Another Day; Another Load of Manure

We couldn't resist going back to Hilliers and this visit we bought 5 bags of Country Natural composted stable manure - all organic. We also picked up another free bag of grape hyacinth bulbs so I've planted all of them next to our seating area. It may be a bit late for them to do much this Spring, but what have we got to lose?

That should keep our spuds, raspberries and rhubarb happy - Jamie already surrounded the rhubarb with some today. Our rhubarb is just poking out from under the ground but is still under its protective cover. Other people on site have rhubarb which has grown substantially more than ours, but we did only plant ours in July.

The snow warnings continue but it was a bright, cold day today (about 6° with still a minimum of only zero). Cleaning off the veg in (literally) icy is water is not nice! Malcolm kindly gave us some lovely parsnips for tonight's dinner and I've got soup planned for lunches. And Jamie picked some sprouts and leeks.

We did a bit of plot planning and then had to escape the chill. Really need to go through our seeds and do a real plan - maybe one evening this week...

New Shoots in the New Year!

We had a quick visit to the plot today - first visit this year! The weather has been so awful. There have been a couple of days in the last week when it didn't rain but the site is still pretty saturated. And today we had a few flakes of snow amongst the rain - it's meant to go wintry over the next few days. It was 4° whilst we were on the plot and the minimum this year has been 0° but apart from this weekend it's been incredibly mild, more like 8° to 10° day and night! Crazy!


Had to blur the surround so that the shoot actually stood out!

We were very pleased that our garlic has finally sprouted. They're a bit tricky to spot but there were at least 8 shoots - they were planted on 21st October!

The actual reason we went to the plot was to drop off some Countrycare Mushroom Compost and 6X Natural Fertiliser. We're thinking that the ground will need plenty of added nutrients this year because of all the rain washing away last years. We shopped at Hilliers Garden Centre - it was a bit of a bargain as they've got a 20% sale for their gardening club members at the moment and we also got a free bag of grape hyacinth bulbs!

The bags of compost will be stored on top of the sprout plot until it's time to dig it - this keeps the ground compacted which sprouts like. (Although at the moment the bags may just sink into the mud!!)

New Wildlife Blog

Since having the allotment our interest in the various wildlife that we've encountered has increased. Naturally, once you start noticing the different beasties it's just a small step to investigating further...


http://plot7wildlife.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/common-green-shieldbug.html

As a result I have created a new blog about the wildlife on the Marsh Lane site (not only, but mostly, on our plots). The blog contains photos and information about the creatures we're living alongside. I have identified what I can and include links to some of the brilliant sites which have proved invaluable in trying to work out how I should feel about seeing some of the creatures!


http://plot7wildlife.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/vapourer-moth-caterpillar.html

I'll continue to mention wildlife in this main Plot7 blog but Plot7Wildlife will have more details and photos.
Pay a visit, follow, link and comment as you see fit :-) I welcome any comments, advice or corrections!

http://plot7wildlife.blogspot.co.uk/

 

The Sun's Shining

It really does feel like a new year!

 

Happy New Year!

Well we needed sprouts so we had to venture out, but soon wished we hadn't walked! The rain was tremendous - we were drowned rats before we reached the site and hid in the container for a while. However, the rain continued to fall steadily and heavily so we ventured out, picked our sprouts, fed the robin and soggily walked home! A fitting end to the wettest recorded year! Even the canal had overflowed over the towpath and to the river the other side!

Here's to 2013! Happy New Year Everyone!!

 

Sage for soup

We braved the persistent wind and rain to visit the plot today.


We only needed to pick a handful of sage leaves and drop off some kitchen waste for the compost bin. I used my new pot (thanks Carolyn!), ingeniously made from a plastic drinks bottle, to hold the sage leaves.

The sage is to be joined by the remainder of the chestnuts for soup a la Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's Veg Everyday book - another Christmas pressie (thanks James!).

The sprout cage had done its usual trick and was at a jaunty angle, so we re-secured it but its on it's last legs. It's been useful but it's just not strong and sturdy enough; the home-made cages made from the blue water pipe are more resilient.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We visited the plot on Christmas Eve before visiting our relatives. We were the only people on the soggy site but our little robin was flitting about - Jamie took some cheese up for him and he seemed very happy with it!

We picked sprouts and lovely leeks for Christmas Day. The leeks were from under the enviromesh which really paid off; the leeks were perfect.
The Christmas meal, cooked mostly by me (for the first time in 24 years) was delicious (even though I say so myself!).

The Cordon Vert recipe for the filo parcels was lovely. Shame there were no parsnips but the leeks, sprouts and rosemary from the plot made for a delicious meal.

Merry Christmas!

Will be at the plot picking sprouts and leeks tomorrow but don't expect to be blogging, so Merry Christmas!

 

Weather and Birdlife

Not sure if that's a pigeon or kestrel

At the beginning of last week the weather was really cold (-4°) with beautiful frosted trees, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to get to the site to take any photos. Since Friday it's been rainy and temperatures have been a balmy 8°. Not good - we want the weeds and bad pests to die off, which they won't do if it stays moderately warm :-(

There had just been a torrential downpour when we got to the plot this afternoon after posting Christmas cards - look at all that rainfall since last Sunday!! Shame it hasn't been cold enough for snow - I could have had a snow day from work :-)

The ground was really soggy and everything looked saturated, including our garlic bed...
There were lots of birds about; robins, blue tits, blackbirds, pigeons and pheasants (eating the tops off people's unprotected brassicas). We've noticed that there are no berries left on the hedge, apart from a few rosehips. I was hoping to see some redwings as I saw a whole flock of them eating berries along the A4 the other day - beautiful looking birds. I'd never seen them before but they're apparently a common Winter visitor.

Herbs (and weeds) are the only things growing on this part of the plot

 

To the allotment via the Christmassy High Street

We popped up the allotment to add some kitchen waste to the compost bin. No-one else around as it was already beginning to get dark. We left the walk up till later in the afternoon so that we could enjoy Hungerford's Christmas lights - they are so fabulous, with christmas trees on every lampost and shop!


High Street in all its Christmas glory!



Whilst on the plot we checked how the few growing things are doing - it didn't take long!:
No sign of the garlic yet - maybe rotted as it's so wet :(
Leeks are looking pretty good. The ones under enviromesh (Oarsman F1) are certainly happier than the ones out in the open (though we're not sure what variety these are). I hope they continue to grow over the next two weeks because they're having a starring role in our Christmas meal - leek and chestnut filo parcels. Mmm, they sound soooo good!!

Happy protected leeks

Fairly happy unprotected leeks

The broad beans are still there - still very small but the mouse hasn't nibbled them yet. Suprisingly, given that we found this hoard under our storage area!! That's all our marigold seeds!

All nice and dry under a plastic cover!

Back home via more Christmas lights over the canal. Lovely! And all ready for Hungerford Victorian Extravaganza on Friday 14th December 2012.