Recently by Deborah James

Apologies to regular readers for my low blog count of late.

It's been a hectic few months away from the allotment, which unfortunately has struggled to recover from the summer's heavy rains...causing waterlogging which in turn unleashed a monstrous explosion in the slug population.

In fact I have to admit I'm dreading going down to the Vale and finding out just how bad it is ...the last I knew the tomatoes were coming on strong but pretty much everything else had been destroyed - either rotted by mini-floods or munched by the gastropods.

I've taken an executive decision and chopped down the artichokes.
I only realised when the sun shone for a few hours yesterday that at 8ft tall they were blocking every last crack of light from the tomatoes - which are having a hard enough time coping after April's drought followed by recent downpours of Biblical proportions.

Well it’s bad – but it’s not disastrous.
While three weeks of torrential rain has thrashed parts of the country to within an inch of its life, all we’ve lost is a few plants – including about half the mid-season potato crop (the glass is always half full).
In truth, we’re probably among the luckiest allotment holders in the north...

Down the allotment is off on holiday today – for a week of sun and cultural explorations in Berlin where, a quick Wikipedia search reveals, this impressive photo was taken:

The image (right) shows Berliners cultivating vegetables by the ruins of Germany’s former parliament building the Reichstag, in June 1946.

What is it with the weather this Bank Holiday?
I know one of the boasts of the British allotment holder is meant to be that we are happy to brave it come rain, snow or shine.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m glad of the downpours – saves me hours of filling watering cans from the plot's various butts and tin baths.
But come off it – HAIL? In May?!

ALL the books warn Jerusalem artichokes are nigh-on impossible to move once planted.
True to form, we hadn’t read up on their super-human staying power before we enthusiastically buried about ten tubers last spring.
(I'm keen to grow veg that are either elusive or insultingly expensive in the shops, so rocket, mange tout, purple sprouting broccoli, peppers and fennel are also on the list...)
After a harvest which should technically have qualified as an EU artichoke mountain this January, we decided to eradicate the crop and re-plant just four or five tubers this time

Oh dear. It’s happened again.
I haven’t made it down to the allotment for a few weeks and the nettles have gone completely feral.
A metre-high patch around the compost bins has engulfed the rhubarb and spread along the rear path to smother the western-most bed - where later, with burning arms and wondering (once again) how the hell weeds evolved to sting through jeans, I uncover two flourishing (!) rows of broad beans which Lynne planted out last month.