Hello again.

It is 2 weeks since my last confession..........................

Not too much activity to report, we have been hampered by the cold and the snow which seem to have put off even the hardiest of gardeners judging by the lack of activity since we last popped by. A little more digging this weekend where we met some new next door neighbours, don't actually know their names but it was their first trip to their little patch during the whole of 2009. What slackers I secretly thought while we discussed the history of inactivity over the years on my own small piece of ground, they stayed for about 45 mins did a little digging, tied up a few canes and as they left they offered up some leftover Curly Kale or Brussels Sprouts. "Help yourself" the lady said as she left, so we did and I enjoyed the first ever Curly Kale I've ever had. Went down very nice with the beef casserole that was simmering away nicely at home.

Back to other matters of progress we fixed the twine that had snapped between our raspberry canes so that's all sorted now. I also managed to follow the instructions for the cloche which is now standing tall and proud over a smallish piece of soil, warming up the ground for whatever we decide to put in it yet.......any ideas anyone????

At home the onion sets are doing us proud (see picture below), it wont be too long before they get dug into the ground, freeing up the trays for the next set, red onions this time, purchased this week from that very fine and well known horticultural store "Wilkinsons" as well as Rhubarb and Garlic. I'm beginning to wonder what I'm going to do with all this stuff when its actually ready to eat. I'm sure I'll think of something.

See you soon.

Hello Followers, (well there was 1 when I looked)

Not too much to report this time, things have been a bit slack down at the grotty garden this week, I haven't been down to check up on the raspberry canes, lets hope they are still merrily growing upwards and onwards. I expect they're in full bush by now, tempting clusters of berries just waiting to be plucked from their stems, bolied up with a little sugar and with the addition of a little pastry turned into a pie. In the real world they are probably as I left them, a few sticks poking out of the ground. Any passing children of a dysfunctional nature would surely rip them out of the ground and turn them into swords and do battle over last years Brussell Sprouts.


Last weekend during a trip to the Range in Colchester I was tempted by another fabulous offer, this time a cloche on offer for a mere tenner, housed in a decrepit old box, reduced down from £30. Yippee, I love a bargain, who doesn't, its still sitting in my lounge, an assemblage of small parts waiting to be put together as we chaps do minus the instructions. When its finally finished and I would add after several rounds of wondering why this but doesnt fit into that bit we can stand there manly, beat our chests and glow with pride at the finished article and scoff at the need for a mere hint of instruction.

To more recent matters I draw the readers attention to the pictures below. Rather than stand around in in the mud pretending to enjoy myself this weekend as 10ft snowdrifts came blowing in from the Arctic I took the opportunity to stay inside for a little internal gardening, namely poking the onion sets into trays of compost. I should add that I didn't actually do this bit, 'er indoors did this while I slaved away in -25C filling up the blinking seed trays with compost. It was not without a hint of irony as I thawed my frostbitten fingers over the radiator she exclaimed "is it cold out there", the cheek of it, she might as well as well have been knocking back champagne by the pool on a summers day eating strawberries.

Anyway with further ado, here is this weeks collection of stunning photographs:














































The final picture shows my greenhouse not the biggest one you'll ever see, but nevertheless an instrumental part in every growers repertoire. From this humble enclosure the greatest vegetables will grow.

The First Crop

A momentous day!! The first crop was dug into the soil, "Autumn Bliss", to lesser beings this means raspberries. They were supposed to go in in November but we've got our fingers crossed that it won't actually matter. Fortunately no "old boys" were on hand to point out the error of our ways, they can have a good laugh at our expense when they next see it. We hammered in a couple of stakes at each side of the plot and my new assistant Amy threaded through some twine on the holes I'd drilled through, it looks OK for a first attempt. While this was going on Tracey continued to get her wellies dirty turning over the wet soil. We used a mix of horse poo and soil improver mixed up in the dug hole.

Progress is shown pictorially below:




"New assistant" Amy tests out her new wellies, bought on the pretext of being needed for the allotment when in fact it is revealed later she is off to the V festival in August and will no doubt need some 'trendy' wellies for the occasion. Good old dad falls for it again. Seen making herself useful with twine and good eyes needed to thread it through the tiny little holes I'd drilled in the stakes.




The finished article, well nearly, my trusty team of trainee "Alans" have done it again, guided by their leader and mentor. Not bad for a couple of beginners.









A steaming pile of horse doings. One of my team stumbled on an ad in gumtree for loads of the stuff and all for free. We popped round there and filled our boots as soon as we could. Thanks Nick.









Finally proof positive that I do in fact do my fair share of the work too, quite happy to get my fingers dirty.

Pictures

This was taken on Saturday 18th Jan and shows progress to date. Note the remains of the couch grass left to scrape away.  See also the proud addition of my compost heap cobbled together with 4 Pallets scrounged from a Builders merchant courtesy of my little brother.  The shed (£75.98 in B&Q) was bought for 20 quid,  a knockdown bargain courtesy of a a major garden centre chain and the rain damaged box it was contained in.  It houses a few tools but nothing of any value in case it gets up and walks away.

You have to look twice at this photo.  Yes its a blonde getting stuck in and getting her hands dirty.  Note the pink gloves, this particular blonde also has an aversion to wellie boots so all in all shes doing quite well really.  Top Girl.

Start 'em young, thats what I say.  Obviously it would be more useful if the young lad here was carrying a spade or a fork instead of a rifle but its a start, at least he's here.

First Visit

29th December 2008

On the first time I ever went to my little patch of soil in a place called Towerfields in Great Baddow I had forgotten my plan which showed me where my plot was located, I knew the number of the plot but as this was not marked out in the site I could not be sure which was mine. I spotted one which was covered in a thick layer of dead twitch grass and hoped and prayed it was not mine.  During my next visit with my plan in hand this time I discovered that the straw-like plot was indeed mine, not a scrap of soil to be seen under a thick carpet of dying grass....oh dear this was all beginning to look like a lot of hard work.

On Monday the 29th December I arrived back at the plot alone with fork and spade in hand and set to work. I'd remembered the combination to the lock for getting myself in but this was not required, the lock had gone and all and sundry could happily make their way and grab whatever they could. To this day the lock is still nowhere to be seen. In complete isolation I got down on hands and knees (no gloves!!) and proceeded to grab handfuls of grass, fortunately at this end of the plot it seemed easy to pull it off the top layer and I soon ended up with a pile of the stuff in the nearest corner