14 Years

It was a cold weekend - very cold nights with the temperature falling to -6.8° on Saturday night. We got up early (well, not that early but it felt it!) and walked up to the allotment to open the polytunnel door. 

It's always nice walking through Hungerford on a sunny morning as everyone says "Good morning!" to each other.

And it was so pleasant when we got to site that we just sat by the wildlife plot listening to the birds for a while. The little pond had ice on it on Sunday morning so I'm not surprised the tadpoles stayed low in the pond until the water started to warm up.

Of course, each evening we have to go back to the plot to shut the polytunnel down for the night. Rain threatened, but I'm pleased to say we didn't get a soaking. The site is nicely active at the moment with new and returning plotholders trying to get everything prepared for sowing.

The Delikata mangetout have all germinated. I'll let them grow quite a lot taller before planting them outside, otherwise the pigeons will decimate them - like they do every year. I really need to fix up some better protection but that can make it difficult to pick the pods - oh, decisions, decisions! Some of the PSB and brussels sprouts have also germinated, but sadly some of the tagetes got frostbite even inside the inner polytunnel.

On Sunday I managed to clear and dig the old seating area which had rotten wooden decking over weed suppressant - and a lot of weed growth. It looks like such a small area, but honestly, it was exhausting! That's where I'm putting the three lovely (bearded?) irises that Ivan gave us. They should spread well, he got 23 plants from his one original! They need (something like) 7 hours of sunshine on their rhizomes so mustn't be planted deep, which is why they will have pride of place at the front of the plot.

 

And today's post is remembering 5th April 2008 - a date when someone else's kindness provided me with a new lease of life. This daily cocktail of pills helps to keep my transplant working and my heart healthy so I can get plenty more years from my donated kidney.

Thankyou to all the donors and relatives of donors who choose to opt-in so that their body can help others should the worst happen.The song is provided by Guns n Roses

Making a Fire

The clocks have moved forward an hour, so now we’re in British Summer Time. The blackthorn thinks it’s May already. So beautiful against the blue sky.

It felt really summery on Saturday, I even wore cropped trousers while we had several hours on the plot, with a trip home for lunch. It was nice again Sunday afternoon when the Sun emerged through the mist. We had a bonfire so that kept us toasty for a while. We used the new HAHA incinerator; it's not so shiny now.

And that bonfire spelt the end of the sage plant. I finished clearing the area Saturday so we flattened and levelled it down and Jamie edged it with a plank.

And now our seating area is in its new place; we're going to get some decking or something to put over the weed fabric. So now we can sit watching our own plot growing. I’ve moved the bulb tubs next to the seat, they're mostly grape hyacinth at the moment, but tulips and iris are on their way. Eventually that area will be a flowerbed and I think the area in front, next to the pond, will be for herbs (in pots, so they don't take over the world again!)

Directly in front of the bench is a lovage plant. It’s not been looked after for the last couple of years but it struggles on. I’m hoping it’ll grow tall this year; it can grow to 2m apparently. It has a celery scent, which I love and it can be used in salads, soups and stews.

I used fresh chives for the first time this year. They added a bit of extra colour to this harissa-flavoured What-the-Cluck and peppers meal, served with spinach-coloured noodles. I really like the plant-based chicken-style cluck, but Jamie finds the texture too close to chicken for his liking. He likes the Beyond Meat burger, but for me that is too much like beef.

I had the rest of the What-the-Cluck and peppers with rice and a leek from the allotment - just a bit of garlic salt and pepper was added as flavouring for this meal. Both really tasty and quick meals. I hope we manage to have more home-grown peppers this year.

The birds are full of song at the moment. The robins have paired up and we've seen blackbirds, blue tits, wrens and pied wagtails squabbling meanwhile the kites soar overhead and just keep an eye on what's happening below. We saw a tiny goldcrest the other day (far too nippy to get a photo) and Jamie saw a greenfinch, which is good news as I've not seen one for a few years. The wildlife plot is greening up nicely but there aren't many flowers yet; just the cowslips, some grape hyacinths and a couple of these particularly large-headed daisies. They must have been included in a seed mix.

So that's nearly the end of March and I need to logon to work on this foggy morning - I'm glad I don't have to drive in that. The title song is provided by The Foo Fighters, sorry to have seen that the drummer died at the weekend, but at least he seemed to enjoy his life.

New Life

I was amazed to see how quickly the frogspawn have developed. The frilly bits aren’t legs yet though, they’re external gills. The tadpoles look much more black in real life and are very small. I recorded their arrival on the Pondnet Spawn Survey.

Most of the hatched tadpoles were huddled together eating the remaining spawn jelly. I retrieved some more tadpoles from a puddle before it dried out in the hot March sunshine and put it in the newly- created pond in the bog garden on the HAHA Wildlife plot. It'll look better once there's a bit of growth round the outside and I'll probably buy a plant for in the pond.

When I pointed out the ‘pond’ to a new plotholder he said “I drink my morning cocoa from a mug bigger than that”. Haha, you’ve got to laugh! It may be tiny, but it’s a life saver to some residents at the moment. I’ve put a flat stone in it so the birds may like it too, but I hope they don’t eat the froglets!

We've had a beautiful few days and I was on leave so enjoyed a sunny 4-day weekend. On Friday we visited the Inkpen Crocus Field again - we visited 3 years ago in February and there were more crocuses then, perhaps due to our recent wet and windy weather - the ground was soggy, even at the top of the hill. 

It's so pretty and natural with the crocuses tending to grow individually rather than in clumps, it's quite fascinating and the origin is unknown; I prefer to think of them as from 12th Century crusaders rather than garden escapees.

We walked more than 6km that day; my working-from-home legs aren't used to it! And then for the rest of the weekend we were working on the allotment - quite exhausting, but so lovely to be out in the sunshine.

I showed a couple of new plotholders around and there were lots of people gardening on site. Along with many butterflies (comma, brimstone, tortoiseshell and whites) and bees enjoying the grape hyacinths and the few other flowers that are showing.

Let's hope they do their work on our broad bean flowers which have started to appear. Our bean plants are a really sickly bunch, so small after all the battering by the wind and frost, but we should get a few handfuls of beans eventually.

I spent most of the time working on the area by our pond where the mammoth sage had taken over with a tree-like root. Eventually managed to pull the remaining roots along with the couch grass, raspberry and various other roots - in fact I still have a tiny strip to do. The soil looks quite good, but I'm mostly clearing it for our new seating area.

We've actually sown a few seeds, including mangetout. They're in the polytunnel at the moment. On a couple of the sunny mornings this week I've popped up to the allotment first thing to open up the door. The temperature in the polytunnel has fluctuated between 30° and -3° over the last week! Jamie's been closing up at the end of the day. The mornings are so beautiful up there, it's hard to pull myself away to sit back at my desk, but it is a lovely benefit of home-working.

Seems like I'll be working from home for a while yet, as covid cases are increasing again - not suprising as people don't need to isolate. It seems that a 5th vaccination will be on the cards for immuno-suppressed people... ho hum.. Anway, less of that depressing news... the song title is provided by an extremely young Depeche Mode. Feel free to bop 😉

Scatman

The robin that visits the wildlife plot is so friendly. He eats from a lid in my hand but isn't willing to stand on it; just takes a mealworm hummingbird-style and eats it on the fence. 

We've had two afternoons on the plot. There was a stiff breeze but the sun shone occasionally so it was pleasant. I showed a new couple round yesterday and leased another empty plot this afternoon. It's a good time for new plotholders when there are lots of people on site in the sunshine. 

Jamie sowed some seeds in seed compost that's he's made up from coir, 25% vermiculite and perlite. He's sown some calendula, tagetes and 3 Brussels sprouts into modules. Hopefully they'll be OK to germinate in the polytunnel.

I retrieved some frogspawn from a puddle on an empty plot on 3rd March. Those frogs really should have gone to a pond.

I’m pleased to say that the foetus have developed and they now look quite tadpole-y. I’ve tried to clear the duckweed from our little pond and have put a mesh over the top.

A couple of other people took some of the spawn away to their ponds today.

I’ve been attempting to clear our mammoth sage plant. 

I was going to remove the sage completely but I found a frog so have left some of it. We want to move our seating there this year so we can plant some of Ivan’s iris at the other end of the plot where they should get more sunshine.

Unfortunately the area has couch grass, stinging nettles and raspberry so it was a bit hard going, but it's getting there. I’m hoping to grow Love Lies Bleeding (Amaranthus Caudatus) next to the bench. The long red tassels looked amazing on another person’s plot last year and the birds apparently love the seed. 

Someone else’s plot last July

I may add some to the wildlife plot, which is a segue to share a photo of some poop that we discovered in the straw-filled compost bin on the wildlife plot. 

It appears to be weasel scat. We have seen one on site before, several years ago. We would welcome them on site, though the birds and voles will be less pleased to share their space with them 😒

On that note, the song title is provided by Scatman John 🥳

March March

Everyone agreed that Sunday was too cold. As one plotholder said “it’s a lazy wind; it doesn’t go round you”! The wind was bitter. With the hedge offering us some protection on our plots we did manage to stay for a few hours and as the sun began to make a show it felt a little warmer, until the wind blew again - brrr!

I finished clearing the plot for the potatoes. It'll have another dig over when the potato fertilizer is added but it's nice to see some clear soil with all the annoying grass and weeds removed. You'll notice the canes topped with plastic bottles. I still think these could be something of a mole deterrent - they don't like vibrations caused by the rattling. 

We'll see; there are certainly a lots of worms if the mole does visit us. Last week the HAHA committee decided (thank goodness) not to kill the moles. The general concensus, apart from the cruelty aspect, is that it's too expensive and wouldn't solve the problem anyway - I don't consider them a problem; they eat slugs. Last year definitely seemed to be a good year for them but who knows what this year will bring.

Jamie was in his cage most of the afternoon GiggleCl Clearing all the weeds under the brassica netting. He pulled a lot of these, which appear to be poppies - not too sure where they blew in from but we hope there are some outside of the cage too, particularly on the Wildlife Plot.

I'm having a beanfeast this week - a Tuscan Bean stew made following this recipe. I went a bit over the top and soaked too many beans then couldn't resist cooking them all.

I should have frozen a couple of meals worth, but I've only just thought of that. I ate it last night with tortilla wraps; tonight I'm going to add purple sprouting brocolli as we intend to nip up the plot at lunchtime.

It's very tasty. One thing I thought was going to be needed was fresh bay leaves, but I must have seen that on another recipe. I have two bay trees now, but you can see that their leaves are quite different. They both claim to be Laurus Nobilis so should be edible but I'm not sure whether they both are... Any advice?

The song title by The Chicks, it was more appropriate if I'd posted this yesterday for International Womens Day, but actually in this sad world at the moment we have quite a lot to march for - or more likely against - but covid cases are rising again so I'll stay put... and now I really must login to work!

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Aah, what a joy to see blue sky and sunshine. Working on the plot it certainly felt Spring-like (ok, so I did need a big jumper and coat but still..!). The sunshine brought lots of plotholders out of hibernation and we spent several hours on site both days. You can see from the shape of the polytunnel that it was still extremely windy but even that cold wind wasn't too awful. We’ve partially dug and weeded various parts of the plots but it’s hard work compared to the working-week, when I only walk about 35 steps most days 😖

I showed some new plotholders around the site and they quickly snapped up a 3-pole plot which had been left in perfect condition by the previous plotholder - at 90, Ron had to give up his plot and I'm glad that it's gone on to an ex-gardener who should keep it looking well-loved. We have quite a few more plots to re-let so are just working through the waiting list now. I love showing people round, especially on such a beautiful day when the site looks welcoming, even in February.

The Wildlife plot gained a plot sign and another plant - an oxeye daisy which spreads easily and forms big clumps of tall flowers that the insects love. There were quite a few insects around including bumblebees and ladybirds, but they're fighting for the few spots of colour that are just appearing.

The Wildlife plot also gained some nice stepping stones from a plot which was recently released from another of our long-term plotholders. I'm sure she would be pleased to see them put to good use on a communal area.

This is the robin that hangs round the Wildlife plot. He (we think it is a male as he sings a lot) comes extremely close and took a mealworm from my hand, but wasn't willing to stand on my hand just yet. The robins near our plot are much less tame.

We had a nice taco meal the other night to celebrate our un-wedding anniversary. It was very tasty but they are a messy thing to eat - I wouldn't want to eat them in public 😀

Last week I had a couple of days off, but the weather was wet and windy so we couldn't do much. We picked some leeks and the single purple sprouting broccolli plant is still providing me with some tasty greens. The leeks went into a cheesy leek pasta dish and we had another lot in a stuffing for baked potatoes. 

I used the PSB along with mushrooms that I marinated in a harissa sauce - I really like the Rose Harissa flavouring, just spicy enough for my palette and it's a great colour.

Today I'm working so don't mind that the weather has returned to grey drizzle (I am on my lunch break at the moment - avoiding watching the sad depressing news about Ukraine. For goodness sake, Putin! Haven't we got enough to put up with, with COVID-19 still hanging round?!).
Florence and the Machine provided the song title.