Why Farmers Protests Have Now Reached the UK

 

I have to say I fully support the outrage the farmers feel, the government should be helping farmers in the UK not looking for a way to let their pals buy up farmland for development, with the current invasion of migrants there are even more mouths to feed in the UK. 

God Bless Jeremy Clarkson who is there in London today despite the advice from his doctors to keep his stress levels down. 

Jeremy Clarkson slams the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire for 'trotting out' Rachel Reeves' lines on how inheritance tax wont affect the majority of farmers. #jeremyclarkson #farmersprotest #farmers #agriculture #bbc #labourparty

The Vision We Have In Our Minds Eye

 

'October’ (From a 1958 calendar by the always fabulous Ronald Lampitt)

Such an ideal vision of allotmenteering in the late 50's 

Harvesting Java Main Crop Potatoes

Sunday morning on the Allotment tidying up the sections of Greenhouse into a Pallet against the wall behind the Potting Shed. Then harvesting two buckets of Java Main Crop Potatoes.

Not as many spuds in the second bucket but a good harvest for the day. I just brushed off the potatoes with a paint brush. I would defiantly grow this variety of potato again they are very nice tasting and road and mash well. 

The spoil from the two buckets cleared today and two from previous potato harvests were dumped on Square Foot Garden Bed 1 and levelled, topping it back up as the level had dropped as the woodchip had decayed in the bottom of the bed.

I have a bag of mulch that has a split in it, to add next visit. I need to weed the woodchip around the bed and relay it with fresh woodchips. I'm gradually working my way up the plot weeding and replacing woodchip paths over the Winter months. 

Greenhouse components moved off the tray and raised bed this morning have been stacked in a pallet against the wall behind the potting shed. 

Those not yet in the pallet are covered in soil and need brushing off. 

Last four buckets of Java maincrop spuds covered to keep the rain out and offer some frost protection until I can harvest them, as they are needed.

My Robin was in and out looking for critters to eat as I was emptying the buckets into the tray on top of a raised bed, and sorting out the potatoes. I love the fact he has absolutely no fear of me and I just chat to him.

Hoop Storage & Overflow Leaf Cage

After having my PET Scan yesterday afternoon I was ready for a few hours on the allotment and in Wally's shed having a chat and coffee to warm us up.

Firstly I drilled the timber gravel board and the two square flower buckets to attach the flower buckets to form the water pipe hoop store, which will keep the hoops strung to the 1.2m width of the beds.

Much neater storage solution behind the potting shed. holes drilled in the bas of the square flower buckets so they will not hold water.  After a coffee break and a natter with Wally I gathered up the panels from the original Leaf Cage made in 2012 

Half of the old leaf bin made 13 years ago from the fence from my Mums front garden that used to stop the wind blowing the leaves into the garden.

I collected the leaves and dropped them off last Thursday from outside my daughters property, after going to see my grandson.

I should have watered them in as I filled it, but time was getting on and I really felt the need to get home and have a late lunch.

I used a panel from the other original leaf bin to go on top and stop any leaves from escaping. If Veolia have not already bagged the remaining leaves up from outside my daughters house I will getting another lot of leaves, next visit.

PET Scan At The Royal Marsden This Afternoon

  

This afternoon I went for my fifth PET scan. I had one at St Georges when I was more mobile and before having the Radiation treatment last year and this was be my forth at the Royal Marsden in Sutton they have been spaced every 3 months.

The last Scan showed that the hot spot showing where "George" the tumour AKA a Solitary bony plasmacytoma of the left mandible had been busy eating bone and teeth roots away, was no longer hot and I was informed I was stable.

It appears that terms of various stages of Remission which is the term for the decrease in or disappearance of signs and symptoms of cancer, of Partial Remission & Complete Remission are not being used these days. 

But I'm happy with stable, and dormant, I'm on the greenside of the grass and I now have a grandson to love and care for, and a great reason to want to be alive, and enjoy every day. 

I have multiple sites of polyarthropathy which literally means "disease in many joints" for which I have been referred to the Rheumatology department and have had additional X-Rays of all my joints, specialist blood tests and specialist CT scans of my hands and wrist. It's not gout its an autoimmune disease of some kind but as with George the tumour they are having difficulty giving it a name.  

The latest PET Scan Report will be available in 3 working days. However because I'm not currently receiving Radiotherapy Treatment from the Royal Marsden and effectively my consultant at the Haematology Department at St Georges has requested the test, they will not upload the report to the My Marsden app which holds my medical information.

I find this completely insane, I have to request a copy of the report about me from my haematology consultant or request it under some kind of freedom of information protocol from the Subject Access Request (SAR) Team at the Royal Marsden. 

My appointment with the Haematology consultant is in another month, and for my mental well being I want to know what the report says as soon as possible. If George (my Tumour)

I know the cancer will still be in my body and having had the Solitary Bony Plasmacytoma that if and when the cancer next presents itself it's likely to be in a form of Myeloma.  

From my point of view I just want to know which way my path is going. I would like sight of the report so I can inspect it and have logical sensible questions to ask when I see all three of my consultants.

Stacking Scaffold Boards

Three hours on the plot this morning shifting the scaffold boards off Square Foot Garden raised bed 1 and stacking with spacers in a full bed so I can top up SFG bed 1 and cover with debris netting.

I also found a worn out 1.2m length of decking that I'm going to fix to two square flower buckets to stack my blue water pipe in so that they keep their profile when not installed on a bed, and stacked behind the potting shed.

My robin was once again all round me and darting in and out as I exposed critters that had taken up residence between the boards.

All scaffold boards now removed from SFG Bed 1

Some thing had been living under the boards and appears to have been feasting on the snails that had decided it was a good place to live.

Onion Sets and Garlic Cloves in SFG Bed 2 looking good and growing. Must sprinkle some eggs shells and some onion fertiliser around them at a future visit

Hot Bin contents dropped again and happy worms spotted

Kitchen waste and some butternut squash foliage added to the bin before I left to go home for lunch.

Two More Mini Builders Bags of Leaves

 

Two more mini builders bags of leaves picked up today and dropped off and added to the leaf cage 

Yes my little mate was there checking on what I was doing 

3 More Mini Builders Bags of Leaves

Collected more leaves today, another 3 large sacks worth and dropped them off to the allotment and added to the leaf cage.

Took the lid bread basket panels off the top

Added the 3 large sack loads

Then dropped the bread basket lid panels back on to stop the pile blowing away.

Collecting Leaf's

Emma and I had done a trip to garden centres this morning had lunch and then before I made my way home I collected a lot of leaf's off the road outside my daughters property and filled two mini builders bags and then taken them to the allotment and added to my leaf cage to rot down and make leaf mould.

Two large garden sacks filled with leaf's and they fit so nicely in the boot of the car.

Those leaves collected by main roads may be affected by atmospheric pollution, so leaves from quieter streets and side roads are preferable. Leaves are easier to collect when the weather is dry and still, which was one of the reasons I collected them today, as its been dry for a few days and lots have dropped this week. The rake with the grab mechanism makes collecting so easy.

First sack collected from between the two cars and behind my car., very little litter in the pile which is good.

Second sack collected further down the road, you can see the area I was working. Plenty of more to be gathered up weather permitting.

2 - 3 year old leaf mould looking good. Good quality, well-rotted leafmould (more than two years old) can be used as seed-sowing compost, or mixed equally with sharp sand, garden compost and good quality soil for use as potting compost.

Poor quality leaf mould, or leaf mould that is less than two years old can be used as mulch, soil improver, autumn top-dressing for lawns, or winter covering for bare soil.

Blue water pipes gathered up and I have an idea for a storage system that will keep them bent to a 1.2m wide profile when stored behind the potting shed when not in use.

Cut down Bread Baskets laid on top to prevent the wind blowing the leaf's away

Leaf Mould Cage made from cut down bread baskets that were dumped on the access road to the construction site for Parchment Close a few years ago.

Room for a few more sack loads until full, then I will set up my overflow leaf bin on one of the beds as the compress and rot down quite fast and are a great free resource on the allotment.

Crossways Compost

 

Emma and I went on a trip to Crossways Nursery in Purley just up from Wallington Girls School to pick up 10 more sacks of Richmoor Organic Compost £3 a Bag or 5 for £10 and two bags of Marsh's Ericaceous Compost 40L £4 a sack

Miracle-Grow Compost £6 a bag or 3 for £15

West Country Multi-Purpose Compost 50L sacks £5 a bag or 3 for £12

Thatchers Super Mix Organic Multi-Purpose Compost 60L sacks £6 a bag or 3 for £15

Durstons Decorative Bark 50L £8 a sack or 3 for £20

Growmoor Ericaceous Compost 60L £6 a sack

Marsh's Ericaceous Compost 40L £4 a sack
Richmoor Organic Compost £3 a Bag or 5 for £10

Growmoor Farmyard Manure £6 a bag

Marsh's Horse Manure Large £4 a bag or 3 for £10

Growmoor Topsoil £5 a bag 
Growmoor Seed Compost with John Innes 35L £6 a bag

Growmoor John Innes No2 35L £6 a bag

Growmoor John Innes No1 35L £6 a bag 

Compost Taken To The Plot.

Mulch & compost storage area cleared ready to unload the compost bought yesterday from the Crossways Nursery in Purley  

Mulch that I've had for a couple of years that will be going on the new raised beds as I install them. Wally turned up as I was trying to get the first of the sacks into the wheel barrow. It would be great if the companies that sell compost considered the elderly and mobility challenged and actually bagged up compost into smaller bags or sacks. Since my radiotherapy and developing mobility and arthritis issues, I can't even manage 40L sacks of compost. Wally bless him came to my rescue and stacked the 12 sacks of compost on my pallet for me.  

10 more sacks of Richmoor Organic Compost 40L bags and two bags of Marsh's Ericaceous Compost 40L stacked by Wally. 

Weather and Fox protection added to the piles of compost 

View up the plot after the blue hoops had been removed from the beds.

Clearing Bindweed

Sunday morning visit to the allotment to see how much bindweed and and other weeds I can remove from the Raspberry and Asparagus bed and add to the pile in the car park that is supposed to be cleared this coming week.

The Bindweed this year has been crazy and it has crisscrossed so much around the beds and across the paths such that its a trip hazard just trying to walk down the paths.

The good thing is that because of the weed membrane under the woodchip its on the surface but also in the woodchip, and once you get an end you can pull it out of the woodchip really easily.

View from the Plot 1 Greenhouse looking at the Asparagus Bed next to the Raspberry Beds and the potting shed door.

View of the Raspberries over the Square Foot Garden Raised Beds, There is no Bindweed connecting each row of Raspberries anymore, But I didn't have time to clear the top of the row on the left.

View up the plot of the Raspberry beds that have been reduced in height and the bindweed removed from the top of the first three beds. I didn't have time to get rid of the bindweed on the early summer raspberries.

View from the pebble pool up the plot towards Plot 1A and finally I can now walk around the the outside of the Raspberries as the paths are no longer a mass of bindweed and leaning Raspberry canes. The framework to hold in the raspberries needs modifying so the post are on the inside of the beds so there is room to get a wheelbarrow down between each variety of Raspberry and easier for harvesting next year.

View from the Greenhouse Climbing Frame entrance of the Rhubarb and Raspberry beds and paths.

Paths need bindweed removing, then scraping up and adding to one of the new Daleks, and replacing with fresh woodchip.