Life on The Weald - February 2026

- and in the rain!

1 February - Meteor Peas

Sunday 1 - Tuesday 3 February

First, the good news! The Meteor Peas, sown indoors a week earlier (25 January) had all germinated.

Figures from the Met Office confirmed that it had been one of the wettest Januarys  in the south of England since records began with rainfall 88% above the average level for the month.

February has started as January ended, with continuing wet weather. We had planned a cinema visit on Tuesday but there was an absolute downpour and sitting in damp clothes for a couple of hours did not seem an attractive proposition!

Wednesday 4 February

The rain held off and there were blue skies. I walked down by the Lagoon to deliver my membership application for the Deep Sea Anglers Club.  No, I'm not about to take up angling!  They allow "social" members as well as anglers, and they have a very nice clubroom/bar with good food and a terrace on to the beach - and it is on my doorstep.  Unfortunately they have a long waiting list, so it could be 6 months or up to a year before my membership application is even considered.

4 February - Hove Lagoon

Although it was very wet underfoot, I ventured to the plot in the afternoon and, despite the heavy mud,tackled some of the grass that was encroaching on our walk-in fruit cage. It was heavy work, but I made some progress.

4 February - removing grass, the task ahead

It didn't help that the grass had become enmeshed with the netting and was spreading into the fruit cage. I refer to it as a fruit cage but it isn't housing any fruit, but is protecting the broccoli from the pigeons.

4 February - slow progress

After an hour or so it was time for a rest

4 February - a small improvement

There is still more to do but there has been a small improvement.

Over the next few days there was yet more rain and much of the site is very waterlogged with deep puddles on the haulageways.

Monday 9 February

Thankfully there was a break in the rain and I spent the whole morning removing bindweed from around the redcurrants.  It will not be possible to remove all of it without digging up and replanting the redcurrant bushes.

Having weeded around one of the bushes, I laid a deep mulch of wood chippings and leaves. on a later of cardboard.

Heavy rain returned the following day!

Wednesday 11 February

I continued weeding the redcurrant bed and removing dead branches from the second bush. Some of it was so decayed that I decided to dig up the bush and split the root.  I replanted one of the stems which had roots and put the others in a bucket of water intending to pot them up in due course, either to replant or give away (if they survive).

11 February - Redcurrants and mulch

11 February - Redcurrants and mulch

Saturday 14 February

The allotment association had received a number of complaints from plot holders about the muddy entrance at the western gate.

1 February - western entrance to The Weald

With all the recent rain, this is a common problem across the City's allotments and it is clear that the Council does not have the resources to deal with it - so we put together a volunteer team.  Greater love hath no man (or woman) than this, that they spend Valentine’s Day filling potholes for their fellow allotment plot holders.

14 February - the western gate

There was a similar problem by the pedestrian gate to our building which is used by customers for our Community Food Project.  With the help of a couple of volunteers we dug out some of the mud and filled the void with ballast and gravel

14 February - pedestrian entrance to the Food Project

In the garden, at home, the purple Hellebores were flowering for Valentine's Day.  The white ones are just coming into bud.

14 February - Valentine's Day Hellebores

Sunday 15 February

The Quince tree in our garden, which had borne so much fruit last year, is growing very fast.  There are three main branches from the central trunk, two of which are about 2 - 2.5m high and one, with a further branch is about 4m.  I want to maintain a maximum height for the tree at about 2.5 - 3m so I consulted a friend on the allotment, Simon, who knows about these things.  Yes it is the right time of year to prune and he kindly showed me where to cut back the branches.

15 February - Quince tree with Simion's suggested cuts

Although the rain had held off, it was getting rather cold, so I put off pruning for another day

Monday 16 February

Despite the threat of rain I went to the plot briefly and, perhaps foolishly, planted out the Meteor peas that I had sown at home.  I managed to get them planted before the rain came down!

16 February - Meteor Peas

Under the fleece there was no sign of any growth of the peas which I had directly sown a few weeks earlier.  I suspect they have either rotted in the wet ground or been eaten by rodents.

Tuesday 17 -  Monday 23 February

A combination of appointments, visitors and yet more rain kept me away from the plot for most of the week  but we ventured there on Thursday to feed the worms in the wormeries, as we had accumulated quite a lot of kitchen food waste and to repot and replant the irises from the pond.  I had removed them from their pots, having to cut off the roots which had grown through, to get them out.  I needed to remove all the soil and get down to the bare rhizomes to ensure any couch grass had been removed.  It was fairly brutal treatment but I am hoping, with fresh specialist aquatic soil, that they will survive.

Tuesday 24 / Wednesday 25 February

Tuesday was a glorious, spring-like day with sunshine and a clear blue sky and ideal for gardening but, unfortunately, I had a dental appointment in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon and wasn't able to get to the plot. Wednesday was dry in the morning but getting colder.  I decided it was time to weed the Winter Red onions, which had become overgrown with weeds, mostly goose grass (also known as "sticky willy" or "cleavers" )  which I was able to pull away by hand.

25 February - a pile of goose grass for the compost heap

Goose grass is edible, with a slight taste of spinach, but we have no shortage of spinach beet and chard so the goose grass was destined for the compost bin.  It will grow back, however, unless the roots are removed.  There were other annual weeds as well so I hoed around all the onions with an onion hoe and tried to remove as many roots as possible.  The bed certainly looked better for my efforts and I must try to keep the weeds under control in future if I want decent sized onions.

25 February - Winter Red onions

Saturday 28 February

Saturday was cold and damp, but we managed to get quite a lot done in the morning.  We had help from Luke, who delivered a record six barrowloads of manure, some of which went directly on to beds on top of a layer of cardboard and the remainder in piles on cardboard, ready to be spread at a later date.  Sylvi spent the morning cutting back brambles and thinning the raspberry canes and I tried to remove bindweed roots and raspberry suckers from the small bed close (with hindsight perhaps too close) to the raspberries.  The Jostaberry  that I had been given by a neighbour, which I had planted in a large pot, appeared to be doing well, as did the winter savory and the French tarragon  which had over-wintered in an old wheelbarrow which is being used as a herb garden.  Both were just coming into leaf.

I removed the fleece from the Red Karmen red onions and Biztro shallots that had recently been planted as shoots were beginning to show.

28 February - red onions

I also removed the fleece from the directly sown Meteor peas that I assumed had rotted or been eaten but was pleasantly surprised to see fresh pea shoots emerging.

28 February - peas germinating

I removed the flowerpots with which I had covered the rhubarb in order to force it, and we picked our first rhubarb of the year.

28 February - forced rhubarb

28 February - rhubarb harvest

To end the month on a good spring-like note, there was a cluster of frog spawn in the pond and the daffodils were in flower ready for tomorrow's St David's Day and the first day of meteorological spring 😊😊😊

28 February - Frog Spawn

John Austin

Hove, February 2026

Life on the Weald  - January 2026

1 January - Last year's Amarylis

Thursday 1 January

The year started with a clear blue sky and sunshine - and the heaviest frost of the year!  Well obviously - but also the heaviest frost this winter.  At home the Amarylis which we had brought out of storage a few days earlier was beginning to grow.

Friday 2 January 

The clear skies had gone and we had cold, damp drizzle.

Saturday 3 January

There was a very heavy frost and the clear blue sky returned.

Sunday 4 January

 

The frost had clearly got to the broad beans

4 January - frostbitten broad beans

There was a clear difference between those that were in the sunshine and those in the shade

4 January - broad beans: what a bit of sunshine can do

And some good news - I was able to pick some purple sprouting broccoli

4 January - purple sprouting broccoli

Monday 5 January

A rare sight in Hove, but today we had a light dusting of snow

5 January - Snow in Hove

Wednesday 7 January

Another cold but bright sunny day.  The garlic hasn't been damaged by the frost.

7 January - garlic

And the onions look a bit battered but are OK, although in need of weeding!

7 January - Onions

It was a good time to lay down some cardboard and spread some of the manure ready for spring planting.

7 January - muck spreading

The broad beans seem to be recovering from the frost, some better than others.

7 January - broad beans

7 January - broad beans

Thursday 8/ Friday 9 January

Storm Goretti , an extremely powerful and destructive extratropical cyclone had hit France and was due to reach UK.  It brought 99 mph winds but fortunately for us they were confined to the west country.  We did experience heavy rain though, with very cold winds. 

I did venture to the allotment but only to check the arrival of the seed potatoes for our shop.

9 January - potatoes have arrived

9 January - potatoes have arrived

Saturday 10 January

I made a brief visit to the plot to lift some Jerusalem artichokes for a neighbour and to get my seed potatoes from the Shop - I had chosen First Early Red Duke of York (Do they need to be re-named Mountbatten Windsor?  Or perhaps "the potatoes formerly known as Prince"?).  I also bought some Second Early Nicola and Charlotte.  It was cold and wet and sadly few customers in the shop.

10 January - Jerusalem artichokes

Sunday 11 January 

Another rainy day with a very cold wind.  Unfortunately I had to go to the site to change all the notices on the site Notice Boards.  In a brief break in the rain, I did a bit more muckspreading. and raked the bed where the potatoes will go.

11 January - a bit more muckspreading

At home, I began chitting the Early ptatoes.

11 January - chitting potatoes

Monday/Tuesday 12/13 January

Another couple of days of very heavy rain, certainly not gardening weather!

Wednesday 14 January

Another wet miserable day, but pleased to see the Amarylis progressing, but no sign yet of a flower scape.

14 January - Amarylis

Thursday 15 January

Just when you think it can't get worse, there is more heavy rain and the Met Office issue a yellow warning of flooding.

Friday 16 January

There had been a delivery of woodchip to the central car park.  I had put out a plea to fellow plotholders not to take more than a barrowload per plot and was very pleased to see that most respected the request.  The tree surgeon had also left a pile of logs which were obviously too large for his chipper.  I collected a few to add to my new Hugel creation.

I had bought a new metal raised bed, which I put together on site but before putting it in place; I dug a hole just deep enough to bury three logs just below the surface.  Having covered them with soil from the hole, I spread some twigs and small branches from recent prunings topped with a mixture of semi-rotted compost and well rotted manure and covered with a layer of fine compost which had been delivered at the end of December.

16 January - a log goes in my new Hugel bed

16 January - my new galvanised raised bed

Sunday 18 January

I have a hosepipe connected to a water butt which I use to top up the pond but, with all the rain have not needed to use it.  I have removed most of the irises and need to get rid of the couch grass that has invaded them. I left them on the edge of the pond so that any wildlife attached to them might have a chance of returning to the pond. I'll leave them for a few days before repotting and putting back in the pond.

18 January - the pond

I had a vist from a very healthy looking fox - its fur was fine and it looked well-fed, unlike my usual visitor.  I suspect it is one which some plotholders feed (which I don't approve of unless an animal is sick and cannot fend for itself).

18 January - a healthy fox calls by

Monday 19 January

Having a tidy-up in the garden, I had a look inside the mini-greenhouse. I had completely forgotten that I had sown some sweet peas at the end of autumn, and was pleasantly surprised to see that they had sprouted and, despite neglect and not having been watered, were looking healthy.  I watered them and will check in a few days and then pinch out the tips to encourage new shoots.

19 January - Sweet Peas

Tuesday 20 January

With a break in the wet weather, and a bright sunny day, I continued laying cardboard and wood chip to renew the central path.

20 January - footpath renewal

20 January - footpath renewal and long winter shadow

This is the second year that there have been no Pink Fir Apple potatoes available anywhere - none in the garden centres and none in the specialist potato suppliers' catalogues.  The Weald shop had sold out at their Seedy Sunday stall in 2024, all but half a dozen poorly specimens, which I grew in a potato grow-bag.  We enjoyed eating them later that year, but I kept back a few to replant, hoping for a tasty few for Christmas. But then I forgot about them once the foliage had died back and just came across the grow-bag behind the wormeries.  With all the recent rain the bag was rather waterlogged and some of the crop had begun to show signs of rot, but the rest were fine, although some rather small.

  

20 January - Pink Fir Apple potatoes

We have eaten most - and they were delicious - but I have kept back a few for chitting and eventual replanting, so we may be among the very few enjoying this variety later in 2026.

Wednesday 21 January 

I planted the onions and shallots that I had bought from the shop, Red Karmen onions and Biztro  shallots.

Red Karmen onion sets

Thursday 22 January

Yet more rain, but this time drizzzle.  I ventured over to Roedale Allotments as they have regular deliveries of wood chip outside their plot.  Tree surgeons prefer to deliver to Roedale as there is space outside and they don't have to negotiate narrow haulage ways as they do at our site.  I managed to collect 3 large bags full.

Friday 23 January

At the allotment, dodging the showers, I directly sowed some broad beans in the gaps in the braid bean beds.

Saturday 24 January

We harvested most of the remaining Brussels sprouts.

 

Sunday 25 January

At home, I sowed some Meteor peas in trays in the conservatory.

Wednesday 28 January

It was time to harvest the remaining Brussels...

28 January - Sprouts

...and with a break in the rain, to continue relaying the central path with woodchip

28 January - the footpath progresses

The rhubarb was looking good but I need to find some larger covers if I am to force it.

28 January - rhubarb

Thursday 29 January

We removed the fleece tunnels from the latest planted purple sprouting broccoli and prepared to net them as they are intended to feed us, not the pigeons.

29 January - broccoli

Friday 30 January

Despite the very wet weather I decided to try directly sowing some early Meteor peas.  I am also sowing some in trays at home for successional planting.  We'll just wait and see if the directly sown ones rot or get eaten by the mice and squirrels!

I have covered them with a sprinkling of crushed eggshells to deter slugs and snails if they do sprout.

30 January - Meteor peas sown

We are just hoping for some drier weather next month.  It has certainly not been "dry January"!  It has rained almost every day and sometimes very heavily and the south east has suffered most having had more than 180% of average rainfall for the month.

John Austin

Hove, January 2026