My allotment has been under water for the best part of six weeks, however the Thames is now back where it should be, leaving me with a sorry looking mess.
I cleaned up everything that had been floating around, like buckets and bits of wood.
Then I hoed all my raised beds and trimmed my crops with a pair of scissor, crops like kale, chard and spinach.
Scattered some chickens pellets, then stand back and watch them grow. Hope to harvesting in a couple of weeks, it it is not too cold.
It is import, for your own health, not to have rats running around.
The reason is that rats can give you a very nasty bacterial infection which is found world wide, it is called Leptospirosis.
One of the forms of disease is : Weals disease which is found in water contaminated with rat urine.
Flooding can spread this ( my plot has been under water for five weeks now )
The other form of Leptospirosis is Hardjo which is like Weals, but is generally caught from cattle and as many of us use cattle manure on the plot, it can be dangerous for us.
These disease can be caught from cuts on your hand, touching your face or whatever.
What you can do about is:
Control the rat population.
Cuts and abrasions should be covered with waterproof dressing.
Wash you hands often when on the plot.
Wear gloves when working on the plot, whatever the weather.
Do not touch anything to do with rats.
A suitable disinfectant should be used to wipe down any tables or the like you might have on you plot.
If you are sat down wondering what to plant next year, here is one that I have found that might be worth a try.
The perpetual cauliflower, which means just what it says on the tin.
A friend of mine planted some in 2019 which went on for two years. How it works is that you sow in late winter under cover and then harvest 20 odd weeks later.
The curds will grow from the side of previously harvest curds. In other words you do not pull the plant when you first harvest..just cut curds, which will be about the size of a tennis ball.👀
The time when chard comes into its own is now, in the cold of winter. Chard is in the same family as beetroot, which is one of the reason why there are the red stemmed varieties that have the same earthy sweetness, although not so pronounced.
Chard does not bolt in the heat of summer (so it is sown spring and autumn) chard will also last for a couple of years. With chard you also get a wonderful meaty stalk to use in stir fries!
I have just got my bill for the allotment:
11 pole cost £ 62 ........which has gone up from £34 in 2210 when I took it on.
I have two plots, which makes a total of £124 pounds.
This pays, because my wife and I have breakfast every day from the plot, in the form of: apples, soft fruit and kale.
I reckon each bowl/smoothy is worth 50 pence which makes an income of £365 per year. So a saving of
£241 not counting all the other crops we get.
A pole is from the tip of the bulls nose to the tip of the plough handle or 5.5 yards
Vegetables from seed is a very satisfying job, however, timing is everything. You do not want to find that all your work has produced a "vegetable glut" or that sowing too early, you lose the lot.
Plan your sowing. Only grow what your are going to eat and wait for the moment.
Here in Oxford....it is too early because we have snow and it is cold ( plus everything is under water because of floods)
I always wait till the grass is growing and turns a fresh green. This is normally from the 15th of February onwards.
↝Ҝ📁📂
As I sat on my allotment today with ten inches of flood water from the Thames........I thought.....this is just like being Venice.
So I looked at the birds, the clouds, the trees and thought Spring will come just wait and plan my crops for the coming season.
