Twelfth Night

Time to take the Christmas decorations down. Our tree is looking pretty dessicated after weeks in a room with the heating cranked up high. Meanwhile the trees outside are a perfect seasonal picture.

red alert

Two. That's the number of ripe tomatoes we have had from our plants. We ate them in a ceremonious salad tonight and they were very tasty. It's October but let's hope the frosts keep off until the others ripen up.

One potato, two potato...

On a recent trip to Ireland we had a day out at Lissadell House and gardens. It’s a grand 19th century house overlooking Sligo Bay with two fantastically well stocked gardens – one for alpines and the other for crops. The house was completed in 1833 but had fallen into poor repair in recent years. New owners have carefully restored it and cultivated the gardens which were overgrown for over six decades.


To mark the UN ‘International Year of the Potato’ they planted 169 different varieties of spud along the circumference of the walled kitchen garden. Many of the potatoes were from the heritage collection of David Langford which was donated to Lissadell. Their most popular varieties are the Orla, an early, blight resistent potato bred in Carlow in 1999; the Arran Victory, a maincrop potato first bred in 1918 and the Pink Fir Apple, a salad potato bred in 1850.

Underneath the pavement

So often I seem to be dashing out of the house and hurrying off to do something. Head down and scurrying along pavements you often don't spot the changes, a different type of city regeneration. There is lots going on unplanned within the built environment. Like the blogger of Organic Allotment I too have spotted a self sown tomato plant growing out from a crack between the pavement and the wall of a city college. Seeded no doubt from a discarded sandwich filling of a passing student.

This might go unobserved by most of us but nature is always on the look out for opportunities. In the neglected front yard of a terrace house a colony of cinnabar moth lavae are munching their way through a ragworth plant. These beautiful black and vermillion moths only lay their eggs on this plant. The warning stripes of orange and black a message to birds that they have ingested the toxins from this weed and won't be good to eat.
A buddleia bush growing down a crack in a nearby wall offers nectar for bumble and honeybees. They are so attracted to the flowers that there is a bit of jostling going on. It's crowded at this new nectar bar in town.

a barrow of marrow

Things have been really busy with work meaning that trips to the plot have been put on hold. With the recent combination of rain and sunshine the courgettes which have been busy changing into marrows while our back was turned. We have given a few away to family and neighbours but there are plenty more to get through.

Jane Grigson's vegetable book if really handy for courgette recipes but also has advice for those of us who have left them too long on the plant:
'For a small family faced with a huge marrow, it is best to slice it down into rings about 2-3cm thick, allowing one or two per person. Do not peel the rings, but blanch them for five minutes only, after removing the seeds in the middle. Place the rings in a buttered dish and fill the centres with stuffing, allowing it to spread a little over the marrow in a domed shape. Allow 45-60 mins at 190C/375F.' Sounds like a plan.

Hello ladies!

There are lots of ladybird lavae going walkabout on the lottie. This is good news as the lavae are voracious feeders and will munch their way though lots of aphids. I am reliably informed by wiki that they pupate after about three months depending on how much food there is about.

Spotted lots of lavae at the pupal stage as I was weeding. As I was peering at one of the pupae it began flicking up and down. I thought this might mean that a ladybird beatle was just about to hatch but have since learned that this was actually a demonstration of annoyance. I like the fact that it doesn't let a little thing like undergoing morphological change get in the way of telling me to keep my distance.

Running away

It's the first time I have grown strawberries. The six plants potted up in grow bags are doing well and each are showing a promising branch of green fruits. Apparently plants are more productive in their second year so I'm not sure how much fruit I will have this summer. They have each sent out a set of runners which I could try to root by pinning the plantlets into a pot of soil. Geoff Hamilton's Organic Gardening book suggests this as a good method if you want to force strawberries in the greenhouse. However he warns against restocking beds with plants grown this way in case they spread virus disease. Not sure if the same applies when using grow bags but I think I'll try rooting a few of them.

Bolt thrower

Everything is growing well at the moment but most of the veg is not yet ready for picking. The first set of broad bean plants have produced pencil thin pods which are slowly fattening up. The second set of beans, planted out a month later, are in flower. The peas are also in flower and are setting their first pods. Thankfully the salad leaves are ready. I picked a bag full of rainbow chard and handfuls of salad rocket. Rocket doesn’t like hot weather but I managed to catch it just as it was starting to produce flowers but before it had well and truly made a blot for it.

Plot summary

The recent rain and long hot days have resulted in everything growing like fury. Sunday was the first visit to the lottie for a couple of weeks so the change was rather dramatic. The shallots and onions look like a real success story which is good news as last year the heavy rain practically drowned them. The chard and beets are coming along too, adding colour to the planting.

Our feathered friends have been feasting on the cabbages I planted out recently but neglected to net. Still, there are a couple of survivors which are doing well and I have planted out some red kale to keep them company. The broad beans have not yet been attacked by black fly so I must remember to pinch out their growing tips when I visit next. The Observer allotment blog is worth checking out for a useful list of jobs to do this month. There are certainly lots of tasks to do in June but it is rewarding when you see everything growing so well.

Turned out nice again

Recently got back from a short trip to Nice. Noticed that the municipal planting often included edibles amongst the flower displays. From bold red stems of chard to frills of red kale and silvery spikes of cardoons. I could not resist a trip in to a garden centre to see what varieties might be on sale. I think I showed considerable restraint by only coming back with a couple of seed packets in the suitcase.

British summer time

The clocks changed and the sun shone. It was a promising start to British summer time today and the allotment was busy with activity. Folks wandering past the gates were peering in. When the sun is out, growing veg and working in the fresh air is an enviable passion. I know, gardening doesn't quite work like that and you have to get out there when it's windy and cold too. But it's days like today which make it all worthwhile.

Dug over the potato bed as I'll soon be planting out the seed potatoes. The broad beans are growing well and just neeeded a little support.

Now you see it...

Often we talk about seasons as if one rolls out fully formed every three months. Gardening makes you realise that within each season there are small changes and shifts in nature. Two weeks ago the crocuses were in flower on the plot. They had died away by the next week just as narcissus were beginning to bloom. This week a primrose had come into flower and nettles were showing their frills along the edges of the plot. Each new appearance telling a tale about temperature and time. Wonder what will have popped its head up next weekend.

Hatching

Things are stirring on the allotment. Rhubarb leaves are cracking through their papery shells and narcissus are flowering in clumps amongst the grass borders. Planted out some broad bean plants and spent another Sunday morning digging over the beds. Trying to get a head start by pulling up the tangle of grass stolons lurking under the soil before they really pick up pace.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Yesterday was a perfect day for a spot of gardening. The day was mild with a glint of winter sun. We spent a few hours digging over three of the beds and generally tidying the plot up a bit. A pair of robins kept us company, darting between the hedges excited by the prospect of the worms and grubs revealed by our efforts. I decided to use a soil conditioner before covering over the beds for the winter. It was only after I had liberally applied trowelfuls of bagged organic rotted manure, that I noticed that there were white lavae in the mix. A quick spot of research when I got home revealed that these are the lavae of the onion fly who often lay their eggs in fresh manure. Luckily I didn't spread them on the winter sown onions or the leeks but I have still unwittingly broadcast them quite widely. I hope that they don't make their way over to the onions....

Don't look now

There seem to be a lot of spiders on the lottie at the moment. Groups of them were scurrying around the wood boards edging the beds and in-between the piles of dried hedge clippings.


September is breeding time for spiders so males are often spotted out on the prowl. However, you're unlikely to see one as big as 'La Princess' which stalked through Liverpool this weekend as part of the Capital of Culture celebrations. This 50 foot, 37 tonne creation by the company La Machine certainly had the wow factor. A surreal delight we watched as it walked though a main shopping area and battled with huge flame throwers whilst being followed by accompanying musicians hoisted in the air on cherry pickers.

No such thing as a free lunch?

With the so-called ‘credit crunch’ upon us we might all be thinking of new ways to tighten our belts. Food prices have really increased of late and waiting lists for allotment plots have begun to lengthen proportionally. The possibility of growing your own organic veg has tempted many.



Walking across a field last week I was reminded that we don’t even have to get planting in order to have a meal from the soil. On the banks of a stream, fed by a spring, some healthy looking watercress plants were thriving. There is lots of free food available in hedgerows and fields for those who know where to look. A whole host of wild plants can be eaten from dandelion and nettle to hedgerow blackberries and wild garlic. I have to admit that so far I have stuck to eating what I have grown myself, a bit concerned about misidentifying a wild plant. What about you?

summer stripes

The flowering herbs in the back yard have created quite a buzz. It still amazes me how you can so easily attract beneficial insects with just a few plants and flowers in a city yard. There seems to be around eight or so bumble bees on the herbs at any one time, collecting nectar. I'm reading 'A World Without Bees' at the moment which helps to explain some of the behaviour. Here's what I have learnt:
1. Bumble bees prefer purple flowers while honeybees have a preference for white blooms
2. Honeybees are great pollenators because they will keep making thousands of visits to one flower species at a time until they have used up all it's nectar.
3. The antennae on a bee's head allow it to smell in stereo.

Heavy plant crossing

We had a grand day out on Sunday with a trip to the Tatton Park Flower Show. I must be showing my age as I haven't made it to a music festival this year but got really excited about going to the RHS event. The show gardens were top notch - I particularly liked the 'East meets West' garden design by Urban Vision for it's simplicity and calmness. Ness Botanic Gardens' back to back garden for bees also got my vote. It was designed to show the important contribution bees make to our gardens and was packed with climbing beans, wildflowers and an apiary hive.

Just as we were starting to flag with the heat and our fill of ice cream, they announced the beginning of the plant sale. Everyone's inner bargain hunter came out and there was a it of a frenzy at the plant stands. Came home laden down with vegetable plants and herbs.

Tea's up

Dug up the first lot of new potatoes today. I was late planting them so they are rather small - but perfectly formed. Had our first allotment meal of the year: roast potatoes, fried courgettes, with spinach and chard in a parsley and sage sauce. Delish!

milk bar

Some of the Nasturtiums are being attacked by blackfly with a little help from their friends. The ants are acting as guardians while also 'milking' the aphids for their sticky dew. Here's one caught in the act.