Purple sprouting broccoli in January

We just, just, just managed to pick enough broccoli on 31st January to make a meal out of. The pigeons have obviously done better than we have from our overflow plants, but now the secondary shoots are appearing and the pesky birds seem to be leaving them alone (at least for now).

We also harvested a monster parsnip. I’m not sure how we managed to overlook this goliath and he’s got his shoulders a bit nipped, possibly by the frost that preceded the snow, but even so there’s enough on this baby to make a very good soup, which is great, as the weather’s turned cold again.

What we didn’t manage to do was get any shallots planted. This made it all the more galling to do our monthly tour and discover that many of our neighbours already have the fine green shoots of shallot growth poking out of the frozen ground. On the other hand, Peter-from-two plots-up found that he’d had a whole tray of apples and a bag of shallots nibbled by rodents, so at least our shallots are still whole, and still in their bag, rather than inside a rat!

Speaking of wildlife, as we were heading for the gate we saw a large dog fox mooching around an apple tree on a plot, obviously finding rotten windfalls that were tastier than anything else around. What made it remarkable was that less than three yards away was the plot owner, digging in some manure! She said that the fox often came to within a couple of feet of her and she thought it was because she works shifts and is sometimes the only person on the site early in the morning or late in the evening, so he’d got used to her presence. I wish I’d had my camera handy.

Labels: allotment-parsnips, allotment-purple-sprouting-broccoli, allotment-rodents, allotment-shallots, allotment-wildlife

Holidays and allotments

We’re only going to be away for a week or so, but it feels like we’re abandoning the allotment. The feeling of neglect and ingratitude is made worse when we sit down to a salad of tasty new potatoes (from the allotment) and earthy beetroot (from the allotment) topped with carrot and dill thinnings (from the allotment). And it’s not as if our plot won’t get some tlc while we’re away – plotholder Duncan will go up and weed and water and harvest, just as he did for the whole year before we became co-workers.

But I can’t help it, I feel as if I’m kicking a puppy to leave my lovely allotment at its most productive, and needy, period. I’m convinced that everything will bolt, keel over, get infested with aphids, succumb to blight and just give up and die, purely because it knows I’m not going to be around.

In preparation for our short-term absence I’ve been up to water everything, to thin the aforesaid carrots and herbs, and to put up some make-shift bird scarers because Duncan says he thinks some of our brassica damage is bird rather than slug-induced and a close inspection of the leaves suggests to me that he’s right. All I did was cut the bottoms from some plastic bottles (lids still on) and stick them on top of canes planted between the broccoli. I wonder if the birds try to pick off the slugs and end up getting a mouthful of greens?

There's another reason for bird scaring. We have slow worms! I'm so excited about this, after getting involved in the mammal-spotting project, I find myself
with a wonderful legless lizard living right on my patch! They are gorgeous little creatures, with false tails that can seperate from their bodies in moments of great danger. They eat slugs and snails (yippee!) and other insect life. Large birds like seagulls and crows will try to take them from the ground so I felt really determined to get those bird scarers up asap. Cats also predate them, which is a worry as there are a lot of cats up on the allotments. But isn't he or she gorgeous?

Labels: allotment-holiday, allotment-slow-worm, allotment-wildlife

What do you see on your allotment?

I don’t just mean jumbo carrots and bumper tomato crops (although I’m happy for you if that’s what feasts your eye) but animals.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species wants to know, and I’ve only just found out about their Living with Mammals survey which takes place in May and June every year. But there’s still time to join in a bit this year, and it’s definitely gone into my diary for next year!

Here’s what they say: We need your help with a survey to find out how our wild animals use the built environment and the green spaces within it. By carefully identifying and counting the mammals that live in and around built up land, we can begin to understand – and encourage – the biodiversity on our doorstep. The survey takes place between April and June of each year and requires you to spend some time observing a chosen site (eg your garden or allotment) throughout the survey period.

So far on the allotment we’ve seen: a large rat, two feral cats, and a very small fox and we've only been going up for a few weeks. What do you see on yours?

Labels: allotment-mammals, allotment-survey, allotment-wildlife, Peoples Trust for Endangered Species