Life on The Weald - November 2025

and something a bit fishy!

Saturday 1 November

We have booked the ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe for later in the month to go to the Annual Festival of Herrings and Scallops, but we noticed that the Newhaven Ferry was celebrating its 200th anniversary with an exhibition at the Newhaven Port, which we decided to visit.

1 November - poster at the Newhaven Museum

Apparently the growth of the ferry business resulted from the arrival of the railway, also celebrating its 200th anniversary this year.  That was before the days of mass tourism; the ferry service was mainly freight, and the passengers were the elite upper classes but in the 19th century the fastest route from London to Paris was via Brighton and Newhaven.

Sunday 2 November

At the allotment there had been a welcome delivery of woodchip.

2 November - woodchip

After collecting some woodchip, I lifted a few leeks to see how they were doing and was pleased that there appeared to be no sign of the dreaded Allium leaf miner.

2 November - Leeks

I lifted the fleece from the broad beans and sowed some more to fill the gaps.  I was also able to lift a large beetroot. The Brussels sprouts were looking good but I was worried they were rather early and might "blow" (ie open) before Christmas.

2 November - sprouts

Monday 3 November

I had to be on site today, in my new role as Chair of the allotment association, to meet a plumber to deal with a blockage in our accessible toilet.  Oh the joy of high office!  I did use the opportunity to collect some more woodchip but had no time to do anything with it.

Tuesday 4 November 

I did some handweeding near the recently planted purple sprouting broccoli and planted another row, which I then covered with a new cloche.  The woodchip came in handy for making a path between the rows and between the broccoli and the sprouts and between the broccoli and the chard.

4 November - newly planted broccoli

4 November - cloches in place

Wednesday 5 November

Lots of leaves in the garden - but not for stuffing the Guy - for mulching my dahlias and building the raised bed along the garden fence.  We also took the opportunity of relocating some of the planters and statues.

5 November - its not a desecrated graveyard!
Re-organising the garden - a work in progress

Saturday 8  November

I had collected lots more leaves from the front garden and used these to mulch the rhubarb on the plot, leaving the crowns clear, to prevent damp rot, and placing flowerpots over them to force the rhubarb. Normally I would do this in January or February but the crowns were beginning to sprout already, so this will not only force the rhubarb but protect the crowns from frost.

8 November - mulching the rhubarb

As it was a fine day, I spent some time on the plot making use of the recently acquired woodchip.  I made a start on renewing the central path, speading the woodchip on a layer of cardboard, hopefully suppressing the weeds.

8 November - renewing the path

I also put a layer of woodchip between the bed where the leeks are growing and the area where borlotti beans had grown this year - I had left the bean frame in situ.

8 November - path between the leeks and beans

I made a start on the area where the tromboncinos and cucumbers had grown but with a stiff back decided to call it a day

8 November - weeding left for another day!

Tuesday 11 November

Monday had seen torrential rain but Tuesday was fine.  The ground was very wet, but that made it easier to pull out the weeds, so I finally tackled the overgrown tromboncino and cucumber patches.  In doing so I discovered a rather large cucumber that I had missed!

11 November - the overgrown cucumber frame

11 November - cucumber area partially cleared

We then tidied the area around the bean frame, and tromboncino and cucumber patches and laid wood chip around the edges and mulched the growing areas with autumn leaves.  There was a good supply of spinach and chard for picking.

11 November - woodchip around the bean frame

At home, I potted up the Tayberry, Asian Medlar and Chinese Mahogany plants that I had bought at the RHS Wisley Gardens.  I had a Tayberry on my previous allotment which I had been very pleased with, so I thought I should try one at The Weald.  I decided to keep it in a pot for its first year before deciding where its permanent home should be.  I was introduced to the Asian or Japanese Medlar in Spain and gave a description in my blog November 2018. Having seen a specimen at Wisley, I decided to try to grow one in the UK.  I cannot recall why I bought the Chinese Mahogany (toona sinensis) as it can grow to over 25 metres (82 feet) tall with a trunk up to 70cms (thats over 2 feet) in diameter!  It did look rather attractive and I assume I was told it's size could be controlled in a container - we shall see!

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Wednesday 12 November

I was on site most of the day, but not getting much done as I had to be there for the electricians who were testing the wiring and sockets for our allotment association building to provide an Electrical Condition Report.

Friday 14 - Sunday 16 November

Another weekend lost for gardening as it was the Annual Festival of Herrings and Scallops in Dieppe.

Poster for the Herrings and scallops Festival

As we live only 12 miles from Newhaven its only a 13 mile drive from home to the centre of Dieppe (with a 4 hour ferry ride across the channel). We set off in the morning, with lunch on board and plenty of time for a bit of shopping before dinner.

We had booked a table at The Turbot, which Rick Stein had described as one of his favourite restaurants - we were not disappointed.

14 December - pre-dinner Dieppe sky from our B&b

14 November at Le Turbot - my Scallops with girolles

14 November - Sylvi's medley of seabass, turbot and monkfish
with the obligatory scallop

Saturday was the actual festival and a day to feast on the herrings and scallops available on dozens of street stalls along the dockside - and, of course, the occasional oyster and glass of champagne.

15 November - herrings

15 November - herrings

15 November - herrings and scallops

 

15 November - Cheers!

Monday 17 November

I cleared weeds around the original Hugel bed, where onions are growing, and put down a layer of cardboard covered with woodchip around the bed.

17 November - woodchip around the onion bed

I continued to clear around the cucumber frame putting a mulch of leaves on the growing area and woodchip around the periphery.

We seem to have had a visitor who left paw prints on the fleece cloche!

17 November - mystery paw prints

We think it was probably a hedgehog.

Thursday 20 November

I harvested the remaining squashes.

20 November - the last of the squashes

A neighbour very kindly gave me a couple of her sweet potatoes and I lifted my own Yacón, (Peruvian ground apple) which had been growing in a pot.

20 November - Yacón (L) & sweet potato (R)

I found this article in The Guardian of interest.

Wednesday 26 November

Having picked the squashes, we cleared most of the weeds from the 3 sisters bed.  We chopped up the sweetcorn stems and those from the Jerusalem artichokes and spread them on the soil which we then covered with cardboard and then a pile of leaves, ready to add manure and compost at a later date.

26 November - 3 sisters bed

There were windfall apples everywhere.  It had been an amazing year for all fruit.

26 November - windfalls

The garlic was just beginning to sprout...

26 November - first signs of garlic

...and the recently sown broad beans were also beginning to show.

26 November - broad beans

27 November

Sylvi cleared some of the lower trays from the wormeries. The contents were not fully composted but rich in worms, so we added some of this to the leaves on the 3 sisters bed to let nature do its work over the winter.

27 November - Sylvi's worms

Saturday 29 November

Arrival of our first Christmas card and the first Christmas flowering cactus (Schlumbergera) to flower!

29 November - Schlumbergera & first Christmas card 

Sunday 30 November

We harvested some of the beetroots which have been excellent this year, both the traditional red Boltardy and the red, yellow and white varieties.

30 November - beetroot

We also lifted some leeks. Sadly my earlier optimism had been misplaced as there was evidence of allium leaf miner, although the damage did not appear to be as extensive as previous years.  I will not be putting the waste from the leeks in the compost as the larvae are likely to survive, so surplus leaves will go to the council waste centre.  Commercial and municipal bulk composting will reach sufficiently high temperature to kill off any larvae and other pests.

30 November - leeks

We also picked a few of the lower sprouts to accompany the leeks and roasted beetroot for our last Sunday dinner before winter.

John Austin

Hove, November 2025

Mon 17 cleared round Hugel 1 and old cucumber frame

19 November

It was time to plant the tulips at home.  I reorganised the troughs in the back garden and planted 10 Dow Jones (red and yellow) and 10 Fireworks (yellow and red)

 in two troughs. In the front garden, I changed the soil in the troughs and removed the pelargoniums which were still flowering.  In one trough I planted 10 Rasta Parrot tulips (red, orange and yellow) and 10 mixed crocus and then replanted 2 pelargoniums and 2 cyclamen.  In a second trough I planted 10 Silver Parrot tulips (pink and silver) and 10 mixed crocus and replanted a cyclamen. I an thurd trough I planted 10 Helmar tulips (red and yellow).  In the first stone trough I planted 5 Lemon Beauty (white with yellow) tulips and 5 One Direction (white with red). In the second stone trough I planted 10 Fabio tulips (red with yellow fringe).  In a square pot I planted 5 Amber glow and in the reamining plastic troughs planted 10 Amazing Parrot (pink and orange) and 10 Brisbane (orange and yellow)

Thurs 20 cleared weeds from 3 sisters bed and removed sweetcorn - harvested squashes - S chop stems of sweetcorn and artichokes. Leaves and wood chip cucumber frame.

21 November

22 November

26 November

27 November

30 picked beet - sprouts

Life on The Weald - October 2025

and a few other places

Wednesday 1 October 

It was a mild start to the month with a high daytime temperature of 13C, but I didn't get any work done on our plot as I was showing a community project around the site, with the Council's allotment team, with a view to them setting up a starter beds scheme out in the community.

At home I harvested some of the chillies (Apache) growing in pots in the garden.

1 October - Apache chillies

Thursday 2 October

The mild weather continued with sunny periods and a high of 15C.  The kalettes were looking healthy but little sign yet of any florets.

2 October - kalettes

In the garden at home, the quinces were ripening nicely.

2 October - Quinces

The onions were adjusting to being uncovered but still a little bent from being under the fleece. I scattered some crushed egg shells around them to deter slugs and snails.

2 October - winter red onions

Friday 3 October 

Friday saw the arrival of Storm Amy, but Scotland and Northern Ireland bore the brunt with severe flooding and loss of electricity supply in some places. Fortunately we were little affected on the south coast, although there is a yellow warning for tomorrow for strong winds.  The broad bean seedlings in our conservatory were beginning to look a little leggy so I put these in our cold mini greenhouse by the backdoor. 

Saturday 4 October

On Saturday, there was a sad but pleasant social event.  The chair of our allotment association, Kate, is moving away and many of us gathered together to say thank you and farewell.  For the occasion I had baked an apple and cinammon cake and a banana, chocolate and walnut loaf.  The apples had come from the plot and the bananas rescued via our Community Food Project which aims to reduce food waste by collecting and distributing items of food which is near their best by/sell by dates which would otherwise go to landfill.

4 October - My apple cake and banana loaf

Kate's shoes will be difficult to fill and I will be taking on the role of Chair at the end of the month.

Sunday 5 October

Sylvi did a valiant job clearing more encroaching brambles and collecting yet more apples!   The onions, where I had removed the fleece a few days earlier, had straightened up and I removed the fleece from the second bed.  I continued to tackle some of the couchgrass at the boundary of the plot.

Monday 6 October

I spent the morning with the strimmer, trying to keep down the grass and weeds invading the footpath and tackling the grass on the haulageway at the front of the plot.  I was very pleased with our beetroots and lifted a few, both traditional red Boltardy  but also some of the rainbow variety which are much sweeter and less "earthy" than the red ones. They are a glorious colour when cooked.

6 October - cooked rainbow beetroot

We have seen very heavy crops of fruit on all of our fruit trees and fruit bushes and a proliferation of berries everywhere.  I have never before seen so many fruits on a bay tree, fat and juicy and looking like olives.  Sadly they are not edible as they contain a toxic waxy substance.  I'm told that this can be extracted to make candles but don't know anyone who has done this.

6 October - The bay tree

Despite the weather warnings, it was a bright sunny day.  At home i had cut very short and scarified a portion of our lawn where I sowed some Yellow Rattle and mixed wild flower seeds including, cornflower, scabious, poppy, oxeye Daisy, wild clary, corn marigolds,and some fescue and dog's tail grasses.

In clearing the dying nasturtiums, I collected the seeds and after leaving them in brine overnight pickled them.  They are an excellent, and some would say better, alternative to capers.

6 October - pickled Nasturtium seeds (fake capers)

In the garden, I was very proud of my dahlias which were flowering profusely.

6 October - me and my dahlia!

Tuesday 7 - Thursday 9 October

We were away for a few days in the campervan, primarily to visit the Chatham Naval Dockyard. Not only did we look at the ships and the national lifeboat collection and the historic dockyard workshops but also some familiar surroundings which had been used for the filming location of the TV series "Call the Midwife".  Viewers of the series might recognise some of these locations

8 October - Chatham Dockyard

Put a blue lamp outside this one and it becomes the police station!

8 October - Chatham Dockyard

8 October - Chatham Dockyard

The industrial buildings are well preserved and the 18th century ropery (which made ropes for the rigging of Nelson's victory) is still operational, making ropes today. The ropery itself is a quarter of a mile long!

8 October - Chatham: the ropery looking east

8 October - Chatham: the ropery looking west

The Dockyard also houses the national collection of historic lifeboats.  I was particularly interested to see the Grace Darling and the J G Graves of Sheffield.  There are several lifeboats named after the heroine, Grace Darling, who in 1838, in her father's small rowing boat, rescued nine survivors fromn a sinking steamship. A close friend and nearby Hove resident can trace her ancestry from Grace Darling.

8 October - The Grace Darling

As my wife and her family are from Sheffield, I was intrigued to know why a lifeboat should bear this name, as Sheffield is as far from the sea as any city. Graves was an entrepreneur and public benefactor who was Lord Mayor of Sheffield and built his business empire there.  Neither the museum or the National Historic Ships Register can throw any light on why a lifeboat built in Littlehampton for service in Scarborough should be named after Graves.

8 October - J G Graves of Sheffield

10 October

On our return, we were pleased to see that the stock of garlic had arrived in our allotment shop.

10 October - the garlic has arrived

We had a plentiful crop of quinces so I seized the opportunity to make quince jelly

10 October - Quince jelly

Our chilli peppers were ripening nicely...

10 October - Aji Red chilli

....the leaves had gone, but there were still apples on the tree - and even more on the ground!

10 October - Apple tree

Where I had lifted the fleece, the onions had firmly rooted and were beginning to recover and grow straight.  The second planting were also now sprouting, so I lifted the fleece that was covering them.

10 October - 1st planting of red onions (fleece lifted 2 October)

10 October - fleece removed from 2nd planting of red onions

Saturday 11 October

On Saturday 11 October we went on a delightful trip with the nearby Nevill Allotment Association to the RHS Gardens at Wisley - far too many photos to show but I had to include this Achocha where the fruits were three times the size of mine! I decided it must be a different variety rather than the difference between our respective horticultural skills 🤣

11 October - Achocha at RHS Wisley

Sunday 12 - Sunday 19 October

Another period of neglect for the allotment as we set off to Spain to celebrate a friend's 80th birthday.

12 October - me in heaven! (well Torrox actually)
Navajas y almejas - Razor shell clams and Gallician carpet shell clams

14 October -Cómpeta - the view from my friend's back garden!

After a few days in Torrox, on the Costa del Sol, instead of returning home, we headed to our old haunt further north on the Costa Blanca.

17 October - Me in heaven - well Santa Pola actually!
Vieiras (Scallops)

Monday 20 October

After a week of Spanish sunshine with the temperature in the upper twenties we returned to England where it was cold and blustery with very heavy rain and certainly not a day for the allotment!

Tuesday 21 October

The rain eased but the ground was very wet.  The onions had survived the wind and rain but would be in need of weeding soon.

21 October - winter red onions

I planted out some broad beans that I had grown in pots at home and removed the fleece from the directly sown ones.

21 October - directly sown broad beans

21 October - planted out indoor-sown broad beans

I managed to clear the front of the site from bindweed and encroaching raspberries, but in the process, dug up a lot of daffodil bulbs and bluebells which I then replanted.

Thursday 23 October

Thursday began mild but we had weather warnings that storms were on their way so I made a brief trip to the plot to pick some chard and beetroots to make a variation of my traditional spanakopita, using shop bought ready rolled puff pastry with chard in place of spinach and the addition of a layer of beetroot.

23 October - fresh from the oven...

23 October - "spanokopita" with beetroot

Sunday 26 October

Sylvi continued her relentless battle with the brambles whilst I carried on tackling bindweed, but we also lifted a few Jerusalem artichokes and picked the Turk's Turban squash.

26 October - Jerusalem artichokes

26 October - Turk's turban squash

Monday 27 October

I went to our local DIY store to get a new spool cover for my strimmer (which they didn't have) and came away with a bag of daffodil bulbs and some polyanthus plants that I didn't need!  I planted the daffodils at the front of the plot together with the polyanthus.   I also sowed a few more broad beans.  The ground around the apple tree was covered with windfalls, most of which I left in situ but transferred the ones which had fallen on nearby vegetable beds to the compost bins.

27 October - windfalls

27 October - polyanthus in the daffodil bed

Tuesday 28 October

At the weekend, I had bought some garlic and elephant garlic from the site shop, so needed to clear a bed to plant it.  This did entail removing encroaching raspberries as well as bindweed.

28 October - a new bed for garlic

Wednesday 29 October

Today was the day for planting the garlic.  I had three soft-neck varieties plus a few cloves of elephant garlic.

Thursday 30 October

Sylvi was busy fixing the greenhouse which had lost a couple of panels in the recent high winds.  I began to clear the dead and dying vegetation (mostly courgettes and sweetcorn) from the 3 sisters bed

30 October - Greenhouse repairs in progress

Friday 31 October

A day at home to deal with the garden.  On our trip earlier in the month to Wisley I had bought a number of herbs in small pots, so this was a good opportunity to pot them on into larger pots; these included 3 varieties of Mint (Chocolate, Spanish and Basil mint) and two varieties of thyme.  I still have some shrubs to pot on as well.  Very little grows along the northern edge of our garden, primarily because immediately next to it our neighbour has three very large trees - a cherry, a yew and a bay tree.  I bought some steel edging in order to create a deep raised bed alongside the fence to try to create a fertile area to grow shrubs or perennials.  I have partially succeeded with a similar attempt at the end of our lawn with a deep raised bed where I planted hellebores and dahlias and some summer flowering bulbs such as acidanthera.

As winter approached, there is still much to be done, both in the garden and on the allotment - we are just hoping for a few dry, sunny days.

John Austin

Hove, October 2025