I've never been one to involve myself in our allotment association. Sure, I pay my £5 a year for a quarterly newsletter, public liability insurance for the plot and good discounts on seeds and manure and stuff. They look after us well, with a community orchard where members can pick their own fruit, picnic areas on each site, and regular deliveries of woodchips, skips, compost and more. But the social events are usually at awkward times for me, and when they're not I always find some other excuse to avoid going and meeting new people, and anyway, I'm still not quite past the point where I'm a little bit embarrassed about the state of my plot... We lead such busy lives these days that it's hard, sometimes, to add a new thing to the mix. I always say we should get more involved, but it never actually happens.
You'll understand, then, that I was pretty surprised when our 'plot officer' and my allotment neighbour, Terry, asked me to take over the newsletter! Apparently somebody got wind of my being a copy editor and it went from there... I agreed - they obviously really needed someone and it seems the perfect opportunity to get more involved in the allotment community.
So I made an extra special effort this morning and went to the association's AGM, a very friendly and informal do held in the 'sub aqua' clubhouse next door to our site. I was surprised to see a couple of familiar faces there from other walks of my life, and quickly started chatting to a few people as we waited for proceedings to start. The big issue discussed was money; outgoings for the association are going up and up - just like everyone else's - and subscriptions aren't enough to cover it any more. Then we elected new committee members (yours truly included) and the meeting was hurriedly closed to move on to more social pursuits! One of the members provided a barbecue - with lots of lovely homemade stuff including freshly baked bread, spicy burgers, coleslaw and potato salad and some lovely parsnip and lemon muffins - and there was an informal plant and seed swap, for allotmenteers to offload some of their spares or pick up plants they didn't have. Most importantly, I managed to put lots of faces to names I'd read in emails and newsletters, and had a good chat to the chap who did the newsletter previously, and to the new chair of the committee.
No excuses now! I'm going to have to stay in the loop and try to get to more events! It'll be nice to get to know some of the people we share the site with a bit better (although a lot of them are from the site over the road and I won't bump into them as often) and to feel we're making a contribution too.
Maybe I'll even get round to entering some veg in the show this summer!
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Thursday, 5 May 2011
The Last Frost?
So May brings frost again, after weeks and weeks of warmth. Fickle English weather...
We hauled all our 100 tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, squashes and tender herbs - and even the strawberries in their big tub - indoors overnight on Tuesday. Our tiny flat looked like a jungle! And I was glad we did - in the morning the minimum temp. thermometer in the garden showed -2C! I realised I'd forgotten all about the french beans and the petunia seedlings and they had stayed out for the night, but they seem unharmed, which is a relief. We took the same precaution last night too, but the temperature only dropped to 3C - enough to give the peppers and tomatoes a bit of a shock but not to do them any real harm.
I have yet to check the situation on the allotment. The potatoes aren't showing any shoots yet thanks to a later sowing than usual (hurrah!) so they'll be okay, and I'd just harvested all the asparagus more than about two inches high so if that got frozen, wastage will be minimal. But the poor strawberries were unprotected and already well on their way to fruiting. Of course, strawberry plants are fine outdoors all winter long, but the flowers and fruits, when they're out, are much more tender and may be damaged by freezing. I'm afraid they're all going to be mush.
Looking at the weather forecast now though, it seems we're in for a pretty warm spell. The long-range forecast doesn't expect temperatures below 7C for the next two weeks, which takes us to late May, and I'm thinking... is it safe?
'The Last Frost Date' is an abstract and elusive thing. Books, magazines, TV presenters and seed packets will refer casually to it, as if it's a well known set-in-stone fact, but try to find out what it is for your area and it's a whole nother story. Since I started gardening a few years back I've taken it to be the first week of June, but I can't remember now where I got that idea from. And actually, I've often planted tender veg out in early to mid-May and never, ever lost any. Having tried to look up the date for my area again today, my mind's boggling. Although there's a general consensus that you're safe in mid-June, some websites have confidently informed me I can plant tender veg out from the start of May, and one said in mid-April! No way! And there's no hint as to where they're getting their information from. You'd think the Met Office would make such an important set of records available, but nope, can't find anything useful there either. The Gardener's Almanac has brought a lot of gardeners' records together to show which week of the year last frosts were reported on, by region, but the map's not detailed enough to figure out which box I'm in - it could be anything from the 17th week of the year to the 20th (we're in the 18th now). And records posted by individuals show that the actual last frost date in a given area can vary by several weeks - even a couple of months!
It's all about knowing when it's absolutely safe, of course, not about planting as soon as you possibly can. But I'm just an impatient kinda person, okay? Not to mention tired of looking after so many tiny pots that dry out really fast... and short of space... and worried about my tomatoes flowering too soon...
I'm gonna give it another week or so and reassess... It's not like the squash beds are ready yet anyway! In the meantime, when is YOUR last frost date perceived to be, and where are you? Is that date what you've observed, or what you've read (and if so, where?!)
We hauled all our 100 tomatoes, peppers, sweetcorn, squashes and tender herbs - and even the strawberries in their big tub - indoors overnight on Tuesday. Our tiny flat looked like a jungle! And I was glad we did - in the morning the minimum temp. thermometer in the garden showed -2C! I realised I'd forgotten all about the french beans and the petunia seedlings and they had stayed out for the night, but they seem unharmed, which is a relief. We took the same precaution last night too, but the temperature only dropped to 3C - enough to give the peppers and tomatoes a bit of a shock but not to do them any real harm.
I have yet to check the situation on the allotment. The potatoes aren't showing any shoots yet thanks to a later sowing than usual (hurrah!) so they'll be okay, and I'd just harvested all the asparagus more than about two inches high so if that got frozen, wastage will be minimal. But the poor strawberries were unprotected and already well on their way to fruiting. Of course, strawberry plants are fine outdoors all winter long, but the flowers and fruits, when they're out, are much more tender and may be damaged by freezing. I'm afraid they're all going to be mush.
Looking at the weather forecast now though, it seems we're in for a pretty warm spell. The long-range forecast doesn't expect temperatures below 7C for the next two weeks, which takes us to late May, and I'm thinking... is it safe?
'The Last Frost Date' is an abstract and elusive thing. Books, magazines, TV presenters and seed packets will refer casually to it, as if it's a well known set-in-stone fact, but try to find out what it is for your area and it's a whole nother story. Since I started gardening a few years back I've taken it to be the first week of June, but I can't remember now where I got that idea from. And actually, I've often planted tender veg out in early to mid-May and never, ever lost any. Having tried to look up the date for my area again today, my mind's boggling. Although there's a general consensus that you're safe in mid-June, some websites have confidently informed me I can plant tender veg out from the start of May, and one said in mid-April! No way! And there's no hint as to where they're getting their information from. You'd think the Met Office would make such an important set of records available, but nope, can't find anything useful there either. The Gardener's Almanac has brought a lot of gardeners' records together to show which week of the year last frosts were reported on, by region, but the map's not detailed enough to figure out which box I'm in - it could be anything from the 17th week of the year to the 20th (we're in the 18th now). And records posted by individuals show that the actual last frost date in a given area can vary by several weeks - even a couple of months!
It's all about knowing when it's absolutely safe, of course, not about planting as soon as you possibly can. But I'm just an impatient kinda person, okay? Not to mention tired of looking after so many tiny pots that dry out really fast... and short of space... and worried about my tomatoes flowering too soon...
I'm gonna give it another week or so and reassess... It's not like the squash beds are ready yet anyway! In the meantime, when is YOUR last frost date perceived to be, and where are you? Is that date what you've observed, or what you've read (and if so, where?!)
Wednesday, 4 May 2011
A Funny Old Business
Germination's a funny old business, isn't it? They say seeds need three (or four) things to wake from 'quiescence' (that's sleepy-time to you and me) and start growing:
I've always thought myself quite fortunate when it comes to parsnip seeds (which have a particularly poor reputation when it comes to germination) but when I think about it now, it's not so surprising. I tend to plant a whole pack of seeds in a row - that's 150 or thereabouts - after all there's no point saving them for next year as they lose their vitality so quickly. Then later I thin them where they're too close together, but I'm hardly thinning 150 parsnips - maybe half that. It's just that I sow so thickly I seem to do well.
This year I station-sowed my parsnips in a grid, and though I have lots of healthy seedlings, several of the 'stations' are still empty. If only I hadn't used the whole pack... At least parsnip seed is cheap; I popped to Wilko's yesterday and (after weeding all the fat hen out of the bed) filled in the gaps with a second sowing.
My sweetcorn came up last week - every single seed I sowed, and within just a few days! Thank you Real Seeds!
Yet I am still waiting for any action in the summer savory pots (old seed, but still just about in date)...
...or from the poppies (brand new seed, and not cheap!). These were sown way back in March. Actually look - that one in the middle is doing something. Has that one had more water than the others? More light or air? A different temperature? Nope.
And germination's been really patchy (about 35%) from the 'Bright Lights' chard (three righthand rows) - just one year old - while the brand new perpetual spinach seeds (lefthand row and very closely related) have all come up without a problem.
My 'Baby Bear' pumpkin seeds from Mr Fothergills have been in the soil for weeks, and they're my second attempt - I was just getting ready to have a good old rant about it... Then suddenly, and in perfect synchrony, up they popped. (The first sowing still hasn't done anything, despite getting exactly the same indoor temperatures.)
Am I going somewhere with this? Sort of, I suppose...
If you're the kind of person that needs to be in control, don't try gardening. Like the grinding of tectonic plates or the power of the wind or the frost that probably turned my unfleeced strawberries to mush on the allotment last night or the snail-that-got-away munching down your brand new cucumber seedlings, we're at nature's mercy and we have to roll with the punches. In all things, it pays to be adaptable and flexible and to work with nature wherever possible, because one thing's for certain: it's not going out of its way to work with you!
- Water - well that's the obvious one. All life needs water.
- Warmth - although while peppers and squashes need a good warm room to do their thing, radishes and lettuces can germinate around 4 C. While we often associate higher soil temperatures with good germination, some seeds require a period of cold first. In other climates, some require a forest fire!
- Air - yup, they need to breathe just like us, so soil mustn't be waterlogged, and seeds too deep won't grow. Some seeds have a hard outer shell that excludes air, and need a bit of wear or a hard frost to split the shell before germination can begin.
- Light - not all seeds require light, but some do; for example woodland flowers which grow in very early spring while the trees are bare and the sunlight reaches the forest floor.
I've always thought myself quite fortunate when it comes to parsnip seeds (which have a particularly poor reputation when it comes to germination) but when I think about it now, it's not so surprising. I tend to plant a whole pack of seeds in a row - that's 150 or thereabouts - after all there's no point saving them for next year as they lose their vitality so quickly. Then later I thin them where they're too close together, but I'm hardly thinning 150 parsnips - maybe half that. It's just that I sow so thickly I seem to do well.
This year I station-sowed my parsnips in a grid, and though I have lots of healthy seedlings, several of the 'stations' are still empty. If only I hadn't used the whole pack... At least parsnip seed is cheap; I popped to Wilko's yesterday and (after weeding all the fat hen out of the bed) filled in the gaps with a second sowing.
My sweetcorn came up last week - every single seed I sowed, and within just a few days! Thank you Real Seeds!
Yet I am still waiting for any action in the summer savory pots (old seed, but still just about in date)...
...or from the poppies (brand new seed, and not cheap!). These were sown way back in March. Actually look - that one in the middle is doing something. Has that one had more water than the others? More light or air? A different temperature? Nope.
And germination's been really patchy (about 35%) from the 'Bright Lights' chard (three righthand rows) - just one year old - while the brand new perpetual spinach seeds (lefthand row and very closely related) have all come up without a problem.
My 'Baby Bear' pumpkin seeds from Mr Fothergills have been in the soil for weeks, and they're my second attempt - I was just getting ready to have a good old rant about it... Then suddenly, and in perfect synchrony, up they popped. (The first sowing still hasn't done anything, despite getting exactly the same indoor temperatures.)
Am I going somewhere with this? Sort of, I suppose...
If you're the kind of person that needs to be in control, don't try gardening. Like the grinding of tectonic plates or the power of the wind or the frost that probably turned my unfleeced strawberries to mush on the allotment last night or the snail-that-got-away munching down your brand new cucumber seedlings, we're at nature's mercy and we have to roll with the punches. In all things, it pays to be adaptable and flexible and to work with nature wherever possible, because one thing's for certain: it's not going out of its way to work with you!
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Danger: Construction Works
It's come to my attention recently that my blog template is waaaay out of date, and causing a few functionality issues, and probably looking a bit rubbish on a few people's browsers. So I've been busily reconstructing it today and it's nearly there - just a bit more tweaking to go and some new pictures for the header and such, I think. But if you happen to stumble in and everything looks really weird, I'm probably in the middle of something.
(If it stays that way, let me know, yeah?)
Hope you like the new look. And if you do spot any problems or if there's anything that gives your browser trouble, do please drop me a comment about it. Thanks.
(If it stays that way, let me know, yeah?)
Hope you like the new look. And if you do spot any problems or if there's anything that gives your browser trouble, do please drop me a comment about it. Thanks.
The Waiting Game
I hate this waiting game... Do I reeeally have to wait until June to plant my tender veg out? Will we reeeally have any more frost before then? We haven't had any all month, and the tomatoes and peppers have been living outside in the semi-shelter of the open plastic greenhouse for weeks now (although I did bring 100 young plants indoors on Wednesday night when it looked like temperatures might drop to 3 or 4). Every year I've got away with planting things out early to mid-May, although our 11th May frost last year was a bit close for comfort!
The tomato plants are really shooting up now, and have a fair few buds...
And even the courgettes and squashes are threatening to go crazy!
So I've taken the plunge and planted my first couple of tomatoes out - in pots, so I can still drag them indoors overnight if I need to. One 'Sub-Arctic Plenty'...
And one 'Hundreds and Thousands'.
The growbag toms will have to wait a couple more weeks; I'm not dragging growbags indoors!
And I've even sown some French beans (Delinel) in a planter (errr, plastic storage box), which are pushing through very enthusiastically.
Now, roll on mid-May and more warm weather, please. And I'd better catch up on digging the squash patch!
The tomato plants are really shooting up now, and have a fair few buds...
And even the courgettes and squashes are threatening to go crazy!
So I've taken the plunge and planted my first couple of tomatoes out - in pots, so I can still drag them indoors overnight if I need to. One 'Sub-Arctic Plenty'...
And one 'Hundreds and Thousands'.
The growbag toms will have to wait a couple more weeks; I'm not dragging growbags indoors!
And I've even sown some French beans (Delinel) in a planter (errr, plastic storage box), which are pushing through very enthusiastically.
Now, roll on mid-May and more warm weather, please. And I'd better catch up on digging the squash patch!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
