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 1st 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.
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