Cathy

Having the admin for a large allotment site isn't always as easy as it may seem, every day there is work in the background going on whether it be plot renewal forms to write and post, socials and group visits to organise or just plot changeovers, being amongst the numerous jobs. I am ably assisted by my lovely wife Ruth and whilst the 'job' is enjoyable most if the time, there are times when another train of thought or maybe just another person is needed that I can rely on to attend and assist at a function such as a garden club visit when the volume of visitors is more than I can focus on to get points across.

All of our committee are helpful and approachable when a second opinion, decision or a job needs doing, I wouldn't change any of them but if I am really stuck, Cathy is the lady who will put forward a sensible, fair opinion and plan for action usually without any prompt as she's spotted the problem already.
 
Considering the busy working life she leads, Cathy will make several visits to her plot each week but always has time for a friendly chat with anyone, having said that, there's no-one to talk to in the first picture below which looks as if she's got the whole 3 acre site to turn over on her own, she's seen clutching a hand trowel ready for action. This photo was taken by the National Trust the day we opened.

These frequent visits have paid off as she won, fair and square, the best full allotment this year, 2012 which was judged by 2 independent people. Cathy was delighted to receive the Viv Brock memorial cup engraved with her name (to be kept for one year) even if it was the first time Ruth and I have ever seen her blush with pride on the presentation. An engraved whisky glass to commemorate was given too, to be kept for ever.

The willow working course that was attended by Cathy was put to good use and when the judges inspected every plot early in July, the arch seen below impressed them as being one of the unique features on a 'different' and 'interesting' allotment. This shot was taken just after the creation of the arch and before the sweet peas took over.

Another photo below shows most of the committee with Hilda the boat who the day before this pic was replanted with spring bulbs and plants and looks a bit bare. From L - R is Dennis, Ruth,Sue,David,Glynis,Me,John,Sheila,Jim and Cathy. Missing from the picture are 3 more key committee members, Kevin, Billy and Neil.

I want to end this last blog of the year, from me anyway, by thanking not only Cathy for being there when I need her, the National Trust local team for their continued support and of course ALL of OUR team, each of them contributes something different to make this a heck of a brilliant, successful, award winning allotment site. Have I mentioned about the award before?

A HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL GROWING SEASON 2013 TO YOU ALL !

Our Christmas tree in church

Every year our local church, St.Petrocs, hold a Christmas tree festival during which all the schools and other organisations are invited to attend various events such as carol services to admire the 85 lit and decorated trees.
These trees are sponsored by local businesses, groups, etc and are seen by hundreds of folk.
On behalf of our allotment association, an application was made for us to have a tree. Despite putting this in 6 weeks late we were accepted. This meant on the 3rd and 4th of December the tree had to be decorated with seasonal items that illustrated our cause, the supplied lights were draped around them and a carol had to be suggested for a competition for the children to guess which one it was.
We placed a wicker basket at the foot of the tree filled with veg that will last the festival without rotting and this will be checked every few days and replenished if necessary. Even a vole is poking out from the basket, these little vegetarians are the bane of our life on the plots.

I have put 3 pictures on to show what our tree looked like once we'd finished and I think to sponsor a pretty tree like this is a good way of saying thank you to our creator for giving us the opportunity to enjoy our favourite pastime in such a lovely environment.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL !

OUR CHRISTMAS MEAL

Our Christmas meal for 2012 was attended on the 1st December by 40 members who all contributed to making the evening a memorable one.

Preparations for this had been ongoing for several weeks as ill health, bad weather had made it difficult to keep the socials we all enjoy going during the summer months so we were determined to make this a good occasion.

The Callywith, a table-table restaurant in Bodmin, was our chosen venue and once they had received our booking decided to close the doors to other hungry diners for that night. Perhaps our reputation had gone before us or maybe it was because we are such a free spending crowd that the profit they needed to make that night was enough, either way it made it very personal to just us.

The tables were decked with crackers, poppers and with the subdued lighting looked superb and inviting. We all arrived with our partners dressed in our fineries settled down after being each issued with a Christmas card, a raffle ticket, a plot renewal form and a 2013 allotment event diary.

The staff excelled themselves all evening with great service, plentiful meals over 3 courses with minimal wait between each. All without exception praised the high standard of fayre, the quality and quantity of their meals. The free wine went down very well too.

Suitable reward was made to the staff via a table collection and the manager will be written to complimenting his employees.

As the last of the dessert was being polished off, the secretary made a short speech thanking all who had helped throughout the season, making a presentation to a couple who had made a difference and then announcing the winners of our own internal 'best allotment' competition. The successful plotholders were presented with their cups and awards.
The plots had been judged back in July but due to circumstances, presentations were held until tonight. 

As a final 'bit of entertainment' Ruth carried out her different draw to the norm whereby everyone went home with a Christmas bag containing a gift which pleased all seeing as it was a freebie.

Our locked facebook site was buzzing with talk and photos of the evening and a lot of positive comments were received by the organisers, yours truly and his wife, Ruth.  Job done I'm glad to say, just sorry that a few friends couldn't make the evening due to other commitments, but we'll do it all again next year so maybe next time.

A FITTING TRIBUTE

Since our success in winning the 'grow your own' category in the Cornwall in Bloom competition (have I mentioned that before?) the subject of what best to do with the prize money for the benefit of ALL members has been well mulled over.
It would be easy to just absorb the money into club funds which would gradually ebb away on petrol expenses or other consumables.
NO ! The committee and I feel it is essential to to use the funds towards a lasting tribute to our achievement in 2012, something we could look at for years to come and say 'we won that!' But what?

For a year or so after our main shed was built, we had a large black and white Kernow flag fluttering way above the roof but we were asked to remove this along with every other flag on the site. The large one looked good against the far reaching green countryside and deep skyline from the entrance gate and we missed this so the plan is to replace with a beautiful cast iron large weathervane.

 
This will depict our favourite leisure activity(see pic),  being galvanised should stand anything the weather can throw at it for a long time and we will always be able to tell 'which way the wind blows' and remember how 'blown away' we all were to become 2012 champions of the grow your own competition for the county. (Have I mentioned this before?)

Christmas Carols?

Went into the local card shop half way through October and they were playing Christmas carols! Apart from the fact that, as far as I am concerned Christmas doesn’t begin until the 1^st December and that alone annoyed me but it reminded me of all the jobs I have to do on the allotment before the winter sets in!  

To cap it all the cheerful weatherman on the radio today said we were heading for the hardest winter for some time.....regrettably he could be right.   The Holly tree, just past my house, is absolutely loaded with berries and there is a plentiful supply of hawthorn too and more convincing than all of that - my arthritis is playing up!  

The under gardener says it is all rubbish but I still maintain that when the cows lay down it’s going to rain.   Mind you we could do with a few good frosts to kill off some of the wee bugs and beasties in the soil.   Maybe it would teach my raspberries what time of year it is as the summer raspberries have only just stopped flowering and fruiting, there were a couple of rogue autumn  canes in the batch I bought last year, most disappointing as you would think that the nurseries, being the experts, would get it right wouldn’t you?  I did buy them from foreign parts though (Wiltshire) maybe I should stick to Cornish nurseries!

I really shouldn’t be moaning as Mike commented in his blog we won the Best Grow Your Own group for Cornwall In Bloom!   What an amazing feat for us as we haven’t been up and running all that long. A lot of the credit is due to Mike whose enthusiasm keeps us all going when the weather wants to knock us back.   Thanks Mike.

Need to get up the plot tomorrow, weather permitting, got the autumn raspberries to prune and mulch and the apple/soft fruit bed to weed and mulch too.   I also need to bring back home the runnerbean wigwam for running repairs, think it worked well again this year but I really must make more effort to trim the tips of the plants.   They always run away from me and grow so tall I need a step ladder to reach them.   Fred recommended Scarlet Empire as they are stringless, I usually stick to Painted lady but think I’ll give them a try next spring. 

Looking back on the year, despite the appalling weather at times, I had more successes than failures on the plot.   Beetroot was a disaster, celeriac only fit for the compost but the French beans did me proud and something I’ll be doing more of next year.   Poached egg plants looked amazing at times – shame you can’t eat them though unless anyone has a recipe for them?  

Nothing to do with the plot but though I’d show you a picture of the new additions to our family....aren't they lovely and they lay brown eggs! 

Dirty Gertie, Mad Martha, Big Bertha and Ruby.  

CORNWALL IN BLOOM 2012

Our association entered a Cornwall council initiative way back in May of this year called Cornwall in Bloom in which community groups were encouraged to apply for judging by an RHS qualified official. The categories that interested us were 'grow your own' and 'first impressions' as if I say so myself, when one enters our pretty, mature tree surrounded site for the first time, it is a visual treat if that visitor has the remotest interest in ideal growing conditions.

After being inspected thoroughly by a friendly lady judge called Manti in early August when the site couldn't have looked or been maintained any better, I felt a little optimistic when attending the award ceremony at the Eden project. This was on the evening of Thursday 18th October and I hoped that we may get some recognition for our efforts in turning a rough field full of brambles, bracken and weed into a thriving, productive allotment site that so many get pleasure from.

Our hard working committee, l-r Jim,Neil,Mike,Billy,lower Ruth,Glynis, Cathy

The Gallery at Eden was packed with over 200 gardeners and growers from all over Cornwall and the evening was opened by Tracy Wilson, a radio Cornwall DJ who kept us all amused with her quips all through the ceremony.
We were presented with a 'Full Bloom' framed certificate which meant we were good enough to be considered for the overall category winner for 'Grow your own' award. The 'first impression' category was won by Hayle town for their flora and fauna so that was not to be ours.

It then came to the 'Grow your own' category winner announcement and Tracy turned to our table and our 7 committee members and said in a loud voice,
"The winners are..........................Lanhydrock allotment association"                  Yes!!!! it was a long walk across the front stage , my good lady and I gulping in pride and pleasure to collect the award from the official who shook my hand and said, 'well deserved!'
All our committee took to the stage as well to a lot of applause, to receive an array of prizes, a huge shield engraved with our associations's name for 2012, a smaller shield that we can keep, a framed certificate confirming our category winner status and a £250 cheque. Plus an RHS guide to 'Britain in bloom' which we may be encouraged to enter next year. We then had 2 or 3 photos taken as we left the stage and I hope these may feature in a press release in future.

Our group were now on a real high, so pleased to scoop this award having only been open for 30 months and we couldn't wait to inform all our members of our success, it is a real prestigious award in this county which we will be crowing about for 12 months now. The standard has been set and we will be striving to retain the shield in 2013 and with our friendly, helpful community we may just do that! It's not just help from the committee but the tenants pitch in for a shift on occasions too, we all love our little bit of nature, our sanctuary some say.

Dung time

With the runner beans running out of steam now (they were good in the end) and other crops being harvested it's time for an Autumn clear up and the start of the digging of as much of the plot as possible.
What better time than to incorporate a ton or two of well rotted horse and calf manure with the dig? Rather than have many different suppliers carving the site grass paths up with their various transportation of soil improvers, I encourage all to use the same farmer to supply every ones order delivered on the same day. This way, we can set about repairing the paths asap as a trailer carrying nearly 5 ton of wet manure coming on site 10x is bound to cut the 'turf' up but by using the same track each time the damage is minimal.
Our friendly farmer who is local is supplying 33 of our tenants with a mixture of calf and horse, this being the third year now and when it arrived this year we were very pleased to see hardly any straw with it at all other than well compressed some time ago into the actual dung.
The members were given the option of ordering a third,half or a whole trailer full and I needed a degree in maths to work out how much to put where as with this 3 acre site and the dung being wet didn't want folk, especially those not over strong to cart it too far. Chris happy to tip it where I wanted it so a lot of working out to do but worth it as members pleased with their lot, one's wife even said she hadn't seen him so excited for quite a while! Whatever does it for you?

Pictures show one pile for just 6 members which indicates the volume needed and the other some of the tracks made just after being repaired with top soil.

Mixed verdicts on Sarpo Mira

Just as a follow up to the last blog there have been several members who have now harvested their blight free Sarpo Mira potatoes and cooked them with differing comments on their performance when cooked.

I was personally disappointed with the way they broke up when boiled and those that survived were not the tastiest potato I've ever had being waxy and floury. I will try chipping them next or at least my head cook will and I'll report again before recommending whether our tenants grow them or not. Others have reported to me that they are delighted with their results. I'm sure at the end of the day, it will be down to individual taste but it is so rewarding to have a type of maincrop potato that will go full term without getting the dreaded blight midway through its growing season.This has been so frustrating for the last 5 years at least and everyone in Cornwall has given up trying to grow tomatoes outside the greenhouse for the same length of time. It seems 'something' is missing when we can't grow our Moneymakers, Big boys and Pixies.

The runner beans and squash family came good at the very end of the season and saved all the crops from being a total failure which bemused the new folk to the site this year when they were told when starting that they would be taking so much home that they had grown themselves when in fact nothing did well until very late. I won't use that phrase when introducing new members again!

I don't overwinter many crops preferring to leave fallow after incorporating plenty of good, well rotted horse and calf dung of which we are about to take delivery of 11, 3 ton trailer loads for all of our members that ordered, but I do like putting in a couple of rows of the Japanese Senshyui Yellow type. If we have a normal winter without too many hard frosts they produce very large bulbs and can be harvested a month earlier next year than normal types. I had one good year and one bad in the last two and is pot luck but the loss is minimal on the pocket if they fail.

Right, back to planning our Christmas dinner and prizegiving evening for our members, early this year on 1st December mainly because of the good deal we have been offered by doing so and because our chair and her hubby who is our site 'steward' have decided to take themselves off for a cruise for the middle two weeks of the the month and we need them to come (to pay for the wine).  

BLIGHT FREE POTATOES, YES WE CAN!

Back in June this year I was summoned to the gate to meet a very friendly chap who wanted us to trial some maincrop potatoes that he was going to donate to us. I was quite dubious as here in Cornwall we can never grow maincrop spuds due to the onset of blight which this year had even hit our first and second earlies a month earlier than normal. He assured us that they were as blight free guaranteed as you could get in the UK. I said I doubted they would be any good, we were a good 6 weeks late in planting and I KNEW they would get blight as it was turning out to be an exeptionally wet summer also with the humidity just right, (or wrong), the exercise seemed pointless.

I was surprised when he produced 2 hefty 25kg sackfulls for us to try. As they were free of charge other than giving feedback on our results, I decided to persuade several of our members to plant a few rows on any spare land they had left. This wasn't easy as it was peak season and although a 50 ft allotment is reasonable to grow what you need, it can be under a bit of pressure for space at times, certainly for potato rows. Around 12 of us, including myself, found room to plant a few rows and they were showing within 2 weeks.

Blighty weather continued through July and August but we tended these potatoes as normal, earthing up, etc. and the plants looked very healthy so we were keeping our fingers crossed that they would stay that way.

They flowered this month and one of our tenants could not resist digging some and we were amazed at the crop, photo here of three roots and vowed to grow these next year as we have been frustrated at our efforts the last 3 years.

The type are SARPO MIRA maincrop and if the JBA potatoes website is looked at, they have a good write up so we know what to do now and thank the friendly guy at the gate that day for nagging us to try them!

The proof will of course be when we see how well they cook and keep.

One pic of the three root crop and the other of how the remainder of the row looked this week. Pretty good.

A Touch of Sunshine

Sunshine! That rare commodity this summer.   Isn’t it amazing how a little sunshine lifts your mood?   Been trying to sow my brassicas but beaten each time by a) slugs nipping off the seedlings as they emerge b) pigeons stripping the tender leaves before I get chance to fleece them (okay that is my fault not the pigeons) c) just the lack of warmth/light.  But ever hopeful sowed another batch and placed them in the safety of our cold greenhouse and.....well we’ll see what happens.     However the under-gardener bought some plant plugs from a seed company, I have a suspicion he doubts my ability to grow brassicas, my grandson visited recently and to him fell the honour of planting them out and checking them today they seem to be holding their own against all comers.

Shame about the sweet peas though, with all the bad weather recently they certainly have taken a battering but they have put on a fantastic show growing up and over my arch.  I had visions of rows  of sweet peas just like those in the Sutton Seeds trial beds – rows half the length of a football no a rugby pitch (well  this is Cornwall the home of rugby) . 



best drying bean ever!



Mine were neatly entwined with the beans

District Nurse            and              Ryders Blue Coco,

good dried or fresh

Think next year I’ll just put beans on the arch and plant the sweet peas somewhere else. 

Looking at my lavender today filled me with shame!   They are in desperate need of a prune but have lost my shears........I am sure there is a gremlin on our plots cause everytime I put something down it seems to disappear.   I realise that my dotage is fast catching me up; the under-gardener is nodding his head frantically here, but I am sure it’s not just that at least I hope not.  

Junior Gardener's area

What pleasantly surprised us when taking on new tenants is how many young families showed an interest in having a plot with us and in total we now have 39 children under 12 on board. A trip to the allotment site is not every child's wish for a good day out but we think we found the answer to the visit not just being a learning experience by having a dedicated safe area where a bit of steam can be let off and an opportunity to make new friends offered.

The very far corner was sown with decent grass seed with the helpful Fullwood children the first year we opened, then a wendy house, many toys, plastic and rubber of course were gradually added. The area is mown weekly and the whole patch is something that we are proud of and very well used by the juniors. In fact one parent told me that their children beg to come to the allotment nowadays instead of having to be persuaded to go.

The committee keep the toys in good order, anything broken or split is removed and we freshen up the choice available usually with donations from far and wide. 2 years ago we were visited by Camilla from the Eden project, who liked what we were doing, donated a lot of rugs and cushions some of which now sit in the wendy house and the small tent which was put up this week for the school summer holidays to give a bit more interest.

Being fenced in on the 2 outside boundaries by the 7' deer fence means the children are perfectly safe and an option for parents to sit and watch the very young is possible by sitting at the adjacent picnic table and having lunch or tea with them.

We've had some negativity with one person's view that children are there to learn, NOT play but in my experience of bringing up 5 girls and a boy (only 2 mine!) a mixture of the two really works and if a child is bombarded with information, they soon get very bored. We intend keeping this feature as it does work and is very popular.

What weather?????

Can the weather not make up it's mind?   Woke up this morning and it's pouring down come lunchtime the sun was shining .......so hotfooted it up the plot and armed with a joblist a mile long, string for tying up plants blown apart by the strong winds and an enthusiastic grandson ready to do battle! What a stange season we're having, lost all but one of my cucumber plants to voles, slugs have decimated my Kohl Rabi and have had to cover all the brassicas due to the colony of pigeons resident on our site.  

My grandson admirably disposed of the slugs found on site today (I don't feel I can divulge the gorey details here though) wish he was here more  often I might stand a fighting chance then!  

 Mind you the plots are looking good despite the weather and attack from 'wee beasties', had a good crop of blackcurrants and whitecurrants.   Put those with the redcurrants from my garden and I see lots of Summer Puddings in the coming weeks.   Trying some new squashes this year, Jumbo Pink Banana, looking good amongst the sweetcorn and climbing beans. Anyone else tried this variety?  Would appreciate some info about them if possible.   I decided to try the '3 sisters' method of growing these 3 crops, not that space is an issue but I thought it might protect the sweetcorn from the strong winds and retain moisture in the ground......not that that's been an issue this year. 

  Sweet peas have done well but put to shame by the flower display on Penny's plot, amazing show of cornflowers!.     Considering the weather and taking on a new piece of ground she produced a stack of flowers for her daughter's wedding next weekend.   Standing back looking at my plot and the others on the site I feel that we've done some good work there, okay we've had some failures but all in all they look pretty good and I've seen many people leave the site with armfuls of produce..........a lot more than some people further up country have harvested.   But hey we are gardeners and  therefore never satisfied we just have to plan for next year and pray for sunshine!

Not a total disaster.

After spending a busy working morning on my plot, I realised that this very wet season hasn't been a total write off when I added up what had been successful this season. Carrots and parsnips, squashes and courgette family too had been a waste of time BUT I harvested all my broad beans as they were showing signs of rot so thought I'd get what I could out of them. Surprisingly, most of the pods had usable beans even if some of the pod was black, ended up with a good amount.  Runner beans had now reached the top of the canes even if they haven't filled out as much as usual so quite optimistic with them as plenty of blossom, just hope they pollinate with a bee shortage this year.
The raspberries are bearing a huge crop ripening nicely and all currant bushes are simarly laden. This will make up for the disappointment of the strawberries rotting before ripe, not helped by their extra large leaves shielding light and air. I removed a lot of these a couple of weeks ago when I realised what the problem was but too late as the ground was saturated already and with no sun to dry, they'd had it.
Potato blight hit us a month earlier than usual but a blight resistant variety is performing well and hasn't been affected yet so hopeful with them. They are Sarpo Mira and JBA potatoes say they are as blight resistant as one can get so we believe them.
All in all, although a lot of our group have been very disappointed with the way the season has gone, there are still good reasons why we should persevere with our love of grow your own, win some lose some?

Tango'd!!!

Well you know when you've been Tango'd!       Oh boy have I this year,  it must be a bad year when even the broad beans given up the ghost!   I usually get some chocolate spotting on them but this year it has decimated the crop and in fact they looked like they'd had potato blight.  This picture shows a mild case - I'm too ashamed to show you what mine actually looked like!

   Kept giving them an extra day but today decided that was it............pulled them all up and only had enough beans to make a couple of servings.    I still have beans in the freezer from last years crop.   I'm afraid the undergardener (who loves broad beans) will be disappointed  this year.  

However, as per usual, courgettes are doing well and trying a new varity this year for us Stiato D'Italia.   Nice stripey courgettes should look good in a stir fry.  Must remember to look out my courgette recipies again...........

Picked my first crop of beetroot too today, bit small but thought I'd better get them before the voles or slugs do. 

 Missed the Robins today, in fact there didn't seem to be much life in evidence on the plots - just a few hardy souls and several big fat green catapillars.   Shame my friend the Robin wasn't around he could have had a free lunch! 

Almost come to the end of the rhubarb season and have found some new recipies for using rhubarb so I'll probably put then on the cookery page later this week,   I love rhubarb pies and crumbles but with 7 mature plants I have had to find other things to do with it.   Changed two of the plants this year for Champagne Rhubarb ( used to be Pink Champagne)  had the first cutting and, after being told it was the 'bees knees' as far as taste was concerned,  wasn't too impressed with it, nice but nothing special.   Maybe it will get tastier as it matures.   Hope the weather is good on saturday - planning to turn the compost bin.  Had some good stuff last year but have been offered a pair of Newcastle bins, the undergardener has offered to make them for me bless his cotton socks!   Wonder if I'll find a family of voles like I did last year?  Had to relocate them but they didn't seem too impressed with my choice of field accomodation.  I don't mind sharing my plot with the wildlife but sometimes they just get greedy!

 As I'm writing this the sun is shining outside and the temp is soaring.............well we can all hope can't we?

Deep low pressures causing havoc

Since the last blog we have been hit by two deep low pressures causing havoc on our allotments. Gusty winds in excess of 60 mph have done a lot of damage on our site exposed to the South and South West. This is normally good for ripening fruit and growing bumper crops as we get the sun all day but this type of scenario is bad for us and according to the forecasters happens once in 50 years. Hmmm.
Molluscs are having a bumper feast as their numbers seem to have trebled to the norm and the wind damage is heartbreaking.

We take pride in being able to donate from now on until the end of the season, fruit, herbs and fresh vegetables to give a 'live' feel to the wonderful National Trust's Victorian kitchen in Lanhydrock house but this year it's not going to be so easy with everything well behind and damaged. The young lady who features on our website pages is a National Trust employee who collects whatever we have spare every 10 days or so and I have put a small pic here of our veg in situ.

It's midsummer's day in just over a week now and the evenings will start drawing in again. We have been robbed of the Summer this year, feel very sad especially for the tenants who work so hard to make their plots neat, tidy and productive.
On the plus side, our water barrels collecting rainwater off the shed roofs are full to overflowing!

Improvement must be round the corner, our site is too big to move there though.

Extreme weather problems

Although having had an allotment since 11 years old, I don't recall having such a poor, slow difficult start to the growing season. Seeds failed due to a very dry March, plants raised at home in the greenhouse/cold frame once transplanted were very slow to respond mainly due to cold nights (even a damaging frost Mid May, unusual here) and all in all a frustrating time on the plot. I worry about our 'newbies' who having been told how wonderful it is to grow your own on our very fertile site see their initial efforts not perform as they should. The tip that they would REALLY enjoy a picnic on their plot just isn't happening unless they take hot water bottles and weatherproofs. Even our seasoned allotmenteers are complaining about the weather wrecking the crops and are resowing and replanting new stock hoping they will behave properly this time.
Walking around the site yesterday, I was pleased to see that the recent rain had at last started to move seedlings of flowers and veg but I was apprehensive of the weather forecast for the next day which gave that Devon and Cornwall was going to bear the brunt of a deep low pressure storm which was 'unusual' for this time of year. Sure enough I woke to the sound of heavy rain and gusty Southerly winds which at the time of writing have become worse in the strength of wind. Good job my wife's hanging baskets are residing in the kitchen having been brought inside.
I am not looking forward to seeing the aftermath when I return to our allotment site as it was just starting to recover and now from looking at the damage to my own garden o/s the window, know that bean rows, Sweet Williams, Lupins,
Cosmos will all have suffered.

We are a tough lot and will rectify everything, with a smile of course.

On the positive side, we don't grow maincrop potatoes here due to constant mid season blight problems but yesterday we were visited by a chap who donated 50kg of maincrop Sarpo Mira for us to try. According to JBA potatoes, this are the best blight resistant tubers available so we will give them a try.
    

Important feature of our family friendly allotment site

We are lucky in that this allotment site is very popular with younger, family members who between them have 39 children and grandchildren. The emphasis is on teaching and learning BUT it is important to mix education of the journey in the way vegetables and fruit arrive at our dinner tables....... with play.
With this in mind, a dedicated children's area has been set aside which is well used, especially school holiday time and weekends. All toys are plastic and inspected weekly for damage, splits or dangerous edges when the large area's grass, (seed sown by the children,) is cut.

A wendy house is the base and 'lookout'. Old tyres with scores for kicking the ball through them are liked even if the balls do manage to go over the 8ft deer fence next to them. A sizeable piece of astro turf gives the children a chance to picnic on dry land and a very special picnic table made by workers at 'Resorce' recycling group means mum and dad can sit for a while next to the area and have lunch with Junior happily playing.

  We try to keep adding to the toys but is not always easy as money does not run to buying new all the time so it was a real bonus when Cathy came back from her brother with a whole car boot full of scooters, ride on toys, toy lawnmowers and a kitchen, mini wheelbarrow, etc, too much to list, if you read this David, a big thanks from our younger members.
Future plans this summer include a tent and a sandpit and we may organise a time capsule burying which should intrigue.
The 3 pictures show the area before the children sowed the grass seed in the first year, another at distance showing the whole area and another taken today displaying the new additions.

This area is regarded as an important feature of our site and I don't know of any other allotment site with this extra, email me if I'm wrong please, address on contact page.
 
I have been told several times that the children beg mum and dad to go to the allotments to see what's new which is a change from refusing because 'it's boring up there'.   

Time for the visiting of Flower shows!

Notice the hand prints on the fence?

Interesting working area

Well hot foot from the Malvern Spring Flower show and bursting with new ideas and plans for the plot!  The weather could have been better but the sun did shine in the afternoon.  But nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of the school children that had designed and produced their show gardens.   It was amazing what they did and they were so keen to tell us all about it too. I really liked 'George's Marvellous Garden' by Burlish Park Primary from Stourport-0n-Severn, naturally based on the Roald Dahl book of George's Marevellous Medicine.

Loved the funky orange chicken!

There was a very interesting talk about allotment tips from Terry Walton, of Gardening News fame, he has an allotment in Wales and good to hear that even the professionals have the same problems as I do.  

It was illuminating to hear his comments about the productiveness of courgettes!   As no doubt all of us that grow the said veg have been swamped with the little green/yellow darlings and not known what to do with them - well all recipies are gratefully recieved and will be put on our cookery page.  A prize for the one that uses most courgettes in one go!   I have managed this year to stop the under-gardener from growing more than 3 plants but only by letting him grow tomatoes this year.  

Last years's crop got blight but this year he's trying a blight resistant variety 'Fantasio', bought last year on our trip to the Suttons Nursery and an old variety called 'Auntie Madge' from the Heritage Seed Library.   http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/variety.

Good to see Hilda planted up on the plot and looking fantastic in her bunting.  Hope to be up the plot at the weekend, weather depending of course, still have lots to do.   Replace the carrot seeds that never made an appearance and check to see if the parsnip seeds have decided to show, mind you it has not been the best weather to sow seeds in-situ so think I will sow in modules this time.  Oh and may even go and watch the 'Olympic Torch ' as it passes through Bodmin, invited them to go via our allotments but they didn't think it was a good idea!

Looking out the window at the moment the sun is shining and the birds singing!   Who would have thought only yesterday the weather could be so foul!   In desperation I planted my sweet peas and Hurst Greenshaft peas, I remember them being a good doer last year, as they were bursting out of their pots.   If I get chance I’ll go up and check tomorrow how many survived the onslaught of wind and rain.   I know we now have a dingy (Hilda) on our site but if it floods up then we are in deep trouble!  Besides I feel ‘Hilda’ is past her sailing days and is best suited to housing the multitude of flowers that Ruth has planned for her. 

 My greenhouse can take no more plants/seeds, you can only just get through the door and definitely no space to swing a cat – mind you Reggie, my cat, would not take kindly to it either.   I’m sure he was a gardener in a past life as he spends lots of his time guarding the plants but my ungenerous under gardener would say  finding himself the warmest spot for sunbathing!   I’ve decided to grow several varieties of French beans this year, Purple Queen, Blue Lake, Magpie, Hutterite Soup and Black Canterbury and they are all growing on well but ........like a lot of people I've spoken to the runner beans are a dismal failure so far. 

Painted Lady has always been a dependable crop but this year only 10% germination in the first sowing.   Probably down to the cold, wet weather and the ground just hasn’t had time to warm up. Still like all optimistic allotmenteers I have done a second batch and eagerly await their germination and if they fail then we’ll just have to hope the 10% that did germinate give me a bumper crop.   Not expecting my Celeriac to germinate well I sowed loads and sod’s law all of them have come through!   Problem is I have an inability to throw plants away and am always stuck as to where to put them, my freezer is still housing several pounds of broad beans from last year.  So if you see some demented old lady on the side of the road at Lanhydrock trying to give away celeriac plants it's likely to be me!

 Got a good crop of lettuces as well  and a surfeit here is no problem as Jack & Paddy, my guinea pigs,  would walk over hot coals to get a tasty lettuce!  The only thing they like better is cucumber, the outdoor variety Marketmore did very well last year.  I tried a heritage variety but it was far too bitter for my liking so sticking to Marketmore again this year.

  

Good weather this evening so all being well hitting the plot tomorrow so will let you know how it goes.

Photos of all 3 community gardens

What a difference a few days work makes as I'm pleased to say the 3rd garden is well under way with Hilda's deck having an undercoat of weed suppressant and a topping of recycled Cornish compost ready for planting up when the night frosts and the chilly Northerly wind plaguing us lately finish, usually the beginning of May in this part of the country.

The rest of this new project has moved on to the stage we are almost ready for some imaginative planting of the new beds  thanks to some hard work by the 'site steward' Billy, assisted by me, in a chilly wind that was blowing all week. I have put a photo below of how it looked today. I've also added photos of the other two gardens mentioned in my last blog on Monday last.

I had the pleasure of growing some Swiss Chard Bright Lights for the Bodmin schools to grow on in a competition under the 'Bodmin in Bloom' banner so when delivering them I had the chance to invite anyone interested to come and look at our site, particularly to view our gardens, as 4 of the schools had wildlife attracting gardens themselves and maybe can give us some tips and all took me up on the offer so we will be pressing on with this new garden a.s.a.p.

Formal Garden above and Wildlife attracting area on the left.

Hilda sails in

Ever since the birth of this allotment site, we wanted to make this project different from anything else seen in Cornwall, part of that ethos was to create community gardens near the entrance for the many visitors we get to enjoy.    The plans for these have changed a few times along the way but we are now starting to create the 3rd and last garden with the first two starting to look mature now being their second year. A wildlife attracting area with a very mature fallen Beech tree forming the back and a pond at present teeming with tadpoles is very popular, all the plants donated by the tenants will attract the bees and butterflies and the tiny formal garden directly outside the main shed has 4 matching beds with a flower urn in the middle looks good now the spring flowers are out.

We were looking for a bit of inspiration for this 3rd one, it's quite an area and needs to look right so imagine our pleasure in obtaining an old 15 ft dinghy complete with sails and rudder to use as a focal point. It had to be fetched from Exeter but should have known we could rely on Billy, the tenant who bought and donated the boat, to go up and fetch it late one evening. I kept him company and we eventually arrived at the allotment site around 11.30pm with the boat still in tow. Pitch black, no light anywhere so it had to stay in the car park overnight but as soon as dawn broke we were back easing her in thro the narrow gap in the Cornish hedge and into the gate to place in her last resting berth. She was tilted slightly towards the South West for maximum light and the deck will be planted up once the night frosts have passed. She has been given a new coat of green paint as the mixture of yellow and blue flaking off didn't look good. Gardens will now be created around and along from Hilda as she is now known and was the spark we needed to get our creative juices going. Hilda was the name of Billy's dearly loved mother-in-law who has recently passed away and we thought it was a fitting name, so many have known a Hilda in their lives with fondness, even my wife's mother was a Hilda too. A Hilda is an anagram of Dahlia so perhaps we will use this popular flower to form the base of our gardens around her.

A very productive day

Our combined seed and plant swop and help day dawned with heavy overcast skies after a glorious early spring sunny week and I feared the event might not be well attended. I had a list of jobs I was hoping to get some help with but I shouldn't have been so pessimistic as on arriving on site 30 mins later than I said I would due to the previous late night giving a talk to the St. Breward garden club, there was hardly a car park space left as our reliable 'team' were already there, the first job on the list had already been completed. The main shed which had enough earth on the floor to create another plot was all swept up and tidied and plants and seeds were on display to be sold for club funds or swopped. 3 bird boxes made by Paul and his grandson were also available for selling and attracted a lot of comment during the day.

Within the next 3 hours, thanks to some sterling efforts, all jobs had been finished, e.g.digging of plots that tenants had need of help with for various reasons, community gardens dug and weeded, rubbish all around site cleared and burnt off, the 'sheep pen' dismantled ready for the 3rd community garden to be formed, grass cut, new tenants given moral support and advice, plus more besides.We all had a tea break, photo above, which was needed as altho the weather was overcast, it was warm for late March.
The seeds, plants and bird boxes were mostly sold as folk left to rest their achy limbs and backs and tenants who had been worried about their plots were full of praise for the great community spirit we have here at Lanhydrock, not common with other allotment sites, I know from experience. Another photo shows 7 volunteers revealing that there WAS earth under all the weeds on plot 50. At one point there were 11 people working at the same time on this plot and shows what can be done.
Ruth and I don't think we could have a better crew of allotmenteers if we tried. Thanks to you all !

GOT THERE !

Friday 15th March 2012

Peering sleepily out of the bedroom window at 05.15, I was immediately aware that the foggy, damp weather had left us and I could almost see our allotment site several miles away. This was THE day to get the work I'd been trying to do since Monday as rain not forecast til evening. I quickly dressed in my oldest clothes, quietly so as not to wake my understanding wife (but I still did) and had explaining to do as what the heck I was playing at. Once excuses accepted, got on the deserted road and arrived at the allotment site at 05.35, still too dark to undo the shed combination lock because I just could not read the numbers. After a cup of tea from the trusty flask, daylight broke enough to get going on the task of preservative painting of two shiplap wooden sheds, one very large and one not quite so large. I had undertaken the job myself as the preservative was VERY expensive (used this type so as to safeguard shed guarantees) and if I spilt it or used too much, couldn't blame anyone else.
Athough the birds in the adjacent woods started singing periodically in unison, which can mean imminent rain, it stayed dry and with a slight breeze was ideal drying conditions. 
Being early, it meant I didn't have to analyse why someone's parsnips had small holes in or go back to the car park to replace somebody's lost gate key and to be honest is the best time of the day in my opinion. I really got on with the job and was virtually completed by 11.00. The sheds look great and the rain forecast for the weekend is not going to give them any further darkening from bad weather like the plant sales and big toilet building at the entrance which are almost black.

Brunch needed and a stiff shoulder brought the morning's work to an end but I was happy with the results.