Allotments 4 All

Did the couch grass diminish the vigour of the autumn raspberries? Apart from neatness I'd be thinking that couch grass and raspberries might happily co-exist?

I've had my plot 19 years and I'm still fighting bindweed and couch grass!
I ended up culling the autumn fruiting raspberries I inherited as they were overrun by the couch and trying to weed them was difficult as raspberries are notoriously shallow rooted and do not like root disturbance. I cleared and made a new patch which did well for a few years then came to the same sorry end!
I fork out the new bindweed as it raises its head, and annual mulching helps. I find If you just cover  bindweed it just grows under the cover, it's never smothered. When it grows into nice loose mulch it's much easier to pull out intact. I'm tempted to start a new bed but might go for summer fruiting raspberries that I can train up a support this time.

I got a heated gilet for Christmas - it's been a gamechanger. I also have one of those dryrobe coats. It's a bit like wearing a duvet, and can be a bit bulky, but it does the job to keep the warmth in.

Our site has been self-managed for well over 15 years. I was on the Committee for 5 of those.

Being self-managed has a lot of advantages - we set our own rents and they are some of the lowest in the area - about half the rate for the Council-run sites in our borough. We have built up a sinking fund for maintenance/reserves and this means issues with hedges/paths/communal areas etc can be dealt with quickly. We run a lot of social & training events through the year and have land set aside for communal use - an orchard, bbq areas and a small wooded area on land that wouldn't work for a plot. We manage deliveries of manure and woodchip for plotholders and have annual work parties to keep the site looking good. On average a third of the plotholders turn out for these, the others bung an extra tenner in the kitty, which all goes towards maintenance if we have to get contractors in. We have clear rules and contracts with tenants and 3 site inspections/year to make sure that people aren't overstepping or neglecting their plots. Committee members are elected each year, with maximum terms to make sure people can't stay in post forever.

There are disadvantages - you have to be strong enough to manage people who are difficult and tactful to try and stop quarrels from escalating. The clear sets of rules in the contracts is invaluable for this. It also takes having enough people to spread the (considerable) work around. We have 7 people on our committee, which means each person just has one thing to look after. Our council is overstretched and it can take a long while to get a response from them about things that are out of our remit, such as a water bill or boundary issues with the neighbours that we can't sort ourselves.

However, in the main it has been really positive. We don't have vacant plots, we have a healthy waiting list and we have a strong community that helps each other.

Thank you, Galina, for this very illuminating history of pea use and development. It seems, as you initially said, that the only real distinction for the eating of shelling peas is in the degree of sweetness. Historically the terminology is interesting if not always consistent.

I'm looking forward to sampling the varieties I'm growing at different stages, including the dreaded Shiraz.

Jan, Mr Bound's Bean Pea would be one of the old 'grey' or shelling/drying peas, developed for its large size, so less work makes a good dish of peas.

Talking about uses, the white flowered sweet fresh eating, shelling peas, especially in their most luxurious form as small immature petit pois, was initially associated with the aristocracy and with fine dining.  The grey peas aka field peas were more associated with dry uses, ordinary people and winter survival.  In that category, a really large pea must be welcome.  But it does take longer to reconstitute than a smaller soup pea.  No doubt they weren't just dried, but also eaten as fresh peas in season, but their principal value was that they could be stored for the winter months.

English pea breeders, in particular Knight, Carter, Laxton etc all worked on developing the sweet, white flowered, fresh eating pea further, making it available to everybody.  These are still the most popular peas today.

Second most popular today are probably the mangetout peas, especially associated with Chinese dishes and stir fries.  The sugar snap peas have gained importance in very recent years (breeder Calvin Lambourne, although they were known to the Amish community already).  Whereas the soup peas or the grey peas of old are almost forgotten, with little pockets of traditional regional use, where 'parched pea dishes' still play a role.  However, looking at the most recent developments, there is a revival here too, with more interest in ethnic, vegetarian and vegan foods that favours non sweet peas.     

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Andrew_Knight

Jan you wrote  ", I guess I was thinking of all non-sweet peas as good for drying and therefore for soup, stews etc.."  Pea terms really are not always logical and not universally clear in their meaning.   Bean terms are as confusing.     

I found one specialist potato seed business that lists it - https://www.potatohouse.co.uk/ - but they say that it is unavailable for this season, though they have supplied it recently and hope to do so again. Perhaps worth emailing them?

https://www.suttonelms.org.uk/mayan-gold.html

"Mayan Gold is a new potato variety (Solanum tuberosum Group Phureja, also known as S. phureja) bred by SCRI, Invergowrie, Scotland's leading Institute for research on crops and plants, in partnership with Greenvale AP. Mayan Gold has yellow flesh and elongated tubers, bearing more resemblance to the potatoes eaten in Peru than the varieties we usually buy in the UK"

The SCRI are now known as the Hutton Institute and I hope this doesn't mean they don't do these potatoes any longer.  Maybe an email to them would bring more information.  Can't find any here either but haven't spent more than half an hour looking. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Crop_Research_Institute

I hadn't realised they had fallen away from availability. I've been keeping Mayan Gold and either Mayan Rose or Mayan Twilight going for quite a few years (one faded away last year but I can't remember which one without checking. I think perhaps MR)

Mayan Gold does very well each year; the other two seem less vigorous. If you'd like a couple of withered starters now, or a more generous number at the end of the season, I'm very happy to send.

It's been some years now since I've seen seed potatoes of the Phureja cultivars on the market. I'm talking about Mayan Gold, Mayan Rose, etc. those really lovely yellow-fleshed, floury maincrop potatoes that made killer roasties. Miss them :(
Anyone know what happened, and if they'll be coming back?