Repairing the damage

So we have totally lost the Courgettes. But the Crown Prince only appear to have suffered damage on the outer leaves of some of the plants. Yes, some are completely dead, and one seems to have been the victim of a cut worm, but a couple of the plants are sprouting new small leaves which means that the damage is not as bad as we initially thought.

Even so, when I reported the failure earlier in the week, I immediately started looking online for replacement Crown Prince seeds, only to find that there were none to be had. Steve from the Seaside Allotment Channel, offered to send me some replacements which I gratefully accepted. If you have not been following Steve, then you are really missing out. This is somebody who is relatively new to the allotment, but who has taken to it like the proverbial duck to water. He is doing stuff the likes of which you would find in commercial Market Gardens and the sheer amount of food that he turns out is absolutely astonishing.

Anyway, our day started off with the Divine Miss Vulpine turning up, despite the amount of people who were on the plot.

We re-planted the courgettes with some of the spares we had in the greenhouse.

Meanwhile is was transplant time for a number of other plants. The Wife did the Petunias, and a donated flowers (not sure what it was) and I later re-potted the Chillies.

We also had a damn good clear out of the 2nd greenhouse, as this will later be used for the above mentioned Chillies and the Two remaining Cucumbers. It definitely looks a bit cleaner compared to the last time you saw it.

I've nipped the seed heads out of the Pak Choi as they were starting to reach for the skies a bit. Oh and got rid of another of those pesky snails which were munching on our produce. But there are plenty of leaves on them still.

Whilst cleaning it out, we came across a few tubs of old beans. Since we also lost our beans in the previous cold winds, we took this opportunity to re-sow. We also planted out all the sweetcorns. Sine we've had to split the sweetcorns across two beds, I'm going to try a little experiment. I've dropped a few peas into the base of each plant in one of the beds, and beans into the base of each in the other bed. Hopefully they'll germinate in a few weeks and can use the corn as ready made canes. It's a bit random but we'll see if it works.

No frost - but they're all dead

So I popped down to the plot to do a spot of mid-week watering. We've not had any rain for ages and the ground is bone dry.

Nor have we had any cold temperatures. Being in the middle of London we're in a "heat island", so we don't get the late frosts like you do "out in the sticks". So imagine my surprise when I found that our recently planted Crown Prince and the Courgettes all exhibit signs of frost damage.

It's only the outer leaves that appear to be hit. The inner core of the plant is fine. (Apart from the one CP which appears to have been sheared off at the root).

What I suspect has happened is that the recent winds have caught them as they are in an exposed part of the plot. A wind chill could easily drop the temperature another couple of degrees and made them suffer, despite there being no actual frost.

Good job we have a few spares courgettes in the greenhouse. But I hope the CPs recover, because we have no spares of those and we can't get any more seeds as everywhere seems to be out of stock.

Kale, Weeds and a visit from an old friend

So I was down the plot bright and early this morning. I'd actually been up since about 5am, but I arrived on the plot about 7am. First job was to plant out the Kale. The last Kale we had (a good few years back) was eaten by the pigeons. So this lot I am determined to protect.

I put the netting over one of the troughs. The Tomatoes are not yet big enough to be put outside, so I'll use it for support for the time being.

After they were done, I started attacking some of the weeds and grasses that were infesting the goat paths between the beds. The plot is looking much better these days.

And of course, The Wife's Strawberry Empire is looking pretty good.

I also managed to get a decent photo of a Bumblebee on the Phacelia. (The others were too blurry)

Inside the Greenhouse, we have the remainder of the Courgettes.

And on the other side there are the Tomatoes, a few sweetcorn, a couple of Sunflowers (need to find a home for them soon), Mint and Chillies. Plus a few Beetroot which survived the ravages of the Mouse.

Up on the top shelf, are the rest of the Sweetcorn. They'll have to go out next week I suspect.

Whilst I was packing up to leave, I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye. Not seen any sight nor sounds of the foxes for a couple of months. But here she is poking her nose in.

Not sure which one this is, as we've kind of lost track of the fox history. But I wish she was around earlier in the year to deal with that mouse. Anyway, good to see her back.

Hard day in the sun

I nearly passed out.

We went down to the plot early as we knew we had a lot of work to do. But even trying to get The Wife out of bed in the morning is quite a struggle. I've always been an early bird though. But we eventually managed to roll up to the plot at about 9am. Surprisingly there were a few others who arrived before us.

Any way I made a finish on getting the remains of the compost sieved out. The bed is now clear of compost. But it still needs a little attention regarding the grass and other detritus that spilled out from the digging.

Meanwhile The Wife was on a mission. She had to improve her Strawberry Empire. So all the little pots of plants that were scattered around the plot were rounded up and forced into trays and bigger pots. And now The Empire spans nearly half the plot.

Although I'm sure there are more hidden around, just waiting to ambush me when I turn my back.

After digging the compost, I finally finished off digging the Deep End bed No.4. The one which had all the clay in it. It did get a liberal helping of the compost that was previously recovered from the afore mentioned compost bin. But it was at this point that I started feeling very faint. I crawled away into the shade to nurse a drink of water and get my breath back. I think it was sun stroke. Or just plain exhaustion. But either way, The Wife finished off planting the 15 Crown Prince squashes into this bed.

Last, but not least, before we left for the day, we picked a whole load of non-snail eaten Pak Choi leaves. This will be tonight's dinner.

Hopefully it will replace the leaves picked with loads more tasty treats for us. Now I'll see if I can get home without passing out. Maybe it's the fact that we left early without breakfast?

The Last Compost

Last as in the Compost Bins that is. Not the last of all the compost. I still have the couple of bags that I bought a few weeks back. But those bags will be used for the Tomatoes.

No, todat is a day for digging out the final compost bin. This is the bin that's been here the longest. About 3 years if I recall correctly. So for the most part there is a load of compost in there. However the bad news is that because it's been there so long it's settled and compacted. Which means that digging it out is hard work.

Ok, the stuff on the tops is still fresh. So that simply gets moved en-mass to the new bin area. (The bed at the very front which was the old Chard bed). But the lower levels need to be dug out, sieved and so on. It's back breaking work. Especially in the hot sun.

But when the jobs done, we can relax in the sunshine, guzzle a cool drink and watch the bees humming in the flowers in The Wife's raised bed.

The Foxgloves are just starting to flower, but the borage (I think it's borage anyway) Phacelia (Thanks Belinda) is already in full bloom, and if my camera didn't have so much issues trying to focus on the bees close up, I'd give you a photo of them too.

This sunshine isn't doing the Pak Choi any favours though. It looks like it's starting to bolt to seed already. Guess what we'll be eating over the weekend?

An unexpected Potato harvest.

So I did the usual "drop The Wife off for shopping and head to the plot" thing. Following on from yesterday's digging, I dug out the small bed in the middle of the plot which was last year's dumping ground for odds and ends.

So imagine my surprise when I find stumpy old carrots, half eaten beetroots, nettles, thistles, and a load of spuds.

Now, I'm not sure whether they are edible as they all seem to have sprouted and many have a zillion little roots. But one thing I can do, is plant them again, with a little more space and care. Normally I use bags for planting potatoes but these ones seem to have done OK, in the bed. It's just a matter of making sure you dig them all out, because you have spuds for life otherwise.

Digging (again)

So here is the missing photo from last week regarding the Courgettes.

But today is a day for digging. First thing I have to sort out is the the bed adjacent to the above three, more commonly known as Deep End 4.

It is full of weeds. Although that's not the biggest problem. This bed has not had any additional material added to it (unlike the other three) so only the top few inches is actually decent soil. From about 5 inches down it is solid clay, which making the digging really difficult.

In the middle (just behind the fork handle in the above photo) is a large rogue chard plant. It needs to come out. However it won't go to waste, because I'll strip the leaves and it will be tonight's dinner.
(In fact as I write this, it was dinner. And very tasty it was too).

I didn't take any more photos because I was just too knackered. But apart from the digging, we potted on the sweet corns from their little trays into reasonable sized pots. It's still too early to put them out. The Wife also increased her Strawberry Empire by potting up some of the little runners that she kept into large trays - the same size trays as the Pak Choi. Talking of which, they are coming on really well. But there appears to have been an invasion of the snail variety as a lot of the leaves have been munched on. I did pick out (and squash) all that I could find, but I'll have to keep my eyes on them.

I also planted my first lot of potatoes into bags. Not sure how well they'll do, but there is no harm in trying.

I'll be back tomorrow whilst The Wife does her usual massive shop. So drop off at the Sainsbury's Mega Centre and then back to the plot for more digging and delving.

Dodgy Bananas

We had a few bananas that were a little past their prime and turning a nice shade of brown. Only one thing to do. Turn them into Banana Bread.

Not the best, it's what ingredients I had on hand. But still tasty.

Compost!

I had an email during the week, from the MAGA Committee. I wasn't the only lucky recipient, they sent it to everybody. It was informing us that they have managed to obtain a couple of pallets of compost and they will be selling it for a short time on Saturday morning from 11am.

Considering that the Wood Chips and Manure bays are totally empty, then this is something that is very much in need.

So I duly joined the queue first thing. I wasn't the only one there as there were plenty ahead of me, and loads more behind.

Once I managed to claim my two bags (limited numbers) I wheeled them back on my flat-tire barrow, back to the plot. I really do need to get that tire fixed. Or get a new barrow.

Anyway, I have a lot of plants which are getting to the stage that I need to pot them on. Or plant them out. But I suspect that some of the plants, if they are put into beds, would be severely hampered by the pests. I don't want a repeat of the Slug Party.

I already seem to be suffering from some Flea Beetle issues on the turnips.

But some of the plants in the beds are making a decent showing. The beans have finally broken through and seem to be heading for the stars.

And The Wife's strawberry empire looks like it'll be coming to fruition soon enough.

Mind you, there is a lot of weeding to be done. A lot of little shoots are all poking their noses up and need to be chopped off at the roots. So guess what I spent the rest of my time at the plot doing. Yes, weeding. The planting out can wait until tomorrow I think.

Quick trip for watering.

I am not allowed to go shopping anymore. In fact I'm not allowed to talk to, or be near anybody else. I am one of the High Risk people. So I now spend my time between the 2nd bedroom (which is my study/work room/Otaku room), the car, and the allotment. However I can drop The Wife off at the supermarket, suitably masked and gloved, so she can do the shopping, then nip to the allotment to do the watering, then back to the supermarket to pick her up and back home again. So that's what I do these days. Especially when we need to do a big shopping and we need the car.

We had rain a couple of days ago, so outside doesn't need watering. But the recent sunshine means that the greenhouse tends to get a bit warm and dry for the plants. So that's my job these days.
The Big greenhouse is our main seeding and potting place. It now has a large variety of plants in it.

However some of our seeds haven't yet sprouted.

The second tray of turnips is looking a bit on the yellow side (left), maybe I should consider planting them outside. To the right of that is the Kale, which is still a little on the small side, and I know that if I plant those outside, the pigeons will make a complete mess of it. To the right, the peas are doing really well, but I won't consider planting them out until the roots are just beginning to show through the pots.
Tomatoes are doing well (they're just behind the Kale) so they still have a ways to go before potting on. But just in front of the Kale are the Purple Carrots. Nada. Zip. Zilch. None. Nothing. They just haven't sprouted at all. Well considering that this was our own seed that we collected, it may not be all that surprising. There is something to be said for buying seed from suppliers. They know how to collect seeds from viable sources. It may well be that the seeds that we collected were not viable in the first place. Having said that I don't know what's happening with our New Zealand Spinach outside, because none of it has sprouted yet. Well it may have done, but there are numerous other small sprouts in there and I can't tell the difference between Spinach and other weeds as yet.

But the Small Greenhouse is another matter. That's our dumping ground at present.

We do have 5 trays of Pak Choi in there at the moment, and I'll probably put the Chillies and the two remaining Cucumbers in there (damn that mouse), but as to the spare pots, tubs, trays and other assorted flotsam. Meh, you know how allotments tend to gather junk? Put it aside for possible future use and you end up with a pile of stuff before long. One of these days I'll have to get round to tidying it. But not today. Gotta go pick up The Wife with about 3 weeks worth of shopping.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 21 - Pak Choi

So today is the last day of my "Holiday" - unless you count the weekends in which case I have two more days off. I've been off work for 3 weeks now and it's been an odd sort of time. The first oddness is the amount of sunshine. We have had sunny days galore which is quite unprecedented. But the most odd has, of course, been the lockdown. This plot is the only escape I have as I can't even go shopping now due to the limitations on my circumstances.

I had two conference calls with work from the plot. The first was our regular weekly catch-up and coffee break chat but the second, and more important, was the last day of work for a colleague as he is moving on to pastures new. I'm kind of lucky in that my work is not impacted. I can effectively work from anywhere I can get access to the Internet (even the Plot). But I know a lot of people have been seriously impacted by the ongoing situation.

But as to the Plot itself. Well the Pak Choi is certainly getting a little cramped in the little seed trays so it's time to pot them on into something with a little more room. Except I need a decent amount of compost to do that. Fortunately we have had a bag of compost on the plot for the past two years that we have never used. But it has been lying down and has a few holes in the packaging which means the rain has got in and it is soaking wet. So the first thing to do is break it up and put in into trugs to make it easier to handle.

So, to eke out the meagre amount of compost left (we're going to need quite a bit of it over the next few weeks) I first put some of the old composted manure in the very bottom of the troughs before filling the rest of the way with decent stuff. Then I started diggin gout the shoots and potting them on.

From the two small seed trays I managed to get 5 troughs. Though I did throw away some of the smaller seedlings.

So we'll see how these go.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 20 - New life

Seems like everything is enjoying the sun this week. Even the Grape Vine has got in on the action.

This ties in with previous times of the year as well. So, all is on schedule. Apart from the lockdown of course.

I did have plans for doing the rear part of the plot, but because I can't get access to the equipment and parts necessary to build the seating area, it looks like this will once again have to be postponed. No big deal really, after all if we clear the spot right next to the small greenhouse we can drag out the table and chairs for a picnic and barbecue again. At least once restrictions are lifted.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 18 - Early Morning

Being on the plot early in the morning is very peaceful. Especially these days with no (or at least very little) traffic. The only thing you can hear is the sound of birds and an argument coming from one of the adjacent houses. I guess not everybody is enjoying the lockdown.

But at least I managed to get the last of Deep End 3 dug out. And a little of No. 4 too.

But the most impressive bit down the plot this morning is definitely the Apple Blossom.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 16 - Exhausted

Well we did go to the plot today. But I didn't get any pictures.

I started digging the third bed in the Deep End, and only managed to complete half of it before I just couldn't go any further. It was absolutely exhausting trying to dig through the solid ground. Though I did managed to get a lot of the couch grass out, it's incredibly tough stuff. Especially when the ground is as hard as it is. I'll have to go back again at some point to get the rest of it. But not today.

As to the rest of the plot, well watering was the main action. That and The Wife potted on the Crown Prince pumpkins.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 14 - Potting on and Transplanting

Well as I threatened yesterday, there is a lot of growth in the greenhouse and the Courgettes are bursting out of their pots. Maybe we should have planted them directly into pots rather than a seed tray. Never mind they'll survive. And even if some don't, we have more than enough of them.

And maybe I've been a bit hasty in putting out the turnips. Although the packet says to sow outside and then "thin" them afterwards, I've always thought this to be a waste. Why let them grow and then kill some of them? Anyway, I've transplanted one tray outside. The other tray I shall leave for the time being.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 13 - Mouse in the House

Feeling much better today. So much so that I managed to finangle a Microsoft Teams meeting with some of my work colleagues from down on the plot. Technically I'm on holiday, but since we're all cooped up with the ongoing crises we have instigated a weekly "chat about whatever" just to keep in touch with everybody. I rigged my mobile to offer a Mobile Hotspot and connected my computer to it. Then had an hour long chat with some of the team. They all seemed quite impressed. Probably more so when I can get the chance to offer them some of the fruits of the plot like last year.

On the bad news side of things, a Mouse has been having a go at the seeds that were planted at the weekend. Both the Sweetcorn and Cucumbers have been decimated by said critter. Not sure how many have actually survived given that they hadn't yet sprouted. So to protect them (or whats left of them), I have placed them up on the top shelf of the greenhouse. Hopefully out of mousie's reach.

Meanwhile, the rest of the new seedlings are putting on huge growth spurts.

I'm guessing that there is going to be some major potting on and transplanting taking place in the not too distant future.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 11 - Not feeling too good

So things are happening.

I am well used to the feeling that happens when I get a lung infection. I get a kind of burning sensation in my chest and a feeling of tightness. I have had this feeling for the past day. However I do not have a temperature, nor do I have a cough. My peak flow that I have blown is 560, which for me is pretty good. So I'm not certain that what I feel is actually a lung infection of any sort - or even the dreaded Covid-19.

Just to be on the safe side, I'm staying home and foregoing my daily exercise for a couple of days. Maybe I just need some extra sleep. Or maybe I need to get the vacuum out and tidy up a bit.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 10 - Rain stops play (Updated)

After sunshine comes the rain.

Well, not so much rain, more like a persistent mist. Still, it's not something I really fancy working in. So today I'm going to be a good little boy and tidy my room.

Afternoon Update:
OK, so the rain stopped and the sun came out. So I did nip down to the plot. Not really did much, just enough to get my daily exercise in.

Dug over another bed and rooted out all the grass and weeds. All of which were dumped into the new compost bin location.

And also threw away the old wheelbarrow at the front of the plot. This wheel barrow last saw major use as a wild flower bed. But now The Wife has planted wild flowers into her raised bed, and this barrow is now a bit of an eyesore and no longer needed.

There are still some things to do. You will notice in the upper photo that there are still a number of grasses growing in the pathways. Since there is no more woodchip (well maybe a very small amount if I dig carefully) then trying to cover them with paper of woodchips won't really work. So I'll have to dig them out.

Allotment Week - Under lockdown - Day 9 - Digging Compost

Today was compost day.

We've had three "Dalek" bins sitting there for a while now. The first two (black, on the left) have been there for two years. The third one (green) for only a year. It's time that they were dealt with.

(Photo taken yesterday before I dug the beds)

(Today's photo)

The problem with compost is time. Anything can, and will, turn into compost given enough time, but since this first dalek has only been here a year, there are lot of solid matter that could do with being left in the bins a little longer.

Some bits don't want to compost well at all. I am finding a lot of stuff, including:

• Egg shells - in future they need crushing before being put in.
• Avocado Shells - Nothing deal with these. They hang around for ages. I'd suggest not putting them in at all.
• Avocado Stones - See shells. Although some have split and have sent out roots. I've planted one into a pot just to see if it'll take.
• Root balls - From old pots. Yes the soil does flake away, but the actual root ball itself needs more time.
• Plastic "Biodegradable bags" - No, just no. I've given up on these altogether. They just don't work and are still hanging around way too long.
• Stick and twigs - Stalks and such from plants that we've thrown in there. They just need more time.

So the majority of the most recent bin, resumed a place in the moved bin afterwards. (See green bin below - it's full)

But the rest of the good compost/soil was dug back into the bed that they came out of.

The second black dalek had a much better yield. Of course this bin had been around a couple of years. Although the top layer was still pretty much intact and just went straight back into the bin, once I started digging down the soil was superb. I dug out my old griddle and starting sieving the soil. This fine soil was liberally sprinkled on the Strawberry beds, and bed that was dug yesterday immediately adjacent to the bins.

I suspect that this bed will be the eventual home of the Beetroot and possibly some turnips.

On the subject of Beetroot and Turnips, in the greenhouse all is looking well.

The Courgettes have now all got their cotyledon leaves.

As, do most of the other plants, although I can't tell on the Peas because they are just poking their heads through.

And the Crown Prince are just making an appearance.

But three hours digging in the sun is enough exercise for me to handle for one day. Time for home.