Guinea Pig Pooh, Cock Theft & Kronenbourg

Crime hits the allotments. Scumbags raid the gardens….

It’s disgusting to report that people (I use the word loosely) have broken into our allotments and gone on a theft spree. Several people have had their sheds broken into and gardening tools stolen. Most annoying of all, for me, Callum - the 13 year old lad who has had his allotment for 10 years - had seven chickens stolen. No chance of any insurance claim, so a schoolboy is out of pocket, greatly. Well done, thieving gits. What a lovely incentive for a young lad who is trying to do something worthwhile with his time.

I spoke to Callum about it, and he was fairly phlegmatic about the whole thing. A sensible head on young shoulders. “They’ll turn up” he reckons. On my way out of the site I bumped into John W and his wife Margaret, and they kindly showed me round their two adjacent plots. Very organised and looking lovely! They have even got a small orchard going, with apple and plum trees thriving. As we were leaving Margaret spotted something - their fence bent over where people have got onto the allotments. Probably the same people who took Callum’s chickens. John and Margaret are really friendly, and offered me as much help and advice as I wanted. Cheers!
So, what did I do today? I drove to Stoke Ferry and collected a large amount of guinea pig pooh, already bagged up for me by Lisa K - thanks! I collected the peelings (I have my own tubs now, see pic) from The Woolpack and added them - along with my own stuff - to the compost bin. I dug a bit more of the plot - but not much as it was REALLY painful thanks to my exertions at Castle Rising yesterday (see other blog!).

Nigel, the current holder of my plot, has visited in the week and removed some of the last veg, so hopefully he will give me the nod to start completely doing my own thing soon.

At about half past one I called it a day, mainly due to the uncomfortable ankle, and headed to The Woolpack for a pint for the weekly allotment banter session. Old Ted gave his usual good counsel, but ruined it with his “all them that write on the internet are shitheads” statement. I had to disagree, and told him that “Ted, you speak a lot of good sense, but sometimes you also talk bollocks”. He followed it up with “If I was starting an allotment I’d do the whole lot with potatoes. That’d do you”. Not if I fancied parsnips for dinner it wouldn’t. The best outcome of this week’s Woolpack chat was my trying out a method of making organic plant pots, using newspaper and a glass (see pic). Complete success! I’ll be making a lot of these.

With tomorrow being my last day before the new job starts, I will be on the allotment at some point.