Penellype's Allotment

[Penellype]

After a couple of very busy days when the sum total of what I could achieve was a flying visit to harvest a couple of beetroot, I finally had a little time yesterday and by some miracle it wasn't raining.

It had been very windy on Thursday and I wasn't altogether surprised to find 2 of the nets over the raised beds had been dislodged. The cat had already made use of the courgette bed as a toilet. I removed the offending material and replaced the nets, trying to fasten them more securely with clips onto the hoops. I'm not sure these will survive a gale but it is worth trying.

Everywhere was still very soggy with parts of the lowest corner still under water. After 3 days of no attention there were a lot of leaves lying around so I raked up the ones on the grass and picked some up from around the raspberries, trying not to trample the sodden grass too much in the process. The leaves have not yet all come down so there will be more to do soon.

Next job was to tidy up some of the strawberry plants in the tunnel, which had a lot of dead leaves. These still have some green fruit on (as do the ones in the growhouse). I'm not sure whether it is best to cut it off or leave it and see if it ripens at all.

Finally I checked the plants in the growhouse to see if they needed any water (no) and harvested a few small sprigs of calabrese and some carrots for tea. By the time I got home it was once again starting to rain.

The soggy plot is becoming very frustrating as there are 2 jobs I would like to get done that I probably can't for the foreseeable future (I have already abandoned any thoughts of a final grass cut). One is to take my steps down and cut off some of the higher branches of the leyalndii and hawthorn in the west hedge, now that I can see where they are. At the moment (and for the foreseeable future) all this is likely to do is make large holes in the grass as the steps will sink inches into the ground as soon as I stand on them. The other job is to dig up one of the 2 remaining rhubarb plants and plant some of it into a bucket for forcing. I have a feeling that although it is on the higher part of the plot, as soon as I get an inch or so down I will be digging in water. Paddling around trying to dig up large rhubarb roots seems like a recipe for creating an almighty mess (it was hard enough last year when it was dry), and I am reluctant to try. But from both the short and longer range forecasts, it could get worse before it gets better, as currently everything points to a wetter than average end to November. December, January, February and March are all looking wet too, although long range forecasts are thankfully little better than a guess and could therefore be completely wrong.

I do realize that there are people only a few miles south of me who have had their houses flooded in this dreadful weather. Beside that, an inch or so of water on parts of an allotment preventing me from doing a couple of small jobs is completely irrelevant.

[Penellype]

Almost nothing doing over the weekend, which was chilly and damp at times. By the time I'd dealt with the horses I had run out of enthusiasm for being outside, and as a result all I did was walk down on Sunday to check everything, give the plants in the growhouse a bit of water and pull a few carrots for tea.

[Penellype]

A lovely bright day yesterday, although rather cold. I was stuck indoors waiting for phone calls most of the morning, and also had to go shopping, so it was afternoon before I could get out to the plot.

I went round picking up leaves and pulling any weeds I could find, then cut down the romanesco plant I harvested a few weeks ago, collecting up the small sideshoots which had grown big enough to eat. A second plant is growing a nice head which should be ready fairly soon.

As the sun had gone off the plot it was getting rather cold by the time I'd finished this, so I pulled a few carrots, shut the growhouse as the night was forecast to be frosty, and went home.

The forecast was for around 0C so I wasn't best pleased this morning to find the local weather station reporting -5C. If I'd known it was going to be that cold I would have got the bubble wrap out for the water bins, so I will just have to hope that they are ok. Its rather cold (still -3) to walk down and check at the moment.

[Penellype]

Freezing cold most of yesterday, but I did walk down and check the water barrels, which seem to have survived being frozen. Once they have warmed up a bit I will put some bubble wrap round like I did last year - no point in insulating when cold as it will keep the cold in!

The raised beds were still frozen (except for under the growhouse, which registered at about 7C) even after lunch, but I managed to prize out 3 baby fennel. The ground in the tunnel was softer and harvesting a nice big carrot was not difficult.

[Penellype]

Very little time to do anything at all due to various appointments on Thursday and Friday and a thoroughly wet day today. Yesterday I did manage to pinch 10 minutes to pick up some of the fallen raspberry leaves and pull a few carrots for tea, but that was the lot.

It isn't an accident that I don't have much time for the plot just now - various things always need doing that require workmen etc, and I try to arrange them in autumn as it is the least busy time of year at the plot.

[Penellype]

A complete write-off on Saturday with rain all day as expected.

Yesterday was at least dry, although depressingly dull and damp. I managed about half an hour at the plot, picking up some of the fallen leaves and yellowing brassica leaves and trimming dead leaves and flowers/fruit off the strawberry plants. I checked the calabrese and romanesco but decided they and the carrots could wait as I am currently eating as many of the tomatoes as possible.

[Penellype]

Busy, busy, busy week with appointments all over the place and people not phoning when they said they would. Wasted time waiting, wasted journeys turning up to find people were not ready for me... More of the same next week, no doubt.

The weather, in its inimitable way, also conspired to be as unhelpful as possible, being dry only when I couldn't make use of it. At last today there was some sunshine, and I was determined to get to the plot despite a day full of the same old same old.

My 2nd appointment today was at about 10am and I turned up late at half past but they still weren't ready for me. I said I couldn't wait around and I would be back at 12, got home as fast as possible and stole about 3/4 of an hour at the plot. I used it putting bubble wrap round the water bins (easier said than done as some were jammed against the shed), then picked up some fallen raspberry leaves. I was running out of time so I pulled a couple of carrots and cut some brokali and calabrese spears for tea, and went to get my appointment sorted, which thankfully didn't take long.

Hopefully I will be able to get something done over the weekend (hoping to dig up the rhubarb) as long as the ground isn't frozen solid.

[Penellype]

A very cold weekend although pleasantly sunny. I didn't get to the plot at all on Saturday having spent my gardening time at my friend's. I was too cold having been outside all morning to contemplate more gardening in the afternoon.

Yesterday I went down to the plot around lunchtime, taking my camera as it was the beginning of the month. Bright sunshine made taking any reasonable photos really difficult. Very little of the plot was actually getting any sun, making a sharp contrast between light and dark. I was too cold to do anything else, and the ground was frozen on top.



You can see from this photo that the sun is only just clearing the tops of the houses at around mid day.



A better view of the romaneso under the white net. Although the open hotbed is frozen, the soil thermometer in the one under the growhouse read 9 degrees. Clearly it hasn't finished rotting down yet.



The only sunny part. The water bin has been insulated with bubble wrap (as have all the others). Its a shame I can't make use of the sunny area in front of the hedge really, but I need access to cut the hedge and it is full of hawthorn roots.



Very frosty at the shady end of the plot.



Parsnips should taste better for being frozen.

[Penellype]

More photos



Impossible to take a photo from the entrance to the tunnel because of the low sun, but this is the view from the shed end. Leeks, carrots and beetroot on the left, brokali, swede, strawberries and oriental leaves on the right, the little PSB plant in the middle is growing very slowly. Noticeably less frost in the tunnel than outside.



Partly harvested carrots and beetroot.



Leeks - Northern Lights on the left (not very purple!) and Oarsman on the right.



Romanesco with a golf ball sized flowerhead inside.



PSB.

[Penellype]

More photos



Brokali on the left, summer calabrese on the right still producing some small edible shoots.



Swedes - the shelf is only there because its a convenient place to put it.



Mizuna and namenia slowly recovering from beetle damage. Younger leaves should be edible soon.



Winter lettuces in the growhouse.



Spinach in the growhouse, taken through the frosty glass.

[Penellype]

Nothing at all on Monday as everywhere was frozen solid.

At last yesterday provided an opportunity to dig up some rhubarb, as it had not been frosty over night and by the afternoon the ground in the sunny parts of the allotment had defrosted. The plan was to dig up the plant near the runner beans, but it was soon clear this was wildly optimistic as it was a huge plant and very congested in the middle. I did the best I could with my fork, which essentially meant sticking it into the middle of the plant and sawing at it until something gave. The result was well shredded roots, but I collected up some pieces that had a reasonable root on them and planted them in a 30 litre bucket, which went under the black dalek.

By the time I had removed about half of the top of the plant and quite a bit of horsetail root (one of the reasons I'm digging it up) I had had enough of that, so I collected up a few leaves, then harvested a couple of carrots and went home. The job is nowhere near finished but the urgent bit (planting some for forcing) is done.

[Penellype]

Yesterday I had an electrician booked for the morning, and by the time he had finished it was lunchtime. I went down to the plot briefly in the afternoon, mainly to harvest some carrots and leeks, but I really wanted to sort out the fence at home as the geraniums and fuchsias had died. This involved a trip to the garden centre to buy a dozen pansies and by the time I'd finished arranging them on the fence it was getting dark.

[Penellype]

No gardening time on Thursday but I was hoping to be able to do something yesterday.

At 8.30 in the morning I got a phone call from the parish clerk saying that my green polytunnel cover was loose and in danger of blowing onto the road after quite a windy night. He always calls the net tunnel a polytunnel. I couldn't imagine how the net could have got loose since the sides and both ends of the top are tied onto the framework in several places with cable ties as well as the fishing line that attaches the top nets to the sides. Nevertheless I went straight down to check everything as it could have been one of the smaller green nets from a raised bed. My nets were absolutely fine, but the lady who has the plot next but one to mine has a new polytunnel and it was her cover that was stuck in the hedge.

Having reported that, I went home to deal with a problematical printer that I needed to use, and by the time I had got the wretched thing working it was raining. Showers continued all day and I didn't manage to get any actual gardening done.

[Penellype]

Saturday was busy as Saturdays always are, and all I managed to do was run down quickly as it was getting dark and check that everything was secure. I picked up a few yellowing brassica leaves on the way round and noticed that the biggest romanesco head is going brown - I have no idea why. One of the strawberries in the growhouse is starting to turn red, which is amazing at this time of year.

Yesterday was worse - it was wet a lot of the time, particularly in the afternoon, which was when I would have had some time for gardening. I didn't get a chance to visit the plot at all.

[Penellype]

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day and not too cold. I spent a good hour at the plot in the afternoon.

The first thing I wanted to do was to cut the romanesco and see if any of it was edible. It wasn't - as well as going brown it was also mushy, although one of the sideshoots was ok. Some of the inner leaves were brown as well. This was very disappointing and I have no idea why it happened as the plant looked fine about a week ago and the others seem to be ok, so it is unlikely to be a problem with frost. A mystery.

Having cut down the plant, removed dead leaves from the remaining plant under the net and pulled out the dead marigolds and a few weeds, I then collected up some of the fallen leaves. The raspberries had finally shed the last of their leaves, so I cleared those up and mulched the plants with some of the part rotted leylandii trimmings from the green dalek. I used about half of these to top up the little mulch that remained from last year.

Finally I harvested some carrots for tea.