Happy New Year!

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New Year

Thanks to Wellyman for the artistic use of crab apples!

Perhaps this isn’t the best way to start off a ‘Happy New Year’ post but I’ve never been much of a fan of New Year. For me it is the least enjoyable of all the holidays. I suppose I should see the start of a new year as an important, celebratory event but for some reason I don’t understand the party spirit regarding the occasion. Maybe it’s because the new year starts in the middle of winter with the month January and of all the months it really did draw the short straw.

I admire the enthusiasm some people show at this time of year. The ‘a chance to start again’ feeling, all those resolutions, diets, exercise regimes but very few of them even last beyond January. Is it any wonder though that the spurt of energy that will greet 2012 and every other New Year is fleeting when January is such a miserable month? For me January is a month to get through and any resolutions I have I start in March when the nights are getting lighter and I feel a genuine spring in my step. This way I stand a fair chance of actually achieving them.

My resolutions for 2012 are to finally sort out the problem areas of my garden and to visit a couple of gardens that have been on my wish list for several years now. Nothing spectacular but my garden was slightly neglected last year whilst I got to grips with the allotment so I think it deserves some attention. And of course, there is my gardening without plastic challenge which might be the most difficult, we shall see.

This autumn I made a few changes to a part of the garden where we had a tree removed so I’m looking forward to seeing how that will develop and look as the plants get established. But most of all I can’t wait to get back up to my allotment and get growing again.

I would like to thank everyone who reads my blog and those who leave comments it is much appreciated. For a self-confessed technophobe the whole blogging thing has been a bit of a revelation. I’ve enjoyed tremendously discovering a lovely group of people who share their passion, thoughts, stories and tips and who make gardening, which can be quite a solitary hobby/job feel less so. I look forward to reading more of your blogs and I hope you continue to enjoy my own.

Happy New Year to you all and may 2012 bring us great gardening weather and bumper crops. Best wishes, Wellywoman x

My Garden School – Online Gardening Courses

Garden border that needs some work

One of the things I love about gardening is that there is so much to learn and discover. One of the things I least like is that I am never completely happy with my planting combinations or my design skills. So when My Garden School asked whether I would be interested in trying one of their courses I thought what better way to start the New Year and learn how to improve my design skills.

My Garden School was established to bring horticulture courses from experts in their fields to people in their own homes, anywhere in the world.  MGS currently offers 24 courses ranging from beekeeping and plant photography to edible gardening and planting design. Course tutors include the world renowned garden designer John Brookes and Alex Mitchell, author of The Edible Balcony and A Girl’s Guide to Growing Your Own.

I’ve done a variety of horticulture courses over the last 5 years. There was a garden design course run by my local Adult Education college, the RHS levels 2 and 3 at my local horticulture college and an advanced RHS course that was online. The courses with MGS appealed to me because they are short, lasting 4 weeks. Most people, especially once the growing season gets under way struggle to fit in courses that might last a term or even longer. My garden was pretty neglected whilst I was doing my RHS courses and I would never have managed an allotment as well. I also like the fact that I could do the MGS course from home, fitting it in when it suits me.

The course I chose was part 1 of Planting Design with Hilary Thomas. Hilary was head of Garden Design at Capel Manor Horticulture College in London. Every Saturday for 4 weeks there will be a prerecorded video that I can view whenever I want, even after the course has finished. Apparently there will also be some notes to download and tutor marked assignments which could range from a planting design, taking a photograph of a flower or writing a short essay, depending on the course.

One of the most appealing aspects is that it is possible to ask direct questions of the tutors and get answers. Who hasn’t thought whilst staring at that difficult spot in the garden ‘If only I could ask an expert what they would do?’. I have a couple of those problem areas in my garden so I’m hoping I can learn what solutions there might be.

The first courses of the new year start on 7th January, so I’ll keep you updated on how I get on.

For more information on My Garden School and to see if there is a course that might appeal to you go to http://www.my-garden-school.com/.

Thanks to Elspeth at My Garden School.

In the Gloomy Mid-Winter

Tags

Christmas, Chrysanthemums, flowering, light levels, winter

Dreaming of blue skies and sunshine

It was Boxing Day when it hit me. The lack of light is really starting to get to me. It happens every year, I’m fine up until Christmas and then with January looming, the short days and the lack of sun begins to feel oppressive. The weather so far this winter has been particularly dull with this corner of Wales swathed under a thick layer of cloud. I can’t remember when we last had some sunshine.

We were out walking the other day and I was looking up at the sky wondering how much light was actually getting through the cloud. Light levels are measured in lux. On a sunny summer’s day light will measure around 100,000 lux compared with only 5,000 on a dull winter’s day but worse still is that minimum lux levels for general office work is only 500 lux rising to 1,000 if more detailed work is being carried out. Is it any wonder people feel so gloomy in winter or when cooped up in offices?

Plants need sunlight to produce their own food but most need only around 10,000 lux to photsynthesise and reach saturation point at 12,000 lux. This sounds very low when compared to the 100,000 lux of a sunny day in June but then again is probably just as well bearing in mind the sort of summers we get here in Britain.

It’s not just the amount of light that plants receive that is important for growth but also the amount of time during the day that they are exposed to the light. Different plants have different points, known as the ‘critical period’ when the change in exposure to light triggers flowering. For some plants it is when the days start to shorten and there are longer nights, such as Chrysanthemums these are known as ‘short day plants’, for others it is when the days start to lengthen and nights get shorter such as Calendula, these are known as ‘long day plants’. There are also plants such as roses which don’t appear to be affected by these changes and they are known as ‘day neutral plants’.

Commercial plant growers can exploit the way plants respond to light in several ways. Some growers will artificially create short days when it is summer by excluding light for a specified time using blackout screens and likewise long days can be achieved by using artificial lighting that simulates actual daylight. These methods can be used to produce flowers when they would not ordinarily be available and also hold back plants so they don’t flower until required, for instance Poinsettias for Christmas.

Some growers use ‘supplementary lighting’ adding to the natural light levels to boost plant growth and crop production. This is mainly used at the end of winter and start of summer for seedlings and young plants.

Bedding plants such as Begonias and Tagetes are often germinated in ‘growing rooms’. These are spaces where all natural light is excluded allowing the grower complete control. Often the seedlings are exposed to light for 24 hours  a day until germination has taken place.

Knowing how plants respond to light is not just important for commercial growers though. We’ve all experienced how young plants bend towards the light. This is because the plant’s stem contains a growth hormone called auxin. Auxin collects mainly on the side of the stem that is in the shade and the bending towards the light is in fact the shady side of the stem growing more quickly that the other side. As growers we know to turn our plants and seed trays to allow even light exposure.

I find it fascinating how plants respond to light and that it is so complex and how humans have discovered how to exploit it. Although I do find it a bit depressing that some plants are pampered in glasshouses receiving the perfect amount of light when millions of humans are stuck in poorly light offices and spending a lot of their lives not getting the exposure to daylight they need to be happy and healthy.

If I was a plant I would definitely be a long day plant ready and waiting for those long summers’ days to start flowering.

For more information  http://www.biology-online.org/ is a very good website.

My First Year On The Allotment

Tags

allotment, cut flowers, fruit, plot, seed catalogues, vegetables

I had a wander up to my allotment the other day. It’s looking a bit sorry for itself at the moment. It has taken a bit of a battering in the wind and rain, a local cat is using my chipped bark paths as a litter tray (nice!!) and the sunflowers that I left standing so the birds could feed on the seed heads have collapsed. On days like this it is hard to imagine how beautiful the plot looked between April and October. So I thought, as it is coming up to my first anniversary with my allotment that I would have a review of the year.

Jewel like fruit

I was fairly lucky when I took on the plot, it had been pretty well cared for and managed organically. Apparently, quite a few people had been eyeing up our plot before we got it. Initially, we were given a half plot but then someone pulled out and we were offered the other half. At first I wondered if it would be too much and there were times during the summer where it did feel a bit overwhelming but half a plot would have been way to small. In fact, I’m now coveting a derelict neighbouring plot as a possible extension since I fear I will not be able to squeeze my ever growing seed list into my current plot.

I knew I wanted to grow some cut flowers it was just how much space to devote to them. As I spent a couple of months with my notepad, graph paper, seed catalogues and piles of books I realised there were a lot of fruit and vegetables I wanted to grow too. In the end I was happy with the balance I created. The cut flowers were a great success and I was picking buckets every couple of days. Some were better than others, for example Cosmos ‘Candy Stripe’ with its taller stems and more delicate flowers worked better as a cut flower than the Cosmos ‘Sonata’ variety. The Zinnias  despite a slow start provided many a vase, although some of the colours in the mix were a bit muddy and difficult to match with other colours. Next year I plan to grow some single varieties.

It was nice to see wildlife enjoying the plot too

We had a great crop of autumn raspberries despite it being their first year and endless strawberries from plants we inherited with the plot. Courgettes, kale, french beans and potatoes have all been tasty and bountiful. I was given some baby leeks and I loved being able to pop up and dig up a leek. I haven’t had enough to see us through the winter but I’ll be working on that for next year. Sweetcorn and carrots were the only 2 crops that didn’t really work. The weather got the former and carrot fly the latter. There’ll be no sweetcorn next year but I might give carrots another try I’ll just have to come up with some ingenious method to outwit those pesky flies.

One of the nicest experiences over the year has been meeting people. There were some comments initially such as ‘So you think you can garden then?’ which made me fume. However, after a year up there I understand a bit about the scepticism that greets newcomers. The reality is not many stay the course and most do just enough to get by, spending most of their time in a seemingly endless battle with weeds that appear in between their fortnightly visits.

I have been touched by the generosity of some fellow plotholders, giving me spare plants, digging out some old fruit bushes I was struggling with and showing me where I was going wrong with my leek planting (I wasn’t dibbing them in deep enough). I think I might have been accepted since I’ve had a few practical jokes played on me. I went to water my plants one day only to discover that the ends of my hosepipe had been swapped over. The older guys are also a great source of village gossip which is invaluable to a newcomer.

Of course not everyone is friendly and the plot is certainly no utopian dream. There are a few who think it isn’t really a woman’s place digging and growing veg and some who think flowers should be kept in the garden. There are the cliques, especially as several allotment holders are related. I went up one day to discover a small pile of manure which I helped myself to but apparently the pile had been enormous. When a local farmer had dropped off the pile phone calls went out around the village with wheelbarrows mobilised well into the night. There wasn’t much left the next day. The rumour is a lot of it made its way into several village gardens. We’ll know when we see who has the best dahlias and roses this coming summer.

There was the molecatcher who insisted on putting his catch on the gatepost. I got quite a fright one day when I went to open the gate and 2 beady little eyes were staring back at me. One plot holder was happy though. He had stood and watched his rows of onions move up and down like a ‘Mexican wave’ as a mole travelled underground. He’d tried to get it with his spade but it got away.

I’ve certainly learnt a lot from my year on the plot and it has been nice to find out that some are going to grow some flowers for cutting next year as well.

So here’s to another year on my allotment.

 

Merry Christmas

Tags

Christmas

Last year's snowman

This will be my last post before Christmas, so I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

The weather has turned unseasonably mild again and I couldn’t find anything that was suitably festive to photograph. So I plumped for a photo of the snowman we made last Christmas, whilst staying with family. This time last year we were driving on the M5 doing 30mph because the motorway was sheet ice. We were snowed in for a couple of days at family in the north east and had no idea whether we would make it to our next destination, family in the Pennines. Fortunately we did, but how different the weather is this year.

My garden is looking more forlorn now. There are still a few flowers hanging on, some heleniums, primroses and a pelargonium. I’ve even got stocks flowering still at the allotment. We have had only 2 frosts and a little bit of sleet so far. It’s the Winter Solstice today and I spotted my first bulbs pushing through the other day, so although January can be a long, hard month to get through we are at least heading in the right direction. Not long now till we’re chitting those potatoes and ordering seeds.

Whatever you’re doing and wherever you’ll be this Christmas have a lovely time. Best wishes, Wellywoman x

Allotments – The Good News Stories

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allotments, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall, Landshare, National Trust

Produce from my plot - just to show I didn't just grow flowers!

Following on from my last post about how difficult it is to get an allotment I thought I would write about the organisations and individuals that are trying to do something to provide land to those who want it. Whilst local councils and central government might not see the need for a new approach to allotment there are fortunately others who do.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, TV cook, author and promoter of all things foodie saw that something needed to be done to match the growing demand for land on which to grow. In 2009 he launched ‘Landshare‘ a website which puts people who want to grow their own produce but don’t have the land in touch with people who might have some spare land, or a garden that is too big for them. So far the venture has proved incredibly successful with over 66,000 members. Older people with large gardens that are too big for them to manage any more now have people growing fruit and veg and sharing with them the produce. There are some people who are just too busy to garden who have released part of their garden or some who have fields that are doing nothing and have given these up to allotments.

The National Trust has also joined the fight for more land. In 2009 it announced it wanted to create 1000 new allotments by 2012. They reached this target this summer. Some allotments are in walled gardens, others on vacant land near the Trust’s properties. In Woolacombe, Devon a field owned by the Trust was turned into 50 plots including one for the local Woolacombe Primary School. At Springhill in Northern Ireland a run down walled garden was brought back to life and now there are 27 allotments. Monk Coniston allotments must surely be a candidate for best location and view. Perched above Coniston Water in the Lake District the walled garden was disused until the National Trust received a Lottery grant and there are now 10 plots for the local community to grow fruit and vegetables.

The Trust joined forces with Landshare and available plots at Trust sites can be found on the Landshare website and just because they have reached their target of 1000 allotments they don’t plan to stop there with another 200 planned in the future.

It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that someone saw an opportunity to take advantage of the huge demand for allotments and set up a privately rented allotment company. The New Allotment Company opened its first site in 2010 in Kent. The charge is £150 for a year or you can pay in monthly instalments. This includes water, storage and manure. It sounds expensive and may well price some people out of the opportunity to grow their own. The other downside is that you sign up for 3 years with the opportunity to leave after the first year but after putting in all the hard work of establishing your plot it would be difficult if after the 3 years the rent rose and became prohibitively expensive. However, the plots are pre-prepared so no dreadful weeds to remove and the site provides secure storage, toilets and an all weather shelter and I know from my own experience that those would be welcome additions to my own allotment site.

It is good to know that people have taken on the task of dealing with the lack of land for growing but this should not be an excuse for local authorities to neglect their responsibilities. Politicians like to suggest they are in touch with the voter and listen to what they want but they seem to have some wax in their ears on this one. It would be nice to see a local councillor somewhere in the country to take up the issue of allotments and the lack of them.

Allotments – It’s all a bit of a lottery

Tags

allotments, GM food, peak oil, University of Leicester

My plot when I took it on last January

I am one of the lucky ones, I have an allotment. Not only that it only costs me  £10, I have a standpipe right next to my plot and no charge for the water. I know I’m lucky but I didn’t realise quite how so lucky until a read the recent data from the University of Leicester about allotments.

There are over 86,000 people across the country waiting for an allotment but this figure might not be a true reflection of the number of people who want a plot as several councils have now closed their lists and therefore do not record the numbers of people who do not even make it onto a waiting list.

Using the Freedom of Information Act the researchers discovered there is a massive variance in allotment charges. Runnymede Borough Council charges 55p per square metre, the most expensive in England, in contrast Bolsover District Council charges only 1p per square metre. My own plot is approximately 114 square metres and costs just over 11p per square metre. The average size plot apparently is 250 square metres and costs 15p per square metre.

I don’t yet know how much my rent for the allotment will be for next year but I’m hoping it doesn’t increase by 207%, the amount by which Cannock Chase District Council increased its allotment rent between 2008 and 2011, with rent going from £36.90 to £108.92!!!! Charges this high do seem excessive and against the spirit of allotments. I would imagine these sorts of prices would exclude some people, probably those who benefit the most.

One of the biggest problems seems to be that this research by the University of Leicester is the first real study into allotments and highlights the difficulty in accessing information about waiting lists, numbers, plot sizes etc. For example, Birmingham has 115 allotment sites but data is only available for 18. When waiting lists are quite long and it takes a long time for plots to be reallocated, many people on the waiting list may have moved or changed their minds and not contacted the relevant person to take their names off the list.

It also seems that plot sizes are getting smaller as councils are dividing up plots. Smaller plots might not be such a bad thing, if it makes them more manageable for people. However, with no data recording this change, councils could use division of plots as a substitute for providing new land for new allotments.

The right for people to have their own bit of land goes back as far as the Saxons when woodland would be cleared for common land. This land, gradually over the centuries, was enclosed by the ruling classes but to compensate tenants were given small plots of land attached to their cottages and this is the first recorded use of the term ‘allotment’. It was in the late 19th century that Government passed the first ‘Allotment Act’ to make it a statutory obligation for local councils to provide allotments where there was a need. Since then the popularity of allotments has waxed and wained but with ever increasing food prices, peak oil, GM food and food related health scares it might be that growing some of our own food becomes a necessity rather than a fashionable hobby.

The benefits of allotments are enormous. There is the physical exercise which also benefits the mind, the fresh air, fresh food with fewer or no chemicals, a great sense of satisfaction and the opportunity to meet people.

My plot at the height of summer

I am a happier person because I have my little plot that puts me back in touch with nature and the seasons. Will there be a day when politicians recognise the importance of these plots of land? Will allotments ever make it into a political manifesto? If politicians really believe in Gross National Happiness then maybe they could set up a taskforce to provide communities with the land they want. It might not make anyone any money but we might be fitter, healthier and happier.

For more information about the history of allotments and anything else allotment related allotment.org is a great website.

Data used is taken from the University of Leicester’s research. For more information about this research go to the University of Leicester’s website.

Deck the Halls – Natural Christmas Decorations

Tags

Christmas decorations, Gardens Illustrated magazine, larch branches, natural decorations

I love using bits and pieces from the garden and hedgerows to decorate the house at Christmas. My garden is quite small so supplies me with some different types of ivy, winter-flowering honeysuckle, a few seed heads and crab apples but for anything else a trip into the local countryside is required.

It’s good at this time of year to have an excuse to get out of the house, the temptation to stay warm and cosy in front of the fire is hard to resist. Fortunately, yesterday was a beautiful winters day. An early frost, our first real frost of the year, followed by a crisp sunny day meant I didn’t need any persuading to go for a walk.

A couple of hours later I came back with rosehips, haws, some teasels and some beautiful lichen covered branches and along with my garden gatherings I set to making some decorations for the house.

Larch sprig present decoration

A real favourite of mine are larch branches with their beautiful cones. This year I have gathered some branches together and placed them in a jug as a decoration in their own right.  I also like to use them to decorate presents, cutting them to size and sliding them under ribbon to hold them in place.

Larch twig star

There was a picture of a beautiful star made from lichen covered branches in last months Gardens Illustrated magazine. So using that as inspiration, Wellyman fashioned the twigs we had gathered into a star which hangs from a door.

Ivy, larch and rosehips decorate the back of a chair

I used a few larch branches tied together with some ivy and rosehips with some natural twine to decorate the back of my dining chairs. I had looked at buying some decorations for the same purpose last week on a trip into Bath but they would have cost £25. These, however, cost nothing and I’m really pleased with the natural look.

I few years ago Wellyman made a small wreath from some willow. Each year I wind ivy into the bare branches and add various bits and pieces. This year I wired in some rosehips.

Teasels and hydrangea flowerheads

Finally I put some teasels in an old enamel vase with some dried hydrangea heads.

I’m really pleased with the look they have created and all for free.

I’d love to hear about any ideas you have for natural decorations.

Book Review – Canteen, Great British Food

Tags

Canteen, classic British food, London, Spittalfields Market

Canteen Recipe Book

Canteen is a small chain of restaurants in London that was borne out of an idea that British food could be great if good quality, seasonal produce was used. The first restaurant or canteen was opened in Spittalfields Market in east London in 2005 and has since grown to another 4 canteens across the capital. A great emphasis is put on the provenance of the food. Meat is free range from farmers rearing traditional breeds. Fish is delivered fresh every day from south coast day-boats. Fruit and vegetables are seasonal – no Peruvian asparagus in October here. Everything from the jams, biscuits and chutneys, is made from scratch in the kitchens.

The Canteens have proved so popular that the team has distilled their ideas and recipes into a cookbook.

The book has been printed in a retro style which befits the classic British recipes that are included in the book. I loved the brown paper cover and quirky photographs. The book reminded me very much of a cookbook my mum used to have from the 1950s.

The book celebrates British classics such as stews, pies and roasts and includes sections on fish, puddings and soups. It isn’t just about meat though, with recipes for Glamorgan sausages and squash, chard and sage pie, amongst others. I’m particularly looking forward to trying the fennel, tomato and basil pie, the spicy mutton pie and the blackcurrant jellies.

I have quite a lot recipe books but very few of them include classic dishes. I was a child of the seventies and eighties, the decades that gave us squirty cream, processed cheese and angel delight . . . yuk!!! I think this might be why I like the book so much, it shows British food can compete with other cuisines, that we do have food to be proud of.

The recipes use simple ingredients and are not complicated to make. For that reason I think this book would make a good present for children leaving home and any reluctant cooks out there. There really is no excuse for not being able to cook a good hearty stew or soup if you own this book.

If you happen to be in London and want some tasty and reasonably priced food I can definitely recommend Canteen. They do special ‘2 courses for £10′ deals which are excellent value.

For more information about Canteen go to http://www.canteen.co.uk/#.

The book Canteen, Great British Food is available from Amazon.

Thanks to Charlotte from Ebury Press.

Liebster Award

Tags

An Artist's Garden, Backlanenotebook, Blog award, Green Tapestry, Orkney Flowers, Oxonian Gardener

I would like to thank Jo at Jo’s The Good Life for giving me an award for my blog. It is very much appreciated. I only started blogging a couple of months ago but I love it and it is so lovely to read your comments and when you like something I have written. I love knowing there are people who are as potty about plants as I am.

In the spirit of the award I would like to nominate 5 blogs that I really enjoy reading.

Orkney Flowers

Backlanenotebook

An Artist’s Garden

Oxonian Gardener

Green Tapestry

Please take a moment to stop by these blogs to have a read if you don’t already do so.