Allotment Week - Day 6 - Too cold

I'm not going to the allotment today. There is a bitter wind blowing and the temperature has dropped significantly. I'd rather not freeze whilst trying to dig out beds and woodchips.

We haven't had it as bad as other areas of the Country. But as far as I'm concerned, it's just a little too cold to be out and about today.

Bit blowy

It would seem that the weather has been a bit blowy recently.
So it was with a bit of trepidation that I went to the allotment this morning to see what damage had been done. Fortunately we seem to have come out of it relatively unscathed.own out of the top
The top panel of perspex had blown out of the greenhouse door, but was still around so easy enough to put back in.

The edge of the roofing felt on the shed had been ripped off, but that's no major loss.

And the cane holder had broken and all my canes fell down.

About the worst thing we had on the site was the Allotment Notice Board by the entrance had been blown down. That we'll have to fix through the Committee.

So all-in-all we managed to survive with no major issues. I hope you all managed to get through it OK.

After the rain comes the weeds

You can pretty much be certain that a few days after we gets some decent rains we're in for a growth spurt... from the weeds. And this is exactly what we've got now. The grasses, bind weeds, lambs quarters, thistles and who knows what else is very much trying to take over the plot. So it's all hands on deck.

I made a start on the pathways and the grass that's around the greenhouses, whilst The Wife made huge in roads clearing up the Edamame beds.

Unfortunately after a while we saw dark clouds on the horizon. So retreat was the order of the day as we didn't want to end up like before.

Good thing too, we just managed to make it home before those dark clouds caught up to us and started dumping more weeds growing substance on the ground. Guess we'll have to go back tomorrow.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

9

A midweek trip to the plot

The rain had held off for a while, as we still have stuff in the greenhouse that needs watering, so I thought it safe to head for the allotment just to check on everything.

No sooner than I arrived when...

But after it died down a few minutes later, I was met with this...

Oh and a lot of flooding. Like the greenhouse is now a bit wet (as were my trainers) the courgettes are swimming, and I've stepped on a load more crunchy snails.

Maybe I should dash home before it starts throwing it down again.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

6

Localised flooding

Well after the sunny spell it's only right that it should end in a bang. Or rather a rumble. Yes, we've been hit with torrential downpours and rumblings that would make even the hungriest stomach wish it was fed.

After doing the usual drop-off of The Wife at the supermarket, I had to negotiate my way to the plot. I say negotiate because a lot of the roads were flooded resulting in traffic lights quitting and trying to divert my way around the blockages. I eventually manage to get there.

Of course the main throughway on the site (the one right next to us) was flooded. But also the Car Park.

I expected the greenhouse to be flooded as well, but thankfully it wasn't. Because I left the shed keys behind and couldn't put on my wellies.

Mind you, all this rain has brought out a whole load of snails and slugs. They make such a satisfying crunch underfoot.

The plot is looking quite well with another couple of courgettes to add to the tally. Which reminds me... time to start up the Tally again.

The 2021 Courgette Tally:

4

Hopefully that number will increase somewhat over the next few weeks.

Phew, what a scorcher...

... and it's not even midday yet!

I was down the plot at stupid o'clock this morning in an attempt to beat the heat. London has a heat island effect which means it's usually one or two degrees hotter than advertised. Needless to say the first thing I did this morning was make sure everything was well watered.

By the time I finished that it was already getting to be around 9am. Just a quick chance to pull out a few weeds and plant out the beetroot (Boltardy and Golden Globe). Only about 5 of each germinated this year so I'm not expecting a huge crop, but they'll do. After giving them a good watering it, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and scuttled back to my cool dark Otaku Room to spend the rest of the day programming and printing... except I realised that I didn't take any photos. Never mind, maybe tomorrow.

Allotment Week - Day 3 - Rain stops play

I wonder how those beans are doing? Has the rain and wind pummelled them? Have the slugs and snails got them? Guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out. Been a bit of a damp one today so I just haven't ventured forth to see.

Dash to the plot

 A seriously quick dash to the plot today. Because of rain.

I could only grab a couple of courgettes (probably the last) and a few tomatoes before dashing into the greenhouse for shelter. But whilst I was in there I wanted to water the chillies just to see if they could produce a few more fruit. So I grabbed the watering can and quickly popped outside to the rain water butt to fill it... only to find it empty.

It looks like the last tine it was used, the tap was left open. So all that lovely rain we've been having just went straight through. Anyway I closed the tap and filled up from the water tank at the front of the plot. I still reckon that it'll fill up soon anyway as this rain doesn't show any signs of letting up at present. 

We're not quite into flood territory at the moment, but the pathways are looking very sodden. Still, it is the season for flooding. Well, between now and April.

Harvesting in the rain

So there was only a light cloud covering when we left for the allotment. The weather forecast said there was only a 10%-20% chance of rain. And the day started out quite well.

We fired up the Ghillie Kettle to have our usual cup of coffee and started pottering about watering in the green house, pulling weeds etc. But then a few spits started. Not so bad, we thought. The cloud cover was still light, but it did look darker on the horizon so we carried on. It was only a couple of minutes later that we realised that it was getting darker so we did a mad dash to collect all the currently available courgettes (and a beetroot) before it got really bad.

By the time we grabbed these and dashed back inside the greenhouse (to finish our coffees) it really starting coming down. So we decided that we didn't need to water outside, and we made a beeline for the car and home.

Even so, we were a little bit wet but nothing a warm shower, dry clothes and a nice courgette soup made from one of the above (I think it was the one on the far left) couldn't fix.

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.

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.

Odd day, but with Tomatoes

It's been a strange day. Most of this week it's been hot and sunny. Today started off overcast and within 15 minutes of arriving on the plot it decided to start throwing it down. Wife and I decided that it was better to remain in the greenhouse and last out the rain than abandon the plot altogether. Time to put the kettle on for a cuppa and stare out at the rain.

But it's not all bad here inside. There are things we can do. Such as admire the Chillies. Really need to get round to harvesting those.

Perhaps I should make some Sriracha.

The Blueberry seems to be coming along nicely. Yes, singular. Because at present there is only this one worth of that name.

There may be four (yes count them) more coming along. Woo hoo! Then again I didn't really expect much from them this year. But at least there are some nice flowers (Nasturtiums) to go with them.

So now after an hour the rain has died down and softened up the ground suitable for planting... Tomatoes.

Yes, the Wife's Tomato experiment gets it's first outside experience. 7 went outside, 3 are going to be left inside. Lets see how they fare.

As we leave, we can just see the gates on the West side. Now the letters are fixed they look pretty good. It reminds us just who we are.

Sunny Start to February

Well what was a nice weekend. They promised us storms and more rain. What we got were blue skies. Time to get out there and get things done.

OK, maybe not. The ground is still sodden and unworkable. Although we're flooded in parts on the East side, over on the West I guess they can only contemplate a rice crop in their paddy fields.

Yes that is one allotment plot. Totally underwater. They have it somewhat bad over there.

Right where I was standing there was actually a stream of water running across the path. Not a good day for working the plot.

So what else could I do? Well I've already re-organised the shed, like other people are doing. And I can't start planting because it's still a bit too early. But I can start planning.

I've been trawling through various seed catalogues and websites deciding on what I'm going to grow this year. Last year the courgettes were absolutely brilliant, so I want to give them a go again this year. Though probably not so many plants this time. I cannot understand why people grow common potato varieties as they are available in the shops for a low cost and no difference in taste. Having said that I will be growing some heirloom varieties of potatoes this year, as well as some special carrots (Purple!).

The area I cleared the raspberry canes from (which is now my swimming pool) will become a huge herb bed. With a lot of the seed I collected last year. I still have areas of the plot that need clearing. But I can't do that until the weather improves. Scratch that. The weather has improved. I just need the ground to dry out a bit.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud...

... nothing quite like it for cooling the blood making a complete quagmire of the greenhouse.

This is going to take some fixing. The rain has caused the ground underneath the green house floor to become a soggy smelly mess that's going to be very uneven and lumpy when it dries out. I think I'll have to empty out the green house and re-do the flooring one everything gets dry.

Only problem is, is that it's not going to be easy. If you remember when I built the staging in there, it would allow me to move the things around. So it looks like I'll have to completely dismantle them and re-do them. Well I suppose that's not too bad as afterwards I'll be able to fix the problem I had when I built them. Namely that I wanted them as an 'L' shape with the 4ft section across the far wall.

But of course it will have to wait for some dry weather before I undertake this lot...

New Faces

A lovely sunny day. Just right for working down the allotment?

Did I say working? I mean squelching. There is still a flood. The greenhouse is still awash.

But that doesn't mean to say there aren't things to be done. The weed proof membrane that covered the courgette mound has blown loose and needs tidying away. It will get used later in the year, but for now it has a new home stuffed under the shed. The shed also needs a spot of care. The winds have blown the window in again.

Again it is fixed by the simple expedient of shoving something up against it from the inside. It is still too cold for proper sealant to work properly so temporary fixes will have to do for the time being. On another note, the shed has taken on a definite lean. The sodden ground has meant that the supports are sinking down a little on one side. This is no great problem, just makes it look a little odd. But by being up on stilts the shed is nice and dry... unlike some of the other sheds around the site.

But today's big news is the influx of new faces. We have 11 plots to allocate to new people today so we have to show them their swamp.... err. I mean plot.

(Ignore the reprobate looking at the camera. He's one of our helpers.)

I took two of the new recruits to have a look at their new spots. One of which was the plot next to Pauline's that she was so concerned about. I also spoke with a few other new residents taking on their plots for the first time. I'm also pleased that some of them actually read this blog! So to you new people I say welcome. Don't be put off by the bad weather and the state of things. Take you time to plan out what you are going to on your plots and where you want things to go. Look carefully at the sun and where any trees will cast shadows and figure out accordingly what grows well.

There are numerous resources around the web for advice on what you want to grow. They're all at the end of a google search. And failing that, there are numerous other plot holders who will all quite happily talk up a storm to anybody who will listen.

So welcome to you new people. I hope to see you down the allotments. Ever thought about doing your own blog?

The Plot's Flooded

Yesterday we had a spot of rain. OK, I lie, we had a major storm. Loads of rain, wind and all sorts of unhealthy stuff going on. So today I thought I'd go take a look to see if everything survived. Last time this sort of thing happened, one of the windows in the shed blew in. Well guess what... one of the windows of the shed blew in. Not the one supported by the rake. It was the other one. So now I have the spade and fork doing double duty as window supports as well. Guess one of my jobs for the new year is to get those windows sorted.

But that wasn't the major shock. No, the biggest shock is the fact that the plot is under water. Anything from about an inch to three or four. The greenhouse is blocked off (and only wearing trainers it's a bit hard to get to) and the rest of the plot looks like high tide.

And people wonder why I built my shed on stilts.

Surviving the storm

Now the clocks have changed, I can only get down the allotments on the weekends. Last week we had a bit of a bluster. Despite the odd tree coming down near the allotments, we did manage to survive, but not without some small problems.

The grape vine had broken free of it's supports and collapsed and one of the shed windows had blown in. Nothing major but annoying. Fortunately I had put in additional eye hooks and wire. So using some of the nylon ties that last saw usage holding the glass packages from the greenhouse construction (I'm a pack-rat and never throw away anything useful), I carefully lifted the grape vine back into position. The past growing season saw the vine put out some decent growth so I now have long vines in all the necessary places for how I want it to be in the future.

The window is also not a problem but I am having some issues with trying to make it stay in now. However by the simple expedient of wedging the rake against it, it now stays. But I really do need to sort out the shed at some point. It would seriously benefit from a tidy-up.