We Are the Champions!!!

I suppose when the weather's as bad as it is at the moment there's not much a gardener can do other than catch up on paperwork, plan forthcoming jobs, start some design work... or just mess around on the internet, watch old programmes of River Cottage, drink tea and post on my blog!

Fisrt up, we are now officially the best allotment site in Nottingham, regaining our trophy after last year's disappointment and winning the cup for the third year in four. We won the best site under 8 acres and the best overall site in Nottingham and so eagerly anticipate an invitation to the celebration event usually held at the Council House in September. The site has looked great this year thanks to the hard work and effort of all the plot holders, none more so than Cynthia who undertakes all the management of the site and chivvies us along when it looks like the weeds might be getting the better of us. She also puts up with no small amount of grief from the rest us plot holders and so a large amount of the success can be credited to her and the rest of the management team - well done all!

On the plot front the disappointment of the tomato blight is behind me. Having removed all vestiges of tomato foliage and roots, the soil was in perfect condition after the addition of mushroom compost earlier in the year. A liberal dusting of garden lime and the bed was transformed into my winter brassica patch with early and late purple sprouting broccoli and some brussels sprouts that will hopefuly produce in time for Christmas dinner. Protection from the dreaded pigeons comes in the form of two huge metal crates that held the two tonnes of blue slate walling for a recent landscaping project. So far they are working a treat and the plants are forging ahead with the copious amounts of August and early September rain. I have some spring cabbage and kale for the adjacent bed, which will be limed and planted as before when the weather lets me.

The courgettes have flourished in the wet weather and I picked a crateful of each type yesterday in between the showers. Note to self - I do not need eight courgette plants next year. The Jack O' Lantern pumpkin has four or five decent sized fruits which are just taking on their orange hue, although the single fruit on the 'Mammoth' pumpkin is anything but!

If the sun ever decides to show its face again it will certainly help to ripen the sweetcorn. It is a little later than usual but I anticipate a worthwhile crop in a week or two and there's nothing nicer than freshly picked sweetcorn liberally smeared with butter and with a dusting of cracked black pepper.

One of the most eagerly awaited duets at this time of year is the classic combination of Bramley apple and blackberry, be it as a pie, crumble or simply stewed and served with cream and/ or good vanilla icecream. We've already had several servings to keep on top of the glut and the remaining bramleys are swelling nicely now. Thinning the crop along the way will hopefully mean bigger apples come October, but will also help with the 'what are we going to do with all these apples, sigh?' situation of previous years. Answers on a postcard please to ...

There is not much else in the way of fruit to harvest as the remaining trees and bushes have either done their stuff for the year or are too young to produce. The greengage and Marjorie's Seedling plum have put on good growth so I expect the first fruits to form next year, same goes for the Doyenne du Comice pear. My apricot tree bargain from Aldi has flourished and it will be moved into the greenhouse for the winter once the leaves have fallen to help nurture it through the colder weather and also to protect what is beautiful but frighteningly early blossom. Unfortunately the peach tree bargain never really grew and is no more, but for £3.99 it was worth a try. Maybe I'll buy another next year.

Until the next time, happy gardening and keep the wellies/ waterproofs handy - it looks like we're going to need them!