Fairground

I love this section of canal in Hungerford - we cross the canal here on the back route to Tescos or to the train station. We’ve had a few trips out but I’m sorry to say the allotment hasn’t been visited for at least 3 weeks. I have my excuses ready … the weather has either been too wet or too cold and I’ve had 2 colds already this month. But none of those excuses stopped us going to the huge fireworks display in Abingdon.

It was amazing but the organisers got a lot of abuse because the massive bonfire (apparently) detracted from the show and then the poor souls wandering across dark fields trying to find where they’d parked (us included) caused more outrage on Social media, but not so much as the people who were stuck in traffic for 3hours and missed the fireworks completely 😖 They were the loudest fireworks we’d ever experienced and the display was in a 270° arc - really incredible!

Jamie was so tired at one point and needed a sit down - the only nearby seat was in the ghost train. Haha, it wasn’t that scary but getting back out of the little truck was more difficult than collapsing into it! Luckily we did have our allotment chairs in the back of the car so I retrieved them for the rest of the evening. The food stalls and fairground were a lot of fun too, but we didn’t go on any other rides!

We also had a trip out on what must have been the coldest day this year - to Longleat’s Festival of Light. We went on the boat safari and saw the sea lions but the other mammals (apart from humans) were hiding in their heated shelters - who could blame them?! 

And what a racket when the keeper threw fish to them! Amazing animals.

The only other animals we saw were the cute red pandas and the fabulous bats in the Bat Cave. Our friend, Linda, wouldn’t like it, as the bats swoop past your head at speed and they’re quite big, not like our little native ones. It was rather exciting and nice and warm but they were impossible to photograph. 

The light festival was good and the Christmas and food stalls were lovely along with the huge singing Christmas tree.

And last weekend we tracked down our favourite street food vendor ‘Vegan Street Diner’ so attended the Andover Christmas lights switch-on and also went to the Hungerford light switch-on event. Our lights are prettier but Andover’s event was more entertaining.

So we’re feeling very Christmassy now… with December almost here. The beautiful song title is brought to you by Simply Red - enjoy!

In the Morning

Early morning visits are the norm now. We have a pleasant hour on sunny mornings, enjoying the wildlife, removing covers in the polytunnel, watering all the seedlings then back home to log in to work. The temperatures have been in low single digits in the early hours but warm up quickly during the day and the polytunnel gets really hot, so we go back in the evening to cover the seedlings up for the night.

Hawthorn - before and after pollination

The hawthorn in the hedgerow has bloomed over the last week and the scent is quite over-whelming. So beautiful especially with the blue sky and sunshine we had this weekend. It was windy so we were being continually showered with confetti.

Jamie mowed the paths while I stared at the tadpoles; there's at least one frog in the pond too, but it's laying low at the moment except for the occasional splosh. Jamie's sown our Lark sweetcorn and we're pleased that the Jack Be Little pumpkins germinated in the week - the plan is for them to trail around/over the sweetcorn plants. The Baby cucumbers, Bush Delicata squash and Mangomel melon are also in that tray. They need to grow at least another pair of leaves before we plant them outside.

I’ve transplanted the Radish Rats Tails and some of the larger of the Asparagus Pea seedlings. The six biggest plants I’ve actually planted out, but I’ve given them some cloche protection as they’re tiny and looked too vulnerable out in the big wide world!

Talking of the big wide World, we went to Newbury for the Vegan Food Market on Sunday. It made a nice change to be out for something other than the allotment or an appointment!

What a treat, people-watching in the lovely warm sunshine. And look at the plant-based hot dog I had - the Colorado Mountain - so delicious, makes me wish I was growing gherkins again as it was stocked up with them and other amazing fillings with a plant-based sausage in there somewhere!

The rest of the weekend was allotment-based and we got a lot of tidying done. Trying to keep our edges neat so the snails have fewer places to hide. I found about 20 giant snails in my 3 chive plants during the week!! I flung them over the hedge (the snails, that is) and they haven’t returned…yet.

The chive flowers are so pretty. I usually start making chive flower vinegar at this time but I’ll let the bees enjoy them for a while because there aren’t many other flowers available on our plot at the moment. (Note the neat edging).

 

We do have a few flowers but these aquilegia are by the polytunnel so aren't very noticeable - it's another area that could do with a tidy and improved edging.

 

All the potatoes have burst through - the ones in the bags have the same amount of growth as these in the ground. We did top them with a bit of soil the other night because we thought there may be a frost, but it was ok. The temperature at Marsh Lane is about 3° lower than in the town so we're keeping a close eye on the forecasts.

I sowed all our beans into root trainers yesterday. Eight of each variety: Yin Yang dwarf beans (home-saved), Scarlet Empire Runner Beans, Blue Lake Climbing French Beans and Firetongue Climbing Borlotti Beans. Hopefully they’ll germinate in the polytunnel and then the climbers will be planted to grow up the old polytunnel frame (previously the squash tunnel).

That was a most enjoyable weekend but now it's time for work. Have a good week all and happy growing! Here are The Coral.