Went up on Sunday to get some leeks and it was really cold. No-one else there, not surprising really - it was raining.
We had the leeks for tea with some roast potatoes (still got some left) from the allotment along with some meat and peas. It's really rewarding to be able to eat your own produce. I've still got loads of onions left strung up in the shed although a few have started sprouting.
The broad beans I put in a bit back are about 2 to 3 inches high already.
I've dug over one of the potato beds and done a bit of weeding in the last month.
I've still got the sweetcorn/pumpkin bed to dig over.
Monday 24 November 2008
Monday 20 October 2008
Slowing down
Went up Sunday morning for 1 1/2 hours. Did a bit of weeding and took off all the remaining Cayenne and Bell peppers before the frost. The Cayenne have been fabulous - prolific and very hot!
I also pulled about 20 radish up, loads more to come and got my usual helping of salad leaves (standard, spicy and rocket) for my sandwiches this week.
Got plenty of raspberries but they look like they are nearing the end so I've frozen some.
The corn salad is looking good and I've put about 80 onion sets in - red and white and a bit of garlic.
The purple sprouting broccoli plants look very healthy, I just haven't had any broccoli - it might come in the spring.
I've got a couple more raised beds to construct over the winter and that will be all 8 done according to my plan.
Popped up later on Sunday with the family and we pulled a few leeks up to have this week - some of them are a good size and smelled wonderful.
I also pulled about 20 radish up, loads more to come and got my usual helping of salad leaves (standard, spicy and rocket) for my sandwiches this week.
Got plenty of raspberries but they look like they are nearing the end so I've frozen some.
The corn salad is looking good and I've put about 80 onion sets in - red and white and a bit of garlic.
The purple sprouting broccoli plants look very healthy, I just haven't had any broccoli - it might come in the spring.
I've got a couple more raised beds to construct over the winter and that will be all 8 done according to my plan.
Popped up later on Sunday with the family and we pulled a few leeks up to have this week - some of them are a good size and smelled wonderful.
Monday 15 September 2008
Harvest
Dug up all the remaining main crop potatoes on Saturday, cleaned them up and left them for a couple of hours in the sun before storing in hessian sacks. A few had holes. To be expected I suppose but otherwise I am really pleased with the result. I haven't weighed them but I reckon I've got about 15 - 20 kilos - should keep us going for a while!
The sweetcorn are almost all ready and taste delicious.
My bell peppers and gartenpole tomatoes have been brilliant, still loads more to pick.
The cayenne pepper has been really successful, lovely red colour and nice and hot.
The leeks are coming along great and the autumn raspberries are coming thick and fast.
Almost total failure of my cauliflowers, had a couple of heads but most of them bolted or got attacked by caterpillars. My purple sprouting broccoli plants are huge but I can't see any heads. The brussel sprouts seem to have survived the caterpillar invasion. The rocket, spicy salad and radishes have all been superb.
I shall be planting some red and white onion sets soon ready to overwinter in the bed where some of the potatoes where.
All in all, I have been really pleased how my first year went.
The sweetcorn are almost all ready and taste delicious.
My bell peppers and gartenpole tomatoes have been brilliant, still loads more to pick.
The cayenne pepper has been really successful, lovely red colour and nice and hot.
The leeks are coming along great and the autumn raspberries are coming thick and fast.
Almost total failure of my cauliflowers, had a couple of heads but most of them bolted or got attacked by caterpillars. My purple sprouting broccoli plants are huge but I can't see any heads. The brussel sprouts seem to have survived the caterpillar invasion. The rocket, spicy salad and radishes have all been superb.
I shall be planting some red and white onion sets soon ready to overwinter in the bed where some of the potatoes where.
All in all, I have been really pleased how my first year went.
Tuesday 5 August 2008
August and everything is doing great.
Got back from holiday at the end of July and everything is going great guns!
We've now finished the early potatoes - they were brilliant - very tasty although fairly large by the end. I've put some salad and some radish in where they used to be. I'm not sure what else to plant in there - I will do some more reading, still learning.
The carrots, peas and mange tout have done really well and there's still plenty left.
I am now a convert to green beans - I haven't eaten them for years - somebody at the allotment gave me 8 plants so I stuck them in - had some - very tasty, give me some more.
One of the sunflowers broke while I was on holiday but I had a spare so we still have one for each daughter. My youngest daughter came with me on Saturday and Sunday morning - brill - she loves pulling stuff up - we harvested all the onions and they are now hanging up on string in one of my sheds at home. The garlic has been distributed to friends and family - I did way too much.
I'm really impressed with the pumpkins - some are like footballs - we've got 9 on 2 plants so far.
The sweetcorn have 2 or 3 cobs forming on each plant and the cauliflowers have some nice heads coming.
My purple sprouting broccoli and the brussels plants are growing well but no sign of anything yet.
Finally, the bell and the cayenne peppers are doing great.
We had our Sunday lunch at our table and chairs - it's a great place to be with the family - the dog came too!
We've now finished the early potatoes - they were brilliant - very tasty although fairly large by the end. I've put some salad and some radish in where they used to be. I'm not sure what else to plant in there - I will do some more reading, still learning.
The carrots, peas and mange tout have done really well and there's still plenty left.
I am now a convert to green beans - I haven't eaten them for years - somebody at the allotment gave me 8 plants so I stuck them in - had some - very tasty, give me some more.
One of the sunflowers broke while I was on holiday but I had a spare so we still have one for each daughter. My youngest daughter came with me on Saturday and Sunday morning - brill - she loves pulling stuff up - we harvested all the onions and they are now hanging up on string in one of my sheds at home. The garlic has been distributed to friends and family - I did way too much.
I'm really impressed with the pumpkins - some are like footballs - we've got 9 on 2 plants so far.
The sweetcorn have 2 or 3 cobs forming on each plant and the cauliflowers have some nice heads coming.
My purple sprouting broccoli and the brussels plants are growing well but no sign of anything yet.
Finally, the bell and the cayenne peppers are doing great.
We had our Sunday lunch at our table and chairs - it's a great place to be with the family - the dog came too!
Wednesday 2 July 2008
Summer?
July is here and the potatoes just keep coming.
Loads of early carrots, some of the yellow onions are ready - delicious.
The red onions are coming on - pulled one up last night.
It's been a fantastic year for strawberries so far - punnet after punnet.
The leeks are doing well and my brassica bed is filling up.
I've put some Cavolfiori green cauli in a seed tray - an experiment.
Had some lovely peas and the mange tout are nearly ready.
The kids beds are taking shape - sweet peas, sunflower, lily, sweet william, lobelia, fruits, etc.
You can't beat this allotment lark - when I started last September, little did we know how expensive food and fuel was going to be so I'm really please I took the plunge and I'm keeping fit as well - I go on my bike 9 times out of 10.
Loads of early carrots, some of the yellow onions are ready - delicious.
The red onions are coming on - pulled one up last night.
It's been a fantastic year for strawberries so far - punnet after punnet.
The leeks are doing well and my brassica bed is filling up.
I've put some Cavolfiori green cauli in a seed tray - an experiment.
Had some lovely peas and the mange tout are nearly ready.
The kids beds are taking shape - sweet peas, sunflower, lily, sweet william, lobelia, fruits, etc.
You can't beat this allotment lark - when I started last September, little did we know how expensive food and fuel was going to be so I'm really please I took the plunge and I'm keeping fit as well - I go on my bike 9 times out of 10.
Thursday 5 June 2008
First Potatoes
Dug up 3 of my earlies yesterday and had them for Tea - marvellous. I also pulled up 3 of the onions I planted last autumn - approaching Tennis Ball size and very tasty.
I planted some sweetcorn last night that I raised from seed.
I planted some sweetcorn last night that I raised from seed.
Monday 28 April 2008
Planting, planting and construction
It's been a busy 8 weeks. I have completed 5 of my raised beds now and have just finished digging Bed 6 ready for the pallet wood sides. I woke up today expecting rain as forecast but it wasn't wet so I hopped on my bike and got to the plot for 07:00 (mad I know) and had over an hour's digging before the rain started - just enough time to get it finished. I took my mum and dad up to have a look later on in the afternoon after our barbeque as they hadn't seen it yet and the sun came out - it was glorious.
I have now got 9 earlies (Feb under glass) showing well that I've earthed up already. The other earlies (March) are also showing a couple of inches - these were under black weed suppressing fabric until 2 weeks ago. My main crop only went in 2 weeks ago so no sign yet.
I have got some 1 - 2" carrot tops showing (Early Nantes) although they took a bit of finding in all the weeds!
The onion sets and garlic that I planted in October look great and the raspberries have started shooting nicely and I've had three crops of rhubarb from under an old water butt and a pot.
The first lot of peas and mangetout under fleece haven't done much - I've got one! Maybe I was too early. Anyway, the whole plan was to put a row of each in every 2 - 3 weeks so I shall carry on. If they don't show, I'll put some more in in their place.
I've put a row of brussels in, I've also got a couple of cabbage in (freebies off another 'menteer) and on Friday I put 2 rows of leeks in my youngest daughter's bed (I'll transplant them later).
The kids have got some sweetpeas in now, some sweetwillliam, a sunflower and a lily - plenty more room for more flowers. They have also got strawberries and raspberries.
I've created my asparagus raised bed at the back and planted my seedlings (9" high) in there under glass.
In the conservatory at home, I've got loads of cauliflower seedlings, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cayenne pepper, salad leaves, etc waiting to go in.
Roll on summer...
Here's a photo from yesterday:
I have now got 9 earlies (Feb under glass) showing well that I've earthed up already. The other earlies (March) are also showing a couple of inches - these were under black weed suppressing fabric until 2 weeks ago. My main crop only went in 2 weeks ago so no sign yet.
I have got some 1 - 2" carrot tops showing (Early Nantes) although they took a bit of finding in all the weeds!
The onion sets and garlic that I planted in October look great and the raspberries have started shooting nicely and I've had three crops of rhubarb from under an old water butt and a pot.
The first lot of peas and mangetout under fleece haven't done much - I've got one! Maybe I was too early. Anyway, the whole plan was to put a row of each in every 2 - 3 weeks so I shall carry on. If they don't show, I'll put some more in in their place.
I've put a row of brussels in, I've also got a couple of cabbage in (freebies off another 'menteer) and on Friday I put 2 rows of leeks in my youngest daughter's bed (I'll transplant them later).
The kids have got some sweetpeas in now, some sweetwillliam, a sunflower and a lily - plenty more room for more flowers. They have also got strawberries and raspberries.
I've created my asparagus raised bed at the back and planted my seedlings (9" high) in there under glass.
In the conservatory at home, I've got loads of cauliflower seedlings, tomatoes, sweet peppers, cayenne pepper, salad leaves, etc waiting to go in.
Roll on summer...
Here's a photo from yesterday:
Monday 31 March 2008
Spring is here!
This is my first allotment and my first ever blog.
I got my 1/2 allotment in September 2007 and it hadn't been cultivated for about 9 months - it was full of couch grass and weeds and looked a mess. The council strimmed the plot for me which improved things somewhat however I rotavated the plot before I removed the large dandelions - of course this resulted in hundreds of pieces of root.
I covered the plot with weed suppressing fabric and started to prepare the plot.
I decided early on I was going to use a series of raised beds but with the least amount of expense as possible. I have managed to get quite a few scrap pallets from where I work and although it involves some effort, I have managed to get quite a lot of 4 and 5 foot lengths of wood from these pallets which I have then treated with a water based wood preservative and used these for the raised beds. I have managed to get 4 main beds done so far - they measure 4 x 14.5 feet and I have also made a raised Strawberry bed and used the remainder of the pallets for some compost heaps and the start of a windbreak. I will need more pallets to do the next set of raised beds but I can only get so many!!
The photo above is from 11 Feb 2008 - I need to take some more!
So far I have managed to plant some strawberries, raspberries, onion sets and some garlic in October.
This was followed by some early carrots in Feb.
I have since planted some early potatoes and am preparing another bed for some maincrop potatoes.
I have loads of seedlings at home waiting to be planted and many more seeds waiting to be sown.
My trailer load of horse muck arrived yesterday and I spent a back breaking morning shifting it about.
Roll on Spring.....
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