A Seedy Evening

The Organic Gardening Catalogue (www.organiccatalogue.com) are a few pounds richer this evening. After much deliberation over the type of carrot to purchase and the number of onions we might be able to eat (500 seems a little excessive Emily!) we've decided on a growing list for 2011. The final list was decided on after a moment of panic - we must remember those winter veg.

A bottle of white wine and much debate later, here is the list of crops that you will no doubt be helping Emily and I to consume in the coming year. Woodstock Farmer's market here we come!

Vegetables:

• Dwarf French Bean 'Royalty' - Purple
• Dwarf French Bean 'Aiguillon' - Green
• Borlotti Bean 'Barlotta Lingua Di Fuoco'
• Sprouting Broccoli 'Rudolph' (expect these in winter)
• Carrot 'Yellowstone' (yellow carrots?)
• Courgette 'Soleil' F1 (watch out Lewis, these ones are quick)
• Kohl rabi 'Superschmelz'
• Salad Leaves 'Italian Blend' (does what it says on the tin)
• Lettuce 'Lizzy' (that ones for you sister)
• Leek 'St Victor' (not sure who Victor was but apparently he grew fine leeks)
• Onion 'Sturon'
• Shallot 'Red Sun'
• Pumpkin 'Tom Fox'
• Potato 'Orla'
• Potato 'Arran Victory'

Fruit:

• Rhubarb 'Champagne' (sure to make your cork pop apparently, also good with custard)
• Raspberry 'Malling Jewel'
• Gooseberry 'Invicta'
• Blackcurrant 'Ben Hope'
• Blackcurrant/Red Currant/White Currant - mid season varieties (TBD)

Flowers:

• Dahlia 'Dwarf Mixed'
• Cornflower 'Double Mixed'
• Delphinium 'Magic Fountains' (sadly no roundabouts)
• Nigella 'Miss Jekyll'
• Stock 'Brompton Mixed' (recommended by folding bicycle riders)
• Scabious 'Tall Double' (why can't they just be 'Very Tall'?)
• Sweet Pea 'Old Fashioned Mixed'
• Sunflower 'Generic'

In addition to these new additions we have a back catalogue of seeds which will make an appearance:

• Pea 'Carina'
• Parsnip 'Tender and True' (not a chance they will be true in the clay soil of the allotment)
• Leek 'Varna'
• Carrot 'Autumn King'
• Carrot 'Chantenay'
• Beetroot 'Egyptian Turnip Rooted' (a good crop achieved in 2010 from these seeds)
• Rocket 'Saturn 5' (Growing in tribute to the Inspiral Carpets)
• Tomato 'Gardener's Delight'
• Lettuce 'Buttercrunch'
• Salad Onion 'Ramrod' (as recommended by Alan Titchmarsh. Apparently he swears by a good Ramrod)
• Turnip 'Atlantic'
• Radish 'Rudolph' (not sure they'll go with the Broccoli 'Rudolph')
• Borage

There's plenty of sowing to be done over the coming months and hopefully plenty of veggies and fruit to be harvested later in the year. Not sure where Emily is planning to put them all but I'm sure she'll give it a good go (on the allotment that is).

Best get digging that third (fourth and fifth) bed.

Spade issues - a question of design over simplicity

Today's plan was to get going with bed number two, and possibly even number three. The soil was heavy and wet due to a week of on and off rain but we were up for the challenge.

Soil sticking to the blade of the recently purchased 2011 of the Yeoman 'Digging Spade' (purchased for the inaugural cutting of the sod last week) made it practically useless but the 2009 version steamed through by comparison. What looked to be a useful design addition, a small 'step' to help push the spade through the soil, only helped to clog it up by preventing the soil 'escaping' over the top. It was that useless that Emily went onto weeding duties whilst Rob finished the digging.

Bed two is now ready to go, with bed one expertly weeded too. Progress is a little slower than hoped for but we'll definitely be ready for the sowing season. We have a source of wood to build the water catcher (a necessity as the nearest tap is over 200metres away in the church yard) and the compulsory compost heap.

We're on the look out for barrels for the water catcher. If anybody has any we're happy to come and collect them. Lugging a watering can 200metres would keep us fit but...

Day one

After a delay of over a month due to adverse weather conditions and Christmas celebrations we finally found time to go to the allotment. Armed with two spades (one shiny and new bought yesterday), a ball of string, some bamboo canes and a tape measure, we headed off to take our first steps into the world of allotmenteering.

We started by measuring our plot: 8.40m x 12.80m (which is approximately 9yd x 14yd or 4 and a bit poles). It's actually a bit bigger than that, but we are planning to build our compost heaps, water catcher and tool shed down the end under the trees, so we measured out our dig-able area.

We have decided to divide the allotment into two: vegetable beds at the top end and the fruit further down where the allotment turns into compost making and tool storing. After trying and failing to get a spade into the very top of the allotment where the previous tenant stored his grass clippings (and the stones removed from the cultivated soil!) we started digging a bit lower down. An hour later we had dug over vegetable bed number 1 (8.40m x 1.50m) burying weeds and clearing parsnips and plastic labels as we went.

Next week vegetable bed number 2 (and some photos).