Sat 1 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Did the daily watering and picking then weeded through the Broccoli in plot 2c. I used an old pruning knife to cut the weeds off their roots as the ground is very hard at present and it is not feasible to use a fork. Noticed that the Climbing Beans in plot 3a are getting rust on the leaves.

Sun 2 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Did the daily watering then weeded through the Spinach and Beetroot seedlings on plots 2c and 2b respectively. Transplanted the Luttuce (Little Gem) in plot 2b. Had a major picking session as our son from London is visiting today and he will take back as much as he can. Since those cuddling Carrots I showed in last month's diary, I found these somewhat more intense ones today.

Mon 3 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny but cool.
Progress : Did the daily watering and picking. Found that someone had dumped some of their garden rubbish on the bank next to my allotment and kindly trampled the Buddleia that I planted there a few days ago. The Town council did provide a skip for the allotmant holders to dispose of their uncompostable waste, but local householders were using it more than the allotmenteers, so it was taken away. Trouble is that they still occasionally dump rubbish on the allotments, usually just inside the gate.

Tue 4 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Did the daily watering and picking. Started to compost the old Spinach in plot 3b. Started to clear the weeds and runners in the Strawberry patch in Fruit Area 1.

Wed 5 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny and warm.
Progress : Did the usual daily watering and picking. In addition to just filling the watering funnels, I watered the ground surface along the Bean rows as they are suffering in this prolonged dry spell. A bit warmer today and I found myself staggering a bit whilst trotting between the water pump and my water tanks. Lurched off onto a neighbours allotment a couple of times but managed to use the bucketful of water as a counterbalance to bring meself back. Found another pair of cuddly carrots today - not quite so intense as the last ones.

Thu 6 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny and warm.
Progress : Delivered some sacks of fresh horse dung for the compost. Someone had parked across the access gate but I managed to find the owner and get the car shifted (and remind them that there is a car park 30 yards away). Came back later and mowed the grass then did the daily watering and picking. Found that the Turnips have just started to rot for some reason that is not obvious to me. Checked the Brassicas for caterpillars as the Cabbage White butterflies have been evident for several weeks now. I did find a few eggs so I will put the caterpillar alert procedure onto amber status.

Fri 7 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny and warm.
Progress : Did the daily watering and picking. The Peas in plot 3a are really manky now but still producing enough for a meal now and again. Found another pair of cuddling carrots. Hoed all the fallow areas then did a caterpillar check - some Whitefly but no Caterpillars. Bought a packet of mothballs to put down the mole runs. I was surprised to be able to buy the mothballs as I thought EU regulations had banned them.

Sat 8 Sep 2007
Weather : Overcast start, sunny later.
Progress : Took down some barrowloads of grit from my excavations at home and made up the central paths. Did the daily watering and a light picking.

Sun 9 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny and breezy.
Progress : A short visit today. Delivered another barrowload of grit then watered the Beans. Planted two rows of Cabbage (April) seedlings in plot 3d then covered them with netting to keep of the pigeons and butterflies.

Mon 10 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny but cooler.
Progress : Did the daily watering and picking. Topped up the composts with grass cutting donated by my neighbouring allotment holder and also a bag of clippings which I brought from home. Put some slug pellets down by the new Cabbage seedlings that I planted yesterday. Was given some Bean seeds by another allotmenteer. They are a cross between a French Bean and a Runner and the pods are mottled red and white.

Tue 11 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : There was an allotment holders meeting at the Town Hall last night. The Town Council are making efforts to improve the allotments in line with suggestions from the holders. However, progress is erratic as meetings are not always well attended, and any democratic resolution taken at one meeting usually gets challenged at a subsequent meeting, especially by those who did not attend the previous meeting. One particularly dour and verbose individual suggested that any new person wishing to take on an allotment should be vetted to see if they were proficient at gardening and had not just learned from a book. He then went on to suggest that allotment holders should be obliged to use weedkiller, regardless of any 'green' principles. What a plonker! Did the daily picking and watering. Harvested the first of the Sweetcorn. Cut down and composted the remainder of the Spinach on plot 3b. Completed clearing the weeds and runners between the rows of Strwaberries in fruit area 1. Picked some leaves from the Pak Choi then cleared and composted the plants. They had proved reluctant to germinate despite indications to the contrary on the seed packet.

Wed 12 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Delivered some bags of fresh horse dung for the compost by plot 1. Trimmed the edges of the grass paths. Did the watering. Noticed a dog crapping in the gateway to the allotment and when no-one came over to clear it up I went over and found the owner disregarding it, so I drew his attention to it. He said he would clear it up but had no bag with him (so probably no intention of clearing it) and would have to go home to get one. He made no move to do so therefore I fetched a bag from my shed and presented it to him and he did indeed clear the mess. I had a general chat with him afterwards just to maintain good relations. Picked the first of the Curly Kale today.

Thu 13 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Did the daily watering then picked a selection of vegetables, mostly those which needed to be picked to stop them going over. Cropped the first Cucumber. Caterpillar alert onto status RED as I found some today and they don't half get busy on the cabbage leaves once they start. It actually looks as if many of the newly hatched caterpillars have perished almost immediately, maybe because it is late in the year and the nights are cold. The caterpillars that I found I dealt with using my Factor 2 biological control method. Sowed another row of Raddish (French Breakfast) in plot 2a.

Fri 14 Sep 2007
Weather : Mostly overcast. Several very light showers.
Progress : Took a couple of loads of grit for the paths. Did the daily watering then picked a few vegetables. The mole is active around the Sweetcorn so I put a few mothballs down where the molehills were. Found a few more caterpillars. Picked some Rhubarb to clear where it has overgrown adjacent plants. Will make some Rhubarb Fool with it. Cropped the last of the Carrots (Nantes) which had reached a good size.

Sat 15 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Took up another load of grit. General watering session but have ceased watering the Climbing French Beans as they now are heavily infected with rust. The rows on plot 1 are intended to be left to go to seed then dried for use as Harricot Beans, but as the pods are starting to get rust blotches, they may have to be harvested early. Picked the first Sweetcorn.

Sun 16 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny start then overcast and ooler. Light drizzle in the evening.
Progress : Took up another load of grit. A big picking session today. Looks as if the Runner Beans and Climbing French Beans will not produce much more after today. Started digging the Carrot (Autumn King) today although they are quite small but they produced today's cuddling carrots. Harvested the first Aubergine which is growing at home.

Mon 17 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : Took up another load of grit. Harvested a few items to give away. The mole is on full manoeuvres so I found the entrance to it's run and slipped a mothball into it. General watering then some hoeing. Came back later with 14 bags of stable manure to start stocking up for the winter dig.

Tue 18 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : No work today.

Wed 19 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells. Light rain at night.
Progress : Delivered another carload of stable manure. Took up another load of grit then did the usual watering and picking. Managed to get one more picking of Runner Beans today. Cleared a row of overgrown Radishes and composted tham. Some of them look more like a pig's bottom than a radish!

Thu 20 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells with light showers.
Progress : Took up another load of grit today which completed the path through plot 1. Watered the Asparagus and fruit bushes. Attended to the caterpillars - we are still on red alert. Cleared and composted one row of Kenya Bean plants but left the second row for seed in case I decide to sow some next year. Cut back and composted some of the Artichoke plants where they are growing over the Asparagus. Marshall's 2008 seed catalogue arrived in the post.

Fri 21 Sep 2007
Weather : Overcast with sunny spells.
Progress : A short visit today, initially just to make a picking. However, the rootcrops in plot 3c seemed to have suddenly succumbed to the prolonged drought and were in need of water. I have been watching a path emerge over recent weeks in an unkept area of the allotments and presumed it to be an animal track. Today I noticed someone popping into the allotments to pick up cobnuts from the back of the hedge. So it was an animal track - a human! Ate a delicious Aubergine from our greenhouse today - something I have not had before. Had to pop back later to pick a Sweetcorn which I had forgotten to collect for afters.

Sat 22 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny.
Progress : Another barrowload of grit taken up today. The Parsnips had recovered after their watering yesterday so I watered the other rootcrops and also the Sweetcorn which has survived so far and is producing succulent crops. Wild geese have been flying over for the past two weeks but a large flock of about 100 birds came by today, fairly disparate skeins and very noisy, at the end of their amazing migration. Went back later in the day to gather some Sweetcorn for freezing. Was told that there had been a group of Town Councillors and groundwork contractors on site this week to look at restoring the roadway to enable tractors to deliver manure. This has been a topic at recent allotment holder meetings but doesn't bother me as I make my own deliveries of bags by car then barrow them into position.

Sun 23 Sep 2007
Weather : Overcast then windy and heavy rain.
Progress : No work today - off to Holland to stay with friends on a houseboat on a rural canal.

Mon 24 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells. Wind and rain.
Progress : No work today.

Tue 25 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells. Wind and rain.
Progress : No work today.

Wed 26 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells.
Progress : No work today.

Thu 27 Sep 2007
Weather : Sunny spells. Cold wind.
Progress : Found a fork left out by my neighbours allotment and, strangely one by the next allotment also, so I put them away. A good picking session to stock up at home again. Also picked for other members of the family. Noticed that the only productive Cucumber plant is withering. Having looked at the Sweetcorn I think the fruit will need to be picked fairly quickly as they may rot at the base due to the recent rain.

Fri 28 Sep 2007
Weather : Overcast morning then wet for the rest of the day.
Progress : Added another load of grit to the path in plot 3. Cleared the Peas from plot 3a. Removed the stones from the surface of plot 3b. Dug some Jerusalem Artichokes and tried them for dinner for the first time. Found another rotten Turnip with today's cropping. Did a bit of hoeing where necessary. Had a chat with a neighbouring allotmenteer about the prospects for next year's growing season. Bought a packet of Broad Bean (Aquadulce) seeds for winter planting.

Sat 29 Sep 2007
Weather : Wet morning then sunny spells before more rain.
Progress : Delivered the last load of grit to complete the central path in plot 3. Just managed to pick the vegetables for use today before being rained off.

Sun 30 Sep 2007
Weather : Wet morning. Overcast later.
Progress : Was going to reduce the caterpillar alert status to amber but changed my mind after finding a nicely cooked one on my dinner plate last night. When I arrived at the allotments, I noticed that the lid of someones compost bin was in the hedge. This sort of thing alerts one to the likelyhood of vandalism. On checking I found that the nighthawks had paid a visit despite the wet weather which normally keeps them at bay. My shed had been entered but there were no signs of damage or theft. I checked round the allotments but saw nothing else. Cropped the first Leeks, Turnip and Schorzonera today and, with fresh Cabbage, they were delicious. The Leeks look decidedly secondhand in the ground and the outer skin is soft and slimy on many of the first sowing of plants. As for the Parsnip, I need to check the seed packet because it looked more like an octopus.