Muddy progress

Gradually the long bed on the back plot is beginning to succumb to my attacks on it with the spade, but visits have been brief this week. Last weekend wasn't great weather, Monday I had first of another three chemotherapy sessions so wasn't allowed out of the house for long, Tuesday and Wednesday back at work, Thursday looked after a sick Connor while Beth got Paige from playschool, and today Becky around mid afternoon with Sammy and Izzy. But I'm getting there as this photo shows (click to enlarge), although the ground is pretty wet and you end up six inches taller because of the mud on your wellies.

Poor result on the competition cup front. David and I lost the pub games competition (pool and darts) to John on Wednesday at the Legion Club in St Ives. Won the raquetball cup only by default when Barry couldn't make our Thursday match due to another offspring-induced bout of cold. And worst of all on Tuesday I lost the first squash month to David in spite of only having to get better than a 1-3 loss... he beat me 3-0. Console myself with the fact that I am playing much better than last year (I am really, I am, I'm sure I am).

The garlic is looking strong. Big experiment since these are my own cloves from last year. First signs of the broad beans pushing their heads up. And finally, I potted up some summer bulbs, the first occupants of the 'new' greenhouse.

Little angels

Was it my imagination, or was there a sudden exodus of allotmenteers last Sunday afternoon that coincided with the arrival of my two grandsons pictured here (click to enlarge)? Stuck indoors for most of a miserable weekend, naturally their release into the fresh air was welcomed with shouting and screaming on their parts. Sammy isn't just taking his coat off... it tends to drop off him over time... and Connor isn't in pain, he's just trying a bit too hard smiling-wise.

They'd already been around the allotments in the wheelbarrow, climbed up and along piles of woodchip and splashed in every puddle available. Connor had managed to do his usual trick... this time he fell off a small pile of earth and twisted his knee. Sounded like his leg had dropped off, but after a few minutes of support from Sammy (him being the smaller of the two so it did looked funny!) he'd forgotten all about it.

Got all excited yesterday when I noticed what looked like a big wind turbine newly erected on one of the sheds. Wonder what the generated power is being used for... could it be to heat up the shed? But apparently it's only a windmill. Nevertheless a wind turbine's worth thinking about... it's windy enough on our allotments to keep it going most of the time.

Letters from the St Ives Town Council dropped through the letter box earlier in the week, part of which was about the best kept allotment competition. Thought about it last year but just wasn't ready. But it appears no one entered... I could have won by default! So I'm going to enter this year. What with the back plot dug over, Barry's vines in full bloom and maybe even the fruit cage up and running it'll look the business. Even the paths will be sorted out by then, progress as shown to the right. If all else fails I can enter for the unusual shaped vegetable section!

Apparently I was on the BBC local news last night! Yet another shop is shutting in St Ives, this time Eaden Lilley. I wandered past the shop this afternoon and was aware of a camerman, but he wasn't standing near the camera. Must have had it running and selected me 'cause I didn't look at the camera. Must see if I can get a copy.

Woodchip? Did someone say woodchip?

Because if anyone did I'm likely to have a funny turn. It seems I've been doing nothing but hauling w**dc**p for more than a week. I did manage to speak to the men doing the chipping to ask if they could leave some up my end of the allotment... they were on their last half load so just got to them in time, and every little helps. But having put it on all the paths on the back plot, I've now committed to lining all the paths on the front plot, in between the raised beds as shown above (click to enlarge). At least it's levelling out all the paths and the slugs will hate it. Should hopefully last for a couple of years, since it's really fresh and chunky, and I'll then be faced with replacing it... hopefully by then there'll be more of it available. It's taken me ages (and I'm not finished yet... fortunately there's loads of it left) but I'm balancing it against all the time it'll save me in summer cutting the grass.

Of course one thing leads to another... the feathered fiends have been scratching around and already some of the w**dc**p paths on the back plot are looking considerably wider than originally intended, so I'm boxing them in with wooden planks. Must say it looks really neat and provides a nice edge to the beds. Then I thought I'd need some spare w**dc**p for future repairs, so I'd better put up another couple of compost bins to store some in one. So that's another few hours work I hadn't planned. Where will it end?

Sadly the w**dc**p has come from trees cut down around the cemetery. When Linda and I go for a walk up Old Ramsey Road the ones bordering the road would whisper in the wind... unfortunately they won't be whispering any more.

I've been looking for a small trophy to replace the one David and I used in our twice weekly squash battles, but which broke some while ago. Managed to get three for £2.99 from the YMCA charity shop in St Ives, so I can now have one each for the squash, my weekly raquetball tussle with Barry, and finally for my once fortnightly pool and darts massacre of David and John at the Legion Club in St Ives. That's a whole lot of winding up of sons/son in law to be I can generate. Here's a photo of all three... probably the last time I'll see them all together!

David had recovered enough from his pulled muscle to start the 2009 squash competition on Tuesday. Played out of his skin to beat me 3-1... oh dear, another year of struggle!

Arrival of wood chips

On Monday the groundsmen took down a number of trees at the nearby cemetery and left a huge pile of wood chips on the allotment for anyone to help themselves. There was ultimately more than is shown in this picture (click to enlarge) but I promptly started claiming my share. By this evening quite a bit of the pile had been claimed by several allotmenteers but there's still loads left. After several hours of hauling back and forth I could have kicked myself... why didn't I ask the lorry driver to deposit some wood chips up my end of the allotment to make the journey shorter?

I've now lined the paths on the back plot with a few inches as well as the area around the greenhouse. Toying with the idea of doing the paths on the front plot. It'll take a few hours more effort, but would save me hours in summer cutting grass, and the path levels would be perfect against the raised borders. Oh, and the slugs would hate it.

Of course the feathered fiends had to investigate, and I watched somewhat downhearted as they started scratching away at the neat, newly lined paths distributing the wood chips somewhat further than I'd intended. I'm hoping they get fed up looking for food that just isn't there and return to more productive scratching in the compost heap.

The greenhouse was finished on Monday, including the shelving, & is all ready to go for the spring.

It's been a cold week in Lake Wobegon... oops, slipped into Garrison Keillor mode then. But it has continued to be freezing on Hill Rise Allotments... it's forecast to be down to -7C tonight. The snow from Monday hung around most of the week as shown here, but the forecast is for milder weather from Sunday.

Finally, here are some voice records of the grandchildren. Click to listen to:

Izzy talking about ducks (20-Oct-2008)

Izzy talking about her mat being thrown away (20-Oct-2008)

The grandchildren scoffing my birthday cake (30-Oct-2008)

Connor on his favourite subject of his numbers top

Paige singing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'

How not to put up a greenhouse

Do I see a look of disappointment on Sammy chicken's face at the fact that I've managed to get the front and back sills of the greenhouse on the wrong way? So when I came to fit the door there was no bottom runner to fit it into... it was on the back! Searched out the instructions to confirm my suspicions that it wasn't made clear and therefore not really my fault. Suppose the phrases 'front sill' and 'rear sill' might have been a clue!

Plan A was to swap them round by squeezing out the sills, but after trying to get the one out from the back, with all the glass and fixings in place, I moved swiflty on to plan B. This is now in place... I've fitted a section of metal carpet edging to act as the door runner. Works OK, although I might get a bit fed up after a while having to kick the door shut since it's a bit of a push. Maybe it'll run more freely over time, or a good dollop of my magic grease (which has solved all sorts of household problems over the last twenty years, whatever my wife says) might do the trick.

So I'm now on to fixing up the staging inside the greenhouse, & then finally putting up the guttering and water barrels. Then on to digging over the rest of the 'new' plot.

Barry was up earlier in the week tending to the vines, making ready for the second season... though we won't get any wine out of them until next year. Sammy pottered around, there's a photo of the playroom he made for the chickens at the foot of this posting.

Been very cold for almost a fortnight now, apparently the longest spell of freezing weather for ten years. The chickens have been having trouble with frozen water and been pretty thirsty when I've turned up. Peering through the gloom of this early morning it looks like we've got snow now, although not too thick.

Broke open the first bottle of apple wine made from the 2008 harvest, ably assisted by sister in law Trudy, who was staying (as well as daughter Sarah) for a few days after New Year with us. Very nice (the wine that is, though Trudy is OK as well)... sweet, smooth and strong. No chemicals used, just apples, raisins, sugar, water and yeast allied to careful cleanliness and patience.

Lost the 2008 squash competition to David, though I managed to take it to a play off. I've got great hopes for the 2009 competition. I seem to be over back problems since doing regular exercise to strengthen my back muscles, and I'm playing better than ever. But there'll be a delay in the start for this year... he's suffering from a torn muscle in his side.

2008 was a year of hope for me... after the big worries over the bladder tumour diagnosis in January the year ended with an all clear at my last checkup. Long may it continue!

And what about 2009? Of course I've given myself a resolution to always read instructions carefully... but I'm very positive about this year. Allotment-wise I'm much further ahead than I've ever been in preparation for the new season, the greenhouse should extend the growing season significantly, and once I've dug over the new plot I'll have no shortage of room. I reduced my working days to two in August, so I'm looking forward to lots of country walks with Linda in spring and summer. We're planning to go on holiday to Torquay, the first time back there for years. And of course my daughter Becky gets married to Barry in August... really looking forward to that.

More photos below, including the annual year on year progress comparison of my allotment. Just click to enlarge. John

	January 2006, before any work at all... yes, it really is as bad as it looks!
	January 2007, with shed number one still standing
	January 2008, with the new shed and chicken hut built, getting ready to build the chicken run, and have acquired the rear plot
	January 2009, even managing to grow things over winter!
	Sammy's playroom for the chickens
	Chickens glad for some water