Scattered Gardener

Pottering and pruning

2011-03-20T15:59:00.000-07:00

Glorious sunny Sunday afternoon in the back garden. You know how as the season starts, it's hard to decide what to do first? I wandered round for almost an hour looking at the mess and wondering where to start, despite P having given the lawn its first cut of 2011 earlier in the day.
Oak leaves strewn all over the place ( including covering the surface of the pond - is it too late to clear it?).
Witch hazel, so overwhelmed by last summer's honeysuckle growth - and then the winter's - that we could barely see it flowering back in January and February, and the branches now completely invisible, as was the flower bed beneath.
Paving at the bottom of the garden full of junk - plastic pots all over the place, open bags of compost, more oak leaves. Piano finally falling apart - I suppose it's had at least four years out here, doesn't owe us anything.
Weeds covering the shady side flower bed, with barely a sign of bulbs coming through, although the comfrey was coming into flower and buddleia and black elder already starting into leaf. And what's that horrible smell, is it the drains, the pond or the compost bin?
Alas dear readers it was the compost bin, my first experience of what can happen to worms in a plastic bin when you have a two nights of hard frost followed by a couple of very warm afternoons. I draw a discreet veil over the details, hose followed by hot water and bleach is all I will say. Not the best start to my gardening year.
After that, though, all was pleasure and industry - well I don't have to describe pottering and pruning to you. Out with the secateurs and string to tie up climbing roses and prune back honeysuckle; finding the sunny side full of columbine to look forward to later in the spring; weeding the shady side and spotting the grape hyacinths and allium just poking through; sorting out the pots so the daffodils and hyacinths look their best; deciding the pond can wait for another day; and finally the delight of a late afternoon bonfire and enjoying a beer while the sun went down.
And then coming indoors to find a vase full of pale yellow daffodils from the front garden.
I'm really looking forward to the growing season ahead, and I hope your Sunday afternoon was as full of pleasures and plants as mine.

Oranges and lemons

2011-02-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Something of a CitrusFest at home today. It's marmalade season, so I started preparing Seville oranges this morning. Splitting each fruit in half, squeezing the juice and reserving all the pips - many more than your usual oranges, and a great source of pectin, which makes the marmalade set - then paring the peel (taking care to slice close to the skin, as too much of the white pith would make the final product bitter). One and a half kilos of oranges later, (some prepared by beloved, who finished the job while I had some soup for lunch) I squeezed a couple of lemons, bagged up the pips and orange flesh, added two and a half litres of water and set the whole lot to stew gently for a couple of hours until the peel was tender and the kitchen full of wintry scented orangeness.

I had a load of lemons in the fridge too, so while I was waiting, thought I would have my first crack at lemon curd. This is a delicious preserve, and very simple to make - don't know why I haven't done it before. For three jars of curd I needed four lemons, four ounces (100g) of butter, four free range eggs and a pound (450g) of sugar.

Squeeze the lemons, grate the peel, put together with the other ingredients in a large heatproof bowl over barely bubbling saucepan of hot water and stir occasionally for about an hour. when it thickens (like a delicious lemony custard), strain and pot up in sterilised jars, then eat - with toast, in muffins and tarts, or however you like it - within about a month. It will keep in a cool cupboard but needs to be refrigerated once opened.

Once the curd was done, I got back to the marmalade, which by now had reduced by about a quarter. I added 2 kg of preserving sugar, stirred, tasted, then added about 1 and a half more, brought it to the boil and kept it going, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon for about 40 minutes until it looked a couple of shades darker and was just about setting on spoon. I find with jam, I can use the saucer technique, where you test a teaspoon of the mix on a cold saucer and if it wrinkles when you push it with your finger it's reached setting point. Marmalade may have overcooked if I get it to that stage, so it's worth stopping sooner and having a lighter set so it doesn't go bitter and burnt tasting. Looks prettier in the jar too!

Finished abour 5 pm and felt I'd almost done a full day's work! Though this time of the year it's great to stand over a hot stove and stir up something delicious on my day off. P took over in the kitchen to make a sausage supper and then we headed out to the Jolly Coopers on Epsom Common, for live music (including our son's band) at their monthly jam night. How appropriate!

Weird experience of the week...

2010-12-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

Looking over snowy gardens from my bedroom window this morning, I saw a dolphin sail past on the roof of a car below. Looked again and realised it was a Christmas tree!

Go on, have a look next time someone drives past with a tree tied to their roof. Surely not a unique Christmas experience?

December

2010-12-01T16:32:00.000-08:00

London has snow again, the dry white powder that whips in from the north east with a chill and bitter wind. Our gardens and suburban streets are transformed, trees and plants dressed with iced blossom, roofs reflecting brilliance back to grey and overcast skies. Trudging back from the park, while we carefully negotiate the crunchy treacherous paths, the children newly released from school laugh, slide and catch an icy breath of air. Little ones play Santa in their bright toboggans, their parents reindeer pulling them home for hot drinks and cosy nights in.

Sweetcorn fungus?

2010-10-10T10:20:00.000-07:00

Back to the allotment yesterday - my first visit for weeks and weeks - and after all the recent rain, everything looking lush and green. Alas, most of it is weeds, one bed in particular which I planted up with beans at the end of August was also covered with flowering chickweed and speedwell (delicately pretty) to nearly a foot high., Fortunately these were also interspersed with self seeded sorrel and rocket, which will be lovely in autumn salads until the first frosts. Every cloud...

P picked runner beans and sweetcorn on Monday - the beans looked promising but as they'd been on the vine so long, were very stringy, so we'll eat the rest in soups and stews without the sweet pods.

All the sunflowers are now well past their best; one had spread over a whole bed, I've never seen so many flowerheads on one plant before. The rest have gone to seed, which I've left in hope of feeding some goldfinches once they arrive here in the south later this month on their winter migration from northern Scandinavia.

Now here's a puzzle for you - what on earth happened to this sweetcorn cob? I've looked for similar pics of sweetcorn diseases but not been able to find any free information on a quick trawl of websites. The growths appear to be full of soil or compost, it doesn't smell, it just looks gross close up. I couldn't see any bugs in it either, so assume it must be a fungus. Any ideas anyone?

Doorstep gravel garden

2010-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Unless you're excited by shrubs, cyclamen or early Christmas shopping, UK garden centres can be less than inspiring at this time of year. So it was great to visit RHS Wisley the other week and find some small but delightful plants to create a small gravel garden for our front doorstep.

From centre back clockwise, we found: Helleborus x Sternii; Iris Setosa; Cyclamen Coum; Oxalis Lobata; and Gentiana (which looks a

little like rosemary in this picture). Alas, I've lost the label for the last pf these plants, so not sure what variety; since planting up, it has developed the deepest blue flowers, quite heavenly in contrast to the golden oxalis.

There should be something of interest in the pot in every season as it matures, though it is quite hard to judge at this stage... I'm hoping that there will be at least three plants either in leaf or flower at any one time.

I may have missed a trick by not including a small mirror as a "pond " next to the iris... but perhaps it would have looked too much like something off Blue Peter!
Isn't the yellow rose lovely? It's been flowering vigorously on our west facing patio since late August, when my mother brought it home for us.

Garden Party to Make a Difference: review

2010-09-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Up to the beating heart of royal London today, for a rare opportunity to visit the historic gardens at Clarence House, Lancaster House and Marlborough House, and experience the "Garden Party to Make a Difference", a unique festival devoted to ways of living more sustainably, as part of the Start campaign fronted by the Prince of Wales.
P & I had fun - we spent the morning helping with Garden Organic's contribution to the show, then were free to tour the whole site. We were giving away rocket and chard plants to people who made the One Pot Pledge, thus supporting GO's campaign to encourage more of us to start growing our own food.
GO have a very good deal on offer at the show - if you become a member (minimum £28 or £2.50 per month by direct debit) you get to choose three free packets of Duchy Original Seeds and take home a £5 Thompson and Morgan voucher - plus £5 off Heritage Seed Library membership, which entitles you to seeds of old or rare varieties to grow on your plot, save the next generation, and share with others.
As gardeners, our favourite exhibit was the Future City Garden, in a series of raised beds along the wall of Clarence House, which gave us some great ideas for recycling and saving space while growing veg. For instance, there was an attractive display of lettuces, flourishing in large yoghurt pots, set into an old door which could be leaned against a wall, shed or fence. We also liked the giant tepee-style tripods set in large buckets, supporting a good crop of golden yellow and red tomatoes. We could imagine being able to cover them with plastic sheeting early in the season to protect from rain and the dreaded blight and encourage sooner cropping.
The show has an eclectic mix of exhibitors, including independent (plant) nurseries and food and drink producers. Some of these were lined up opposite the Asda marquee, with slogans on the side about buying local that seemed somewhat... insensitive? untrue? Perhaps I've missed something about Asda's buying policies.
In any case, M&S appeared to have won the supermarkets' visual PR battle at the event. Everyone - even me - was carrying one of their striking "Twiggy" organic cotton bags. Now I know they are following Plan A (because there is no plan B in relation to climate change) but it is hard to find any organic food in their Colliers Wood or Sutton branches.
We were surprised to see how busy the Red Cross stand was - loads of people, mainly women, taking part in sewing. Brought back memories of knitting squares for charity blankets when I was young, so I'm afraid I rushed past that one. (Maybe that's why I haven't joined the great contemporary craft revival which seems so popular and much blogged about by others).
It was a shame that although we could have purchased a well known (bog standard, national brand, bottled) lager to drink for £3.50 from the onsite caterers, the independent Hogs Back Brewery was only allowed to give away small samples of their delicious real ale.
There were also entertainments (comedy and music) and talks on offer, and we especially liked the Commonwealth exhibit, a beautiful tie-dyed canopy with musical and visual presentations from around the world of people working together for a sustainable future. This was the only focus for the importance of community that we noticed at the festival; I would have liked also to see something about how communities, such as the Transition Towns movement, come together in this country, to support one another living greener lives. Doing things individually can feel demoralising sometimes.
My other disappointment, in an overall stimulating, imaginative and enjoyable event, was the lack of anything about complementary healthcare. Perhaps this was due to the closure earlier this year of the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health? Given the growing problems of capitalism and of Western conventional medicine (eg antibiotic resistance and iatrogenic disease) - we all need to be looking after ourselves and each other with the support of traditional human knowledge, skills and methods such as herbal medicine and homeopathy, osteopathy and massage. I hope this important element of living sustainably can be included in any future event. It has always been an enjoyable part of our local Environmental Fair, organised annually by EcoLocal in Carshalton Park.

Aquatic snake at RHS Hyde Hall

2010-07-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Great excitement by the lily pond at RHS Hyde Hall near Chelmsford, Essex last month when P spotted, and was able to photograph, a swimming snake.
It was a gorgeous hot June Saturday in Hyde Hall's Rose Weekend, which we were visiting with Surrey Organic Gardening Group.
In the first photo you can just see the snake on the left; it seems to be having a snooze in the shade of Gunnera at the edge of the pond. A few moments after this pic, the coot spotted the snake and made a huge fuss, waking it up and chasing it off. Perhaps its chicks are prey to snakes.
The rest of the photos show the snake moving through the water and finally disappearing away under the lilies.
It appears to be a grass snake; they are known to be good swimmers. This one was about three foot long, apparently the fully grown female can be 4 foot and, exceptionally, up to 6 foot long.

Gardeners Bloom Day May 2010

2010-05-15T07:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my spring garden - everything is late this year as the season has been colder than usual - but all the more welcome for the wait!
From the front border, black tulips, red and orange wallflowers and bluebells. The colours are more vibrant in life, and have worked well together for three weeks now thanks to the cooler temperatures, which have neared frost, unusual in London in April and May.

In the back garden, the new quince tree has surprised and pleased us; the blossom buds unfurl
like palest pink icecream cones, small swirls of delicacy. At its foot, Jenny's geraniums mixed with bluebells have been covered with bees these last few days.

Opposite, on the cool side of the garden, Solomon's seal provides an elegant screen for the compost bin; at its best now, after flowering the fresh green leaves will soon be laced by feasting snails. It doesn't seem to hurt the plants as they return better every year.

Down by the pond wilderness proliferates; periwinkle overcoming all before it, a glimpse of fig beginning to develop its overwintered fruits under bright green leaves, grasses creeping their way through everything and on the right, a clump of silvery green glistening iris leaves, still to bring forth their white flowers.

Last of the double daffs for the moment (some are still developing as I only potted them up in mid February. They need twelve weeks y'know). And finally, sneak preview of a new orange iris which I had hoped would be out in time for this month's bloom day (and will probably be done before June's). Just now the buds look like some strange water bird stretching its head above the rushes, with aquilegia flowers weird fairies gathering round.

Thanks as ever to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Gardeners Bloom Day every month, year round. Hop over there to find links to others' gardens from around the world.

Ledum to the rescue for puncture wounds

2010-03-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

Lovely spring day here, front garden looking very pretty in the sunshine with lemon primroses and pale daffs finally out, and a few purple anemones scattered along the bed. The daphne is now in full bloom - quite late this year, it's been putting out the odd flower since late February but the full "pompom effect" -and delicious scent - of the collective flowers has only flourished in the last ten days. The laurel berries have been slowly ripening from green to yellow since the snow went and are now bright scarlet. I expect they're poisonous; the birds don't eat them from this bush and you would think they would welcome fresh pickings at this time of year.
I should be on the allotment, but in the midst of clearing the strawberry bed I knelt on a rusty nail earlier this week. It went in about an inch, didn't bleed very much but I had to do a quick clean-up with some antiseptic wipes and a loose dressing, and come home.
Ledum and Hypericum are the indicated homeopathic remedies for this kind of deep puncture wound. I took 3 doses of Ledum 30 daily for 2 days. I also dabbed a bit of Calendula cream on the wound on the first day; this is a traditional antiseptic and it doesn't allow the wound to close up too quickly. This is important where there is the risk of tetanus (we use stable manure on the allotment and horse pee is the most likely source of Clostridium tetanii in the UK). The bug thrives in a sealed, oxygen free environment, hence the need for care when a wound is deep.
From the second day, when the wound felt a little warm and inflamed, I took three doses of Hypericum 30 daily, stopping after the sixth dose as the inflammation seemed to have gone.
My knee is still painful, but a mix of Arnica, Rhus Tox and Ruta 30 ( especially the latter) eases this considerably.
I spent most of the first two days in bed; grateful for the Garden magazine and Gardeners World which both popped through the letterbox for entertainment while I was laid up, but I also slept a lot - a shock reaction perhaps? I feel very fortunate that P is at home and was able to bring frequent cups of tea and food, in between groundwork for decorating the living room which we started on the day before my accident, planning to complete before the Easter break. Now I just have to be patient with myself, moving carefully between positions so I don't twist or strain the knee, while the process of healing takes its course.
The good news is that the first lettuce was coming through, planted under a cloche 2 weeks ago; and the first carrots, only put in one week before! Time to get some seedlings under way at home I think for later in the season...

Witch hazel blooms at Pembroke Lodge

2010-02-20T16:46:00.001-08:00

To Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park yesterday for lunch - hearty food designed to satisfy after a long walk on a cold day. Mum and I enjoyed jacket potatoes smothered with toasted cheese and red onion, P & W had pasta with a delicious tomato and veg sauce. Then a few turns round the gardens in the bitter cold; snowdrops carpeted a slope near the house, and gorgeous camellias flowering already, delicate pinks, creams and whites, one already carpeting the path below in fallen petals. Lastly we found three small hamamelis trees clustered together under the bare winter oaks and in full blossom; two golden yellow and one red, sweetly scenting the air.

A little unseasonal piece...

2010-01-24T13:21:00.000-08:00

I really shouldn't be here...gardening season doesn't start until March. But this afternoon I spent a couple of hours planting up strawberries.
Let me explain. I ordered 25 strawberry plants (plus rhubarb, raspberries and a blueberry bush) last autumn, expecting delivery in the first couple of weeks of November. But there was a postal strike here in the UK, so they weren't delivered until early December. By then I was busy with clinic, arrangements for 50th birthday party plus the usual Crimbo stuff.
I did eventually manage to open the box after about a fortnight and store it in the garage. I took out some of the plants so they weren't all squashed in the dark box, crossed my fingers and hoped everything would be cool enough over the next few weeks to remain in hibernation and alive.
It has been pretty cold. Not compared to the north of Britain perhaps, but still colder than usual for the balmy south east of England. We had a week of snow in December, which just about disappeared before the Christmas holiday, but the temperatures still were frosty every night and lower than we're used to. On New Year's Day we took a beautiful walk in the Surrey Hills, clear blue skies and bitter cold, so I wasn't worried about my plants then.
A few days later snow set in again, together with biting cold winds from the north.
The oak trees looked fabulous with their frosty outlines; blackthorn, curiously, as if it was in blossom; and the pine trees like fireworks, an effect we hadn't noticed before (I was planning to post some photos but Blogger won't let me this evening - maybe another day).
As always, it thawed, leaving the kids' giant snowballs looking like arty installations, or ancient monoliths. I was kept indoors for a few days by an illness, and then the weather turned cold and grey and rainy. So today is the first of the year when the plants in the garage have finally beckoned me out again, with the guilty feeling that if I don't do them this week, they may not survive.
I only got to them late this afternoon, because I was singing with Colliers Wood Chorus at Royal Festival Hall earlier on. (That was a lovely experience!) I needed some fresh, cold air and it was beautiful outside, still plenty of light as the sun went down, though it was dark by the time I finished my task around 5.30.
It was only about 3 degrees C outside, so possibly not the best of days to plant up anything.
I was surprised as I unrolled the plants from their plastic package, how large and well developed the roots were, and had to swap the three inch pots I'd planned for some twice the size, even then feeling that there wasn't quite enough room for the plants to develop. They were all very dry, but I hope that at least potting them up will keep enough alive to yield a reasonable crop in July this coming year.
Later this week, I plan to heel in the raspberry canes and plant out the rhubarb - if the weather is good enough to get down to the allotment.

Famous albino squirrel and other autumn miscellany

2009-11-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Meet the famous albino squirrel of Dorking, which we happened across last month in one of its favourite haunts, the St Martins churchyard in the centre of the town. We were surprised by it, as albino squirrels are quite rare, and it wasn't all that famous when partner captured this image on his phone. But don't go rushing off to Dorking to visit the squirrel, as a couple of weeks later, BBC national TV reported that it had come to an unfortunate end under a car. We heard this sad news from Have I Got News For You, though it was originally covered in the national press. Paul Merton was very entertaining about it in his deadpan way... he's a local boy you know, from Morden, at the south end of Northern line.
Be not downhearted though. In our local paper the following week there was news of two more albino squirrels a few miles away in Carshalton, Surrey. Let's hope they're a bit more wary of the traffic.

Isn't this a gorgeous display of vegetables? I wish I could take the credit for them, but they came from uncle David's allotment. His sweetcorn did marvellously this season (you can see a beautiful pile of them at the back) but I'm also really jealous of that beautiful cabbage in the middle - maybe I'll try growing some next year.

Next, the last of the cornflowers, from the edges of a patch of meadowland, still bravely flowering (if a little the worse for wear) after the strong winds and pelting rain of the last 48 hours. They were quite luminous in the twilight, as only true blue can seem.
We found them up at the top of Cheam recreation ground, which is mostly football and rugby pitches, where it borders Nonsuch Park and has an amazing view across south London to the City and Canary Wharf beyond on a clear afternoon like today. Somebody (London Wildlife Trust? Local council? I've forgotten) planted up a gorgeous plot, about 30 metres square, with meadow and wild flowers, earlier this year and there were notices informing us that this was an experiment, and would be monitored for wild birds and other creatures. I first came across it in September when of course it was past its best, but still beautiful with poppies, cornflowers and sunflowers. l

One Sunday last month we walked past to find a flock of about two dozen bright green parakeets harvesting the sunflower seeds, a gorgeous sight; but I wonder if they were the wild life it was designed to attract? Not much left today to feed the smaller native seed eaters - goldfinches, greenfinches and the like.

Lastly, some English oaks in their autumn finery before the wind blows all the leaves away. Common enough round here, but they seem to be the last to change from green to copper then brown, so hold the final riches of autumn. They looked so warm and bright as the sun set late on Saturday afternoon. Looking at them feels almost like the physical need for summer sunshine, I stare and stare, greedily feeding on the warm bright colours, stoking up my inner fires before the cold grey winter really sets in.

Beetroot brownies and mellow soupfulness

2009-11-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

The monthly requirement for chocolate, part of life for more years than I care to remember, has left me this year, but suddenly it was back again last week. Perhaps it was the cold wet weather, but comforting soup and some chocolate brownies were definitely on the family menu.
We had some Jerusalem artichokes, which Jenny had brought to share round at choir practice. In recent high winds the plants had fallen over, bringing many of the tubers up to the surface, so she had dug them all up over the weekend. Together with some cauliflower from our allotment and a 120g piece of organic stilton, a pint of chicken stock and a chopped red onion sweated in butter, all whizzed together after about 40 minutes simmering, we had a gorgeous creamy, savoury soup for lunch.
The recipe for chocolate brownies was from Riverford Farm Cook Book and is a real treat. Start by melting together 250g dark chocolate and 200g unsalted butter in a bowl over hot water. Add 1 tablespoon Tia Maria (I used Camp coffee for a more intense flavour).
Meanwhile puree 250g cooked beetroot in a food processor. Add three eggs (one at a time), a drop of vanilla extract and 200g caster sugar and mix until smooth.
In another bowl, sift together 50g cocoa powder, 50g ground rice, 1 tsp baking powder and 100g ground almonds.
Stir the beetroot mixture into the melted chocolate & butter mix and then fold in the dry ingredients.
Use greaseproof paper to line a rectangular tin about 28 x 18 cm. pour in the mixture and put in oven mark 4 (180C). Bake for 30-35 mins until just firm to the touch; a skewer inserted in the centre should emerge slightly sticky.
Cool in the tin, cut up and serve.
The recipe says this is enough for 9 portions but I cut it into 20 as the chocolate is very intense, plus all the eggs and butter makes for quite a rich texture and flavour. Perhaps I should only have added a couple of teaspoons of the Camp coffee. Anyway, we've been enjoying the brownies all week!

21st century fruit farming - one man's view.

2009-11-08T14:29:00.000-08:00

My mother and I enjoyed a talk and tour round Park Farm in Great Holland with Mr Elsworth, who owns and runs it as a thriving enterprise, a few weekends ago. Having recently planted three fruit trees in our back garden I was interested to learn what I could about looking after them - and encouraging fruitfulness of course.
Along the way he also shed light on changes for small to medium sized fruit producers since he took over the farm from his father, who first established it in 1935. There's no doubt the environment has become very tough for them.
For a start, only about 1/6th of the farm's original 60 hectares of orchards, is now devoted to fruit. Most of what they grow is sold locally, mainly through their own shop - and none through supermarkets or wholesalers, the latter were an important route to market in his father's time. Mr Elsworth related his last experience of delivering Discovery apples, usually the first early variety of the English apple season, up to the London markets one year, when most other UK growers' crops had failed. A peculiarity of the local coastal climate had saved his crop and he sent them up by train, expecting a good price in conditions of scarcity. They didn't sell, and he hadn't sent any away since.
The farm is not organic and I was mildly amused by his brief summary of why not. Apparently people who support organics think you don't use chemicals to sort out pests and yet organic farmers do need to use them. He said the knack to producing good quality fruit was to grow healthy trees, then disease wouldn't take hold. To me that is exactly what organic growing is all about! Using as little chemicals as possible, and those from an approved list of poisons derived from natural substances. Ah well, no one is perfect.
Most of the work of the farm is done by human beings and it's no picnic running a farm of this size, much of the outdoor work with casual labour. Young people don't stay on in permanent employment - he's just got them trained and they move on to something else. He commented wryly that if he needs 16 people to prune or pick apples he has to ask 20 to come in as he knows about a fifth won't turn up. In his experience, migrant labourers are more reliable - partly because they live onsite during the season so he knows where to find them when needed!
Beyond the problems of farming, he also shared some useful information for we gardeners! He showed us the Writtle College method of picking apples - cupping the fruit in your hand and rolling, rather than tugging it off the branch so the stalk stays on and keeps the fruit sealed and whole for storage (if the apples don't roll off easily they aren't ready). And he shared a technique to use alongside pruning for perfectly formed fruit trees - small concrete weights made in egg cartons and hung on individual branches to encourage them to grow outwards rather than up, for better productivity. He also uses calcium foliar feeds as needed, as this nutrient is difficult to administer in any other form.
We were surprised to hear that honey bees are not as useful as they're cracked up to be for pollination of fruit trees! Apparently the lazy things don't come out unless the weather is warm
(not always the case in our British spring). Other insects ( including other types of bee) are hardier, out earlier, and seem to do the job as well. Plus, the more flowers are pollinated, the more tiny fruits have to be removed from the trees in early summer (thus incurring additional labour costs) in order to produce a good crop of evenly spaced healthy apples! Over the last couple of years, the local beekeeper has taken his hives elsewhere and the crop has been more than adequately pollinated in their absence.

Park Farm produces 40 varieties of apple and it's a real treat to visit the farm's shop and choose. This time we brought home George Cave, Blenheim Orange, Egremont Russet and Ashmead's Kernel, all of excellent quality. We also had three litres of their fresh unpasteurised apple juice, which is usually available in at least three different varieties and vastly superior to (even the good) stuff from supermarket chiller cabinets. They supply boxes of fruit - follow the link above for further information. And if you should be somewhere near Clacton, do drop in for local vegetables and other fresh foods - and try their recently opened coffee shop, which does very reasonable lunches and delicious home baked cakes and desserts.

Soil Association director in Sutton

2009-11-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, will address the Surrey Organic Gardening Group on 27 November. The event, which marks the 40th anniversary of SOGG, is open to all with an interest in gardening, whether organic or aspiring to it.
His talk, from 7.30 pm, will take place at Milton Hall, Cooper Crescent, Carshalton. To reserve a place call Alastair 020 8669 6692.

Painted lady visits autumn flowers

2009-10-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

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Glorious sunshine this morning tempted me out to clear the asters, their lavender glory over and gone to seed. The bright warmth brought out Eupatorium's flowers in full white starry fluffiness; the flowers smell astringent, but I had to get quite close to experience this. Still it attracted bumble bees and even a painted lady butterfly paid a prolonged visit to tap its nectar. Click on the photos to look more closely; in the first image, the antennae are very well defined, although the body looks soft and out of focus; in the third, the proboscis can be seen.
In our back garden, Cotinus coggyria is aflame, while the oak trees beyond the garden are just beginning to turn and shed the odd yellow and dry brown leaves. The dry weather continues though there was a little rain after I planted up tulip bulbs in pots last week. Much to my surprise, a self seeded dark pink Cosmos has bravely begun to flower today in the sunny bed. I had a patch of them last summer and this is the sole survivor - I wonder how long it will last?

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2009

2009-10-15T05:51:00.001-07:00

Welcome to the highlights of my garden on this sunny autumn day...thanks as always to MayDreams Gardens for hosting this monthly beautiful event, an opportunity to share and enjoy so many gardens around the world.
The front border is flourishing with aster and dark leaved Eupatorium especially joyful this month - the aster a little past their best, some have gone to seed but their cheerful little faces enjoying the sun and continuing to feed local bees and other beneficial insects. Eupatorium has had a tough autumn, it has been very hot and dry, at one point in September I realised it was drooping and slung a can of water over it. It was moved from another part of this bed last spring, I'm hopeful its many flowers are a sign of health not desperation!
Sedum, cyclamen, Euonymus and Euphorbia have all settled in well to their pot at the front door. They were planted out just a couple of weeks ago having hung around since late August - so that's a relief.
In the back garden, spectacular autumn colour from Hamamelis Vesna; the leaves turn rich brown, then take on a deep orange hues, some with red and yellow edges. Well worth the space it occupies at this time of year, it is said to grow up to 8 foot and I'm looking forward to it. (In the left corner, a glimpse of acid yellow Potentilla, still flowering. I mentioned its long season back in July).
Next, a new addition to the sunny border, Malus Gorgeous was completely irresistible with its sunset coloured crab apples, turning to red, from RHS Wisley a couple of weeks ago. We've also put in quince Meech's Prolific and an apple, Adam's Pearmain this week. It has taken eight years to decide which fruit trees to plant (I know, we could have had some decent crops by now!) but we finally agreed on our selection, and looking forward to the spring blossom lighting up the garden. All will need expert pruning in our modest garden in order to produce well and thrive without taking over!
A couple of fresh white cyclamen have lit up this terracotta pot,with its variegated holly and thyme, which thrived in a lightly shaded spot over summer.
Lastly, yellow flowers like this pretty specimen are borne above the Jerusalem artichoke, which was covered with them when we visited the allotment last week to plant out garlic and onions. A welcome veg bloom for October!

Croquet at Polesden Lacey...

2009-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

We've spent most of the weekend outdoors enjoying the warm bright autumn weather. No, not in the garden, but in the Surrey Hills of South East England, where we wandered through lovely woodland, catching a glimpse of a small wild deer on our way, to spend Saturday night at Tanners Hatch youth hostel with friends from Making Colliers Wood Happy.
Along the lane from the railway station, hedgerows were full of fruit; blackberries, rosehips, red honeysuckle berries and elderberries (even though many, it seemed, had been recently pruned). As we walked through the fields, we spotted a buzzard lazily circling, a pair of herons flew past, and a small flock of goldfinches.
The hostel is just across the valley from Polesden Lacey, a large 18th century house owned by the National Trust, so in under half an hour we were able to walk up this morning and enjoy a lazy lunchtime picnic on the sunny lawns. They have a new farm shop, so we made our own picnic with fresh bread and deli treats, as the restaurant was very busy with the usual Sunday lunchtime trade, and none of us wanted to be indoors queueing.
The house is set into the hillside, surrounded by landscaped terraced lawns, a walled garden, some less formal meadows, and overlooking a peaceful view of the wooded countryside. there are two croquet pitches laid out on one of the lawns. A game was irresistible; we all enjoyed a couple of rounds in the gorgeous sunshine, although none had a firm grasp of the rules.
As the third round began, I took the opportunity to explore the walled garden. A lovely mixed border along the outside, but what lay within?
I found series of separate small gardens devoted to different plants and layouts, with tall yew hedges dividing them. My first discovery was an historic collection of bearded irises, not that any were in flower, but naturally the beds were neatly laid out and I imagine it will look wonderful from spring next year.
The rose garden was also very striking; the scent was delicious - almost overwhelming - and the beds are planted up with single varieties, great blocks of colour which look absolutely wonderful.
I suppose no autumn posting would be complete without at least one chrysanthemum; in the corner of the rose garden there was a whole bed of them, acid yellows, bright scarlets, oranges and apricots and some dark pinks scattered among them. But they looked garish, rather than colourful, in my picture; so here's a single quite delicious bloom from a quieter bed!
As we started home along the Yew Walk (also a lawn) which constitutes the lowest boundary of Polesden Lacey's gardens, we noticed holly trees heavily laden with fruit, by tradition a sign of a hard winter coming. But there will be plenty here for the birds to eat, with the yew trees also thickly covered in small soft red jewels.

It's still possible to make a donation to WaterAid in support of Sing for Water 2009. And you can now see our performance on Youtube, where there are two ten minute videos of the 650 strong choir which came together from across the UK to the Scoop in London for this special event.

Any ideas for green figs?

2009-09-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

Even here in the blessed South East of England, you only get one picking of figs - and that's in a good year.
We picked our first crop of three purple ripe fruits last month from a Brown Turkey fig tree planted some five years ago. They were delicious.
But this week I twisted off 10 small green figs which have no chance of maturing, in the hope that some tiny buds will form, overwinter and ripen next summer.
Really I should have done this earlier in the season, and pruned, but fingers crossed we will have an Indian summer, the buds will form, and we will have a few figs to enjoy again next year.

Whether you've needed to water your garden this week or not, please support WaterAid this week and help them provide clean water supplies and sanitation for poor communities in Africa.

Sing for Water at Thames Festival 2pm Sunday 13 September

2009-09-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

If you're in London next weekend, 12/13 September, why not join the Thames festival, there will be lots of great activities along the capital's river http://www.thamesfestival.org/weekend/highlights/
Scattered Gardener will be taking part in Sing for Water at the Scoop, outside City Hall and close by Tower Bridge, along with friends from the Colliers Wood Community Choir and around 800 voices from choirs across the country.
We are raising funds for WaterAid, which brings clean water supplies, essential for health, to communities in developing countries. This year support is directed to Ghana and Malawi, both countries where life expectancy is low ( under 40 in Malawi) and infant mortality frighteningly high. Small amounts of money can do great things, so please give generously! You can sponsor me here www.justgiving.com/scatteredgardener

Many thanks to gardenblogger VP for reminding me to post about this - she took part last year and I followed her lead to the justgiving site! Have a gander at her list of events for gardenlovers while you're there...
For a report of last year's Sing for Water event, see here http://www.wateraid.org/uk/get_involved/events/event_news/6965.asp
The WaterAid website also gives lots of info about the countries they're working in and how the money is spent.

Did they fall - or were they pushed?

2009-09-03T12:29:00.000-07:00

My runner beans fell over today. Or were they pushed? It was very windy this morning even in our sheltered allotment plot, and gusting strongly directly at the long side of the frame of bean poles which I so confidently predicted when I built it, would stand for the season! Ah well, back to the drawing board...
To be fair, this year's frame has lasted longer than usual, and we had some very windy weather earlier in the season. This time the cross bars snapped - perhaps we should have used some newer bamboo poles, or a sturdier wood may stand up to the weather better next year.
Despite lots of rain yesterday the deeper soil is very dry; we were away over the Bank Holiday, camping in drizzle in Dorset all day on Sunday and hoping the weather here in London would be the same, but evidently it wasn't! The Three Sisters bed (planted with corn, squash and beans) is not doingiving as much as expected, partly because of lack of water. I had a couple of weeks immobilised by a bad back, perhaps they fell behind then. And yet the beans in other areas are still yielding well, and they are also a thirsty crop. Perhaps I overcrowded the bed with plants too close together. It is also overlooked at one end by the sunflowers, at the other by Jerusalem artichokes (now about seven foot tall, still no flowers) leaning over it towards the main source of sunshine through the day.
Anyway, still picking enough veg to sustain us week to week. Today I harvested the second bunch of celery - first last week - it's very well flavoured, except the outer stalks very bitter, and has been good added to salads, veggie medleys, sauces for pasta and chicken stock. Very pleased with it as the slugs and snails don't seem to have made inroads, and this is my first crop of this vegetable. Looks as if we might be able to harvest every week through October.
The tomatoes are nearly finished and courgettes so over - I wish that I'd brought on some young plants in pots back in June in order to have a second crop. Next year...
Today I made sure the rocket seed was scattered in hope of a late autumn crop. There were one or two new plants in the bed already. I should have put turnip greens in as well, but left the seeds at home. I cleared most of the sunflowers and dug over their bed, the plan is to follow them with winter leeks, these are crowded in a row and should have been planted out by now. The autumn leeks which I planted out in late July are looking good, and the winter greens growing away strongly.
This evening we enjoyed runner beans, carrots, shallots (now dried out nicely after five weeks laid out in the garage), garlic, tomatoes and squash with pork chops and mashed potato. All except the last two from our allotment.

Mooching around the garden centre

2009-08-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely day out on Tuesday - went for coffee with friends in the National Trust cafe over at Morden Hall Park, a favourite place in summer ever since we used to picnic by the River Wandle when the children were small.
After a pleasant couple of hours chatting over our coffee cups, Jenny and I meandered around the lovely garden centre next door. Now I was hoping to find a few rudbeckias and other autumn plants to jazz up my borders, but the end of August seems to be between seasons - the summer plants (as in my garden) all looked a bit tired and none of the few plants available to renew my sad pots had any colours at all - golden yellow leaves here, silver cineraria there, a tiny sedum of reddish hue, but it was all very subdued. And there weren't even any new season winter pansies yet (not due in until next month, they told me).
But there was a good range of bulbs, so rather unexpectedly I brought home three different varieties of daffodil, some delicious looking crocus, mainly white, with fine purple stripes up the sides, and gorgeous tulips - deep red Uncle Tom and fragrant Orange Princess. And hyacinths for forcing, which will be ready by Christmas if I plant them soon. And 15% off everything! Well, that will cheer up the pots in the New year...
After all that we were hungry, so we headed back into the cafe for some lunch...
Isn't it great to be thinking of spring already, when summer is hardly done? The anticipation of pleasures to come, looking forward to a new season while still enjoying the fruits of the last.

Heavens! It's all about food this month...

2009-08-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

August is all about the food from the garden, I find...I can wax lyrical about sedum, lilies, lobelia cardinalis, and enjoy the long evenings ruminating on the patio with a glass of wine, but really it's the food that's most enjoyable.
The first three days home from holidays, all I wanted for lunch was a tomato sandwich; fresh wholemeal bread, some olive or flax oil and a couple of leaves of lemon basil, plus a couple of homegrown tomatoes and a few grains of salt. Mm, heaven.
Breakfast these past few days has been a handful of Avalon plums, meltingly soft, the juice all honeyed sweetness, skins sunset colours as they ripen from yellow tinged pink to reddish purple. Another taste of heaven, handpicked from Park Farm in Great Holland, while I was staying in Frinton, Essex last week, they are in the nearest bowl in the picture.
We brought home two more plum varieties: Mistaka, deep purple and too sharp to eat raw, but delicious baked in a pudding yesterday evening; and the traditional favourite Victoria, which were not really ripe enough to pick but will be ready to eat later this week. Mum swears by the latter, but they are not my favourite; I think they probably suffer by comparison as they aren't the first in season (which always taste best to me). But in any case, for me the whole point of picking direct is to try varieties and flavours which are not on offer in our local supermarkets. I suspect Avalon, being soft and easily bruised, would be unlikely to travel well.
The farm shop, which is in Pork Lane was full of goodies. We stopped in their recently opened coffee shop and were delighted by the plum dessert cake- a seasonal treat. Local honey, and early season apples including James Grieve, Beauty of Bath as well as thewidely available Discovery, were on offer. We brought home some of each, plus fresh pressed apple juice and Grenadier cooking apples, which will be wonderful with our local blackberries, which are cropping well, with large sweet fruit this season.
From the allotment, squash is particularly good and plentiful at present. We're eating two varieties and as I was expecting them to be rather like courgettes, I've been pleasantly surprised to find them so different from one another and flavoursome. Burgess Buttercup grows like a small orange football, and tastes sweet, quite like butternut squash. It roasted well with fresh sage and sliced onion, spuds and chicken for Sunday dinner yesterday. The dark green Waltham is more like a mildly sweet potato, and was good with onions, garlic, thyme, french beans and tomatoes in a pasta sauce. More heaven on a plate!

New challenge for the pigeons and some splendiferous sunflowers

2009-07-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Today the two of us spent a very useful and pleasurable day at the allotment.
Paul made a huge new cage to keep the woodpigeons away from the new brussels sprouts bed.
The cage I made last year wasn't tall or wide enough for plants to develop fully. This new model is taller than me, which is possibly a little too far in the other direction! Let's see if the brussels plants take advantage of their luxurious new height allowance; now that would be a good crop!
If the cage should prove overcapacious, perhaps we could plant some fruit bushes next year; blackcurrant redcurrant and raspberry would be good.

Meanwhile I thinned out the autumn cauliflowers, cutting down a couple of sunflowers as I went; transplanted winter leeks and brussels sprouts into two beds, dug over after the broad beans were pulled out; harvested potatoes and picked french beans and runners; found the first couple of sweetcorn cobs starting to swell; put elastic bands around the celery; and enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee sitting next to the Jerusalem artichokes and looking over the lush three sisters bed. It's looking good!
Lastly I watered everything, as despite frequent showers this week, the soil was really dry and thirsty by this afternoon.
I know I look as if I'm trying to hide behind the beanpole in this picture - this would be futile at the best of times. But I was actually just picking runner beans.
Have I mentioned how splendiferous the sunflowers are this season? Here are a few for your pleasure.
The tallest are now about 7 feet high. Bill has the highest plant on our site - one bloom must be at least eight foot tall - but I have the most prolifically flowering.
I have picked nearly forty blooms over the past three weeks, not including today's dozen (after these photos were taken). They are a delight and a pleasure.

Space and light a fine judgement

2009-07-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

I was surprised to find that my first harvest of parsnips was in September last year, since we dug up the first three of the season last weekend.
The large one was wonderful with roast beef on Sunday, the others we enjoyed boiled with grilled noisettes of lamb on Monday evening. All accompanied by the first carrots, some French beans and potatoes gathered from the allotment.
Last year's first row of parsnips was planted too closely with Jerusalem artichokes, and had to compete for their light and water. But I wouldn't have expected it to make two months difference to their growth. I only put the seeds in at the end of April, and the packet said harvest from October! But the flavour of these young roots was really good.
The Cherokee climbing French beans are producing really well - long slender pods (up to 6 inches), also of delicious flavour. I made two sowings of them, the second in a three sisters bed with sweetcorn and squash, so we should have a continuous crop through August and September. I feel uncertain about this as I may have overcrowded the second sowing. I thought as it was a deep bed I could plant more intensely but nearly all the seeds and beans which I planted directly, came up. The Burgess Buttercup squash plants are also taking up much more space than other varieties planted in different beds, so I hope they will fruit well. It is a fine judgement to make best use of limited space in order to generate the maximum crop from the light water and soil nutrients available!
The dwarf French beans, Black Valentine and May Bean have been picked over the past couple of weeks. As I mixed them together in the bed I can't tell which is which unless I allow them to mature, when the beans will be different colours. We compared them for flavour with the Cherokees immediately after picking and found all very similar -delicious, but nothing to choose between them.
I'm pleased to report that the runner beans have staged a recovery, the few plants that grew well initially are being caught up by the stragglers, so perhaps we will have worthwhile amounts of my favourite crop after all.
Still waiting for our first ripe tomato with keen anticipation. We have already enjoyed a few courgette Tondo di Piacenza - a wonderful variety that produces rotund fruits like little tennis balls, good sauteed or mixed into paellas and pasta sauces.
July is such a lovely month for gardening here - the hard work of the early season gives way to more leisurely watering and weeding, sitting and looking and of course the rewards of eating freshest produce. It almost seems a shame to go on holiday!

Gardeners Bloom Day July 2009

2009-07-15T04:55:00.001-07:00

First up from my garden for today is Black-eyed Susan, a delightful flowering climber here in the UK. I don't know the Latin name for ours, do you? Apparently, Black-eyed Susan is a different plant, Rudbeckia hirta, in the US. Have a look at Carol's May Dreams Garden to see her version, and find out how you can join in with GBD and connect with other gardeners around the world.

I've posted my pics from a different programme this time and don't seem to be able to mix in words and pictures in the same way as usual. Still I hope you will enjoy this edited selection from my garden this morning.

First summer pudding

2009-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

My sister Annie is throwing a party to celebrate her fortieth brithday this weekend, so I offered to make a summer pudding - her favourite dessert at this time of year. I'm afraid we've eaten all the raspberries from the garden. The blackberries in Nonsuch Park aren't quite ripe, and those on the border of the allotment too few, so I had to buy soft fruit in the supermarket, adding in ripe cherries and strawberries left over from earlier this week. But I did make the white loaf to line the bowl!
The fruit smelled delicious as it was poaching this evening in a few tablespoons of brandy and sugar, with the juice of half a lemon to sharpen it and keep the colours of the fruit bright. Teh purple red juice soaked into the bread in no time, and I pressed it down in the bowl with a close fitting lid, to help it all conglomerate together. When we eat it with cream tomorrow evening, it really will feel as if summer is here - no matter what the weather!

Fantastic first earlies

2009-07-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

Earlier this season I confessed that I couldn't understand why my fellow gardeners devote so much allotment space to the humble spud. They're just potatoes, for goodness sake and they don't cost very much in the shops. And I proudly announced that I'd only planted about six as I had other, pricier veg in mind.
And then, this week, I've harvested the first early potatoes, and god they're delicious. Also much easier to prepare than those I've been buying; the skins are very thin and scrubbed off almost as soon as I looked at them in the sink!
I served them boiled with mint for the Bad Girls Book Club on Saturday evening, we had some leftovers cold for Sunday lunch, then fried the rest with onions, some sweet potato, garlic and tarragon for Monday dinner. We've boiled the remaining few for dinner again tonight and tomorrow.
We aren't a family who normally eat spuds every day, and we dislike boiled spuds the rest of the year, but these are so well flavoured, so moist and soft textured, just needing a little butter to feel like a real treat enjoyed by us all. And absolutely amazing value - I only harvested two plants, getting about 5lbs in all. It is little short of a miracle that six or seven weeks in the ground can turn one potato into so much nutritious and tasty food!
We've also had the first dwarf French beans this weekend and handfuls of peas, from the Kent Blue variety as well as Victorian Purple. The VPs tasted better 10 days ago; the KBs, which podded later, are sweeter now. Completely different in their growth habits, the KBs are only about three foot tall while the VPs have shot above six. KBs have very nobbly little pods, moulding the peas tightly within like rows of baby teeth about to erupt, while VP pods are more classically crescent shaped, with just the suggestion of curvaceous peas within.
Our climbing French beans are just beginning to flower, so I expect some for our table by the end of the week, especially after the cooler nights and plentiful showers of rain overnight and today. The first sowing of Black Cherokee look particularly promising. We need them to be good. The runners are struggling this year thanks to blackfly, which seem completely uninterested in the nasturtiums in the presence of juicy sweet runner bean stems!
Lastly our salads are continuing to yield well, a couple of the plants have followed the rocket into seed but the others, which we've kept picking regularly, are developing more flavour as the season progresses. Bronze Arrowhead is picking particularly well. And we have lots of green tomatoes, so lets hope the weather warms up again to ripen them off!

Tragic demise of an organic allotment...

2009-07-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was an allotment gardener. He commuted all week to a job he enjoyed, writing about gardening, and he had a lovely young family. He struggled to juggle these responsibilities with maintaining his allotment.
His plot was on a small but beautiful site surrounded on three sides by willows and other large trees. A waiting list was kept as a matter of policy, to help protect it from housing development, which was a great threat to many allotment sites during that time.
The council also had a very strict rule, that all plots on this site must be cultivated. This rule was partly designed to stop people on the waiting list from complaining that they hadn't got an allotment and that some tenants didn't appreciate theirs and look after them properly, and that life wasn't fair. But the rule was also policed to some extent by other tenants on the site, some of whom had gardened there for very many years. They contributed conscientiously to tasks that helped keep the site in good order, such as clearing blackberries from boundaries, trimming paths, pruning back the willow trees and calling the council when there were rats to be got rid of, and they felt much happier when all of the allotments were neat and tidy.
So when this man struggled to maintain his allotment alongside his demanding job and beautiful children, the council was informed. After some discussions, it was agreed to divide his plot in two, so that he had something more manageable in at least one area of his life.
So this is how I was allocated my half plot. I have been very glad that my neighbour reluctantly agreed to accept a half plot all those years ago, so that I too could have a manageable space to enjoy.
My neighbour tenant and I have been amicable, and we have seen several others come and go from the site during our tenancy. There was the woman whose father-in-law came over from Ireland for a week's holiday and cleared and dug her plot over for her. She planted it up and left, returning from the middle of the summer to harvest the food. One season she enjoyed lots of time down there with her new baby and toddler, during her maternity leave. She loved the gardening, but gave up her plot when she returned to work the following year.
An older tenant, who'd had a plot for years, struggled due to health problems over his two last summers, the weeds getting ever more prolific, the digging more of a struggle. Another woman came and enjoyed her plot for a season. The following summer her mother was very ill and her daughter had a baby. That year she couldn't fit in family support, allotment and essential full time job, so she was thrown off. I met her a few months later and she was quite angry that she hadn't been allowed to keep it after so long on the waiting list.
Another tenant, a wonderful veg gardener, had his cataracts done, and he was out of action for a year. He returned to his two full size plots, but voluntarily gave up one of them a couple of years later as he and his wife were no longer able to eat or give away everything he grew. Now he grows lots of evening primrose, a beautiful sight when watering in the evening.
Through all these sagas, my neighbour and I have managed to do sufficient labour to be allowed to stay. We're both quite green minded, organic (as far as we can) and have produced small amounts of delicious veg, which generally keep us motivated. He had a patch of weeds covering a third of the plot with signs, "slow worms live here" and a dustbin lid or two, while I had some old blackcurrant bushes, weedy and overgrown, providing shelter for blackbirds and sparrows, and the occasional resting place for a fox family.
For a couple of seasons, a friend helped him by clearing and gardening the back end of his plot, creating a deep bed and growing runner beans, and this was the point when we actually started to make headway in our annual Battle with the Hop Vine, which grew over leylandii from a neighbouring garden and choked the far end of our two half plots. He would bring free samples of different veg varieties to try, and would usually be found on Sunday mornings with one or two of his boys, pottering about and growing stuff.
But this year I haven't seen my organic neighbour and apart from a cutting down of the weedpatch and a rough trim of the shared path very early in the season, his plot hasn't been cultivated at all. There has been a great crop of parsnip seeds and artichoke flowers, and the bellbine and wild grasses have looked wonderful, but no one on the site appeared to have heard a word from him. And as we've never exchanged phone numbers, I had no way of finding out what was going on.
And then, early last week I arrived to do some watering and his whole plot had been cleared. The deep beds, the compost heap, all made from scavenged and recycled wood gathered over the years - everything had been pulled up or broken down and piled in a heap in one corner, over the formerly flourishing rhubarb patch. It was really shocking.
My neighbour Bill on the other side said a woman had been down with her mother and done it all over the weekend.
I met her on Saturday. She's dynamic, has spare time at present as her photography business is a little quiet, hasn't grown veg before but is full of energy and enthusiasm. "My long term objective is to open a restaurant, so this is a great opportunity for me to start with the food." She lives across the road from my organic neighbour, who has had an operation on his wrist and so can't do anything on his allotment this year. She's offered to help him out, and he's accepted gladly, giving her a free hand to do what she likes with it this year; she has even suggested putting a shed at the far end and having a small lawn.
It must be a great load off his mind that someone will look after his plot for this season, so he can return next year to something cultivated and not lose his tenancy. But I can't help wondering if he really expected her to clear everything off the plot and put down weedkiller? The old slow worm patch is looking very browned off this week, despite the plentiful rain over the weekend.

Everything in bloom on the allotment...

2009-06-25T09:42:00.000-07:00

Rocket's pretty four petalled flowers are characteristic of the brassica family. We've been enjoying the leaves in our salad, I'm hopeful that if they run to seed we'll have a fresh crop in a few weeks time.

The first sunflower came out last Friday and more have appeared since. These were self seeded, but seem very happy in the deep bed we built over them!
The tomatoes also started producing flowers last week and so I've begun to feed them weekly with a seaweed feed.
Nasturtium were also self seeded, hopefully they will distract some of the blackfly away from the beans (see previous post, below!) They seem very happy tucked in next to the thriving brassicas.

A few words about wildlife....

2009-06-25T09:15:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned that our allotment site is protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSI), because it hosts a colony of slow worms? Here's one we found the other day. Despite the name, they are actually quite quick so we were pleased to get this pic.
They hide under the old carpet on the paths between the beds. So some of them get trodden on I'm afraid. I hope it's not illegal to accidentally tread on a protected creature - I feel guilty enough!
Now here's a painted lady butterfly, one of the hordes that have made their way to our shores on hot winds from the Sahara in recent weeks. They're looking a lot brighter now, the ones we observed earlier in the season were quite faded after their long journey.
And last but not least some rather less welcome visitors - the dreaded blackfly on the broad beans. Stubborn little critturs and I now have no broad bean crop (not one harvested!)
My fellow tenants keep making comments about how I haven't got a crop because I haven't sprayed, but I usually do get a small crop despite lack of spray. And I happen to know that Bill sprayed my beans about three weeks ago "because I had a bit left in me bottle, and it seemed a waste". No he doesn't use organic spray. And now they've moved onto my runner beans as well, which are usually only mildly affected.
I looked at sprays in a DIY store in Dorking yesterday, but as they were marked "dangerous to bees" I bottled out. I know they all think that my blackfly will infect their plants but if their sprays are so effective, why should they worry?
What do you think? Are the blackfly worse this year than last spring in your experience?

Podding purple peas

2009-06-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

We harvested Victorian Purple Pods yesterday- at last there were sufficient big enough to pod and enjoy the peas! Not that we've complained about the young peas, which we've consumed with delight as mangetout in stir fries over the last couple of weeks.
They were delicious simmered for five minutes with a sprig of mint. And were served in a traditional way alongside new potatoes, broad beans, young carrots and lamb chop, with a home made mint sauce. Mmhmm.

Gardeners Bloom Day 15 June

2009-06-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

This is my first contribution to Gardeners' Bloom Day, an idea started a couple of years back by Carol of May Dreams Gardens. On the 15th of each month everyone is invited to post about the flowers which are currently blooming in their gardens.

June has to be the best month for English gardens! All sorts of delightful blooms to share. Delicately starry Alliums have followed the dark pink purple pompoms featured earlier in the season, looking good alongside the dark pink Sweet William - a traditional favourite.

The Pink Gerbera were a delightful gift, made on Friday (thank you Shirley) and potted up on Saturday. A nursery must have lit them evenly for the blooms to be so perfectly balanced in the round! The lemon yellow flowers you can see behind are Potentilla, an easy shrub which now it's established, produces a profusion of blooms every morning, and drops them all in the evening. It goes on for months.

Next, a pale lavender Scabious which we planted last summer. It looked very sad earlier this season, but we put a slug pub behind it, the snails dove in and it's flourished ever since!
The pink rose is a Gertrude Jekyll, it generous roses smell delicious all through June and we have enough to enjoy in the garden and the house.

Last but not least, the shopping basket I planted up a month ago, which is proving big enough to only need watering every four days or so!
Thanks to Stevie for the photos - he nipped out to capture them just before it started to rain cats and dogs! Also to Sue Swift of the Balcony Garden whose post today reminded me to take part in Gardener's Bloom Day!

Advice please on celery - my challenge for this season

2009-06-09T06:03:00.000-07:00

Having read that expert gardeners could enjoy celery from June to November, I felt it was time to plant mine out last week. You can probably see from the size of the plants that I started them off too late for an early crop!
I haven't grown celery before. Uncle David had a crack at it on his allotment last year, to commemorate the centenary of my grandfather's birth. Grandad used to bring a beautiful white celery for our family to share at Christmas teatime, so it was a nice way to remember him. Unfortunately David didn't have much success, despite years of veg growing and horticultural experience. Slugs love celery so it was probably a bad season for it, even though there was so much rain, which should be good for such a tender and hungry crop. So what tempted me into growing a veg which seems generally accepted to be extremely fussy?
I confess it was lack of research. I read the very positive write up of Full White Celery by the Real Seed Company. This was designed to sell celery seeds, of course, and make it seem really simple, so I ordered them and didn't actually read up about growing it until the seedlings were well underway. Ah well, challenge is good. I've kept them frost free and well watered and they have done well so far. Let's see how they grow in the new deep bed.
RSC's write-up said that this variety doesn't need earthing up, I can just put an elastic band around the stems, or wrap them in newspaper as they grow. But I would like white celery rather than green, the flavour is milder and less bitter. So I've buried the plants, leaving just a couple of leaves above the ground. I've no idea if this is the right way to do it, but four plants I put into a big pot in the garden at home seem to be doing ok, they've put more leaves and stalks up and I'm earthing up as they grow. We can only wait and see! If anyone's got positive experience, or any advice about this I would be grateful.

Peas - the first treat of late spring

2009-06-08T10:25:00.000-07:00

Victorian purple podded peas glory in the most beautiful flowers - dark purple and pale pink, my favourite colours in the garden - and look good enough to eat. Which they probably aren't. But the pods are! Paul and I greedily ate the lot as we found them, about two dozen between us and they were sweet and crunchy and delicious eaten raw on the allotment last week. A treat!

The flowers don't smell as good as they look - in fact they aren't scented at all, so we're still looking forward to enjoying the ornamental ones in the garden to enjoy the luscious scent.

Welcome sunshine...

2009-06-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is Mesembryanthemum, one of those flowers that only opens when there is bright sunshine - fortunately there was lots on our SW facing patio last week! I have a shallow pot of them, the first I've ever had, as I spotted a tray of them in the garden centre some weeks ago.
My grandmother called them South African daisies, and used to grow them in a tiny bed by her sunny front door. They grow in such a glorious variety of colours and have such cheerful little faces - like all the daisy family.

First punnet of strawberries...

2009-05-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Having found several strawberries scattered or half eaten last Friday, we covered the bed in a double layer of netting and were rewarded yesterday with our first punnet of strawberries! One or two had been nibbled by snails (which seemed to be strangling themselves trying to get out again through the holes). However, most were pristine and, after the warm sunshine over the weekend, followed by lots of rain overnight on Monday, of very good eating quality. We enjoyed them for lunch with a little sugar (unnecessary but nice) and cream - delicious!
Planted out my second batch of sweetcorn yesterday, together with squash plants. The sweetcorn plants I laid out a fortnight ago are already six inches tall, the newbies only two, it will be interesting to see if they catch up!
Tomato plants seem to have settled in well - they looked a bit unhappy at the end of last week - not wilting but not really enjoying the long dry spell, and particularly I guess the cold winds of the week before. I gave them a good soaking and had a long chat with George about them, which you might think went over the top of their heads. But they were looking a lot better for the attention and, perhaps, the intervening weather!

Painted ladies....

2009-05-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spotted a painted lady butterfly, a migrant from Africa, on the allotment - the first we've seen this year.
Then this morning, the Guardian newspaper reported that many thousands of them have been arriving in Britain on warm winds from the North African deserts since last Thursday. See www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/27/painted-lady-butterflies-migration-britain
It could be the best summer for them for years. What a wonderful surprise, following the unusually cold winter. Let's hope the farmers lay off the herbicides and leave plenty of thistles for painted lady caterpillars later this season!

Chives alive - but what about our bees?

2009-05-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Bees love chives - the small clump in our back garden has been alive with them all weekend, despite competition from columbines, poppies and other more obviously attractive flowers in the border. The ornamental alliums have also seen lots of action, sometimes with two or three bees on each flowerhead; and, to my surprise, the unremarkable flowers on the raspberry canes.
In our garden and on the allotment, it's hard to credit that the UK bee population is in decline, but then the urban bees, it seems, have it easier than those in troubled rural areas. With a thriving variety of garden plants to feed on at this time of year, without needing to traverse vast areas of chemically treated single crops, their immune systems must be more able to cope with the new viruses and varroa mite which appear to have been encouraged by intensive beekeeping practices developed over the past few decades.
In a TV documentary programme a couple of weeks ago I was shocked to see vast pantechnicons, loaded with beehives, being transported across the United States to pollinate crops in different regions. It seems extraordinary that the different areas do not sustain their own indigenous populations of bees to carry out this essential work.
It may also be stressful for the bees to be carted about in this manner. A friend was telling me about a local apiarist who had to collect a hive of bees from some distance away and was advised to stop halfway and let them out for a break. Apparently they flew out and came back in again after about ten minutes, then settled back and were safely and happily transported to their destination!
I wonder also about the role of refined sugar in creating the problem. Richard Smith, the late biodynamic farmer from Sharpham Barton in South Devon, suggested that this particular aspect of intensive farming practice was causing problems in China a few years ago. Where farmers were taking too much honey from the hives to sell and feeding the bees manufactured sugar instead, entire communities of beehives died off within weeks. No wonder - there are all kinds of minerals and trace elements in honey which would be absent from the denatured, processed product.
It makes it all the more important, I think, that we grow as diverse and as much food and flowers as we can in our gardens and allotments in order to keep local bee populations happy and healthy. And we should support local, traditional beekeepers in their sustainable, small scale practices.

I don't usually do politics here but...

2009-05-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

...I enjoyed this witty approach to raising awareness of one MP's claims for gardening expenses.

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/imagination/pound-force---alan-duncan-mp-gets-a-new-garden-feature

Stevie's Section!

2009-05-15T10:44:00.000-07:00

Hi there!
I'm Stevie, Helens youngest son, the one who does most of the photography for this blog!

I was off sick today, and Mum + Dad thought that I'd feel a little better after a bit of exercise, so they brought me down to the allotment. It feels so long since I last came down here, yet looking back at some of Mums previous posts on this blog, it was only a month ago! So much has changed since I last came down, all the lettuces have sprouted, Mum + Dad have covered the strawberry patch with a layer of something or other to protect it- I didn't even know there were strawberries growing last time I came down!

Previously down at the allotment, all I did was take photos so Mum could update this blog. This time round, I was a little more helpful, and put up a 'pyramid' of bamboo sticks and planted some beans around it's base. And to be honest, even though i don't have very green fingers, i still enjoyed it.

I had a lovely time down on the allotment, and hope to go back down there next time I'm off sick.

Fear of being organised...

2009-05-15T08:47:00.000-07:00

I fear I am becoming the Very Organised Gardener (or VOG - how great is that?). It seems that the tramlines of the raised bed impel me to plant things in a much more organised way.
Neat little rows with (whisper it) labels are springing up across the allotment which has traditionally been more scattered by nature.

See these fine lettuces, which brought forth our first bowl of mixed salad earlier this week! Very Organised: neatly laid out in half rows, at different stages of development ready to light up our plates at different times in the coming weeks. I'm not boasting, I feel... confused. Happy, but confused. I know I planted them but I'm sure I've done this in previous years and it hasn't actually come to fruition.
Must be something to do with having some help regularly, P has got on with clearing weeds roots and rubbish at the end of the allotment so I've been able to focus on digging planting weeding and watering the beds.
This morning Stevie joined us too and both assisted with planting out the climbing French beans which have been popping up in their pots at home! We planted out two varieties today, Cobra, which were sent to me by David, and Cherokee Vale of Tears, from the real seed company.
I was surprised to find these varieties looked exactly the same when they arrived - small black beans. They've had similar germination rates ( about two thirds) and I can't see much difference between them as sprouting plants, but we'll see how they turn out later on. I've planted them out separately, Cobra next to the Victorian Purple Podded Peas sent me by Miss Fuggles and Cherokee next to the Kent Blue Peas.
I've also saved time this year not having to weed out the strawberry bed. Very Organised, helped by black weed suppressing fabric laid out when I planted up the bed last autumn, it has done an excellent job over winter and clearly lets water penetrate too. P and I shared the first ripe strawberry on Tuesday - sunwarmed and delicious, just the right balance of sharp and sweet - and there were two more nearly ready today! We are looking forward to a good crop this year.

Thank goodness to find the self seeded sunflowers at my feet (above) taking up nearly half of the planned sweetcorn bed! We must retain some spontaneity.

But not too much... a good gardener is a ruthless gardener, so I thinned some of the little darlings out, and feel confident now that there will be another fine display of Velvet Queen, like those which adorn my portrait at the head of this blog, later this season.

Classic Spring cottage garden!

2009-05-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

Flourishing wiegela...a glorious fountain of pink which delights us every year.

dark pink pelargonium Royale, purple allium, a splash of orange wallflower, palest pink aquilegia

plus herbs, the strawberry planter full of flowers and blackeyed susan ready to climb in the big round pot on the right. The sweetpeas are shooting up in the square pot to the left. The white flowers centre front are lantana - never come across these before, I found them in the garden centre last week and divided one small pot into five separate plants!

And here's the basket I planted earlier... I must get a better picture this weekend, after the rain yesterday and today it's beginning to flourish, and the plants spreading out.

An easy way to set trailing plants in your summer baskets

2009-05-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I planted up an old shopping basket as a centrepiece for this year's display on the piano at the bottom of the garden.

After lining it with a layer of grass cuttings and a piece of compost bag (trimmed to fit), the basket was half filled with compost and I snipped two inch holes in the lining halfway down the side.

Then I laid out the plants; a couple of pelargonium, purple salvia, lime surfinia (petunias) and trailing white bacopa.

It was going to be difficult to push the bacopa through the wire mesh of the basket without damaging the plants.

Then I remembered a tip I learnt with the Age Concern staff gardening club about ten years ago...

I wrapped the top of a plant in piece of card...

you can roll it quite closely

if you're gentle...

and then I was able to push it through the small aperture with no difficulty at all.

Voila! Job done...

Final result in my next post...

Try this recipe for chard...

2009-05-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Prompted by Sue's Balcony Garden, which gives a great recipe for chard with gorgonzola and pasta, here's another idea - a bit more compllicated but delicious and worth the effort as an occasional treat.
Separate stalks and green; cut the stalks into 2 inch pieces, and slice the greens finely. Steam or poach for five minutes, keeping the greens and stalks separate. Then put the greens into a colander, press down with a plate or saucer to squeeze out as much juice as possible.
In a small bowl, beat a couple of eggs and grate some nutmeg in, plus a little salt and pepper if you like. Grate breadcrumbs (one or two stale slices should be enough). Heat butter or oil in a shallow frying pan. Dip the stalks in egg, then breadcrumbs then fry for a few minutes in the oil, until the breadcrumbs are golden. Drain on kitchen roll. Then make small patties, each with a dessertspoon of greens. Once again, dip these in egg, then breadcrumbs, then fry and drain as before.
Lay the breadcrumbed stalks and patties on a baking tray and put in a medium oven for twenty minutes. This will drain some of the fat and crisp up the breadcrumbs.
Enjoy with a salad and a glass of dry white wine.
My kids loved this recipe, in days gone by when they were not willing consumers of greens - maybe because I deprived them of chicken nuggets and this was the closest thing?

Has the cold weather sorted the slugs?

2009-05-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

Whisper it, but we seem to have lost little yet to the slugs and snails which were such a problem in my garden last year...
It's not that there aren't any of the critturs around. We planted a couple of slug pubs in the garden last weekend and they seem to have been satifyingly busy over the week, with tens of bodies to throw into the compost heap this morning. The one next to the scabious clump (which has been well chewed by something) was the most crowded.
I spotted a few chewed leaves on the black elder and the hairy mint this morning (and aphid foam on the black peppermint) but lettuce on the allotment, and lobelia planted out last week seem (fingers crossed) untouched. However, half the early Nantes carrots seeds planted in March either didn't come up or met an early lunch date - I'm just not aware of having lost carrots to slugs before.
Even if the recent cold snap has temporarily slowed them down, I'm staying watchful.

Sweetcorn's up on the windowsill this morning...

2009-05-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

...and I only planted it five days ago! It's absolutely my favourite vegetable for being easy to grow. I shall pop them in the greenhouse for a few days once the rest of the seeds show shoots, then have them hardened off and planted out by the third week of May, weather allowing. And at that point, I'll plant the next lot of seeds indoors and look forward to sweet cobs from halfway through August to the end of September or even early October, weather allowing.

Do you rotate?

2009-04-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

Brief conversation with Bill the next door tenant about crop rotation earlier this week.

My question: "What do you think about crop rotation Bill? You always have your runner beans in the same place."

His answer: "I've grown runner beans in the same place on this allotment for 41 years. And on that allotment over there I've grown 'em in the same place for 25 years. And they've always done well. I just add a bit of manure, bit of compost, in the ground every year. I don't need to move 'em."

Follow-up question: "What about your other veg? do you move them?"

His answer: "Not really. Grow the onions pretty well the same place. I've had to move some of the potatoes this year. Otherwise everything grows where it's put. Just feed the soil and it grows."

He grows the most beautiful vegetables; wonderful crop of pumpkins and squashes, always plentiful greens, leeks, tomatoes, lettuces - everything he grows, grows well.

So what do you think? Do you rotate? Is it necessary on a small plot?

A few nice pics from the allotment

2009-04-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

This week I thinned out the first tiny mixed salad leaves (right). I like to eat the ones I pull out - I'm sure they should be washed first but there has been a lot of rain this week, they tasted clean enough. (I try not to think about the state of my gardening fingers). I also thinned the brussels sprouts and cauliflower, and covered the remaining miniplants (only two leaves big) with the cage I made last year, to keep the pigeons off.

This clump of spinach (left) is looking good, and the small shoots of garlic, planted in early March, springing up around it.

Some of the strawberries are in flower already! Around two thirds of the plants I put in last autumn. This week I had to replace four that died over winter. Not bad, I think, out of 24 plants.

I fished snails out of the sorrel (below) and threw them onto the main path, where the birds can find and eat them later.

My earliest broad beans are looking pretty good now, and can you see, in the top left hand corner of the picture below, I'd started building the frame for my runners? I like to go from one job to another rather than sticking with the same old task for hours. Scattered Gardener, drifting from one thing to another.

Bereavement in the garden

2009-04-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Tragedy in the back garden - Paul found a headless lady newt. Whodunnit? Magpie is the chief suspect - they lurk around the pond with their sharp sharp beaks, their sharp sharp eyes and wagging tails - but it could have been a crow I s'pose.

Bean frame brings out my inner girl guide

2009-04-14T13:04:00.000-07:00

This year I have finally developed a sure method to build a stable frame for the runner beans - which I have yet to plant this season, but there's plenty of time!
In my early years of allotmenting, my traditional bamboo bean poles always blew over, or at least became very wonky within very few weeks of the summer. With this method, the frame is much more stable.
I find 7 foot (2 m) poles about the right size, using thirty all together, and a good deal of green garden twine to tie them all together. My swiss army knife comes in handy! This task definitely brings out my inner girl guide... All that practice putting together washing up tripods finally paying off!
Start by laying out a pair of poles for each end and one for the middle, with a cross pole at the top and two across the middle between each pair (see picture, left). The whole frame ( allowing for overlaps) is about 12 foot long.
Bamboo is good, as it grows in roughly one foot sections, and so the cross poles helpfully indicate the distance to allow between supporting uprights, and, eventually, the bean plants. (I usually put in a double row of beans round each upward pole.) Add the uprights in pairs, reserving 2 poles to use as supports for the ends.
It's useful to tie each pair of uprights to the top cross pole, but only about a third to the middle ones. Use good knots and secure girl guide methods!
Lastly, insert the last two poles at an angle leaning into either end of the frame and tie them in securely. I like to plant nasturtiums or train sweetpeas up these end poles.
The last pair of poles add stability to the frame, and will stop it bending to every breeze, although if there are high winds later in the season, I sometimes need to attach guy ropes and pegs (borrowed from our tent) for additional support.
With this size frame and with a double row of bean plants each side ( about 40 plants altogether) I usually grow sufficient runners for my family of four to eat three or four times weekly through August and September, and give surplus to neighbours and friends now and then.

Unexpected gifts...

2009-04-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we potted up tomatoes and other bits and pieces for the greenhouse, and Paul dug up the scruffy old rosemary bush from the border - we've replaced it with Ceanothus for its darker green small glossy leaves throughout the year and beautiful deep blue flowers in late spring. Looking forward to that!
Today we returned to the allotment - a blessed treat on a Tuesday as we didn't have time to do more than drop off compost last week. Before we left I searched the cupboard for the last six Jerusalem artichokes, carefully saved in a red net bag, to plant in a new patch on the allotment. Alas, it turned out Paul cooked them about three weeks ago. So perhaps we were not to have any next winter.
But what should I find this afternoon as I prepared the soil for this year's runners beans? A whole pile of sprouting tubers!
I could have sworn that patch was cleared thoroughly when I dug up artichokes to extend our winter roasts. And given that last year's plentiful crop came forth from just eight tubers, it looks as if we shall enjoy even more next winter.
Be warned my friends - once planted, you're never without a Jerusalem artichoke.
More in hope than anticipation, today last year's patch was cleared again, and readied for beans.
I hope to report positively on the new JA patch later this summer, if these little treasures settle well into their new home, somewhere near the back of the allotment.

Spring flowers in the border

2009-04-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Sprouts and seed swapping

2009-04-09T13:20:00.000-07:00

Everything is sprouting this week! Down on the allotment today, cauliflower and brussels newly through; tomatoes two leaves tall, celery tiny yellow tinted white worms, and black-eyed susan (Thunbergia) thrusting up like beans on the windowsill at home; and in the greenhouse, Victorian Purple Podded Peas showing their first leaves just a fortnight after planting.
I have some different varieties of seed to grow this year, a new initiative as until now I've been happy to buy whatever's available from local garden centres. Reading around, I'm persuaded that I could be doing more to preserve old varieties and promote diversity, even on my little plot.
I was particularly inspired by http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/
who writes lovely reviews and photos of traditional varieties and makes saving and using one's own seeds seem very simple.
It seems there is a growing blogger seed swap network, and by following links from
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/ I found http://fuggles.wordpress.com/ which has lots about allotment gardening and a variety of seeds.
Generous Miss Fuggles sent me two varieties each of peas, dwarf beans, runners and tomatoes in exciting little origami packages. I hope I can return her kindness next year...

I've also purchased a stunning selection from the Real Seed Company www.realseeds.co.uk
They have a mix of unusual varieties as well as traditional favourites such as Parsnip Tender and True, which I recall my grandad growing! Despite a slightly reproving little message on the website about it being the busiest time of year, and to expect some delay in fulfilling my order, it arrived within five days a month ago - excellent service.

Finally, my friend Nick from Colliers Wood sent me some rocket seeds from his organic garden which I plan to plant out this weekend. So I'm really looking forward to some different flavours on our dinner table later this year.

Digging nearly done

2009-04-01T12:45:00.000-07:00

Weary this evening, having nearly completed two jobs - digging the allotment and painting the garden fence. Isn't it annoying when you just run out of time, or physical capacity, shortly before a task is completed? I'm not a great "finisher" anyway, I always find those last bits and pieces - the small corners unpainted, final edit on an article, trimming the edge of the lawn - a real bore to complete. But in the case of the fence, my feet had gone to sleep after standing in one position too long (not a good time of year to find a gap to stand in at the back of the flower bed; lots of bulbs and new seeds bursting through, it would be a shame to crush their optimism.) And this morning's digging had to end at 2 pm when beloved really couldn't wait any longer for his lunch and a pee!

This warm, bright morning we found:

broad beans up an inch, some just bringing forth their third leaves, three weeks after planting
much of the garlic, planted at the same time, up an inch or two
a row of two types of salad leaves, put in a fortnight ago, just visible above the soil
carrots sprouting - Early Nantes, seeded three weeks ago and late season Long Lisse de Meaux, which were only planted last week!

No sign of cauliflower or leeks yet.

Most of my fellow allotment tenants seem to have planted their spuds already - it still surprises me how much space they devote to them, they're an unrewarding crop. Once we've enjoyed the first few new potatoes, one might just as well buy in. I am planning to try oca this year (lemon flavoured root tubersoriginating in Latin America) and more Jerusalem artichokes. Otherwise I find space is more usefully and tastily occupied by less pedestrian veg.

Giant chives or white crocus? Protecting the garden fence.

2009-03-23T09:52:00.000-07:00

Our garden fence has reached that point where weathered silvering may easily evolve into withered shreds, so over the past week of dry sunny weather I've devoted an hour every day to the quick rescue of a paint job.

Stephen took some pics on Saturday afternoon. I couldn't decide between white crocus, giant chives, huge honeysuckle or now pruned back rosemary bush so put them all in.

Only two panels left to do now - but it's been raining this afternoon, so they will have to wait until later in the week! And hopefully our old fence will survive a few more years...

Spring sowings

2009-03-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

I was so glad to get a couple of hours' digging done in bright sunshine this morning! A chill wind was rising and clouds blowing up (March coming in like a lion...) as I left for home and an hour or so later, showers of rain blew in from the north, and have continued through the afternoon. As I'm gardening on heavy clay, and at the bottom of a hill where once ran a stream, conditions get boggy at the slightest excuse. As it is, I've tickled the top two inches of around one third of my plot and cleared the little weeds, so feel I've made a good start to my allotment season.

On Monday (another bright day, but much warmer) I put in garlic and broad beans, so was delighted with the couple of nights frost we've had this week (garlic needs it to get started). This was my first planting in the new raised bed on the extra boggy side of the plot, which is normally too wet to plant with anything before April. The bed fortuitously divides into 7 sections (my lucky number) and the moon's on its way up, so with some fair weather following these should soon put on some growth.

I've also emptied the garden compost bin this week and put a couple of inches of this horticultural gold dust around all the beds in the back garden. I'm dividing up the compost from the big pots where I grew salads and courgettes last year for the front garden and allotment, on the latter I'll be supplementing with bought in manure and peat free multi purpose.

Yesterday I worked on the border in the front garden. I was struggling to divide a five year old Eupatorium perforatum into four clumps, first with a fork, then a spade. Then I thought of my lawn edging tool, which worked beautifully, perhaps because it has a sharper blade? But it was also an easier shape because it has a curved, rather than a straight edge, I guess.

The clump of crocosmia (see photo posted last July) was also divided up, I've moved some of the rooted bulbs to double the area occupied by them and jiggled the rest around a bit with the fork. I don't think it will kill them and I'm hoping they'll flower even more in protest at this rough treatment!

Also moved some rooting rudbeckia from the back of the bed to the front, thinking these would make a good contrast next to purple asters come the autumn. It was only half an hour later when I was sorting out the empty space with more compost that I remembered I had a developing clump of Shasta daisies (the big white ones), not rudbeckia, in that spot last year. Ah well, they won't clash either.

I wonder what happened to the rudbeckia though? Now you know why I'm the Scattered Gardener...

Snowdrops in Nonsuch Park

2009-02-22T08:44:00.000-08:00

Just returned from a wander round the snowdrops in Nonsuch Park, which are in full flush today, possibly after the sunshine and warmth yesterday. Gloriously prolific in both the copse next to Mansion House and under trees in the sunken area of the garden. Must take the camera over tomorrow and share some photos with you.

First afternoon in the garden today

2009-02-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

Hoorah, it's that dirty nails time of year again! The sun was out so I spent three hours working the bright side of the back garden this afternoon. It's still too wet to dig deep (and in any case, I did that last year, so not really necessary again now), but I got some satisfaction from turning over the top couple of inches and weeding the border. I've divided and moved the red Potentilla to the far end of the bed near the pond, as it was overwhelmed by honeysuckle and roses last summer. I hope it will settle in OK, I hadn't realised how deep the tap roots would be.
Amazing how early the weeds start growing (actually I'm not convinced they've stopped over the winter). Also some crocus peeping through, mostly yellow, a few purple and white and some deep purple mini irises by the pond. The joys of spring already!
Now I must look out that nailbrush and remind myself how to use it again...

Round here almost everyone's off work, it seems...

2009-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

Our second snowy day and although there's a lot of thawing going on, still plenty of snow to entertain the kids - and all their mums and dads, it seems. There is a real holiday atmosphere down our road, around a quarter of the householders were out clearing their drives and paths this morning in the bright sunshine. And nearly everyone said hello or good morning when we headed down to the shops this morning, it was better than Christmas!
The roads are alive with everyone walking instead of the usual car journey. Though it was notable as we headed out that the hum of motors from the main road half a mile away had resumed after yesterday's peace everywhere. I expect all will be back to normal by the end of the week, but for myself I plan to make more short to medium journeys by foot and bicycle this year.
If you're thinking the photo looks a bit grey it's only partly because it was a cloudy day yesterday when it was taken. I didn't get the exposure right, so I've had a bit of a play with the colours on this and some of those that follow. I quite like the old fashioned mono effect here.

Snowy oaks

2009-02-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

Alas, only the largest branches still have their snowy covering today. I'm glad I captured this yesterday.

Hamamelis - more spiders than stars in the snow...

2009-02-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Witch hazel peeping like stars from the snow? Well, they looked like stars from the kitchen window, but close up I have to confess, more like spiders. Is it my eyes? And I thought I was growing more far sighted with age...

Apples of my eyes...

2009-02-03T08:40:00.001-08:00

My snowy wintry garden...

2009-02-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Everything stops for snow...

2009-02-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

Wow! Snow was drifted over our front doorstep this morning. Will (oldest son) set out at 8.00 with unusual enthusiasm for a Monday, confidently - and correctly - anticipating that school would be closed and he'd be able to spend the morning snowballing with mates!
Twenty minutes later he reported that Kingston bypass had very little traffic and all heading south, towards Epsom. Curious...were the cars were following a gritter? But no, no evidence of any road clearance or overnight gritting. Good ole Surrey council, can't plan for adverse weather on a Sunday night.
Yes folks, here in the South East of England everything stops for a few inches of snow. We're five minutes' walk from the local train station, and the few brave souls outside who had tried to get to work could be heard telling one another that there were no trains and no buses. Very few cars making their way past - most people have decided to stay at home, it seems.
The garden (of course) looks fabulous, the piano and pink shed picturesque and the oak trees which line the railway cutting behind all light and shade, their naked branches sharply delineated against the grey sky. Hamamelis (witch hazel) flowers like small orange stars peep through the snow, while next door's leylandii provides welcome shelter, as always, for the smaller birds. I'll post some photos later when youngest gets back from his music lesson, as I can't find the little card to transfer them.
Paul and Stevie cleared the doorstep and front path ready for my patients this morning, then walked down to the local shops for milk. There were snowball fights across Stoneleigh Broadway for an hour or two, some of the shopkeepers coming out to join in with local teenagers and families. A very traditional small town, community scene!

A mini harvest of parsnips and carrots

2009-01-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

Beautiful weather this afternoon - a very hard frost last night followed by clear gentle winter sunlight all day today, so I spent an hour on the allotment digging up the last of the parsnips and a few carrots for supper tonight. The soil was hard and frosted down about four inches despite the sunshine, though of course at this time of year the sun is from such a low angle, the plot will have been in shade for much of the morning so only benefited for maybe three hours.

Never being quite sure what's about to emerge is one of the joys of growing your own and sure enough, the parsnips ranged from huge and fat to small and dumpy. A couple were seriously entwined!

Very pleased with the carrots I dug out today too - a couple were full of holes but the rest well grown and pleasingly undamaged. They will flavour lamb casserole for supper later.

Also harvested some Jerusalem artichokes - they are practically pushing themselves out of the ground as I didn't get round to cutting down the plants above, which are now brown and leaning at a precarious angle after the winds earlier in the autumn. Enough for a week from just one plant, and still five or six left to harvest. We will enjoy them roasted through January and February - much more flavoursome than artichoke soup, which I find more insipid than creamy.

Brussells sprouts and broccoli a big disappointment despite my magic cage (see September posting). It just wasn't big enough to protect the mature plants, which I thought would be able to look after themselves but have been decimated by the pigeons. A useful lesson and I'll be building a bigger one this year.

Paul and I took a walk over Nonsuch Park and enjoyed watching the sun setting around 4.00 pm.

Planting trees in Morden Park

2008-11-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Spent a sunny couple of hours in a windchilled corner of Morden Park on Saturday helping to create a new woodland area.
Despite the bitter north east wind, Stephen and I cycled to meet Cheryl (my niece), and join lots of volunteers of all ages at the event, which was organised by Trees for Cities.
We were planting out mixed English woodland plants - oak, holly, yew, blackthorn, hawthorn and dogroses - and then piling a thick layer of woodchip as a mulch on top. Work was under way when we arrived and almost finished by the time we left at about 1.15. As well as the task in hand, there were face painting and other creative activities for young children and a band to entertain us. Stephen made a beautiful batbox from recycled wood, which brought back to install on the allotment.
Thank goodness some delicious hot soup and rolls were provided - very welcome, especially after a couple of short snow flurries - most unusual in November.
Our parting gift was an oak sapling to bring on at home and plant out in a year's time. All in all, a really lovely event to participate in and a happy memory to share!

Homeopathy for gardeners

2008-11-21T08:35:00.001-08:00

I'm feeling very happy today - Surrey Organic Gardening Group has asked me to give a talk next Friday night on first aid homeopathy for gardeners. I find Gardening, organics and homeopathy go together very well for many people and I'm always glad to share experience and knowledge.

I had a great conversation last night with Mo, the Secretary of the group who is a huge enthusiast for homeopathy and we talked about the different remedies and topics I could cover within about 45 minutes. I've agreed to take some remedies with me for people to take home and try.

The talk will take place at 7.30 pm in Milton Hall, Carshalton and is open to gardeners who would like to attend.

Housework vs gardening - no contest

2008-11-21T07:58:00.000-08:00

Spent a pleasant hour and a half sweeping up leaves in the back garden yesterday afternoon. I gathered together a big bag of mixed leaves and grass residue, as I used the scarifying rake ( the one with lots of thin metal tines) over the lawn. The end result was a pleasing combed over effect for the grass, which is much too long and unmowable due to the damp.

Why do you suppose I find the simple chores in the garden so much more enjoyable than those in the house? I can't imagine blogging about hoovering the stairs, for instance, or washing the kitchen floor - and don't even think about cleaning the bathroom. Yet they have the same elements of not thinking very much or allowing my thoughts to drift as I labour.

Admittedly, it was a beautiful autumn day, with reddish golden light falling across my west facing garden and gradually turning rosy as the sun went down. But I could have enjoyed that from the bathroom or back bedroom upstairs.

I suppose the air was crisp and cold, making a pleasing contrast with the hot cup of tea I sat and enjoyed half way through my task. And it helped to clear my head, which has been somewhat stuffed up with cold this week.

Maybe the difference is that indoors tasks have to be done week in week out merely for maintenance of reasonable living conditions. Or perhaps I just have to adopt a different philosophy towards housework, after all there is satisfaction in restoring order indoors as well.
But don't worry, I'm not about to start writing about the household stuff as well!

Firework cucumbers...

2008-11-13T09:34:00.000-08:00

We found a couple of cucumbers last weekend when clearing the area around the piano* ready for fireworks! This was most unexpected, especially after the frosts and snow of the half term week; they were not protected by a greenhouse or any other cover except shrivelled up leaves.

They tasted great, though the smaller one was stunted and a little squishy at one end.

Things have slowed down on the gardening front this month - my homeopathic practice has been busy and I had three days away in Yorkshire with a friend, Liz, over half term. We travelled up early on Wednesday morning through snow around the M25 and Hertfordshire; so unusual to see it settled over trees still clothed in leaves. We wrapped up like polar bears in the car as the heater wasn't working!

We stayed at Liz's cousin's peaceful house in Baildon; it had a beautiful terraced garden with glorious beech hedges. We found wonderful autumn colours everywhere, including coppery bracken over much of Baildon and Ilkley Moors, and a welcoming log fire at the Cow & Calf Hotel at Ilkley, where friendly staff encouraged us to stay and relax for the afternoon following a delicious lunch.

We enjoyed the dramatic reds and oranges of Japanese maples, and more subdued browns pinks and dark reds of the beds at Harlow Carr, the RHS garden just outside Harrogate, but were chilled to the bone by the bitter wind. We recommend the book section of their lovely shop; a cushioned, heated windowseat provided a splendid outlook over the garden, and warmed us up before our long cold drive home!
*area round piano - see photos in July postings. Alas, I haven't organised autumn plantings to dress it up this year...

Last of the autumn sunflowers...

2008-09-30T06:57:00.001-07:00

All these flowers from just two plants grown from seed! They have enjoyed the warmth and September sunshine over the past few weeks.

Raised beds from discarded decking

2008-09-30T06:34:00.000-07:00

Spotted some decking in a neighbouring skip recently and harvested it to make some posh raised beds on the allotment. The decking was only put up about three years ago, so the wood is in good nick.
Paul started on Friday and ruined a peaceful Sunday morning sawing and hammering - he worked really hard! As a result, there's now a small boundary fence (just two planks wide) half way round the first bed, which will run all along one side of the plot (about 12 metres by one and a half). It will take a lot of compost to fill it even half way.
The plan is to plant garlic and onions in October and some broad beans in November; these should all be ready to harvest in late May/early June. We'd like some asparagus and rhubarb too, but haven't ordered it yet - in any case, this won't be ready to eat next season.
If you're wondering about the hole under the planks, it was probably dug by a fox.

Stevie helping last Friday...

2008-09-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

Off sick from school, but it was a warm bright day so he accompanied me and his dad on our mission to clear the allotment. Needing no lessons in how to enjoy a warm sunny day in the garden, he had just finished taking some lovely new pics for the blog - including a new profile photo of me in the sunflowers, now that the runner beans are finished!

Lovely roast parsnips yesterday...

2008-09-22T08:10:00.000-07:00

Picked the first parsnips of this season at the weekend and they were delicious with roast lamb yesterday. Even the peeling was a pleasure, they smelled so sweet and parsnippy!
Work began on the strawberry bed on Saturday. I've decided to move plants into a new area as they've been there about three years now. At this stage of the year it's very difficult to distinguish the new plantlets from old, after the August rain and recent sunshine all the plants are entangled.
Also a little frustrated that new plants I potted up last month are so well hidden ( to prevent the foxes digging them out) that I can't see them myself and I've ripped two of them apart! This is why I should have potted up more than I need...
My runner beans have finished, I think it must be due to lack of watering, as my neighbour allotmenteers are still picking. (you can see Bill's beans behind me, above). Mine had no flowers on 10 days ago and so naturally no more beans to pick this weekend. I've taken down the frame and piled up the plants to dry for a bonfire, the earliest I've ever cleared them out. Courgettes are also finished now and we picked the last of the cucumbers.

Growing great spuds in a wet summer

2008-09-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

Just for a change this is not about my own allotment - after last year's washout, when my allotment was waterlogged and all my spuds rotted in the ground I decided not to bother growing them this year.

George told me a couple of weeks ago that he'd had a disappointing crop this year; he blamed it on the great pesticide in horse manure problem, which has affected many gardeners around the country this season. He and Bill lost broad beans and other crops due to poisoned compost which adversely affected and deformed growth. Perhaps I should be grateful that I didn't have any manure to use this year and last!

Bill was digging up his spuds late last week and found all very badly afflicted with little black slugs -he had to throw away a large proportion of the crop as they'd been spoiled.

But Charlie has had a great crop this year, and he puts it down to soot! He has a coal fire (you don't find many of those in south west London) and when the chimney sweep makes his annual visit, Charlie keeps the soot for his allotment. When he plants his potatoes, he sprinkles in fertiliser and a handful of soot around each spud. As he was harvesting the spuds today, some of them have the soot around them as they've grown into it. and almost none are affected by the slugs or indeed the huge quantities of rain we've experienced this summer.

Now the brussels sprouts won't get away...

2008-09-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

I've lost most of my previous winter greens to the wood pigeons, so decided to create a "cage" earlier this summer.

While the plants were young, they did much better than the uncovered ones on another part of the allotment. The latter were chewed to bits as usual, with only about half of them surviving (compared with 100% of those in the cage). However, the uncovered plants which survived seem to have caught up and are flourishing after the wet summer. I'll follow up to see how their crops compare.

This was my first attempt at carpentry since making an abstract sculpture in my first year at high school. I used some old bits of wood and at least half a pound of nails, then wrapped the whole thing in chicken wire. Also used one of the shelves from the mini greenhouse across the top. It took nearly a day to put it together, so I don't think I'll be taking up woodwork as a living anytime soon!

First sweetcorn

2008-08-24T03:14:00.000-07:00

Picked our first sweetcorn from the allotment yesterday afternoon about 5.30 - by eight o'clock they'd been barbecued and eaten, how fresh is that?
Paul commented that his tasted of broccoli, Stevie said his was like brussells sprouts - but they were teasing! We all enjoyed the sweetest corn we've ever tasted, slightly browned and caramelised in a good way on one side. Yum...

Cooking with courgettes

2008-08-18T08:32:00.001-07:00

We're in our fourth week of ample courgettes from the allotment and the kids are not keen on them. Made a gorgeous quiche on Saturday which included ham and sorrel on a lovely cheese pastry but Stephen really couldn't finish it as there was too much of the evil c-veg.
However, there is a lovely recipe by Jane Baxter for courgette chocolate cake which Stevie helped to make last week and which was very moist and delicious. Despite including nearly a pound of grated courgette, every morsel was eaten within a couple of days. It was great as a pudding with custard, but also just as a piece of cake with a cup of tea.
You can find the recipe on the Riverford Organics website. We're planning to make it again this week!

Beth Chatto on Woman's Hour this morning

2008-08-18T03:26:00.000-07:00

Beth Chatto was the subject of a Woman's Hour special on Radio 4 this morning, as charming and delightful to listen to as her garden is to visit. One of my favourite places, Beth Chatto's is just outside Colchester on the road to Clacton, and we usually visit in July on our way to visit Mum.
Beth described it this morning as her private garden, which she loves to share with her many visitors; certainly whenever I've seen her, she's been talking to one or other of them and seems happy to share her considerable experience.
On Woman's Hour she talked about the changes in how we garden and the plants available to grow today and described how the garden, and her ideas, were developed over the years. She was clearly original, and a creative rebel, perhaps; in her early days she was chastised by an RHS judge for exhibiting a wild flower, stinking hellebore, at one of their winter shows.
Beth developed the garden and nursery on unpromising land, in partnership with her late husband, over nearly fifty years, and it is beautiful. The water garden provides a cool break near the end of our two hour journey from SW London, and the innovative dry garden, planted on gravel and never watered except by the rain, always includes some dramatic plantings. A lovely, airy tea room has recently been added and her nursery sells many unusual plants. It's well worth making a special trip.

First cucs and tomatoes

2008-08-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

Hoorah, home from holidays and picked our first cucumbers and tomatoes today, thanks to Julie, my good friend from round the corner who watered everything in our absence. The essential quality of a gardening friend is that they should enjoy eating sufficiently to keep everything producing, so there is still plenty to harvest on our return. Courgettes, runner beans and french beans were plentiful and I'm delighted to find my butternut squashes thriving after feeding them horse manure before we left. Lots of weeds, naturally, which I'll sort out later this week.

We've been in Devon, where it has rained every single day of our holiday, but still we had a great time and lots of good local foods. Staying near Totnes, we found huge choice in the town of small independent shops selling locally sourced veg and organic produce. We've brought home beautiful cheeses from Sharpham Dairy and local dry cured bacon. Fab Totnes traditional english sausages from the butcher at the bottom of the high street, where there are also two greengrocers, a fish shop and a baker. Then there was delicious carrot cake and cashew nut banana loaf from the Seeds Bakery,which sustained us through a seven mile walk in the rain; a rich fruit bread from Common Loaf, who have a stall at the Friday market, and at least two other wholefood stores, one at the bottom, one at the top of the high street, plus the Riverford comes to town shop which sells organic fruit and veg and cooked products (their chicken quiche which is prepared on the premises is to die for). Totnes is a centre for alternative lifestyles, but one wonders how they all survive and prosper when the local high streets here in south west London seem unable to sustain traditional independent specialist food stores. Thank goodness for our home grown veg, and the weekly veg box from riverford, which at least brings a little of Devon to my doorstep every week!

Vibrant crocosmia

2008-07-23T10:00:00.001-07:00

Desert island veg

2008-07-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

If I were stranded on a desert island, a pocketful of runner beans would be my veg of choice. They would be so easy to grow, providing there were plenty of showers to water them. They look beautiful and are a wonderful source of nutrition.

I love potatoes, but I feel I'd be much more likely to survive a long swim to the island with a few beans in my pocket. I suppose a small packet of tomato seeds would be even more portable, but they don't appeal to my eye or my tastebuds as much as a plateful of runners.

You can see I'm peering through runner beans in my photo at the top of the blog. And here's a picture of Stephen, who took the photos on my allotment during an INSET day last week.

Of all the veggies on my allotment, the runner beans give the best value for my eyes and my plate. What would you choose?

Slugs love marigolds...

2008-07-23T08:57:00.000-07:00

As I discovered last week when I cleared a bed of love in a mist (which were sadly looking more like love lost in a brown cloud) and planted out some bright little red/gold marigolds. Well I hoped they would be, they were just in bud when they went in, but by the following morning they had gone. So I'm back with the slug pellets again this morning as I planted out the last tray from my greenhouse, in hope they will look good by the time I get back from holiday next week.

I've also discovered that foxes love plastic pots. Last week I spent a couple of hours clearing half the strawberry bed and potting up the runners for new plants next year. I returned a couple of days later to find all the pots ( which I'd sunk into the ground) dug up, compost and plants scattered all over the place. So this morning I've nearly completed weeding the bed and replanted some of them. Fingers crossed...

The foxes are part of the reason I no longer label the seeds I plant on the allotment. They pull out all the little white labels, so it's a complete waste of time. They also leave frequent gifts in the form of chewed shoes and gloves stolen from local residents gardens and back door steps.

My piano update

2008-07-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad Stevie took the photos last week! After the heavy rain yesterday the pelargoniums looked really sad and bedraggled this morning so I've had to prune them. Hopefully they'll be back to their former glory later this month...

Plants on my old piano

2008-07-06T04:59:00.000-07:00

Coffee grounds and eggshells? I don't think so...

2008-07-03T02:21:00.000-07:00

Raining as I write which (naturally) brings out the slugs and snails again. There do seem to be more of them about after the very wet summer last year.

A couple of recent pieces referring to the coffee grounds technique of keeping them down prompts me to ask, how? As this is another respect in which I've failed to maintain organic standards this year.

I started the season well, my garden has in any case quite a residue of eggshells from the compost heap but my family get through a dozen a week, so supplies were not difficult. I upped my consumption of fresh coffee to three jugs a week (normally just one on a Sunday morning) and diligently sprinkled the grounds around the newly planted salad leaves and cosmos as I planted them out. I also spent a couple of evenings clearing out the little buggers, throwing snails over the fence onto the concrete drive or into the wood along the railway cutting behind the house. I dropped the slugs into salt water.

I felt really smug as I'd given the birds a free run on this juicy food source and for about a week afterwards, I didn't lose a thing. And then I realised by the end of the second week, that my salads weren't growing and by the week after that, the few leaves that emerged were somewhat ragged, a quarter of the cosmos had disappeared, and lo the snails and slugs were back.

I cannot bear to lose so many plants to them. So I've succumbed to the dreaded pellets. But I still don't win the battle. I can cope with the empty snail shells all over the flower beds. I feel guilty, but I can cope. What I cannot bear is the slime trails and dead bodies scattered all around.

I used beer traps over a number of years, but in the end I found disposing of the contents too disgusting. I don't mind bugs, worms, spiders, insects. But I feel squeamish around slugs. I can't bear to touch them.

I suspect that the compost heap also contributes to the problem, as it's absolutely full of 'em. I don't believe they're just eating, I'm sure there's breeding and egg laying going on too in the warm and damp interior. But I can't bear to look.

So, I'm looking for slug and snail contraceptives ( prevention being better than cure). I'd like to have a clean and effective, simple and cheap method of keeping them off my plants. (Copper bands are quite expensive). And I suppose, advice on whether and how coffee grounds work in other people's gardens. Is my technique at fault? Am I supposed to dry them out before use perhaps?

Rampant artichokes

2008-07-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

A free gift of a bag of Jerusalem artichokes with my Riverford vegbox earlier this year prompted me to plant several of them in early spring.

I can't believe how tall and spreading they are! I had a vague memory of Carol Klein enthusing about them as plants on her growing veg strand of Gardener's World last year, and seeing them in flower, but don't remember them so big.

When they were planted out, I alternated them with a row of carrot, now completely overwhelmed, and parsnip, which are peeping out from underneath the artichoke leaves (see above).
I wonder how many tubers each plant will produce? And whether the parsnips or the artichokes will flourish best in such close quarters?

Trying and failing to garden organic

2008-07-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

My usual methods of gardening organically have been sadly lacking this season. this morning I succumbed to the blue non-organic plant food to perk up the sweetcorn, which is looking a bit pale, and help the squashes and courgettes.

It began with a shortage of manure for composting on the allotment last summer. I don't know whether the local stable which brings a load regularly for the site, gave up or came less regularly, or whether a couple of new tenants enthusiastically carted it all off, but I only managed about three barrow loads, and wasn't even able to mulch round the strawberries as I did the previous year.

As a result my supply of home made compost was even thinner on the ground than usual. Does anyone else have a problem with generating enough? Most of the kitchen waste from our family of four goes in, I usually add the smaller weeds and other vegetable matter after harvesting, and bits and pieces of cardboard, newspaper. There's usually enough for my garden at home but pathetic amounts for the allotment.

I've been collecting some from a local smallholding, where it used to be piled up in front of a couple of barns next to the road and sold at £1 a bag, but since he's moved it to a massive field at the back I've got doubts about the stuff going in to it, last time I visited there were huge piles of garden fences and all sorts of chemically treated stuff scattered around.

Anyway, any suggestions for local sources of good stuff in NE Surrey/S London borders gratefully received.

2008-06-26T06:33:00.000-07:00

The idea of the Scattered Gardener occurred this beautiful June morning while on my allotment, in the furthest reaches of South London. I found some wonderful lettuce and "cut and come again" salad basking in the morning sun, waiting to be picked for my lunch. I haven't grown such a good crop of these before and I think it's because this is the first year I've given them their own space, rather than interplanting with other things. Or perhaps because it's been a cool wet spring.

Remember what a washout Easter was? It just poured with rain all weekend - so if I'm honest, it's been hard going clearing all the winter weeds and digging over before planting.

Still after lots of work over the last couple of months, I'm nearly there. And although I feel proud of my efforts and results, when I look round and see what my neighbours are achieving, my small plot is frankly, a bit skanky. Bindweed all through the strawberries (now yielding just a couple each time I visit, though I picked a large punnet every week through late May and June). And though I've had my allotment for a few years now, still about 20% is (nearly) untouched. I've had to cut back the weeds in this "wildlife area" four times already apres le deluge and I'm being threatened with eviction.

Meanwhile the other allotment holders seem to be able to keep theirs well managed and beautifully productive. Bill's sweet peas this year have to be seen and smelled to be believed, George's parsnips are lined up like a military parade. Charlie's raspberries are a labour of love; he takes them home by the box every day to his wife, who eats them all summer through.

So I'm the scattered gardener. I scatter seeds around my allotment in patches rather than lining them up. I dig it a bit at a time and plant whatever's coming along in my mini greenhouse ( a bit of an experiment, this, I only bought it this year). When I get to 4/5 of the allotment dug over, I have to give up digging to weed and water the crops that are growing. And I cheat - I have an organic veg box delivered most weeks, as despite my best efforts my allotment fails to present me with enough veg and fruit to feed my small family.

But I love it! My lettuce at lunchtime was luscious and all the better for being home grown. I get lost in the digging, the weeding and watering; sometimes I listen to the radio, mostly my mind drifts to other things, a problem that needs resolving, an idea, a dream, or thoughts of my dad, who loved his allotment and his garden too. The allotment site is beautiful, surrounded by willow trees and rich with birds and other wildlife, including slow worms, who sometimes colonise our compost heaps, enjoying the warmth. What better place to spend a weekday morning in the middle of the summer?