Wildlife and harvest

After three days of rain I was itching to get to the plot but was sadly greeted by a very horrible site, the decapitated remains of a seagull.  It was decomposing and smelly and my worst experience since starting on the plot was having to move and bury it.  Sorry - not a pleasant thing to report - but I guess it's all part of the circle of life - he was probably a lovely meal for some wily fox.

On a much happier note I enjoyed a lovely few hours in the sunshine picking raspberries (still more ripening after 3 months of picking)! blackberries, my first few tomatos (the first of which went ceremoniously into my mouth within one second of leaving the bush and exploded in a juicy blast of flavour), beetroot, a couple of beans and my first ever potatoes.  The chamomile flowers in the photo took ages to get going when I planted them out but now look very happy.  Another candidate for my cups of fresh herb tea perhaps.  I also picked more flowers to bring home - it certainly seems true that the more you cut the more they grow!

I'd taken my lunch over today and added some lemon balm, fennel fronds, mint and oregano to the salad.  Yum Yum!  It's so brilliant being able to pick food and eat it straight away knowing it's not been sprayed with anything nasty.  

Then  I saw a mouse or a vole or something small brown and quick darting across one of the beds, there were lots of butterlies today and the frog was sitting in the grass.  I saw several slow worms when I lifted some card which I'd put down to suppress the weeds and then in the compost bin I saw this little lot.  I can count four heads but I think there are probably about six.   The slow worms obviously love the heat of the compost heap under the lino which I have covering it up.  Of course they slither away fast the minute I take that off so I had to be quick for the photo.  I thought they were totally harmless but someone the other day told me they can bit hard.  I was happy that they liked to live in my compost bin but now I have mixed feelings as I think they've eaten all the worms which break it down so brilliantly. 

Co-worker at Plot 61

In July last year I went to look at my neighbour Chris's allotment just around the corner.  I had seen him setting off with tools many times and asked about what he was growing.  I was interested as I'd always wanted a garden but had never had one and so my growing attempts had been limited to my balcony pots.  

The plot was amazing very lush and full to bursting with flowers and vegetables.  I loved it and was very impressed as Chris had only had it for one year.  I now wish I'd taken a photo so I could remember what plants he had.

A few months later Chris told me that he and his wife were planning to move to Worthing so if he put me down as a co-worker at the plot I could take it over when he left. Brilliant!  There is a 3 year waiting list and although I had been on it and come to the top about 2 years after moving to Shoreham-by-Sea, the plot I was offered was massive and totally overgrown which I knew was too much for me so I turned it down.  This time I felt very excited at the prospect although a little daunted to my total lack of knowledge.  luckily my life had changed a bit though so I knew I had more time work on it.

In December I was given a key and went to explore but where was the plot?  On a muddy wet December day it was like another world to the one I remembered and I looked around the whole area where I knew the plot was but didn't recognise it amongst the sad looking sheds and empty beds.  I still liked the peace and quiet and the atmosphere there and was keen to get going.

Chris told me the number to look for on the shed and I went back, found the right one and wondered if I'd ever make it look like he had done by the summer!  I had a holiday over Christmas and in January went to do a bit of tentative tidying up.  Chris still had crops growing like beetroot, leeks, brocolli and chard which I picked and took to him each week and I didn't really feel I could get going because the shed was full of junk and I had no tools!  Also it didn't really feel like my plot yet. 

In early March Chris cleared all his stuff away so at last the rickety shed was mine!
I took a whole car load of junk to the tip including a large piece of asbestos.  Two guys there were very on the ball and noticed before I chucked it in the skip.  I had no idea how seriously that is treated.  I was told to take it home, spray it with water, wrap it in two sheets of plastic and tape it closed before returning it to a special asbestos container. I may have breathed in some dust but luckily it was damp so hopefully I didn't.  

My lovely sister came to stay with me so that we could spend a whole day clearing and sorting things out.  Irene is an expert gardener and has a big garden full of flowers.  At this stage though I just needed more muscles.  I am a bit of a weakling and she is a lot stronger than me so her help was greatly appreciated.  There was a pile of wood chips in the access road at the other end of the allotment and we decided it would be great to put a layer on the muddy weed ridden paths between the square wooden beds.  We borrowed a wheelbarrow and Irene pushed the very heavy loads back to the plot and having weeded the paths we spread the wood chip over them.  It looked so much better and I was very pleased to have made a start at taming the wilderness.