Tuesday, 29th May

Pub night at the North Star again and nice to see the odd new face, well, not that odd really. Everybody seemed to have been on holiday with stories of trips to Paris, Cyprus and Austria. Got us talking as to whether we should organise a group trip to somewhere in addition to our annual Wisley trip. What about the Dutch bulb fields or Harlow Carr, the RHS gardens in Yorkshire? Let us know what you think and I'll see if I can get something put in the Plotholder as well.

Tuesday, 15th May

Feeling a bit under the weather.

Monday, 14th May

I did a bit of pricking out in the greenhouse this morning, 4 trays of nicotiana. I know that might seem a bit excessive considering I don't have a very big garden but I use them on the allotment as part of a cunning plan. I plant them among my runner beans because they are very attractive to bees and I hope that once attracted to the tobacco plants they will also pollenate my bean flowers. Seemed to work last year even though many said it wasn't a good year for runners because it was too dry. I've just had some of last year's for my dinner this evening. This afternoon I was on the allotment planting this year's runner bean plants which I've been hardening off at home. How long do you think it will take for the slugs to find them? I'll keep you posted.

Sunday, 13th May

Restricted to indoor gardening today though it did brighten up later. I thought I'd take advantage of the wife's short absence to use the kitchen as a potting shed this morning and I had squash plants, pots, trays and seed compost all over the worktops when the telephone rang. Needless to say my hands were covered in compost and I half hoped they'd ring off before I could get to the phone but no, it was my persistent sister. I was still on the phone half an hour later when my wife came home to find her kitchen transformed into a mucky mess. We're still talking - I don't think she was even surprised really. I did intend to do some work in the greenhouse later but the phone went again from someone wanting me to have a look at their computer and we all know how long these 5-minute jobs take. It's still running a level 1 diagnostic (!?!) even as I type so I'll abandon hope of any more horticultural undertakings for today and get myself round there to sort it out. 'Bye.

Saturday, 12th May

This evening I went along to the Charmandean Centre for the talk "All about Vegetables" given by John Trimm of the National Vegetable Society. Blimey, that bloke sure knows his onions - and leeks, carrots, parsnips, etc. The talk was slanted towards growing for showing and although I'm not much of an exhibitionist myself I must admit I was riveted. The lengths these people will go to to impress the judges (about 5 - 10 ft in the case of parsnips), powdering onions' bottoms, ordering tons of sand for the carrots, digging tank trenches for the runner beans. Plus, he's a natural; he could make council meetings sound interesting - brilliant! And he did give out some useful information on varieties and care that anyone would benefit from as well as answering all sorts of questions from the floor. I would give you more details but unfortunately I was lumbered honoured with the task of operating the slide projector so I couldn't take any notes. But panic not - I'm sure Jacqui will do a brilliant write-up of the talk in the next "Plotholder" which I will copy into the Plotholder section of this site.
For more pictures see the Photo call page.

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Friday, 11th May

Well, I hate to do it but it had to be done. Today I pulled out my wallflowers. They were still a splash of colour but I have to admit they were past their best, so out they came. But as one thing comes out another goes in; today I planted my young summer cabbage plants, not in the same place, of course, since we all know wallflowers and cabbage are part of the same crucifer family and shouldn't follow one another as we might get a build-up of clubroot. And I know what I'm talking about here because my cabbages took first prize in last year's show. All right, there were only 2 entries in that particular class but you still have to win it. Anyway the wallflowers were in my garden at home whereas the cabbages went in on the allotment. While there I also took the opportunity to earth up my potatoes and that's when I saw them - the carrot seeds I'd given up on are germinating at last. Must be all that rain we've been having but I'm not going to talk about rain again because it's not stopped raining since I mentioned it last time. Instead I'll give a plug for the talk tomorrow, "All about Vegetables" at the Charmandean Centre. See you there.

Tuesday, 8th May

I say, wet stuff! Did you get any? We did but I still managed to plant some begonias and lettuce between the spots and, let's face it, that's all it was really - spots. Nothing decent that's going to make my spuds swell to the size of footballs. Much more striking was the accompanying drop in temperature, no more T-shirt and shorts on the allotment to the relief of everybody else. As a precaution I'm also bringing some things I was hardening off back into the greenhouse at night.

On a different note you'll have noticed I managed to move the website to its new home after a bit of tinkering and ringing Scotland, probably at 5 quid a nano-second. If you didn't notice, how did you get here?

Sunday, 6th May

Hoorah! The butternut squash seeds which it seems I sowed weeks ago are finally showing signs of germinating. Other signs have been less welcome, like the appearance of powdery mildew on one of my apple trees which I shall have to eradicate pretty smartly. Hopefully by the time you read this I will have snipped it off and disposed of it (the mildew, not the tree).

mildew - loves dry, warm weather

If you like, you can spray and I am not totally averse to using a bit of spray myself on things like my roses, fuchsias and lilies but when it's something I hope to eat I'd rather play safe. If I want to eat fruit and veg that's been sprayed with everything under the sun I can go to the supermarket.

Wednesday, 2nd May

HELP!I'm afraid to say that, for a little while at any rate, I may not be able to update the site so regularly because we are moving. When I say WE I mean the web site not my family. Problem is I have no idea how to do it so I've got to learn and I am now at an age when the words "old dogs" and "new tricks" spring to mind. Up until now the site has been hosted free of charge by my ISP, Orange, on my personal web space which has been fine while it's just been a hobby and provisional Association site but it is now to become the official site of the Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association. The site needs its own identity and will be hosted by a company called Easyspace. Question is: How do I move it from its present location to Easyspace's servers when I understand nothing about FTP, CGI, SQL, etc., etc.? If you can help get in touch via the "Contact us" button. Thank you very much.

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Tuesday, 1st May

Happy May Day! So how's your seed sowing going? Mine's been mainly OK but with some flops. Cosmos, calendula, courgette, leeks and lettuce have all come up well; there's no sign yet of spuds, squash, carrot or runner beans but I'm not worried as I wasn't very early getting them in. But petunia and lobelia, oh dear! They looked not bad until I moved them from the house windowsill into the greenhouse and they then gradually disappeared. Too hot I thought but then I saw a courgette and the surfinias had definitely been nibbled so I put down some little blue pellets - just to see. OK, I know it's not very green or environmentally friendly but very little wildlife apart from slugs and snails actually gets into my greenhouse. And what did I find? Dead wee slugs in the trays of has-been lobelia. And they didn't leave slime trails, crafty devils.

I know I said earlier that the cell sowing of parsnips had only been a partial success but they seem to have transplanted and taken OK. Will they grow downwards though, that's the question. Of those I sowed directly into the ground, nary a sign as yet.

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