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.