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Fire without smoke

           Meanwhile, a charcoal burner's been busy in a Dorset wood.

Beware the fires of March

There's always lots of woody waste at the allotment that won't compost or is best burned; prunings from fruit bushes, brassica, sweetcorn and sunflower stems, diseased material and old tomato vines. Allotment rules only permit bonfires between November and the end of March. After one of the wettest winters recorded, burning anything's been impossible until recently. Now everyone's at it.

Irritatingly, Plasticman - or The Fireman - as he shall be known, who has a plot 20 metres upwind, has a habit of burning plastic bags in an old bath. He sits there in his blue overalls right next to it. Instead of the not unpleasant waft of woodsmoke cut with a sharp sweet perfume from the Daphne odora bush against a background smell of earthy early spring, comes a toxic fume of pong. What's he like?

Intent to fruit

 One-year-old gooseberry bushes spring to life amongst the thorns.

 

 Plum blossom is the earliest of all.

Brassica oleracea italica

Sown last summer and protected from pigeons (and the snow that never came) beneath scaffolding netting, the purple sprouting broccoli has grown well and is ready to yield a first harvest.

 Just like the kale that it replaces as the green vegetable of the season, it responds well to being picked, produces new growth rapidly and is high in vitamin C content.

Dead easy to grow (even on a heavy clay soil), yummy with a bit of butter and a warm glow when you notice what it costs to buy.

Rework the plot

             Rhubarb springs back to life and promises an early crop.

                 Leeks planted last summer are still a bit thin.

Hungry Gap

It's now the period of the year known as the 'hungry gap', hence a variety of kale known by the same name. Any type will do: This is Dwarf Green Curled and a packet of 400 seeds cost 25p. Even better, it grows back when you harvest it, as long as you leave a few leaves on. There's been enough to eat several times a week and made trips to the allotment worthwhile.

Fridge Magnet

Spotted in the road at the back of the City Academy on the way back from the pub. Fridge magnet? Or Fridge magnate? Who else would dump ten fridges but a fridge magnate or ex-fridge magnate.

 

25th December

Unquantifiable Hazards

 

Common or shaggy?

Shaggy ink cap mushrooms are a tasty autumn treat. Common ink cap mushrooms can give you a heart attack if eaten within a day or two, or before drinking alcohol, giving them their nickname of 'tippler's bane'. Best to let these ones be.

On Ballard Down

  

On Ballard Down, where the chalk hills meet the English Channel, Swanage Bay to the west. 

  

Straight ahead, it looks like the path leads into the sea. 

Around the corner, facing east, the cliffs losing battle with the sea.

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Boxed

Roots up

Beet time

Squashed

Coned

Dalliance

Cosmic