You know you're "In Toon" when ...............

Apprentice allotmenteer Micky announced the other day that he had cracked the secret to maintaining a successful allotment.

In an idle moment he had happened upon The Real Seed Catalogue at http://www.realseeds.co.uk/beginners.html where they have listed their top tips for beginners, which I have summarized below:

~ Tips for Beginners ~

If you are just starting out growing vegetables, here are a few bits of advice we think might help:

Tip 1: Don't buy too much seed.

Tip 2: Get a really clear gardening book.

Tip 3: Don't use cheap compost. Really, just don't.

Tip 4: Weeds are easy to kill when small.

Tip 4: Cold spells will prevent seeds germinating.

Tip 4: Plants run off direct sunlight.

Tip 5: Learn to save your own seed.

Tip 6: Befriend the oldest gardener you can find.

You will learn the most from the oldest gardeners. Want to know when to sow cabbages? Find the oldest person you can who has truly great cabbages, and do exactly whatever they say. They will have seen it all, and they will know what you can and can't get away with in your particular local climate and soil.

Tip 6 made his eyes light up.

Now, as I am the oldest gardener he knows, and in truth probably the oldest person he knows, he now considers that he cannot go wrong.

I was, of course, quick to point out to him that any list of tips for the beginner that excludes the philosophy of being “In Toon with the Moon” isn’t worth a club rooted cabbage and if he has any ambitions of achieving any kind of success he better start “Tooning In” pretty damned quick!

Speaking of being “In Toon” I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had managed, in between showers, to plant onion sets, garlic, shallots and broad bean seed.

I must confess that suitable weather conditions were upper most in my mind not the phase of the moon on the days that I planted them.

Following on from my rant to Micky about him “Tooning In” I thought I had better double check with the Moon Bible on the suitability of the days in question.

I am pleased to report that the days I selected were the ideal days proving that I am now so finely “Tooned In” that I no longer need to refer to the Moon Bible.

I rest my case.

After my last blog, one or two of you, the Young Pretender included, have had the nerve to accuse me, The Werewolf of Hampshire, of being obsessed with the Saskatoon just because it rhymes with moon.

I have been quick to point out to them that there is a big difference in being enthusiastic as opposed to being obsessed and that when the saskatoon berry appears on the supermarket shelves they will remember where they heard of it first.

In truth, so enthusiastic am I, that my new ambition is to be the first man to plant a saskatoon on the moon!

I’ve already booked my ticket!

The Year of the Saskatoon

In an earlier entry, in February, I introduced you to the new "Super Food" the Saskatoon, as supplied by the Scottish artist and gardener John Stoa. See details here if you missed it: http://www.johnstoa.co.uk/saskatoon.htm

John contacted me recently to introduce me to his new blog. John writes a gardening column for a local newspaper and has archived the series of articles which can be found at Scottish Artist and his Garden: http://scottishartistandhisgarden.blogspot.com/

John has sent over 3000 plants around the UK this year which will start to flower and fruit next year. He is confidently predicting that 2011 will be the year of the saskatoon. I will, of course, keep you informed.

I also had a missive from The Welsh Bard, EvansAbove, which included this ode inspired by my last entry:

Allotmenteers in Hampshire sing
In praise of Chris, the Kibosh King,
A man who dedicates his life
To giving weeds some serious strife.
The Marestail genus (aka
The Arsenal boss) has had its day
In Cove, where Chris’s new campaign
Has hit the plant like acid rain...

Though Chris’s Kibosh kills the weeds,
It may do more than Baltzer needs,
As photos taken every time
He gets his gong, suggest a crime.
It may be that the Rushmoor Mayors
Quite simply aren’t long-distance stayers,
But some suspicion lands on Chris –
Can Kibosh be their Nemesis?

Incidentally the Kibosh, applied last week, certainly seems to have done the trick and one more spraying in the Spring, if and when it raises it's feathery head again, should see the blighter off for good.

On the footie front it has been a good weekend. Boro are settling down well in the higher division and turning in some good league results. I'll gloss over the disappointing 5-0 hammering we received in the FA Cup replay at Dover, particularly annoying as we should have won the first game comfortably, but an excellent win last week at home to high flying Chelmsford followed by a draw away at second place Bromley on Saturday, has moved Boro up to 8th place, ahead of local rivals Woking and Basingstoke and only 2 points off the play-offs. Back to back wins away to lowly St Albans on Tuesday and at home to Hampton and Richmond on Saturday should see us consolidate our position.

Meanwhile the Super Blues are up into 6th place following a win away to Sheffield United. I am confident that when Kean wakes up and realises what his best team is we will be right up there in the mix.

Sadly, when you read articles like this it just makes you despair:

Connor Wickham row may be costly for Ipswich manager Roy Keane
By Joe Bernstein

Roy Keane's job at Ipswich is under serious threat after falling out with 17-year-old boy wonder Connor Wickham, rated the best young prospect in English football.
Their deteriorating relationship is almost certain to see one of them leave in January with the Ipswich board having to choose between them.
Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea have been keeping tabs on Wickham, whose £8million value was boosted by his starring role for England Under-17s when they became European champions earlier this year.
Keane, who used Wickham as a secondhalf substitute in their 2-0 win over Millwall yesterday, has sometimes taken a hard line with the 6ft 3in striker to keep his feet on the ground.
But the 'tough love' has backfired with Wickham upset by his manager's treatment and confused about being left out for Keane signings like Jason Scotland.
Wickham, who became the youngest player in Ipswich's history when he made his debut shortly after his 16th birthday, has been tipped to become England's best traditional No9 since Alan Shearer.

Well I certainly know which one I'd keep, but what do I know?

Mr. Keane's such a nice understanding chap:

Carry on up the Kibosh!

My young mate Micky, the apprentice allotmenteer, has a weed problem on his newly acquired plot, namely Marestail AKA Horsestail or Pipeweed or, to give it it's botanical name, Equisetum arvense. This little devil is very difficult to get rid off. The evil black creeping rhizomes penetrate deep into the soil and where they surface they give rise to green ‘bottlebrush’ stems in the late spring and summer.

It is virtually impossible to eradicate by cultural means because when you pull up one of these stems you are rewarded a few weeks later by two more where once there was one! When you dig the ground where they lay, the black rhizomes break up and this helps to propagate more stems. A three centimetre length of rhizome can give rise to a whole new plant.

We have achieved a measure of success by spraying it with Glyphosate (‘Round-up’) but the problem with using any herbicide spray against Marestail is that the ‘Bottlebrush’ stems are practically impervious to chemical uptake by virtue of the waxy nature and small ‘leaf’ area.

However, last week during an idle early morning moment I decided to put Google to the test and searched the internet on “Control Marestail” and I was immediately rewarded with the following:

1. Control mares tail weeds

www.progreen.co.uk Buy Kibosh online to kill weeds plus superb control of mares tail

Further investigation of the website revealed the answer to all our prayers:

I immediately ordered 2 bottles which were delivered that evening.

The wonders of the internet.

Now we didn't get where we are today by procrastinating so “Have Kibosh will spray” has been adopted as our motto for the week and yesterday morning the Kibosh was applied. How successful it will be is questionable as we are very late in the season and the growing process which causes the chemical to be absorbed and transferred through the root system is virtually at an end. If not we can try again in the spring if and when the weed starts growing again.

Since our return from Cyprus we have been busy clearing the raised beds so that manure can be dug in ready for next season. I have planted autumn onion sets, garlic and broad beans, on the appropriate moon days of course, for an early crop next year.

Just to give you all a laugh, here is the photo from the Rushmoor in Bloom Award night.

Nothing changes except the Mayor!

I seem to put more effort in each year but the result is the same. Next year, with the newly purchased caravan in Selsey, I won't be spending so much time at the allotment but perhaps that will mean I will do better - You Never Can Tell!