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THE CHANGES ~ 20th MARCH 2016

21/3/2016

Images © Copyright ~ John and Margaret ~ All Rights Reserved

THE CHANGES
by John Yeo

The allotments are a fruitful place to ponder on the ever-changing cycles of the planting year and the changes of the scenery as man made structures appear. The flowers are a sure sign of continual change. At the end of winter the snowdrops are the first flowers to appear, closely followed by daffodils and primulas and hyacinths. The hardy vegetables that have survived the windy blasts of winter, such as kale, leeks and broccoli are finishing their cycle of life and then the weather dictates the garden year. The soil has to be warm to enable seeds to be set and it is interesting to see the changes of method aligned to the natural cycle of weather. At the beginning of spring more birds appear as the breeding cycle begins. An unusual sight is a pair of large seagulls that have taken up residence, one is on the waste green part of the allotments every day, just watching and taking in the scenery. Many subtle changes are slowly taking place that will dictate the eventual results of the growing cycle. Perhaps a new greenhouse on a neighbouring allotment will allow a new barter system to operate as plants are swapped between friends. Small changes that can result in large alterations as life on the allotments goes forward.

MUSING

I planted some Onion seeds in a large pot on the allotment today. I intend to allow these to grow quite large and then transplant the seedlings into the ground. I also planted a different variety of Carrots into another of my large planters. I intend to leave these exactly where they are to grow.
The double Petunias I planted at home are showing through with their first two leaves and I transplanted twelve of these into a couple of planters with six cells in each to grow stronger and larger. I still have about another twelve tiny little seedlings showing through in the window planter.

Copyright © Written by John Yeo ~ All rights reserved

MUSING ON GARDENING ~ 20th February 2016

21/2/2016

Images © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved.

Underneath my Loganberry bushes on the allotment is a very fertile world of spring bulbs about to begin the cycle of the seasons. Already Snowdrops are in flower and looking fabulous, as they feed on the luxurious food that I have deposited to encourage the Loganberry bushes to produce a bumper crop of delicious succulent berries. There are some very healthy looking Hyacinth bulbs about to burst out into glorious flowers. Tulips are springing up already, the distinctive green pointed leaves are pushing through the soil, promising some glorious showy Angelique pink blooms. Tiny dwarf yellow daffodils are hungrily soaking up the nourishment in the soil and revelling in the glorious occasional early Spring sunshine. This will be a very ephemeral display of Springtime beauty, as the leaves on the Loganberry bushes will quickly shade out this tiny area. Then the hardy and prolific blue flowers of the Forget-me-nots will be everywhere, these are always a guaranteed show and they flower for ages, then self-seed for another picturesque display the following year.

Images © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved.

Following on with some more steps for the realisation of my dream of a garden full of double Petunia blooms, I purchased Petunia seeds, a window-sill incubator, and some special compost, yesterday.
I filled the tray with some of the soil and damped it down with water. I opened the seed packet to find the incredibly tiny seeds in a glass tube. I knew these would be small seeds from my past experience of cultivating Petunia plants, but these were almost invisible. This called for drastic action and some rapid improvisation. We have a magnifying glass attached to a lamp, that Margaret uses for her sewing and embroidery. I commandeered this and with the help of a clean saucer and some tweezers, I managed to sow the contents of the packet on the top of the damp compost. The sowing instructions recommended that they should not be covered up, I agree with this as the problem would be finding them again.
I intend to nurture these little babies and pot them on to the culmination of my colourful dream of a glorious display.

Images © Copyright John and Margaret ~ All rights reserved.

EARLY AUTUMN MAGIC 1ST OCTOBER ~ 2015

2/10/2015

ALLOTMENT and the GARDEN

Even though we are now in early October there are many flowers still colourfully in bloom in our garden. I went around with the camera and I caught so many beautiful flowers still in bloom. I photographed Violas and Pansies, long-lasting Geraniums, that seem to be in bloom for most of the year.

I also snapped a shot of a pink Pot-Rose that Mum bought for us before she passed away, that is a survivor that has lasted for a good long time. Gladioli that are growing from bulbs that I have planted some years ago and they seem to return each year looking stronger and more colourful.
Perennial Phlox that I rescued from my old allotment in Chorleywood, they travelled to London from there and they are now happily living here in Sheringham.
Marigolds that self-seed and return every year seemingly more lovely with each appearance a deeper yellow and petals that seem to glow.
Then Cyclamen the little beauties that seem to spread out in bigger clumps each year, some of our Cyclamen plants were also inherited from Mum.
Lastly I photographed the last Agapanthus flower that is growing in a pot along our south-facing kitchen wall. There are quite a number of these bulbs crammed into this pot, apparently Agapanthus love being packed close together in the pot. We were rewarded with a glorious display earlier this year. These beautiful flowers always remind me of Australia where they grow in such profusion they are considered a weed.

The sunrise over the allotments this morning was beautiful and I
Just had to pull the camera out and record this beautiful experience.

Next the vegetables on the allotment, as this is the traditional harvest festival time there are many varieties of vegetables still available.
Cabbages and green leafy vegetables are looking very ripe and ready for eating. I harvested some Kale, there is quite a lot of this useful green vegetable on the allotment, and Margaret uses it in the cooking frequently. I also picked a lot of Spinach, this is a very useful, almost all year round vegetable we use. I always grow perpetual spinach, this variety self seeds very well, hence the name. We have had an abundance of tomatoes this year, every one of the three varieties of seeds I have started have gone on to produce masses of fruit, we have given away a very great deal to friends.
Our Courgettes are still producing well, this is another vegetable that we have handed out to everyone or anyone, due to the very great profusion we have received.
In spite of the Marigolds I planted around my Brassicas to attract hover flies that feed on aphids, I still seem to have many aphids on the Kale I picked to bring home.
I have Leeks that will be growing through the early winter months and will be a very useful vegetable in February and March. I did plant some onion sets this week and I should be harvesting them next Spring.

Autumn FRUITING ~ 26TH SEPTEMBER 2015

27/9/2015

SUNRISE TODAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2015

"SUNRISE" ~ Image Copyright John and Margaret

The weather up until now has been glorious growing weather, plenty of rain with intermittent sunshine has brought the crops to fruition.
Harvest time on the allotment is now in full swing and we cannot consume the produce that I am bringing home on a daily basis. We have had a brilliant year for Courgettes, Beans, and Tomatoes, and the soft fruit crop has been incredibly prolific.

Margaret froze some Strawberries, Gooseberries and Blueberries as they arrived and we are now blessed with masses of Raspberries and Blackberries. I had the best crop of Asparagus spears that I have ever had. I have three different varieties of potatoes stored in my shed and the Cabbages and Brassicas are looking very healthy.

The only fly in the ointment are my Onions, some of the larger ones seem to be suffering from a disease called neck-rot and I have had to throw a few on the compost heap. My neighbour Tony has the same problem and has come up with a couple of tips that might stop this from happening next year.
(1) ~ Do not feed your Onions after July 1st.
(2) ~ Do not allow the onions to get wet while they are in store.
The green manure seeds I bought on the net have grown very well and I am now in the process of digging the plants in before they flower and go to seed.
Sadly it has also been a very good year for weed growth and I have my work cut out trying to control them at the moment. I will eventually clear them out as usual.

"Onions" ~ Image © Copyright John and Margaret

Working in the garden at home in the afternoon, I spotted this spider sitting on a perfectly formed web, just waiting for a meal to fly in. There a lot of this variety of Spiders around at this time of the year.

"Spider Web" © Copyright John and Margaret.

Late Summer work ~ 13th SEPTEMBER 2015

14/9/2015

Image Copyright © John and Margaret

Today was certainly a very packed gardening day, I started work on the allotment at 6.30am. My determination was in full swing as I had decided to finally get the last of my leek seedlings into the bed I had prepared some time ago. I had to give the soil a good hoeing before I started, as the soil was covered in very small baby weeds that seem to have sprung up from nowhere. I made a lot of four inch deep holes in rows all over the bed, then I placed a single leek seedling in the middle of each hole. I then filled up the holes with water from a watering-can, in the time-honoured fashion, this draws the soil gently around the plant and leaves room for the plant to swell.
In the afternoon I got to grips with our garden at home, I mowed the two lawns and trimmed a tree in the front garden, then I picked some blueberries and tomatoes.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon feeding all the plants in pots and watering the blueberry bushes, these are nearly all finished fruiting now and one or two of them are actually turning a rich autumnal red. Winter is coming!

Image © John and Margaret

Late august in our garden ~ 30th August 2015

31/8/2015

Pip's memorial Magnolia Bush

The garden at home is still thriving and there is quite a lot of late coloured blooms on display. I am very impressed with the beautiful salmon-pink gladioli that is proudly standing very tall, I have supported the stems with bamboo canes and the flowers have lasted a long time as they bloom slowly from the bottom upwards.

Gladioli with more blooms to come

Two late roses are still in bloom a deep red climber that is a lasting memory of Mum as it was rescued from her garden, this climbing bush has done very well this year and there is one solitary rose left. There is also a pink rose on one of our tea rose bushes.

Mum's Memorial Rose

Our Rowan tree is full of a heavy crop of the decorative red berries, usually the blackbirds in our garden will have eaten these very quickly. Somehow our local blackbirds seem to be feasting elsewhere this year.
We have a wonderful pot of blue Agapanthus flowers that is full to bursting point with beautiful blooms. My love for this plant developed on a visit to Australia, where they grow everywhere, on the roadside and in any available piece of empty ground.

HARVESTING THE BENEFITS ~ 28TH AUGUST 2015

29/8/2015

Harvesting the produce is the number one satisfaction of the gardening year. Often the sweet-tasting fruit of our success comes in quantities that are very hard to deal with and a lot the surplus is handed out to various friends and acquaintances.

Always, when our hard laboured hands touch and feel the newly harvested vegetables, the lift to the spirits is almost indescribable.
Sadly as soon as our produce is ready and ripe for eating, there is a glut of theses type of fruit and vegetables in the supermarket, available at very cheap prices.

The incredible natural taste of home-grown food and the many other benefits of managing an allotment, is the draw that keeps the committed "allotmenteer" hard at work, and coming back for more of the same, year after year.

After the glorious August Rain ~ 24th August 2015

25/8/2015

We enjoyed some very heavy rain in the evening yesterday. I was exceedingly thankful to the big chief rainmaker for this as it will save me a very great deal of work, walking up and down the allotment with a couple of watering cans. I arrived quite a bit later than usual although it was well before 7am.

I was under the impression I was alone as I walked from one end of the plot to the other, when I suddenly sensed a presence, I wheeled around in time to see this handsome cock pheasant idly strolling into my plot. I instantly grabbed my camera from my pocket and took some brilliant photos of him from about five yards. I will never understand why men go out with guns to deliberately kill these beautiful creatures.

When I reached my asparagus beds, I was taken aback by the beauty of the asparagus ferns still full of raindrops from the showers we had enjoyed the night before. I had to take a few photos of this picturesque sight, there is nothing as simply beautiful as nature in the clean fresh rain-scented state after a shower.

I was smiling as I realised the welcome rain together with the recent warm weather has created the perfect growing conditions. I began to gather some of the crops to take home to Margaret this is always a time-consuming very satisfying job.
First I began to pick some large succulent raspberries, I have had a very heavy crop this year and we are busily freezing the produce for later use, probably in the middle of winter. I have also been well rewarded with a heavy crop of superb cultivated blackberries, I have never had such an excellent crop of these tasty beauties before.

I dug up a single plant of my main crop potatoes and the resulting bounty of large Desiree potatoes bodes well for our winter stores. The second early variety have been quite small but we have been enjoying the taste of fresh new salad potatoes for about a month now.
The courgette plants are still producing like mad and I have given a very large number away this year particularly at the bowls club. We still have quite a store for ourselves to use in the near future.
I cannot pick the runner beans fast enough and the wigwams are full of unpicked beans, I am giving away a lot of beans to people at the bowls club. My rhubarb is having a second burst of growth and Margaret is using a lot in some very tasty deserts. Unusually some of the leeks are almost ready to eat. This really is a very good growing year.

Sweet berries, courgettes, ~ harvest-time is here. ~ 15th August 2015

16/8/2015

The overnight rain had left everywhere feeling and smelling wonderfully fresh.
I arrived in the early hours and the first thing I noticed was a huge courgette bordering on a marrow on one of the front plants. The huge leaves on the courgette plants were discoloured as if a rusty sort of blight had struck them. From my experience of growing these vegetables over the years, I knew this was a natural sign of age, and nothing to worry about.

The runner beans were hanging in great profusion on the bean wigwams and with the amount of flowers that are still visible, I am sure I will have a bumper crop this year.

Then wonderful Autumn fruiting raspberries were clearly visible and looking very large and succulent, with Blackberries ripe and deliciously ready for picking and eating.
In spite of the reasonable quantity of rain we had overnight, my first job of the day was watering and I filled a couple of watering cans with rainwater from my water butts, and watered the pots and my cold frame.
I then bagged a few onions from my store in the shed to take home to Margaret and I picked about ten Courgettes. There were about three that were almost marrows and I will pass these on to our friend Sonia, who owns Number Ten restaurant, as promised.

Then I began picking the fruit, the blackberries are very large and I half-filled a punnet straight away, there will be a bumper crop this year as the bushes are full of the hard green berries that just need a good dose of prolonged sunshine to ripen them up.
My Raspberry canes are heavy with delicious ripe fruit, large berries that look and taste delicious. I very quickly filled a whole punnet with these beauties and I had to leave a lot on the canes to pick tomorrow. The leaves on the raspberry canes were soaking wet with the fresh rainwater that we had overnight, and I was getting quite wet as I picked the fruit. Then suddenly we had another light shower, I carried on working in spite of this rain to finish picking.

July Brings ~ Wild Wind and Heavy Rain ~ 25th and 26th July

30/7/2015

Windswept Asparagus Fern.

Windswept Courgettes with Butternut Squashes

A very windy Saturday with an incredible night, we experienced astonishing non-stop winds battering everything on the house and in the garden. I re-visited the allotment expecting to find much devastation. However to my surprise and relief there was very little wind damage to be seen.

The worst hit area were my asparagus beds, the wind had gusted in this direction and almost blown some of the ferns over. Fortunately I have spent some time staking these ferns, and this precaution saved the fragile plants. I was able to repair the damage and strengthen the support canes.
A neighbour who also grows asparagus didn't stake his and they are leaning over almost on the ground, without a chance of restructuring.
I also noticed some wind-burn damage to my bean wigwams, I remember this happening last year, however the bean plants still produced prolifically.
Overall I was fortunate enough to weather the storm, but Tony my next door neighbour suffered some severe damage to his bean frame and cold frames.

Runner Bean Wigwams~ Survivors of the storm

I grew a few marigolds from seed to use as companion plants for my Brassicas, the pungent smell emitted by the marigold is thought to ward off aphids and black fly. Last year I had a terrible problem with whiteflies all over my cabbages and cauliflowers, even though I gave them a vigorous shake to get rid of the pests before I took them home, some managed to stick. I have heard that planting nasturtiums works the other way by attracting the aphids away from beans as the odours from the flowers are more attractive to them.

Seed drills ~ Beetroot and Radish

I managed to sow a couple of rows of beetroot seeds that will be ready to harvest in October, just in time for Margaret to pickle them for Christmas.
I also sowed some radishes as we have had no luck with radishes so far this year.
My courgettes are still doing well and the yellow variety are outstripping the green variety this year, we have given a lot away to people at the bowls club. Margaret has made some delicious courgette soup and has roasted some of them to add to the array of vegetables on our plates.

I snapped a couple of lovely pictures of this very pretty tortoiseshell butterfly on my leek beds, drying its wings in the watery early morning sun.

Freshly planted Leeks and a Tortoiseshell Butterfly

I am exploring the idea of growing some green manure on some of the empty beds on the allotment. I am intensely interested in a particular plant that has had a good write up in a Sheringham magazine named, PHACELIA TANACETIFOLIA. I have looked up some suppliers on the Internet and to my horror the delivery charges are more than the cost of a packet of seeds. I will have to try my local hardware shop before I invest that heavily. I am jotting down these few hints for successful growing of green manure.

(1) Sow or broadcast the seeds.
(2) Chop the foliage down and leave it to wilt.
(3) Dig plants and foliage into top 25cm of soil.
After digging in, the site should be left for two weeks or more before sowing seeds or planting. Decaying manure can harm plant growth.

Suggested varieties.
(1) Buckwheat ~~ best sown April to August. Good for nutrient-poor soils
(2) Mustard ~~ Should not be followed by Brassicas. ~~ Mustard is a member of the family
(3) Grazing Rye ~ Good for soil structure and overwintering well ~ Sow August to November.

I like the idea of PHACELIA TANACETIFOLIA though as it has so many plus factors.

Author

John~~Battling with the elements, pests and diseases in my struggle to keep the garden growing. A constant daily struggle that will be recorded here.

Gardening is such a delightful pastime. I spend time on my allotment almost every day of my life, and the sensation of pure satisfaction never ceases to amaze me. I get so much out of this pleasure, I think the benefits are so huge that the government should legislate and make it more available to everyone. I will list just some of the obvious reasons here. ~~
1) Fresh fruit and vegetables and other produce.
2) Fresh air and an intense feeling of getting close to Nature.
3) Healthy exercise without the necessity of machines that are found inside a gym.
4) The satisfaction obtained by growing plants and watching and caring for them through to maturity.
5) A regular occupation that you can make into a routine, somewhere to go to at a certain time every day.
6) The companionship of like-minded people, with whom you can get ideas and swap tips on your mutual interests.

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