Ned's farewell

Yes, this is my final entry after years of blogging away with exciting stories about how my carrots got carrot fly or my seedlings damped off. At last I've decided enough is enough and Growblog has come to an end. I am actually giving up the website altogether to someone younger (Terry, his name is) but you'll all be in good hands as he's the bloke who taught me how to do websites in the first place. For a while I shall continue to answer emails that come in via the Contact button on the website but eventually I hope to hand that over to someone else too. I shall, however, be at the show which is getting ever closer (20th August) but I don't know that I'll have much to put in. I shall try and find something especially as it's our first show without the support of the Worthing Horticultural Society and a brand new venue (Oak Grove College on the Boulevard) and I think everyone should have a go to make it a success. I can't think I'll be entering my squash - when I went to the plot yesterday I discovered the howling wind had blown one clean in two just above ground level so he's had it. Luckily I do have a couple of spares in the back garden but they're just not coming on quick enough. Same with the beans which have suffered terribly from the wind.

As I go here are a few pictures representing stories I've enjoyed sharing over the years.

Sunday, 3rd July

Another week has flown by without my feet seeming to touch the ground. Take Thursday for instance: out for lunch, out for dinner then out for the evening. The previous afternoon we had been walking and on Friday night we had son number 1 and his missus here all evening. Then after Tesco shopping on Saturday morning the afternoon was spent in Worthing going round the Open Houses exhibition. They've held it over the last 3 weekends and it's been going for a few years now but it was the first time Mrs N and I had paid a visit. You walk round peoples' houses which are open for the day and admire and/or buy their artistic creations. All art media seemed to be represented - drawing, painting, ceramics, textiles, carving, film........ you get the drift. Of course it was interesting looking round peoples' dwellings too although some displays were on the seafront by the Coast cafe and one was in a telephone booth! This latter was an exhibition of business card sized photographs of Worthing taken on mobile phones and shared through social networking sites. It was all quite casual and in one flat a young lady was doing her ironing whilst her partner was working on his laptop. Some offered refreshments but we managed to keep going until we had seen all those on our list and then we headed for the Fancy Coffee cafe on the High Street. The people there are very nice and friendly and prices very reasonable: carrot cake at £1.35 a slice and scones at 75p each. I know places that charge double that.

Now you might think that doesn't leave much time for gardening but I have had to keep going to the allotment quite regularly to water, especially the recently transplanted leeks. I have also transplanted 55 cabbage plants. Then there's all the routine jobs such as weeding, mowing the lawn, tending the plants in the greenhouse,....... I don't know how I ever found time to go to work.

Sunday, 26th June

Well, after a quiet period I seem to have been caught up in a hectic social whirl. On Friday a group of 24 of us from the Association went along to Highdown vineyard for a Tour and Tasting evening. The weather didn't want to play ball and insisted on drizzling on us as Aly, the co-owner, took us on a walking tour of the vineyard and talked to us about a Year in the Vineyard. Her enthusiam for her subject was not to be dampened by a few spots of rain and it was infectious. Despite the conditions people were moved to ask questions and we wanted to hear what she had to say. We learnt that her working year starts on the 1st January with a pruning knife. As there are around 10,000 vines to prune and she does them all herself this goes on till around April even though she works at it 7 days a week for several hours a day. We also learnt about other aspects of viticulture such as root stocks, spraying, training the vines, pest and weed control and the economics of a single vineyard. You have to love your work to make it work and Aly clearly does.

Inside she gave us a talk on the history of English wine production before Paul, her husband and business partner, came round with 5 different Highdown Vineyard wines for us to taste. The things we put ourselves through in the thirst for knowledge! Then it was tuck-in time as we set about our 3-cheese ploughman's and more wine if you wanted although unfortunately this did have to be paid for.

Paul and Aly Englefield took over the vineyard about a year ago and are delighted that their first year's vintage has been judged among the best in the country. Their wines took silver and bronze awards in the English and Welsh Wine of the Year competition as well as awards in the South East England competition. But I just like to pop along to the cafe during the afternoon for a cup of tea and a slice of home-made cake. Bang! goes the diet again.

On Saturday afternoon Mrs N and I and a couple of friends went along to Broadwater Green to attend the Worthing Horticultural Society's summer show in the big white tent. Will Arthur Burt ever stop winning prizes for his sweet peas? Other big winners were Peter Webb (especially in the vegetable section) and Janice Shambrook. Our stand was manned by show secretary and Association stalwart, Jack Powis, and I saw quite a few other people to speak to as I tried to make my way to the tea and cake area. I have to say, a fairly pleasant way to spend an hour or so on a Saturday afternoon.

For the first time in my 30 years in Worthing I went along to the Secret Back Gardens day in Ambrose Place. We got there nice and early when it opened so we would be able to park in the council car park. Unfortunately everybody else had the same idea and there were no spaces left in the catr park with cars milling around trying to get in or out. Still we found a space in a back street not too far away. The weather was superb and had brought out the hordes and the gardens are not that large so it was rather busy. The gardens themselves, though all very different, were all planted to the gunnels and great use was made of containers. Lots of archways and trellises adorned with clematis too. The gardens face north being at the back of the properties but that didn't stop them looking absolutley marvellous. I wouldn't want to live there as you'd have to keep your garden perfect so as not to let the side down on Open Day. Our MP, Peter Bottomley, used to have a flat there but I think he's moved out now. However, we did see him and his wife, the effervescent Virginia, in one of the gardens but I managed to dodge behind a shrub before they recognised me. Saw several other people who recognised me though.

When we left Mrs N expressed a desire to look in the nearby Christ Church which we've never visited either. Inside it's huge (well, no bigger than the outside, I suppose). Just to the left of the chancel were some seats sideways on raised high, like sitting in the gods at the theatre. These seats were for the fisherman we were told; they didn't sit in the main part of the church because they were too smelly. I wonder where allotmenteers with muddy wellies would have to sit!

Tuesday, 21st June

Oak Grove College

I haven't been up to a great deal recently but I suppose that's par for the course really. Despite the wind and showers I have put some time in on the allotment but tidying up more than anything else. The only things I've put in are 5 courgette plants and 5 butternut squash. If they all perform we'll be eating gourds for a long time a little later on. Otherwise I've been doing things like strimming and mowing the paths and bagging up loads of old raspberry canes - 3 bags so far. Since the bins went that's all I can do with them, then I take them to the tip.

In my own garden I've been doing some more containers and a bit more digging in the veg plot; I'll have to get those cabbage plants in sometime soon or they'll be fully grown befroe they get in the ground. The show carrots are hardly shifting but I have given them their final thinning so at least they've got room to grow. I have one tomato so far in the greenhouse but I am always a tad on the late side so don't go by my timings. My mate Ken had his in the ground in February! They've probably finished fruiting by now.

In the front garden I've been trying some minor lawn retoration work. First I did a lot of handweeding then I was going to bung on some fertiliser but I had to wait a while for some decent rain - can't complain now, can I?

This last Sunday Mrs N and I took a stroll up to Oak Grove College as their garden was open again under the National Garden Sceme. Some parts are looking very established now but I think it's actually only about 5 years old.

These woven animals were a new feature this year and work has also started on some sort of amphitheatre. It's always interesting to walk round and I believe the garden will be open when we have our show there on the 20th August so you'll be able to see for yourselves. If you can't wait that long it is open again under the National Garden Scheme on the 3rd July and £4 gets you into this garden and the one at Palatine School. We called in at the Palatine School garden on the walk home for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. They let me cut my own piece and make a voluntary contribution. Bet they don't do that again!

Wednesday, 15th June

So this is what rain is. Not up to much, is it? It's not softenend my plot over much but I have got my red onions in at last. I've had to resow my carrots as hardly any appeared, just a mass of them at one end of a row. Weird. Perhaps this bit of drizzle will do my runner beans some good; ever since I put them in we seem to have had loads of wind and they're looking very battered. The rhubarb has recovered somewhat and the raspberries are doing well but still not a single strawberry. I think they know I prefer the raspberries.

The other thing I noticed at West Tarring site is the new concrete path they've been putting in from the Bolsover Road entrance. They laid it as far as the trough before but then stopped. Now they are taking it all the way to the through road. Unfortunately they were about a cubic yard of cement mix short and as they started from both ends there is now this gap in the middle so you have to walk along the edge of someone's allotment. Still I'm sure they'll fix it as soon as they can afford some more concrete and it is a lot better than that lethal matting that was there before.

In my own garden I've had to start removing sideshoots from my tomatoes but otherwise I've been mainly cutting and slashing. It took me all morning to remove one large overhanging branch from a neighbour's huge elder. I don't think she's noticed. I did it while she was away on holiday and she hasn't said anything since she got back. Of course I've kept all the bits in case she wants them. A nice feature at the moment is the hordes of very young birds, most of the tits of one kind or another, on the feeders although they do have to compete with our resident squirrel who unfortunately has worked out how to get most of the seeds out in one go. Still it's lovely to see so many of them have made it despite the dozens of marauding neighbourhood cats. Maybe they even grew up in one of our nestboxes. Warms your cockles, doesn't it?

I hear the council have got round to arranging the initial meeting of the working group to look at the feasibility of allotment self-management. The date is the 27th June, the working group made up of volunteers from the meeting many of us attended at the Town Hall on 1st March. How time flies! Another date for you: Friday, 17th June (that's THIS Friday) is when you have to have your cheques in if you want to go on the Highdown Vineyard tour. 24 going at the last count, I think. If you're going I'll see you there.

Thursday, 9th June

Oh, dear! I can't get on to the website. I can put things on possibly but there's no way I can tell if they're on there. For some reason something is blocking all computers on my little network from viewing worthingallotments.co.uk. I have been rather busy as well mind which means I have not had much screen time. First the weather has been reasonably decent - apart from this blasted wind - which means I have been able to get on with some gardening and second Mrs N and I have been out and about. Where have we been?

We've lived nearly 30 years in Worthing and yet we'd never been to Petworth (despite being National Trust members) so this half-term we did. It's more like a museum or art gallery than a former home like some of the stately piles we've visited but it does have an impressive art collection including quite a few Turners. After touring the house we looked round the old kitchens where we saw this picture of former servants and where we were given an excellent short talk on their roles in the house. Well, actually the kitchens are in a separate block and the servants were not allowed in the house. We made use of the kitchens by staying there for lunch which didn't register too high really on the NT rip-off scale. We particularly enjoyed the chicken and mushroom pie although that's maybe because I had the last piece in the dish so the cook gave me two, bless her.

We then went for a stroll in the deer-infested grounds and by the lake we noticed a tree with a perfectly spherical growth in its upper branches. What on earth could it be? Suggestions to worthingallotments@hotmail.co.uk but there are no prizes.

Next big event was our eldest son's wedding which was preceded by a midweek lunch with the prospective out-laws and visiting the scene of the crime to help set up for the big day. The venue was Brighton College, a delightful setting which you wouldn't even know was there as it hides from the outside world behind some fairly anonymous walls. I had a very enjoyable time and I'm sure everyone else did too.

Wedding guests in the grounds of Brighton College

On the gardening front I have got my runner beans in at last, just in time for the wind to blast them to pieces. The rhubarb has recovered a little after a drop of rain and the raspberries are producing - had a bowlful for tea tonight with some ice cream. Who needs strawberries? (see below) I've aslo bought some tomato feed as my plants are flowering now but they are in a greenhouse. In the garden my Whinhams Industry dessert gooseberry has succombed to both sawfly and mildew but it is getting on a bit now and I do have two green varieties on the allotments so I hope not to go short.

I went to the plot this morning to resow carrots as they never appeared. Guess what I forgot to take with me - that's right, my packet of carrot seeds!

Monday, 30th May

Drat! Drat! And double-drat!

Drat number 1
I went to see if any strawberries were worth picking and something had got there before me. Little green strawberries were scattered all over the place. That's right - they weren't even ripe but something had removed them and wasn't even interested in eating them. There were no peck marks in any strawberries. I've covered them up now but a bit late.

Drat 2
That wind. It may have abated somewhat now but it went on relentlessly day after day. Not only my hanging basket got clobbered but one of my young courgette plants has obviously suffered too much from wind and has now given up the ghost. I haven't even got it in the ground yet and it's dead. Luckily others survivied.

Double drat
The reason my courgettes are not in the ground is because it's rock hard and I can't get my spade in. For several days now I have been watering my runner bean trench and today came the moment of truth - but no good. The cane supports would only go 2 inches down which is not an awful lot of good on a windy site like West Tarring. So yet more watering, unless it rains of course. Ha! Ha!

On a more positive note my hardy geraniums are thriving, to such an extent they have practically swamped a yellow Korresia rose but this has worked out to the rose's benefit because they have sheltered it from the wind and its beautiful, slightly scented blooms have not been blown off. And even the wind-blasted hanging baskets have been of some use: now I haven't seen this but Mrs N swears she has seen birds going in and out of a nesting box on the back of our house. But now I believe her. I haven't seen them but what I have seen is a bird pulling tufts of stuff (that hairy basket liner stuff) from a hanging basket obviously for nesting material. Nice to know I'm of use to someone even if unintentonally.

Monday, 23rd May

Wow! The perfume of our Mock Orange (philadelphus) is overpowering every time we step out of the back door. Good job it's in a sheltered spot or it would have been blown to bits by now and its perfume blown away with it. Our main hanging basket has not been so lucky. It's been made for weeks but I've been sheltering it in the greenhouse and hardening it off in the back garden............. then I had to go and hang it up over the front door. It looks a right mess now; what's left is very straggly.

The wind has made me glad I'm a bit behind because my runners would certainly have suffered exposed to the elements on the allotment. Anyway I can't actually get the supports in the ground at the moment because the soil is still too hard. At this rate they will be fully grown in the cold frame before I get them in. I see some people have got beans about a foot high already and as I was strolling round the site at the weekend I saw these Heath-Robinson supports which I felt I had to share with you. Take a good look - yes, that's a bicycle wheel at the top of each structure reinforcing the view that resourceful allotmenteers are at the forefront of technology and recycling.

My carrots in barrels are growing but very slowly. I think I've got them in too shady a spot and of course it's impossible to move the barrels now they are full of compost. On the other hand I did manage to manoeuvre our orange tree in its container out of the greenhouse to its customary summer spot outside. It had to go as I need the space for the tomatoes.

I've picked about half a doazen strawberries so far; isn't that a bit early? I've also picked quite a bit of rhubarb but the plants are now looking very sad and limp. I think it's the lack of rain - you can't give a rhubarb too much water. Which reminds me of an old joke:

- Do you put manure on your rhubarb?
- Yes.
- Oh, we put custard on ours!

Boom! Boom!

Tuesday, 17th May

I'm sure you've missed me. In fact you must be getting Growblog withdrawal symptoms but we've been on holiday again - Germany this time, to the Romantic Fairytale Castles of the Rhine and the Black Forest. We actually visited the castle they used in the film "Chitty-chitty Bang-bang" (Neuschwanstein) but I preferred the one in the picture above. We went by coach but overnighted in hotels along the way. One was the Crown Plaza at Brussels airport - very grand but a young American couple bought a hamburger each and nearly collapsed when the were charged 48 euros! (about £45) Needless to say Mrs N and I did not eat there.

Ned and new German friend

You meet some fascinating people on a coach and a good bunch can make your holiday. We were very lucky to find some really great people and the weather chipped in, hot and sunny all the time. We had some good trips too but probably enjoyed ourselves most at our local in Garmisch where the serving wench was something of a special character. If she was shy she hid it very well! We just had to go back there.

When we got back on Sunday night I was hoping the neighbours would tell me it had been raining here but no such luck so when I went to the plot yesterday morning the ground was harder than ever and I had to give up about a third of the way through my task of digging out my annual tank trap (bean trench). No sign of any seedlings coming through but not much I can do about that although I did splash a bit of water about. Then I went home because I was freezing in this cold English weather.

I don't learn because this morning I put on my T-shirt and shorts. I managed to keep them on while pottering in the greenhouse but had to put a jumper on when I went to work outside. I have been mainly potting up and doing more containers and there's still loads more to do. Fancy going on holiday at this time of the year!

Thursday, 5th May

Well, I've finished my course of antibiotics now and I'm not going back for more. I am better than I was but I have a lovely huge cold sore on my nose which even the kindest of friends feel they have to comment on. Yes, I know it's there!!! I have been to the allotment and despite the soil being very hard and dry I managed to get in 2 rows of onion sets and 3 rows of seeds, 2 of parsnip and one of carrot - or vice versa. When I say "I" that's not quite accurate. There I was struggling manfully with my clods of clay when Martin showed up and started chatting. After a while he disappeared but he must have taken pity on this old physical wreck and his apology of a plot because a few moments later he reappeared tooled up and duly set about my clods breaking the surface down to a tilth so that I could do some sowing. What a fine altruistic bunch allotmenteers are!

Yesterday I was supposed to be leading a walk to see the replica of the Sistine chapel in English Martyrs church in Goring but Tuesday evening I had a little accident just before leaving to go to an Association committee meeting. I tripped and fell as I stepped out of the door and did something nasty to my ankle, thus no walking (and no gardening again!). So I drove to the church and met them there and I'm glad I did. I've seen the ceiling before several times but this time one of the guides gave us a talk which was very informative. It took 5 years to do and if you've never seen it I can thoroughly recommend it. And it's free! While we were there there was a coach load of visitors from somewhere far away who were going on to "do" Worthing afterwards. Good luck to 'em.

I have also sown my runner beans at last. I've done them in trays to start off with because of the state of my plot and I may transfer them to pots later on to give me some time to dig my bean trench when my poorly foot gets better. Courgettes nad squash appear to be germinating well so I may have a few spares if you catch me.

Sunday, 1st May

For those of you who must have been worried sick about me, thank you for your concern, I am hanging on in there. I'm still on very light duties and I couldn't even make Pub Night on Tuesday. Mrs N kindly stayed at home to nurse me. The quack has filled me with antibiotics and stuff you have to take with inhalers which have all helped, I'm sure, but I still feel a bit like **** and I keep falling asleep. Achievements in the gardening department have been slight. Obviously I haven't been to the allotment so it's probably absolutlely covered in weeds by now and the soil will still be like concrete. I know I can't rely on it still looking the same as things are changing very fast now, aren't they? Last time I wrote the garden was smothered in apple blossom but now it's all gone and so have the tulips. Instead it's all camellia, bluebells, cornflower, aubretia, choisya, alliums, forget-me-nots and aquilegias. This must be one of our little camellia's best years - it's flowering its socks off. And the bay tree has been covered in little yellowish flowers. Is that normal? What next - bay berries?

Things are coming up and growing fast in the greenhouse too especially the tomato plants (Gardeners' Delight). That is one area I've been able to put in a few minutes at a time, mainly pricking out and potting on. I have a fold-up chair in the greenhouse which has to be tamed from trying to fold up while you're sitting on it. I've also got slugs and snails in there which are decimating my dahlias and marigolds so I may have to take action.

The carrots in the bins are doing OK at the moment but you never know if they're good enough to show until you tip them out. I have managed to get the new show schedule online (2011) and you can also get it in the stores of course. If you want to see what it looks like click here. We could still do with some volunteers on the day so if you can help on a stall for a few minutes or lend a hand in any way we'd love to hear from you. 20th August it is and coming up fast!

Monday. 25th April

Sorry to say Ned has gone down with the lurgie. It must be bad as he says he won't make Pub Night tomorrow! (Ed)

Thursday, 21st April

I took a little break there. Well, 10 of us from West Tarring allotments did actually. We went on a jolly jaunt to Brussels again, by Eurostar this time but staying at the same hotel as last year (we got a deal). And yet another flower festival, an annual one this time called Floralia and it was Spring flowers, mainly tulips, set in the grounds of a Belgian chateau. They used a million bulbs so it was pretty spectacular. I'll put some pictures on the Photo Call page in due course but it could take some time as there are hundreds to sort through.

We also visited the European parliament building but I would hardly call it a riveting experience. But don't think of Brussels as just the EU place; it has a lot to offer (museums, galleries, fine architecture, bars, restaurants, gardens, good tram and metro services) but cheap it is not. With only a bit of effort we did manage to find a couple of good value restaurants for our evening meals though and one of them even had a piano for customers to use. Needless to say, 2 of our crowd found the temptation impossible to resist and had to attack the keyboards - and the other customers even appeared to enjoy it! All 10 of us thoroughly enjoyed the 4 days and are on the look-out for somewhere for next year now. Now doubt we'll be discussing it at Pub Night next week.

We were very lucky with the weather - hot and sunny. It must have been a similar tale here because my allotment is as dry as a bone and the soil like concrete. Apparently it was the driest March in 50 years nationally and you can bet it's been most severe in our South-Eastern corner. On the other hand it was lovely to come back to a garden in full bloom, especially the apple trees but they were ably backed up by choisya, tulips, bluebells, bereberis stenophylla, crab apple, aubretia, camellia, primroses and a few straggling daffodils.

I visited Highdown Vineyard today to finalise arrangements for our tour. We fixed the date: Friday, 24th June. 7.00pm. I'll post detailed arrangements on the Events page and in the Plotholder (including online version).

Thursday, 14th April

Social activities still have the upper hand over horticultural ones at the moment. A couple of friends over from America actually didn't turn up until the Sunday and wanted to go out for a pub lunch. I had to ring round a few places before I found one that could take us, the Gun in Findon at 1.30pm. Very nice it was too but we also had to be at a wedding reception for 6.00pm so it seemed like the day was spent eating. The wedding was an Arab affair with the reception at Field Place and they roasted a whole sheep! It was very interesting and we weren't the only locals there as the Syrian guy was marrying a local girl. The dancing was different: first the men all danced together then it was the turn of the ladies although only the western women actually danced. We had a great time and they are lovely people.

Then Monday morning it was off to Kent visiting relatives. The sea was like a mill pond in Dover and it must have made for a very calm crossing for those off on the ferry to France. We didn't get back until late afternoon yesterday so you can see that doesn't leave a lot of time for gardening. Then this morning two lots of friends came round and I had about 100 emails to catch up on and here I am now wasting time on the computer! But I have sown some more seeds (flowers and cabbages) and I do hope to get to the allotment a little later.

More people have been in touch about the Highdown Vineyard tour so I'll contact the vineyard next week to arrange a date and that should give one or two more people the chance to come on board. Returns are also coming in from the questionnaire in your Plotholder. More news on that when we have more in.

Finally a piece of sad news: Frank Pidgeon, who was on the Association committee for years, passed away recently and his funeral is next week. See News page for more details.

Sunday, 10th April

The lawn mowing season is well underway; I 've mown mine twice this week but then we have got visitors from America arriving today so I can't let the side down. I've also finally got round to sowing some carrots, hopefully not too late for the show which is a bit earlier this year of course. I see the show schedule is now out and available in the stores. I'll have to see if I can get a copy to put on the site. I have at last got round to putting up a section on self-management on the Allotments Stuff page.

Quite a few of my flower seedlings are now up and I've actually pricked out my Gardener's Delight tomato seedlings. I haven't been to the allotment at all this week with one thing or another (a spot of decorating) but I have done a few things in my own garden, mainly potting up some largish plants in containers. I can tell you yuccas are rather spikey but nowhere near as bad as orange trees. Still everything at home is starting to come into life - shoots on the apple trees and berberis in flower - and some are now going over (daffodils, forsythia, hyacinths). Things do look good at this time of year, don't they and it's such a cheerful sight after this winter. Then it's been so dry and warm.

One of the best places around right now is Highdown Gardens and I can't believe I went up there this week without going in. A group of us walked up there from Durrington Tesco car park and when we got there I thought I deserved a cup of tea first. Of course I sat there for ages with my cup of tea and a rock cake as big as a dinner plate and didn't have time in the end to go in the garden before it was time for us to go back down. The wife of a mate of mine who was also having a rock cake told him to cut it in two and he could take the other half home to have with some chips for his dinner! Yes, it really was that large.

We've already had some replies for the Highdown vineyard tour so it looks like that will go ahead in June or July sometime and we still have a few places on the trip to Wisley on the 4th June. If you fancy either just drop us a line.

I've had a message from myallotmentplot.co.uk to say they will continue to give a 15% discount to our members so long as they enter the appropriate code at the online checkout. If you have a look at their site and fancy something but can't remember the code just drop me a line and I'll email it to you.

Monday, 4th April

Went up to the Big Smoke on Saturday although I'm not sure that name is very appropriate any more. We did go past Battersea power station but no smoke. We went up on the train on one of these "book in advance on the net" deals and I must say £5 return is a pretty good deal; cheaper than the congestion charge let alone the petrol and the parking. We met our boys there who were treating their Mum to a Mothers' Day meal, albeit a day in advance. I used to hate London; looks like a scruffy imitation compared to Paris but I'm gettting to like it more nowadays. Thankfully no one in our party wanted to do the shops so we could do touristy things like strolling down the Mall and gazing through the guarded railings and gates at the end of Downing Street towards Number 10. And when I say "guarded" I mean by 3 armed police, one carrying a machine gun. And he's not even there on a Saturday!

I do like the parks in London and we did 3 of them: Green Park, St James' and Hyde Park. Very nice they were too although part of St James' Park was closed off for some do or other at the end of the month. Our boys said they would be out of the country on the 29th and so would miss the big bash unfortunately (?!) whereas I have yet to find somewheere to go and hide from it. The allotment probably. Anyway the park bedding was very pretty and it stayed fine until we realised the time and had to make a mad dash to the nearest tube station - some distance away - as we had timed tickets; hence the cheap deals.

Back to normal yesterday and today with a bit more work on the allotment and in the back garden. I spent a fortune in the shop yesterday morning on compost and sand some of which I used today to fill up my carrot bins and it's only £1 prize money if my carrots come first, which they won't this year because I've learnt there'll be some serious competition this time round. I'm also trying to harden a few things off but there's a sneaky cold breeze at times so I'm glad I got that cold frame finished. I'll also have to prick out several lots of seedlings. All go at this time of year, isn't it?

Friday, 1st April

Imagine my frustration this morning when I got to the allotments only to find another lock on the gate so I couldn't get in, yet I could see people on the inside - Graham and quite a few blokes in boiler suits and hats. One of them explained the allotments were closed because of a significant find of old objects and they did not want the site disturbing until they had finished. I told him I did the website for the Association and asked him if it would be OK to have a look to put something on the web which he did not have a problem with so long as I didn't go wandering around on my own. He showed my some small stuff in his hand which meant nothing to me but he did say the first artefact uncovered had been a bit more significant. Graham had found it with his rotavator! So I went over to see Graham who was still there:

"As you know," said Graham, "I have a bit of trouble digging now so I brought down the rotavator. I hadn't gone far when the d... thing got stuck again. I didn't think much of it because it's always doing that nowadays; a bit fell off the other day. Anyway, I got down to see if something had got snagged in it and there was this thing over a foot long caught up. Difficult to tell what it was as it was all covered in muck but when I wiped it a bit I could see it was metal and old so I rang my daughter who's at home at the moment from a dig because of the goings on in Libya where she's working. She came down straight away and said it looked like an important find to her. She rang some people on her mobile and all this lot turned up within half an hour. They've found some other bits and pieces but my find is definitely the star atttraction. They've taken it away now but they've still got the bits and pieces."

Object similar to the one at West Tarring

One of the guys said they thought the metal object was possibly a Roman gladius and quite valuable so it had been sent to Chichester for evaluation but the other objects, though of archeological interest, were of no real value and he would lend them to us so we could ask to see them in the Stores as from Saturday as the site will be open again at the weekend. He thought the objects dated from the Roman period of dupus aprilis.

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