It isn’t always green to garden

My hands provide the evidence of this week’s battle with the blackberry bushes.  I’ve yet to find a pair of gloves which keep out the thorns whilst leaving you any kind of dexterity.  So pruning out the old wood and tying in the new means the gloves come off and the blackberry gets its revenge.  This year I’m pruning half the plants to the ground as they have become overgrown and need retraining.  The other half will be treated as usual: all the fruited stems removed and this year’s growth tied into the frame on the fences.  It will be interesting to see whether the crop yield is much different.  Probably worth any reduction to get control over the wayward patch.

Which leaves me with the problem of disposing of all the prunings.  Some of the other allotmenteers hold that winter bonfires add to greenhouse gases and should be avoided.  On the other hand, taking the cuttings to the tip uses fuel miles and the gases get released as the bacteria in the dump go to work.  A difficult balance if it weren’t for the fact the lighting fires is so much fun.  Pick a windy day (when the wind direction is away from the houses) and liberate your inner boy scout.  And you get useful potash to boost root growth on the fruit trees next spring.  No argument really.

I’m not planting many crops this winter.  In the last few years, the Japanese onions have flattered to deceive, looking good in spring and then stalling as the weather warms up.  I’ve emptied last year’s leaf mould onto a prepared bed and will start onion sets in January indoors.  As the weather warms in March, I’ll hope to catch up on the time lost with the Japanese sets and perhaps get a better crop.  I have planted broad beans again though as they somehow survive the winter in good shape and produce an early crop.  Once the weather warms, it’s time to plant some more and stagger the crop into the summer.  Even though podding and shelling them is fiddly, they are such a joy to eat with ham and smoked paprika.

The beans need protection against the mice until they have established themselves – or the weather gets too cold for the little beggars to bother! So for the first few weeks, my rusty old cloches come into play.  I sometimes use the old-style approach and plant sprigs of holly everywhere.

The rest of the plot is sown with green manure, fenugreek this year.  I had hoped that the fenugreek would have some flavour as well as growing well, but, aside from a twang of pea pods, it bears little resemblance to the herb which goes so well in curries.  Even so, it will protect the top soil from the rain and turn in nicely come spring.