With a little help from our friends...

Today Anne came over with young Daniel and Ella to build a scarecrow that will be entered in a competition at the Compton Allotments.

The new addition to our patch has been named Mathilda and we now anticipate her performing to the highest levels in the competition !

Well done Daniel and Ella !

A bad case of bolting fennel

Back down to the patch today after a short break in the New Forest.

We cleared away all the carrots and managed to salvage a few that had not been infested with carrot root fly larvae. Our first year is being treated as a learning experience, and we have certainly learnt the hard way ! Next year we will protect the rows of carrot seedlings with mesh and will also grow something 'smelly' alongside to deter the little critters.

Most of the fennel has bolted. This is not that surprising considering the fluctuating temperatures we have been experiencing this summer, but we should have taken evasive action by picking the crop earlier... ah well, it's a learning experience !

I have started to dig in the red clover that we sowed as a green manure and this patch will be used in spring for planting our potatoes. Of which, we will pick the remaining Cara potatoes next week and use the patch for our autumn sown onions, shallots and garlic.

So what's left ? The cabbages (both red and savoy) are doing nicely, the black kale is 'leggy' but will be OK for the table. Parsnips, leeks and celeriac are looking good and should be ready for picking over the winter months. The swede hasn't fared so well (the roots look to have split) but they were only sown to break down the soil, so no big deal. There is still a lot of beetroot to harvest and the squashes have begun to fruit.

I have mixed feelings about the dahlias : We need to have some for cut flowers next year, but maybe some different, bolder colours. The small purple/red ones are too small for cutting, so will go into a bed in the garden next year. I will also have to be a bit more courageous when I am de-budding next year... so we can have nice blooms on long stems.

Overall though, it has been a good summer.

Our Prize Winning Spuds !

It was the Farncombe Village Show today and Heather decided it would be fun to enter some of our produce.

Heather baked some scones and arranged a vase of flowers picked from both allotment and garden. Heather also entered two courgettes from the garden, dahlias from the allotment and entered five of our Sante potatoes under my name.

To my surprise and delight, the spuds won first prize in the White Potato class

To cap it all, Heather won second prize for her scones, first prize for her flowers and the rosette for best flowers in the show !

Sante !

We lifted two rows of Sante potatoes during the week and found a few with soft rot and a few more with the early signs. Heather sorted out those which were good for storing, those which we could use within a week or so, and those that are fit for the dump.

I was pleased with the yield and the taste of Sante, but they are an early maincrop and seem to be ready a bit too early for my plans... so they may not be planted next year.

Our prizewinning patch

There was a letter from Guildford Borough Council in the frame this morning and I opened it thinking that it may have been a parking ticket or something.

To my surprise I read that our allotment has won a prize in the Guildford in Bloom 2008 Competition !

I don't know what the prize is, but whatever it is it will be nice to get a bit of recognition for the efforts we have put in.

Read all about it !

Beth Otway has entered Compton Allotments into the Best Allotments in Britain competition run by the Daily Telegraph

Peas and thank you's

The remains of the peas have now all been taken down and the juicier tops fed to a pair of grateful pigs.

The roots and some small nettles were dug back in and the soil given a dressing of blood, fish and bone.

In the empty space we have put up a wigwam of hazel poles and sown some late climbing French Beans... hopefully this will give us some crops before October when this part of the patch will be used for Autumn sown Onions, Shallots and Garlic.

The foliage on the Sante potatoes has withered and shrivelled back to almost nothing. I lifted one plant to see if there was any problems with the spuds. There wasn't, we have some very big bakers and I will leave the remainder in the ground until needed.