Year end

It's been a great year, got a couple of visits in before and after Christmas. Cropped some more leeks, parsnips, beetroot and rocket.

Tidied up some of the beds on the top allotment and started to cull the rampant strawberries!

31 October 2013 - Slowing down...

It's been a busy month with harvesting and then preparing for the winter slow down.

Got a decent crop mid October

Had a couple more trips on my bike this week, cleared all the beans away, the pumpkin and butternut squash plants, some of the courgette plants, the salad on the front bed of the top allotment, sorted out part of the strawberry bed on the bottom allotment, cut all the autumn raspberry canes down to ground level and done a load of weeding and digging.

The top allotment is looking a lot tidier now!:

The green manure has taken well:

View of top allotment past the trees (I've taken all the apples now):

Bottom allotment still needs some work:

It was a lovely day today, the sun was shining most of the time and I was down to shorts and t-shirt. I had taken a sandwich with me and a flask of tea!

Still got loads of carrots, parsnips, beetroot, leeks and salad to crop and I've put in some onion sets, shallots and broad beans to over winter.

Back at home the carrots in the raised bed have been fantastic - best I've ever done!

I've cleared nearly all the tomatoes out of the greenhouse now - here's the last of them:

25 September - Harvest Time!

It's been a busy 2 months but it's time to start harvesting my produce. Spent 2 1/2 hours on Sunday digging up potatoes (Cara and Setanta). I've still got 2 rows of Sarpo Mira to dig up (I dug one up to see what they are like!). Got some lovely spuds - a few of the Cara had a bit of eelworm but the Setanta were almost perfect.

The pumpkins are coming along well:

17 July - Hot stuff and strawberries galore!

Since my last post it's been a busy time up on the plot! All the sweetcorn are in now - this was taken on 30th June. Some of them look a bit pathetic but they've picked up a lot since

and I've been digging up new potatoes for a few weeks. The first earlies (Rocket) have all been eaten - this was my first crop on 24th June

and I've started on the second earlies (Melody). The Melody are really tasty and have all come up clean - no scab, holes, etc.

It has been so hot recently all my time seems to be taken up with watering - not complaining though as everything is growing really well and the weeds haven't been too bad.

The strawberries have been phenomenal, we've had 6+kgs on the first picking then 3+kgs many times since. Picked these on 3rd July:

Picked these on 6th July:

And these were the latest crop:

I've been using 2 pieces of bubble wrap to stop them getting squashed - works really well. I've used 3kgs to make some wine - done it before - it's lovely stuff (although I say so myself!)

The Jack O'Lantern pumpkin, butternut squash and courgettes are doing well, however the Atlantic Giant pumkins died but I managed to get another nice looking plant from a school fair.

These were taken on 8th July:

I've put a row of spring onions in and half a row of mixed sald on the top allotment. The carrots and parsnips are growing well:

picked a few and pretty pleased with the result:

At home the tomatoes in the greenhouse have started producing, I've had some sungold and red cherry so far.

The Alicante are a decent size just no sign of them changing colour yet! I've got a few beef tomatoes in pots due to lack of space but I think they'll probably produce quite small fruit.

The sungold have gone a bit triffid like

and the raised beds have been producing loads of peas, salad and coriander. The carrots and spring onions are coming along well but the basil is still a bit small:

It feels a bit like Springwatch when we look out the door in the kitchen to the "shed" (it's open at one end). We've got a great view of a blackbird and her nest feeding her chicks. Here she is in action (photo not so good as I didn't want to frighten her):

13 June - Planting, weeding, planting, weeding!

Had a great holiday but came back to loads of weeds.

Just about on top of them now.

On the bottom allotment, I've put in the sweetcorn and a couple of butternut squash in one bed, some cabbages to go with the cauliflowers in another (covered with wondermesh) and more peas that I sowed at home to go with the ones I sowed in the bed. I've got a few more sweetcorn in the greenhouse at home but they need to be a bit bigger before I put them in.

I've also covered the strawberries with wondermesh to keep the birds off.

The carrots are going well but there's lots of gaps so I've sowed some more seed to fill in.

The red hot poker in the front bed is shooting now but I need to get rid of the other flowers - they keep taking over!

Everything seems to be growing ok just a bit slow - need more sun and warmth please....

On the top allotment some of the beans didn't seem to be coming through so I've put some more in from the greenhouse at home.

Another row of carrots has gone in - trying Flyway. The previous row is growing ok as are the pasnips now I can see them after weeding!

I've covered the area in front of the carpet at the bottom with some weed suppressing fabric and planted a Jack O'Lantern pumpkin, some courgettes and butternuts through it. There's one more butternut in a pot at home that was a bit slow to germinate so I'll bring it on a bit before planting. I've also moved a bit of the carpet off, got rid of the little bit of bindweed I'd missed (I hope!) and put the Atlantic Giant pumpkins in - they didn't look as healthy as I would have hoped - hopefully they'll survive. These have all been planted on top of a dollop of horse manure kindly provided by another 'menteer and they've had plenty of water - mainly from the sky ;-)

Photo is a bit wobbly - whoops...

The strawberries seem to be taking over on the top allotment - I will sort them out after they've cropped - looking forward to the first one.

I've had a few crops of salad from the front of the top allotment - it tastes lovely and dead easy to crop with some scissors.

Daughter's area has had various flower seeds scattered over it - wonder if I'll know which are weeds....

At home, I've used some old blocks to raise the waterbutt on the back of the Utility and have managed to run an overflow pipe to the other butt on the greenhouse (takes longer to fill). After the recent rain it was a good test and it worked brilliantly. The sweet potatoes in the greenhouse are growing a bit now, I've only lost 1 but it doesn't matter as I'd put 2 in each bag.

I've got a few Sungold tomatoes now and a few Alicante too.

23 May - Raised Beds at home

Here they are:

I've put in a few peas, some lettuce, parsley, coriander, basil, 3 different types of carrot, etc.

It'll be nice to be able to pick some fresh produce from the garden as well as the greenhouse.

The pipe is connected to the overflow of the waterbutt but I want to rig up a better watering system when I've got more time.

19 May - Frantically getting plot ready for holiday

We're going abroad for a week next Friday evening and it's panic stations trying to get everything sorted before we go!

I've put some beans direct into the ground behind the poles on the top plot. Somebody gave me that great tip - it means you can hoe right up the pole.

I've put in (min. 2 at each pole):

3 x Runners - Tender Heart

3 x Runners - White Lady

5 x Cobra

3 x Borlotti

3 x French - Blue Lake

2 x French - Mont D'Or

3 x Dwarf - Opera

3 x Ying Yang

The parsnips have germinated no problem, I also earthed up a few of the potatoes and I put in 4 short rows of leeks behind the beans (about 60 - 70 in total). I used the end of a short hoe to make the holes, popped the leeks in and filled the holes with water and then left them. This method has worked well in the past.

On the bottom allotment I completed the prep on daughter's area and threw some wild poppy and convulvus in. She wants to put some other flowers in too.

At home, I've had a poor showing of the squash, courgettes and pumpkins. I've sown a few more seeds in some of the pots that aren't performing - I'll probably get 2 in a pot now just like the tomatoes.

The peppers are looking fine if a little slow and the tomatoes in the grrenhouse are doing well, second set of flowers coming and the plants are approaching 3 feet tall. The sweet potatoes seem to be alive but not doing much yet - hasn't really been warm enough I suppose although according to my max/min thermometer it's hit 40°C on a few days - phew!

I filled my new raised beds in the back garden with some upside down turf from front garden (soon to be block paved) and then put compost on top. I've put a few peas in toilet rolls from the greenhouse in one of them. I want to get some more stuff in them before we go away. I've arranged for my father to water the allotment if required and a neighbour to do the plants in the conservatory and greenhouse.

The weeds are starting to be a problem so I could do with a hoeing session on the plot one night this week.

I'm hoping there might be a crop of first earlies in the first half of June but they are a bit behind this year.

15 May - Mr Frost threatens

Nipped up to allotment tonight as there was a potential frost forecast. 2°C was the expected low so I earthed up all the potatoes that were showing through:

18 out of 20 First Earlies

16 out of 20 Second Earlies

20+ out of 60 Main Crop

Also picked some asparagus.

At the weekend I did some more preparation for the butternut squash/pumpkins/courgettes and I also sowed some more pumpkins and courgettes as some hadn't germinated - probably end up with too many again!

7 May - Signs of Life!

My Butternut Squash and courgettes have started to appear on the conservatory windowsill. They've only taken a week but I'm about a week behind last year. It will probably work out fine as they got a bit of a frosting after I put them out last year towards the end of this month. No sign of the pumpkins yet.

I've put 8 Sungold tomatoes in on one side of the greenhouse at home and 4 Alicante on the other with the sweet potatoes (which are still alive but haven't done much yet!). The rest of the tomatoes I've grown have gone to work colleagues, neighbours and parents. I've still got some donated beef tomatoes to pot on (thanks NRG). The extra peas are doing well in the toilet roll tubes in an old wash basin and the sweetcorn are starting to come through now.

Down on the plot on the evening of Bank Holiday Monday it was watering time as it had been pretty sunny and warm. Gave the potatoes a really good soaking as some of the earlies had started to show through again. More earthing up! I've left the glass off now but may resort to fleece if frosts threaten.

There's a few carrots coming and the peas are starting in the raised beds on the bottom plot.

Also put a row of nasturtiums in next to the broad beans and a row of chioggia beetroot too in the same bed.

Daughter's area at the bottom is needing a fair amount of work - docks, dandelions, rampant rasberries all trying to take over - made a start on it.

I've got some asparagus spears ready for picking - yay!

On the top allotment, I've rigged up some poles for the beans near the front and chucked a load of compost in a quickly dug trench in front of the poles. I also prepped the bed at the back for the squashes, etc. I got about half a large trug of bindweed out of it - bound to be some left behind. I've covered some of the bed with an old carpet for now and will have another search for bindweed before planting later this month - horrible stuff!

The parsnips look like they have germinated but no sign of the main crop potatoes yet - early days!

I've put a row of a different variety of beetroot in - Detroit 2.

The salad leaves at the front are coming along nicely - baby leaves at the moment.

2 May - Sweet Potato Experiment

My Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) slips have arrived!. I got them from T&M as I had a £10 voucher so it made them a reasonable cost. If it works out okay, I will probably do my own slips next year using the following method:

1) Cut a bought organic sweet potato in half.

2) Place each half in a jar with half of the potato below the water and half above.

3) Use toothpicks to hold the potato in place.

4) Put them on a window ledge or on top of a radiator.

5) Once sprouted, separate them into plantable slips by taking each sprout and carefully twisting it off.

6) Lay each sprout in a shallow bowl with the bottom half of the stem submerged in water and the leaves hanging over the rim of the bowl.

7) After a few days roots will emerge and you are ready to plant.

My wife put them straight in a glass of water (following the instructions provided) and then the next evening I put them in some Vegetable Patio Bags I acquired last year. I had 3 x 60 litre bags with handles and a couple of soft plastic containers decorated with tomatoes. I've nearly half filled them with moist compost and put 2 slips in each bag.

I've got them in the greenhouse as it sounds like they need plenty of heat and 110 days of growing time. I got 5 'Beauregard' Improved and 5 'T65'. You're supposed to pot them up individually but I haven't got the space - hopefully they'll be okay. I reckon I need to put more compost in as I read the length of the stem to the base of the leaves needs to be covered. I've folded the bags down and I plan to add more compost as they grow.

We only recently discovered the delights of Sweet Potatoes a few years ago so it seemed daft not to try and grow them.

1 May - Bean's away

Finally sowed some beans!

Every year I keep doing less and less runner beans and more of different varieties. It seems no matter how many runner's I sow, I always end up with way too many and end up giving them away so this year is no exception. I have sowed 6 Tenderstar (I won 100 in a Twitter competition), 6 White Lady, 3 Borlotti (to try), 6 French and 6 Cobra. I will probably sow some direct later this month.

Another 'menteer gave me some Ying Yang french beans. Not sure what they taste like but I thought I'd give them a go.

I've been a bit lax and haven't added plenty of organic material to the soil. Last year I did the bean trench thing with rotting compost. I've got a 'Dalek' compost bin on the top allotment so I'll probably throw some in on my next visit. I also need to get the bean poles rigged up and make it a stronger structure than last year as they leaned over a bit in the strong winds.

The beans I sowed are in the greenhouse

29 April - Better late than never!

At last I have sown some 'Sunstripe' F1 hybrid courgettes, 'Atlantic Giant' pumpkins and butternut squash (2 varieties - ' Waltham Butternut' Duchy Originals and 'Harrier' F1). I'm a bit behind last year due to the cold but there wasn't much point doing them earlier. I have also sown the sweetcorn. The peas which I did a couple of weeks ago in toilet roll inners in an old kitchen basin are starting to show their heads.

I spent a morning on the plot on Sunday and dug over the back bed on the top allotment where the beans and raspberries were. I've decided this will be the pumpkin, squash and courgette bed and I will move the runner/french/cobra beans to the front (note to self: sow some beans!).

Apart from the African Marigolds, I haven't done any flowers yet, lack of space hasn't helped either! I'll have to sow a few in a tray.

I've moved the leeks into the greehouse along with the peas and the sweetcorn to give the new stuff a chance to germinate.

Oompa Loompa

I fear I am turning into an Oompa Loompa!

"Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-doo,

I’ve got a perfect puzzle for you.

Oompa Loompa, do-ba-dee-dee,

If you are wise you’ll listen to me.

What do you get when a parsnip you chop?

A bleedin' ORANGE stain you can't get off!"

*

I prepared a load of parsnips - washed, peeled, chopped - ready for the freezer and I thought of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when I saw my hand! No amount of washing seems to have shifted it. I am going to get some industrial hand cleaner from work and give it a good scrub see if that shifts it.

What the hell is in parsnips?

I spent a fair bit of time up at the plot and sowed 2 rows of peas (Ambassador) in one of the raised beds in the bottom allotment and got various other beds ready for planting/sowing.

On the top allotment I put the last of the potatoes in - 20 Setanta and 20 Melody making 100 in total.

Like a lot of gardeners I am a bit behind after the cold March, I have peppers, cabbages, triffid like tomatoes, sweet peas, leeks, etc. in the conservatory and some peas in toilet roll inners in the greenhouse. I'm hoping to put the tomatoes in the greenhouse soon, I'll just need to watch for frosts as I have no heating in there but the candles under metal trays worked okay in previous years.

I need to sow some more stuff like courgettes, squashes, pumpkins, sweetcorn but it's probably a good thing I haven't done them yet as I am quite often tempted to push it a bit and sow stuff too early.

6 & 7 April

2 trips to the plot at the weekend.

On Saturday I went in the car as I had 40 seed potatoes to take with me and I brought a trug full of parsnips, beetroot and leeks back!

I put 20 Melody potatoes in a raised bed on the bottom allotment:

and managed to put 10 Sarpo Mira in row on the top allotment.

On Sunday, I went up on my bike and put the other 10 Sarpo in next to the first 10. I also sowed a row of parsnips and some salad leaves on the top allotment.

Back at home in the conservatory, the Alicante tomatoes are getting quite big (I may have started them off a bit early!) and the Sungold are coming along ok. The marigolds have germinated and are 1+ inches high and the nasturtiums are getting quite tall. The cabbages and peppers seem to be growing well too.

16 March - Patience!

Have some patience! The Sungold tomatoes I thought hadn't germinated have now all come up along with the others I sowed so I now have 9 instead of the 6 I was planning - oh well - can't do without plenty of Sungold. Also the two trays of leeks are now showing signs of life.

I cleaned the greenhouse inside and out with a dilute solution of Jeyes Fluid - I looked a sight with my marigolds, cap and old waterproof jacket but the greenhouse looks MUCH better now.

I potted up the Alicante as they were a decent size.

At the allotment, I planted the first early potatoes under my glass panels and black plastic. Bit later than previous years but it's been too cold.

Need to start loads of things off but waiting for warmer temps. Come on spring......

3 March

Popped up to the plot for an hour. Prepared the carrot bed - removed the last of the rocket and radish.

Sowed 4 rows of carrots - some Early Nantes 2 and another variety.

Covered them over with fleece for protection afterwards.

I've still got the glass panels on the early potato bed in front - bit later getting the Rocket in this year - soon!

At home, I've found my other packet of Sungold so I've put 3 more seeds in the tray in the propogator in the conservatory as I've had a couple of germination failures. The sweet peas are doing really well as are the Alicante toms. Nothing seems to be happening with the leeks in the greenhouse. I may have to sow some more....

18 February

Another visit to the plot this morning. More prep. Lovely sunny morning.

Top allotment

Bottom allotment

6 February

2 1/2 hours on the plot this morning. Planted my shallots on the bottom allotment (far right bed). Having created my plan for the bottom allotment:

I realised the onion sets I'd planted in the bed at the front right were in the wrong place for my crop rotation scheme so I moved them to the same bed as the shallots. The rear beds are a bit smaller so I had a few left over so I used them to fill in a few spaces on the 2 rows of onion sets I've put in on the top allotment.

I took the wondermesh off the cauliflowers and cabbages and pulled them all out (to take home) as I wanted to get the soil warmed up a bit ready for the early potatoes. I only have 2 x 4' square glass panels left now so I've had to use some weed suppressing fabric for the remainder of the bed. I plan to put the rocket in in early March.

I also pulled a few chioggia beetroot up and dug up 4 more parnsips (still quite a few left). At home I have my first tomatoes in the electric propogator - Alicante. I can't find my Sungold seeds but am hoping to get a few in later this week.

I also have 2 trays of leeks in the greenhouse - I need to give it a good clean though with a solution of Jeyes fluid probably some time this month.

27 January

Went to the plot for the first time in weeks - snow stopped play.

Top allotment

Got some parsnips, leeks, celeriac and a beetroot:

Bottom allotment:

I'm forcing some rhubarb under the white bin again.