Wimbledon calling

Missed an allotment day yesterday as it was time for Rebecca and I to have our annual trip to Wimbledon (lawn tennis association that is as she goes to the town every day). We have had some queues over the years but nothing like yesterday, more than two hours but it was well worth it. We got in at 6.30 and after wandering around for a bit, settled outselves courtside to watch Fernando Verdasco beat Benjamin Becker (shown here in action) in 5 sets. Very nailbiting to the end as it was 7 games all and Becker served a couple of double of faults to drop his serve. It was so late finishing I think Verdasco won by having better night vision.

Anyway, back to the allotment today, and last night getting home at midnight was nearly matched as we were still gardening at 10pm. Everything is growing beautifully but we both have long arms from carrying so much water. We now have four watering cans so that we can make trips back and forth from the water trough with one in each hand. The potatoes are all in flower and another month we should be digging the main crops. We are going to give the earlies a try this weekend as Katy has already dug down and found one in her spudbins. One bit of good news is that the bird scarer is back in position as you can see. We have planted out 30 broccoli but have not had a chance to finish the brassica cage so have a massive CD collection suspended at the top of the allotment to stop the pigeons eating the lot before we get a look in.

A bit of a photo montage to follow to show how things are doing.

Aubergine. I didn't know what this was as it looked like some sort of diseased growth but it definately is an aubergine.

Plum tomatoes. I am not sure but I think these are called Vintage Wine so they will be a really deep burgundy colour and the packet said they are delicious.

What will be a prize winning giant pumpkin.

Peas. We could pick them now and eat as mange-tout but I think we will let them fill out and split the pods to lovelly little peas.

Yellow courgettes, ready for picking and either cooking or eating raw. There are some red onions that are large enough to pull and a lovely crop of basil so that might be supper tomorrow.

Finally, a medley of goosberry, raspberry and loganberry. There would be more raspberries but we both make an excuse to walk past and eat a few.

It's true what they say

The proof of our success is in the taste, and the beetroot is evidence that we are very successful. We have be told many times that there is nothing like the taste of your own grown veg and it is true. Boiled for 10 mins, the skins rubbed off and eaten slightly warm. Yummy.

Today was the turn of the cucumber. There are so many growing that I decided to cut the first.



I don't know why but I was surprised when I sliced it and it looked like a cucumber inside. The taste was fantastic. Don't worry there will be plenty to go round. In fact I think I am going to have to start searching for cucumber recipes.




It won't be long until we have courgettes. There are both green and yellow and the longest is 5 inches so almost ready for cutting. This yellow one is just over 3 inches. Aparently you can eat the flowers as well by deep frying them, but they look so pretty it seems a shame to pull them off.

The plastic in the bottom right of the photo is its own little feeding bottle. It is a plastic bottle with the bottom cut off and the cap removed and burried top down so that filling the bottle daily gets water right to the roots. Cunning eh.

Rich pickins

We have missed two days at the allotment, due to commitments of a sporting nature, and everything was gasping for water. We also had forgotten about the little smattering of rain on Tuesday night which had made the weeds grow like mad. It was also time to do some thinning of the beetroot and this gave us quite a nice bunch. The beets will be pickled and should fill at least one jar, and the leaves will be boiled as a vegetable accompaniment tomorrow evening.



Plot 53 has come up trumps for pudding, a nice little gooseberry and raspberry crumble I think. A bit more gooseberry than raspberry I must admit but that might be because we couldn't resist doing a taste test on the raspberries.

How could I have missed it

I was stunned today when I was scrabbling around on the floor of the small greenhouse, there staring me in the face was an 8 inch cucumber. It was so well hidden by the big leaves that I had not noticed it before being too interested in the flowers and small ones at the top.

What a difference a week makes

I couldn't believe how much everything had grown in just a week.

Remember those little tomato plants that went into the greenhouse. More like triffids now. Loads of flowers and quite a few tomatoes have set. I sowed some seeds of basil and corriander which I planted around the base of the tomatoes and they are not totally overgrown.

The cabbages and sprouts in their tent are hugh. We have made a start on building the brassica cage. It will cover all four beds at the top of 51, will be 6 ft high at the front and 5ft at the back. This does pose a bit of a proble, as we might have to make a few holes in the roof for the walking stick cabbages to poke through.

The pidgeons have not found their way into the tent yet but they will soon so we can't delay any longer.

I keep forgetting to tell you about the red hot pokers. At the front on 51 there are a few flowers amongst the comfry plants. We have started clearing the comfrey to make space for a cottage garden to set of our entrance nicely (I will try to remember to take some photographs of one of the plots which is half veg and half flowers, it is magnificent). The greatest feature at the moment is a hugh clump of red hot pokers. Unfortunately they are starting to go over a bit but still look magnificent.

The gooseberries on 53 were showing signs of blight but it seems that only one branch is infected so these have been removed and there is a promising crop. This time next week they should be ready for harvesting so get your bids in early.

I must end today on a different note and a sign of how quickly nature takes over. At the other side of the grass area in front of the composting head there is a plot owned by a chap who was taken ill at the end of last year. He has worked a small amount but the other end, where he has fruit trees has been taken over by self seeded poppies. It looks wonderful and just shows what the wind and birds can do.

We've got your number

Great excitement, we have new numbers for all the plots. They really will stand out as well as they are bright yellow (for the benefit of those of you reading in black and white). Ted proudly presented them to us yesterday. Some people have got theirs up already but the decision of where to site them cannot be taken lightly.

The manure

When we had the manure delivered, I didn't ask much about its origin but we have now found a clue as to where it came from. Along with the various sticks and logs we have found a horse shoe.

The pile is going down fast and to quote Alan Titchmarsh 'it smells as sweet as a summer's day'.

I was set a challenge

We had a lovely day out today at the Garden Show 2006 at Stansted House. This was to celebrate Nick's mum's 80th birthday. It was scorching hot and we got there at about 1.30 to a full car park but only a short queue to get in. It was fantastic, there were stalls selling plants, all sorts of gardening accessories, arts, crafts, food and the usual tea tent. To celebrate the event I had to publish this lovely photograph of mother and son.


Anyway, back to that challenge. Last night we were discussing the virtues of Pennyroyal as a plant that keeps away ants. Not one that I knew much about and certainly don't own an example to be able to give it a try. Outside the food tasting tent (where we all had a frozen yoghurt) was a stall selling herbs. In fact there were herbs that I hadn't even heard of. Would you believe it but there, in between the mints and the garlic, was Pennyroyal. I couldn't resist, so here is my purchase from the day. In the back row, from the left we have Pennyroyal, oregano and bronze fennel. In the front row chocolate mint (it smells just like an after eight) and a lemon geranium. So I did meet the challenge by acquiring one within 24 hours.

The Pennyroyal will easily split into three plants so I will distribute among my readers and we will conduct trials as to its powers as an ant deterrent. Surprisingly, it smells quite strongly or peppermint, so if it doesn't work maybe a packet of extra strong mints placed strategically around the patio will be the next trial.

When men get to a certain age

Nick believes that when men get to a certain age they join the local bowls club, get an allotment and start wearing beige.

Well he is convinced that he is not at that stage yet - he goes bowling, grows vegetables organically on a large scale and wears khaki and taupe. What do you think!!!!!

Preparing for judging

The pressure of getting ready for the judges at the end of the month is getting to us. We have been given a list of marking criteria which should help a little but it is still worrying that we may not be ready in time.

Click on the image for a full list to see what we are up against.

Phew what a scorcher

Apologies for the lack of report again. The weekend was work, work, work. I didn't realise how hot it got in the greenhouse. Here is proof. You can also see what a wonderful view it is across the allotment. We have made a start on laying the paths between the beds and a hugh amount of bark chippings are being moved. As well as the paths, we are covering the black plastic sheet around the fruit and I have planted six courgette plants which should give enough courgettes to feed the whole of the northern hemisphere let alone Old Basing, Lychpit and Hartley Wintney.

The walking stick cabbages looked a sorry site but a good soaking and they soon recovered. They are ready to go in the ground and the rate at which they are growing, they are going to need good staking. Shame we didn't grow them last year to give stakes for this year.



We do have a crop other than raddish (which are huge by the way) we now have baby turnips, which are the thinnings from the rows. They are very tasty and ready to be casserolled. We also have loads of salad leaf and will soon have gooseberries as long as the pigeons don't get there first. The tomatoes are setting and there are quite a few tiny ones already.

A turnip

An unexpected harvest

I am very worried that we are running out of space. We still have six sprouts to plant and the leeks need to get in the ground. We made the decision to clear another of the beds at the top which is full of self-setters (potatoes that is). These are some that were not dug up last year by the previous occupants and have sprouted under the ground. It was a surprise to find that, this early in the season that potatoes were forming.

Enough to enjoy with our mixed lettuce and radish salad (all home grown of course) but it is a shame that the raddish are bigger than the potatoes.

p.s. We can confirm the rumour that eating too many raddish gives you wind.

A quiet month on the blog

I realise that there has been more work that reporting in May so today I will make up for it. Another very busy day and this time I remembered the camera, so prepare to be amazed.

The beans and peas are all in. So that we can stagger the harvest we have a mixture of plants and seeds and a mixture of varieties. There are two rows of broad beans, one from plants started in the greenhouse and one row directly planted in the ground. Strangely the beans sown are covered with flowers but only about eight inches tall whereas the others are about 18 inches with not many flowers. Peas are doing well - half plants intercropped with peas. French beans and runner beans the same. I mixed up the labels so there are two varieties of French and four of runner but won't know which until they flower. The potatoe hawk (remember him) is still working well at keeping the pigeons away. Twiggy sticks support the peas, chichen wire for the broad beans, netting for the French beans and a reconstruction of the hanging gardens of Babylon for the Runner beans.

The cabbages and sproats have joined the Boy Scout movement to stop the pigeons eating their tops out and I am hoping that they are going to turn out to be very good for the brain as the CDs on the ends of their tents are supplied by the Open University. They do look like very happy brassicas.



Moving down to the main beds below the little greenhouse. The fig and kiwi are growning well, the onions have really benefitted from all the rain, we have radishes, parsnips and turnips, chard and carrots, the bed with 109 gladioli and the one at the bottom which has lettuce, more onions and more carrots. On the left we have main crop potatoes (desire of course) and below that the fruit bed. At the moment the paths are still marked by green string but we have compacted them enough that the ground cover and wood chippings are going down. Since this photograph was taken I have planted four climbing outdoor cucumbers donated by Baptista. He is under the impression that he talks perfect English but we know otherwise. Between us we managed to translate his Italian into climbing outdoor cucumbers (not bad as neither of us speak Italian). We are most greatful for his contribution. The plum tree he gave us in March is growing well and he is always asking after our bambina as he calls Katy.

I bet you are wondering how the tomatoes are doing in the greenhouse. Well, wonder no more. They are growing like mad and covered in flowers. I have planted basil and corriander in the border underneath them so the smell when you open the door is quite mouthwatering.

The bottles on top of the canes are for protection as it would be easy to take your eye out on one of those things.





I never really occured to me that they would be anything other than plants that had started off as seeds in pots on the bedroom windowsill so they excitment was almost too much to stand when the first tomatoe was spotted. It is about the size of a large marble at the moment but that is not the point, it is the first of many I am sure and it will soon grow and ripen.


On a slightly different note, I think we must be getting something wrong in this allotmenteering game. Everybody else goes home mid-afternoon looking relaxed like they have just had a stroll in the park but we are still grafting at 9.30 at night and look like a couple of hippos who have had a good day wallowing in the mud and are hardly about to walk through exhaustion. What are we doing wrong I wonder!

A very busy week

It really has been a very busy week, despite the rain we have had two evenings of hard work. The ground is nice and soft so the weeds pull out easily. We have all but emptied the small greenhouse and everything going in the ground - french beans, runner beans, cabbages and sprouts. The winter veg seeds have been sown in the seed bed and the raddishes are still being thinned as the parsnips are starting to germinate.

The big news of the week is that we have been entered into the Hampshire Allotment of the Year competition. I think we might be in with a chance if it was Basingstoke but to be county champions is pushing it a bit. Aparantly, you do get extra points for it being your first year so who knows!

Can't go out to play

Even though it has rained all day, it was not going to stop the Sunday trip to the allotment. We made some grow bags out of rubble sacks, filled with compost and then stapled at the end. Now that the beans are ready to be moved out of the little greenhouse we can fit six grow bags in there with four tomatoes in each, that makes lots of tomatoes. They really were looking very tired and limp on the kitchen window sill so they have moved to their new home quite happily. It also means that we no longer need to have the light on in the kitchen and daylight floods in again.

Unfortunately, the sprouts and cabbages have had to stay confined as it was just too muddy. No hoeing either so the only other thing to do was potter in the greenhouse. Or sit and balance a hanging basket on your head. Which ever takes your fancy.

Another exciting thing happened today (not allotment related); we have a dove nesting in the clematis outside the kitchen window. We haven't noticed it before due to the curtain of tomatoes blocking the view. All day long it has been going back and forth with twigs in its mouth in and out of the hold it has made. Good in one way that we will be able to watch its comings and going, bad in two ways, we will have to make sure that the cats don't take a liking to baby doves, and we will need to put a bird toilet on the ground or the lavender will not be smelling as sweet as last year.








The title of today's entry is not strictly true. We did have an exciting start to the day when we got up and out at 10am to go to the OBAGS (Old Basing Allotment Gardeners Society) plant sale. We splashed out on membership at £2 for the year, which was well worth it as we can use the shop, which is open every Sunday from 10am-12 noon, for great prices on all sorts of essentials such as blood, fish and bone, grit, canes, fleece and much much more, at greatly reduced prices. We treated outselves to a hanging basket complete with liner and two trailing toms (another £2 for the lot) a couple of garden plants and a lemon grass. It was also a chance to catch up on the news from our great friend Len Brickell (fellow bowler) who runs the shop now that he can't manage to garden. Still rolls a mean bowl though!

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Almost forgot the really big news of the day - you remember the walking stick cabbage, they have germinated and we have more than I expected. In fact, I think we have enought to give everybody a walking stick, make a deep bear trap and create an avenue as an entrance to the allotment. The bad news is that they are no longer on special offer, so if you missed buying them, you will have to pay the full £1.99.

What do you think of those boys?

I don't know if you remember me telling you about the marker raddish, well they have well and truly marked. Time to start thinning and we were shocked at what a magnificent crop we had. This is just the first thinning - loads more to come.

Shown here with a 20p to show you how big they really are.

It is a shame the village show is not soon as I think we would have a great contender for the funny shaped vegetable category.

p.s. the parsnips are starting to germinate which is what the raddish is all about.

Yes we will have tomatoes

Yesterday was Katy's birthday and she had a lovely day out and we had a lovely evening and a BBQ. Back to the allotment today with lots of excitment.

There are flowers on the tomatoes and the peppers in the greenhouse are growing like mad. We have five cantelope melon seeds that have germinated as well as four giant pumpkins, five of each yellow and green courgettes.

Carrots are appearing as well as turnips and parsnips. Onions are growing like mad but still no sign of chard. The maincrop potatoes are finally peeping above the ground. In the bean bed the broad beans and peas are doing well and I think it may now be safe to put out the runner beans which are hugh in the little greenhouse. The french beans have been nibbled by something so time for them to face the big outside world as well.

The first lot of staging has gone into the greenhouse. It was touch and go whether it would fit throught the door but it made it by a whisker and looks great and is as high as a kitchen worktop so no back breaking working on the ground any more.