Malcolm Smith's
Allotment Diary

 
2010

 

Front Page Diagrams Growing Schedule

2009 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

 
 Fri 1 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Sunny but cold
Progress : Went along with my spade again today in the hope of starting the double-digging but the ground was too well frozen. Cut down and composted the spent Brussels Sprouts stems but bagging the roots for disposal as a precaution against clubroot. Cut down and composteds the remainder of the Sweetcorn stems. Harvested a Winter Cabbage, some Curly Kale leaves and a bunch of Carrots. The Carrots were well past their best and badly infected with carrotfly but with some effort enough can be salvaged for a tasty addition to the dinner plate. Also managed to lever a large Parsnip out of the ground - it weighed just on 2 Kg and will provide about a dozen portions.

Sat 2 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Sunny but cold
Progress : Called in on the way back from the shops to get some Curly Kale and a couple of Parsnips for our sons family Sunday lunch. We have enough for ourselves rom yesterday's picking.

Sun 3 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Sunny but cold
Progress : No work today.

Mon 4 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Sunny but cold
Progress : Cut a Winter Cabbage and a stem of Brussels Sprouts. Managed to prise some large Carrots out of the ground but some broke off as the frost is getting deeper into the ground. Also took a Swede.

Tue 5 Jan 2010
Weather : Severe frost. Sunny spells
Progress : No work today.

Wed 6 Jan 2010
Weather : Snow
Progress : No work today.

Thu 7 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny but freezing conditions
Progress : No work possible today.

Fri 8 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny spells and freezing conditions
Progress : No work possible today.

Sat 9 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny but freezing conditions
Progress : No work possible today.

Sun 10 Jan 2010
Weather : Overcast, freezing and light snow
Progress : No work possible today.

Mon 11 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Some sleet.
Progress : No work possible today.

Tue 12 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Overcast. Some thawing.
Progress : No work possible today.

Wed 13 Jan 2010
Weather : Overnight snow
Progress : No work possible today. Managing on stored vegetables still.

Thu 14 Jan 2010
Weather : Start of a thaw
Progress : No work today.

Fri 15 Jan 2010
Weather : Very overcast day. Warmer
Progress : Able to get onto the allotment at last. Started by using the incinerator (an old oil drum) to burn some confidential waste. Dug some Parsnips and Carrots for a family dinner tomorrow also harvested some Sprouts and a couple of small Winter Cabbages. The Cabbages have been affected by rain and frost. The carrots were really large and weighed in the order of 1½ lbs each but were heavily scarred by carrotfly. I also gathered some small Beetroot which we had boiled and served with mince for our dinner.

Sat 16 Jan 2010
Weather : Heavy rain overnight.More rain later.
Progress : No work today.

Sun 17 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny day
Progress : Double-dug the first trench on plot 2c although I got stopped several times for a chat. Used the home-made compost. Dug up the first of the Jerusalem Artichoke plants and the crop over-filled a large bucket. Saw a Peacock Butterfly tootling about on the allotment. Noticed that vandals had been onto the allotment by the small gate, having taken a cabbage and shredded it outside on the road.

Mon 18 Jan 2010
Weather : Dull day
Progress : Double-dug another trench on plot 2c and stopped again for a chat. Dug some nice large Carrots, cut a Cabbage and dug a Swede.

Tue 19 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny spells
Progress : On arrival I noticed that vandals had been onto the allotments. I found that my shed and one other had been entered and items disturbed and taken. I found my items but also a number of others scattered, a few of which had been broken. I gathered the loose items and tucked them away until I can trace the owners. Cut a Cabbage. Back at home I reported the vandalism to the police and also left a message with the Town Clerk to alert the allotment supervisors.

Wed 20 Jan 2010
Weather : Damp day
Progress : Went down to get a Cabbage. Checked the site over for more damage but nothing more had happened. I had a very good response from the Police and they have said that any problem should be reported to them.

Thu 21 Jan 2010
Weather : Mostly overcast
Progress : Double-dug another trench on plot 2c again without any talking today. Dug some Carrots plus a Swede and a Turnip and cut a stem of Sprouts.

Fri 22 Jan 2010
Weather : 24 hours of rain
Progress : No work today

Sat 23 Jan 2010
Weather : Overcast
Progress : Double-dug another trench on plot 2c. Cut a Cabbage. Spoke to the only other allotmenteer on site and warned him about the recent vandalism. Went back in the car when I was passing to empty the kitchen waste into the compost bin.

Sun 24 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny
Progress : Found on arrival that the Saturday night visitors had been in again. They had flung bin lids around, broken a bean stick then walked across some allotments pulling up Sprout plants on their way. Double-dug the final trench on plot 2c. Cut a Cabbage. Back at home I reported the vandalism to the police.

Mon 25 Jan 2010
Weather : Overcast
Progress : Cleared plot 2a for useable veg and composted the remainder. Weeded all over then scarified the surface and spread fresh horse dung over about one third of the area. Went home with the salvaged Swedes and Turnips plus a stem of Brussels Sprouts. Back at home I started going through the Marshalls seed catalogue ready to get my order together.

Tue 26 Jan 2010
Weather : Two hours of sun from lunchtime. Very cold
Progress : No work today. Posted off my seed order to Marshalls.

Wed 27 Jan 2010
Weather : Heavy frost. Overcast and cold
Progress : Delivered some bags of fresh horse dung in the morning. Found that one of my colleague allotmenteers who has been away for a couple of months was back on site. However, he told me that he was having to give up at the end of the week as he was moving away. That will be a shame as we got on well together. He kindly gave me one of his coldframes together with some spare plants which will be useful to me. Went back later as I had forgotten to collect any vegetables for dinner. Dug some large Carrots and cut a head of Savoy Cabbage.

Thu 28 Jan 2010
Weather : Sunny spells
Progress : No work today but I did deliver a few bags of fresh horse dung. There was a piece on the front page of the Forest Journal today regarding the vandalism on the allotments last weekend.

Fri 29 Jan 2010
Weather : Cold wind. Snow flurries.er this evening.

Sat 30 Jan 2010
Weather : Frost. Sunny but cold.
Progress : Scarified the remainder of plot 2a and spread fresh horse dung. Dug a couple of Parsnips, each weighing 1kg. Picked some Curly Kale. Spoke with an allotmenteer who had lost some items when the vandals called a couple of weeks ago. I showed him the items I had found but none of them belonged to him.

Sun 31 Jan 2010
Weather : Heavy frost. Overcast
Progress : No work today but I did call in to the allotments in the morning to check them over and there had been no vandalism overnight.

 
Return to the top of the page