The Plot Thickens

No spawn in the allotment pond yet, but the frogs have been busy in the home pond so I’m sure they’ll find it soon. My friend Graham has now netted the fish that arrived in the allotment pond and she’s now happy with all our other goldfish in the home pond, and that’s nice because she did rather scoff the taddies last year.

I found newts on the plot and in the pond last year so I very much hope they might come back too. The slow worms have woken up on site - and if you’re turning a compost heap please do it carefully because it’s one of their favourite places to sleep the winter through.

The Allotment Society and Council have been locked in some heavy negotiations for a bit now, but I’m really pleased to say that we’ve found some common ground and agreed how to go forward together. I want to recognize the effort and determination of the Council’s Chief Executive to keep his sense of humour and keep the negotiations alive. We’ll pick it up after Easter, and for now we’re going to enjoy the peace of the early spring.

Cold and wet it was (mercifully the photo isn’t my plot, but one at the other end of the site from me), but the soil’s light and sandy at Wash Common so I’ve actually got some early spuds (Swift) and shallots (Topper) in already. It’s the first time I’ve tried Swift so we’ll see, but Topper I’ve grown for many years and I like them. I’m growing Rocket again this year, but I don’t like it as an early potato, I find its taste and texture watery when it’s young, but as a second-early it’s great - good yield, clean, tasty and versatile.

The black currants are now planted under the geodesic fruit cage - one in the middle and five around it - or it will be five if the cuttings strike, it’s just three at the moment. Six bushes isn’t so many for such a big cage but I’ve made the mistake of planting too close too many times before so I’ve given them space. My friend Beverley gave me some raspberries and I’ve planted these outside the cage in the corners the round cage leaves in the square bed. I’m trusting that birds won’t worry them too much for fruit.

The council decided tonight that there will be no Trading Hut on the Wash Common allotments. I’m very disappointed, but I think it’s time to move on now.

This is what the allotments can look like in the winter. Not all through the winter, at least not in most years, but the Wash Common allotments have a bad drainage problm in the winter months and it can look like this until April - this photo was mid March 2007. It’s significant because the council have served notices on 20 allotmenteers after an inspection in the first week of the new year. They won’t tell me what all the notices were for but I know some were instructions to cultivate the plot within 30 days or be evicted. It’s just not reasonable at this time of year.