|
Wednesday, 30th July
Spiders!
When will I remember my greenhouse is crawling with them? The official
occupants of the greenhouse are my tomato plants so I'm in there every
day watering, feeding or nipping out sideshoots (don't they grow if you
turn your back on them?) and every day I open the greenhouse door and
get a cobweb right across my face as I walk in. You'd think I'd remember,
wouldn't you? But I never do. On the whole, I'm in favour of spiders -
anything that eats wasps gets my vote. So I usually like birds too but
at the moment the blackbirds in my garden are really annoying me as they
massacre my Discovery apples when they're just weeks from ripening. And
there's nothing 
really
I can do about it. Having saved them from the ravages of the Codling moth
with my pheromone traps I now have to watch the birds eat them. Well,
I don't actually see them at it very often or I'd be out there; I just
see the mess they've made.
The blackberries and loganberry on my allotment came to nothing this year
but those in my garden are just coming into production and we had our
first blackberries this week. Mrs N made some jam in readiness for the
show with them but I don't know what I'm going to have to put in the show;
my big cabbages are splitting now and I've only just put the next lot
in and I'm not going to dig up all my spuds just to see if there's any
fit for the show. Perhaps I'll have to settle for this year's fun category
- the odd-shaped vegetable. Schedules are in the stores now or you can
even download one from this site (see Events page).
On a lighter note it was pub night last night but we were a bit thinnner
on the ground this month, barbecue season and holidays time, I suppose.
I had to drink for absent friends. The things I do for this Association.
Thursday, 24th July
Had to take a day or two off, I'm afraid, to refresh my
Northernness by going to Trent Bridge to see Notts play Yorkshire - at
cricket, that is. I must admit it is nice sitting around in the sun doing
not very much apart from talking with old school chums and watching a
bit of cricket. And at £13 for a day's play it certainly gives better
value than football at about £30 for 90 minutes.
Back to the allotment today and what do I find? Blackfly all over the
runner beans and not a single lettuce left! So much for the grit, so when
I planted some replacement lettuce this morning I scattered around some
of my new organic,
wildlife-friendly slug pellets. Surely that should do the trick?
I shall have to give the blackfly another spray with the old soapy water.
Even if it doesn't kill them I should have the cleanest blackfly on the
site (whitefly?).
I also tackled the weeds with a bit of enthusiastic hoeing. I don't think
it will have done my back much good as the hoe glanced off the concrete
earth giving the surface a somewhat polished look. How do the weeds manage
to grow so well in it?
Monday, 21st July
Went on the Wisley trip on Saturday and the weather smiled
on us - one 10-minute shower on the way while we were inside the bus and
that was it. The trip is obviously very popular as we filled the 53-seater
coach and having been I can see why. I last went 2 years ago but Wisley
has certainly changed, the most striking new feature being the huge glasshouse
and, yes, I did buy the T-shirt, a bargain at the greatly reduced price
of £1.50. My wife won't let me wear it anywhere but, apart from
that, a bargain. The journey took just over an hour and Ken had got little
stick-on badges for us all so we could walk straight in and then everyone
had the day to themselves until 4.30pm when we set off for home.
It's difficult to say which bit I enjoyed most, there are so many different
things to see and admire but I think I have to plump for the glasshouse
with its 4 different climate zones. If you've ever been to the Eden Project
you'll know what I mean. But we enjoyed wandering round the grounds noting
down the names of a few flowers to try and the model allotment garden,
immaculate and very lacking in slug damage. There was a notice saying
they were trying a slug repellent called "Slugout" so I'll have
to look it up. My organic pellets arrived today at last so I shall have
to give them a try as the grit did not save my lettuce, I'm afraid.
In this short space it's difficult to do the gardens justice so when I
find time and get round to it I'll put up a few pictures to give you an
idea. If you were there and took some you'd like to share with us, send
them in and I'll put them up.
Wednesday, 16th July
Recently I have been engaged in extreme weeding, you know,
the down on your hands and knees type. I must admit this potentially tedious
task has been facilitated by my little weeding fork and my "Dad the
Weed Slayer" kneeling mat (both pictured above). Who said children
(in their 20s!) can't be thoughtful when it comes to buying presents?
And I don't want any of that cynical "I bet it was the cheapest present
he could find" rubbish as I have seen even cheaper versions of it
on sale.
The most recent beneficiaries of my weeding activities have been the onions
(definitely dodgy using a hoe here) and my runner beans. We had the first
pickings this week. I only noticed they were ready when I went down for
another trug of raspberries and a cabbage football. Don't think there'll
be any more raspberries till the next variety come through now. I also
finished picking my gooseberries which were a bit of a disappointment
this year. They were plenty big enough but there didn't seem to be nearly
as many of them even though the bushes are bigger this year. And pricklier!
I've also been planting some more slug bait, aka lettuce. I've surrounded
them with grit so we'll see what happens. If they all take we'll be eating
lettuce till Christmas.
Sunday, 13th July
A busy weekend horticulturally by my standards. Yesterday
morning my wife and I headed for Boundstone School to deliver her fruit
cake for our Association's table in the intersociety challenge part of
the Lancing Horticultural Society's 70th Anniversary Show before doing
our usual shopping run then in the afternoon back to Boundstone to see
the results. Our display is pictured above - we 
didn't
win but I suppose it was fitting that Lancing did given it was their big
event.
This afternoon it was the Open Garden Day for Palatine School and Oak
Grove College. We visited both and it's marvellous what they do with the
kids there. The cream tea wasn't bad either. Of course, Palatine School
garden is quite established now but Oak Grove is beginning to look quite
mature in parts and it's only been there 3 years. Some parts of the grounds
are either still being developed or redeveloped as the pupils learn garden
construction techniques as well as planting and tending. If you think
you could spare a bit of time helping to look after the gardens contact
Jennie Rollings at tjrollings@gmail.com.
Your offer will be greatly appreciated.
For pictures of both events see our News page.
Thursday, 10th July
I suppose those last couple of days of rain were inevitable
really; it's only last week I surrounded my half-eaten squash plant with
spent coffee granules to protect it from the slugs ( a tip from that Gardeners'
World magazine I bought). Of course the rain washed away the coffee and
I now have a fully eaten squash plant. Time for drastic measures: I surrounded
the remaining two plants and my courgettes with Chichester grit, bought
from our Stores. Let's see them slither through that.
I also dug up some potatoes and a cabbage for dinner - what a beauty!
A red-carder, I reckon, but they're not doing cabbages at the Lancing
Show this weekend and there's no way it would stand without splitting
until our show in September, so we ate about a tenth of it tonight. We
also had some of those blackcurrants with some squares of melon and mango
sorbet. Lovely and refreshing.
I don't know when I'll get to the allotment next. I'm busy tomorrow then
it's the Lancing Anniversary Show (70 years) on Saturday and Palatine
School and Oak Grove College Open Garden Day on Sunday. I've got to go
to the show as my wife has entered her fruit cake which means going in
the morning to set up then again in the afternoon to pick up the cake
and prize. Ho! Ho!
Tuesday, 8th July
I got round to planting my leeks today. For the past couple
of months the ground's been too hard to make any holes for them. I suppose
we were due a drop of rain. I went to Southampton at the weekend and it
really sloshed it down there so imagine my surprise when I returned to
Little Snoring on Sunday evening to find the streets dry, more or less,
no big puddles anyway. Still it's done its best to make up for it since
and we did need the rain but why the wind? Is it ever going to stop? My
beautiful hanging basket has been massacred, the chain's broke and it
now rests on our front doorstep.
I pootled down to the allotment this morning to inspect the damage to
my runner bean scaffolding - there was no damage! I couldn't believe it
and what's more my first beans in evidence. I then spent my time doing
what's best on the allotment, picking things - black currants (Ken's not
mine but he won't mind, he's got far too many), gooseberries, raspberries
and loganberries (all mine). Guess what my wife spent the afternoon doing
while I planted my leeks. (Wonder which we'll have tonight.) I was also
tending my tomatoes when I noticed 2 of my Gourmande tomatoes in the greenhouse
about 4ft tall have suddenly got the droops and collapsed. The same thing's
happened to my blackberry on the allotment. I hope I didn't use any of
that dodgy manure. (See News page)
Friday 4th July
I got round to digging up a couple of roots of potatoes yesterday. The whites are fine but the reds aren't ready yet. I know the reds are Desiree because I bought them myself at the stores but I've no idea what the whites are. A farmer uncle gave them to me to try and I forgot what he said they are so I rang him up to ask him. Trouble is he puts in so many different kinds of spud he couldn't remember which ones he'd given me. I'm sure they'll be fine ........ IF they're not affected by my manure. I got a phone call from someone purporting to be a reporter on the Argus asking me if I knew about the story of horse manure being contaminated with chemicals and causing damage to crops on which it is used. I had to tell him "No" but since then I have been asking others and they have heard of it. One said it's a nationwide problem and all over the internet and another was prepared to show me crop damage which he reckoned was a down to chemically contaminated manure, not the manure we regularly have delivered to West Tarring I hasten to add so perhaps that's OK, I don't know. But don't let me scrare you, just watch this space for further news.
Wednesday, 2nd July
There
I was on the allotment this morning pruning my gooseberries (yes, late
again!) when I felt something wet land on me. It's been so long since
we had any rain that at first I didn't realise that's what it was. Still
it was only a bit of drizzle but after about 10 minutes of it I realised
I was getting wet so I headed for Ian's allotment to take shelter in his
greenhouse. By the time I got there it had stopped! That didn't stop us
from loitering in his greenhouse admiring his tomatoes and chilli peppers
before going outside and admiring his runner beans, peas, potatoes..........
He starts very early in the season so his stuff is much further on than
mine (and better, I have to admit) and he could put some stuff in the
Lancing Anniversary Show, I reckon, but there's no way any of my produce
will be ready by 12th July, except my lovely cabbages and cabbages are
not a category in the show!! I'll go along though to support our association
against all the other local societies and have a good nose round. It's
being held at Boundstone School (College/Academy?). Busy weekend that
because the Sunday (13th) is Oak Grove College's Open Garden Day (The
Boulevard, Worthing) and I want to see that because they have a very good
horticultural reputation. It's marvellous what the students there, who
all have learning difficulties, can achieve. This is the first time they
have opened their gardens to the public and they are opening them at the
same time as the Palatine School as part of the National Garden Scheme
from 11.00am till 5.00pm and the £3.50 ticket (free for children)
gives entry to both gardens. There will be refreshments and plants stalls.
See you there.