Work this week

Tuesday: met with the Allotments Officer. Nice to put a face to the name, nice to get some advice, and nice not to get chucked off the plot. His advice is to strim the lot, dig the plot over and then plant a green manure. I should still be able to plant some salad crops for harvest this year in the bits I’ve already dug over. He also reckons that one shouldbe on the plot for about 10 hours per week.

Poured my first comfrey tea around the plot. It stinks! A week ago, I noticed that the courgette leaves were looking pale yellow-green — something I believe is a sign of nitrogen deficiency. It’s a shame, since I’ve planted the courgettes on magic mounds which do contain a lot of B’s hedge clippings (nitrogenous waste), although it may not have broken down yet. BTW, the day after I planted the courgettes on top of the mounds, I read that they should be somewhere concave rather than convex, and there should be a surrounding rill to contain the water. Another lesson learned! Anyway … the comfrey tea went on the leaves; they were alredy looking proud (turgid).

Wednesday: went to the plot for an hour or so after work and team while the sun was still high over the prison walls. Put protection in for the beans, peas and brassicas; picked a few raspberries; blackcurrants still need a week or so. I think I need to make the front of the plot look tidy so I don’t lose the fruit to other plot holders…

Cut some grass by the blue shed in order to make a space As I clear the plot ready for strimming, I’ll need a place to put the planks, poles etc. that are littering the place.

Thinned out the peas when I put the protection in. It still feels wierd to pull up viable plants, but that’s small beer compared to the mouse that I killed at home. When I saw the mouse in close proximity to the daughter, I put the traps down with chocolate as bait. 5 minutes later: snap! Didn’t expect that to work so soon…

more hassle from the allotments officer

gah! looks like I can’t do anything right. yet again I get an email saying that the plot’s not up to scratch. I wonder whether there’ll be continual struggles as I try and do some forest gardening; perhaps he’s more of the classical allotment school — all neat rows and beds.

Frustration

Am trying to plan the planting for the rest of the year, but it’s no good when I haven’t recorded accurately when I did e.g. the first planting of spinach. Somewhere between 13 and 20 May, but only from surmising. I should diligently record when and where I do stuff here …

Rainwater catchment systems for domestic supply, John Gould and Erik Nissen-Petersen

Two seconds of thumbing through this book were enough to tell me it’s comprehensive, practical and way more detailed than I need. I’m concerned with water on the allotment and want to rebuild my sheds and include some water management system, preferably more than a water butt although that may well be fit for purpose!

The book was published in 1999 by Intermediate Technology Publishers, who have since turned into Practical Action Publishing. It’s a reference book, a book of tank construction procedures, best practice ideas, case studies etc. Are few diagrams are of use on the allotment scale in a temperate climate, and will prove invaluable when I’m designing a new shed + water management system.

Gardens: advocacy and climate change

SAGS: gardening Scotland documents

SAGS: Garden advocacy (spring 2007)

Gardening in the Global Greenhouse: The Impacts of Climate Change on Gardens in the UK (2002

UK Climate Impacts Programme includes the Climate change scenarios for the United Kingdom: the UKCIP02 Scientific report.

Mostly weeding and mulching

Been to the allotment twice today. Got there at noon and has a mooch around, planted a second row of spinach, attended to the French beans, and got a barrowful of leafmould, but it was too hot and I had forgotten to bring any water. So at 1pm I headed home, had some lunch and headed out to Redhall walled garden, met A+J at the Water of Leith visitor centre and then pottered around the allotment again, mainly to plant a tiny lavender that I bought from Redhall.

Urticaceae!

Sounds like a sneeze but tastes good: I have been cooking cream of nettle and potato soup. It’s extreme cooking where one has to clear up fastidiously, and I’m minded not to go barefoot when cooking with nettles again. Wore gardening gloves at the allotment to put them into a bag; wore marigolds in the kitchen when preparing them.

Chopped the potatoes into large chunks and started to sautée them in olive oil; chopped garlic and caraway seeds and put to one side. On opening the bag of nettles there was a fresh smell, like cut grass, with an astringent immediacy. Handled them very carefully, removed the leaves from the stalks which were quite tough (it is quite late in the year for culinary nettles), and washed them. Then chopped handfuls into strips. Once all were cut, I popped the garlic and seeds into the pan, stirred for a few seconds and threw in the nettles. Cleaned up carefully, and took the gloves off.

Sautéed them for a few minutes. Was very reminiscent of spinach, and looks like a dahl sag with them would work OK. Then poured in stock and left to simmer until the potatoes softened. Liquidised and then poured in the cream.

Perhaps I put too many caraway seeds in because I could only notice a faint vegetable taste when I started eating the soup. After some spoonfuls I could pick up an aftertaste, metallic and minty, but not much. Will see how I get on.

The Scot’s Herbal by Tess Darwin (ISBN 1873644604) has a couple of pages on nettles. Apparently they have laxative and diuretic properties so I’d better make this second bowl my last. They’re certainly fibrous but no more so than kale. She notes that they’re usually picked when 15-25cm high, and that repeated cutting keeps the plants in a juvenile state for much of the summer. She recounts an 1898 recipe from Islay to take a large apronful of nettles, two handfuls of meal, two gallons of water and a piece of salt beef or braxty.