Time really does fly. The last post was in early October and as I remember it I was winding down for the winter. I'd put my plot to bed quite early on as I'd harvested the buggery out of everything I was growing and I was definitely not growing something for "over wintering", mainly because I don't really know what it means as I've not opened my allotment bible recently (see second post) to see what I should be doing in October/November/December. I planted some tulip bulbs in containers and randomly around my plot in November - I have this fantasy that come April my plot will look like the Keukenhof Gardens (see below) - I then gave the plot a quick tidy, leaving the kale to its own devices and letting the green manure grow at its will, planted four cabbage seeds and left it until last Sunday, 20th January.
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| My plot in April |
I tell a lie, we held an allotment party for Halloween, that was my last proper day out on the plot. When I say "we" I mean an allotment pal and me. For the purpose of this blog she shall be known as Quincy, as she does have a lovely quince tree on her plot. Quincy and I have now organised two events on the allotment. A summer one, hurriedly put together as it seemed a shame that no-one had planned anything from the heatwave that was May until 17th August. On the 17th August we held our late summer allotment party and it rained, obviously. The second party was for Halloween. It was fun, we invited allotmenteers and their kids. It was unseasonably cold that afternoon having been particularly mild in the days leading up to it. A few kids came, carved out some pumpkins - these were bought - I hadn't grown any. Some allotmenteers did attend, although not as many as we had hoped (and bought alcohol) for, even though this time we had advertised well in advance on nicely laminated posters on the entrance gates. Quincy and I drank a lot of Aldi Spiced Pumpkin liqueur, ate our cheese and biscuits and mused about whether allotment get-togethers were a thing of joy or a complete waste of time as we could have just as easily just sat in either one of our sheds and had a good natter. We did try though. Apparently God loves a trier.
Back to the present. Winter neglect has been surprisingly kind to the plot. The kale is still looking good. I'm almost feeling guilty about pulling the plants up but as far as I know they're not perennial and I need to quit with this batch while I'm ahead and before they bolt (flower). I left one celery in the patch of four celery plants. Got rid of that on Sunday. The celery took bloody ages to grow and took up a lot of bed space. I'm not even a great fan of celery, less so because it took more than 3 months to grow. The family that had the plot next to mine have upgraded to another plot and I apparently have a new plot neighbour. I hope they like Radio 4 and Yorkshire Tea.
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| Shed's still standing, along with the Kale |
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| 9.30am Sunday 20th January |
