My first guest to be washed ashore on a loney island in the sea this year is Northern Soul Promoter and DJ, Ann Taylor.

Ann runs a monthly soul club in Teddington and the Dome Alldayers with Derek Mead in Tufnell Park. A resident DJ at Hoodoo Soul Club in Hersham, Ann has also DJ’d at Bisley, Oxford Soul Club, Isle of Wight Soul Club Rally Weekend and at various other clubs around the country. 

"I grew up in Lancashire, loving Motown and other Soul music since the age of about 11 and started going to Wigan Casino in 1974  (and like a lot of people – pretending to stay at a friends house overnight!!).  I went to Blackpool Mecca as well as local clubs around, finding new friends who had a real passion for the music and not simply a 'liking' for it. My 'normal' friends thought we were all crazy and never got the feeling we all had. 

Having left the North of England in 1980 to attend college, I was away from the scene for several decades (like a lot of people for one reason or another) and then I had, what I suppose you might call, a 'mid-life crisis' and decided to explore the Soul scene down South. 

I had a yearning to promote and DJ. I saw Martha Reeves at the Jazz Café and an ex-Wigan Soul fan I met that night encouraged me to go for it!  So I bought some decks, mixer and, of course, MORE records and started in a local pub in Teddington on Thursday nights. Some local Soul fans and DJs became regulars, we outgrew the pub so I set up at Teddington Constitutional Club down the road. And that’s how it all re-started…  

When Bill asked me to send him my choices for the blog, I thought 5… only 5 records!  That’s so hard to choose. Anyway here goes…. Some of my all time favourites on the list and those would always be there and some which may have been different if I was writing this next week!"

The Belles - Don't Pretend

 

"Great stomper!  I love the beat and Mirwood was a great label output too.. Brenda and Patrice Holloway, Sherlie Matthews : This seemingly 'unofficial' recording was made by these three as the Holloway sisters could not sign a contract under their own names as Brenda was already signed to Motown. I often like to start off a DJ set with this. I love the voices, especially Brenda - some of her best music (imho) was never released."

Jackie Wilson - This Love Is Real

 

"I find it difficult to play a set without Jackie – he can do no wrong… his voice was like a musical instrument and what a showman. I love the unexpected start to the record – quite laid back and then everything kicks in (love a big arrangement). 

What a beauty."

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Love Guess Who

 

"It's very hard to select a tune by her. I especially love the violins in this one. I think Martha was underrated and I love her edgy voice."

Constellations - I Didn’t Know How To

“There’s a flame deep within my soul – and it’s burning (burning burning) out of control. I wanna speak, but can’t find the words.. and you pass me by baby having never heard”.  

"What a tune…sends a huge shiver down my spine even as I write this.. I do like big round whole sounds and orchestration and I adore it played in a bigger venue. I lose myself."

Little Anthony and the Imperials - Better Use Your Head

"This again has a big dramatic orchestral sound and what a voice Anthony has – I like many other songs by them. Now… this one would actually be the one record I keep if I really was on a desert island and everything else was washed away. For me this sums up everything about my passion and love for the music and people, especially my teenage memories of Wigan Casino."

The Patch is Moving !

Because of google's  privacy issues, we're no longer using blogger to post news about the patch.

You can, however, keep up to date at our new site here :    The Compton Patch

We will be looking forward to your comments !
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Up The Pole !

When we first started at Compton Allotments, we were allocated a 15′ wide plot with a fence running down one side to separate our crops from the pigs in the neighbouring field.  In the following year the pigs were moved and the land used to create more individual allotment plots and our plot expanded from 15′ to 22′.

Our raspberry canes grow on wires strung between posts that we erected when it was a 15′ wide plot leaving a spare bit of land where we grew odd things that took our fancy.

This year we are growing hybrid berries (Tayberry, Loganberry  and Bosyenberry) and I have bought the materials to construct another wire frame which would stretch right across the 22′ wide plot.

Now being a man who likes order in all things (yes, I know there is another name for this !) it would be unthinkable to have one frame for the hybrid berries which was wider than the adjoining frame for the raspberries.

So, as you can see from the picture I have extended the raspberry bed by installing another pole and stretching wires across from the old pole. Once this was done, I removed the obsolete pole and this will be used when I constuct the frame for the hybrid berries.

Berries

We ordered three berry plants which arrived last week, so this morning we were down at the patch planting them.

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One Tayberry, one Loganberry and one Boysenberry have been planted in a 22′ row with 6′ spacing between them.  I will be erecting posts at either end of the row and then stretching wires between them so that we can tie-in the canes as they grow.

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Raised Beds

As it was a very pleasant morning in Compton, we took the opportunity to construct another raised bed.

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The new bed is the nearest one on this picture and was built around the carrots remaining from the summer sowing and the shallots which were planted in October. 

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The raised bed behind is one constructed earlier this year where three rows of garlic are being grown.

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Once these crops have been lifted, the beds will be topped up with a mix of fresh soil and compost and used to grow squash and courgettes.

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November wood smoke

We’ve had a productive afternoon down at the patch.  I finally got round to fixing the door handle on the polytunnel and Heather got a fire going to burn the prunings from fruit bushes… there’s something very evocative about Autumnal wood smoke.

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We have built one of our planned six raised beds in the polytunnel and have sown Winter leaves (mizuna, mustard greens and spinach) which we hope will provide us with a cut-and-come-again leafy greens.

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Mission Accomplished

The door is on, the floor levelled and the frames for the raised beds will be constructed sometime in the coming weeks.

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Meanwhile,  there are plenty of other jobs to be getting on with :

• The bed where we will be growing climbing beans has been cleared and two trenches dug out… these will be filled with newspaper and waste that would normally go on the compost heap.  The trenches will then be filled in and the bed covered with a layer of cardboard until we are ready to sow seeds in April.
• The soft-fruit bushes will be pruned back to maintain a good shape and encourage more fruits.
• The step-cordon apples will also be pruned and side branches tied into the wires.
• Another bin will be constructed to hold leaf litter… the leaves will slowly break down to produce a very rich compost.

What we did today...

We have already cleared all the perennial weeds from around the polytunnel, fixed gravel boards along the outside, lined the gap between the boards and the tunnel with black polythene and filled this with shingle to  prevent any weeds growing close to the tunnel walls and to allow the areas around the tunnel to be strimmed without damaging the walls.

This is what we did today :

• Attached a mesh screen to the back doorway of the polytunnel.

• Hung a polythene blind at the back doorway to raise/lower as temperature dictates.

•  Rebuilt the front door and re-covered it in UV stabilised polythene sheeting.

On Wednesday, the door will be hung and we will then concentrate our efforts on preparing the allotment beds, leaving the remaining work inside the polytunnel for those cold and rainy days when it is not possible to work outside.
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Light at the end of the tunnel...

We have acquired a polytunnel !

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A neighbouring allotment holder has given up his plot, leaving this polytunnel which abuts on to our patch.

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We have managed to clear the jungle that was growing inside and removed the door and the curtain, both of which will need repairing.  The door will then be hung so that it faces onto our plot.

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As you can see from the picture, we have been washing the inside and outside of the tunnel with a solution of Jeyes Fluid to remove the algae.

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The next task will be to construct raised beds inside the tunnel and fill them with compost ready for planting in late-Winter.

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Rodima

Comparison time again !
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Last year we grew a variety of red cabbage called 'Kalibos' which produced heads of an insipid pink colour. 

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This year we obtained seeds of a variety called 'Rodima' from vegetableseeds.net and these produced some beautiful, deep red cabbages that are superb when pickled.

We will be looking to grow more of these next year.

Autumn Planting

We had a poor harvest of shallots and garlic this year, which I believe was caused by using our own bulbs for planting.  

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So, this year, no expense spared !  We bought garlic bulbs ('Solent Wight' & 'Picardy Wight') and shallots ('Jermor') which were planted yesterday.

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I will be sowing broad beans 'Aquadulce' during the week.

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Thinking forward

We are looking to create a series of fixed raised-beds at the patch with grass paths running between them. I have been trying to calculate where the beds should be, bearing in mind that we have crops that will be standing over the Winter months.

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The Uchiki Kuri squash were grown in a bed that had been filled with manure, but my initial calculations had a path running through it !  So this morning we have been recalculating the layout so that the manured area would be fully utilised.

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The area has now been weeded and dug over and we will fix boards along the edges before adding more manure to raise the bed.  We will plant garlic here in the next few weeks and plant more squash when the garlic is harvested in June next year.

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Marina di Chioggia

This wonderful squash originates from the seaside town of Chioggia near Venice. The Italians use it for many local dishes, including a rather tasty gnocchi.

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We grew two plants in a container of manure next to the compost bin and they have run riot. We have been cutting their leading tips back  to encourage the plants energy into the fruits and have been rewarded by three monsters.

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The one shown here was hanging precariously from the wire fence, so I decided to remove it for it's own safety !

 

Sunny September Sunday Morning

We've just got back from a productive morning down at the patch. Heather planted a row of daffodils which will be used for cut flowers in the Spring and I took down the enviromesh that was protecting our leeks.

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The picture shows our late-sown carrots (Autumn King) in front of squash (Uchiki Kuri). Behind these are our leeks (Bleue de Solaise and Autumn Giant), then sweetcorn with Love-Lies-Bleeding in front of the brassica cage.

Guildford In Bloom 2011

Heather & I attended the Guildford In Bloom Awards Ceremony yesterday evening and were delighted to receive a Gold in The Best Allotment category.

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Apples

Two years ago we set about creating a step cordon using 1-year-old apple 'whips'... two 'Egremont Russets' and one 'Sturmer Pippin'.

In the first year we had problems with insect damage and last year we lost nearly all of the blossom in late frost.  This year, however, all three trees are producing some fine fruit.

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September Harvest

All of our crops have given us a good yield this year.
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In June I blogged about the 'Early Crookneck'  Squashes we had grown and they are continuing to provide us with these yellow, courgette-sized fruit.  We will certainly grow more of these next year.

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This year we grew a yellow variety of courgette called 'Jemmer' and a pale green 'cousa' variety called 'Trieste', which was supposed to be one of the best flavoured... it wasn't and it looked anaemic when used in a salad.  We will be growing a dark-green variety next year.

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A 'patty pan' variety of courgette, 'Sunburst', is being grown in among the sweetcorn giving a good yield and cucumbers 'Marketmore' are being grown outside, providing us with some nice fruit.

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Our winter squashes are doing remarkably well and I will write more about them when they are harvested.

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Our Prize-Winning Onions

We grew three varieties of onions : Autumn sown 'Radar' and 'Electric' which gave a reasonable quantity of bulbs and Spring sown 'Hercules' which produced a very good yield of large bulbs suitable for storing.

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Onions with 'thick necks' and blemishes making them usuitable for storing were used to make our Sweet Pickled Onion Rings.

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Ingredients:

• 6 pounds small to medium mild onions
• 72 whole cloves
• 72 whole black peppercorns
• 12 teaspoons mustard seed
• 6 teaspoons celery seed
• 8 cups cider vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 6 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

To each sterilized pint jar add 6 cloves, 6 peppercorns, 1 teaspoon mustard seed and 1/2 teaspoon celery seed.  Set aside.

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Peel and slice the onions into 1/4″ thick rings.  Separate the onion rings carefully and divide among the jars.

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In a large nonreactive (in other words, glass, enamel or stainless steel) saucepan, stir together the vinegar, water, sugar, salt, turmeric and cinnamon over high heat.  Heat the syrup to boiling and then allow to simmer for 2 minutes. 

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Pour the hot liquid over the onion rings being sure to leave 1/4″ of headspace.  Use a chopstick or skewer to remove air pockets that might be in the jars by running it along the inside wall of the jar.  If needed, add more hot syrup to maintain the 1/4″ headspace.  This prevents bacteria from growing, so don’t be tempted to half fill a jar.

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Spuds !

It's potato harvest time and we have now lifted all of our potatoes.

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We picked two rows of 'Kerrs Pink' (shown below) which were all shapes and sizes with a few that were a bit scabby, but overall a decent harvest. 

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Our four rows of 'Cara' produced the best yields we have ever seen down at The Patch with five of the tubers good enough to take First Prize at the Farncombe Village Show.

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Farncombe Show

Another successful year at the Farncombe Village Show !

We won First Prize for Potatoes, Onions (under 250g) and Beetroot and Second Prize for Courgettes. Our Crookneck Squash also took Second Prize in the 'Any Other Vegetable' class.

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Heather's Vase of Mixed Flowers won First Prize and Best in Class and so did her Flower Arrangement 'Reflections'. A Second Prize was gained for her exhibit of Asters and a Third Prize for Miniature Flower Arrangement.

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With additional points from Second Prizes for Chutney and Plain Scones, Heather was awarded The Show Trophy for the second year running.

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