Complete Gestalts and Strange Brews.

Fred the Chemist's gladioli

Veg aren't the only things growing onWTA. Earlier in the year about 2 dozen gladioli bulbs were planted, alongside edible crops, to provide the cottage with cut flowers. This week the gladi's began to bloom and the stems were cut (see pic above). WTA is proud of these beauties as they have a strong link to forebear and Anglo-Aussie - Fred The Chemist - who also grew and loved gladioli. The generational gestalt is complete!

Organic Pest Control

WTA's brassica's are under attack from caterpillars. Little do those caterpillars know WTA has the trump card to end their orgy of WTA eating. The ante dote is brewing away in the kitchen as I write. I've used one of the organic pesticide recipes on Gardening Australia's (The Aussie version of BBC's Garden's World) website and started producing an potent concoction of 4 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 4 chillies and eco-friendly dish washing liquid. The liquid produced from the mix pictured below is being applied tomorrow.

Organic pesticide in the making

This morning was spent lifting the last lot of potatoes, weeding the broccoli bed and physically squashing a variety of ravenous caterpillars swarming over some leaves.
There was also a chance to use some of the organic liquid fertiliser (pictured below) from the worm can on my leeks (another great product of worm can composting).

Worm casting liquid - black gold!

WTA mates... still helping out on the plot 10,000 miles away!

Many thanks to Jeremiah Bullfrog, proofreading savant, for his time earlier this week. The Bullfrog spotted and helped iron-out a variety of errors appearing in previous WTA postings - not bad from a vantage point on the other side of the world in Western Australia...

The Bullfrog: Language errors can run but they can't hide!

Grow well!

A quick Saturday pick.

Just a short post. Lots going on and lots of produce from WTA right now. I picked this lot this morning. The Adelaide carrots are really sweet, while I'll use the yellow courgette to make an amazing Nigella Lawson recipe I've found and linked for 'Happiness, soup. Grow well!

Let 'em roll!

Downing a well-earned 'coldie' after a big seed planting and lifting a 5kg+ haul of potatoes this afternoon. I hate to say the 'B' word when mentioning my spuds, but after reading a couple of other blogs , I think some of my potato crops might have blight! As a result I'm getting rid of all affected leaves/stems and in a couple of cases have lifted part of the crops in case I'm too late and left with nothing.

In the mean time, I've 'Kept Calm and Carried On' with the autumn seed planting regime. I've also decided to have a bit of a gamble by sowing some seeds that should have been planted in June and July. These seeds - including parsnips and carrots - are probably going to lose much of their viability by next year if I don't plant them now, so in they go!

The following have been sown:
Parsnip-Hollow Crown (Country Value)
Good quality seeds (I sowed Country Value, Sweet Corn-Incredible -F1 which are doing brilliantly) but I'm throwing these in, in case they become unviable next year.

Baby Chinese Cabbage - WA Wa Sai (Marshalls)

Fresh seeds - that arrived last week and will be planted at the prescribed time. I'm planting these in the hope of getting some great veg for SE Asian-style stir fries.

Carrot Ideal (Dobies of Devon)
Fresh seed to be planted at the prescribed time. I've have already sown three rows of these but still have some left after ordering two packets!

Chinese Broccoli - Kailaan (Marshalls).

I liked the look of these as an easy-grow, 'in between crop' of broccoli. They look suitable for some cool fusion and SE Asian cooking that goes on after getting off WTA

Parsnip Panache F1 Hybrid (Thompson and Morgan)

Great seeds! I've had some outstanding success with these - but like all parsnip seed have a fairly limited viability. I planted some this time last year and managed to lift some lovely parsnips for Christmas dinner. Here's hoping I can manage the same feat this year.

Bunching Onion - Shimonita (Marshalls)
Fresh and planted at the prescribed time. Going by the description these beauties - a sort of cross between a leek and a spring onion;they may be a good seasonal spring onion substitute.

Broccoli-Rudolph (Thompson and Morgan)
Once again, will be a 'triumph of hope over experience' if these grow in the way they were intended but I'd rather have a go than not put them in.

Borecole (Kale) F1 Reflex (Dobies of Devon)
Kale was a winter staple of WTA in the early days and helped keep a variety of people fed with greens in the dark winter of 2007.



Carrot - Resistatfly F1 Hybrid (Thompson and Morgan)
A bit late again I know but I found this packet of seeds from last year, after losing them and would rather give them a go than have them lose their viability and lie useless in my seed box.


Spinach - Toscane F1 Hybrid (Unwins)
Always fantastic for salads and a variety of hot dishes. Spinach is an 'essential' on WTA. It's a first run for this variety so it will be interesting to see the results.


Onion - Toga (Johnsons)
A bit late, I know, but just consider it my way of betting on an Indian summer this year!

Onions - Toughball (Marshalls)
I really liked the look and the name of these onions and they let me continue to indulge in my continued fascination with growing this edible variety of alium.

More WTA weeding is scheduled for today along with some cooking with three more cauliflowers harvested yesterday. Grow well!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon, got no mind to worry...

A 'Day of Rest' on WTA . A quick inspection of the plot this morning to pick some carrots, check on my previous day's weeding and take the shots on this post was about all that was done.

Took some time off to visit friend of WTA, Johnny Bridgemeister, and Wonder Pam. It was satisfying to be able to take some fresh lifted spuds, carrots and red onions from WTA to these two legendary mates.

A Shout Out to WTA Friends
Some good friends of WTA are a bit poorly right now or struggling with some big work loads. They are being held in mind as I work away on the plot.

Mart The Chief of Staff . Get that dicky chest cleared up Mart - there's some work to do in October buddy!

Dorset Dave...Instrumental in helping clear the leek bed of weeds last year. The second of Dorset Dave's creaking and cracking knees was ditched and replaced by some good old titanium this week. I for one won't miss the 'orrible bone-on-bone grating noises as he bends down to some weeding next time he's on the plot! Hope your back on your feet soon Dave!

Mariner Tim.. The turf excavator and onion planter extraordinaire has been working his bum off on the good Yacht 'Conspicuous Consumption' with some rather difficult clientele...hang in there mate, all this will pass...



The cleared bed above is all that remains of the up turned turf, cow manure and cardboard after planting and lifting good crop of potatoes within the space of a couple of months.



These leeks are looking good but will have to be soiled up to ensure they have good long, white shanks.




The Jerusalem artichokes are going great guns. They've provided an effective windbreak and visual screen to the entrance of the allotment and just keep getting taller and taller.
Grow well!

Summer Saturday Update

A classic sunny English summer's day at WTA. Leek and onion beds were weeded and 'test plot' potatoes lifted. Reluctantly dragged myself off the plot at 7.30pm this evening but pleased with what had been achieved.

The potatoes had been planted in a non-dig bed of cardboard, up-turned turf and Dairy farmer Tom's cow poo and straw. The cunning plan was to see if the spuds could break up the turf and accelerate the process of creating a new bed in matter of months - and it looks like it has worked! Stay tuned for further updates. Right now however it looks like I've ended up with a big bag of potatoes and a cleared bed! It will be interesting to see if the late potatoes planted under overturned turf last week can do same things.

WTA's pumpkin patch has hit its straps in the last few weeks. It didn't look good for a couple of the seedlings I'd put into a pile of straw, cow poo and soil a few months ago, but rising night time temperatures have kicked in and what seemed like a potential disaster, averted. One of the miriad of bumblebees (above pic) is enjoying the pumpkin flowers - take a look at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust website under WTA's 'Hot Topics' listing - and helping produce this beauty below which was discovered this week under the foliage. (A WTA " bee posting" is in the offing.)



More veg postings to come tomorrow... Grow well!

Life, the universe, religious experience, bodily functions and compost heaps!

"My whole life had been spent
waiting for an epiphany, a manifestation of God's presence,
the kind of transcendental, magical
experience that lets you see your place in the big picture. And
that is what I had with my first compost heap."

Bette Midler

WTA loves its compost, heaps! Both compost bins were constructed pretty soon after taking on the plot almost two years ago and have produced some mighty fine 'black gold' from a combination of veg scraps, lawn clippings, garden waste, cardboard, paper and cow manure thrown on them.

WTA kitchen waste (above) headed for the temple of compost.

Being pro-recycling, WTA's compost bins have been constructed from old wooden pallets for free and 10 wooden stakes - no fuss and effective.

A black plastic composting bin - used to solely compost weeds and nettles - has also joined the crew and has converted kilos of weeds and nettles - I try to keep the two open bins as weed-free as I can.

The Inspiration
'Grand' forebears of WTA, 'Technical Tom' and 'Fred the Chemist' were mad keen composters, both of them having their own techniques and apparatus to produce the 'black gold'. Technical Tom was a fan of the 'Compost Tumbler' - a commercially made drum mounted on a frame (see pic below) on which is could be turned. Fred the chemist favoured the big multi bin approach, constructing four huge adjoining squares made out of old corrugated iron and fence posts.

Whatever the shape or size - commercial or non-commercial - it's important to get a compost heap and find composting style to suit your garden/allotment and the type of materials you are composting.

Accelerators- keeping your heap in hyper drive.
Creating a 'Formula One heap' is a mix of art and science. WTA recommends a few inexpensive components to keep the bacterial engine of the your heap throbbing:

• Bone meal/pelletised poutry manure - nitrogenous bacterial stimulant that feeds the microscopic buds doing the hard yards to break down the waste.


• Gardener's Lime - great to cool things down and 'sweeten your heap' if things get to acidic in your rotting matter.
  
• A good peace of thick carpet - vital for covering your compost heap warm and keeping bacteria working when the temperature drops.

• Human urine! - even the beer or cuppa you have after a hard day's graft on the allotment can be recycled! Ensure no one is in vicinity (We don't want Allotment holders getting done for indecent exposure!) and have a good old wee (probably easier for blokes) on your heap.

Worm bins/cans
Wormeries are also an incredibly dynamic way of composting and also producing your own super quality . Wta has a an "off site" worm bin which to produce . One worm bin is far too small to handle the amount and variety of matter composted by the bins on WTA but I was lucky enough to pick a worm can similar to the one picture below on sale at a local supermarket chain. I use this little beauty to breakdown large quantities of paper waste (think of it as an enviro- shredder!) and a source of liquid fertiliser- an odourless, nutrient-rich liquid by-product, superb for fertilisng your crops.

Top Shelf composting material (But proceed with caution!)

Some of WTA's Jersey Girls - compost makers extraordinaire

WTA's custodiancan often be see roaming around the adjacent fields awith wheel barrow and shovel, followed closely by a small herd of inquisitive Jersey Cows, in search of quality cow pats. The occasional barrow load of cowpats on the compost heap does a world of wonders
for the end product. But be wary! You've got to know your shit! Problems with herbicide in some animal manure used on allotments was well publicised last year. Ask the owners of the land, on which the animals you get you poo from graze, what sort of pesticides and herbicides are used on the pasture. When in doubt leave it out! If you're new to the allotment game or missed the whole herbicide and animalmanure debarcle take a look at the relevant links and No. 10 petition listed under 'Hot Topics' on this site.

Get composting and grow really well!

The Green Revolution continues!

Hey farmer, farmer
put away your DDT now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
(Big Yellow Taxi - Joni Mitchell)

A good week all up on WTA. The rain has been brilliant -no problems about finding water for the veg and it's free! The Met (British weather bureau) back-tracked on their previous forecast that we were destined for a 'BBQ summer' this week and have now said the 'Green and Pleasant Land' can expect quite a lot of the wet stuff into August - them's the breaks! It's throwing it down as I write this post.

Earlier in the week I decided to show a bit of The Anglo-Aussie spirit and head out on WTA despite the showers. It's relatively cathartic working away in the rain and I managed to get my 'late' seed potatoes planted and cut the last remaining bit of turf out of the the lower bed.

The last of Mariner Tim's onions were finally picked yesterday. Even after using quite a lot straight out of the ground, I still have four boxes of 'whites' and 'reds' left drying out in the garage due to the wet conditions. Mariner Tim dug the plot these onions were planted in and then helped me plant the sets last year. The results of his handy work are impressive...

After bit of weeding , digging and blood and bone fertiliser, the old onion bed was ready to take some Trafalgar Brussel Sprout and Dwarf kale seedlings I've been meaning to plant for ages (The rain has also been fab for watering things in!).

The cauliflowers (igloo and all-year-round) are now being harvested and used in dishes from Cauliflower Balti to soups. I've literally just made a 'cauliflower and cashew' nut soup gleaned from a Women's Institute soup recipe book I picked up cheap a couple of months ago it's a winner! Cauli's are a great veg to grow if you got a reasonable amount of space. They not only taste incredible when cooked well or eaten raw but are look spectacular looking vegetable when in their prime. This week WTA ordered some Mayflower (F1) cauliflower from Marshalls for Autumn planting. I've also got some 'Ideal' carrot and Borecole (Curly Kale, F1 reflex) seeds from Dobies that will hit the soil in the next few days.

Organic v. Non organic debate

The news that organic fruit and veg had the same nutrient levels as non organic veg hit the headlines this week if you hadn't noticed. The reporting of the issue seemed to miss the point why a lot of people grow and eat organic produce: that being many want to know what or, in the case of organic veg, what hasn't been used on food that we eat.
I've started a new "Hot topics" links section on the blog if you feel inclined to look at some of the issues that affect allotment owners and 'grow your own enthusiasts' in general. I've put a link to the latest BBC report on the organic v non organic nutrient level research presented this week.
No commercial pesticides are used on WTA - a decision I feel is a wise one when I see a plethora of bumble bees, native bees and a variety of bird life including Mistle Thrushes, Blackbirds, Wrens and Robins in and around the plants and hedges.

'Natural' Options for Pest and Problems

If and when there comes a time when WTA needs a bit of assisted pest control, I'm heading for the 'natural' options. The people at 'Gardening Australia' - the Aussie version of the BBC's Gardener's World have put a a brilliant 'fact sheet' on their website on making your own pesticides and herbicides from a combination of things including garlic, chillies, bi-carbonate of soda, vinegar, molasses and eco-friendly washing up detergents. I've created a link to the site under 'Pests and Solutions'
In the mean time these pesticide/chemical free broad bean beauties below are destined for the table tonight...Grow and eat well!