Monday, April 1st, 2002
Osprey early main crop potatoes in today, and the first of the broad beans, a good-sized parsnip bed. The shallots are coming through, despite some kids running through the bed. The fox is back - she's been digging after my first early potatoes, so I've threaded string all round and over the bed to discourage her.
With so many of my beds now ready for planting, it's beginning to look more like a couple of allotment plots!
The kale has finally started to bolt, so I took it all out. It's been a fascinating crop to grow (apart from being good to eat!) - all through its different stages, you get an idea of how different brassica varieties came to be developed; kale has a leafy loose cabbage head, develops sprouts up its stalk, and produces crude broccoli type flower heads!
Thursday, April 4th, 2002
Beautiful day - sun shining, ladybirds all over the place, bumble bees out in force, the first tortoiseshell butterflies. More like late May than anything else.
Alan Titchmarsh's ears were burning though - we're all p....d off that he suggests people go down to the car boot sale to stock up on garden tools. We don't know what class of car-boot sale he goes to, but we DO know where our nicked garden tools end up! You can't leave anything on this site. Locked sheds get broken into; wooden sheds pulled or burned down; locked trunks jemmied open. Thanks a million, Alan.
Add to that, Alan, children watch your programme, and want to garden too! For a short while, your name was mud. First a happy little pair appeared at the gate; they were let in to "play" on a vacant plot - and two became four, became six, became nine!
It could have been a god-awful rammy, but these kids turned out to be brilliant. Interested (Oh God, hundreds of questions), willing to be listen and understand what NOT to do on an allotment site (not necessarily to remember, but they tried so hard). And hard-working. Seven stayed - and they have transformed the vacant plot; asked advice, and followed it. It's been a real joy today - and they worked their little b...s off until well after seven in the evening. They hadn't gone home to eat all day - only to scratch together a set of "tools", or an advance on pocket money to get packets of seed from Netto.
After all the misgivings, I had a great day - and so did they. Now Alan, we need you to pull off the BIG trick; keep them interested!
I ended up staying late too - in between helping them out, I got beetroot, salsify, scorzonera, leeks and spinach sown; a couple of beds forked over and cleaned up; the asparagus bed weeded and more compost added, the garlic and three herb beds cleaned and tidied up. A good day.
Friday, April 5th, 2002
Much colder today - a bitter easterly, straight in from the steppes, it felt like.
The merry band of seven were back, and much more organised; they'd cajoled an "interesting" range of tools and bits and pieces from parents, aunts and uncles - it turns out all seven belong to the same "extended family". They worked even harder - desperate to know how to do things right. And again they stayed until seven in the evening - I even had parents coming over to check out why their kids were so quiet and out of their way.
I ended up staying late again - more broad beans in (I'm trying White Windsor this year); the brassica seed-bed prepared and sown - a bit late for some, early for others, but I'm back to work next week, so they go in when it suits me; and the new strawberry bed tidied up and forked over. Another good day.
Picked the first of the spring cabbages - I'm proud of them, I am! Looking at one of the other plots, (uses weedkiller, slug pellets, chemical fertilisers, the lot), and his spring cabbages are virtually bald stumps; the slugs wreak their revenge! Mine, organic and unprotected, have grown into a beautiful crop. Having said that, next door's slugs will get hungry in the next day or two and head for mine, no doubt.
Sunday, 7th April, 2002
Halla's annuals, Ayman's White Lisbon spring onions, Tamanna's greenshaft peas, red spring onions, pickling onions, and leeks all sown today; the grils' Nicola salad potatoes also went in. Busy day, what with helping out the new kids, and getting in my Alderman peas - I am looking forward to 5 foot high pea vines, like those of my childhood!
Best of the day - the first pick of rhubarb, and my children loved the first "fresh" crumbles of the year.
Sunday, 14th April, 2002
Main crop potatoes in today, turnips, and radishes. Filled up odd spaces in the potato beds with daisies and a row of peas!
The plot is looking VERY dry - I'd hoped that the spits of rain in the evening would turn to something wetter; but nothing came of it, so I suspect I may have to water tomorrow. Turning a hose-pipe on the plot in April? Odd weather, after such a wet spring.
But the big news of today - again the vandals have come through the fence and burned Don and Leslie's huts. Leslie's was his pride and joy. Don's was a picture - submerged under the blossom of a Russian Vine, now no more than a burned stump. Nothing I can say; it puts a gut-heavy damper on the day for everybody.
Sunday, April 21st, 2002
More peas and spinach in today, and a bit of coriander. But spent most of the day watering - the soil is dry, dry, dry, deep down. The "good" weather seems to be slowing everything down - peas and beans only just pushing little green helmets above the surface; no sign of beetroot, leeks or potatoes.
And tried (once again) some carrots - Yellowstone, Parabel, and Flyaway, with a row of Long Red Surrey for the carrot fly to take. I'll put a mesh fence around them tomorrow evening.
Ayman took his homework up to the allotment today. How's that for being keen! On school or the allotment? Well he and his sisters played at being Lara Croft on all sorts of mysterious adventures all afternoon! Better for him than SATS - my story and I'm sticking to it!