We are (yet again) in a week where the news is not great. Well Donald Trump being indicted is pretty good news! But someone, probably the Russians have blown up a damn and flooded Kherson, the Canadian wildfires have caused smog down the East Coast of the US (a friend in Washington DC reports that that whole area smells like BBQ and it’s apparently the equivalent to smoking 12 cigarettes a day!), and children were stabbed in France.
Rishi Sunak admitted defeat and pulled together a trade agreement with the US (it’s not the agreement he was looking for but it’s probably better the free trade agreements the Govt ‘negoiated’ with Australia and New Zealand!). Finally, the Labour Party seems determined to do the most damage to it’s election chances by showing us what a bunch of factional control freaks they are…
Ma and I have a couple of perennial arguments about the plot. One is about what I allow to self seed in paths, there’s another about how many plants it’s possible to fit on the plot and my plant buying problem (it could be worse, it could be drugs!).
The third is about my negativity on how the plot is doing, I think the plot is looking a bit messy, there are weeds everywhere, the paths need strimming and we are not as far ahead in the plant growing stakes as I would like. Ma thinks that I’m too hard on myself, the plot looks fine and the weeds aren’t that much of a problem. In my defence, Ma can’t actually see all of the weeds, we are way behind on plants, and there is a lot to do. However, I also do have a super critical eye when it comes to the plot and the weather has been an issue. It’s been cold at night and most of the summer plants don’t do well if the temperature goes under 10C and it’s not been above 10C at night yet.
Iris
I started this year behind because of the work on the flat and I didn’t sow until late because of that same work. I had to buy aubergines and peppers, I should have maybe considered doing the same for tomatoes, see later on for the tomato issues. The weather has checked the growth on the winter squash (the butternuts all died), the summer squash isn’t even in the ground yet and I’ve had to sow a bunch of them again. Time is moving on and things are not in the ground.
And the tomatoes have been a disaster…
Poor pathetic babies on Saturday
They just didn’t really grow, I’m thinking this is a compost problem, we sieved and used the Wickes Peat Free multi purpose which should have been fine but the tomatoes just haven’t done at all well, despite having a lot more light this year. (As a sidenote, the quality of compost this year has been appalling, I’m considering moving to manure for topping up the beds because the compost has been awful, I know I’m not the only one having problems). I took the plants to the poly last week, to await the new potting compost I’d ordered and the plants, mostly got fried.
So this weekend we took the pathetic survivors and repotted them. Tomatoes this year are going to be a surprise as I have no idea what’s what. I also spotted a couple of mystery self seeded toms (I think they will be Orange Queen or the Black Russians that turned out to be cherry toms last year as they were what we grew in this space) in the polytunnel bed and potted those up too. We’ll see and we’ll be delighted if we get anything because I’m more or less resigned to a less than epic tomato year. (Since Saturday they have improved somewhat, so fingers crossed)
My allotment neighbour, Tana has come to my rescue, by giving me eight ‘Lucian Black’ plants. These are actually a bit of an allotment legend. Lucian, a long departed allotment holder, used to grow these black tomatoes and everyone raved about them. Tana grew some and wondered what all the fuss was about but then learnt that you need to leave them on the vine longer than you think, until the bottoms go pink and she really likes them and grows them every year from saved seeds. Tana has never steered me wrong on plants yet, so I trust her judgement and as these are from seed grown on site for years and years, they should cope well. I have a bed of tomatoes in the ground, and they are looking healthy. I’ve also taken a two packets of free basil seed and scatted them through that bed.
Lucian Black Tomatoes
I’ve been toying with buying some plants just to have something in the beds, because this month is allotment inspections and it’s the beds at the front of the plot that are empty because that’s where I wanted the tomatoes and summer squash to go.
Speaking of summer squash, my plants are still indoors. I think it’s mostly courgettes and straight neck squash, there may be a patty pan but it’s really going to be a surprise. My task for this week is to take them to the plot and pot them up, I don’t think they are ready for the outside but I think they’ll be fine in the poly.
Over the last couple of weeks the plants for the poly have arrived. The back bed has been cleared and has aubergines, and sweet peppers in it. Yes, one pepper plant (big Ben sweet pepper) arrived decapitated and one (sweet pepper hamik) was decapitated by Ma falling on it. (I was in the shed and only saw the damage to the alpine strawberries, the pepper plants and Ma, not how she fell over, but honestly she falls over a lot. I don’t know how it happens, my Grandad did too, so she comes by it honestly!). I’m waiting on another three plants (jalapenos) for the poly but looking at the space in that back bed and having been told that peppers like to touch, I think I have room for some more peppers. Again, it’s something I’ll think about over the next couple of weeks.
What else have we done, we planted a bed with dwarf french beans. There was an accident with the packets so we have a mixed batch of purple and yellow beans and a back up sowing of 10 modules (to either fit into empty slots or fill gaps). We also sowed lazy housewife and cherokee trail of tears in the winter squash beds to sow up the arches. I’ve sown gigantes from the saved seed from last year. That should be us for beans except I will also sow another bed of drying dwarf beans, another go at Jacobs Cattle Gold and Yin Yang because they look so pretty.
The bed that I grew cucumbers and dill last year is currently empty but full of self seeded dill, so I just sowed some random cucumber seeds in there too, I have cucumbers in the poly so if all them grow I may have an abundance of cucumbers but over a longer period of time!
I randomly sowed some nasturtium seeds in various beds and Ma sowed some more modules for me (cavolo nero, cauliflowers, fennel, zinnias and greek basil). I also want to sow parsley, coriander and chard in modules too but that’ll a task for later on in the week or for when Ma is here next week.
It’ll come together, there are strawberries
Major tasks for the weekend are netting for the fruit, putting some things in pots and the ground, grass cutting and maybe wrapping Ma in bubble wrap!
‘Farming good, factory bad’, we think. When it comes to the global food crisis, it isn’t so simple. It isn’t simple but I still disagree with his conclusions. Our landscapes especially in the UK are shaped by farming and yes we need to do it better and we can. Like everything else in the world it requires a fundamental change in how we think and live and eat. I eat less meat of better quality, I grow as much food as I’m able, while being conscious of not killing the soil I grow on. In seven years, the biodiversity of my plot has improved. I try to buy local, I’ve talked about this at length. The fundamental problem is that our food system is broken, do you trust the people that broke it to fix it? Because I don’t think it was the farmers that broke it…
My Covid-era confidence crisis: how to regain your sense of self, hope and happiness. I remember at some point during lockdown seeing an extrovert post about how sorry they were for being so dismissive of introverts before lockdown because they hadn’t understood how awful it was to live in a world that didn’t meet your basic needs. While I didn’t enjoy not seeing my family and friends and I was worried about the state of the world, actually being in lockdown was not terrible for me. It’s almost become taboo to say that, I accept that it was lucky, I live alone, have a job that I can (mostly) do remotely and I didn’t have to worry about money. This was interesting for me to read so I can understand how other people coped or didn’t!
I decided to skip the Monday Miscellany post yesterday for Bank Holiday reasons. So here is is on the first official working day of the week. How are we at the end of May already? I still don’t feel like it’s actually summer yet but we are 22 days away from the longest day, I feel that summer is winding down before it’s actually started!
Last week was a busy week, work was all about catching up and I’m about to take on some new work things. This has been in the pipeline for a couple of months and is dependant on some other things happening. It should be quite interesting but will require quite a bit of learning so I’m using the waiting time to clear the decks a bit and get into some routines that will free up some time.
I’m not fantastic with change and 2023 has been quite unsettled already. Look, I know that some change is good and necessary, I know that most of the change happening this year has been good and necessary, even so, I find it difficult to cope with. The changes at work are also good and necessary but that doesn’t mean I’ll find them easy. Rather than stamp my feet about it, I’m taking steps to help me cope, at work and at home.
At home that means just trying to clear the decks and get things in the flat sorted. Right now that means, catching up on laundry and housework. I’m on a mission to tick everything off the list. Adulthood really is dealing with one thing after an another until you die, I wish I’d known.
There are good things, this weekend that was a visit from Tom and Ivy, it’s always lovely to see Tom and Ivy is a sweetheart (once she warms up to you and banana muffins do help with that!), it also allows me to remember how amazing child development is. I saw Ivy in January and five months later she’s almost talking in sentences. It’s wild.
Flowers for Ivy’s mum from the plot
Tomorrow, I’m off for the day for haircut. I can’t believe it’s come round so quickly, last time, Jane cut my hair to see if we could encourage the wave in it. We’ve managed that and it’s strange because I think it’s a noticeable change but no one seems to have noticed it. It’s also a big change to how I care for my hair, I haven’t used the hairdryer in a month although I think I’ll need to get a diffuser for winter, my hair takes a while to dry and I don’t fancy doing that when it’s cold.
The rest of the week is pretty quiet, I don’t have any major plans for the week or the beginning of June, although there are a couple of parties coming up at the end of June.
Bus fares: £2 cap in England extended to end of October. Using the buses out of London, it cost me £4 return from Newcastle to Warkworth, previously it was about £7. It’s not such an issue in London (a single is £1.65 and capped at £4.50 a day!) but outside of London can make a massive difference but really like with the trains, it’s time to renationalise bus services
When in Newcastle, Ma and I always like to visit the Baltic. It’s such lovely building and not too big. I remember visiting the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris, in my 20’s and deciding it was the perfect size for art work and I feel the same way about the Baltic. I’m fond of Tate Modern but it can be pretty overwhelming, the Baltic is just the right size!
At the Baltic, it’s less of a procession because the space is shorter and wider, but the figures are still all moving in the same direction. It’s fascinating and honestly, if we’d had more time, I’d have gone back because I think you could spend hours and find more in it because it’s layered in meaning and history.
At this time of year, it feels like a race to get everything in the ground and while I’m not immune to this urge, I’m also a bit behind due to weather and late sowing.
At home the tomatoes and summer squash are slowly growing but the winter squash, cucumbers and melons were racing away. So I made a decision to get them out of the house and into the ground.
Ma can’t do bending down things, so while I cleared the polytunnel bed and topped it up with fresh compost, she did all the watering and feeding of the fruit.
Future blueberries
I planted up two rows of melons (Minnesota Midget from saved seeds and Petit Gris de Rennes from Real Seeds) and one row of cucumbers (I sowed some of everything from boothby’s blonde, early fortune and wautoma but I’m not sure what’s what!), everything had a very good water and then I mulched with straw. In the corner of the bed is my vietnamese coriander, which will stay there, later on in the summer, I’ll take some cuttings and keep some indoors over winter, in case it gets really cold again!
Last summer was really dry and hot and I really struggled to keep the beds well watered, so I decided that this year I’d try mulching the beds with straw to keep moisture in. Obviously, this means that this summer will be wet but we’re trying it and we’ll see if it helps. Which is why went I’d planted up the polytunnel, I covered the bed with straw.
Once the poly was sorted, it was time for the winter squash. First to weed the beds, I’m unhappy about how much bindweed seems to be coming up in the beds, but it really is a matter of see it pull it, it’s a war not a battle! We planted Waltham Butternuts, Boston, Queensland Blue, Georgia Candy Roaster, Galeuse d’Eysines, and Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato in the big winter beds and then we watered and mulched.
Winter Squash beds
We put the Hokkaido in the boxes by the herb patch and built an arch for them to grow up. We mulched them and also mulched the sweet potatoes. There are a couple of Thelma Sanders left over and we did a quick review of which of our beds were empty and re-assessed the plan. The bed that still has the flowering kale in it, is going to house some sweetcorn, so next week, we’ll clear it, and plant sweetcorn, the three remaining squash plants and some beans and have a three sisters thing going on.
While we were away last week, Ma and I decided to order some more herbs! We ordered a replacement blackcurrant sage, a cola plant, two french tarragons and 6 thyme plants. The plan is to plant more thymes in the paths because we are fond of the way they creep and it’ll (maybe) reduce our need to weed in those areas!
The idea is more of this but in the paths!
As ever at this time of year, we’ve done loads but we have loads more to do.
Let’s have a look at our list!
Get all the compost to the plot – partially, I have about 20 bags to go
Weed and top up all empty beds – partially, all the beds in the new half of the plot have been done
Sow parsnips
Apply ant nematodes to polytunnel, blueberries and bulb beds
On the second day of our Northumberland trip, we got the bus to Warkworth. It’s an hour and a half-ish from Newcastle and there has been a change in the bus fares so it only cost me £4 there and back which makes a change from the £7-ish it cost last year.
Since we were last here there have been some changes, not to the castle but to the information about the castle. It’s now a much more educational space and there were trails for different people that would have lived and/or worked in the castle. Each one had a little symbol to follow, which I thought was a nice touch.
From Warkworth we walked down to Amble.
It’s a pretty walk.
At Amble we had a little wander and found ourselves in at The Old Boathouse for fish and chips. The food was great, while we were eating it started to rain and we sympathised with the waitress who had left her washing out!
Although we were stuffed, it wouldn’t have been right to leave without a trip to Spurreli for ice cream.
We got back from Newcastle on Thursday and while I am happy to be home, I really enjoyed being away. We got good weather and rest and some walking and old buildings. It was good.
So having had a small break from my life, it’s back to it this week and catching up! This is going to be my first five day week this month, I have a feeling it’s going to be a tough week! It’s also going to be busy, at the weekend, I logged on and spent a couple of hours dealing with email! In a week away I went from the zero inbox I left to find about 450 to deal with. I got rid of the stuff that had aged out and sorted the easy stuff, I have about 20 that actually require me to do more work and I need to go and look at my manager’s email today!
So that’ll keep me out of mischief!
I also really need to finish some things in the flat (returning my broken heated airer and sorting the replacement) and generally get my mojo back. This year has not been good for motivation and I’ve been feeling so out of control. It’s been ok, because I’ve had enough support and systems in place to weather it. However, I’m about to embark on a new work thing. My role is changing and I’m taking on some different and new stuff. So it’s going to involve more learning and being way out of my comfort zone. While I’m looking forward to it and I think it’ll be ok, I don’t traditionally handle transition well and this year feels like it’s been all about transition.
I need to sort the other areas of my life out so that I can focus on work for a while!
Seven years ago, I signed up for an allotment and for seven years I’ve been struggling with indoor sowing. The reasons are obvious, I live in a one bedroom flat with no garden that is quite dark and as with all houses built in the early 1900’s, no windowsills.
February 2017, my first ever seedling set up!
I have tried all sort of things, mostly, I do a lot more direct sowing (all peas, beans and sweetcorn for starters) but I usually end up with the living room floor covered with leggy pale seedlings! Last year was the best year because I was able to boot them out into the polytunnel, so they did get more light!
Tomatoes on the floor last year
Since COVID and with more home working, a floor covered with plants, is just not on and so last year I bought a spare mini greenhouse for sowing seeds. Three weeks ago (you know how I’m always saying that I was late sowing? This year I really was!) Ma and I sowed our seeds for summer.
We did all the winter squash, the summer squash and the melons and the tomatoes. And then I realised that the one grow lamp I had (this one) wasn’t going to cut it and I bought these ones. They attach to the shelves and run off one plug and you can connect another four, which I’ll be doing that next year.
I also bought a timer so that they can click on and off this week while I’m away.
No solution is perfect, the seedlings are still leggy but they have a place now, I can use the living room and that’s a pretty good outcome!
Even with the grow lights, they are still as leggy as all get out but, at least they aren’t all over the floor!
