Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Friday, 29th January

Our post-lunch Sunday stroll took us through the allotments this week. As I hadn't put in a decent shift for some time I thought the least I could do was make a detour via the plot just to see how things were. The place was a hive of activity; there had been a delivery of manure. Of course I hadn't brought any tools with me on the walk so I had to borrow a fork - I keep a barrow on the site - to go and get a couple of loads. I couldn't take any more than that as it was spoiling my wife's walk somewhat. "What's the best thing to do with it?" asked a neighbouring allotmenteer. "Well, I generally stack it to rot down a bit," I replied, "although I may put some under my spuds when I put them in." "Ah well, I know not to do that then," he quipped. "I've seen you're spuds and they were rubbish!" Damn cheek!
Of course I was back down there again Monday morning to get the last couple of barrowloads of manure and then did a bit of tidying up. I'm not sure I did a lot of good by walking on the plot as it was very claggy still but it made me feel better just doing something. I've also done a little more apple tree pruning at home but I think the big tree is going to require some drastic surgery. Dwarf rooting stock indeed! It is about 15 years old though and has probably sent out its own roots from above the graft by now and it does provide quite a crop of apples if well looked after so I shall have to get on with it sometime soon. It's nice to see the fruits of your labours, isn't it? No apples left but tonight we shall be having potatoes, parsnips and squash all from the allotment and we've still got onions, leeks, beetroot and courgettes left and broccoli to come although the carrots and the winter cabbage were rubbish. Something else nice to come - it's Pub Night tonight!

Sunday, 24th January

Went for a meal with a group of allotment pals to the Squire and Horse, Bury on Friday night. As ever it was a lovely meal and we didn't even have to pay their prices as we had some vouchers we'd been collecting but the drive there and back wasn't so pleasant: wet roads and fog. I was glad to get back home in one piece after my recent experience on the ice.
All 8 of us who were there are booked on the Worthing Coaches trip to Brussels and Ghent for the Belgian Flower Festival (Floralies) in April but it seems there are stilll quite a few places up for grabs. It's not an Assocaition venture so you don't have to be a member, anybody can go, so get yourself down to Worthing Coaches and get booked. Deadline 14th February.(For more details click here)

In such a group conversation obviously turned to gardening and although one or two had ventured onto the allotment it is indoor activity such as seed sowing which is more practical at the moment. Tomatoes have been sown - but not by me, so now I've got my propagator there's no excuses except when I went to sow them today I realised I had no compost and the stores are closed now until next Saturday. So I can either wait or be a traitor and get my seed compost from somewhere else. 50/50 at the moment although the odds may change later in the week if I can't get on with things outside. I know it's not just me who's suffering as I had some photos from our showman gardening guru, Peter Webb, this week showing the state of his allotment. I knew you'd like to see them as it's good to see the weather is no respector of reputations. Maybe he'll be showing rice this year!

Wednesday, 20th January

Well, the snow may have gone but it still feels mighty cold to me. Not cold enough to make me want to light the paraffin heater in the greenhouse any more but cold enough to make some outside jobs rather unpleasant. I suppose the soil must be warming up a little though as the snowdrops and daffodils are pushing through and on the allotment the rhubarb is making a really determined effort without being forced. Not that I've been doing much on the allotment; when it stopped snowing, it started raining. And, sure enough, there it was again today, the rain, that is. I stayed in all morning but by this afternoon I'd had enough and braved the drizzle to go for a walk with our walking group through the woods and parks of Durrington. And did I feel better after that? No, I felt cold!

Sunday, 17th January

Sunshine! I was off to the allotment like a shot. Well, not like a shot exactly but I did go to get some parsnips for dinner. While there I noticed there had been a delivery of manure but unfortunately as I was a bit behind hand I didn't have time to help myself. Should have got up earlier. Also noticed the plot was very wet, definitely not to be walked on but my parsnips are close to the edge so I could dig them from the path without getting my designer green wellies muddy. The first one I dug out was weird like some undersea monster with legs all over the place but most of the rest were boringly conformist. I managed a little gardening at home yesterday. I've been dying to get out there so a bit of drizzle wasn't going to hold me back. All my geraniums (pelargoniums) had been hit by the frost and turned into mush so out they came at last and off to the compost heap. Similarly I finally got round to dispatching my cosmos which had grown to between 3 and 4 foot before being caned by the wind and
                                       rain.

Another reason to celebrate this weekend was the arrival of my propagator. I did eventually find the one I was looking for on the internet and it arrived quite quickly. Although there were pictures of it on the web it was quite a surprise to see just how small the trays and covers were. I suppose they have to be to get 7 of them on one base which fits in the windowsill and it should stop me sowing too many seeds at once this year. Soon be time to start!

Wednesday, 13th January

Déjà vu all over again when I got up this morning - snow. I know they said last night we could get a couple of centimetres but I didn't believe them, did you? Rain is what I expected because that's what we normally get here on the coastal strip. But did I let it put me off going to the allotment to dig a few parsnips? You bet I did; there's no way I'm taking that 3-cylinder 800cc Matiz automatic courtesy car out on the snow but I did venture outside into the back garden and start my apple tree pruning. I normally do it around Christmas but this year conditions and events have conspired against me and I hadn't made a start. By 11 o'clock I was making a finish. One of my gloves transpired not to be all that weatherproof and my left hand was getting unpleasantly cold and wet. As I pushed the twig-laden wheelbarrow up the garden path I noticed how once again the mahonia's branches were weighed down by snow so I gave them a shake to knock it off and let the shrub spring back upright so I could get past. Silly boy! All that icy-cold wet stuff down my neck persuaded me it was definitely time to stop and pursue indoor activities like paying bills and filing.

Saturday, 9th January

Snow, snow,snow. Cold, cold,cold. Still, my wife had the perfect antidote: some home-made butternut squash soup. I'll see if I can get her to put it on the recipes page. It was beautiful and practically all the ingredients came from the allotment so it didn't cost much either. Not that I've been to the allotment recently. I've got quite a few parsnip up there I was leaving to get frosted (Ha! Ha!) and now I can't get them out of the ground. The birds are finding it tough too and we've had some new visitors in the garden recently, particularly on the crab apples. Mrs N thinks they are fieldfares and after looking in the bird book I think she could be right. Sometimes there's just one and sometimes there's a few of them. Something gave me the fright of my life the other night when I was walking up to the greenhouse in the dark. As I walked past the choisya I thought I'd knock the snow off. When I did something flew out of it and nearly scared me to death. Do fieldfares roost in choisyas? At any rate I shall continue to put stuff out and replenish the water because it freezes solid every night. Go to look after our feathered friends.

Wednesday, 6th January

Well, the visitors have all gone but the snow has come back. These cold nights must be costing me a fortune in paraffin and I don't even know if anything is actually alive in the greenhouse as it's all under fleece and there's no room at all to move round in there and have a look. Not much gardening otherwise although something has been at work in the vegetable garden: there was already one largish hole-cum-tunnel underneath the fence into next door's garden and now there is another mysterious hole in the vegetable plot. I'm not sure my pictures are actually good enough to give an accurate impression - my immediate reaction is foxes.

12th Night of course today so my main job inside was taking down the tree and all the decorations then putting them all back in the loft. I love Christmas but it's nice to have the living room back. I'm still trying to spend Christmas present money but without actually leaving the house as it's a bit cold and too slippery for my limited driving skills, so I have been trawling the internet. I got a load of seeds for my birthday earlier on so now I am looking for propagators. Somewhere I saw an electric propagator complete with 7 half-sized seed trays and lids for about £28 but can I find it now? Can I 'eckers like! But I'll keep on looking. If you know what I'm talking about I'd love to hear from you.

Friday, 1st January 2010

Happy New Year to you all. Now on my second courtesy car. The first was a bright red Vauxhall Corsa, a compact motor but pleasingly easy to drive and park. Unfortunately there was a very unfortunate smell inside - nothing to do with me. They delivered it on Tuesday in the dark, nicely in time for Pub Night as it was raining, although it did mean I was restricted to tonic water; I hate to think of the consequences of pranging a courtesy car under the influence while waiting for my own pranged vehicle to be mended.

The next day I had to drive all the way to Dover and back and when I got back I had to ring the the hire company straight away about the rancid smell. Fair enough the next day a chap came out with a handful of air fresheners. Immediately on opening the door and keeling over he realised they would not do the trick and sportingly swapped it with his car. It's a Chevrolet Matiz automatic with a 3-cylinder 796cc engine. I've never driven such a small car nor an automatic. It seems the technique is to tie your left foot round your neck to stop you using it and then pretend you are driving a dodgem car but actually avoid other vehicles. I find pulling away the most difficult bit; it has all the acceleration of a wheelbarrow but less carrying capacity. I had to take my visitors out into town today and one of them bought a compact vacuum cleaner - it filled the boot. Still, I should be thankful for small mercies - in this case, very small - as I would not be in this situation if I hadn't been so stupid as to take my own car out on the skating rink that was our street. More visitors arrive tomorrow but just for the day this time and they won't need driving anywhere. A good job it's a bit of a dead time on the allotment really as I would never get the spade in the boot! Just another fortnight or so before I get my own car back apparently.