Back in April, I was sent two new varieties of pelargonium by Vernons Nursery, Tommy, a deep, blackcurrant-purple trailing variety with ivy leaves, and Apple Blossom Improved, which I’d desperately tried to grow in the past as I’d adored the delicate cream and pink blossoms, but been frustrated by when the tight buds failed to…
Month: July 2016
Event: Red Gooseberries
I have an excuse for not knowing the variety of these delightfully sweet goosegogs. Not a very good excuse, but an excuse. Okay, so I’d stopped off at a garden centre on my way to visit pals (aww, c’mon, we’ve all done it…) where I spied an angry young gooseberry plant, all gangly spines and…
Gypsy Moths
Sir Francis Chichester’s Gipsy Moth IV may no longer be at Greenwich, but, as I discovered when harvesting my blackcurrants, the Gypsy Moth is alive and well… It took a little while to work out what this hairy beast might be. He was chomping through my blackcurrant leaves at a rate of knots and there…
Final Analysis on Late Garlic Experiment
On April 25th I embarked on a little experiment to see if my final bulb of last year’s garlic, which had sprouted far too badly to use, might be grown to any useful size. Given I usually plant garlic in September and you need a frost to separate the cloves I was doubtful, but hey… I…
Event: Field Rhubarb
The way I bang on about forced rhubarb you’d think I couldn’t be bothered with its grown up sister, field rhubarb. And to be honest for years I couldn’t. I was brought up with sour, school rhubarb, tough and green, served up in a stodgy glub drowned in lumpy custard. But tastes change and as…
Event: Whitecurrants
I’m a firm believer whitecurrants are an essential on an event allotment. They’re hard to find in the shops and if you do they’re hideously expensive. It’s hardly surprising; mature bushes take up a fair footprint and they tie up the ground for the entire year, yet crop only once, but these little flavour-bombs are…
Event: Peas, straight from the pod
I have no idea how anyone grows enough peas to be able to take them home. My allotment neighbour, Les, even has enough to freeze but me – well although I’d never be without my pea patch, frankly they never make it off the plot… This year I’m using up the last of my Ambassador…
The Event Gardener 