A twitter over a robin

So...my best weekend sightings for the RSPB Birdwatch hour were, not in the allotment, but in a friend's central London garden. With delight we identified blue tits, coal tits, thrush, goldfinch and wren darting about. The trouble came with the robin. "It's male," said PF authoritatively and the great debate began. Is a female robin's breast as red as a male's? I'd had this discussion with another friend over Christmas. Could someone, please, clarify?

RSPB Birdwatch Weekend

It's countdown time to count up the birds

The weekend: January 30/31

Length of counting time: one hour

Just put that fork down for one hour and put your feet up. If (lucky you) you have both garden and allotment, the RSPB would prefer you to count the birds in your garden or better still count first in your garden, then count in your allotment. If you have neither, go to your local public garden.

What's all this about? To quote the RSPB: "The Big Garden Birdwatch has never been more important than it is today...birds are disappearing in scary numbers. We've lost more than half our house sparrows, three-quarters of our starlings...These surveys help us spot problems and are the first step to help aid a species recovery".

Imagine gardening without the company of a robin or a blackbird, without the song of a thrush, the courage of tits mobbing a thieving jay - as I saw last year. Imagine just sitting down quietly for one hour next weekend. No guilt, you will be contributing to a vital piece of research.

Click on the link for details: www.rspb.co.uk/birdwatch/

Don't-have-a-pop-at-a-parakeet...

And in response to the comment "Is it true that you can now shoot parakeets?" the RSPB, who kindly sent me an illustration of one, respond:

Parakeets are not an indigenous species to Britain. However, there is currently no evidence in the UK of them causing a problem for native species. If an animal's population is causing damage or a nuisance to people or property, then landowners can apply for a licence from Natural England to control them. Parakeets have been moved on to the General Licence which does mean no application has to be made. But anyone who wants to control parakeets must be able to prove that they have a good reason for doing so.

see the relevant RSPB blog: www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/news/archive/2009/10/02/don-t-have-a-pop-at-a-parakeet.aspx

GARLIC Presents...

And while we're talking about Garlic, and are simultaneously in a panic about presents, try this Garlic Peeler + Brush + Grater all for £10...

www.rigas-enterprises.co.uk/garlic-grater-sets.htm

SCH decrees it's a winner.

If you don't fancy that, visit The Allotment Shop www.theallotmentshop.co.uk/

I swear their garden string (not just in any old colour) is the best money (not very much) can buy.

Photograph (c) Edwina Sassoon

www.fotolibra.com/gallery/collection/31568/allotments-autumn-and-winter/

www.fotolibra.com/gallery/collection/31149/vegetables-and-tools-portraits/

www.fotolibra.com/gallery/collection/29344/allotments-spring-and-summer/

PotLuck: Garlic

Allotments spread...in my case to my window ledges and tiny balcony. Hence, alongside AllotmentPickings will occasionally come PotLuck.

A friend brings me a beautiful, bulging Provencal garlic, sweet and strong. Why have one when you can have several, I think. But I'm behind with things at the plot which is still cluttered with last summer's remains while the skies are speckled with peckish birds well able to sniff out a buried garlic clove from their dizzy heights. Where's the problem? Garlic likes sandy, well drained soil and will grow well in pots. I have the remains of a bag of John Innes No 3, a big pot, a small balcony. It's the time to plant. A no brainer; the investment will grow 300% by harvest time in 10 months and I have two-thirds of the garlic to use now. Oh, and the pot has been covered with protective wirenetting.

Parakeet

A couple of weeks ago, a parakeet arrived in the street where I live, screeching with the frustration of someone who’s taken a wrong turning and noticed too late. Perhaps it had. It looked even more out of place than they do swooping noisily over our allotments.
It prompted me to pop down to the plot. Fiddling with the gate lock, I was struck by a waft of horse manure. Looked up to see a load had been dumped for us, warm and steaming. Another sniff and I was back in my childhood days, saddling up Muffin, a Thelwell style pony. Mentally jogging along west country lanes, I walked to my plot. The cosmos were beginning to feel the cold nights, but despite this, at the beginning of November, I came away with a last generous pink and white bunch and another mix of Rudbekias, Sunflowers, Dahlias and Marigolds all grown from seed. Global warming or autumn delight?

Free bulbs

Eureka! The cardoons/artichokes are NOT French soldiers. They have perked up and are all sprightly.
Sat on my bench with a bowl of soup before picking definitively the last of the runner beans, 2 courgettes and a big bunch of curly kale. Last spring, I scavenged hundreds of bulbs being chucked out by florists and friends and stored them over the summer in a wooden crate smothered with leaf mould. Started planting them round the edges of my plot they don't infringe on vegetable space.

I find some huge shiny red circular bulbs anonymously tossed on to my plot. They have long, stiff dried leaves, sharp as swords. A friend suggests they are Crocosmia. Who left them? This community-type gardening means visits are punctuated with surprises. Some more welcome than others. Bicycled, wobbling, all the way home with bounty which by now included a huge bunch of cosmos and another autumnal mix. The curly cale kept springing out of my basket. A precarious and scary journey, but worth it.