The plot is dead

Sadly at 8:00 pm on Saturday 28th July I declared my plot officially dead for 2007. We went to visit it to see if the flood waters had drained away and see what impact the flood had caused. The good news was that the majority of water had gone - enough to allow us to drive right up to the entrance.

What greeted us was a stinking half rotten mess, the whole site all the same. The water had mostly disappeared with all that could drain away gone. The back of the plot was still under water and that will take several days to evaporate. The edges were ok to stand on but anywhere that had been dug was like a bog. Not knowing I strode out onto the soil only to find the mud over the top of my boots! It was so soggy and so saturated. The soil has clearly been starved of oxygen drowing all the plants. Practically all of them had died and were going black and mushy. The pumpkins had faded white and shrunk to half size. The courgettes were mush and the broad beans were jet black. Nothing had survived except the sweetcorn. This appeared to be still alive and had grown since the flood started. The heads had started to appear and maybe these will still make it through. I think its very stunted and is currently at 2' not the 6' it should be but at least its alive.

So thats it for 2007. Its now too late to plant again so I'll leave it to naturally decay and then dig it in. I'll be preparing the ground in Autumn for next year and hopefully will have more luck. I'll tidy up the debris and keep it weeded and who knows mabe corn will come good after all. Here are a selection of the pictures from Saturday and keep the blog updated from time to time especially if the corn makes it through!

Flooded plot

Well maybe its not so bad. Today I got down to the plot on a fantastic evening. The sun was shining and it was a very nice evening. I stopped my bike at the start of the flood water and waded through towards my plot. Suprisingly the water never got above my knees and looking at the debris I'd say it never got higher than waist deep. A lot of water has already gone and is steadily flowing out of the site. However, the fields upstream are replacing the water so its going to take a few days before it recovers. Here are a few photos:

The entrance to the allotments

Plot 62! The wood for compost bins and my water barrels have been contained by the mesh fence. The water is just over a foot deep.

What could have been a whopper - now a bit soggy and mushy :(

Reverse view of the plot. The tips opf plants are parsnips and potatoes.

Beetroot and carrots well submerged.

The scrapheap barrow is still here :)

View of other plots in the middle of the site

All isn't lost! I harvested a rucksack full of goodies including potatoes, carrots, a parsnip, a beetroot and two onions. Its all in really condition and hasn't started to rot. There's no denying its home grown - knobbly potatoes and wonky roots!

Abingdon floods

If you haven't heard Abingdon was flooded on the weekend 21st and 22nd July. I've added some pictures so you can see just what has happened.

Regarding the plot it could be bad news. Its very close to the River Ock which has been the worst offender with flooding. Before all the worst of the effects as seen below I visited the site and it was flooded. My best guess is the site is under 4'+ so if it doesn't drain soon everything will be gone. Its a shame but only veg after all. Fortunately our house is high and dry so the cucumbers and tomatoes are going strong!

Here are pictures taken on Sunday 22nd. The water appeared from 5am onwards and peaked at 2pm (ish). The Thames is likely to get worse over the next few hours.



View of Tesco. Probably very flooded. Plot 62 is behind here :(

View of Mill road. We can't get out of the estate by car!

Reverse view from Drayton road.

Houses and cars on the estate. I feel very sorry for these people.

Drayton road towards double roundabout and town centre. This is how we get to A34. Police have closed this road.

River Thames where River Ock joins from left. Thames is very nearly breaking the bank.

View of Ock street towards Abingdon town centre.

Peas and beans

Here is picture of the latest addition to the plot - my climbing beans and mangetout. This photo was taken a few weeks ago now and since then broad beans have been added to the foot of the photo. It didn't say on the packet how high these plants would grow so after consulting my book I bought 8' and 6' poles for the beans and peas respectively. Only later have I found out I have slightly bigger than dwarf varieties so there's no chance they'll use all of the pole! Never mind at least they are in. I was concerned that pigeons and other birds might eat them so I netted it all as best I could. However, they were probably the least of my worries as slugs and snails got almost the lot in the first few days. I've since pelleted and all has recovered nicely. The peas are definitely flowering now so hopefully not too long until they become ready.

The first real harvest

Here is the harvest I took from the plot last night. Every time I'm there I can't get over how big the courgettes have grown. These two were no bigger than sausages only four days before they were cut! Its incredible. I was hoping for whopper pumpkins but now I'm in two minds to let one of these grow to be a whopper courgette...or does that make it a marrow? Are they the same thing, I really don't know?!

I've also got a very nice bunch of globe radish, which I ate for my lunch the day after, and also a few potatoes. The haulmes were looking poor on a few so I dug them to see how they were. I'm a bit disappointed with the volume - three from one plant four from another - and was expecting a lot lot more. Still I guess it is early days and they should be left a few more weeks yet.

More posts to come and now I've found my camera more pics. The weather is so bad today. Torrential rain for hours and I'm hoping the plot doesn't flood.

July update

Its been over three weeks since my last post so about time I had an update. I've been very busy planting, weeding and even cropping! The weather has been very wet but also warm so quite good conditions for growing. The weeds have certainly shot up!

First harvest came about two weeks ago (early July) with the courgettes. Since then there has been no stopping and I've cut nearly 10 fruits from six plants. They grow so fast the in less than a week they've grown from nothing to small marrow! I've already started to give them away to lucky friends and colleagues. Don't worry if you've not had any I guarantee you'll get one soon!

Other crops I've had are radishes. These have now swelled nicely and are a real treat on the plot. I've since planted some more to try and get a succession. My pumpkins are really growing. There are a couple bigger than grapefruits and plenty the size of tennis balls so hopefully these will develop into the whoppers I'm after. The plants themselves have totally swamped the lower part of the plot growing right to either edge over the grass paths! On the down side my potatoes are looking a bit limp. I'm worried they might have blight but its only on a couple so could be slugs. I'm going to see how this goes over the next few days and weeks but its only 3 weeks until they should be ready.

Other changes are new plants including climbing beans, mangetout and broad beans. The first two were savaged by slugs no sooner than they went in. Slug pellets and netting for pigeons have gone one since and everything is now recovering. The broad beans were pelleted when planted and these are now establishing themselves nicely. Fortunately I've found some organic pellets which not only make me feel happier about not using chemicals they don't mush the slug like other pellets can. They simply disappear never to be seen again... spooky!

I feel like I'm slowly winning the battle with the horsetail. Emphasis on the slowly. It really is the worst weed you can get. It is so strong and resilient and grows so deep. I'm trying to keep on top of it but nearly everytime I pull it out there's the fateful 'snap' and you just know the bit that stayed in will be back. It seems completely resistant to glyphosate weedkiller which dispatches everything else so well. I don't think there is anything I can do other than keep weeding!

Finally in other news my plot has been put forward in the Abingdon in Bloom competition. Several of the best plots from the site go forward every year and are judged by the local council (I think). I've heard the inspection is due around late July, early August so another goo reason to keep on top of the weeding and mowing. Fingers crossed!!