26 November 2007 - An ad

We are pleased to report that other members of the family have seen the benefits that blogging can bring in the way of collective information sharing and the fostering of debate - our brother-in-law Daren in Toronto has begun his own blog. It deals with far more elevated matters than ours, such as the televising of baseball and the role of lawyers in a free and democratic society. We thought our readers, especially the lawyers, might benefit from access to this more intellectual fodder as an aid to rumination. So get on the elevator by following the link below - meantime, we'll continue with the ground-level stuff this end.

http://www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/daren_foster.html

19 & 25 November 2007 - Bed the second

This is a two part post. First, we forgot to post last Sunday's (19 November) labours, probably because they were pretty mundane. We took up the compost that had been "brewing" in our rotating composter and K womanfully emptied all of it out to mix with the stuff that was already in situ in the "Dalek" compost container. N got on with preparing the wood for the second bed and digging the trench, an activity which has become almost second nature. Very pleasing seeing that the old stuff was almost completely rotted down to dark crumbly organic matter. We did not do more on the plot because we had exciting bulb planting activity in our actual garden.

We had a late-morning start at the allotment (25 Nov), but completed the trench for the walls of our second proper bed. Then much screwing of the walls and, kerplunk, our second bed. Now the interior needs double-digging, with incorporation of our compost and perhaps some manure. Maybe worms, too. It's the clay-ey-est corner of the plot, and needs breaking up. The clods we dig up are white and lead us to speculate on the age-old mystery of what happens to old dog poo when it goes white - how come we never see it no more?

Dug up three (collective noun - heads) of celery, which have never really approached the majesty of commercial celery. A bit small, thick veins - lack of or too much water - hard to know what went wrong. However, at the end of the day, after much washing at home, it was transformed into soup. Delicious. And sampling a raw stalk led us to conclude that it was finally reaching its zenith. We find out from books that celery is all the better for having been bit by the November frosts we have had. We also harvested sprouts for dinner, which are boiling now. They too also benefit from the frost.

We anticipate much help from N's brother Andrew next weekend, and Andrew and Tim (the Australian Nephew) the following weekend. Perhaps crack the Fruit Cage. The plot now looks sleepy and autumnal, apart from the sprout plants and the celery. The overwintering onions are showing very willing (we have a picture but it is very hard to decipher the growth in these small pictures so won't bore you with it) and the raspberries have finally packed up their bags - we have to cut them down almost to nothing in the spring. Nothing yet showing for the Elephant Garlic but it has been mighty cold of late, with proper frosts and everything.

So few hours of daylight these days. Zzzzzzz.

11 November - Taking Stock

We start this post by apologising profusely to all our readers who will no doubt be wondering why we haven't been keeping them up to date with the exciting developments on the plot. There are several reasons for this, all of them valid and some may say, extenuating. We have had a HOLIDAY - gasp - away from this country for some 10 days. We also had a housewarming party the weekend after we returned. There is also the Autumn Equinox factor. When you are busy 9-5ers like us, and the clock goes back so all of a sudden no weekday visits are possible, time suddenly becomes a premium commodity. Coupled with the distractions mentioned above, it is really no wonder that we have let things slip on the blogging front. (A minor complication has been the recalibration etc of various home computing issues which has not helped. Hence you will not be getting any videos for a wee while.) Oh and the guests, as the long-awaited picture of Simon, Ruth and Gemma above will testify. They visited back on 13 October! (It goes without saying that while guests are lovely, less time is spent on actually doing anything do the plot.) Anyway, here is a picture of S, R & G with our hearfelt apologies for not getting it up sooner - it's not that we hate you, honest

The plot today looked rather sad and tired and we suspect glad to see us. Our gate had been broken open, we suspect by vandals, though no other significant damage was done. K started on the autumnal clearing up of the plot, whilst N embarked on an exciting Spring project, the planting of daffodill bulbs on the raised bank running alongside the plot. The remaining strands of the once magnificant pumpkin plant are now composted, as are the dead peas. The speedy leeks (note - spring onions really) and remaining carrots were harvested. The bed that they were in (Bed A? I lose track of our nomenclature) is now covered with black plastic, and the edges of the plot that bounds our neighbours we have carpeted to squish weeds.

The one good pumpkin we had, by the way, played an important part in our housewarming party. It was carved and lit - and indeed made the most comforting soup you can imagine. The other pumpkins all fell to rot and went soggy.

We started on the next raised bed - in the corner next to the compost pile where the pumpkin was growing. The black plastic was ceremoniously raised to reveal a fairly unpleasant looking muddy surface with brown debris of the dead weeks. This area we will dig soon, but want to see if the weeds come up in the next few days. N has begun making the wooden walls. A good start to that end of the plot. The pumpkin compost heap was covered in black plastic, as covered in grass and weeds, and carpet. When it has died down, we will use it to fill the beds.

K planted the overwintering onions in the first raised bed on 15 October. They look to be thriving and in the other half of the bed, we have planted Giant Garlic. It is the chunkiest bulb you have ever seen and apparently grow enormous plants with beautiful allium heads. Here is a picture of K holding just one of the CLOVES! In the spring, the rest of our garlic, Solent White, will be planted. (Both these were bought at St Albans Farmers Market.)

In the other remaining bed, the celery still continues, but we are beginning to wonder when it will ever be ready. The stalks are thin and green and not especially cerely-y. We had our first taste of the Brussel sprouts for dinner today, and anticipate more, even though the top leaves of the big plant resemble green lacework thanks to what our allotment neighbour thinks are whitefly. Raspberries are stilll coming.

Chatted to two of our allotment neighbours today, one of whom had an improvement notice served on him by the council! A lesson for us all. The other one (the Perfect Plot) has a very fine strawberry bed established and was digging in mushroom compost into one of his beds. Humph.

We had an allotment lunch, and at the end of our time, took a while to sit and contemplate the plot and its lovely environment. Up to four robins sang to us, perched hopefully on spades and flitted off again. Cows mooed in the neighbouring field. All in all, it's good to be back on the plot.

Weather note: sunny and cloudy. Warm enough to work in shirtsleeves but not for too long.