Chitting Spuds for 2013

So, here's the essential blog photo :-)
All our seed potatoes chitting at my mum's house - in the nice, cold, light spare room.
Here's the psychedelic picture to identify the different varieties...

This is what they really look like:

And these are all our kestrels - probably more than we want, but there's always the spares table at the allotment site. We bought these from the Wyvale Garden Centre where they were stored in a much warmer room, hence the chits already forming.

 

 The earlies definitely benefit from chitting, as we want lots of little spuds to form but maincrops don't really need to chit in advance of being planted. However, it would be too early to put them in the ground now - apart from the fact that it's soaking wet!

Selecting potatoes and a Soggy Plot

It snowed all morning and was extremely cold and wet so we went shopping for our potatoes as planned.

We went to Charlton Park Garden Centre in Wantage as the owner is a bit of a connoisseur. We were able to select individual spuds for 15p each so this is what we chose (the links go to the British Potato database):

• 2 x Accent (First Earlies)
• 3 x Casablanca (First Earlies that look so lovely I had to have some)
• 3 x Arran Pilot (First Earlies Have such good reviews we thought we'd try them)
• 5 x Pentland Javelin (First Earlies seem to have the best reviews from what we've seen)
• 3 x Red Duke of York (First Earlies Not great last year but fancy some red new potatoes)
• 2 x Bonnie (Second Earlies)
• 3 x International Kidney (Second Earlies)
• 20 (ish) x Kestrels (Second Earlies - these are our favourite for mash and all-rounder)
• 4 x Orla (Early Maincrop so tasty, so hopefully more successful than last year's failed crop)

We selected based on slug/disease resistance, our experience and on reviews we've seen on the internet - along with a certain amount of shallowness based on colour :-) We really would have liked a few Chopin as they were very good last year, but they were sold out.
We also bought a small bag of Golden Gourmet shallots.

In the afternoon we popped up the soggy plot to take up a replacement rain gauge - our last one melted as I forgot about it when I lit a bonfire.
As we walked home we spotted some great wood left by the industrial estate skip, so we picked it up and walked back to the plot - it'll be perfect for growing my onion squash (uchiki kuri) over, which will save ground space and might serve some protection against slugs.
I was pleased to see that our chives are growing happily through the snow and cold, so we'll have some with our new potatoes - mmm, can't wait but will leave them chitting round my mum's house for a few weeks yet!

 

Composting keeps you warm!

A day off work meant we could have a few hours on the plot. It felt reasonably warm and the sun even shone for a bit. 

Terns flying overhead

There was a lot of birdlife, particularly the kestrel, robin, terns, pheasants and pigeons. Also the red kite was swooping and calling; It was beautiful.



We pulled up the remains of the sprouts - these parts can't be composted, they'll take too long to rot down.

We spent a few hours sorting out the compost bins. We took all the soggy compost from both plastic bins and mixed it with dry cuttings, plot clearance and lots of recycled cardboard from home. 

Just part of the mix

After a good mix it completely filled one bin (which can be left for a year) and the remainder went in the other bin.
Plot 7 is beginning to look like it's getting ready for planting but there's still a lot to be done. The ground is still so wet, far too claggy to walk on really. We're hoping to buy our spuds tomorrow as more rain is due so we won't be on the plot.

Weeding and Digging

Looks pretty doesn't it?

Not so good when you see it in less detail, though still vaguely pleasing to the eye ....

But just horrible when you see it in real life!

Ugh. Weeds, moss. mud and spring onion remains. All thriving under the netting which we hadn't cleared away.

Now, I'd love to write the identity of this moss, but as is always the case when you start looking into these things, you find it's a much larger subject than you may originally think! Suffice to say, there's a LOT of moss in the UK!

I'm pleased to say that by the time we left the plot today the area was weed free, dug and looking much more loved - we're hoping that the moss will just die off and the birds can eat up any slug eggs they find!

Wildlife blog updated

Planning for this year (Part One)

We didn't make it to the plot yesterday - shame as it was a sunny day but we've just got too many germs between us to bear going out in the cold!

So, we did a bit of planning. We've drawn up part of this years plan - the basics for Plot 7.
We're going to be moving more plantings to Plot 8B - the sweetcorn will be over there, with the jack-o-lantern pumpkins growing through them...
The celeriac will also go back on Plot 8B - possibly in the same spot as last year but this year I'm growing from seed. Ditto for fennel; I need to read up a bit about how/where to grow it. Last year I sowed it in the herb bed, because I didn't realise the difference between herb fennel and the big bulb type I want for soup.

On Plot 7 I'm thinking of having some sort of trellis for the Uchiki Kuri squash - but this definitely needs a bit more work!

Another new vegetable for us this year is salsify. I've seen that it doesn't need a lot of work and stays in the ground till October/November so I'm not too sure where that will go yet - maybe in with the parsnips - but that is a very busy quarter already!

Hmm, writing this has made me realise we need to do a lot more planning - I'll call this blog entry 'part one'!

British Weather and British Birds

The sun was shining and it was considerably warmer than it has been for more than a week (about 8°) so we were really pleased to go to the allotment to do the RSPB Birdwatch.

These are our figures:

•   Robin: 1
•   Magpie: 1
•   Pigeon: 3
•   Rook: 10
•   Chaffinch: 3
•   Blue Tit: 1
•   Great Tit: 1

I was disappointed that there wasn't much birdlife around ... the blackbirds didn't show up and we sometimes have a whole flock of long-tailed tits in the hedge but they were a no-show too.

We did a bit of digging and tidying while we were there. Jamie dug the parsnip plot and dug up the rotten parsnips - which were all we had to show of the ones we sowed last year. He then added a bit of the 6X compost and dug it in - this is where the peas/mangetout are going this year.

I cleared weeds from the plot where purple Congo potatoes had re-grown. I found some reasonable tubers which I brought home. We're a bit concerned that it may not be too obvious whether they're blighty (because of their dark colour), but will take a look.
It's still too wet for proper digging - can't step on the soil without taking more home than we leave behind!

We decided to pick our leeks and sprouts just as it started to spot with rain. Two minutes later there was torrential rain, hail and strong winds so we had to run to the container for cover! On returning to the plot to return the leek cage to its proper place we found this...

...a broken leek cage and a broken sprout cage! Well, it was very strong wind!!
We covered them as best we could and went home wet, cold and a little bit more miserable than we had been 15 minutes earlier!

NB. Wildlife blog also has an update

 

The Horticultural Channel & Big Garden Birdwatch

The Horticultural Channel is an online gardening channel, based on an allotment. The weekly short programme is entertaining and informative. In episode 3 of the new series of Sean's Allotment Garden Sean used some of the footage of the Marsh Lane snow video from my recent post.

It may make Marsh Lane plotholders a bit jealous when you see all the sheds and greenhouses that Sean's allotment has - we're not allowed any structures on Marsh Lane which I think is a shame. It would be great to get started a bit earlier and a shed, aahh, a shed - would so love to have a shed for storage and for sitting in when it gets rainy (rather than having to dash up to the communal container!)



The episode also includes information for the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch - we intend to do some bird counting on the allotment tomorrow...

Sign the National Allotment Petition

The introduction of this strategy would really help those of us who’s allotments are owned by private landlords.

Our Council is due to renew the lease next year - it expires in April 2014 - and we’re getting very concerned that the Council don’t appreciate the urgency of getting the renewal sorted out sooner rather than later…
https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/44634

Myself and the rest of our committee are trying their best but it would be so much better to have weightier support...
http://www.haha-hungerford.org.uk/



Snow Day!!

The forecasters were right! It started snowing at about 6pm yesterday and is still snowing - amazing!
I set off for work but after taking about about an hour to go 8 miles decided not to attempt the A34 so headed back home.

After warming up a bit and piling on some extra layers we ventured out into the beautiful, quiet and white Hungerford. We walked to the allotment via Freemans Marsh as it's such a pretty route and even more so when it's covered in so much snow!

No-one else had been on the site so it looked amazing. Jamie put some cheese and nuts out for the robin but we didn't see him. We saw terns and magpies over the allotment and two egret and swans amongst the birdlife on the marsh.

The snow continued to fall all the while we were there so we were happy to have a hot chocolate in the container and then I took the little video. I really must remember to move more slowly when filming - sorry if it makes you travel sick!

 

 

Frosty and Cold

Jamie visited the plot to take some compost up and get a spade, as snow (and lots of it) has been forecast for tomorrow. The forecasters may be right - it's snowing as I type this.

It was a bit frosty and cold. The minimum temperature had been -5° with a maximum of 4°. The compost was frozen - hopefully the worms were snuggled in the warm centre but the slugs weren't!

All the while he was there he was being watched by a kestrel - a very fluffy kestrel. Apologies for shakey pic but Jamie was chilly :-)