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