You will be expecting my Phase I report following the site walkover at Mount Shittingstone. Well, the lord of the manor was on good form and it was pleasing to see that he has installed a staircase and rope ladder made out of pallets and knotted sheets to help visitors descend from the high plateau to the lowered beds without propulsion by last year's apple crop. Rumour has it that this arrangement will be upgraded to a cliff railway once Lord Shittingstone has raised some finance by selling his early carrots to the vast array of local gastropubs. The beds are all very impressive and beautifully top-dressed, mostly with a duvet of compost but one rather curiously with a mattress. Obviously embarrassed by this early mistake, he's tried to burn the evidence. But much brush has been swept away and the abyss is now bathed in light. I was a bit miffed to see Hugh's unforced rhubarb more advanced than my own chimney specimens. Just think what they'd be like if the sun ever shined down there. But what about that eponymous yardstick of vegetable growing: no, I'm afraid to report that Clodagh will be spending the next few weeks disinterring those bulbs.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Stand by your beds
You will be expecting my Phase I report following the site walkover at Mount Shittingstone. Well, the lord of the manor was on good form and it was pleasing to see that he has installed a staircase and rope ladder made out of pallets and knotted sheets to help visitors descend from the high plateau to the lowered beds without propulsion by last year's apple crop. Rumour has it that this arrangement will be upgraded to a cliff railway once Lord Shittingstone has raised some finance by selling his early carrots to the vast array of local gastropubs. The beds are all very impressive and beautifully top-dressed, mostly with a duvet of compost but one rather curiously with a mattress. Obviously embarrassed by this early mistake, he's tried to burn the evidence. But much brush has been swept away and the abyss is now bathed in light. I was a bit miffed to see Hugh's unforced rhubarb more advanced than my own chimney specimens. Just think what they'd be like if the sun ever shined down there. But what about that eponymous yardstick of vegetable growing: no, I'm afraid to report that Clodagh will be spending the next few weeks disinterring those bulbs.
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Thanks for your kind words Dallas and for your on-site assessment last weekend. It was certainly good to see you and i was spurred to log on today having just taken a gamble and got the well shitted first earlies in the ground to try and ensure that June will have the first crop on the table to go with the half a pig i bought from my mate this week, organically reared of course. In fact the first 5 pound joint is crisping up nicely now so i'll be off.
ReplyDeletePs: still no sign of those carrots yet!
Jumped the gun a little perhaps but maybe the great race official in the sky was looking the other way. Get some fleece over those potatoes, especially after the leaves emerge. Any ground frost will knock the leaves back and a hard frost will kill the tuber.
ReplyDeleteWeekend wiped out here. 20cm of the worst type of wet snow and an all-day power cut to complete the misery. It rather underlines how dependent we are on electricity. Our gas burner was down at he plot but we did manage to boil a kettle in the fireplace. Still, got some seeds sown for planting out in a few weeks: lettuce, calabrese, spinach...