A View From (Inside) The Greenhouse; Merry Eid (By Gum) And A Happy Ramalama-Dingdong

Following the last “storm” and the subsequent damage, the path alongside the main growing area had turned into a bit of mud-swamp. This was unavoidable, due to Buildings and Maintenance trekking up and down it, often with their wellies shin deep in very sticky mud, as the task of repairing the roof was undertaken. It’s taken a while for it to dry up, but with the roof now being as watertight as its been for a goodly while, the time was right to quickly run the rotovator up it a couple of times (not my department) and the path to be reconstituted by raking it over (not my department) before “walking it in” (definitely my department). It only took a morning, from start to finish, but it was one of those mundane but necessary tasks. Hopefully that’ll be that for the foreseeable.

Norman used to wash his pots every year. Up until this year I’d made do with banging them on the potting table, to loosen the previous years detritus, before giving each one a cursory wipe with an old bit of rag. To my mind, this served two purposes; it made me feel that I was keeping up tradition (to a certain extent) and the banging exposed any pots that had become brittle, over the years. Any road up, having a bit of time on my hands I decided to do the job properly this year (every passing season sees me become less of a “rough gardener” than the previous one) by washing and thoroughly rinsing 100 pots, after first steeping them in a weak solution of Jeyes Fluid for 36 hours. I’m happy with the results, I had been concerned that the smell of the fluid might linger, but it hasn’t. Whether or not it’ll make any difference to the finished article, time will tell.

There’s had to be a bit of a rethink where the raised beds are concerned. I may (or may not) have mentioned that when Forester Dave made his move from parochial village dweller to urbanite “man about town” I was lucky enough to be the recipient of some of the stuff that his move had made redundant. Along with the heated seed trays, a handsome felling axe, a couple of very handy compost bins, a bottle of Siracha sauce and some nice garden pots I became the owner of a copy of a book entitled “The Smallholders Encyclopedia”. I’d grown the onions outside last year, but having the space now for a decent amount of them, I thought I’d better make sure I was doing the job at least half right. Onions (from sets) do best when they have full sunlight for the majority of the day (who knew) and the original bed chosen sits in the lee of a north facing wall. I’ve put beetroot, turnip, chard and rocket in there instead, along with the leeks and garlic, working on the theory that they’ll be a while germinating and the sun will have got a bit higher in the sky by the tome they do. We’ll see.

Not much explanation needed her, This bed had been given a little bit more TLC than the other three, as we’d decided to use if mainly for carrots. It does get more sunlight than the other three, being the most southerly and there’s still enough space, even given the 64 onion sets now planted in it, for five or six rows of carrots. Carrot is a vegetable I’ve had little success with in the past (beyond a few Chanternay) and I’m not really expecting great things, but if you don’t give something a go, you’ll never find out. A big plus (according to my encyclopedia) is the fact that carrot fly is dissuaded by the presence of onions and onion fly (who knew an onion fly even existed) is dissuaded by the presence of carrots. Let’s hope the book’s right, as I’ve no intention, up to now, of using any pesticides.

I can’t be bothered to check back, but I’m guessing I get in a bit of a panic every year, about when the first buds will appear on the vine. I suppose it’s a combination of it looking lifeless (its a good few years old now), and the fact its original “partner” died off some years ago without any warning. It had produced grapes for years before dying back without any warning, five or six years ago now. Consequently it’s always a relief to see the first buds. The cutting, which sits on the other side of the house is also showing signs of life. Grapes galore, come September, all being well.

It won’t be the first time there’s been a sighting of this particular trough, which has, for a couple of years now, been home to various salad leaves. I’d never really taken that much notice of it, let’s be right, a trough, after all, is just a trough, but it does have a bit of history about it. Norman had a smallholding, back in the 1960’s, which was originally part of  the Land Settlement Scheme, it was on land that had originally belonged to Crofton Hall, just outside Carlisle. He kept pigs and grew various crops for selling and to feed the family. When he bought the land where the greenhouse now sits, this pig trough was one of the few things that came with him, serving as a feeding station for his flock of sheep. Nobody knows how old it is, but the Land Settlement Scheme was set up in 1934, meaning it could have been in use, for one purpose or another, for over ninety years. I don’t know why it should, but this knowledge pleases me, no end.

Given we were almost into April, I felt it was about time to get some seeds in. I’ve got various peppers, chilies and beans, along with some cabbage, aubergine, ten tomatoes (backups) and three cornichon in the large cold frame (none of which had germinated at last inspection). I’m trying to germinate the rest of the tomatoes in the heated seed trays, rather than the old airing cupboard, bedroom windowsill method I’ve previously and successfully used. I’m hoping to be able to pot these on by the first week of April, eventually getting them in the ground in mid-May. If the ten in the cold frame germinate too, then I should have enough room to plant them, that’ll give me the most tomato plants I’ve ever grown. I’ve got five new seed, including a new San Marzano, along with some of the tried and tested varieties from previous years. Looking forward to seeing how (and if) this pans out.

The potato, pea and broad bean patch is finally dried out enough for tilling and the rotovator continues to do its sterling work. Maybe it’s a bit unfair to call it “Triggers”, but it does seem to require a replacement (or two) part every year. This is another thing that has some age about it and it’s also something that gives me great pleasure to know that its still being cared for and used. I must be getting a bit soppy in my old age.

You wouldn’t know it, because there’s been little fuss or media exposure, but the 30 day long Muslim period of self denial known as Ramadan has just come to an end and we are now entering the three day period of Eid-Al Fitr, which (although again you wouldn’t know this, such is the media blackout) is a three day period of feasting and celebration. But enough of my sarcasm.

As my reader will probably recall, I lived and worked in Dubai for close on a year, in the early 2000’s. I happened to be there during Ramadan and, apart from noticing how lively the traditional restaurants and Shisha bars were, after dark, the only real indication that a religious festival was taking place was the number of wealthy Saudi men, who’d fled the restrictive nature of their own country for a month and were spending their evenings in the bar of the hotel in Bur Dubai mall, drinking Stella and haggling over prices with the Chines prostitutes who were often found in this particular venue. Is it just me, or have all the good wishes from Royalty, Politicians, businesses, other large organisations and the media seemed a little “over the top”? One can understand prominent Muslims wishing fellow travellers the compliments of the season (although I can’t understand why Regent Street needed lighting up) but I’m not sure, unless there’s an agenda, that our “leaders” need to be holding Iftars in our public buildings and our national (envy of the world) broadcaster needs to be live broadcasting an Eid-el-Fitr celebration from the Bradford Central Mosque. The Muslim population of the UK (although growing) is under seven percent, but the influence, across many areas including politics, “Quangos” and the media, of what many people see as a quasi-political belief system, is greatly amplified in proportion to this small but very vocal minority. Some say it’s driven by the corrupting influence of Arab money, with many of our political and media class, who aren’t themselves openly Muslim, having been bought and paid for. Others will tell you that the stated aim of Islam (or Islamic Jihad) is to convert the world to its doctrine, by whatever means necessary, including the buying of influence and, as we know, the use of acts of violence. Whatever the case, I’ve seen Islam (or a version of it) at close hand and I’d much prefer it if the UK were to remain a predominantly Christian country that didn’t have to kow-tow to faiths and cultures which, let’s be honest, are alien to the overwhelming majority of us.
 

© Colin Cross 2025