Wednesday 24 April 2013

All is well.

Since my last blog, the cold wind which had been blowing since February has at last relented allowing our normal warmer South Westerlies to come in which does bring in rain but we do need it after the ground had been subjected to drying sub zero conditions. The soil was cold to quite a depth.






Our allotmenteers are a hardy breed and most had been on site at some point during the cold snap to prepare their patch for the season ahead and I include  a couple of pics showing the site a week after the milder weather returned, i.e. the second week of April and looking around I felt satisfied we had a good team on board now, the iffy, maybe, sometime, never tenants had gone and been replaced with keen, knowledgable ,true gardeners. Credit to them all for the hard work put in, let us hope the season ahead rewards.

The mini orchard has now been planted. This is situated on an area in the far corner which was a problem to know what to do with as too wet for a plot here, we tried it. Strange as the patch faces S.W., gets plenty of sun but perhaps the giant trees behind the area prevent enough air circulation, who knows, just hope the 15 fruit trees take off and flourish.

We are more exposed to the passing world now with the removal of boundary trees and the imminent realignment of the Cornish hedge that hides us from the road. This is to allow better vision for us and the coaches visiting Lanhydrock to  exit the new car park, all part of big changes in the area (not allowed to say the E word, but rhymes with great). Some tenants feel uncomfortable with the high visibility of our site but we have been assured that we will be ok with a new screen shortly.

Our social life has us attending an event every month but had a disappointment this month as the day before we were due to visit the St. Austell brewery to tour the works, we were asked to cancel as there was emergency maintenance to be carried out the same w/e and the water was turned off so machines all off too. How inconsiderate! Fortunately, I was able to contact all those going in time as we had arranged to meet there. Oh well, another time, can't be helped.

Must say we are sorry to lose Kevin and Charlotte Chapman who had been with us since day one but found life's other commitments to much to justify keeping their plot. We will miss them in particular Charlotte's lovely smile whenever you saw her. :)

Right, it's good growing weather so I'm off the computer now to get planting, I have a lot of competition this year with all the plots looking good. Glad. Billy no- mates has even risked planting out his runner beans, mine are just considering germinating in the greenhouse. I must be old fashioned thinking the second week in May was early enough. Have always had a gardening calendar in my head, maybe I need to have an update soon.  




Monday 8 April 2013

This cold wind is taking its toll.

The cold wind which has been blowing from the East since February 20th is taking its toll in several ways, the worst of which is that the morale on the plots is pretty low and may leave its mark.

As we all know, everything is WAY behind, crops that are begging to be released from their cramped greenhouse and cold frame homes cannot be planted in such cold soil as we have at present. We have a good proportion of new allotmenteer tenants who were told at the end of last season not to despair as rarely did 2 consecutive bad seasons occur but unless there is a sudden change in the very near future of the weather pattern this will be the case. I do not want those young families to give up yet but who wants to spend their spare time with children for company on a cold,windy, cloudy allotment site ?
Just for interest, I have put two photos on of my garden at the same time of year, two years apart, the first in April 2011 and the other of the same view 2 days ago (6.4.2013).
Notice the cherry leaves, out full in 2011, now not even budding. Clematis over the arch in full flower in 2011, just thinking about showing buds now. The temp has been around 12 degrees different daily on average. This will knock on for the whole season as far as vegetables are concerned unless we get a lengthy Indian summer. Jet stream, please shift yourself northwards SOON!

 
 

2011
2013




Another talk given to a county garden club, this time the village of St Teath heard the tale of how, why,etc and listened to the journey of the long path to setting up this successful allotment community. The garden club had invited the local allotment group along too so I expected the varied and numerous questions at the end of my talk. I was heartily thanked by the club's secretary and exchanged emails with the allotment group for further
discussions after mutually agreeing to swop visits in the near future. The constant frosty, icy evenings seem to relent a little for me to get home without any problem even tho frost set in later that night.
                              A pic of St. Teath village centre here.

We have one area undeveloped on site, one corner that is quite damp and haven't really known what to do with but after several similar suggestions, we are to plant an orchard  consisting of 3 pear, 5 apple, 3 cherry, 2 plum,
2 crab apple (for the blossom). These have arrived now bare rooted from Fothergills and must be planted as soon as I can, They were substantial trees, arrived well packed and represented good value at under £100 for the lot (exc. the crab apple).

I'll brave the cold wind this week coming, plant them with stakes and ties and if the weather doesn't change, it'll stay as it is. Makes sense.