Planting

Blunt Trauma

February 20, 2009
Blunt Trauma

I rounded the corner whistling away to a tune on the iPod and came face to face with this scene of blunt trauma nastiness. Blasted vandals. Not worth getting upset about it though and as my trangia and ‘room of one’s own’ mug were still intact, I managed to start the whistling again. I ignored [...]

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Honey Beer and Onions

October 1, 2008
Honey Beer and Onions

The weekend was a scorcher, which was a blessing as I had quite a few onion sets to plant. I arrived thinking I had a fairly big job on my hands trying to find a home for about 200 onions but when I opened the padded envelope and ripped open 1 of the 3 sacks [...]

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Gooseberry and Rhubarb Jam

June 21, 2008
Gooseberry and Rhubarb Jam

The kitchen waste bucket has been overflowing and Shakti was complaining that I haven’t collected hers for a while either and was in a similar state. Compost pressure forced me to get out of bed to go and fix the tyre on my bike so I could take the trailer on a neighbourhood sweep, collecting [...]

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Sacrificial Caullis

June 7, 2008
Sacrificial Caullis

My squashes have not done at all well this year and if I don’t find myself buried under a glut of courgettes by mid Summer then I will have to declare myself an allotmenting failure. I didn’t help myself very much by sowing 7 year old seed as the germination rate has been exceptionally poor. [...]

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Community Allotmenting – War or Peace?

May 25, 2008
Community Allotmenting - War or Peace?

One of the plots adjacent to mine is run on a community basis and I find it fascinating to see how well it flourishes. I would expect utter chaos but it’s a very well ordered plot. I haven’t spotted a Gantt chart pinned up on the shed wall with tasks and timelines allocated to individuals [...]

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Carrot Torment

May 13, 2008
Carrot Torment

I’m on the edge with my carrots. Three squandered seed packs later, I’m wondering whether to just walk away and forget that the sweet, orange roots ever existed in my life. A trip to Petersham Nursery on Sunday gave me another option: Now 50p may seem a little steep for an individual carrot, even in [...]

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Revision Excuses

May 6, 2008
Revision Excuses

I’m supposed to be at home revising for my exams, now a mere 2 weeks away, so of course the shed absolutely had to be painted today. When that was finished I planted the beans outside, resulting in more teeth sucking from the old timers who absolutely refuse to gamble on the last frost date [...]

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Slugs Bite Back

April 7, 2008
Slugs Bite Back

I knew those darn slugs would mount some kind of retaliatory assault. This little clump of useless stalks is all that remains of a healthy French Parsley specimen I planted last weekend. They’ve also been along the line of brassica seedlings under the environmesh and eaten every last one of them. All that is left [...]

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