Nematodes Away!

hurrah! it’s finally raining.  Not something you’ll hear me say that often…but I have been waiting for this rain.  I need the soil to get nice and soft and damp so that I can attack my slimey friends on the allotment (not as bad as it sounds!)…I have a packet of sociable little nematodes who are just dying to get out there and introduce themselves to my local slug population…mwah ha ha!

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Our home from home

we’re loving our new shed! we’ve got our gas stove and kettle and room to shelter from the rain – what more could you want? simple pleasures 🙂

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A little more greenery

little by little the once bare plot is starting to come to life.  My peas and broad beans are doing well and we have a very early crop of radish ready to eat (in fact we can’t help but help ourselves whenever we’re there these days).  I have also thrown caution to the wind and set out a few borlottis round one of the wigwams (not in pic) as I have plenty in reserve should the weather throw a cruel frost at us now.  Here’s a recent pic, it also shows our new shed, greenhouse and tomato growhouse (DH is being very precious about his tomatoes this year and is insisting on housing the majority of them under some sort of cover)

plot doughty

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Pic of the plot

at last I have a snapshot (off my phone) of the allotment.  This was taken a couple of weeks ago and there is nothing in except the broad beans really.  Since then peas (both transplants and direct sowings have gone in around the wigwams (ditto kale, but not around the wigwams!), potatoes have been planted, onions sets and seedlings planted and direct sowings of parsnip, carrots, beetroot and chard have been done.  Oh and a few new strawberry plants raised from seed, 2 new gooseberry bushes and 4 raspberry canes (courtesy of a plot neighbour) and a blueberry have bulked things out a little.  Let’s hope it looks a little less stark in a month or two…

oops, forgot to mention the caulis, cabbage and brussels that joined them this weekend in the top bed.  I’m not holding my breath on these though as a disorderly queue of slugs and snails was seen forming even before I locked the gate behind me…

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Greyhounds and their delicate digestion!

Visiting the vet the other week with a guinea pig who thought it could fly, found out it couldn’t and ended up with a broken leg (now healed thankfully), I overheard a conversation in the waiting room between the receptionist and the owner of a greyhound pup.  The owner was there because her pup had constant stomach upsets, loose stools and nothing seemed to cure it.  The pup looked wonderfully healthy in every other way and I suspected that the problem was actually just the very delicate digestive system that many greyhounds are prone to.  I couldn’t help but intefere…if someone had only told me sooner when I got my girls, then weeks of nasty runniness could have been avoided.  The secret seems to be lamb.  And not just any old lamb, lamb and rice or lamb and vegetable kibble of good quality is the only thing for it.  I must have tried every complete dog food on the market to calm my girls’ stomachs; ranging from cheap and cheerful to top of the range, but where I was going wrong was in assuming that chicken based food was going to be easier for them to digest.  I then read some advice on a greyhound forum regarding lamb and rice kibble and I haven’t looked back since (and poop scooping is a lot less unpleasant!).  However a word of warning; I was recently drawn in by a special offer in the pet shop and bought lamb and rice kibble of a slightly less superior quality – big mistake!! 2 x 15kg sacks later the girls were still having the runs.  Far and away the best that I have tried is James Wellbeloved; the girls don’t love it the way that they love Bakers for example, but they will eat it if mixed with some tasty meat/an egg/some grated cheese and it keeps them in top condition, so I’m sticking with it.  I have nothing against Bakers, my old collie cross and pointer cross did very well on it indeed, however to greyhounds it is the equivalent of junk food, they love it, wolf it down and ask for more, but it does them no good at all.

As they haven’t had any ‘air time’ lately, here’s a couple of gratuitous pics of my girls:

Jet

Sky: Always happiest when she's running

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I’ve got Flea Beetles..on my radish

My radish seedling leaves look more like lace doilies and the slugs aren’t to blame for once.  Apparently it is the handiwork of the delightfully named flea beetle.  The holes are tiny and there are hundreds of them to each leaf.  My books all recommend the use of derris dust but when I tried to get hold of some I found out that the stuff was banned last year.  Damn!  There may be other biological or chemical treatments out there on the market but I have decided to try using sticky tape instead…I have ordered 20 rolls (well it was BOGOF on packs of 10) of the fly trapping stuff and intend to somehow attach this to sticks amongst my radish and brassicas.  Another suggestion I came across was plastering one side of a piece of cardboard with treacle and then waving this over your plants as you disturb the leaves, whence the beetles jump up and get stuck on the treacle…ok in theory but knowing my luck they would jump up everywhere but onto the treacle.  It just sounds like too much of a pallaver so sticky tape in strategic positions it is.

Any other suggestions welcome

 

Update: the sticky stuff catches a few but I have resorted to covering the radish and kale with environmesh.  This is minimising the damage but flea beetle attack is still evident on the radish seedlings and it really stunts their growth.  It is almost impossible to fit the mesh well enough to stop all flea beetles getting in but it stops the majority and it is very satisfying to turn up at the plot and see 20 or 30 flea beetles on the outside of the mesh, frustrated by the barrier 🙂

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Back to work

Tomorrow is back to work for me, oh how I wish I had the means to support myself without having to go into the office every day.  I am so much more productive on the allotment…I was out early on the plot today, putting up a shelf in the shed and doing a little hoeing to keep those emerging annual weeds at bay.  Everyone seemed to have had the same idea as all my neighbours were in attendance too, admittedly most of them are retired so they are probably there most weekday mornings at the moment.  I also spent a little time crouched and peering for signs of seedling beetroot, parsnip and chard (there are about half a dozen of each so far) before grudgingly admitting to myself that there wasn’t actually anything to do on the plot today, so I came home to mow the lawn.  Our own back garden has been a tiny bit neglected so far this year but is looking surprisingly good now the lawn is neat.  The cherry, apple and pear trees that we planted last year are in full blossom and the tulips (brought from Amsterdam in November) are opening which is lovely because I had forgotten what types we planted.  So I spent a couple of hours this afternoon tidying the garden and transplanting some lettuce from the coldframe.  I’ve unveiled the onions from their netting as they are too big now for the birds to bother and I’ve topped up the early potato bags (Swift) which is a near daily duty now that they are growing so fast. 

Last night we ate our first allotment crop – rhubarb.  I made a simple crumble and it was wonderful.  I’m sure we’ll be sick of it in a couple of months but for now I could eat it every night!

This blog is getting boringly wordy so I’m going to actually get round to publishing some photos soon…. and here’s the first to brighten a rainy afternoon

just openend

newly mown

 

Excuse the bald patches in the lawn – we only moved in last year and there wasn’t a single plant or tree in the garden and the lawn was a wild field.  We debated whether to dig up and re-turf but costs had to be considered so we just patched it up with grass seed, weeded it and kept mowing…it’s not doing too bad but another season of care and it should actually look like a lawn!  The trees were all planted last year too, the large one in blossom on the right is a cherry, as is the small one immediately in front of it.  The small blossoming tree to their right is a pear and to their left is an apple.  All bar the pear fruited last year but the sum total of our apple crop was 3!  We’re hoping for a little more this year…

this I just had to post as when it opens it will be the most stunning black double:

double black tulip

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The potato plot; we’re a plot short

Yesterday saw our maincrop Maris Piper potatoes planted on the allotment.  Four rows of them and I still have a few seed spuds left over.  The trouble is that they take up so much room.  We divided the plot into four rotational sections and one permanent section and the potatoes take up about 3/4 of one section, leaving precious little room for their bedfellows.  Already we are running out of room and wishing that we could take on another plot (or even 1/2 would do).  We have perhaps been a little over ambitious with the sheer variety that we are trying to grow this year and due to being unable to resist certain additional items (cabbage called ‘greyhound’!) the groups are getting more and more crowded and some veg that we are unlikely to want much of has been reduced to 1/2 row or even 2 plants in some instances.  The baby pumpkins for instance are simply being grown because I love to see them growing, so are now down to 2…I have been looking for ways to fit more in and have been reading about the native american method referred to as ‘the three sisters’ ie corn, beans and squash.  It sounds like it takes up a fair bit of room (more than I had allowed for our corn) but I am thinking that perhaps I can pop a few patti pan squash plants in between the rows of corn and maybe the odd bean…

DH is also running out of room in the greenhouse; the tomato plants with suspected mosaic virus were pulling a fast one and have now shed all signs of illness, so the reserve crop we sowed in light of the ’emergency’ will all be entirely surplus now it would appear!  the second batch of cucumbers were sown in light of a few ‘accidents’ with the first lot and we allowed for more accidents and poor germination in their sowing but wouldn’t you know it, they are all thriving and about 12″ tall already.  As for the chillis and sweet peppers….they seem set on world dominance.

I seem fated not to be able to grow cauliflowers this year; the first batch I raised from seed all died just as they got their second leaves (no idea why) and the replacements, purchased as plug plants have fallen victim to slug attack.  The remaining few are now shielded by rings of slug pellets, something I had perhaps naively hoped to avoid.  My allotment neighbour of 25 years standing insists that their is no way forward without pellets and pressed 2 tubs of the things on me yesterday, demonstrating yet again the generosity of allotmenteers.  However she was there without her husband yesterday and must have spent an hour telling me tales of her errant children and grandchildren and telling me that at 40 it is not too late to start my own brood….well if she was doing a sales pitch for children then the stories of hers were hardly likely to make me rush home to prepare a nursery…barricade the door more like!  I got a potted history of her family’s heritage and an explanation as to why she has light colour eyes even though she is Jamaican, apparently her grandfather was Scottish (they call her ‘puss eye’ in Jamaica).  I would really miss this if we simply grew veg at home, the social interaction is part of what makes allotmenteering so much fun.  Mind you we may wish we were just growing at home if we have a pathetic harvest this year…it will be all too public…

update: I wrote earlier today about running out of room on the plot already and as of this afternoon I realised that matters are worse than I thought…so much for having a plan of the plot drawn up! I still seem to have totally forgotten certain little seedlings that we had on the go.  Today’s surprise was celery, the rather weedy looking little seedlings have been hanging around in our conservatory and cold frame for maybe a month or more now and I had got so used to the sight of their floppy greenery that I totally forgot them…until I popped home for lunch that is and suddenly I noticed that they were (whilst still weedy at the base) flourishing.  I have so many of them that I decided to throw caution to the wind and get half of them out in the allotment today.  The only problem was that they had no allocated space.  So I have evicted the leeks from their promised final bed and handed it over to my weedy greenery.  I have to say that they look a lot happier out in the soil now, I just hope that the slugs don’t wipe the lot of them out tonight.  I have no idea if slugs like them or if the smell puts them off so I have circled them with pellets just to be safe.

The leeks were then homeless so I had to come up with a plan.  Intercropping seems the way forward so I have decided to intercrop them with the brassicas…my rotation has slithered all the way to hell in a handcart officially now.  I believe that they may prove beneficial to the cabbage by way of warding off certains pests so I am content with the new arrangement…I think.

The aforementioned cauliflowers that I thought safe from further attack, being ringed by slug pellets, looked worse than ever this morning when I arrived, so they have now been huddled together under a long cloche as I suspect that not only slugs but birds too were at work to de-leaf them.

The allotment chairman was in attendance this afternoon, planting his maincrop potatoes.  I was fascinated to see that his spacing is about half that which I have allowed, so I stopped by for a chat.  I asked about his spacing and he said he never measured but allowed them (indicates with hands) so much room.  The indicated distance is about 12 inches.  Now I am confused again.  Everything I read tells me that only first earlies can be planted this close.  My maincrop variety insists on 45cm spacing (18″), so I have gone with this.  The chairman looked at the spacing I was indicating with my hands and in his laid-back Jamaican way said ‘that’s probably too much’.  Sigh.

Another quick word about waiting lists whilst I’m here.  I overheard today that there are still 3 plots available, with no-one quick to take them…so why is there a 12 month waiting list?….I wonder if I have the nerve to mention that we would quite like a bit more space?….

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How to calm a greyhound…

….If anyone knows the answer to this please let me know! My girls are 5 years old now, they’ve been with me since they were about 16 months old and you would think I would have found a way by now.  I don’t mean that they are in a perpetual state of excitement, bounding around like a kid on e numbers, but at certain times of day they are like a pair of toothy, clawy maniacs.  When they first moved in with me, just the act of me waking up in a morning was enough to send them into a frenzy of joy – bounding around the room, ricocheting off the bed..you get the idea.  Admittedly they have come to learn that the fact I manage to open my eyes every morning is no real cause for excitement (although they do tend to still show signs of this with my step daughter), but walk time or our arrival home is a time fraught with danger for both hounds and humans.

First the ‘return of pack members’:  the girls are gated into the kitchen/dining/conservatory when we are out and have free access to the garden via a very large doggy door.  I began to suspect that gating them back from the front door was a good idea when I found that I had permanent bruises and scratches all over from their greetings, but I knew it was a good idea when I returned home to find that they had managed to dead lock the yale lock from the inside during their raptures and I had to break into my own house.  I”ve tried all the recommended methods – turning my back (ouch), ignoring them until they are calm (that could take days following each return), I even tried a water spray in desperation but that just winds them up all the more.  For months if not years now I have stuck with approaching the dog gate whilst calmly repeating ‘away’ and withdrawing my hand from the latch each time front paws leave the ground.  But still I am greeted by howling, bounding, jumping, whirling hounds each time.  They don’t seem to suffer from separation anxiety, they honestly don’t seem to care less if we are out, they curl up on the sofa together and don’t move once they have made sure that the catfood bowl has been thoroughly licked.  I suspect we could set a motion sensor alarm and it not be triggered until home-time.

Secondly and mot dangerously is ‘walkies’.  Now they haven’t a clue what that word means, I could stand and shout walkies at them all day and they wouldn’t stir but somehow they just know…no matter how much I try to disguise my intentions and act all casual, they know exactly when I am about to approach the leads…then all hell breaks loose; Sky grabs the nearest toy and races round and round the table refusing to come anywhere near the lead holder and Jet just launches at you with jaws air-snapping at an alarming rate.  Ok, so here is the usual scenario:  I pick up the leads as quietly as I can (by now Sky is racing toy in mouth and Jet is launching), I take the leads and sit on the sofa, Sky and Jet take it in turns to ricochet off said sofa, I instruct them to lie down whenever they approach me, which they often do for a nano second, then they are off again, eventually I have both of them laying at my feet, wriggling in excitement, air-snapping and whining, I gently attempt to attach leads, both hounds employ various methods to avoid leads (?), Sky ducks and dives with her head or simply runs off again, Jet air snaps and then gets herself in such a state that she runs off to the water bowl for a drink….eventually both return to lie down and I snap leads on as fast as possible and finally get out of the door after our 20 minute ritual.  Once out of the door, Jet plods along like she is thoroughly bored already and Sky at least has the decency to look pleased to be out.  On returning home, they whine at me for their post walk biccy then retire to their beds where they collapse in exhaustion.  Five minutes later should I decide to walk them again (in theory) the same scene would ensue as if they hadn’t had a walk in a month.

As I type this, Jet is lying on the sofa next to me in true collapsed greyhound fashion, her sweet greying muzzle twitching as she dreams and it is hard to imagine the danger of her flying paws and teeth and she (and Sky) are really almost perfect dogs (slightly biased) but I do find myself wondering when they will slow down and become the uber chilled hounds that I am assured aged greys become….

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Beans and Onions…A beginner’s mistake

I have a surfeit of onion seedlings so have been merrily planting them up wherever there was a little spare space.  This mainly seemed to be around the edges of the legumes.  I spent many painstaking hours pricking the spindly little things out of the seed trays and bedding them carefully around the plot…only to find on a website that onions and beans just aren’t good friends at all!  Horrified I googled beans and onions and time and again the words ‘bad companions’ appeared…ah…oops…I searched all my gardening books and sure enough the same thing there.  How had I not noticed this before when carefully planning my rotation?  I guess mainly because my original plan called for all onions to be planted in our garden rather than our allotment but space ran out in the home veg beds and overflow seedlings and sets were exported to the allotment.  ‘Sigh’ so I spent a few more painstaking hours moving my little seedlings (which had just started to establish) up the plot to surround what will be the carrot bed (I have it on good authority that they may even deter carrot fly).  Having moved my baby onions, what should I discover in my ‘Haynes Home-Grown Vegetable Manual’?…a crop rotation that includes beans and onions in the same bed (page 48 if you care to check)…but no! hang on, on page 77 they have a table showing which make good companions for which and guess what?  Yup, onions make bad companions for beans.  Now look, I’m prepared to do my research, I don’t think I know it all, but please! give me some consistency.  Just about every book I have shows different veg included in different rotation groups – just when I think I have decided where my sweetcorn should go, another book tells me that is in fact the last place I should be considering…I guess it will just have to be trial and error and a wing and a prayer after all.

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