The Plot Thickens

I had big plans for tatties this year - it was going to be Rocket as the extra-early first early, then Duke of York for a proper first early followed by second-early Kestrel which are practically immune to slug damage and make lovely roast potato wedges and mash, accompanied by the versatile Charlotte.

What actually happened was that I got the Rocket in early but then the weeds started growing - and as I’d let them all set seed last year there were lots and lots. A couple of weeks later I’d managed to get the Duke of York in but by now it’s a battle-royal and the chick-weed and forget-me-not are threatening to out-flank the onion setts and cut off the seed bed for the leeks, parsnips, spinach and fennel and it was all I could do to defend that, so the Charlotte and Kestrel never actually got planted.

As an early potato the Rocket were watery, but as they mature they get better and better, so I’d only dug one root of Duke of York. I’d planted them in a dry, stony part of the allotment and the haulms didn’t do much and went over quite early so I’m not really expecting to find much, but I dug a couple of roots on Friday and although they’re small they’re quite clean and haven’t actually cropped too badly. Thing is the skins are set and they separate from the extremely floury flesh when they’re boiled. I’m hoping they’ll be more interesting roasted, or maybe even mashed.

This is another of August’s developments on the allotments. It’s a bin for dead rats. A very big bin. A surprisingly big bin when you consider that the council have been poisoning rats at the allotments for a couple of years and they have no records of any rats at all having been killed.

I’ve been on site for thirteen years and I’ve never ever seen a rat, though I expect there’ll be a few. The reason for the bin is that rats that have been poisoned will themselves poison anything that eats them, like cats, dogs, foxes, kites and owls, so it’s good to pick up the carcases. Actually it’s a legal requirement to make a regular thorough search for carcases, though the Town Council don’t do this because it’s too expensive. I assume the bin is some kind of nod of recognition at the danger - I can’t say for sure because the bin just appeared without any explanation.

You might wonder that the amount of poison in a dead rat could be a danger to a scavenger, and the poison industry says that it isn’t because rats die underground, but the evidence refutes this. It’s easy to understand the problem: It’s just possible that a rat would choose to die underground, but anticoagulant poisons like bromadiolone take several days to work - they need delayed activity because rats are clever enough not to eat something that makes them feel ill. In several days a rat can eat way more bait than it needs for a fatal dose, and rats with partial immunity to bromadiolone can eat a very large amount of bait before finally succumbing. All this time the rat is fair game for a predator, more so if it becomes careless as it starts to feel ill.

But whatever the mechanism, red kites particularly are threatened by poisoned rats, and so are other scavengers, which on an allotment includes local dogs and cats. So why poison?

In truth there is no good reason. Poison has its place, particularly where there is an infestation, but on an allotment, err no. First off, there are always going to be a few rats on an allotment. Basic house-keeping keeps their numbers in check - so don’t give them too many places to hide, keep the hedge bottoms clear so their predators can get at them and don’t feed them. If there is a rat problem - and you need to use indicator baits to tell exactly what is living where - the first thing to do is fix the bad house-keeping.

Poisoning is never sustainable. The direct and indirect risk to wildlife is just too great to use the poison continuously, and it’s expensive too. Continuous poisoning also creates the evolutionary pressure necessary for super-rats to develop. Newbury was actually one of the first areas in the UK to get bromadiolone-immune rats in the early nineties.

Somebody’s done an excellent hatchet-job on the rat’s reputation. The disease thing is significantly over-sold. Sure, they carry Weill’s Disease, but so do lots of creatures, and you’re twice as likely to get it from cows than you are from rats, and that has significant implications for gardeners spreading dung. In any event the risk is minuscule.

Rats are blamed as the vector for black-death and plague, but brown rats weren’t in the UK then and black rats only lived in the ports so that’s not likely. they’re blamed for spreading typhoid too, but it’s the similar sounding typhus that rat fleas spread, and even then it’s not the virulent variety of the disease.

I think they’re cute. I’ve said before that I wouldn’t particularly want one living in my house, but they don’t deserve the persecution they get.

It’s been a busy months for allotment goings-on.

Our gate now sports a shiny new “Keep Locked” sign. It’s been in the rules for three years or so that the gate must be locked at all times. I wonder if I’m breaking the rule just by opening the gate to go in and out? Anywho, the sign is just so typical of the council’s shut up and do as we tell you attitude. I’ll not be locking the gate.

Allotment security is a delicate issue, and so much more reason not to use jack-boot deplomacy. The latest from the stewards’ meeting is

It was agreed that new signs be made for each site informing tenants that if the gates are continually being left unlocked, the offenders will be evicted from site and their tenancies relinquished.

I can’t speak for other sites, but at Wash Common we’ve always left the gate unlocked if there’s anyone on site. I understand that security is a concern for some people, but not being pushed around on your own allotment is also a legitimate concern and keeping the gate locked is just plain obsessive.

Now, if the council actually asked us all what we thought then that would be different. At the end of the day if the majority wanted the gate locked all the time then I guess I’d have to go along with that.

VegPlotting is having a virtual garden openday today, and everyday until the 21 September. Do pop over. VP’s put an enormous amount of effort into it - both the real garden and the virtual one - there’s so much to see and do and it’s open in aid of the charity Water Aid.

As always the photography and blogging is first class, and so is the gardening. My favourites are the robin’s nest, and of course the tea and cake. There’s also a very nice tour of the sheds.

Have you entered the Emsworth Village Show yet? It’s a virtual village show, you submit jpegs of your exhibits for judging. Brilliant! It’s running in conjunction with VegPlotting’s Water Aid extravaganza.