Saturday 8th February, 2003

It was good to get up to the plot this afternoon - and get some honest toil done!   We broke into the main compost heap, and started barrowing it into the beds.   And got a couple of bags of mushroom compost dug in - beautiful stuff, rich and dark like my favourite chocolate.

Such a pleasant change to be able to spend a few hours, and DO something, have a couple of beautiful looking beds ready for spring.   January was so wet, I was only dashing up to grab a few roots and sprouts.

We're still harvesting the Noisette sprouts - and have been since early November.   I found a Romanesco head just starting to form - I'd assumed it was as tender as calabrese, but it obviously is not; so there's another pleasure awaiting us in a week or two.   The leeks are doing well.   The garlic hasn't rotted in the wet winter, and is coming through strong; same goes for the Japanese onions.

The rhubarb I salvaged and split up seems to have taken well.   Now there's a problem to look forward to next year - how are we going to eat it all!

The only slight disappointment is Halla's peas - Feltham Firsts; there are a few well-fed pigeons around, I guess!

And back home to a large pot of parsnip, leek and apple soup!   What more could I ask of a winter's afternoon?

Friday 21st February, 2003

Grit teeth . . . . count to ten . . . . several times . . . . and then, just about, start to see the funny side.   Three "magnificent" Bedford Fillbasket sprout plants - smashed; they were the tallest, and bursting with greenery.   Just as well the sprouts had indeed burst!

But to the b.....s who've "visited" this week, they were a fine target - much better than the smaller Noisette, unharmed, from which we harvested the last sprouts today!

But one of the Romanesco - a beautiful head, cut off and trampled in the bed; the kales - disappeared; a dozen leeks - trashed; a couple of swedes - dug up and used as footballs; water barrels - couped over.

And that's just our plot.   Others have lost leeks, cabbages, onions.

The frosts the last few days were too hard for any of the allotment people to bother coming up, as the soil was frozen solid - but not cold enough for some of the local kids on half-term holiday.   They've been "enjoying themselves"; some had even tried to run a "twocked" car through the fence.

Nuff said.   I needed a good afternoon's work to get some equilibrium back - barrowing compost, clearing the brassica bed, forking over beds to get them ready for spring.   Very interesting - last year, I was turning over loads of slug eggs, but this year saw hardly any; expectant robins weren't so well fed this time round.   I wonder what that means for the rest of the year?

Anyway, that's almost half our ground ready and looking good.

Saturday, 22nd February, 2003

Wow!   A bit like winter sales, today.   Or like an old-fashioned jumble sale - but the elbows were much gentler!

We went over to Saltaire for the Potato Day organised by W Yorks Organic Group.   And there was a huge crowd; queuing to get in, and jostling to get near the tables.   A bit of tulip fever - except that each seed potato was only 10 pence!

We could easily have bought all our year's seed, instead of ordering - but we've come away with just a few Pink Fir Apple, Belle de Fontenay, Duke of York (white, not the red I like so much), Cara, Kerr's Pink (I remember my mum and dad growing these), Yukon Gold, and Franceline (a red, bred from Charlotte).   All new to us, and a good way of trying out lots of varieties, to see whether they they suit our plot and its particularities.

I hope it's been worth it for the WYOG, because next year I'm planning to buy at least half my seed there; I might not be able to get them chitted, however.

And this year?   For three seasons, I've grown too many potatoes - and this year is going to be even "worse"!   We are suckers!   But I did enjoy the way Tamanna and Halla got so involved in hunting down varieties we wanted, and being so organised about actually buying them - lots of empty envelopes, and little notes to record each variety.

But I must get clamps sorted out this autumn - winter has been so mild, that my stored potatoes have sprouted even earlier; I doubt whether I'll be able to keep them usable to the end of March, as I've been used to.

Monday, 24th February, 2003

So I've lost my voice, and have the day off work; popped up to the allotment with the spade and got stuck in.   Still silent tonight - but feeling a lot better for a long day well spent.

Finished off one half-plot - it is ready for the warmer weather; cleaned, compost forked in.   And I've had the chance to do a couple of big jobs - the kind that are always something needing done, but there's always something else more urgent.

With wasting so much time last year on clearing the potato beds, we allowed the beds to "grow organically" - all higgledy-piggledy, not a straight path anywhere.   Not a problem, surely ----------- until you try pushing a laden barrow through the plot, or dragging a heavy hose around for watering.   We now have a "motorway" straight down the middle.

And I've substantially cleared the last really wild corner - where brambles and nettles were trying hard to take over.   I've cleared them back a good six feet, so we have another small bed, and, I hope, an "exclusion zone."   I wonder how long that will last?

A bit strange though.   A murmur of starlings was very active all day - either in the beech trees, or down within the overgrown part of the site.   And blue tits (I think - I'm not good on bird calls) singing their hearts out in Carl's cherry tree.   No sign of the winter thrushes - but they are probably on their way north for summer.   But ... no sign of robins, blackbirds, or sparrows?   Hope the cold spell didn't hit them too hard.

Wednesday, 26th February, 2003

Well, that was a very pleasant five minutes; two days extraordinarily hard work went into that TV programme.   It came out really nicely, and the kids are pleased with it too.