Association angst

Colleagues of mine asked this week if I'm a member of THE allotment association. My blank expression said it all. I didn't know there was one.

But, of course there is an association for allotmenteers. There's an association for everything. Should I/we become associates of all things allotment? And is there a special signal or handshake, so that members can identify one another when undertaking non-gardening activities? Is there a hotline for life or death allotment emergencies or for when the weeds have just become too much to bear and all hope is lost?

I'm a bit wary of 'associations'. Feels like a little bit too much commitment to me. The only associations I have every voluntarily been part of was the Brownies and latterly the Guides and that didn't end happily.

I have just checked out The National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners website ( www.nsalg.org.uk ) and it doesn't seem too daunting a prospect. I wouldn't have to attend weekly meetings or become a treasurer or anything. For the bargainous price of £20.10 (the £0.10 is the cost of a share in the society) I would be a member of something; a shareholder, which would be a first; the recipient of a quarterly magazine bursting with tips and stuff and able to take advantage of a discount seed scheme, which does sound quite tempting.

I'm going to think about it. I'll let you know what I decide.

Returning to more earthy matters, the allotment is looking good I think. The sweetcorn has started to show itself (see photo above right) which is an exciting development. I thought the really tall plants that have just shot up would be the first to show signs of corn, but no, it's actually the smaller plants that seem ready to throw out their 'cobs'.

The courgettes have swiftly become marrows, and in the course of the last week appear to have doubled in size.

We'll win Nottinghamshire's Biggest Marrow competition yet.

Can you unravel a hedge?

Well, I have just returned from the allotment with some raspberries and quite a big carrot in my knapsack.

Strictly speaking, the carrots aren't supposed to be ready yet, but after a quick taste test undertaken by myself and my rabbit, I can report that it is bright orange, extremely strong tasting and surprisingly juicy for a root vegetable and the rabbit can report...nothing, he's still chomping, which I assume is a ringing endorsement.

We will be leaving the carrots in the ground until we are ready to eat them. The soil will keep them safe for us until we want them, so there won't be a mad rush to devour them all at once.

The raspberries were plucked from the back hedge of the plot, which makes a very pleasant change to being thought odd for wandering along the river bank where my parents live, tuppaware container under arm, on a hunt for some ripe berries. I have yet to pick raspberries and not suffer some minor injuries though. I don't seem to be able to avoid the stinging nettles and brambles as I reach for the berries, but I think I've found a solution. Wear a long-sleeved top...

There are a few raspberries growing on the canes Jim planted back at Christmas time, but they aren't as doing as well as we'd hoped. Hopefully, they'll pick up next year when they're more established.

I spent a bit of time clearing more of the plot by the herb garden and it's tough going. The whole area is completely riddled with ivy and it's a complete nightmare to get out of the way. I also live in fear of unravelling the hedge when I start yanking at one of the strands. Previous occupants of the plot have kindly left us with all sorts of exciting paraphernalia to discover underneath the ivy - a mouldy old fleece jacket; jam jars; plastic containers that disintegrate as soon as I try to move them. I do wonder if I'll actually find something scary at some point.

Photo update - allotment July 08

Photo update - allotment July 08

Photo update - allotment July 08

What rot

GAH!!!!!

Our onions have got white rot. Which means, that most of them are completely inedible.

Katy’s allotment guru work colleague did a blind diagnosis based on her description of the problem and we think he’s right.

Dead roots? Loose in the soil? A rotten bottom? Yup, that’ll be white rot. It’s a fungal disease. My toes always curl at the very mention of any words beginning with ‘fung’, but I'll put aside my revulsion to share my new knowledge with you.

I’ve since looked it up on the Royal Horticultural Society website and it all seems to tally. The word that worries me is ‘contamination’. Apparently, the fact that our onions have got rotten bottoms means that our soil is contaminated with something called Sclerotica and it can live for at least eight years below the surface. So, planting any onions in there in the near future would be to commit onion murder.

Hopefully, the whole plot isn’t affected, but there’s only one way to find out. We’ll plant some more next year and see how they fare. The RHS say that there isn’t a way to treat the soil to get rid of the disease, so we’ll give have to give it time. Lots of it.

Guilt and asbestos

Kate...

Allotment neglect is quite possibly up there on a par, guilt-wise, with forgetting an elderly relative's birthday.

This week has been a bit of a busy one for me on the work front, so despite my best intentions, I hadn't managed to make it up to St Ann's until today since last Tuesday evening, when I gave everything a quick once over and scarpered off again.

What a difference a few days has made. I feel like I’ve seriously missed out. For a start, the allotment fairies had been again (aka Jim and Katy) who indulged in a bit of post-Glasto r & r by planting some purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages and thinning out and re-planting some leeks and carrots. Despite being the bane of my sartorial life (tights or no tights? Rain mac or t-shirt? Sandals or waders?), the intermittent rain and sun, rain and sun, sun and rain seems to have made our veg very happy indeed.

The radishes and potatoes are pretty much ready to start chomping on and some pea pods are looking close to ready. The carrot tops are looking decidedly bushier and I'm dying to start eating the onions.

I'm getting a bit obsessive compulsive about weeding and want each and every one of them gone. I did another couple of rows today, before I was rained off.

Rather worryingly, it seems that our rather dilapidated shed is part asbestos, which means that we can't tear it down. Getting it professionally removed would cost some serious dosh and neither we nor the nice people who work at the allotments can afford it. So, I think we're going to make the best of the shed as it is, perhaps patch it up a bit and give it a lick of paint and then construct a new shed next door.

We were very chuffed when we were told that the land is looking the best it’s been for over five years by the allotment worker. It’s good to know we’re doing something right! My new friend ‘Don, don the can can man’ as he introduced himself – a veteran of St Anns Allotments and knows everything about everything – has told me that he’s been keeping an eye on our progress and that he’s pretty impressed, so that’s all good news. He said that in two or three years, we’ll have it all sorted out and looking spick and span too.

If Don says we’re doing alright, we must be on the right path! Although, we did give him some barrels for his thyme growing activities, so he does owe us.