Four hours on the Lechlade allotment

I spent four hours on the Lechlade allotment today, in beautiful sunny weather, trying to get as much done as possible. First, I cleared a patch by the wall, and planted some near-dead strawberry plants that I'd rescued from Big John's allotment in Swindon. He'd hacked up a patch of them beside the fence because he wants to extend his lawn across both his allotments. I think it was a terrible waste, but not everybody loves strawberries as much as I do.

 

I then started planting potatoes. I'd brought in that cardboard box about half-full of seed Charlotte potatoes. I planted two rows before giving up. It was terribly hard work. First I had to clear the surface weeds, then I had to hack holes deep enough. I started off by hacking trenches with my Man Hoe (that's what I call it: it's a mattock, or Italian hoe, a zappa). I call it a Man Hoe because it is so big, and I resort to it when all else fails. It is usually "man enough for the job" (NB. irony alert!).

 

This job was done in fairly hot sunshine, and I am aching now and will probably be unable to move tomorrow morning. Nevertheless, I got two long rows in, so nobody is going to go short of new potatoes this summer. I have brought the rest of the Charlottes home and will plant them in my Swindon allotment. I still have a row of Jersey Royals and a row of Desiree to plant at Lechlade.

 

(The basket, by the way, is courtesy of Jim in the shop. He describes them as French, and they may well be. He chucked my two out because they were broken, but they're still good enough for carrying weeds).

 

After that and a long sit down in the shade with a bottle of water, I started on the easier work (the chair is a shop reject as well).

 

 

 

Update

I have been struggling for the past few days to get into my blogging account after such a long time, and have only just succeeded.

Of course, we're half-way through the season, and I've not written a thing about how it's going. Where do I start? Maybe with a summary, or a bullet-point list of all the important new developments, which I can come back to later.

So:

• Water troughs! Hurrah, hurrah! The council has finally got round to installing the promised water trough on MY allotment! July 1st was Water Trough day, and when it was finally up and running, so many people tried to use it all at once that it was nearly emptied and they then complained that it wasn't filling up fast enough.



• Gli italiani. The wonderful brothers Joe and Angelo are proving excellent neighbours, and I have an open invitation to borrow Joe's zappa (italian hoe), which has made life so much easier. Angelo has promised to bring me one back from Italy in August, and Joe said that when someone asked who I was, he said I was his cousin.



• New arrivals. Two of note: Ken (opposite me, Plot 348), and Andy (a little further down on the other side, Plot 352a). Ken has a half-plot and plenty of family members to help him work it. He is very friendly and chatty and has taken early retirement from Royal Mail. He's on holiday in Scotland at the moment. Andy is from Glasgow and is a self-employed computer programmer. He is also very chatty and great fun. He has charmed Angelina, and even made her laugh (she usually moans about everything). He is thinking of retraining as a teacher. I think he'd make a good one. He knows nothing about gardening, but is making a good go of his half-plot, thanks to hard work and many donated plants.



• The family-from-hell are still causing problems. My neighbours the other side say they have a ladder which they use to get over the fence on to his shed roof and down via his picnic table, and that they have now stolen two old doors which he was using to hold his manure in place. They know this because their picnic table was broken and they saw white paint on top of the fence.



• Lots and lots of other things, but that's enough for now.

The pictures show what the Family-from-hell did to the lovely privet bush that was overhanging my shed. Big John actually saw him climb over the fence to cut it back on MY SIDE.

Broad beans

Today I sowed my first seeds on the Cat Allotment. I put in two double rows of broad beans. I had finally got round to cycling to Ron's Stores in Rodbourne, where they sell them loose. I bought a cupful for £2.20, and had so many that even though I put two in every hole, I still had enough for a second row. There's no way I can eat that many beans, but they're good for the garden, so I sowed them anyway. You never know, I might find enough old ladies to give them to by next July.

I had to hoe down a strip of dug soil about a yard wide before I sowed them. The Italian hoe Joe gave me is useless - every time I use it, the head falls off. But if it didn't, it would be a 100% improvement on the titchy hoe I've got now. I simply must get a decent Italian hoe by next Spring!

Joe, Italian lettuce and Italian hoes

Joe (86 and 87) finally showed me the difference between the various Italian lettuces. Most of them are forms of chicory (cicoria, or as Joe pronounces it, cicora). So, what I thought was scariole is cicora rossa, with the equivalent blond variety. Scariole - (or was it Catalogna?) - has dentated leaves, and is similar to Witloof-type chicory in appearance above ground. But the latter is dug up in late October, the root (what Joe calls the "potato") shortened, then re-planted in trenches so that it can be blanched.

I told him I'd found the specimens he'd given me too bitter, and he said you can cook them, so maybe I'll try that. But I suspect they are all an acquired taste, like Brussels Sprouts.

I told him that what I needed was an Italian hoe, but you didn't seem to be able to buy them in England. He went into his shed and came out with this specimen, that he said I could have. He said he'd made it himself from a spade "like we did in the War".