Category: Flighty’s plot

It was a nice morning so I was on the plot before nine and had the place to myself, with even most of the birds having a lie in.

I’d planted some crocus last autumn and I was greeted by this golden glow.

Aren’t they lovely? There’s more to come, and the daffodils won’t be long either!

Plot neighbour Trevor very kindly gave me this magnificent globe artichoke

which I planted near the log pile. It’s a terrific looking plant and grows quite big so he tells me!

I gave the shed a coat of green wood preservative which I think is a better colour than the shade of biscuit that it was.

The metal trellis will be used to support the Asparagus verticillatus that I’m hoping to grow. This is a hardy climber with feathery foliage and small white flowers followed by small bright red berries. Chiltern Seeds says that it is easily trained for concealing unsightly chain link fences, garden gnomes and the like!

To round off what had been a good few hours just as I was packing up to come home I heard a familiar bird call and turned to see one, two, then several more parakeets flying at low level right over the top of me! Wonderful!

Just when I was starting work on Plot 124 back at the beginning of last July allotmenteering lawn lounger Mildew was sadly about to relinquish hers as she simply didn’t have the time to devote to it.

The week before last she commented on my Grazie Joe entry offering me some packets of vegetable seeds, which I gratefully accepted.

She sent me about a dozen packets, together with a nice card, which I received during the week. In the card she said that most of what she has sent me are fairly mundane and quite everyday vegetables, but I don’t mind that at all.

They include Beetroot, Cabbage, Carrots, Peas and Runner beans ‘Painted Lady’, which she thinks is the best variety having eaten some last summer. There is also Leek ‘Musselburgh’ which is a vegetable I would not have considered growing but having read Louise’s entry Leeks I’ve changed my mind!

My thanks again to Mildew. Now I’ve off to read The Vegetable & Herb Expert to find out just what I’ve let myself in for!

Happy gardening!

My plot neighbour Joe very kindly gave me this grape vine yesterday. As you can see I’ve put it in a bucket sized plastic container and stood it on the pallet patio by the shed. I’ll have to think about some trellis for when it starts to grow.

It was very spring-like being sunny and warm, although the ground was still too sticky to really do anything. Perhaps by tomorrow it will be more workable and I can do some light forking over and weeding.

On Thursday I got the flower seeds I’d ordered so I’ve been pondering on what I’m going to sow where. After all I’ve now got over forty packets…do you think that’s enough?

I’m still undecided on what vegetables to grow apart from potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and onions. I’ll have to have yet another look through the catalogues! All suggestions will be most welcome.

Probably the most unusual plant I’m going to grow is Jersey cabbage. It can grow to six feet the first year, and beyond ten feet the second year! The stems can be cut in mid-winter, dried and polished to make a walking stick. Leaves can be picked throughout the season for cooking.

As usual the robin appeared to say a chirpy hello! Talking about birds I must mention that on Wednesday I saw two Grey wagtails which was an unexpected treat. They weren’t on the allotment site but near the bookshop on the grass verge opposite where I’d parked the car.

It’s been a quiet and routine week but a good one. I hope I have more like it!

I’m not one for using any herbs when I cook but I am going to have a small herb patch on the plot.

I was given a Rosemary last autumn which is a classic herb, and well known for remembrance.

I’ve ordered a packet of mixed culinary herbs which contains Basil, Parsley, Sage, Summer Savory, Thyme and several others. These are a mix of annuals and perennials, and it will be interesting to see how they grow.

I’ve also bought a packet of seeds of this herb

Chiltern Seeds Vegbook says…This has been developed especially for ornamental use, being very floriferous, branched and compact. It is very fragrant, has green foliage and small creamy-white flowers with attractive purple bracts. There may be better ones to cook with but not many to look at.

You will guess why I have to grow this one when I tell you that it is Basil ‘Magical Michael‘.

This morning was glorious, being sunny with only a light breeze. I went to allotment early to do my Birdwatch and did reasonably well. Mind you if I’d seen all the birds that I could hear chattering and twittering in the trees then it would have been a lot better.

There were the usual Crows, Magpies, Seagulls and Woodpigeons. I stood and watched a Robin perch on top of an eight foot bamboo cane when another one appeared on the ground nearby. A little later I saw one on top of my shed. The Blackbirds and Starlings flew in and out of the trees. There was a tree full of Blue Tits and/or Coal Tits, and a lone Song Thrush(?) at the top of another tree singing away. To cap it all I was nearly back home when I saw two Jays, one under a large shrub and the other flying away.

I warmed up with a cup of tea and some toast then went to the horticultural society’s hut for some bits and bobs. Bonemeal for the roses, grass seed for Cally at the bookshop and peanuts for the birds.

After chatting with the others and asking about what potatoes to grow I decided to get some Majestic early maincrop for general use and Charlotte second early which are a good salad variety. I shall now have to read up on what to do with them!

I then went back to the allotment and spent a very pleasant couple of hours doing some work for the first time this year. I lightly dug round the roses and gave each a couple of handfuls of bonemeal as recommended by the supplier I got them from. I twice filled a bucket with surface weeds and added them to the compost heap. Then I lightly forked over the vegetable, herb and wild flower areas. Considering the amount of rain we’ve had I was surprised at how easy going it was.

The bulbs I planted are all now showing well above ground, and some of the seeds I sowed last autumn are beginning to grow.

It was good to see several other plot holders making the most of the good weather, and walking round I even came across a few daffodils in full flower.

It’s little wonder then that I’m a happy Flighty!

Whilst clearing Plot124 I spent a lot of time thinking about what I’m going to grow. Early on I’d decided that much of the plot would be flowers.

I also read A Garden from a Hundred Packets of Seed by James Fenton which is a delightful little book in which he relates a simple, refreshing way to start a garden from scratch.

I’ve also been given various packets of seed, mostly by Nikki, including Cosmos, Hollyhocks, Poppies and Sweet Peas.

During December I received a copy of Chiltern Seeds Grow something new from seed Catalogue 2008 which I’ve been looking through with great interest. I’ve ordered some 20 packets of seeds, mostly hardy annuals which are easily grown and of the sow and forget varieties.

They include Nasturtiums Tom Thumb Mixed about which it says If you can’t grow these you’d better give up gardening as a hobby! At the other extreme height-wise is the Sunflower Autumn Beauty which grows to 6 feet with flowers 6 inches across.

In the catalogue are these words…Sometimes we make too much of the chore of gardening! There are so many plants that make no demands on us. We have a supplier in Holland who has a trial ground on which he raises more than 1500 varieties of plants each year. All he does is till the soil, roll it, sow the seeds and that’s it – no thinning out, no weeding, nothing, and if they don’t flower?…!

It can’t be that easy…can it?

I came across this brief, but hopefully apt, poem…

Gardeners who are old

It seems that gardeners who are old

Are best at making the flowers unfold.

I also couldn’t resist borrowing this from Louise’s This is my patch blog

You’ll have noted that I’ve not mentioned herbs or vegetables, which will be the subject of a future entry.

My last Plot 124 entry was Log pile which as you can see was three weeks ago! The reason for the long gap is that there’s very been very little to write about due mainly to the seemingly continual wet weather.

Regarding the log pile it’s now looking rather more substantial as I’ve added some logs to the few I started with. It’s about ten feet or so down the plot from the pond and the patch between the two is going to be the wild flower area which should attract bees, seed-eating birds and butterflies.

Last Thursday I met a good plot neighbour John, and his lovely dog Jodie, on the site. He was just checking round as it had been rather windy the day before. During our chat he offered me some blackberry plants which he’d dug up a few days before. As you know I love blackberries so the offer was gratefully accepted. I planted them yesterday, which was dull but dry, finding that the ground was very sticky indeed!

I’m pleased to see that the three roses, and most of the raspberries, that I planted in December are showing slight signs of growth.

The birds are using the feeders, the seed one more so than the peanut one, and I’m topping them up about once a week.

With the ground being as wet as it is and the forecast for the rest of the week being yet more rain it looks like I’ll be doing nothing more on the plot until at least next week. Never mind I’ll carry on compiling my seed list which I think I’ve now nearly sorted out!

I have a spare copy of the hardcover Royal Horticultural Society Diary 2008. If anyone would like it then please leave a comment. If there’s more than one of you then I’ll pick a name out of the hat and let you know who it is. Once they’ve emailed me an address I’ll post it to the lucky winner.

I want to have a log pile as part of the wild garden area on the plot but it’s taken to now, or rather last week, to find some suitable logs to start it off.

Over the coming months I shall keep an eye out for more to add to these few so that come next autumn it will hopefully provide a haven for any wildlife who want to make use of it.

Yesterday, Christmas Day, was grey and wet but thankfully today is dry and sunny. It was nice to go to the allotment and stroll round this morning.

Whilst there I added the accumulated kitchen waste, mostly vegetable peelings, orange peel, egg shells and tea bags to the compost heap.

A site that I’ve added to Plot People is which I came across the other evening . An event that I shall mention again nearer the time is Shed Week 2008 which starts on 8th July.

Today is cold and sunny, but not windy, which is the sort of day that I really like at this time of year.

This morning I went to the Horticultural Society hut to buy some bird seed and peanuts as it will be closed the next two Sundays. I wished all who were there all the best for Christmas and the New Year.

This is the view of the allotment site from the main road

with my shed visible on the right hand side and the spire of St. Mary’s, Harrow-on-the-Hill just visible above the tree-line on the left, about one and a half miles away, which I mentioned in this entry back in October.

My plot neighbour Joe, who has the first two plots on the right before mine, was there. We chatted for a while and admired the mimosa tree

that he planted during National Tree Week.

I then cleared the ice from my pond and filled both the seed and peanut bird feeders which they are now using, as I’ve been lucky enough to see during my recent visits.

The roses that I planted recently don’t look much now,

but just you wait until next summer!

Thankfully after a pretty wet and windy week today has been sunny, although breezy and cool.

I made the most of it this morning and went to plant the three roses that I’d received earlier in the week. My only company whilst doing that was the robin, and a blue tit helping itself to seeds from one of my bird feeders.

Last week I found a wooden chair that had been dumped. I took it home, checked it over, cleaned it up then measured it to see if it would fit in the shed. I’m happy to say that it does, just, and is a lot better than a plastic one!

I noticed that the grass I sowed around the pond is starting to grow. Something obviously uses it as I keep finding a couple of the stones either moved or out on the ground.

That’s about it for the next few months except to walk round the plot a couple of times a week to check that all is okay, top up the bird feeders and keep the pond ice free.

Now where are those seed catalogues!

I didn’t do my usual Thursday entry yesterday as there are no notable wildlife programmes on terrestrial TV next week.

Have a good weekend!