Who Can Grow the Biggest

After the success of last years largest pumpkin competition our quest this year is to see who can grow the biggest marrow.Free seeds are now available either from Clive or the trading shed on Sunday mornings.The judging will take place at a social gathering on 20th September when marrow soup(yummy!!)will be available.Please bring along anything you may have made from marrow or squashes (jam,chutney,rum etc.)for a tasting.A trophy will be presented to the winner.

Talk on Organic Gardening

Hello everyone:We are very pleased to announce that Jack Dudley Swale of Spa Hill and the Spa Hill Organic Gardening Group will be talking on organic gardening on Saturday, May 9th at 3.00pm at the Forster Road Allotments Community House.Jack has much experience in this area; he says that "the secret is in the soil". There'll be lots of time for questions and it is free of charge. Coffee and tea will be on sale; proceeds of which will go toward the allotment fund.

Coffee Morning and Seed Swap

Everybody is welcome to come along to the Forster Road allotments Seed Swap and Coffee morning. Bring a long any seeds that you no longer need or want, and add them to the "Seed Swap" table. Then have a rummage through the table to see if there is anything you fancy... you never know what you will find.Tea's, coffee's, cakes and maybe even bacon sandwiches will be available for the duration. Please pop along with your seed (spare seedlings if you have any yet....)There will be no official "charge" for the refreshments, but an honesty box will be available, with all proceeds going to the allotment fund.

Come along on Sunday 5th April to Forster Road Headquarter Building Clock House Road Beckenham. 10am - 1pm

I Do Like Monday's

This is Simba our "Bengal" which is a cross between a domestic cat and a wild Asian Leopard Cat. Simba is three generations away from the wild cat but is a real softy though he has his "mad half hour moments"
I don't know this persons name but rain,snow or shine he(or she)is always there.


As it is now warming up the bees are beginning to be more active.As I took this picture I should really have taken heed of the sign on the entrance as they were buzzing about me a bit. (Sorry Mike and Sue)

No flowers, no bees;No bees, no flowers.Blooming and buzzing,Buzzing and blooming;Married and still in Love.- Mike Garofalo

On Our Way At Last

We were really looking forward to Sunday to finally get some work done on the plot. When we arrived I discovered that I had a puncture and spent the next half hour changing the wheel,not a very good start to the day.The metal pole that Barb is holding I have been trying to remove for the last five years and yesterday finally succeeded as the ground was so wet.

We are trying to level off the part of the plot that tends to get waterlogged in heavy rain and we were able to prepare the bed for our onions.So what started as a rotten day turned out quite productive.Man - despite his artistic pretentions, his sophistication and his many accomplishments - owes his existence to a six- inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains. - Anonymous

A Kipper Month

An animal's eyes have the power to speak a great language.- Martin Buber

Not much happening at the moment.I went to the allotments this morning just to top up the bird feeders and hang up a peanut ring that my grandchildren gave me.It was their birthdays this week my granddaughter Cassie was five and Rhys was nine.They were both born on February 11th 2000 and 2004.
I went to the garden centre today and bought some onion and shallot sets but heaven knows when the ground will be dry enough to plant them.Barbara and I will be going tomorrow to put up a couple of nest boxes and do a bit of pottering,lets hope that it stays dry.

Trading Shed

It took a supreme effort to get out of a warm bed this morning to go and man the trading shed. I really did not think that we would see anyone but when we arrived Mike was already underway in the site hall giving one of his bee keeping lessons to quite a few people. We did have a few visitors to the shed. Some to pay rents for the next year and I sold a few bags of John Innes and even some slug pellets.

Babara had the good sense to take our stove and stuff to make a hot drink, it really was freezing. Our next time to man the shed is mid May so I hope that it will be a lot warmer then.

"Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get" - Mark Twain

Another Frustrating Week

It is hard to believe that only a short while ago we were sitting here in the sun having our BBQ and sipping wine. I really do love our seasons even though I am itching to do some allotmenteering. It is our turn to man the trading shed tomorrow so hope we have a customer or two but if it stays as cold as it is I doubt it.

"There are two seasonal diversions that can ease the bite of any winter.One is the January thaw. The other is the seed catalogues."- Hal Borland

After all the rain we have had lately the last thing I wanted was snow.The only good thing about it is that it is the only time that our plot looks as good as anyone else.

We wanted to take some pictures while the snow was still on the trees but could not get near to the site with the car.Mike and Sue who are expert bee keepers are setting up an apiary on our site.I think that we are going to have six hives in total and three, complete with bees, are now in place. It is great to think that we will soon be able to have our very own honey. The bees had decided to have a day indoors when I took this picture. Mike and Sue have a website about their activities called "Bees'n'Beans and I have added a link on my list. It is a very interesting, and amusing, read.

What a difference a day makes

This picture was taken from my kitchen window yesterday morning.I was unable to get my car out of the garage and as the trains and buses were not running I reluctantly? stayed at home.Barbara had already booked this week as holiday but as she works at a hospital was waiting for a phone call to ask her to go in but she wasn't needed.We would have liked to have visited the allotment to take pictures but there was no way.

The picture on the right was taken ten minutes ago but as I am writing this it has started snowing again.I was hoping the sun would thaw it a bit but I shall have to get the shovel out to clear the garage. I WANT TO GET GROWING GRRRRRR!!!! I suppose it kills off a few nasties though.

Soggy Sunday

We spent a very pleasant three hours on the plot yesterday.The weather was kind and we were able to catch up a bit on a number of jobs that had been neglected. I removed the bean canes and put on the compost heap what remained of our failed sprouts. I will give them one more try this year to see if I can get any bigger than marbles.

I went to the potato fair today and just bought some Charlotte. I arrived at 10am as it opened and the queue was already quite long.They had an amazing selection of varieties and you are able to buy single tubers.The stall that interested me was a chap selling old gardening tools mostly from the 1950's and 60's they were real quality unlike some of the stuff on sale nowadays.

I then went to our site as I had to pay my rent for this year. We had so much rain last night that a part of my new plot was waterlogged, I shall have to remember which bits when it comes to sowing and planting.

Filled the bird feeders up and called it a day. We had a green woodpecker among our plum trees yesterday. Today just robin and great tits.

New Year New Beginning

Belated happy new year.

Well after all the trauma of last year Barbara and I are determined to have a productive and stress free 2009. We still have our two plots and Barbara has been elected onto our site committee with me.

We are going to the plot this morning to do a bit of planning and tomorrow I am going to the potato fair at Peckham. They have people from The Rustic Mushroom Company there and as I was given mushroom spawn on dowels for Christmas I want to ask for advice on logs etc.

Barbara got a new digital camera for Xmas so will now be able to put plenty of pictures on here.

My grandson Rhys while playing as goalkeeper for his Langley Hawks football team was spotted by someone from Crystal Palace FC and after many trials has been signed for there academy for this season. Very exciting, tomorrow they are playing at home against Portsmouth.

Will post again very soon with an update.