19 September 2011 - Those trophy pictures in full

Quinquennial review

Those of you with long memories will realise that this year's annual show was our fifth.

The Working Party on Key Performance Metrics (Annual Show) has conducted an analysis of the entries and results over the five-year period.

2007

• one entry
• one 2nd Prize
• 30p profit
  

2008

• four entries
• one 2nd Prize, two 3rd Prizes
• 30p loss
  

2009

• seven entries
• two 1st Prizes, one 2nd Prize, two 3rd Prizes
• 110p profit
  

2010

• seven entries
• two 2nd Prizes, one 3rd Prize
• 40p loss
  

2011

• five entries
• two 1st Prizes, including MacMillan Trophy, one Highly Commended
  
• 100p profit
  

Cumulative

• 24 entries
• four 1st Prizes, including one MacMillan Trophy, five 2nd Prizes, five 3rd Prizes, one Highly Commended
  
• 170p profit (although it should be stressed that we're not in it for the money)

Categories

• potatoes: one 1st Prize (heaviest), one 2nd Prize (Novice)
• onions from seed: one 2nd Prize
• garlic: two 1st Prizes, including MacMillan Trophy, one 3rd Prize, one 3rd Prize (Novice)
• apples: one 3rd Prize (Novice)
• courgettes (zucchini): one 3rd Prize
• tomatoes: one 1st Prize (Novice)
• raspberries: one 2nd Prize, one 2nd Prize (Novice), one Highly Commended
• hand-knit jumper (sweater): one 3rd Prize
• any other vegetable: one 2nd Prize (borlotti)

Trophy wife

I know we've left the blog alone for a bit, but here's some news: at today's St Stephens Gardening Club Annual Show – our fifth, more anon – we won a trophy!

This year's results in full:

• coloured potatoes (5) – no prize, but a Post-It Note read: "beautiful potatoes – a bit large for exhibition"

• heaviest potato (998 grams) – 1st Prize!

• garlic (5) – 1st Prize and (get this) MacMillan Trophy for best exhibit in Class 1 (vegetables)!

• raspberries (12) – Highly Commended
  

• chard – nothing.

Our victory and trophy are all down to K's masterful arrangement of the garlic. It's our first – but not our last – trophy. Very exciting. We're on the road to the Big Time.

Picture of the happy couple to follow.

30 January 2011 - Shaping up

Today we did some good preparation for the season ahead. 2 good hours - the longest we have spent on the plot for what seems like months! Very invigorating and good to reconnect with our little patch of earth

The beds with green manure have all now been dug over and extra manure added if appropriate. The carrot bed had all our left over growbags dumped in it. We hope this will give our roots the conditions they need. Note - parsnips too, as they fork if the ground is too rich. Another bed doomed to grow brassicas was limed and similarly dug through. Two beds are now covered in plastic to warm them up.

N did his pruning thang with the apple trees (note - we shall wrap them up once they start budding to avoid the disaster of late frost last year). After pondering he left the plum and cherry just in case this is not the right time of year for them. He dug up two very invasive raspberries to donate to our new allotmenteers, Chris and Dave, and cut down the remaining plants to the ground.

Our potatoes, purchased in Ayletts, are starting to chit. This year we are growing Sarpo Mira x 10, Sante x 10 and King Edward x 10 (maincrop), Anya x 5 (second early) and Arran Pilot again x 5, Rocket x 10 (first early). I shall post a picture of them chitting for your viewing pleasure.

The mousetraps continue to trap the pesky vermin and - sadly - we suspect one robin.

No sign yet of the garlic we planted recently and the strange old garlic is looking good.

Weather note: cool and cloudy, not unpleasant. Not anywhere near Spring-like that. We hunker down and hope.

2 January 2011 - Happy New Year y'all

Happy New Year - and here's to another great year of growing (some) fab produce.

This is by way of a Note for the Archive really rather than a genuine Blog. It is to record that we planted the garlic today - 56 Solent White (Bed 9), 13 Elephant (stalking along on the bank) and 18 Large Solent White (Bed 5). And the strange mutant garlic from yesteryear is still going. We are a little afraid of what it might become.

Weather note: somewhat less cold (a balmy 3 degrees) and cloudy.

Kill record: 3 more stiff little bodies to collect - yay!

December 2010 - Deep and crisp and even

Well it has been a long time. Festive greetings and a Happy New Year to all our readers!! We have been distracted by the Downstairs Improvement Project over 6 weeks in October/November during which time we more or less left the plot to its own late autumnal devices, having done the requisite sowing of green manure and plonking of real stuff on appropriate beds. It does show our growing confidence with the plot, that we can let it be for a while without panicking. We did of course pop up and avail ourselves of produce as and when required - kale, cabbage, leek and parsnips.

And then the snow came. On Saturday 17 December there was a blizzard for about 4 hours in St Albans. Traffic came to a halt and the main roads were blocked by stranded vehicles. And the allotment became a place of magic, our very own Narnia. We went up the next day and we were the first to go there after the snow, as was evident by the complete lack of tracks, other than those of rabbit or bird.

After marvelling at the transformation, we managed to find ourselves a little winter harvest - miraculous isn't it - that snow and ice can fall and yet some vegetables can still be found. Our ancestors of course had to deal with this on a far more perilous basis. We have also been eating and enjoying our potatoes, squash and garlic as per usual. And had our first dried beans yesterday.

The cold weather has been with us for some weeks now, the temperature hovering around 0 degrees, and it hasn't really inspired us to get on with our usual tasks. We have garlic to plant and beds to reinforce, the shed to clear and tools to clean.

Just after Christmas we had a very welcome visit from my friend and colleague (and some say one of the wise men) Joseph. He is the first from my place of work to witness our pride and joy. The plot looks somewhat shabby and sorry for itself at the moment, various things having died or grimly carrying on. The leeks especially seem determined to keep up appearances. I think - and hope - that Joseph was genuinely impressed with what he saw. He asked the odd intelligent question and seemed happy to pose with a garden implement for the blog. He certainly appreciated the home-cooked produce the night before - a stunning Spanish pumpkin soup, followed by shoulder of lamb with garlic, potatoes and peas. I attempted a raspberry and blackberry fool which refused to set - but was drunk nonetheless with appreciation by the guestage.

We realise that the Downstairs Improvement Project has prevented us from the usual excitement of ordering seeds and potatoes. We will get on the case - because no matter what the weather throws at us in between, spring will come and we must continue our great endeavour.

Pest control note: Many mice have been caught. Most pleasing. Especially as one of the parsnips clearly had been nibbled.

24 October 2010 - Beans and stuff

And so dear reader the mighty Tower of Borlotti was finally laid low and the runner beans dismantled as we had the first sharp frost of the year. We picked a lot of pods and then - fatal error - took out the beans. Unfortunately some of the beans got rotten very quickly afterwards and had to be jettisoned. We now know that you leave the beans in the pods as long as possible and dry the pods first. We are trying to dry out the remainder. The trouble is that they are nice and moist in the pod, and that liquid is very hard to dry off. It is quite viscous. Never mind, we have learnt the hard way.

Last weekend I sowed a couple of row of turnips - apparently the leaves make nice green veg. No sign as yet.

You will be relieved to hear that we found the garden book with the proposed plan for next year. So there is rotation and scope for innovation too. We want to try brassicas in two places - covered and not covered - and see how things go. Here is the list for next year for posterity.
Bed 1 - carrots, parsnips, leeks, shallots (no manure)
Bed 2 - potatoes (no manure)
Bed 3 - corn, courgette, beans etc (manure)
Bed 4 - brassica (manure and lime)
Bed 5 - in two sections - brassica and peas, squash, onions, garlic and corn (manure/manure and lime)
Bed 6 - onion, spring onion, celery (manure)
Bed 7 - strawberries
Bed 8 - undecided (Others or Brassica) (manure)
Bed 9 - garlic (no manure)
Bed 10 - undecided (Others) (manure)

Whether to manure or not is quite complex. We have already described the green manure strategy. More green manure was sown (Bed 4) and we planted a few little chard seedlings which had been started in the greenhouse. The brassicas are looking very good in their enclosure apart from the bloody White Fly which I spray futilely with organic spray.

The mysterious garlic is going great guns, as you can see. It is very odd but at least we now only have to buy one lot of garlic. We think Solent White again, as it is so very good and keeps well.

We also ponder the compost situation. We have acquired a great mass of dying left-over plants which are not going to rot quickly. Next weekend we are going to make some adjustments which will mean covering the open section so it rots down quicker, and that we have better access to the stuff which is in the compost container. Another load of kitchen stuff will be taken up and added to the mix.

A lovely time on the plot. This time of year is quite special. We still consume produce (broccoli, celery, cabbage, beans) but it is definitely slowing down. We are on the cusp of Hallowe'en and even the weeds are looking sleepier. We are donated 2 lovely Cos lettuces by Jan and Pat and march home laden with good things - including a Monster Parsnip destined for lunch. We are thrilled by the size of it. Some things definitely do work out in the end.