Meeting on the Allotment Project

After finishing work this morning, I went to a meeting of the community allotment project that has been started by our local NHS trust. I went to the wrong building at first. This wasn't my fault as it was the building given as the venue on the email I received and the newsletter, and several other people had also been there before me only to find it wasn't there. Anyway, the receptionist asked if I had a telephone number she could ring on my behalf and I found a number on an email on my mobile. She phoned the number and found out what where it was really being held. I was none too pleased, particularly as there were only a few minutes to go until the meeting was due to start. Anyway, I cycled to the place and got there a few minutes late and the person holding the meeting apologised for the mistake.

I am not a great fan of meetings, but mostly that is because I associate them with work. But unlike that type of meeting, this was useful and didn't go on too long. There were about eight of us at the meeting, some of us health champions who shall be volunteering on the allotment. It seems as though we shall get funding from the Prince's Trust and we have made out a shopping list of the things we need, such as a shed, tools, a water butt, a composting bin, some cloches, netting and fleece, and seeds, etc. Because there are quite a few of us and only one plot at the moment, it looks as though we shall be sharing the plot rather than marking out individual pieces of land and then sharing the produce. The NHS trust have also got an allotment in nearby Jaywick for local people, and there is one in Colchester, too. The launch date is to be 15th March. We shall probably have a day to assemble the shed together. There is a place which has manure we can get free and they can deliver. The gardeners there, including myself, were asked when we would start needing to plant and sow seeds. Realistically it may be too late for some things to grow this year by the time we get started in March. But I think the really great thing about this allotment is not just the vegetables and herbs we can get from it but the actual growing and the social aspect of it. We may even be able to have picnics or barbies in the summer. So I am looking forward to getting started. There is still the problem of just being allowed there once a week (for the usual reasons, health and safety!), but designated people such as myself and other health champions can be keyholders so we can go there on other days to water the plants.

Spuds again!

I wrote recently in this blog that I wasn't going to buy any seed potatoes from a seed company this year and intended buying all my potatoes for growing from a greengrocer. I have done that but I can't seem to get the early potatoes from there. They seem to be almost entirely maincrop potatoes or varieties I haven't heard of. Well, today, I received a catalogue supplement from Thompson & Morgan and there was a £5 discount voucher, so I decided to use to buy potatoes from them. Fortunately, they sell some seed potatoes in small amounts, so I bought two varieties, Swift (first early) and Charlottes (Second early), five tubers of each. I have to pay postage but nothing on the tubers themselves. I shall still try growing some of the ones I have already put on the windowsill, but at least I have now got some early ones to keep me going during the summer until the maincrop potatoes are likely to be ready.

Revenge is sweet!

Pleased to see Claire Short's version of events at the Chilcot Inquiry yesterday. I hope it does some more damage to New Labour's already tarnished reputation. Had Robin Cook still been alive, no doubt he too would have made some damaging allegations against the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Pruning

Today, I did a bit of work in the garden. It wasn't as cold out as it has been. I pruned back the raspberry canes to ground level. These are autumn-fruiting raspberries so, unlike summer raspberries, they should be cut back in February to encourage new growth in the summer. I also bought some more potatoes for growing today, but I can't seem to find early varieties of potato in the greengrocers which I can use to grow. I bought some "Victoria" potatoes, but when I looked them up both in my Vegetable Expert book and seed catalogues, I couldn't find that variety, so it may be a new variety. Anyway, I have put them in the window for chitting and I shall try to find out more about them in the meantime. I shall also try elsewhere for some earlies.

I have been viewing the blog of my MP, Douglas Carswell, a lot lately. I have often written to him in the past about different issues. He seems like a good MP as MPs go, but I disagree profoundly with him on the issue of climate change and indeed on many other issues. We do however find some common ground on issues like the European Union, albeit perhaps for different reasons. Carswell and some of the people who comment on his blog seem to think that the right have a monopoly on Euroscepticism, but that is wrong. Many on the left, including the far left, are Eurosceptic. In the European elections last year one of the parties up for election was a coalition led by Bob Crow (not known for his Tory or New Labour sympathies!). I didn't vote for them as I voted for the Green Party, but would have if I hadn't had anyone else I felt I could vote for. Tony Benn, who represents old Labour, is also a Eurosceptic. So let us not think that being a Eurosceptic is a right-wing thing. The European Union is not democratic and neither is it left wing. I still can't understand why the Liberal Democrats are so pro-EU. In the past I have voted for them rather than vote for New Labour when I have had no other party I felt I could vote for, but not any more. But getting back to Douglas Carswell, I have made quite a few comments on his blog.

One of his recent posts has been about electoral reform. Gordon Brown has, cynically, raised the issue of electoral reform. New Labour has had 13 years to reform the electoral system, but chose not to because it favoured them. Now it looks as though they may lose the next election, they are suddenly keen on reforming the system! But only if we all vote for Labour at the next election. I for one don't believe that Gordon has had a Damascus-like conversion to electoral reform. Other parties, such as the Green Party, have advocated proportional representation for years. So Gordon won't be getting my vote! If you want to view Carswell's blog, go to the following link. But be warned, it can be strangely addictive:

http://www.talkcarswell.com/

Spuds!

I am not buying seed potatoes for growing this year. Instead, I am buying some potatoes of different varieties from the greengrocer. I did this in a limited way last year and the results were reasonably encouraging. I am not just doing this to save money although that is one consideration, of course. The problem is that most seed companies sell potatoes only in large quantities and then often in one variety at a time. A large quantity for me is a kilo. I don't have that sort of space to spare in my garden. These seed companies all seem to assume that their customers have large gardens or allotments. What I have been doing for the last three years is buying a starter pack which consists of fifteen tubers, with three different varieties. But though this is the best solution for me, the cost of carriage is prohibitive. I have looked at seed potatoes in garden centres but there is the same problem with quantity. So this time I am buying potatoes from a local greengrocer, not the supermarket because their potatoes are invariably washed, and I understand dirty potatoes are best for growing, and my local greengrocer has sacks of dirty potatoes. So far I have bought two maincrop varieties, King Edward and Desiree. I am looking for Charlottes or some other salad or early-ish crop. I have chitted the potatoes I bought yesterday by putting them on a windowsill which doesn't receive direct sunlight and is free from frost, in egg boxes, eyes uppermost. They should be ready for planting in the ground by Easter. I prepared the ground for them last autumn.

He did it his way

(With apologies to Frank Sinatra)

Regrets? He has none whatsoever. Tony Blair said he would do it again.

See this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-827Sk9iu3g

He did it his way!