Planting

Ignoring the Old Timers

March 21, 2011
Ignoring the Old Timers

Two successive weekends on the plot and I can officially declare the allotment season open. This weekend was particularly glorious and I may have even acquired a little sunburn. I always get over excited at the first sign of spring sun and despite the old timers warning me that the soil is still too cold, [...]

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Putting Down Roots

October 17, 2010
Putting Down Roots

I must feel settled here. I spent the afternoon preparing a permanent bed, with manure, trenches and finely sieved soil, all for a crop that won’t be harvested for about 4 years. It’s an incredibly high maintenance crop, at least at the outset, and it only produces edible shoots for a couple of weeks. Hardly [...]

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Growing, or at least Planting Sweet Potatoes

August 9, 2010
Growing, or at least Planting Sweet Potatoes

I reached into the veg basket this morning hoping to find a selection of ingredients for a wholesome veggie curry and pulled out this whopping sweet potato – a little past it’s best I’d say. It seemed a shame to cook it, so although it is way too late in the season I decided it [...]

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Tea on the Plot

June 25, 2010
Tea on the Plot

We took a mid-week opportunity to visit the plot to tend to the runner beans that have been causing me some anxiety. For some reason our beans are turning crinkly and growing in an ugly branched fashion. I initially thought they had been caught by a cold spell but I’ve been growing them in succession [...]

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Spud Dispute

April 6, 2010
Spud Dispute

We barely made it to the plot at all in March but just as the month was turning, the sun arrived. We grabbed our seed potatoes and ran to the plot clutching a days supply of delicately cut sandwiches and flasks of hot drinks. Four hours later, stripped to our t-shirts, we would have happily [...]

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Out With The Old

February 23, 2010
Out With The Old

We’ve dabbled a little bit on the old plot at North Sheen, pulling parsnips and leeks but have finally decided the time has come to hand it over to the next budding gardener on the list. I went over to see Sam to hand in my notice and nearly came away blubbing. It felt very [...]

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Parental Visitation

November 23, 2009
Parental Visitation

The weekend was scheduled for the installation of the guttering and water butt, a task I’d handed over to Lynn but not before I had passed on the benefit of my huge and heroically unsuccessful experiences. I’ve been spouting tales of woe for the last week, predicting DIY disasters of monumental proportions and just to [...]

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Parnsip Pandemonium

March 19, 2009
Parnsip Pandemonium

Funny that Soilman should choose to leave a comment on my blog about the folly of early planting and specifically mention that parsnips don’t need to be planted yet. Before receiving the comment I’d been building myself into a crescendo of dithery panic. We were on the plot this weekend getting in an urgent planting [...]

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