h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hello All ,

As I cannot find my last 'Allotment thread', I have decided to start a new one where we can chat about gardening and plants .

I will be continuing to put my allotment diary on here, as I enjoy sharing my experiences with everyone .

for not being around lately. I have had terrible internet connection problems, and have been suffering with my eyes . Now I have some new reading and distance glasses, and my internet problems have finally been sorted I can chat once again with my friends .

Watch This Space for my latest allotment diary, which is coming very soon!

All the best.

Nigel

I am not a gardener as you know, well apart from potted plants, but will read this with interest!

Likewise SS, but he is teaching me a lot! Whether I can remember it though is another matter I just wish I was fit enough to do the gardening like I used to do. His allotment is lovely but the weather is making it hard going.

I was down there last Sunday, and it's where I took my photos of the bee on the sunflower, and the blackberries. It is a lovely peaceful place, and I can quite see why he likes it.

Websailor

Thanks SS, and Websailor .

It gives me great pleasure to share my knowledge and experiences with others, it is an interest which I get a lot of satisfaction from .

All the best.

Nigel

Although I don't have a garden I have ivy in 4 pots at entrance to my flat and they are doing particulary well at moment, I believe due to Baby Bio feeding, and a lot of love of course!

SS, <<< and a lot of love of course!>>> I reckon that's the key

Websailor

Hello Nigel
What do you have growing in your allotment this summer? And do you have a shed?

I too will be watching this space and adding a few comments as and when.

SS and Websailer - 'Love' is definitely the key . I can remember a long time ago there was a scientific experiment, where the first set of plants were just cared for and left and the second set was talked to and music was put on for them during the day! It sounds mad I know, but guess which plants did the best.......you've got it - the second set .

I must admit that I don't talk to my plants, but may put the radio on if I am potting up in the greenhouse or tidying. When I put the radio on, the plants start dancing......well, the last bit was an exaggeration but I do play the radio .

Hello Frenchbean . It is lovely to see you on here. I am just working on my allotment diary, so I will explain what I am growing, doing well etc. in there .

Thanks Venus, hope you are well .

Take care. Back soon with my diary .

Nigel

Allotment Diary for Saturday 9th August - Weather: Bright first thing but rain for the rest of the day.

Hello All , and welcome to my first allotment diary on my new thread .

Today, I was down on the plot for about 9.30 am. On the way down the little country road to the allotment gates, there was a newish car which had been abandoned . It had no bonnet, bumper or head-lights, and there was various other bits taken off it including the wheels! It looks like it has been stolen, and then parts were taken off which was needed before being dumped. It has happened before, but normally the cars get burnt out .

Anyway, onto the gardening front - I was surprised at how well my Leeks are taking . I have had such trouble this year growing them from seed . It is my third and final attempt, with new seed and compost which has hopefully done the trick . A lot of the other plot holders have also had problems growing them from seed this year. I always start all of my seeds off in seed-trays in the greenhouse at home, as they stand no chance in the heavy clay down the allotment. My leeks were planted out into the ground about a month or so ago, and are getting stronger by the day .

This morning, we dug up my second early potatoes called Wilja. There is not a lot of potatoes from one row of about 10 or so plants, but the quality is excellent with hardly any sign of slug/snail damage like last year. They have put a lot of energy into the foliage side this year, which makes them look very healthy with no sign of Potato Blight . Again, the other plot holders have said exactly the same thing - some other plots have potato foliage 5 ft high .

After just finishing digging the spuds up, it started raining heavily so we sacked up the potatoes and went to the garage to lay them down on a sheet to dry. After a couple of days, they will be re-sacked and stored in the garage until we need them for cooking .

I am trying a new vegetable this year - Swede! I have planted them into the allotment in bunches of three as we like them small. They are doing brilliant, and are looking forward to trying some in winter time .

The Courgettes are not doing too good as they seem to be going brown and rotting before having chance to develop. I think it must be because of the weather we have been having. There will be a few to pick, but not as many as last year . We must have picked 50 or so per plant last year, and I had three plants in total; we had Courgettes coming out of our ears . Nobody in our house likes them, but I grow them for a friend who's wife makes all sorts of different things with them .

Generally, we are doing well this year with vegetables, but they took a long time to get going and are very slow and (Just like me ). We have cultivated the top half of my plot, but the bottom part is quite over-grown, which will hopefully be sorted this autumn/winter.

Thats all for now .

Everybody take care and for reading.

Nigel

I am putting new photos of my allotment, garden and plants onto Flickr quite often now so please feel free to have a look:

Just click on the following link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/youngsuper_nigel/

All the best.

Nigel

Wonderful photographs Nigel - Thank you for sharing - I too will be following this new thread with great interest.

Thanks Scorp .

Take care.

Nigel

Yum, yum I'll be following progress too Nigel

I pulled a huge handful of carrots yesterday for dinner - along with a handful of sugarsnap peas. What a great combination: steamed then butter melted over the top

I'm envious of your leeks and swedes. We can grow neither in the subtropical climate here. Do you grow broad beans, beetroot, onions? They should all do okay in clay soil, so long as you have plenty of organic matter in there (aka manure )

I see you have raspberries... what variety and have you ever tried white ones?

Looking forward to this thread developing....

Fb

Swede and parsnips are a veg that seems to Have been used less by people recently I suspect due to things like roasted potatoes being able to be frozen and package unlike swede and parsnips, both of which I love, particularly 'nips roasted. I think it is great that allotment people continue to grow veg like that to ensure its continued use.

I am not very knowledgable of gardening but understand you can still buy types of apple seeds that are not the stanard apple bought in supermarkets? I watched a programme where a chef went to a place that grows/suplies these seeds and tasted the reulting apples and commented on their differant tastes, some with weird shapes perhaps not suitable for a more standardised supermarket market. If I had a garden I would love to plant an apple tree with funny shaped apples that gave a differant taste to the ones we know.

SS, you can get swede and parsnips frozen, and honey roasted parsnips are lovely!

There is a place not too far away from us that specialises in growing fruit, vegetables and all sorts of old fashioned varieties that are either banned or almost lost. It is criminal that commercial growers are limited to so few varieties of apple etc. and it is very short sighted too. As in all life, we need as much variety as possible.

I love going down to see Nigel's allotment and all the varied things that other people grow. It is good to know that there are waiting lists for allotment plots all around the UK. People are waking up at last Frenchbean

Websailor

I gladely stand corrected as it means those veg are more widely used!

Hello Frenchbean . The carrots and sugarsnap peas sound lovely. It is quite funny growing carrots in the allotment, because I get lots of shapes as it is clay . I can remember one year, we had a shape competition. The carrot that won looked like a miniature alien like creature, we had such a .

I don't grow broad beans or beetroot, but a lot of the other plot holders do. I sometimes grow onions, but haven't this year. I like to grow the bulb type onions, as they are ideal in stews or just raw on a sandwich . Do you grow any onions?.
I could do with adding some organic matter into the soil for next year, as it hasn't been done for a couple of years now. I always put a slow-release fertiliser into the soil before planting.

I am not too sure what the name of my raspberries are, as I was given them to me by my plot neighbour . They are a mixture of autumn and summer ones. I need to dig them up this winter and re-plant them into a different area of the plot, as the weeds are choking them, especially the dreaded 'Bindweed'. I have hardly had any raspberries off the summer ones this year, because of this reason. I have tried weeding in-between, but it is so difficult as the Bindweed wraps around so tightly .

SS, Swedes and parsnips are not used as much now, mainly because of the preparation needed for the fresh ones. As Websailer said, you can buy them frozen but I prefer the fresh ones, especially if they are homegrown .

When I was small, I used to dry the pips of apples out and try to grow them. I never had much success, but enjoyed the challenge . There is such a vast range of apples now, many from abroad which taste generally nice and crispy, especially the 'Royal Gala' ones which are my favourite.

All the best.

Nigel .

I can't grow onions here The soil's too warm. Garlic comes up tiny for the same reason.

Just as well I'm moving

Thursday 14th August - Weather is sunny, with a heavy shower.

I hope all my er's are well. I have had a bad day, as my car has broken down and is stuck in my garage until it hopefully can be repaired . I am not sure what exactly is wrong yet, it won't start or even attempt to start which is frustrating as it is a real life line for me . I will know more in the next few days, when I can get it looked at.

On the gardening front, my Geraniums in my greenhouse are looking lovely, flower wise, but the leaves are going yellow and dropping off . I have tried feeding, but they really need potting up which I didn't want to do until October time, as they are in full flower. I think though, I will get them potted up a.s.a.p. because I don't want to lose them .

I haven't been down to the allotment for a few days because of the rainy showery weather, but aim to go down in the next few days .

In the meantime, I will leave you to have a look at this amazing Agave . I have never seen one flower before, but feel that it's such a shame that the plant actually dies after flowering . It has put all of its energy into flowering, which has worn itself out. When I worked at the garden centre, the company used to buy a lot of the more exotic plants such as the Agave from Italy. They were then delivered to the main nursery down south, where they accustomed to our climate before being dispatched to the garden centres. We stopped selling Agaves, because of the sharp spines on the ends of the thick succulent leaves. A small child poked himself in the eye with one, so we had to go round and cut all of the spines off the remaining ones!

Anyway, here is the link with thanks from Websailor, who sent it to me :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1043993/Pictured-The-rare-plant-towers-owners-house-Britains-barmy-weather-causes-grow-25ft-weeks.html

All the best.

Nigel