Wednesday,28th November

What miserable weather! Still at least it kept dry enough last night to walk to the North Star for our pub night. Conversation covered such topics as the Association dinner (see News page), seed swapping (Jack R came along armed with pumpkin and runner bean seeds which were eagerly accepted) and a proposed Christmas walk. Peter has proposed doing an online seed swap and when I've learnt how to do it that might be a runner - bit likes Jack's beans then. Ken has proposed a post-Christmas walk for the last Saturday of the year, the 29th December, which seems a good idea. It'll get my support as I understand it is to start from the Bull pub in Goring but watch this space for details.

Sunday, 25th November

I'm afraid gardening matters have been put on the back burner for the time being. It's not because of the frost or the rain nor the Christmas shopping (just one month to Santa) but the Association Dinner. I know it's not until next February but Ken and I have been busy making arrangements with the Berkeley and preparing invitations to distribute to all our 500 (approx.) members. With a bit of luck you should get your invitation by the end of this week - if you're a member! - but bear in mind there's only 3 of us delivering them (by hand) and they don't go to the printer's till tomorrow (Monday) so don't contact me tomorrow night saying you haven't got yours. On top of that I'm selling raffle tickets at the Strand surgery this week and next in aid of the Friends of the Strand to raise money for equipment for the surgery and patients. And I can't miss pub night on Tuesday and I've got an evening class on Monday and a walking group on Wednesday........................Good job I haven't got to go to work as well!

Friday, 23rd November

I'm afraid there was no getting away from that little job of improving the insulation in the loft yesterday but I did get to the allotment this morning. It wasn't really fit to do anything on the plot although I did pull a few carrots for dinner, which we reminds me: we went out to dinner at a rather posh restaurant last night - my wife had got hold of some vouchers, bless her - and the meal and service were very good, except why is it that carrots out are never as sweet and tasty as those you grow yourself? How do they cook the flavour out? Or do they have the same supplier as our local supermarket? Anyway, be that as it may, I kept off the soil today and just got on with some seasonal tidying-up jobs. Ths grass keeps growing so I gave the paths a haircut, having replaced the broken blade in my strimmer. Oh, here's a tip if you're not familiar with battery strimmers: it's best to diconnect the battery before attempting to change the blade! Then I got on with turning a compost heap. I know I slag off my big plastic one because it comes apart as it gets full but it seems to be producing some decent stuff this time so perhaps I'll try and put it together again when I've emptied it. Just hope I don't get trapped inside it like I did last time.

Wednesday, 21st November

I actually got some gardening done this morning - I mowed the back lawn. All right, I know it was far too wet after all that rain but it was either that or a little job in the loft. Well, the sun was out and it wasn't actually raining, so no contest really. And I stood just as good a chance of missing the doorbell or the phone as in the loft. To be honest it didn't mow the green sward brilliantly but the hover mower hoovered up the leaves far better than I could have done. What's more it shreds them and mixes them with the grass cuttings so I can just tip the lot on the compost heap. And with the cheeky little robin darting here and there, the mahonia in bloom and the bright red dogwood shining in front of the white birch with the darker red smoke bush behind it was a pleasure to be out there. I almost forgot my lousy cold. In the afternoon I went for a walk in the Durrington area and Whitbeam Woods and didn't see a spot of rain. Of course it did rain again later but by then I was safely tucked up indoors.

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Tuesday, 20th November

What joy! The microwave threw in the towel at breakfast this morning. Have you ever tried eating cold porridge? I don't recommend it. Why are these devices only capable of lasting one month longer than the guarantee? We must be on our third or fourth by now and each one has lasted slightly less well than its predecessor. On the up side I have at last got round to digging up my begonias and they are now feeding the compost heap; that last touch of frost did for them good and proper. I haven't been able to do much else as the rainy season has moved in, quite dramatically with thunder and lightning last night. Hope it's not like that tonight as I've got to go to the AGM and hand out some stuff about the Association dinner: £20 a head for a 3-course meal at the Berkeley Hotel - bargain!

Sunday, 18th November

I'm getting a bit behind with my gardening. It's not my fault. Just when my lousy cold seems to be taking the slightest turn for the better (after 4 boxes of tissues, a packet of Lockets, half a packet of Fisherman's Friend and goodness knows how many Lemsips), the weather takes a turn for the worse. If it's not frost, it's rain. I have tried, honest. On one occassion I'd only been mowing the back lawn for a few minutes when the rain came down. By the time I'd reeled in the cable and put the mower back in the shed, the rain had practically stopped but by then the grass was far too wet to mow. And one day I took my supercharged battery-powered strimmer to the allotment only for the blade to brake while I was working on a slightly overgrown patch. But at this time of year you've got to expect bad weather and I suppose we've been pretty lucky really, so I shall have to gird up my loins and have another go. No matter how I'm feeling, I'm determined to make it to the AGM on Tuesday night. See you there, I hope.

Tuesday, 13th November

Germ

I suppose it had to happen sooner or later at this time of year. My wife went down with a cold over a week ago and is still suffering amd now I've got the dreaded man-flu. I put it down to too much time spent in over-heated buildings such as shops, retaurants and hotels when it's rather parky outside. A couple of us have been trolling the town looking for somewhere suitable to hold our annual Association Dinner and this hasn't helped. The main areas are very warm but function rooms which are not at present being used have all heating off so it's hot/cold/hot/hot/cold. All this has taken its toll and left me wide open to attack from my wife's viruses so this page might be affected, but keep an eye on the News page and the Home page for news of the dinner. It'll probably be in February at around £20. Yes, that's something else we discovered: you can't get much for under £20! For loads of info' come along to the AGM next Tuesday, 20th in the Gordon Room (Stoke Abbott Road), 6.45pm. Refreshments available.

Monday, 12th November

I woke up this morning to discover that Jack Frost had tentatively dipped his toe in my garden but it was only a ground frost from what I could see. I had been warned by the weathermen but they forecasted an overnight low of -2°C so yesterday afternoon I was moving all sorts of baskets and containers with their tenderish contents into the greenhouse. I even lit the greenhouse paraffin lamp. It was something of a disappointment this morning to see it had not even touched the begonias in the ground - I needn't have wasted that fuel. Still if it touched some of those garden pests which have been managing to overwinter in recent years it will have done a bit of good. Much more of this and I shall have to turn on the central heating.

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Sunday, 11th November

Seems like only yesterday I was saying how beautiful the autumn leaves were looking this year - but that was when they were on the trees. They don't look nearly so lovely strewn all over my lawn. My green-thinking wife has been helping, raking them up and putting them in bin bags to rot down and make valuable leaf mould but I'm not nearly so meticulous. I just go over them with the lawn mower which chops them and hoovers them up along with all the grass clippings. I then tip the lot on the compost heap where I figure the mixture will rot down with the rest. As it looks as if I shall be mowing at least until the last leaf as fallen, I reckon I can save time and effort by killing two birds with one stone. What do you do with your leaves?

Wednesday, 7th November

I had a surprise when I walked up the garden yesterday. I'm used to finding spent rockets littering the place after Guy Fawkes Night but this one had come down with such force it had imbedded itself in the vegetable plot. Thank goodness I wasn't doing a spot of late-night weeding or something - it might have been a bit warm down my neck! Today I returned to the task of hacking back the shrubs and that's when I noticed it, coming from next door, carpetting the ground to a depth of 6 inches and starting to climb up through my eleagnus - rampant ivy. What to do? I could try ripping it all up but what an effort and any bits I miss will grow again. Or I could give it a touch of Roundup weedkiller but then there's a danger it will kill the shoots on my neighbour's side as well. Bit of a poser really.

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Monday, 5th November

Bonfire Night. Well, it used to be. This year there seem to have been bonfire parties for at least the last 3 nights although I don't think fireworks started as early as in some years. It was our Association's Pumpkin Parade last night with barbecue and sausages but I'm afraid I wasn't there. "And why not?" I hear you cry. Unfortunately I was fast asleep on our living room sofa; you've no idea how tiring all this typing is. I did manage a few other things as well: this morning I was digging the allotment again and then this afternoon I embarked with my wife on that other great seasonal activity - Christmas shopping. What joy! It was rendered more complicated by family birthdays this month and we couldn't even grab a coffee in M&S as all the tables were taken. Not to be foiled we hared off to the Portland Café - it was shut! At 3.00pm. What are they playing at? So we set off back to the car and saw that Poppyfield Café was also shut. Still, it probably saved me a fiver which I can put towards the next lot of Christmas shopping.

Saturday, 3rd November

So is this the Indian Summer we were told we might get? It's certainly been very pleasant these last few days and a pleasure to be outside. I ventured to the allotment again with the intention of getting on with my digging because here, once the winter rainy season starts, it can go on till March and as I've got quite heavy soil it then becomes impossible to do anything with. So at least I had good intentions but I'd only done about 2 rows when a chap from a couple of allotments came over and started chatting........ and he's very good at it. No sooner had he wandered away when a lady, a relative newcomer, came over and asked me all sorts of things as well as bringing me up to date with her career change news. But sometimes that's what being an allotmenteer is all about, isn't it, being sociable and getting on with people. And I can't moan about it as I did come home with a cabbage from someone else's allotment. No, they GAVE it to me. I know I sometimes go there for a little bit of peace and quiet in the open air but it's still nice to have a chat from time to time and share our experiences and produce.

Thursday, 1st November

I think I must have had one too many on Tuesday night at our monthly gathering as I left my green jumper at the pub and had to go and retrieve it yesterday. It wasn't all bad though, another new face and then another couple joined us on the Dutch bulbfields trip next Spring (see News page for details). Last night 4 of us tried the restaurant at Northbrook college. It's certainly good value at £12 for a 4-course meal + coffee and mints and the food was delicious but you do have to be patient with the service as the waiters are all students and most of them last night were 1st Year students who had only done it once before. Just you try serving vegetables with a spoon and fork between the fingers of one hand! Still, we had a good evening. Then this morning I did a bit more digging and weeding on the allotment as the weather was so lovely. I decided to lift the fleece and see how my remaining butternut squash were getting on. I'd thoughtfully placed each one on a brick to keep it clean - bad move. The concave surface of the bricks proved a perfect refuge for hungry slugs and one squash had been gnawed clean in two with each half looking like a chewed apple core, so I picked the rest and brought them home. Well, they do say you learn by your mistakes.

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