Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Sunday, 27th September

Nothing much done on the allotment, I'm afraid, apart from a bit of watering but I have been busy at home. Night temperatures have been a tad cooler of late so I decided it was time to move a few things back into the greenhouse. Some of them are now quite heavy, like our orange tree, so it's an effort for one man and his barrow. On top of that they have viscious thorns in the most unexpected places which you really notice when you're manhandling the tree into the barrow. I didn't realise just how heavy it had become - and no, I hadn't watered it! - until I lifted it into the barrow. OK it was a strain but the worst bit was when I tried to wheel it away - the metal handles on the barrow just buckled and gave way. Thank goodness for neighbours with wheelbarrows.

I had an interested(?) spectator to this in my garden - a small hedgehog. I don't know what he's doing out in the daytime but we see him almost every day now. One of our neighbours said she thought he wasn't very well so she's been giving him a saucer of milk. No wonder he's not been looking well! If you have a hedgehog in your garden please don't give it milk; it's not good for them. Water for drinking and if you want to give it something to eat to make sure it has enough energy to survive its winter dormancy then cat food is about the best thing you can give it. Look after our hedgehogs as they are gardeners' friends. They eat slugs for one thing and anything that eats slugs is a friend of mine.

Tuesday, 22nd September

This morning I managed to slip a visit to the allotment into my overcrowded schedule for an hour or so. Otherwise horticultural activity has been restricted to my own garden with seasonal jobs such as removing spent flowers/plants (some 4ft tobacco plants - anyone want the leaves for roll-ups?), pruning back overgrown evergreen shrubs and planting Spring bulbs: narcissi, tulips, crocus, allium, snakeshead fratillary and so one. They were a job lot someone got me as part of a birthday present. Unfortunately the ground in my garden is so rock hard I couldn't get a spade in so they've all been planted in containers, apart from the crocuses as I managed to delve out a small patch for them - they don't go in so deep as the others.

I saw Jenny Cuer-Greene, President and Chair of Worthing Horticultural Society recently and promised her I would plug some of their events, so here goes:

• Saturday, 10th October it's the Quiz Evening, complete with Ploughman's Supper (ham or cheese), bring your own alcohol if required. All this for £6 a head, tickets from Jenny. Venue Broadwater Parish Rooms, kick-off 7.00pm.
• Monday, 23rd November, 6.45pm: Supper, Demonstration and Shopping Experience at Haskins Roundstone Garden Centre. Meal is a 2-course Christmas-type dinner. Entry by ticket only, available from Jenny at £12.50.
• Monday, 30th November: Tom Wye gives a talk on The History of Broadwater Cemetery, starting 7.30pm at Offington Parish Church.

For more information on any of the above and contact details see our Events page.

On the allotment today it was the usual routine: pick the beans, raspberries and courgettes (a squash as well today - our first one of the season), some tidying up of straggly growths (the blackberries and loganberries don't really appreciate what you're doing for them and they're very prickly!) and watering, concentrating mainly on the runner beans and courgettes. Then it was time to go home for lunch. This afternoon we went out to a local garden centre to spend some vouchers someone had given me. I bought some more containers as mine are now all full of bulbs.

Thursday, 17th September

Earlier on in the week I did something different - I went on a cruise. That might be a slight exaggeration as I actually spent a day on the paddle steamer, The Waverley. 437 of us set off from Worthing pier at 9.00am and I didn't get home till 10.30pm. So where on earth did we go? First to the Isle of Wight where some passengers alighted to spend a few hours in Yarmouth while the rest of us headed towards the Dorset coast and westwards. I lashed out £7.50 on board on fish and chips, something I haven't eaten for years but it somehow seemed appropriate on such a seasidey adventure. On we went calling in at Swanage before going past Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door. Then it was time to turn round and head back to Portsmouth, not forgetting to pick up those who had got off in Yarmouth and Swanage. The south coast is really impressive seen from the sea and it was a beautiful sunny day, if a trifle windy, so the rock strata were displayed to their best. By the time I got home (coach from Portsmouth to Worthing) my face was as red as a beetroot having been subjected to the elements for over 12 hours but it had been a very enjoyable experience and definitely different.

The next day I was back on the plot picking beans, beetroot, courgettes and raspberries before the rain came down. It was persistent enough to drive me home but not heavy enough to do any good. Half my life seems to be spent watering; it seems the amount of rain in the South-East has only been negligible for months. So what will I be doing today? Watering!

Friday,11th September

I've brought all my onions, red and white, home from the allotment now and they're drying off and hardening on shelves in the greenhouse. Mind you, it's been do dry, sunny and warm I could have probably left them where they were but they might have got in the way of any digging I cajoled myself into starting. The cabbages have had it now; they've all burst open so the compost bin is filling up. The squash look as though they might be all right though but I'll have to chop off the really scrawny ones to give the others a chance to develop. They need watering too, like the beans and the courgettes. I can't be bothered with the parsnips - I'm hoping they'll go straight down looking for moisture.

At home I'm well into hacking back the evergreen shrubs, in particular a rather large Viburnum Tinus "Eve Price". I've been doing that one shrub for 2 days but I think I've finished now. It had developed quite a few dead areas and red leaves which I've been chopping out. If it gives it a new lease of life I won't be able to reach it without scaffolding next year. Now on to the prickly berberis -great!

Tuesday, 8th September

Setting up

Yes, it was the show on Saturday. What a busy day! First there was the setting out of entries, cakes and the like and then clearing off to Tesco's for the weekly shop before the judges arrived around 10.30am. Then it was back to the hall by 12.30pm for last minute arrangements before the gates opened at 1.00pm. The weather did its job - it was lovely to encourage the locals out and what a bargain they got for 90p: 3 halls full of produce the like of which you will not find in your local supermarket. My favourite section was the trugs. I didn't enter that section myself but had to admit they looked beautiful. What I did enter I didn't do very well in; total winnings 75p. To be smashed out of site by your own wife (winnings £3.50) is a humbling experience but there's always next year. By the end of the day we were both shattered but we've got about 360 days to recover before the next one.

Sunday and Monday it was back on the plot. It's so dry. I did a fair bit of watering but I think the beans have suffered; there's plenty of them but they're going beany before they get to any real size. The raspberries continue to surprise me although they're not as plump or abundant as they were and of course the courgettes keep coming. But I think my greatest success has been the beetroot, something I only grew as an experiment. Perhaps next year I'll grow a money tree as an experiment.

Friday, 4th September

Been a bit hectic today what with it being the show tomorrow and me bunking off yesterday. Bunking off? Well, Mrs N and I spent the day at Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, part of my birthday present. Whopping great place it is, home of the Rothschilds (His Lordship still uses it for entertaining the likes of the Blairs, the Clintons, etc.), but it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957. The house is palatial in size and style, full of Gainsbroughs, Reynolds and Sevres porcelaine. 45 rooms we viewed; it took a while. We also strolled round the grounds and I think the layout could best be described as formal: long drive through lawns, founains, parterre and topiary. There's also an aviary filled with invisible singing birds. I say "invisible" because although you can certainly here them they are quite difficult to spot - except for the huge one pictured here!

So today Mrs N has been beavering away in the kitchen baking cakes and bread for the show while I scoured the allotment for anything worth entering. Then this evening I've been busy with others in the Methodist Church Hall setting up for tomorrow. Took hours so I hope there's a good turnout tomorrow. See you there.

Wednesday, 2nd September

A picture of the only allotments I saw in Switzerland taken through the window of a speeding train.