Posted on Sat, Apr 11, 2009
If you've checked the weather forecast on either the MET office or BBC for the last week it will have promised rain the next day, everyday.
In reality this is not what happened. It would change, usually later in the afternoon, from Heavy rain to Heavy showers to Light showers, then cloudy and finally sun for the whole day.
Well on Friday they got it right some time after lunch the sun didn't reappear from behind the clouds and my woolly jumper actually started to get wet, what a relief.
I have been sowing all the green manures in a hurry to catch this rain so the dry spell we were having was making me a little nervous. Now that the rain has come and the ground is warm the seeds that were sown should all start to grow. The bottom field where the Humus builder was sown a few weeks ago is starting to come up, lots of little Di-cots appearing over the field and I'm fairly sure they aren't just weeds, I also think the Phacelia in the herb spiral is starting to show its head too.
The cold frames are all finished now and one of them has been sown with rocket (kindly donated by Plaw Hatch Farm) and radish's and the other has been prepared for the herbs I have been germinating in the greenhouse.
I have been working with the Early Years (part-time Steiner Teacher Training) class for an hour and a half everyday, they have helped significantly to get the beds ready for cold frames and sowing the seeds in them. We also looked at the biodynamic composting system and prepped the heaps in the garden, sowed some module trays and I explained to them what the objectives where for the biodynamic garden and the future of it. It was a really great experience for me taking a group of 10 people around the garden and showing them what has been achieved this year, answering any questions they have about the Biodynamic preparations and why I'm doing certain things. Even though I found it a bit exhausting working with such a group, I really hope that it will happen more and more, 10 pairs of hands can do a lot if they are directed in a good way and watching them all breaking up the hard lumps of soil in the cold frames with very little effort really made me smile, it would have taken me a day to prepare both of the frames, and it only took them 15 minutes!
Around the campus the gardens are coming alive, the forget-me-nots are all out in full bloom and the early tree blossom is out in full force with magnificent patches of white scattered through the hedges, the magnolias outside Pixton are looking quite amazing too. Spring has finally arrived. This meant that the weeding is also beginning, the onions were cultivated on Friday to catch the first flush of red shank (the most common weed I've noticed so far). It's a rewarding job to do, looking back down the row afterwards and just seeing a tidy row of little green shoots coming off the onions, I'm quite sure that it's going to be a feeling I'll get back many more times this year.
Finally some great news for the garden, we got a mention on the observer food blog column, courtesy of my friend Stephen Parle http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/allotment/2009/apr/09/gardeningadvice-gardens1
I saw him recently in London at the first night of his new venture with Joseph Trivelli called The Moveable Restaurant, an absolute delight, it was simply the best food I have eaten for many years, thanks Stevie. The evening is held in London and their next one is in the theme of Elizabeth David French style. The website is http://themoveablerestaurant.squarespace.com/. Please check them out it was excellent value and quality served with ease and a smile, which always makes the food taste good.
Posted on Sat, Apr 04, 2009
Potatoes are in the ground and I'm much relieved by this; it is really quite a weight off my mind. Not knowing what the weather will do in the coming month it seemed fairly important for me to get them in. The other contributing factors were that I had some scholarship students working with me in the afternoons and the light weight tractor I was going to use to form the ridges is out of action for at least a week or two (the rocker arm has broken). This meant doing all the work by hand, quite a task for one person but with a team of 4 things really can go a bit quicker, we started at 9 and finished at 7 and got all the 31 Kg of seed potatoes in the ground with some well rotted manure.
The ground had been cultivated but not deeply so we had to dig trenches 50 meters in length (and perfectly straight of course) so as to put the potatoes in them and then bury them, this being the easiest of the tasks. There was quite a lot of couch grass growing at the beginning of the rows which we spent some time pulling out, my theory being that for each strand you pull out it makes it easier for next year, these weeding jobs are really important to make time for in these early stages other wise they'll get on top of you in the future; I was also using my fabulous de-docker later emptying a couple of beds of the much loved Dock.
The task was completed with high spirit and much love so the crop is sure to be tasty, we planted Charlotte, Bambino, Sante, Arron Victory and Pink Fir Apple (a favourite of Wendy Cooks'), afterwards all going back to my house for a couple of refreshing drinks and lots of lovely food, we had purple sprouting and chard from Plaw Hatch, Skirt steaks from Tablehurst Farm and Rhubarb with cream from the biodynamic Emerson Carson Garden, with lots of happy well fed workers everyone slept very well.....
This all happened on Thursday, today (Saturday) I got a call from Arjen (Biodynamic Agriculture Course leader) offering me 10 Kg of seed potato, I said I'd think about it and get back to him. My first thought was no way, I can never complete a task like that by myself it would take a day, which at the moment I can't spare. Then after a cup of Earl Grey my mind got into gear and I came up with a brain wave. We have a two wheel tractor which a one furrow plough fits onto the back of, if I can use the plough to make the ridges the jobs an easy one. Out on the field it worked, so I got the spuds and planted them all out with manure in less than 3 hours.
Why I asked myself didn't I do it like this in the first place?
Because working in a team to do such a task is so much more rewarding than having a machine do it all for you, I'm sure in the future we'll use a tractor to do all the work, but the question is, will they taste as good as the ones that had the sweat and blood of the loving workers go into them?