current housing plans being discussed. Of course, as plot holders we understand that more houses mean a larger requirement for allotments but unfortunately not all planners see it this way.

Although Hungerford is a rural town surrounded by green fields we are always being told that there is nowhere to have a permanent allotment site. So I, and fellow plotholders, need to keep raising the awareness of Marsh Lane Allotments which are often boasted as an asset but do not currently have a long-term future.

Looking at Hungerford on Google maps would make anyone think there must be some land available - unfortunately housing developers seem to have claims on every spot though..
No space for allotments?!
The highlighted field is the Marsh Lane site
Plotholders, in the guise of HAHA (Hungerford Allotment Holders Association), manage the site for the Council, so there's very little input required. We just need to find some available land.

KEEP FLYING THE FLAG for a permanent allotment site for Hungerford!



Sunday 1 December 2013

Clearing, Tidying and Planting

It was quite mild but cloudy throughout the day - certainly didn't feel like the 1st of December. We had a couple hours at the allotment this afternoon.
I planted the garlic on the HAHA plot:
 6 x Elephant Garlic (not actually garlic, but apparently a type of leek)
 11 x Garlic Vayo (a hardneck, pink-veined variety)
Hmm, which ones the Elephant clove?
Jamie prepared an area and I planted the other Vayo cloves on our plot near the leeks, which were in such a weedy state... That was my next job...
That's better!
We did a lot of clearing up. Our potatoes have been pretty bad this year; so full of slugs, and something has been digging them up and eating even more holes in them. We threw a lot away - straight to the Council green bin, not to our compost.
Nice to leave the plot looking a bit tidier, but now our two Dalek compost bins are full so we left with a trug of veggies and aching bones. Ah, it's good to be back :-)