Part and parcel of tending the allotment, is the feeling that you're never quite caught up with nature - there's always something to be done and always something that doesn't get done. This used to cause me bother, however its best to be easy-ozy, that's one of the nice things about it - a place where you go in with one idea of what you're going to do, and then promptly you get stuck into something else - no lists, no boss and no worries... bit like your holidays...
Returned after two weeks camping on the Small Isles, the beautiful islands of Canna, Rum and Muck - all unique and very different from each other- lots of fresh food - from shellfish for Jimi's big birthday bash from Sandy's boat, whopping vegetables from the Greenshed, rabbit pie at the Gille Brighde on Canna, newly dug Craigentinny spuds and even a couple of mighty seafish, wrestled from the sea by Col and myself and cooked on the fire.
Returned on the weekend to a very green patch - everything has spent the last fortnight, both hot and wet, bolting upwards and outwards...
Forked the onion roots out, so that they can dry over the next two weeks
Dug the third row of spuds - the Dunbar Rovers - good sized tubers with lovely firm, buttery flesh
Pink Fir Apple spuds are stretching to almost chest height!
First pickings of broad beans
First pickings of loganberries
First picking of blackcurrants and gooseberries, shielded under netting - think I'm gonna make wine with these
French beans now two inches and reaching for support
Fennel and Kohl Rabi well established and coming on
Lots of courgettes, currently about 2 - 4 inches long...
Even saw a frog for the first time on the plot in over six years!
(Almost) independence day
A busy june, travelling to Slovenia and Zagreb, and then Belfast meant that any space time was spent on the allotment rather than writing about it! Here's a selection of pics from sunday 3 july...
Flattened the onion tops to promote final juicing up for a fortnight
Hauled out the first earlies - Pentland Javelins, who have a great waxy firm flesh, which held together when cooked on the fire in Canna
Harvested first batch of lettuces
Planted out cauliflowers and leeks in spaces left by 1st earlies
Planted out celeriac and pumpkin in cold frame, now with its top off
Potted on nero kale for second time
Flattened the onion tops to promote final juicing up for a fortnight
Hauled out the first earlies - Pentland Javelins, who have a great waxy firm flesh, which held together when cooked on the fire in Canna
Harvested first batch of lettuces
Planted out cauliflowers and leeks in spaces left by 1st earlies
Planted out celeriac and pumpkin in cold frame, now with its top off
Potted on nero kale for second time
Keep on the sunny side
Ah, the nation's parched, while Leith drowns.. The rain wasn't ideal for the Leith Gala Day yesterday but perfect for getting the climbing French Beans in the ground and the beginnings of a bamboo curtain built...
At home my lawnmower is currently broken. Whilst I took it last week to get fixed at the perculiarly styled wild west themed lawnmower services guy in Morningside, I've yet to get it back and the back green is looking wild... Coming across this article yesterday by Joe Moran seemed pertinant...
The great lyricist of mowing the lawn is Philip Larkin, who mentions it throughout his poems and letters...Like many gardeners, Larkin moaned constantly about having to cut the grass, but never questioned the fact that he had to do it, in the same way that he complained about the tedium of library committee meetings while diligently chairing them and collecting the minutes. His ambivalent attitude to lawnmowing finds an echo in his poetry, which often suggests that everything is ephemeral and nothing ultimately means anything, but that in our fragile social conventions we find a respite from this knowledge.
Anyone who talks to a gardener with a carefully trimmed lawn will know that lawn care is a rich subculture full of social expectation and shared knowledge, from the relative merits of cylinder and rotary mowers to the dangers of close cropping. Like a lot of things in life in which we invest our physical and emotional labour, keeping a lawn tidy is ultimately pointless. The grass carries on growing, and the lawnmower eventually packs up, followed by its owner. If you want a vivid illustration of this, you can find Larkin’s rusty, grass-coated Victa Powerplus lawnmower in the Hull University library archive.
I always loved Philip Larkin's poetry at school, which contrary to my classmates I thought was too insightful to be depressing... 20 years later and I'd be turning into him - I even bought a Sidney Bechet LP two weeks ago! Meanwhile, here's some pictures of a lovely birthday present from my good chums, Colin and Sharon - who always make me smile!
At home my lawnmower is currently broken. Whilst I took it last week to get fixed at the perculiarly styled wild west themed lawnmower services guy in Morningside, I've yet to get it back and the back green is looking wild... Coming across this article yesterday by Joe Moran seemed pertinant...
The great lyricist of mowing the lawn is Philip Larkin, who mentions it throughout his poems and letters...Like many gardeners, Larkin moaned constantly about having to cut the grass, but never questioned the fact that he had to do it, in the same way that he complained about the tedium of library committee meetings while diligently chairing them and collecting the minutes. His ambivalent attitude to lawnmowing finds an echo in his poetry, which often suggests that everything is ephemeral and nothing ultimately means anything, but that in our fragile social conventions we find a respite from this knowledge.
Anyone who talks to a gardener with a carefully trimmed lawn will know that lawn care is a rich subculture full of social expectation and shared knowledge, from the relative merits of cylinder and rotary mowers to the dangers of close cropping. Like a lot of things in life in which we invest our physical and emotional labour, keeping a lawn tidy is ultimately pointless. The grass carries on growing, and the lawnmower eventually packs up, followed by its owner. If you want a vivid illustration of this, you can find Larkin’s rusty, grass-coated Victa Powerplus lawnmower in the Hull University library archive.
I always loved Philip Larkin's poetry at school, which contrary to my classmates I thought was too insightful to be depressing... 20 years later and I'd be turning into him - I even bought a Sidney Bechet LP two weeks ago! Meanwhile, here's some pictures of a lovely birthday present from my good chums, Colin and Sharon - who always make me smile!
Snails on the table, food's on the floor
Okay so it's not a horse's head in the bed, or a pigs head on the doorstep, and to be honest: I'm not normally up at 1am on Saturday night (either asleep on sofa, or out - asleep on someone else's sofa!) so I don't know what normally goes on - but finding a slug on one's kitchen table at night is puzzling - surely its not a coded threat from someone to hit me where it hurts - the lettuces! We'll see...
Meanwhile down on the plot all is going well! The past two weeks have been spent primarily hardening off the brassicas (along with the leeks tucked in the back) in sharon's cold frame.
Down first thing in the morning to lift the 'light' - the lid of the cold frame - and again back at the end of the day to close up - this gives the plants a chance to acclimatise so that when they do go into the ground they don't go into shock and stop growing with the sudden difference of temperature. 
Last Wednesday the new moon co-incided with two days of hot, hot weather so got the Red Rookies cabbages and Olympia Calabrases 'puddled-in' to take advantage of the hot head start... One watering can per plant, then firmed in with the heel as the brassica's need a firm soil to prevent their roots getting shoogled in the winds and slowing growth.
Other crops coming through - the broad beans, lettuces, early spuds and main crops and onions all responding well to warm and dry weather in May. The smell of the onions after a mornings watering is gorgeous - the water seems to release a strong, fresh juicy onion smell... best enjoyed whilst having a brew from my favourite birthday present ever - the kelly kettle!
In the greenhouse, I've sown the second sowings of lettuces, and resown the cauliflower and kale in mid may as the first sowings went missing - not sure of they didn't come through or if I culled them by mistake...
Whilst on the plot the beetroot (Bolthardy and Cylindra), spring onions, pak choi and this years first time challenges - fennel and kohl rabi - have all been planted - Good luck!
Earth shifting
A big week in scotland, culminating today...
1. Wit's inside the tartan box, you ask?
Spuds of course!! ...Having missed my self-imposed deadline of Easter, got the main crop spuds in last sunday - Pink Fir Apples and Maris Peers - the earlies already showing their appreciation for the incredibly warm, sunny spell we been having for the past month... The ground had capped due to the warm spell and as a result was the diggin was like breakin rocks in the Sinai desert!
2. The brassicas are also responding to the warmth...
Potted them on on Monday, along with the courgettes. Maggie noted last night the particular lush green colour of the fresh grass, and fresh leaves as appear and reach out, which lasts around three weeks at this time...
the courgettes' colour is just like that...
I've always said that one of the best places to be with a hangover is inside a green pepper... thats also like that.
3. Having got there too late last year, made it to Newhailes Nursery this week, a gem of a place near the Honest Toun, Musselburgh, to get my tomatoes.
Why is it that I consider buying plug plants cheating, yet its okay to get tomato plants ready started?
Partly because they're are such a rip-off - I saw six being sold in B&Q for £3 - thats 50p a plant - you can get a fully grown lettuce for 89p! Instead of aiding the big guys cashing in on people interest in growing, go to those who have been there for the duration... and who will continue to be!
4. So finally today - the culmination day for seeds planted long ago - the lettuces are out ready to be doused!
Here's to the coming thunder and lightning - scotland's saying bring it on!
1. Wit's inside the tartan box, you ask? 
2. The brassicas are also responding to the warmth... Potted them on on Monday, along with the courgettes. Maggie noted last night the particular lush green colour of the fresh grass, and fresh leaves as appear and reach out, which lasts around three weeks at this time...
the courgettes' colour is just like that...
I've always said that one of the best places to be with a hangover is inside a green pepper... thats also like that.
3. Having got there too late last year, made it to Newhailes Nursery this week, a gem of a place near the Honest Toun, Musselburgh, to get my tomatoes.Why is it that I consider buying plug plants cheating, yet its okay to get tomato plants ready started?
Partly because they're are such a rip-off - I saw six being sold in B&Q for £3 - thats 50p a plant - you can get a fully grown lettuce for 89p! Instead of aiding the big guys cashing in on people interest in growing, go to those who have been there for the duration... and who will continue to be!
4. So finally today - the culmination day for seeds planted long ago - the lettuces are out ready to be doused!
Here's to the coming thunder and lightning - scotland's saying bring it on!
Chittin' all over the world!
Its spud planting time all across the northern hemisphere - (Mrs Takhtarova must of got hers in early to be weeding in mid april!)... Planted the first earlies last weekend with the main crops due in this weekend, a wee bit behind the traditional Irish planting calender, which starts on St Pats... As long as I get them in by Easter, the traditional Scottish planting time.
Chittin' pics from last week, from across the world - it is of course harvest time in New Zealand... so lets consider peaches to be the southern hemisphere's tattie equivalent... feel free to send your chittin pics to be added to the gallery! Cheers: Dad, Scottie, Gareth
Also sown in the greenhouse last sunday, 10 April:
Nero kale
Borecole Kale
January King Cabbage
Autumn Spear Calabrase
Purple Spouting broccoli
Poekhali!
Anna Takhtarova and her granddaughter, Rita, were weeding potatoes near the village of Smelovka on 12 April 1961 when a man in a strange orange suit and a bulging white helmet approached across the field. The forest warden's wife crossed herself but the girl was intrigued.
"I'm a friend, comrades. A friend," shouted the young man, removing his headgear. Takhtarova looked at him curiously.
"Can it be that you have come from outer space," she asked. "As a matter of fact, I have," replied Yuri Gagarin.
Fifty years ago with a rousing cry of “ Poekhali!” ( “Let’s Go!”), cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin raced skywards to become the first human in space.
Lettuce begin...
All Year Round Cauliflower
Primo summer cabbage
Red Rookie autumn cabbage
Olympia broccoli
Zen Calabrase
Giant Prague Celeriac
Musselburgh Leeks
Lettuces:
Lollo Rosso
Romaine
All Year Round
Little Gem
Red Salad Bowl
Mizuna
Anti-clockwise
Finally after last weeks wet weather and frosts, the weather held for a few days, enough for the wet to subside, the wind to dry out the clods and the earth to be vaguely workable - spent the afternoon, planting the last of the garlic, the onions and shallots, and prepping for the new term whilst listening to the Old Firm slug out the CIS final...
Whilst much revolves around the seasonal cycle, there are varying degees of investment required:
Long-term - Rebuilt the compost heap after last fortnight's slow overnight burn from emptying out the BBQ ashes (oops!) which had melted the compost bin. And prepared the carrot bins having finally collected them from David. The bins should hopefully lift them above the 18" required that put them out of the carrots fly's reach, and produce my first proper carrot crop... Check the hosepipe rim safety feature!
Medium-term - Most crops are spent in the year, and some take years to establish themselves, such as the boy's apple trees - however last week I unearthed one of the great inbetweeners - horseradish, which takes a couple of seasons to establish itself and then crops regularly - whilst I had forgotten all about it, it has been busy sending down long tapers, which brought tears to the eyes back in the kitchen, making a great accompaniment to a roast beef at the in laws last sunday.
Short-term - And whilst at the in laws, I was presented with one of the first wind-up radios (Thank you Denis!) which can only be described as a relic from another era. An investment of 2 mins winding gets you full capacity of 30mins listening. In this age of smartphones, a 12" box which, you wind up and um you can get FM radio on, seems rudimentary. But for far off places with limited access to mainline power and the outside world it provides a lifeline...
Such as rangers v celtic scoreline! They'll be dancin on the streets of Govan/Gabon tonight! You do get the distinct impression that the killajoules produced winding it are directly converted as you watch the cranking shaft rotate slowly anticlockwise...
Best go - there's three images in this post - I better get cranking!
Whilst much revolves around the seasonal cycle, there are varying degees of investment required:
Medium-term - Most crops are spent in the year, and some take years to establish themselves, such as the boy's apple trees - however last week I unearthed one of the great inbetweeners - horseradish, which takes a couple of seasons to establish itself and then crops regularly - whilst I had forgotten all about it, it has been busy sending down long tapers, which brought tears to the eyes back in the kitchen, making a great accompaniment to a roast beef at the in laws last sunday.
Short-term - And whilst at the in laws, I was presented with one of the first wind-up radios (Thank you Denis!) which can only be described as a relic from another era. An investment of 2 mins winding gets you full capacity of 30mins listening. In this age of smartphones, a 12" box which, you wind up and um you can get FM radio on, seems rudimentary. But for far off places with limited access to mainline power and the outside world it provides a lifeline...Such as rangers v celtic scoreline! They'll be dancin on the streets of Govan/Gabon tonight! You do get the distinct impression that the killajoules produced winding it are directly converted as you watch the cranking shaft rotate slowly anticlockwise...
Best go - there's three images in this post - I better get cranking!
Scarecrow
A special morning for Patrick! - him and some pals from nursery walked up the hill and spent the morning working out rhubarb poking through the shuck, eating biscuits and making a scarecrow for taking back to the nursery veg patch - a great way to start the growing season!
Full circle
Aye, this time last year I was lamenting for freelance mondays down the allotment to get on with the planting - this year, I'm available!
Thanks to everyone for coming down yesterday to clear and tidy for our special visitors on Tuesday. Managed to rebuild the fence with Jimmy, removing a section so that the greenhouse gets full light (and warmth)/ Sharon designed and build a fantastic cold frame/Armida sanded and taped the edges of ten boards/ Maggie spruced and tidied whilst Alayne and Colski kept the bairns waving and entertained.
One hour from each adds up to one person's full day so lots achieved - thanks! Plus I don't think I could drink a crate of Tennants by myself!
Had our annual fire of briars and spent wood with all the ash (potash-heavy) going right back into the spud bed. What goes around, comes around....
The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary picture is repeated without end...
from Circles, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Had our annual fire of briars and spent wood with all the ash (potash-heavy) going right back into the spud bed. What goes around, comes around....
The eye is the first circle; the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary picture is repeated without end...
from Circles, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Call for action!
With v. important guests confirmed for next tuesday morning, a call goes out for sunday afternoon assistance. Obviously can't say too much about the identity of the visitors, but here's a picture of the "Royal Princess" coming into berth at Oban from the shed...
So, much to be done: pictures to be straightened and dusted, scrap wood to be gathered, outlying boundry to be secured, fire to be lit, T to be drunk...
PS Solent Wight Garlic planted today...
Dunbar Rovers
Good day at the Bridgend Allotments potato day yesterday - Got Pentland Javelins (1st earlies), my new favourite Dunbar Rovers (sounds like Melchester's lowly 1st round fodder, cup opponents)(second earlies), Isle of Jura (early main crop) and Pink Fir Apple (late main) - 15p a tuber, which is about half price from most seed catalogues! Unfortunately, thought there as no Maris Peer, and a creamy fish chowder cooked over a summer fire on a west coast island beach just isn't the same without a firm Maris Peer or two peeking out... so ordered up 2.5kg last night from Marshalls seeds, along with
"Onion Stuttgarter Stanfield (100 sets) - it has a sweet, smooth and very mild taste, delicious for salads and cooking. Shallot Topper (25 bulbs) - our top selling shallot. Vigorous with stronger foliage and a 30% bigger crop. The bulbs store for an exceptionally long time. Garlic Solent Wight (2 bulbs) - a superb softneck Garlic, producing large, top quality bulbs. Bulbs will store for months."
Popped down to the allotment today, on last day of half term, with Sandy and Dan to sow the first of three trenches of the Sutton broad beans... Stealing a month on last year's sowing (25 March) Wanted to get the beans in before the forecast snow this week, so lets see what happens! Growing 2011 is ON!!
Fertile ground
For those who really want to get the nose in amongst the onions as it were (or who know their onions, to iron out my mixed metaphor!), check out this sowing guide! For those who don't, here's a postcard from Stromness:
plotstretcher
Sunday night, february, music, (M.Ward album withdrawn from record library and yours for 60p) red wine, last years seed packets... Sharpen the pencil, clean the rubber, its plot plan time! Crop rotation is a much conflicting area. Everyone disagrees on the plant types (legumes, roots, alliums, etc) the amount of years to rotate and even the order... science, no... Guesswork just gets more founded over time (i.e experience) Still who wants to grow four equal amounts of ech crop... As with everything, plan a little, but only so you can chamge tack! Due to canny Sept purchasing in pounstretcher all seeds got: just need spuds, onions and garlic!
rubarb, rhubarb
Whilst the winter weather has taken its toll on the beds, inside the new (donated through the fence from the golf course) plastic composter there's been plenty of action, due to the thermal qualities helping the bacteria to turn over. For the first time in six years of growing i can say i have actually made compost (being sure that it was something else six moths ago). Previously i have never remembered if that layer of black crumbly soil was there when i started the pile in between the palettes three years ago!
So the rhubarb crowns got their annual smothering...
Wikileeks
January and the new year is of course the time to review last year and look forward and make new plans. As the years pass and allotmenteers get older, we refine our favourite varieties, and perhaps become set in our ways. Regular readers will know that I set myself a challenge each year to grow something new, to keep me learning and staying young! And after two years of trying celeriac, i'm admitting that maybe the damp east edinburrgh climate just doesn't haar-ve the warmth required to bulk up the tubers. Pulled the roots last week and they've not even grown to the size of a golf ball!
Not so with the leeks. For five years i've grown the same variety: MUsselburgh, and finally i've cracked the secret of a good leek - the seeds need to be planted ina container with a good four inches of sandy loam rather than in modules as the roots need loads of room to establish strong seedlings. Although some former denizens of the royal burgh remain oblivious, these leeks as the name suggests, seem ideally suited to the local climate, and last weekends haul was a good start to the year, quickly made into leek and tattie soup. This year, i'm looking to build such local loyalties: Ailsa Craig onions, Pentland Javelin spuds, Musselburgh leeks: traditional scottish allotment fare. You can keep your Pixie's, your Red Rookies and your Picasso's this year I'm looking back to go forward!
And the challenge:well this year it time to reclaim that much maligned veg, the cauliflower. Hell, it would achievement enough to grow sometime that shape, but i'm sure fresh cauliflower would be deliciously crisp! And the variety?, you're asking: North Forelander sounds suitably intrepid to me!
Good luck to all in your gardening exploits for 2011- be brave!!
Merry Christmas!
To Yorkshire
Love in the Laundrette
Two of a kind, we have so much in common
I thought, as I cycled past her on the Common
Our bags were stuffed with soiled belongings
Was she lonely too? Filled with untold longings?
I could write a tune, a poem or a play for her
Knowing that soon I would make a play for her
Although our eyes had met only moments ago
Once inside, I decided to give it a go
Cried: 'Let's put our clothes into the same wash!'
The look of horror told me that it wouldn't wash
'Let's save time and money. Share our washing powder.'
But she turned her back and snapped, 'Take a powder.'
She needed her own machine. To run her own cycle.
So I unloaded, and lonely, rode home on my cycle.
Roger McGough
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)