Worthing and District Allotments and Gardens Association

Affiliated to the Royal Horticultural Society and the National Vegetable Society

To see earlier editions of GROWBLOG click here

The views expressed on this page represent those solely of the author, not of the Association.

Friday, 26th November

Brrrrr! This will be the 3rd or 4th night - I forget - that I've put on the paraffin heater in the greenhouse in a desperate bid to keep our 20 year old orange tree alive. (And they say this cold snap could last for a fortnight. It'll cost me a fortune in paraffin!) There are other things overwintering in the greenhouse but at a push they could be replaced whereas replacing a flowering, fruiting orange tree grown from a pip might be a tad more tricky. That's been the sum total of my gardening recently as I try to stay in the warm and get rid of this bug. I thought I'd try another chilli with my dinner tonight but as cooking the last one did nothing to cool it down I didn't bother this time and just nibbled a bit off the end occasionally. It certainly clears your tubes but unfortunately it involves picking the chilli up and it then gets on your fingers, nothing you can see but when you then blow your nose it gets on your handkerchief and every subsequent nose blow drives your nose bonkers. Still, I'm convinced it's doing me some good. Maybe I'll be fit enough to get to the allotment next week (just got my renewal bill for £40!) and try and crowbar out some parsnips.

Sunday, 21st November

Tried one of my chillis yesterday. Can't taste much at the moment still so I thought I'd try livening up my pasta bake. I picked a chilli, not a big one just a little red one about 2 inches long, then I cut it open and removed all the seeds. (Yes, I'm not that keen to totally wipe put my tastebuds) I cut it into very small pieces and mixed it in with the pasta bake. I figured that the cooking might take some of the heat out of the chilli (I had nibbled one a while ago and it made my eyes water) but at the same time put a bit of life into the pasta bake enabling me to taste it. It worked to an extent: where everything else this week has had the same kapow as a plain yoghurt this certainly had more of a kick. And I felt better. This morning I even went to the allotment to get some carrots and parsnips but after about 15 minutes I felt as if I had run a marathon. Still, I think we can say I'm on the mend. No point contacting the doctor as he's been off sick for the last 2 weeks. Wonder what chillis do to breakfast porridge?

Tuesday, 16th November

Hurray! I got my tulip bulbs in at last. I cheated - just as I did with my garlic - by planting them in containers. My soil at home is very heavy and rather wet at the moment too, very unsuitable for tulips. Anyway, if they're in containers I can stick them where I like and if I don't like I can move them. The main problem is the wind; I do have some tulips already (these latter were a birthday present) but they don't last long because the wind just smashes the petals. In pots I should be able to put them in a sheltered position when it's really windy then move them back into full sun when it's calmer. Of course this meant buying some new containers and some compost but fortunately I had a garden voucher left so I treated myself to stuff from Haskins Roundstone Garden Centre. I din't feel as though I was betraying our stores as last time I looked they weren't taking garden vouchers.

I did get to the allotment today but only to fetch some carrots, cabbage and parsnips for the kitchen. It was very muddy and not fit for doing anything much really. I didn't do anythiong at the weekend either as nine of us met up for the weekend in a big house in Farnham. On the Saturday we went to this place called "Milestones" in Basingstoke. It's a huge recreation of bygone Britain, from the '20s to the 50's, I think. Sad to say I recognised a lot of the stuff: the sweetie shop, the horse and cart, the old petrol pumps that looked like Martians, the mangels and dolly legs, etc. There was also an old fashioned working pub but not with old fashioned prices! I investigated it all the same in the interests of verifying its verismilitude. I also investigated an old terraced house - remember those television sets with small curved screens? - but got the shock of my life when I looked in the outside khasi and there was a bloke stiiting on the loo! Of course it was a life sized model but it was very realistic and certainly made me jump. I took great delight in waiting for one of my friends to experience the same shock but unfortunately could not get my camera on him in time so, sorry, no picture.

Thursday, 11th November

Do you know, since I sowed my green manure on the allotment I've not had to water it once? It didn't really rain much yesterday - in fact I went for a walk in the area of Saint Symphorian's with a few others in the afternoon - but otherwise you could say the Worthing rainy season is well underway. This year I actually got a bit of digging in before it arrived but nothing significant. Every year I swear I'll start earlier and every year I am caught out and by the time I might get round to it my clay plot is like a quagmire. But what can you do if you've still got cabbages, carrots, leeks and parsnips still in the ground? And with the rain usually comes the wind. Wheelie bins have been going over like 9-pins in our street this morning, including mine. Ah, the dustbin men have just been so I'd better go and bring in my bin. An empty wheelie bin could go for miles in this weather. .....................

Job done. It's difficult to do much at present, isn't it but I did put in an appearance at the AGM last night. It wasn't as packed as last year but still a healthy attendance with lots of questions for Councillor Donin about the increased rent this year and demands for an explanation of what we get for the money. I wonder if he'll come next year. Rent is going up to £8 a rod which means a bill of over £40 for the average plot in 2011. Good job we don't have 10-rod plots like they do in other parts of the country or allotmenting could become a really expensive hobby especially as they propose another increase next year. Does anybody out there know how these rates compare with other parts of the country? If you do please drop us a line (just use the Contact Us button) and let us know.

My peppers are still surviving in the unheated greenhouse despite a few cold nights and I've found room for a few on the windowsill of the spare bedroom. Always a popular manoeuvre with Mrs N! She swept up all the leaves recently and put them in a neat pile out the back. I hate to think where they are today. I'd go and tidy them up again but it's not fit. Another job I need to get on with soon is planting my tulip bulbs but I think they'll have to go in containers as my soil is a bit heavy for them. So I am thinking about gardening if I haven't actually done much. One thing I have got round to - I've got my seed potato order in. Remember they have to be in to Peter by the 28th November.

Friday, 5th November

Planted my garlic at last. Just a temporary planting so far in pots as I want to put them on the allotment but I don't know exactly where yet and I still have a bit of clearing to do. Could do with a little bonfire really. I got 22 cloves off the one bulb I bought and I put 12 of them into John Innes No 2 and 10 into multipurpose as that's all I had. I've then put them all in a cold greenhouse. Talking of which, I was somewhat dismayed to find there had been an invasion of snails therein. I was hoping to bring in a few tomatoes I've had ripening in there in these unseasonably warm and sunny times but the snails had beaten me to it. What a mess they've made! Tomatoes with ragged holes in and messy squidges which must be the remains of some well gnawed toms. Let's hope they have a go at the red red-hot chilli peppers I've got there; that should teach them a lesson. I've removed all the snails I can find but there's bound to be more. Will they eat my garlic?

On the allotment I'm still pulling carrots and cabbages - the courgettes had been finished off by the frost and slugs and snails did for the remaining fruit. I have a problem with my carrots to which I would love an answer. When I dig my carrots they are a decent size and nice and firm but the next day they've gone rather rubbery. What's the cause? I haven't washed them.

Otherwise my only gardening activity has been of an administrative nature, writing stuff for the Plotholder and trying to get the menu done for the Association Dinner in February. If I've got it right it should all come together in the December edition of your Plotholder. But before the dinner the next major event is the AGM next Wednesday. Come and have your say or at least listen to others having their say. It's in the Gordon Room in the Town Hall buildings in Stoke Abbott Road and starts at 7.30pm. See you there.