My allotment - May - successes and problems

End of May and the ground is rock solid

Well the only part of my allotment which is workable is that which I dug over during last late summer and autumn. Of course, the advice is always to dig in autumn to allow the winter frosts to break up the soil. This has not been so obvious every year. In some years spring digging is fine. But, really I just don’t have the energy to do that amount of digging on the days when digging is a suitable activity during the autumn months. On my heavy clay ground, I have to catch it between heavy rain which turns the ground to mud, and long dry spells which ‘bake’ the ground.

Of course, as I’ve said before, although the plot I work can be difficult, it is also very fertile and very suitable for brassicas, which are my favourite vegetables.

Talking of brassicas, I see today that my brassica bed – well fertilised, well protected [I have good net over the whole plot of approx. 5metres by 10metres] I can easily get into this ‘cage’ to weed and tend my baby plants. On checking today, I see that my plants have been inundated with Flea Beetle. These tiny, shiny, black beetles just love brassicas. They are called ‘Flea beetles’ because they jump out of our way as soon as they see us coming and are about the same size as fleas [cat fleas, dog fleas – you name it] but, they are not fleas. Usually, if the infestation is not too great, the plants will outgrow the attack but, on allotments, where they are endemic, they can cause serious damage. Today, I have sprayed with SB Plant Invigorator, my favourite plant treatment. |I have expressed my concerns about this substance before and have been reassured that the active ingredient is Urea – I really don’t know how this works as an insecticide – perhaps it just strengthens the plants and enables them to fight off the pests and diseases by themselves – whatever, the effect seems to be compelling].

Continuing on the brassica theme, while I was treating my plants for flea beetle, I see that many of my All Year Round cauliflowers have started to ‘heart up’ – tiny, button sized heads which are totally useless. Of course, during the last few weeks, while the ground has dried out and split open from drought, these plants should have been regularly watered. As I manage my large allotment on my own, watering brassicas [like potatoes] did not even feature on my watering schedule. It is just one of those losses I have to be prepared to take.

So far, this blog sounds like a whinge, that is not intended. What I want to put across is that, in each year, there are difficulties and successes. Whatever the weather, something is succeeding and growing on, providing a crop which we can enjoy. This may not have been the crop we have dreamed of but, something else has been a huge success.

My daughter told me [and she is in London with somewhat more promising conditions than my south west plot], that she had just picked her first broad beans from her plot. So, I decided to have a closer look at my own bean plot and, yes, I have managed to harvest enough beans for dinner but, they are still a little on the small side. My daughter is using a great recipe for Hummous made from broad beans from ‘River Cottage Veg everyday’ by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Great book!

I have been finding homes for my vast quantities of squashes and pumpkins. Of course, I feel a bit possessive and clingy about my squash and pumpkin plants. I am giving many plants away but, I still find it difficult to part with them. I think I have now planted out at least 15 plants and am still looking for homes for a few more different varieties. I do have areas in my ‘herb/flower’ section which is not well used. Of course I will have to fight off the mint invasion but, that is another issue.

Yet again, the dreadful red-ant invasion has struck in my poly tunnel and in several places in my potato ridges. I am losing mature plants in my polytunnel and mature plants outdoors in my potato ridges. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

More later!

Dealing with the Drought

A plotholder making his way home after a morning on his field. Donkey Lane - what a beautiful, peaceful image in the middle of the city. It has been sugggested that Donkey Lane ( Dead Man's Lane) is the original, ancient highway into Bristol from the north. And what a delight it is!

Dealing with the Drought

Well for our part of the country, in fact for most of the UK, April has been the warmest on record and the driest for 30 years. It seems, in Bristol, we’ve had 3mm of rain, during a month we expect to be and plan for being a sunny but wet month, just warming up after winter. This year we’ve had temperatures higher than many summers. In Surrey, in the south of England temperatures reached in excess of 28°c.

This is wonderful. After such a harsh and damaging winter, haven’t we just loved getting up in the morning to guaranteed sunshine? Well! It didn’t happen on the day a friend and I planned to sell at a car-boot sale - last Sunday. It rained the night before.

Poor onions, growing on in spite of the harsh drying conditions. I'm surprised they haven't fallen down the 'crevases' 

   And my struggling thyme plants - just as  well thyme is happy in dry conditions - up to a point!

I knew before I got up because one of my cats crept into bed beside me in the still-dark hours of morning very wet and muddy – and I had just changed my bedclothes the day before! But, we were brave and set off as planned at 6.30am. It had stopped raining though, it was overcast and that persistent, biting east wind we have had for some time now was blowing straight onto the site we were allocated. We didn’t sell too much, more-or-less covered our costs. We did sell three fleeces – to ourselves! Lol! We packed up and left by 10.00am, chilled to the bone. It was our first experience of car-boot sales – and our last.

However, when I got back from the sale and warmed up, it was back to the plot for a further round of watering. This has become a daily job – dare I say ‘grind’. I spend 2 – 3 hours each day carrying water to seedbeds, my polytunnel and a couple of beds of transplanted brassicas.

The interesting aspects of this are that the earlier transplanted lettuces and Romanesco caulis are doing okay with their daily watering. They even get by without for a day or two. However, those, more recently planted – three weeks ago - have made no progress whatever. My seed beds, especially carrot seedbeds have gradually lost a number of plants which had originally germinated, I’d estimate about 50% loss. I’m guessing to pigeons and possibly slugs – though there are not too many of them this year.

                                                   I managed with heavy watering to erect my bean poles but, how, in ground like this, without rain, do I plant out my beans?

Talking about pigeons – they are struggling now. They, like other birds – robins, blackbirds, sparrows(already a threatened species), dunnocks, wrens - are probably already trying to feed their first chicks of the year but, must be struggling to find food for them and, more importantly – water! For those birds that eat worms and other ground insects, they have no chance of finding a meal as the worms are well underground. I can’t feed birds at home as I have four cats but, I do take food to the plot each day for the birds and have now left tubs of water for them, especially for the little birds that can’t access the tanks. In many ways these conditions are harder for the birds than a harsh winter as they do have their chicks to feed and the usual number of insects is not available.

 

Birds struggling to find food.

This is one of my regulars waiting 

for today's food 






 

For our plot site the cost of water is the biggest item on our annual expenditure as we are on a metered supply. Last year, following a particularly dry May, the water bill exceeded all previous years. Already, at the beginning of May, I can see that we will have a record breaking bill for water.

So far, my Blog has been very negative. There are, of course positives and not just the relative stuff – we are so much better off than commercial growers, for example. Although the dry April has been something of a challenge, the productive year can still be excellent. For crops we need it to rain enough to keep the ground well watered. We also want lots of sunshine in between to encourage the crops to grow. Raining at night-time would be good so that we can enjoy the sunshine during the day and, while we are at it, can we have those conditions for the rest of the year – possibly until December, when we would like a bit of snow for the few days around Christmas. Thank You in anticipation!