We've had lots of snow here over the last couple of days - think we may need a drill to get the parsnips out of the frozen soil for Christmas dinner. Once the greenhouse roof was swept to make sure the glass didn't break under the weight of the snow we couldn't resist taking advantage of the deep snow at the allotment to make this snowman.
Happy Christmas to you all, and here's to plenty of good gardening in 2010!
We planted garlic at the allotment today. We would have liked to have done it earlier but the weather has been so awful that there hasn't been a chance. We planted half the bulbs straight into the ground and the other half into small pots in the greenhouse - it's the first time we've done it like this so it'll be interesting to see if the plants with the extra pampering indoors are any better than the ones that have to tough it out in the great outdoors. We've also got some soft neck garlic to plant but that doesn't go out until spring so we'll be keeping the bulbs in a cool, dark place until then.
If you haven't planted your garlic yet there's still time until the end of the month. It likes a weed-free, sunny bed in well drained soil so it can be good to add sharp sand to improve drainage if your soil is on the heavier side. We bought our bulbs from a company based on the Isle of Wight but you should be able to pick them up at your local garden centre. You could of course plant bulbs from the supermarket but there's no guarantee of how good the results will be. You need to separate the cloves then push them into the soil about 3cm deep, with the pointed tip upper-most. They need 10-20cm between bulbs depending on the size of the garlic. You may find that, when they start to produce green shoots, the birds won't be able to resist pulling them up. If they do just make a little hole and push them back into the ground.
I love growing garlic because it really does taste better than any you can buy and is a crop that you can easily be self sufficient in. The bulbs in the picture are from this year's harvest and will keep us going until the ones that we've just planted are ready to be picked next summer.
Last night I went to see Vanishing of the Bees a new film that has been supported by the Co-operative. The film investigates the plight of the bee with particular focus on colony collapse disorder that has decimated bee communities across the United States. Worryingly similar symptoms are also being detected in bee hives all over the world, including here in the UK. The film is beautifully made but also terrifying at the prospect of what will happen if we don't do something to protect out bees. What the film really showed me is how important gardeners and allotment holders now are to help save the bee. Providing that we haven't left it too late to halt this devastating collapse in their communities....
The film made me really sad at the mess that we are making of our planet, and that many people seem determined to continue making, but it also prompted me to have a think of what we can all do to make the world into the kind of place that bees are able to live a happy and prosperous life. Here are some things that I will be doing to help them and I hope you will be able to do some of them too:
This morning I went to visit a friend of my Dad's who had offered to give me some advice on some work that I am currently developing. Obviously there is nothing I like better than spending Saturday morning talking about accountancy and finance and there was no motivation in my visit at all to get to have a look at their beehive...! When I go to visit people I always like to take some produce along as a gift if I can so today I took one of my Turks Turban winter squash. One of the best things about growing things is having enough to share with other people and the pleasure it gives them to receive some fresh veg, a bunch of cut flowers or a jar of home made jam - simple things in life but still the best!
Today was a particularly good day because, as I mentioned earlier, my squash was in exchange for a look at my host's bees - firing me up even further that honey is the next produce that I want to have a go at harvesting so this is where I will be going in spring to start putting that plan into action! In addition to that John and Pat are also keen growers themselves so I went away with this beautiful, sweet bunch of grapes that they grew in their conservatory. I can tell you they didn't last long after I took the photo...
I love having a look at other people's allotments. It's fascinating to see what they're growing and the way that they lay out their plot. I'm also interested in the solutions they've found to get water to their plot or the constructions that have been created to act as sheds and greenhouses. Whether I get a fleeting glance from a train or bus window or can poke my head over a fence to look more closely it always puts me in a good mood to see a well cared for allotment flourishing.
I was up in Berwick-Upon-Tweed a week or so ago and that's where I saw these wonderful allotments right in the centre of town. For those of you who have never visited Berwick, it is a beautiful, old walled town right on the border between England and Scotland. As with many similar places like York and Chester space is limited within the walls so many houses do not have gardens at all; historically most growing would have taken place outside the walls with people living inside the walls for protection. This lack of space is what makes it all the more admirable that the people of Berwick have managed to find space to squeeze in these allotments; and they've been there for some time by the look of the big old wall that surrounds them.
Out of a matter of interest the house that you can see on the right of the picture has its own interesting story to tell. Lowry used to spend a lot of time on holidays in Berwick and did many paintings up there. In fact, he loved it so much that he wanted to move up there and this house is the place that he really wanted to live. Unfortunately this never happened but, if it had, we may have had some atmospheric Lowry paintings of allotments inspired by the view he would have had out of his window!
