Winter blues

Well its been nearly two and a half months since I last posted. To be honest there's only been slightly more activity on the plot as there has been on here!

The plot has started to be transformed from a giant strip of dirt to a bed and path system. I've so far created five beds and sown grass seed on all the paths between. Its been very successful if I do say so myself! The grass is now established and mud is thing of the past. I've cleared out a lot of the weeds and hopefully tight mowing next year will kill off any of the more persistant types. The back of the plot still need converting to beds but once the weather either freezes or dries I'll get going. I might even try some early crops in January.

Also I've built the compost bin I mentioned so long ago. The contents have already rotted down significantly but hopefully by spring there'll be some useable goodness.

Photos to follow when I next go down...

I am the resurrection

Well not me but hopefully it will be true for the plot....

After two months of considering if it is worth revisiting plot62 I've decided it is and will give veg growing another go in 2008. Its been a tough decision because I had a lot of effort wasted and the thought of a flood happening again is very disheartening. However, sowing, planting and watching plants grow was good fun and I rather quite like it so here we go - last chance saloon!

I actually visited the plot a month ago to see what damage the flood had really done and it was quite devastated. Everything had gone, including the sweetcorn I thought would survive, but with one exception - beetroot. Incredibly this plant survived being drowned for over eight days.

Anyway I'll harvest this crop then start from scratch. I've plans to arrange the plot much better than the design it evolved into and probably reduce the plot size. I'm going to make specific beds rather than one huge strip and have grass paths between for ease of use and weed suppressant. Unfortunately I've got a big job ahead digging up the horsetail weed that been rampant in some sections. It seems to have a significant resistance to my weedkiller product so hard work it is. As a list to get me started here are some of the lessons learned from this year:

• Don't use a rotovator. Dig by hand and remove the weed roots as you go.
• Buy proper seed potatoes from a reputable supplier.
• Don't bother with onions, beetroot or swede because I don't particularly want to eat them!
• Plant early and before packets and books suggest.
• Six courgette plants is quite a lot!
• Sixteen giant pumpkin plants is bordering on ridiculous!
• Sieve the soil where I want to grow carrots and parsnips to prevent forking.
• Grow far more peas, beans and salad and from much earlier in the year.
• Maybe try some fruit like strawberries.
• Build and use a compost bin or two!

As for the rest of my growing exploits the good news is I had a second great year with my greenhouse. I've had hundreds of cherry tomatoes and plenty of cucumbers. Sadly the season has ended now and we're back to buying from the supermarket. Still it was superb and come March I'll be sowing gardeners delight and marketmore once again!

Thanks for reading and I'll post back again once the resurrected plot starts to come together...

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.