What's happening in Hampshire

After the update from Kent, I realise why it is called the garden of England, but here is an update from us in the different time zone of Hampshire. We certainly seem to be 1-2 weeks behind in development.

I must start this edition by saying that one of the major failings I have is forgetting to take the camera to the allotment so these photos were taken with my Blackberry, so apologies for the quality.

The willow is really taking off now. Or at least the first row is, the others are coming along slowly. One of the issues that we have is lack of water. Although we have had some rain recently, willow likes moisture, so I think we are going to have to start watering.






The willow that is in pots until I find a place to put them is growing wonderfully. There are two twisted willow that I intend to put in pots in the garden as I think it will look a lovely feature in the autumn and winter.




After the success and popularity of the hamster ball, we have invested in another so that we can have double the amount of barley straw. The ducks seem to love playing water polo with the balls as they move them around the pond. The turf that we got from B&Q and added to from digging up the lawn at home, is growing well, but like the willow could really benefit from a good downpour so that we don't have to keep watering it.



Great excitement today when I found some lovely white flowers on the peas. I really hope that the birds and pea moth don't get to them before we do.





Another job that I did this week was to strip the infected leaves from the peach tree. Since planting we have had a bad case of peach leaf curl so the advice from Bob Flowerdew is to strip off all infected leaves. This exercise showed that under the horrible leaves there were able 30 peaches growing. I am not sure if they will stay on the tree, but it is now going to get dail attention and regular watering.




Another excitement after the total failure last year, is that we have loads of parsnip that have germinated. I have great hopes for a lovely tasty crop in December. It does seem a long time away but they really will benefit from a frosting. I am doing rain dances now, but will be doing frost dances in November/December to sweeten the parsnips.

I find crops that grow out of sight so exciting as, until you dig them you have no idea how they are doing. Most of the time they are forked and split but I have great hopes for this year as we have dug deeper and cleared more stones than ever before.



At the Tonbrdige Garden Fayre, Nick found a bargain. A goji berry plant for £4. According to Bob, they love poor soil and neglect so a perfect plant for us. Watch this space for updates on this super food. It has pride of place in the circus tent and I am sure we will be the envy of all other allotmenteers.

I am sure we are the topic of conversation with many at the moment due to the construction so I am sure ther eis a regular audience looking in to see what is happening inside.



We got a shock yesterday whe nwe found that Fennel had gone Kate Moss on us and picked up the latest fashion trend for ducks. She had a lovely neckless which thankfully was big enough not to be strangling her. A couple of days ago, I had lost my hair tie and Fennel had found it. I know that it was very old and stretched but I don't know how she found it and got it over her head.

It was another case of 'first catch you duck' as we had to chase her to get it back. She must have felt quite naked without it but we can't let her be a diva.


There are some among you who doubted the term 'figlets'. You may remember a couple of years ago, Katy got me a fig tree for mothers day. Last year we had a couple of figs, but this year it managed to hold on to some of the small figs from last year and they are developing well.

All I need to do now is plant a pastry tree next to it and we will be able to make our own fig rolls.



Having been given a lovely tea-pot stand at the weekend (photo to follow) it got me thinking about the appropriateness of our teapot. It is too but, too boring and too un-duck. So, in desperate need of some retail therapy, I logged on to ebay.

This is our new teapot. Ideal of two or for one person working from home, who likes to drink tea.




On the subject of ducks, we have a now sign on the gate to 53. A warning to all entering and it really is a warning that should not be ignored. I am constantly amazed how much comes out of the rear end of 10 ducks.






Next to the peas are the broad beans. Having lost the total crop planted in the autumn, when mice decided that their need was greater than ours, I resowed in the spring. Better late than never and it shouldn't be long before we have a crop. Later than in Kent but still worth waiting for.








Last but not least (and getting dark by this time) - artichokes. The plant is like a trifid and there is at least one choke forming so I am expecting a good crop this year.

In the foreground is the globe artichoke and in the background the Jerusalem artichokes which give a lovely late alternative to potatoes and should see us through the winter again.