My mate Alex 'Pip' Paton (he's a bit posh) has offered to give me his Reader's Digest Gardening Book.
Bloody good of him as I am sorely in need of advice, both verbal and written. I'm heartened by the friends who are supporting me in this little project. I think my energy had dipped a little after planting the seeds and getting no growth, but I'm back in the driving seat now and planning ahead for autumn and winter.
"Soil is a living structure , and needs to interact with plant roots. Only dig ground and put in manure and/or compost just as you're about to sow/plant crops. If you have bare soil grow a green manure in it. One of the best is Phacelia tanacetifolia, which you might have seen growing on our plot. It's not related to any crop plants, so it won't affect your
rotation. Bees love its flowers. It's incredibly easy to pull up and compost. (Don't try the digging in idea: too much hard work!) Phacelia seed is hideously expensive though, but it goes a long way."
I bought a copy of the Guardian for the first time in ages on Saturday. Advice given in the money section for allotment holders included 'Why not sell your spare produce at a roadside kiosk?'
Blimey! It's just laughable and a vivid reminder of why I gave up newspapers. I used to get so exasperated with the Observer for this sort of trite. I forget how many times they suggested I let my house out as a film set.
Mustn't blame the writers, I suppose. They've got oceans of print to fill and fill it they must. But it does seem to me one of the many reasons that dead tree journalism is on the way out.
Actually, I've been quite disappointed at the lack of broken blue and white china while doing the extensive digging job on the vegetable patch. There's been nothing, just minging weeds.
The one thing I did find, though, was the item in the photograph. At first I thought it was a handy little trowel. Turns out to be a cake slice.
Bon appetit!
I reckon the seeds I planted on the vegetable plot must have had it after the heavy rain.
It was always going to be a chance planting at this time of the year, but I thought that would have been because of a long and sultry August. Little did I realise that it would be torrential downpours for most of the time. The result, I think, is that all growing has been scuppered.
I'll do a definite check over the weekend (when I have three days off work - hooray!). But I feel there's no hope. All part of a learning curve. I'll just utilise the hiatus by preparing the ground a bit more for when I plant again.
Better news on the herbs I'm nurturing in the conservatory. They all seem to be sprouting, with the chervil ahead of the parsley and cress. Must look up what I can do with them when I take up cooking.
Can you see what it is yet, as Rolf Harris might say.
It's something growing in the seed trays in the conservatory. I never thought the day would come, but here it is. Something nurtured by me.
The herb is chervil. All I've got to do now is find out what chervil is and what I do with it. I'm not going to mention the foolish thought that the word sounds like gerbil.
Looking good.
I'm back after too long away from the blog. I know the thing with blogging is to do it and do it regularly, no matter how small the entry. The truth is I've been a bit distracted by having to return to work and do other things in the evening when I get home.
Still, the vegetable patch is still there, although looking a little sorry for itself. I fear the seeds might not come up because it's just been pouring with rain almost the whole time since I planted them. Ah well, that's the nature of the game - I'm not despondent.
There's been a bit of conservatory action, though. I've planted some herbs in seed trays and I'm hoping they'll be successful. I've got (or should have) mint, cress, chervil and organic parsley.
Outside, I've covered the two lines of seed I planted with sticks to keep animals off and dug over the unused part again. Also, I've dug out a huge plant to increase the space available.
I'm happy. Patience is the name of the game.
And here's another little plot I have been keeping secret from you all. Actually, its micro size. But I like it.
I cleared it out of weeds and stones in order to create a little space for rhubarb. And that's what it has now got in it - one crown, to be precise. I'm not all that sure I've bedded it in properly, but we'll see. I'm quite prepared for disappointment, I gather it's the name of the game in this growing lark.
Mmm, rhubarb. Is it too ambitious to think there will be custard in a couple of years made with milk from my own cow? Who knows? If the economy really does go belly up...
I'm a proud man, but I fully accept people will think I've been making heavy weather of this. Perhaps I have. But to me - a lazy, overweight slob - this is a landmark event.
Do I just sit back now and wait for food to grow? Or do I have to mount an armed guard to protect my land? It's a mixture of fingers crossed and keep checking for weeds and slugs, I guess.
I'm well satisfied, see how it goes before I get more ambitious. Dying to try out the Cherokee Trail of Tears seeds.
