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Sunday, 31st August
Ilfracombe
Bet you thought I'd dropped out of circulation - well, I did for a little while in Ilfracombe on the North Devon coast. It was hilly and wet but that didn't stop us enjoying ourselves. One of the places we visited was RHS Rosemoor. It may not be quite as swish as Wisley but there's 65 acres so there's loads to see and the staff are very friendly and helpful. Like Wisley there was no evidence of slug damage in the veg plot. One of the volunteers couldn't explain why but a staff gardener said they were trying sheep fleece (no, not whole ones!) which was OK on their protected garden but on my windswept allotment I'm sure it would blow away. Anyway, here's a few pics to give you an idea of what it's like.
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We then scooted across the country along the South coast to Deal in Kent and while there paid a visit to Brogdale Farm, near Faversham, which is the home of the National Fruit Collection, the largest collection of varieties of fruit trees in the world, over 2,000 varieties of apple alone. What you see depends on the time of year and you can have a guided tour but we opted to walk round on our own with the help of a little map so missed out on any free tastings.
Part of the apple collection
Now it's back to more mundane things like the allotment and sorting out stuff to see if I've got anything suitable to put in Saturday's show as entries have to be in to Jack by Wednesday. Yesterday was all right, lovely day for pottering but what a mess today! As I write it's actually stopped raining but I think I'll forego the pleasure of squlching in the mud and catch up with all the junk mail that arrived while I was away. Great to be back.
Thursday, 14th August
I got caught by the elements on the allotment this morning. I'd gone to get some veg - spuds, cabbage, carrots, beans - and I did notice it was drizzling a bit as I dug the spuds but then after a while I realised it was doing more than drizzle and I was getting wet. I don't have a shed or greenhouse so I made for a greenhouse on a neighbouring plot. I'd never noticed before that J's greenhouse had so many panes of glass missing, including all those in the door and one in the roof! Still, by positioning myself carefully I could keep most of me relatively dry. One lady and her son carried on regardless; they must have got proper wet. Of course this afternoon when I was doing indoor stuff the weather was beautiful. Typical! But the beautiful evening was not wasted as eight of us set off from Honeysuckle Lane for a little walk on the Downs. You don't have to go far to be outside Worthing and in the lovely Sussex countryside. Even though I'm a Northener at heart I must admit that's one of the joys of living here.
Tomorrow we've got more summer visitors arriving for a while so I suppose my entries will become even more spasmodic but I will be back sometime - that's a threat.
Saturday, 9th August
I picked my first tomatoes this week, a cherry type called
Gardeners' Delight, and aptly so. They taste lovely as opposed to the
supermarket ones we've been eating which look lovely when you buy them
but go off in a day or two and taste of nothing. Things seem to be coming
thick and fast on the allotment now but my runner beans are going beany
a bit quick; perhaps we need a tad more rain. Two of my seven squash survived
the slugs to produce long runners but no flowers yet and the lettuce I
put in on the allotment is untouched so far. I have to put it down to
those organic slug pellets. We were in town this week doing some birthday
present shopping when I slipped intoWilkinson's to see if they had anything
going cheap in their gardening section. And what do you think I saw? There
on the shelves was the organic slug killer I ordered inline that took
weeks to come and what's more they had it on offer at half price! I had
to have a lie down.
We went
for a little stroll yesterday afternoon along Rustington seafront. Isn't
the traffic on the A259 appalling? It took us half an hour to get to Rustington
from Durrington but the weather held out and it was a pleasant seaside
stroll. We went into a park called Mewsbrook Park, ambled round and bought
an ice cream. I can't believe we'd never been in that park before although
we often used to go swimming in the pool nearby when the kids were little.
Is it recent? It's certainly worth a visit with your little (grand)children
- they'll love the boating lake with its ride-on swans. I did! Today we're
going to Findon Village Gardens Association's Summer Flower show in the
village hall.
Wednesday, 6th August
Bit
warm again today at times, wasn't it? I was taking no risks so undertook
nothing too strenuous. In fact my main gardening activity was the harvesting
kind, cutting a cabbage for the week and an ice-cream box each of raspberries
and blackberries. These blackberries are very picker-hostile and if you're
not careful your fingers just end up full of black-red goo and loads of
tiny needle-sharp thorns. I did mean to do some more strimming but my
strimmer has a plastic blade and within 5 minutes of starting I'd run
into something metallic and broken it. Perhaps it was nature's way of
telling me to slow down so this afternoon I went for a little stroll with
about 15 other like-minded souls. Some of them branched off and walked
all the way to the top of Highdown but I managed to resist that temptation
and called on an elderly friend for tea and buns, much more rewarding.
This evening, as the thunder cracked and the lightening flashed around
me, I planted out the last of my tobacco plants. I'd let them grow quite
big in pots assuming they will resist the marauding slugs if they're a
bit more robust. We shall see.
This Saturday I hope to go to Findon's horticultural show so the weather
had better be nice. It starts at 2.15pm., I think, and is being opened
by local radio personality, Jean Griffin. So, if you're stuck for something
to do this weekend maybe I'll see you there.
Sunday, 3rd August
Despite the miserable drizzle I have managed to get out
a bit. I planted some more winter cabbages and had my first home grown
apple, a Discovery. It wasn't quite ready but I wasn't going to leave
it on the ground for the birds and squirrels. The other windfalls I peeled
and stewed and my wife put them in the freezer for hard times. The bloke
next door has been cutting a lot of branches from the huge pine trees
at the bottom of his garden so there might not be so many squirrels in
future. Hooray!
This morning I pootled off to the allotment nice and early to get my tools
engraved by the police as part of the Allotment Watch initiative. Yes,
it was drizzling again and they were putting up some sort of gazebo contraption
when I left to keep their paperwork dry. I've not seen so many coppers
in one place since I used to go on the rampage as a football supporter
in the 60s. They'll be at Chesswood Tuesday evening and Humber Wednesday
evening, from 6 till 8. It's free but you do have to be an allotment holder
to qualify for the service. (See News page for details)
This afternoon my wife and I walked over to the vicarage for a cream tea.
My doctor and cholesterol watcher would not have been impressed but he
wasn't there and I doubt he reads these pages. Anyway it's all in a good
cause and in cases like this I'm always willing to help out. I'm all heart.