Sunday 29 July 2012

Down in the allotment doldrums

This year has been rubbish for the allotment. Lots of rain has meant our potato patch turned into a paddy field, the slugs have set up a regional HQ in our brassica patch, the alliums have all got a bad case of rust, and the corn is sitting there complaining about the general cold, as it's originally from Central America, doncha know.

Added to this, the rain has meant we have been rather less inclined to venture across town to our mud bath, so the weeds have come back with a vengeance, and I have become increasingly grumpy at the lack of sunshine (I blame my Mediterranean genetics - I'm not meant to be this far north!).

Operation grow-all-our-own-lettuce has been going quite well, but morale is definitely low. On such occasions Jon usually suggests a trip to the garden centre, and I generally resist, citing peat-based compost and excessive use of insecticides as a reason not to buy garden centre plants. However, we went, and I am OH so glad we did!


It would seem that as we're nearing the end of the main growing season, all the unwanted veggie plants are headed to the great compost heap in the sky, unless frugal chaps (and chapesses) like us snap them up.

I love trips like that because a) I love a good bargain and b) I love plants. Most of what we bought were (perennial) herbs and winter veg (though Jon currently has a bit of a pepper obsession, maybe it's a man thing). I will have to do a separate post on winter veg as it's currently my favourite thing, but I will mention that amongst our purchases were beets, kale, endives and chard. If anything it's a little early for some of these guys, but they'll do us well when we move to our new allotment. I also discovered once we'd bought it, that Italian radiccio lettuce also goes under the guise of chicory - an excellent winter veg.

The herbs are definitely my main success though. Next year I plan on having a lot more of them on the allotment, hopefully to deter some pesky pests, but also as we never seem to be able to grow enough herbs for the amount we get through! Fifty pence for 3 pots of thyme = a bargain in my books.

Hooray for the 'dead and dying' section of the garden centre!



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