Allotment News

We’re trying to get the first news letter of this committee out for our allotment association, the Hill Rise Allotment Association. Listed below are some of the ideas for articles… but please, if you’ve got any ideas we could include please add a comment at the foot of this post.

• Things to do around the plot at this time of year
• Profile of a committee member (any volunteers, or you may have to put up with me first!)
• Shed pin up of the month
• How the best plot won the prize
• Future events
• Issues the committee is working on
• Little known fact
• Whacky New Year’s resolutions
• Swap section
• Anyone growing an interesting or unusual crop now or for next year?
• Reminder that the committee can organise one-off help where needed
• Advice on a specific vegetable, pest, encouraging wildlife (e.g. how to make bug hotel)
• Reminder that no vehicles on allotments over next few months

We’re also planning to have lots of wildlife events next year, since the UN have declared 2010 the International Year of Biodiversity. Anyone tried this before, any ideas? Suggestions & contributions gratefully welcomed!

Making a bit more headway with the digging project, though it’s really heavy going at the moment. After a summer when we went weeks without rain there now seems to be a downpour every day! Linda & I went on one of our favourite walks, St Ives to Hemingford Abbots, stopping off half way for a delicious coffee at the Axe & Compass. As we sat in the comfort of the lounge Linda unfortunately remarked on how lucky we were it hadn’t rained (the forecast was heavy rain in the morning). It was a light shower as we left the pub, and so heavy by the time we were half way back there was no point sheltering since we couldn't have got any wetter!

Photos and video shown below form this week.

Taxing question

Readers to this blog will have probably got the general feeling I’m not a great fan of the Labour Party. And with the general election coming at the latest in May next year I’m sure all our thoughts in the UK are likely to turn increasingly to the choice we’ll have to make. Sadly these days it’s all about personalities and not policies… I’m not sure at what point politicians became celebrities but the day isn’t far away when we’ll see one of them on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. I must admit to a fondness for the decisiveness of David Cameron, but no party really fulfils my selection criteria of getting us out of the European Union, a most undemocratic and economically corrupt organisation whose own accounts have failed to pass audit for the past thirteen years, allied with small government and low taxes.

It’s the latter topic that’s been exercising my mind during the last week. We bought some Christmas presents this week. Included in the base cost were taxes such as vehicle and fuel tax (on the lorries used for transport) and employers national insurance contributions. The cost was then increased by VAT. I purchased the presents with part of my salary paid net of income tax and national insurance. If I have any money spare and invest it I’m taxed on the interest earned. If I’m lucky to successfully save enough to pass on to my children they’ll have to pay inheritance tax before they can receive the money left to them.

It was Jean-Baptiste Colbert who said the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest amount of feathers with the least possible amount of hissing… and boy does the UK government obfuscate when it comes to collecting taxes. Tax freedom day in 2009, the day in the year when the average Briton has earned enough to pay his annual tax bill, came on 14-May. But this is illusory; since we’re borrowing far more than we’re earning the real date from which we’re tax free is 25-Jun… the real rate of taxation in the UK for the average person is almost 50%!

So I’m thinking of forming the Party of Honest Taxation. I will stand on a mandate of a single form of taxation in the UK, that of income tax. There will be no other taxes… no inheritance tax, vehicle tax, tobacco or alcohol tax, no VAT or national insurance deductions. Once it’s clear to taxpayers the real amount of money they’re currently being fleeced for there’ll be a riot and the profligacy currently endemic in central government will be removed.

Not sure if it’s going to happen though… unsure if I can afford the costs of setting up my party from the money I’ve got left!

Sunset over Allotment Heaven

Interesting caterpillar to identify

Fly wings to identify

Queen bee

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Honey bees

Global warming may be the darling of the apocalypse merchants, but we face a much greater threat that would solve the CO2 emissions problem in the relative bat of the eye.

It was no less a figure than Albert Einstein who predicted if the honey bee became extinct mankind would follow in four years. At the beginning of the 20th century there were one million hives in Great Britain, reduced to 400,000 by the 1950s. Today we can hardly muster 250,000 hives and the trend indicates our honey bee population may be wiped out within ten years.

Increasing use of pesticides and higher levels of pollution have taken their toll over the years, but it’s the accelerated decline that’s particularly worrying. There’s a complex mix of causes as diverse as the introduction of the varroa mite in the 1990s to the more recent high price of wheat encouraging farmers to grow far more than normal at the expense of nectar producing crops. Things are getting so urgent that the UK government has started to take notice with £2million being spent on research over the next five years. Sadly such fiscal activity is normally a good indicator that things have gone too far for recovery and there’s been criticism of it being too little too late after years of underfunding and neglect.

In 2008 the UK honey harvest was down by 50%. Last winter a third of hives were lost. We now import a substantial amount of our honey, but the problem is not just one of honey supplies. A third of the food we eat is depends on pollination from honey bees… hence Einstein’s prediction. No honey bees, no apples, strawberries, carrots, onions etc. etc. And the problem is not confined to our shores. Take almonds for example… 80% of our supply comes from the USA where every year bees are trucked from Florida to California to pollinate those almonds.

Honey bees are fascinating creatures…

• A single hive will be home to as many as 50,000 bees
• It takes nectar from two million flowers and 90,000 bee miles (three times around the globe) to produce one pound of honey

  
• In one trip a bee will visit up to 100 flowers
• The honey bee is the only insect that produces food for humans
• When a good source of nectar is found the bee flies back to the hive and shows its friends where the nectar source is by doing a sort of dance positioning the flower in relation to the sun and the hive

At our last meeting of the Hill Rise Allotment Association committee we were discussing wildlife projects for next year and someone mentioned the increased number of honey bees they’d noticed on their plot. Cue a shy smile from another committee member who’s started his own bee hive in the last year. Think we’ve got another couple positioned around the plots… must go and have a look. Would love to start my own hive, but fear I’d have an easier job trying to fly myself than convincing my wife it’s a Good Thing. Linda has only just started to accompany me up to the plot so the last thing I want to do is scare her off with thoughts of bee stings.

Shared the plot with Sammy on Sunday. The usual den building occupied him most of the time, but initially we had a few trips to the woodchip pile to put several layers on the muddy part of the hen run. Popped in on Ray, the gatekeeper of our allotments since he’s there most of every day, to see his new pond... thinking of putting one on my plot to attract wildlife. Sammy caused some amusement since I’d stuck a pair of gloves on him which were far too big. See video of his daring escapades below.

It was with some trepidation that I switched my PC on this morning. Not sure if you’re up to speed with the Samsung HMX-U10 flash camcorder affair bought for my birthday. Popped the PC in to Antechs in St Ives for a new graphics card since the existing one wasn’t up to the job of displaying the new high definition video, estimate about £50. Later in the day got a call… the new graphics card was so power hungry I’d need a new electricity input at about £30… oh dear. Later still got a call from the boss, Tom… bad sign! They’d also put extra RAM in but had come to the conclusion that the existing mother board fitted a year or so ago at a cost of £200 needed upgrading too. In effect we’re talking a new PC, cost just a shade under £500! Given I only paid £130 for the camcorder I don’t think I’ll go that route, so I’ll have to edit the new video footage using the TV. But fair credit to Antechs… they put my PC back together again and made no charge. I’ve always found them reasonable and honest.

	Caterpillar found by Sammy under some wood.
	Are my hens neat layers or what?
	One of our water tanks, attractive with floating autumn leaves. If only I could have kept my shadow out of the image!
	Huckleberries, a gift from my allotment neighbour, Peter. Haven’t seen them grown before and I’m going to try myself next year… though they don’t seem to have much taste.
	String beans I’ve saved from this year’s crop to plant next year.
	Onion seedlings continue to do well in the shed.
	Newly laid out plots along the front of the allotments. The Town Council are setting up a further fifty plots in the adjoining field, so our veggie community is thriving!

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Onion (allium cepa)

Why plant

Easy to grow and store.

Essential cooking ingredient in many recipes.

Grows easily from seed.

Interesting uses

Got cold feet? Rub with an onion to get the circulation going again.

To get rid of the smell of paint from a newly decorated room simply place a cut onion in its centre.

Origins

The source for the plant we know today is somewhat unclear. There are five possible wild plants it could have evolved from, all of which grow in the central Asian region.

Certainly eaten in the Bronze Age, definite evidence of cultivation appears in ancient Egypt about 3000BC with onions being fed to the slaves building the pyramids. Roman gladiators were rubbed down with onions to firm up their muscles, and it was the Romans who named and introduced the onion to Europe… the Latin name was ‘unio’ for large pearl, changed to ‘oignon’ by the French.

The status of the onion rose substantially after French Onion Soup was made popular by Stanislaus I, the former King of Poland. In the Middle Ages onions were such an important food that people would pay their rent with onions and even give them as gifts. Doctors prescribed onions to facilitate bowel movements and to relieve headaches, coughs, snakebite and hair loss.

Health benefits
Onions may be a useful herb for the prevention of cardiovascular disease, especially since they diminish the risk of blood clots. They also protect against stomach and other cancers, as well as certain infections. Onion can improve lung function especially in asthmatics.

Planting

Although onions may be yellow, red, or white, seventy percent of onions grown are yellow. Yellows are good all-purpose onions and the best winter keepers. They also have tougher skins, are more disease-resistant and less susceptible to insects. Reds are the sweetest but are generally the worst keepers. Whites are grown for salad or spring onions, harvested as "green onions" before their bulbs form.

Onions prefer a sunny position with a rich but light soil, but they’ll do well in most soils. Don’t plant in freshly manured soil since they need little nitrogen.

Can be planted as sets (small, immature onions) in spring or late summer. These increase in size and each forms one full-sized bulb when ready to harvest. Generally growing onions from sets is easier and more reliable than from seed. In cooler, damper areas the sets should give a better yield of larger bulbs than if grown from seed, but there are less varieties available and the cost is higher than if grown from seed. Plant 10cm apart with 20cm between rows, pointed end upwards so the tip just below soil level.

My preferred method is to plant Japanese onion seeds (senshyu semi globe yellow) in autumn in drills 1cm deep with rows 40cm apart. Leave until spring, when the seedlings should be thinned to 5cm apart. If leaving late in the season try planting in a greenhouse in trays & transplanting 5cm apart when hardened off.

Spring (salad) onions should be sown thinly each fortnight from March to July in short rows 1cm deep and 10cm between rows.

Aftercare

There’s very little else to do… just keep them weed free!

Harvesting

When the leaves start to turn yellow in mid summer bend them over to encourage early ripening. In late summer carefully lift the bulbs and allow to dry out.

Spring onions are just pulled up whenever needed from May to September.

Recipes

Onion relish

Onion and cheese soda bread

Onion and cheddar soufflés

Onion and tomato soup

Spiced onion jam

Common problems

• Bolting is a very common problem and happens when the onion suddenly puts up a central stalk that develops a seed head. Usually caused by weather conditions… a cold spring followed by a hot summer seems to make it worse. Loose soil can also cause bolting, the plant roots being disturbed the plant thinks it’s starving and reacts by trying to spread its seed. Cut the stalk off an inch above the bulb and use these onions first since they don’t store well.
  
  
• Grey mould on onions in store and general rotting is usually caused by the onions being insufficiently dried out prior to storing or damp storage conditions. Check regularly and discard rotting onions before the problem spreads to the rest.
  
  
• Mould or rust may occur during prolonged wet periods. The bulbs need to be thrown away or burnt. During rainy periods give protection with a cloche, but allow ventilation.
  
  
• Onion white rot causes the foliage to go yellow and wilt… check for fluffy white growths to confirm it’s onion white rot. Plants should be thrown away (not composted) and don’t grow garlic or onions in the same area for at least 8 years.
  
  
• Downy Mildew gives the leaves slightly lighter patches in the early stages that turn to brown as the disease gets worse. Parts affected will eventually fold over and die. When the stalks are affected they weaken and fall over. Use crop rotation and proper drainage to avoid.
  
  
• Onion Fly lays its eggs by the base of the onion which then hatch into maggots who eat away at the base of the onion and its roots. Usually only strikes at direct sown onion onions, being attracted by the scent of them when thinning. Early signs are yellowing and drooping leaves. The only cure is to prevent access using fleece.
  
  

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Spooky garage

There’s definitely something strange about our garage. It’s a dark place at the best of times, but on a stormy night the doors rattle and the wind whistles.

The grandchildren, normally full of noise and action, grow silent when they go in there. Although nice and tidy when I leave, on returning everything is in a mess. My wife Linda hasn’t been there for years, and everything that needs to go in gets left around the front door for me to either move into the garage or keep tripping over.

I’m beginning to realise that keeping my tools in the garage explains a lot of the difficulties I have with DIY. Whenever I try to put a screw in the wall of our house nothing seems to work… wrong screw, wrong screwdriver, wrong raw plug, even wrong wall sometimes. There must be a curse on my toolbox.

I reckon it’s the ghost of rodents past. A few years ago we bunny sat daughter Becky’s pet rabbit while she was on holiday. Brought a bale of hay back from her cottage in the countryside for  bedding and stored it in the garage.

Shortly after I started seeing out of the corner of my eye lightening quick movements up the garage wall... so quick I could never fix on what it was. Then noticed some of the rubbish bags were being nibbled at, We’d got a pest! After trying several solutions I put rat poison down on a ledge running around the top of the garage wall. No more problems. Some while later during the annual tidying up of the garage I found the desiccated remains of a rat. Yuk!

That wasn’t the end of the story. We had our soffits replaced some years later, and while replacing the bits in the porch another dried out rat was discovered. Not only that, but there was evidence of gnawing away of wooden supports… not enough to compromise safety, but if the rats had been around longer goodness knows what damage they’d have caused!

Whatever the spook is, better not mess with my homebrew apple wine or there’ll be real trouble!

The Fiat Panda is going well…. almost hit 500 miles on the clock in six weeks. Wow… some mileage! I’ve noticed a strange tendency for other car users waiting at junctions to throw themselves out in front of me. Think they must take one look and assume it’s an old age pensioner driving, and not the youthful and thrusting racing driver gripping the steering wheel. Having mistakenly decided it’s going to be ages before I reach them they launch themselves with gay abandon even if only I’m yards away.

Still decorating the living room. Madly wallpapering for the last week and determined to finish today. Looks really nice, but I’ve spent so much time in there I now get a nervous twitch in my left eye whenever I go in the room.

Had the first committee meeting of the Hill Rise Allotment Association last week, very productive. You can see the minutes by clicking here to access the HRAA web site, then go to the Forum page (to be renamed Committee page soon) to see all committee business and documents.

Only fleeting visits to the allotment since the main focus has been decorating. Really pleased to see the Japanese onion seeds sprouting, see photo below.

 

	Here are the baby Japanese onion seeds sprouting after about ten days
	Lettuce seedlings
	Fig tree cutting
	Vine cuttings and hop plant
	Mushrooms growing all over the allotment from wood chips laid earlier in the year… to read that story click here
	Strange headgear on a duck at The Waits, St Ives

 

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Weight up!

Two things happen every year on the last Sunday in October. Firstly British Summer Time ends and the clocks go back one hour. Secondly I magically put on a few pounds in weight.

Now we’re not talking about crash diets or anything drastic, but I’m trying to puzzle out what happens to cause this. In the dim and distant PM time (pre-marriage) I weighed in at about 10st 7lbs and ran like a whippet. Nothing to do with fitness, mainly ‘cause I was poor in managing what little money I had. After paying rent and the previous month’s bank overdraft, and having a post pay day blow out of fish and chips and pub lunches, I lived the rest of the month hand to mouth. If it wasn’t for my then girlfriend, now wife Linda, I’d probably have wasted away.

Weight crept up a bit over the years until I peaked at well over 12st and decided the gym was calling. Combined with calorie counting I got down to my fighting weight of 11st 6lbs, before gradually creeping back up to near 12st again.

When my blinking bladder gave us all such a fright in January 2008 and I thought I’d got a battle on my hands it was time to get into fighting shape again. Think I went a bit too far; gym and calorie counting got me down to 10st 10lbs, but I guess it wasn’t the best time to start losing weight at that rate… probably appeared as though I was on my way out, looking a bit gaunt… back up to 11st 6lbs.

So why have I suddenly whopped on a few more pounds? It’s not the lack of activity… still hauling myself around the squash court twice a week, tennis and pitch and putt once a week (suppose the pool & darts don’t count in this context!). Maybe with the nights coming in it’s a subconscious need to stock up for the winter, though I’m not planning to hibernate any time soon. Should I give up my one weakness… McVities Dark Chocolate Digestives, wine, and whisky?

So I’m planning to beat those scales by…

• eating with my other hand, and maybe even using chopsticks
• making sure I’ve cut my finger nails, trimmed what little hair I’ve got and exhaling before stepping on the scales

Of course it could be something to do with my birthday falling at the end of October. Got some lovely gifts, including chocolates, all eaten now, and whisky, which is warming up the evenings. Still struggling to master the new Samsung HMX-U10 HD flash camcorder. Spent £12 on a 4gb sd card which gives me 45 minutes of recording time. Now find the graphic card on my PC isn’t up to the job of displaying the film, so that’ll be another £50 to fit a newer one. Ho hum.

On the allotment it’s dig, dig, dig as I make gradual progress in lifting up all the raised beds. Still waiting for onions seeds to sprout. Took some blackcurrant cuttings. Tomatoes in the greenhouse just about finished… they’re still flowering but the fruit are struggling to turn from green to red. Need a recipe for green tomato chutney. It’s our first Hill Rise Allotment Association committee meeting tonight so lots of plotty type things to discuss.

I’ve started doing posts on specific vegetables so I have record of when to plant and what to do. You can access the details on the right under ‘Labels’ by selecting the vegetable (e.g. garlic) or the season (e.g. ‘Autumn planting’).

 

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