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Thursday, 29th May
Good
turnout at the pub on Tuesday night - even more new faces and one lady
came with a load of aloe vera plants for anyone who wanted one. She was
very popular. I'm surprised the bar staff didn't do us for trading as
one idiot barman rebuked one of us for having brought their own peanuts.
I ask you - it's not as if we'd brought our own beer! It was a very nice
evening with people discussing future possible trips and other social
events. What started out as an original idea by our Hon Sec, Terry, has
blossomed and it's something my wife and I now look forward to every month.
Meanwhile, back on the allotment, I've been tying up the remains of my
wind-ravaged beans and sowing a few new ones as replacements for the terminally
poorly. Fleece wasn't such a good idea as a windbreak 
as
it acts like a sail and catches the wind, billowing out, tearing and pulling
up supports before wrapping itself round the beans and their poles then
damaging them. Still, it seemed a good idea at the time. Next time I'll
use a material that filters rather than traps the wind.
I also made a final sowing of parsnips as only about 4 had come up and
3 of those are clustered together so I'll have to throw out 2 of them.
I was pleased to see some of my strawberries were ripe and picked a dozen
or so to surprise my wife aho loves them. I wasn't so pleased to see the
birds, slugs and woodlice had discovered them first. I have now covered
them which should at least deter the birds. The words "bolt"
and "stable door" spring to mind.
Saturday, 24th May
Certainly
been a bit draughty these last few days. It still is, I might add, and
getting draughtier. When I went to the allotment yesterday and saw my
once proud, dark green runner beans I could have wept. They'd been blasted
and broken by the wind, their leaves all withered and torn and they looked
very sorry for themselves. "Time for some remedial action,"
I thought but all I had to hand was some old fleece and a few bricks so
I draped the fleece over them and the bottom of the frame and anchored
it to the ground with the bricks to stop it blowing away. Unfortunately
I had nothing to fasten it to the frame with so I had to make a few more
holes in it and push canes through.
At least it hasn't blown all the bees away. It was a pleasure to see so
many especially on my soft fruit - perhaps I can expect a 
bumper
crop of plump strawberries and raspberries later on if the birds and the
slugs don't get them first! I can net against the birds but slugs are
a bigger problem. At Chelsea this week they said human hair clippings
act as a good deterrent but how do you stop them blowing away? I couldn't
even stop the wind blowing it off my head in the first place.
I haven't been to the allotment today as there seems little point in watering
if we're going to get a drenching tonight and the next few days, as the
weathermen have promised. On the other hand these mild nights have made
hardening off a bit easier. I don't have to keep fetching things back
into the greenhouse at night - but I have with some, not because of the
cold but because the wind was damaging some of the larger leaved plants
like courgettes. Not for nothing is it called Windy Worthing.
Tuesday, 20th May
Well, what a sorry sight my beans are. I don't think it's just the drop in temperature that's upset them but the biting wind which seems to have withered their leaves. Not much I can do about it now, just keep on watering and hope they'll recover. I suppose the extra rows of carrots and cabbages are OK but I'm leaving them under the fleece for the time being. And they say it's going to be cold again tonight. All those plants I was hardening off - begonias, courgettes, noctiana, squash - they've all gone back in the greenhouse for the night. There's no rush, although I did put a load of young pelargoniums in pots in front of the house. Sometimes the heat percolating through the wall gives them a bit of extra protection. That's what I'm hoping anyway.
Sunday, 18th May
Sorry I've not been around for a while. I've not been skiving; in fact I've been so busy I haven't really had time to do much writing. I bought some fleece, sowed another row of carrots and covered them with the fleece to keep the carrot fly off. I put up a climbing frame for my runner beans and put in 40 bean plants. I also put in a row of cabbage plants and covered them to discourage the pigeons and the cabbage white butterflies. Then I trimmed the edges of my plot. At home I mowed the lawns, sowed some flower seed, moved the orange tree, planted up some containers and baskets, potted on some seedlings and have been hardening off my courgettes and nicotiana. That's besides fitting in things like shopping, going for a walk, eating out and visiting friends. How do these people who work fit it all in? (You don't have to tell me - I did work once upon a time but I don't have a very good memory so I forget how I managed.) Tomorrow I was intending to plant out some fibrous rooted begonias but instead I expect I'll be inspecting the damage wrought by tonight's predicted cold snap. Just when I thought we were safe! What a change from last weekend.
Tuesday, 13th May
I
don't know, you go away for a couple of days and when you get back the
garden looks totally different. When I left, the apple trees were festooned
with blossom, now it's all gone and the runner beans (still in pots) have
grown about a foot. I had to hotfoot it to the allotment and put up a
frame for them this morning. This meant lashing out £1.95 for 10
fresh 7ft canes; the 8ft ones were over 3 quid! How can they justify over
a pound for an extra foot? I mowed the front lawn before I left as well
then today I had to mow it again. But I suppose it's that time of year
when everthing is happening very fast and the more boring seasonal chores
confront us. (What chores? Oh, ta, I'll have a pint! ---Very old joke)
The chores I'm particularly thinking of are mowing and watering as that's
what I've been up to but I suppose you could add hoeing and one or two
others. Still when I take all before me at this year's show it will all
have been worth it, won't it?
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Monday 12th May
And where have I been these last few days, I sense you wondering.
Norwich. The Norfolk 2008 Garden Show to be precise. Phew! It was hot.
The county show ground does have a few shady trees in it but for the most
part you are exposed to the blazing sun. I suppose it was warm here too
this weekend; up there it was 27°C officially, but the bloke at our
B&B swore it was over 30°. Who am I to argue over a degree or
two? The show itself was really like a big plant sale although I actually
expected it to be a lot bigger given the large venue. We bought a few
plants and put some in our youngest's garden while we were up there and
I bought a few things to bring back, including a black elder. I wonder
if you can make elderflower champagne from it.
There were some displays and refreshment stalls too but the section I
enjoyed most was the floral arrangement competition, in particular the
miniatures. The theme for there was "cocktails" and I found
them very imaginative. Anyway, I include a few pictures so you can judge
for yourselves.
Thursday, 8th May
Crikey! What a scare I had on the allotment today. There
I was, quietly minding my own business, forking over my weed bed, when
I heard this buzzing noise. I looked up and there was a swarm of bees
only a few feet away and flying just above head height - towards me! Hero
that I am, I legged it, although only as far as the next plot because
he's got a shed where we took refuge until they'd moved on. A shortage
of bees, they say. Well, not today on West Tarring allotments!
I have got a few jobs done in the home garden (relatively bee-free), mainly
potting on (up?) and I've planted up my greenhouse with Gardener's Delight
cherry tomatoes and Gourmande giant tomatoes. It's been getting incredibly
hot in there, which I dare say the strlitzia is enjoying, so I've been
leaving the door open as well as the window. I suppose I should paint
it with Coolglass or something or some of my things in pots and trays
are going to wither somewhat - runner beans, nicotiana, courgette seedlings,
etc. Much more and I might start to wilt a bit myself - us Northeners
are not used to this heat.
Tuesday, 6th May
Glorious,
isn't it? Days of unbroken sunshine. I think it's because I put some stuff
on the lawn which said "Apply when rain is expected." I'm still
waiting and refusing to cut the grass until it's rained and dried. But
nature's wonderful, isn't it and all this warmth and sunshine has brought
things on a treat, the apple trees in particular looking very pretty,
laden with blossom. I've got loads of things in flower in my garden right
now apart from the apple trees (as I'm sure you have): tamarisk, rowan,
bluebells, primroses, aquilegias, forget-me-not, hebe, heather, choisya,
cornflower, aubretia, weigela, camellia, pelargonium, pansies, alyssum
and so on. And what joy! My runner beans in pots are surfacing at last
- unlike my parsnips which I've now given up on. I worry about my apples
too as they always get the dreaded maggot (codling moth) but I refuse
to spray as I want to eat the apples without getting poisoned. So yesterday
I bought a codling moth trap. You hang it in the tree where it lures the
male moths to a sticky end so they can't fertilise the females who will
then not produce the maggots. Well, that's the theory, though it does
say it's not much more than a monitor really to enable you to see how
big a moth problem you've got. So I shall have to wait and see how big
a one I've got. I love this waiting and seeing business in this weather.
Sunday, 4th May
Well, what can I say? Two more lovely gardening days - even Mrs N came to work on the allotment yeaterday. I put in my red onion sets which I've been holding back as an experienced grower told me they tend to bolt if you put them in too early. I've also been doing a fair bit of pricking out (240 tobacco plants in the end and I don't even smoke) and potting up, including quite a heavy bay tree. One of the less enjoyable tasks at this time of year, for me at any rate, is hardening plants off, taking them out of the greenhouse every morning and putting them all back in at night. I've been doing that for a while now so thankfully it's got to the stage where I can leave some of them out all night unless they forecast a cold night. Any more of this warmth and we'll have to put the lighter duvet on.
Friday, 2nd May
Wow! Two lovely sunshine filled days. And aren't these lighter evenings a treat? I can't pretend I've filled all my time with gardening activities but I have got on with a few things at last. I've sown my courgettes and a row of carrots, earthed up my potatoes, started filling in my bean trench (hurray!) and hardening off my fuchsias for display later on and tidied up the paths round my allotment which were looking rather unkempt. I couldn't do too much because my battery strimmer only last 20 minutes but it does look a bit better now. The council have been taking care of the rats too. Apparently they've been dealing with them on the allotments for some time so if you find any dead ones, don't be surprised, just be grateful someone else is taking care of them.