Life on The Weald - December 2024

- and several distractions

There's always work to be done in December, preparing the ground for the following spring, but very few days that are conducive to outdoor activity!   Autumn was a little late this year but towards to end of November and early December there was a plentiful supply of leaves to be collected.  These can be added to a leaf compost pile, which may take two to three years to produce leaf mold, mainly by fungal breakdown.  

4 December

I filled a coulple of compost bins with just leaves, which I will leave for at least a year, but have added lots to the normal compost bins and also spread some, mixed with other organic matter, as a mulch, leaving worms and nature to take over.  I have spread some on a layer of cardboard where the potatoes will be planted in March.

4 December - A layer of leaves and other organic matter

I also took the opportunity to lift a few more Jerusalem artichokes.

4 December - Jerusalem atrichokes

6 December 

There was the first sign of elephant garlic, planted last month, just peeping through the layer of Strulch (straw mulch) which had been spread for protection from frost and to deter predators.

6 December - first sighting of elephant garlic

8 December

My eldest son, Damien, and his partner, Sharon, had been staying for the weekend - I offered them a choice of squash to take home. They chose the Turk's turban.

8 December - Turks Turban

There was a party to celebrate the Winter Solstice at the Blatchington Windmill organised by the Brighton and Hove Organic Gardening Group (BHOGG)  which we took Damien and Sharon to.  There was a gardening/horticultural quiz and the team we joined managed to win and Sharon had the privilege of smashing the Gingerbread House made by one of the members.  The house was fully glazed, with windows made from melted down Fox's glacier mints.

8 December - Gingerbread house, demolished

8 December - Sharon having a smashing time

10 December

I removed the fleece from broad beans and peas. 

10 December - fleece covering newly sown broad beans

The beans were doing well and forcing the fleece up but there were only a few signs of the Meteor Peas.  Later, I wondered if I had made a mistake removing the fleece as there were very heavy winds that night.

11 December

A quick visit showed the extent of the damage from the previous night's storm force winds.  Chairs, tables and anything freestanding had been blown around; the door was off the greenhouse and the skylight had been blown off.

11 December - greenhouse; goodbye skylight

11 December - greenhouse and surrounding chaos

I tried to straighten the fruit cage (housing the brassicas) which was now at a jaunty angle.   

Despite the heavy winds, the broad beans, where I had lifted the fleece, seemed to have survived well.

11 December - broad beans after the storm

I had gathered several more sacks full of leaves and I had collected a number of cardboard vegetable/fruit trays from the community food project.  I filled these with a mixture of leaves, coffee grounds and compost from the wormeries and laid them on bare ground leaving them for nature to do its job in continuing the composting process. As the cardboard breaks down, I will flatten the sides but in the meantime the sides stop the leaves blowing about.

17 December

Tuesday saw the welcome delivery of some fresh woodchip and I manged to get a few sacks full before it all disappeared.

17 December - a welcome delivery of woodchip

18 December

There were more heavy winds during the night which caused further havoc to the shed and greenhouse.

18 December - the wind damage

19 December

Having tidied up around the shed and greenhouse I used some of the woodchip to create pathways between the raised beds....

18 December - laying the woodchip

18 December - laying the woodchip

...and I used some of the woodchip to renovate the main footpath.

This was my last visit before Christmas.

29 December

We had a house full of visitors over Christmas but there was a brief opportunity to get to the plot before the New Year guests arrived.  The weather over Christmas had been unbelievably mild with temperartures in the mid-teens.

In the garden I had a few broad beans and Meteor peas which I had sown in modules so I thought I would plant these out.

29 December - broad beans

29 December - peas

It was a damp and misty morning.

29 December from the plot looking east

29 December from the plot looking west

I planted out the seedlings.  Only a couple of the directly sown Meteor peas  were showing, so I presumed the others had either rotted in the wet weather or been eaten by mice.  I will need to sow some more in modules to fill the gaps and have a succession of produce.

29 December - Meteor peas

29 December - broad beans

30 December

There was one final visit to the allotment in 2024 - a sad occasion.

One of my political allies and friend and fellow allotmenteer had died recently.  He was very active on the site, extremely knowledgeable and always willing to share that knowledge and also his produce.  He was always willing to lend his tools too and gave a lot of help to new arrivals.  At very short notice, a number of plotholders gathered together on his plot to share memories.

30 December - a gathering in memory of Peter Gorbach

31 December

New Year's Eve was a day to stay indoors but we did brave the weather to take my son, Damien, and partner, Sharon, out to Rottingdean.  After sheltering from the wind in Kipling Garden....

31 December - Kipling Garden

... we made a brief trip to the seafront, but were glad to get back home to see in the New Year.  

John Austin

Hove, December 2024