Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Sunday, 5th September

What a hectic few days! Of course, much of that was to do with yesterday's show, trying to find any fit produce to enter and loads of baking and arranging flowers (Mrs N, not me) and things. And I had a fair bit of stuff to do on the computer designing and printing certificates, exhibit labels, signs and so on. I suppose Friday was near fever pitch and Saturday just plain kna exhausting. I'd left it until Friday to pick my apples and pull my carrots. I picked some tomatoes earlier in the week and put them in a drawer with a banana to try and ripen them. I handed in my entry form on Wednesday, confident they would be ripe in time but I'm afraid they didn't really make it and came nowhere. When I went to pick the apples I was amazed to discover how many of them had been attacked by maggot or birds. I ended up with only 6 clean dessert apples and 8 clean cookers so trying to get 4 of each roughly similar was probably a task too far. Under the circumstances I was quite please to get a 2nd for the eaters and a 3rd for the cookers as the apple section turned out to be one with quite a few entries.

The carrots were the only thing I had grown specifically for the show and the first one I removed from my barrel of 7 was a beauty; 2 more like that and I was practically guaranteed a coveted red card. Alas, it wasn't that easy. Of the next 3 I pulled out 2 had warts and one was bent. Fortunately the others, though not as big as the first, were more or less blemish free and I must admit I felt pretty confident when I set them out on display. And they won! So I might try again next year although maybe not in one big barrel again. Growing just 7 in one big barrel was a bit of a gamble really and I was lucky to get three similar decent carrots. Still, musn't moan and the show was very enjoyable even if I didn't make a big splash. (Must have been really tiring - I didn't wake up this morning until 9.30am!)

A report of the show, with pictures, will appear on the News Page in due course.

Monday, 30th August

Bank Holiday Monday so a drive out to Chichester. We were looking for bathroom tiles but didn't find any. It didn't help that most places on the industrial estate were shut. Still we had a nice look round Chichester and a cup of tea and a bun. I must get to the allotment tomorrow but it's not going to be easy as I've got to wait in for a builder and I've promised a friend I'll call round sometime tomorrow. And I've got to get a dental appointment (why do teeth always break on a Bank Holiday weekend?) and a doctor's appointment (never you mind!) But I need to take a last look at the plot to see if I've got anything for the show this weekend as the deadline for entering is Wednesday. Have you entered yet? There's a link to the show schedule on our Home page and this year there's a whole new Novices' section open to anybody who's never won a first prize (Modesty prevents me from saying I'm not eligible) and some of the classes there look eminently winnnable if you've got anything at all. Have a go! What have you got to lose? It doesn't cost anything.

I have been to the plot at the weekend. I intended to dig up all my potatoes but after one row my back said, "NO" so I went picking runner beans, courgettes and raspberries after that. Not quite so heavy going. Ian gave me some strawberry plants while I was down there so I will have another go next year but I can never get them to do as well as the raspberries. Do you think the fact I prefer raspberries has anything to do with it? At home I have been exfoliating (?) the tomatoes in the greenhouse and picking up windfall apples. Not sure if they'll be good enough for the show- the quantity is there just not the quality. I've also hacked back the buddleia as many racemes/flowers were past it and it was taking over the garden bench. Get back, you swine!

Tomorrow night is Pub Night at the North Star where I expect last minute arrangements will be taking place besides a bit of drinking and general chat about the weather, holidays and other matters of great import. I'll concentrate on the drinking bit!

Wednesday, 25th August

Rain! Tons of it, all at once today. And a few drops earlier on in the week. Not that that's what's stopped me from gardening as I've hardly had the chance to get to the allotment anyway. After Norwich it's been Eastbourne with the 2 Mrs Ns. (One of them was my mother!) We quite like Eastbourne and drop in most years but this was the first time we'd managed to fit in a show, a musical show that is, not a horticultural one. We went to see "Gotta Sing! Gotta Dance!" at the Devonshire theatre and again I was impressed by musical performers even though I've never liked musicals since I had to watch "The Sound of Music" twice as a kid. Our hotel/guest house was right opposite the theatre which was handy. I've tried several hotels in Eastbourne once but this one I'll definitely use again. It was called the Mowbray and the owners were great as was the food. Not a huge place with all-singing/dancing televisions (although they do have televisions, of course!) but friendly and, like I said, excellent food.
We also took in a couple of band concerts at the band stand which seems to be used much more than ours in Worthing. On the way back we called in at Beachy Head (windy or what?!), Burling Gap and East Dean. Then today I had to take my Mum back to East Kent so I wouldn't have got any gardening done even if the weather had been good. Oh, and did I mention I've had a birthday since I last wrote? All go, isn't it?

I think this rain is just a tad too late for my runner beans which are not prolific this year and going "beany" too quickly, my blackberries which haven't swollen and my potatoes which are also disappointing. I can't see me having much if anything to put in the show although I have got a lot of apples, courgettes and tomatoes. But it's quantitiy not quality. My great hope is my carrots but there's no telling what they'll be like until I tip them out of the growing bin. There might be nothing there! I will enter the photograhic competition but with no real hopes of winning. Oh, for those heady days when I first entered full of confidence and enthusiasm and walked away with 4 firsts and 2 seconds at the first attempt. Now, if I enter I am thrashed by Mrs N. But whether I enter or not I expect I'll be there on the door. Still before that there's Pub Night next Tuesday and a chance to find out what others are doing.

Tuesday, 17th August

I suppose this must be one of the best times in the gardening year - cropping time. At the moment I am cropping cabbages, potatoes, courgettes, raspberries, blackberries, runner beans and tomatoes. Not that I've been a very active cropper recently; as you may have gathered from the lack of postings I have been off gallivanting again. First there was a few days in London to see "Oliver!" (a belated birthday present for my wife) and then a little stay in Norfolk. (Before that I sliced my thumb and couldn't do much anyway) Personally I can't stand musicals but I have to admit it was very well done and Russ Abbott was surprisingly good as Fagin. Previously when in London we have always used the tube but this time we tried the buses and were very pleased with them; they're very frequent and much cheaper than buses round here - £1.20 for any journey no matter how far and free of course if you have a bus pass. They are a bit slow what with all the roadworks but you do get to see more than on the Underground. It wasn't what you'd call a horticultural break but we did take in quite a few parks. The parks there were showing the same signs of a lack of rain as everywhere down here. By the last day though we'd had enough of parks, museums and galleries and took in Harrods. Well, it was Mrs N's birthday treat when all said and done. We didn't buy much.

Next we went to Norfolk to see son number 2 and his partner in their new home in some Norfolk village where the grass was green! While we we there they took us to a place called Wroxham Barns, a sort of retail place with several little arty outlets and Le Grice roses had a garden shop there so I went in and took a look. WOW! There was the eponymous Mr (Bill) Le Grice himself manning the shop. And there was me, a mere mortal, talking to the world famous Mr Le Grice Roses. I was close enough to touch him but, no, I didn't but he did let me take his photo which you can now share. My hands were shaking so much I pressed the wrong button twice and in the end our son's girlfriend had to take the picture for me. He was (still is!) a charming, friendly man probably somewhat bemused by my state of ditheringness. I gave him one of our Association's website cards and he gave me a little catalogue with theirs on. I was interseted to see he stocked King's seeds the same as our stores although he did stock some Italian jobbies too.

Then back to the allotment yesterday morning picking stuff before dashing off to Southampton till bedtime.Today Mrs N and I have been out to Uppark with a couple of allotmenting friends. Tomorrow I'm off to Kent. All go, isn't it?

Thursday, 5th August

Thunder and rain! But I didn't really see it as I was in Tesco's at that time yesterday afternoon. I'd just finished a little walk round Durrington so we were pretty lucky, I suppose. Although we needed the rain it was pretty bad timing; I'd spent yesterday morning on the allotment watering my plot. Not only that I then went on to water a neighbouring allotment for someone who's on holiday! And when did it last rain? Yes, although the rain was welcome it could have arrived before I undertook this mammoth crop irrigation project. I was talking to someone on the allotment - well, there's a surprise - when we saw a big black cloud coming over. It then proceeded to skirt round the perimiter of the site very precisely so we thought we'd missed it. Needless to say none of it fell in my greenhouse at home. Speaking of which, at last a couple of tomatoes are turning red. Hopefully the rain will help the runner beans; although they're coming pretty well some of them are getting a bit beany before they reach any size and I assume it's because I just haven't been able to keep up with their watering requirements. Too late for the potatoes, I think but the courgettes are still going bonkers. I saw a recipe today for chocolate courgette cake so I'll have to draw it to Mrs N's attention. Incidentally, if any of you are handy at making cakes we could really do with some for the allotment show cake stall. If you can help just drop us a message with CAKES in the subject line. Thank you.

Saturday, 31st July

Rain!!!!!! Well, a few hours of very light drizzle which was enough to persuade me not to bother watering things on the allotment. I don't take a lot of persuading. I still had to water everything in containers at home though and in the greenhouse but I didn't bother with the vegetable patch. But - quelle horreur! - what's been attacking my onions? I didn't know anything liked onions apart from onion fly and unless this fly had a spade I'm hazarding a guess it was something a tad bigger: 3 onions dug up and moved and a hole excavated. This week's horticultural conundrum is, "What did it?" I don't think it's cats as since I put the sonic cat-scarer there the cats have stopped using the onion bed as a cat poo area. I know there is a fox living in next door's garden but he would have made a much bigger hole, I reckon. Other evidence includes a lot of bird feathers on the lawn with little grisly bits of bird attached and 2 dead frogs but they could all be unconnected.

Today I have been mainly weeding in the hope that they might pull out a little more easily. I have also been tidying up my tomatoes in the greenhouse; I hadn't noticed some had outgrown their supports and two had actually snapped. It's difficult to see what's what in there sometimes what with the tomatoes growing like bamboo and loads of pepper plants too. Lots of green then. Still I've done my best to keep the sideshoots removed and I do have some decent trusses of Alicante but no sign of reddening yet.

Outside I have been cutting back the geraniums, not the red pelargonium type but the border hardy geranium. They've finished flowering now so if I give them a good haircut they might come again later in the year. In the meantime I'll plant some pot grown verbena bonariensis there. They even have the same colour flowers so it won't affect my colour scheme (plant whatever you've got where there's a space). Tomorrow I must go to the allotment sometime as I haven't been up for a few days and the courgettes may have taken over control.

Tuesday, 27th July

I actually thought for a moment it was going to rain when a couple of drops landed on me but in no time at all the light shower had gone and the ground is still bone hard. How my fruit could do with it, to swell the blackberries and apples in particular. Not that the birds seem to mind; they've started on my apples already even though they are nowhere near ripe yet. Some birds had a feast yesterday evening too: we were just finishing our dinner on the patio - posh phrase for back yard - when we noticed birds, seagulls, circling overhead which they are wont to do on flying ant day. Doesn't seem much of a snack, an ant for a great big seagull but there are thousands of them and sure enough when we looked down we saw a nearby flower bed was teeming with them and the queens were taking to the air. We took off indoors.

No more moaning about the weather - I have tried to make the most of this fine spell. On Thursday evening Mrs N and I and a dozen others met up by Honeysuckle Lane car park and enjoyed an hour's walk over the Downs with splendid veiws to the sea and inland towards Cissbury. Smashing! Then on Sunday it was the Lions' Fair on the seafront and we helped man a stall for our Walking to Health groups. Set up at 9.00am and pack up at 5.00pm. Bit of a long day then but we did have a fairly long lunch break, mainly because it took so long to get served. By the end of the day I think we were all a tad sunburnt and windswept. Still it beats staying in and watching the telly, doesn't it?
Oh, I have done some gardening - I finally cut sown my flowering parsnip tree now I've collected all the seed I want. I also spotted this little critter on my runner beans. Does anyone know what it is? Is it some form of exotic ladybird?

Thursday, 22nd July

I had to drive to the far side of Southampton and back the other night on an errand of mercy. I know the way as I go that way quite often so I didn't think it would be much hassle - WRONG! First the Boulevard was closed for resurfacing, Not much of a problem as I could go down Titnore Lane - it was closed for roadworks. Still I managed to get out onto the A27 and headed confidently westwards - as far as Crossbush, just this side of Arundel. Then the A27 was closed for some reason and you had to follow the diversion signs towards Littlemapton and through Bognor Regis. Unfortunately this takes in a level crossing and the gates were closed for ages before a little 4-carriage jobby chugged across. Next stop somewhere in the Felpham/Bognor area where they are building a couple of new housing estates; so they've shut down half the road and the area is now controlled by temporary traffic lights. There was another diversion at the other end just before my destination so a one and a half an hour drive for 50-odd miles. Did I mention there was a police landrover on the M27 which nobody dared to overtake of course? It did eventually turn off.

Coming back wasn't so bad as I knew what was in store so I joined the A259 eastwards as soon as possible. Amazingly Mrs N was still up when I got home. I hadn't been able to phone her as on setting off back I dropped my mobile somewhere down the side of the passenger seat and couldn't find it. I couldn't spend too long looking for it as I had already put my car parking card in the barrier thing and there was a time limit on it or you were shut in the car park. What has all this got to do with gardening? Nothing, but I thought I would just use the experience to show you that even a super-hero like me is affected by all these little things that can go wrong and inevitably do. Like my carrots! Where are they?

Sunday, 18th July

Well, that bit of wind certainly thinned out my apples somewhat. I was complaining that the lawn was brown but it's certainly green now - and bumpy. A bit like one of those kiddie's ball pools except all the balls are green. It also damaged our orange tree which our eldest started from a pip about 20 years ago. The wind snapped one of the main branches. I tried lashing it together but it's not really a one-man job. The branches move when you try to bind them and they have viscious thorns. I count myself lucky to escape with a prick in the forehead, scratched arms and bloody fingers. After that pruning and picking the gooseberries and raspberries seemed a piece of cake. We still have a glut of soft fruit although I have been given a couple of recipes to try and I've put them on our Recipes page. Don't be shy of sending me any of your favourites to share with the gardening/cooking/baking world out there.

We've (Mrs N) made a decent quantity of jam now but it's getting the jars, isn't it? Maybe next year we'll save them but we had no idea we'd have so many raspberries and things that we'd have to resort to jam making. Courgettes don't jam so well, do they? I swear they grow about 6 inches every time your back is turned. On the other hand my carrots and my potatoes have been a disaster. Few carrots germinated despite several sowings and those that did just haven't shifted. Some of the potatoes look as though they have died and when I dug one up there was nothing there - well, 2 marble-sized things. I think next year I shall just grow first earlies so we can have some new potatoes and then buy the rest from Tesco's. Not as if they're expensive, is it? I might as well grow something else we really enjoy and give them a bit of room. I need to renew my strawberries as well. Any ideas out there? Someone recommended Marshmellow but then others have told me they are apt to keel over and die mid-season. I'm open to suggestions. (for strawberries too)

Wednesday, 14th July

Bastille Day

14th July - Bastille Day. What else can I tell you? Not a lot really. Despite one or two light showers the routine remains largely the same: watering and picking raspberries and courgettes. I spent well over an hour picking raspberries this morning. What to do with them all? We've had raspberry crumble, raspberries and cream, stewed rapspberries and ice cream, raspberries on my porridge and the freezer is full of frozen raspberries. And I've been giving them to the neighbours. So we've bitten the bullet and decided they'll have to be jammed. To me it seems a travesty to turn a beautiful tasty fruit to a red slurry in a pot but what else can you do? Actually I did get a couple of answers this afternoon. After our walking group had enjoyed a leisuerly stroll through Whitebeam Woods and the adjoining park, one of our memmbers, Gladys, gave me a couple of recipes for raspberry cakes so I've put them onto the Recipe Page for you all to enjoy. Let me know what you think. (There's also a recipe for Courgette Cake!!)

While I was on the allotment this morning I took a picture of my flowering parsnip which I include here. When my back was bad someone dug out my woody parsnips for me but left one in to go to seed, which it has. According to out local show guru, Bernie B, if I save the seed from my own parsnips it should germinate well next year. We shall see but I'll give it a go. What have I got to lose? I've saved seed from things like runner beans before but never tried parsnips. Here's hoping it keeps dry till I can gather the seed.

NEWSFLASH: 2 people have had to drop out of the Wisley trip this Saturday so if you fancy it for a tenner (includes coach and entry!) see the Home Page for details. I can't make it myself or I'd go - I know it's good.

Sunday, 11th July

I saw some rain this morning! But, alas, it was just a light shower and it only lasted a few minutes. Not much good for anything really and almost everything is suffering now. The clover usually keeps my lawn looking green but even that's died and gone brown. Not that I've been doing a lot of gardening; in fact I skived off to Derbyshire for a couple of days to watch the cricket, Derbyshire against the Australians. The match was pretty rubbish but it was nice to meet up with old school friends, an annual get-together for 5 of us who still enjoy each other's company. Probably because we only get together once a year!

Mrs N looked after the garden while I was away (yes, it was a boys' outing) and I must admit everything looked in good shape when I got back. I generally enjoy gardening but I am getting fed up with all this watering, especially on the allotment where it takes ages and the trough runs out so you have to go on a water hunt. Not quite everything has thrown in the towel though: the raspberries keep coming and coming. OK some of them have gone over but that's more to do with my not keeping up with them rather than a lack of moisture, I think. Likewise the loganberries. I haven't even summer-pruned my gooseberries on the allotment yet. It's not just laziness; I heard there had been some gooseberry pilfering on the site so I'll leave mine unpruned and make it difficult for any would-be thieves, then I'll prune them when I'm ready to pick them.

You'd think with all this dry weather the slugs and snails would give it a rest but they've certainly gone for my sunflowers. I didn't put them out until they were 3-4 ft tall, thinking they'd be big enough to look after themselves. Within a week 2 had lost thier heads and several leaves have gone. I don't know why I bother as the critters always massacre them. Perhaps I'll grow cannabis next year then wait until the slugs are stoned good and proper before sneaking up on them and putting them out of my misery.

Sunday, 4th July

Our back garden is now taking on a definite red hue what with fuchsia, honeysuckle, hardy geranium, begonias and red lilies in flower interspersed with splashes of yellow from the hypericum and eleagnus. I feel quite satisfied with it which is more than can be said for the front garden. What a disaster! The main feature of the front garden is a circular lawn. Earlier in the season I noticed quite a few small weeds so I dosed it with a lawn weedkiller. It killed everything it touched including the grass. And then there's been a virtual drought so the new grass won't germinate and I can't give it enough water without a sprinkler. Final appearance: horrible.

The two gardens I saw yesterday in Goring open under the National Garden Scheme put me to shame. I think the first was in Brook Barn Lane. Big imposing house but what a garden - stuffed to the gunnels with plants. Quite intensive to maintain, I should think, with a lot of containers but also established plants and structural features including several home made arches. Judge for yourselves from these pictures.

The second garden was less than 5 minutes walk away and £4 got you into both. And the second did cakes - £2 for a mug of tea and a piece of cake as big as your hat. Again the garden was well designed with slightly more variation: it had a lawn, a large pond and a vegetable patch. It also had some interesting outbuildings and structures including a shrine in mosaic. In fact mosaics were a bit of a theme here. Here's some more pickies.

Back to the allotment today where the raspberries are starting to go beresk. I don't know if it's my experimental pruning, the weather or my fruit cultivation skills but they're really good, far more prolific than the strawberries were. I picked a load this morning but I'll give them a rest tomorrow and give the poor old runner beans a bit of attention; they're smothered in blackfly. A morning of squidging tomorrow then.

Thursday, 1st July

Another fine, warm day and no surprise to hear it's been the driest start (Jan-June) to any year since 1929. Now that June's gone perhaps my apples will stop falling, presumably because of the well documented phenomenon of June Drop. I'm surprised we've got quite so many apples as we have as I don't recall seeing many bees about earlier in the year. Not that I'm complaining.

My strawberries have come to an end now but the raspberries have started good and proper and I'll continue picking the rhubarb for a short while. In our home garden I have put in a few flowers but in the main it's been the same routine as on the allotment: watering and weeding. I'll have to be careful I don't wear out the hoe and the watering can. (And Mrs N!)

On a personal front I started walking again on Wednesday afternoon with our Easy Walking group but kept at the back at a very steady pace down Ilex Way and back to the Mulberry. I survived a few hours sitting down at Pub Night on Tuesday as well although I admit the beer may have helped. Conversation turned to where we would like to go for our holiday next year - as I won't fly it does impose a few restrictions. Last year we went to the Belgian Flower Festival (pictures on Photo Call pages) and the year before to Paris and the Jardins du Luxembourg. Prior to that it was the Dutch Bulbfields. Any suggestons?