Allotment gardening

There have been a couple of cold nights recently with the temperature dropping to freezing. I didn't put any fleece over any of my crops - principally because I haven't got any fleece to put over them. I am eager to see how my over-wintering crops have held up - I haven't seen them for a few days now. To my surprise they are all doing very well - the broad beans in particular are beginning to emerge and don't seem to have been troubled by the frosts. Good.

I spend Christmas in mid-Wales with the in-laws and it snows. But even at this distance I am reminded of the allotment as we all tuck into some of my home-grown parsnips with our Christmas dinner. And they taste bloody good I can tell you.

As a final pre-Christmas treat, I take the whole family down to the allotment for a look around. Well actually the real reason we go down is to dig up some parsnips for the Christmas dinner. We get some real beauties. Cath hasn't seen the plot for a while and is impressed with how things have come along. I am as well - although I can't wait to press on with things in the new year.

My wife takes the children to see a pantomime in Epsom, leaving me free for a couple of hours to carry on with digging over and weeding the few remaining beds. It's another cold day so I pull on a woolly hat, my gardening gloves and crack on with digging. There are lots of brambles in this bed and they seem to be a lot easier to pull up in this weather. I am still not removing the roots but I dig down as far as I can and pull up as much as I can. I'm sure I have got up more than I did last year. I even manage to dig up most of the daffodils that popped up unexpectedly last year. After a couple of hours the bed is finished. I then tidy up, sweeping up the paths and trimming the grass verges.



I had been planning to spread manure over the top of the two beds but there doesn't seem to be any left. It'll have to wait until January. I am also left with a pile of weeds and rubbish that has grown to a considerable size. A skip is due in late February. I will try and bag it all up over the coming months with a view to throwing it in the skip when it arrives. I go home a very happy bunny. A quick tour of the allotments shows that mine is one of those in the best of shape - by no means the best but at least it is ordered, clear in the main and has some over-wintering crops growing on it.

I manage to wangle my way out of Christmas shopping and, as a result, get to go down to the plot to carry on with the digging. I notice that, despite the recent cold snap, the onions and broad beans seem to be making good progress.



I crack on with the digging and after an hour-or-so, finish the bed where there was previously a large pile of upturned grass sods. It gives me a good sense of achievement - I now have a whole new bed to play with next year.



I still haven't made a plan for next year although I have a rough idea of what is going to go where. I must sit down over the holiday period with my wife and choose what crops we want next year and where we should put them.

I need to get some parsnips for tonight's dinner so I make a quick dash down to the plot before it gets too dark. I sneakily do a bit of digging on the beds at the back - if I can put in a couple of hours, I would be able to finish them I'm sure.

Although I have a few days off work this week, just like this time last year, my children both come down with a a bit of a winter virus. It means I have to spend most of these days sitting at home with them watching CBeebies. Today is the one day that I do get the chance to nip down to the plot to do an hour's digging. However, wouldn't you know it, it starts to rain almost as soon as I get there. I tough it out for a few minutes but it then starts in earnest so I have to call it a day after a few minutes. Sod's Law I guess.

I haven't had the chance to get down to the allotment for a few days now so am anxious to see how things are growing and to get on with some more clearing. I have bought some new gardening gloves as I lost my old pair - these are a bit like washing-up gloves with an elasticated wrist. I take my youngest son Nathan down with me and the first thing we have to do is go and check out the scarecrow who is always standing at the back of the allotment site.



Unfortunately, Nath has a bit of a cold which makes him a bit of a handful. He wets himself, falls over and asks to go home sooner than I would have hoped. I only manage to dig about a quarter of the bed where the upturned pile of sods were. As I dig it I come across some burnt sods of grass which remind me of a year ago when I had a bonfire and then dug up all the sods with my mattock. I am also reminded of a year ago when I try to dig the earth under where the pile of grass was. It has never been dug before and it is rock hard - just like the whole plot was this time last year. It is like concrete but I do my best and turn over about a quarter of the bed - which includes most of the area where the pile of earth was. Hopefully from here on in it will get easier. Sometimes it annoys me how much I let these few beds get out of control resulting in so much end of year work. I'll have to try and stay on top of things next summer. The gloves worked very well, by the way.