Just harvesting & weeding

It may still be September but the weather has been so awful, not at all like last year.

But still harvesting, here you can see:
Purple Climbing Beans
Raspberries (Autumn cropping)
Climbing French Beans
Tomatoes (from the Greenhouse)
Dwarf Runner Beans
Last year we were harvesting well into October!

The Pumpkins are doing well, at least these are benefiting from all the rain, we planted them in the Manure heap, so they have all the nutrition they need too. They are only about the size of a large Orange at the mo, but will hopefully put on weight in time for Halloween. 
I uncovered these whilst weeding, but at least I have cleared another patch ready to re seed.

Don't need to tell you what this is, but had to take a photo of it growing on the plant, its so perfect.

Have already received my Autumn planting Onions, this year I am trying 'Red Cross' (red) & 'Radar' (white) I will plant these, 100 of each, in the space left by the Cara spuds I dug up last weekend.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

2nd Blog of this weekend

You lucky lot getting 2 blog updates this weekend, but as you saw yesterday there was a lot to do.
So today I did a bit of Harvesting.
The Carrots that we keep under fine mesh because of the carrot root fly that we get, are still cropping well. I only harvest when its safe to do so, as disturbing the Carrots releases the carrot smell the Root Flys home in on, so its always best to do this on a dull cool day or evening.  

The Tomatoes in the greenhouse are almost finished, only a few ripe fruit still left, we removed most of the leaves so the remaining fruit could get the benefit from full sun, when there is any.

The autumn Raspberries, Joan J and Autunm Bliss, don't seem to be stopping just yet, I collect half a punnet full every few days, again its down to the available sun to make them sweet and rain to make them juicy.

If you look at yesterdays blog, see the patch of soil I dug the Cara spuds from, well that produced quite a pile of weeds & roots, more weeds and roots had been collected & dried so today I had a Bonfire and managed to burn most all of that, a very important job done. 
I feel sorry for people not allowed Bonfires on their Allotments, I don't understand why some councils don't allow them, unless close to housing etc. But luckily ours is surrounded by farmland and a bonfire wont annoy anyone.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian   

Potato digging day

I was so glad the weather was fine today, because I planned to dig up the Cara potatoes I planted way back in April.

On the 8th of April I planted 72 tubers of 'Cara', in 8 rows, I have grown Cara many times before so expected a good yield again, but didn't expect the weather to be so bad this year. A very cold spell just after planting, little sun but plenty of rain.

And here is the result, almost 40lb, but as you can see quite alot of small spuds, that didn't get a chance to swell due to the weather. Sadly a fraction of our usual harvest. In 2010 I dug up 214lb of Cara from the same amount planted as this year!

But I did leave some of the 1st early 'Rocket' in the ground, so I dug up half a row and these look much better, there is over 7lb just here. I grew these last year and was happy with them.

But still have 3 rows of Blight resistant 'Sarpo Mira' to dig up, a test dig recently showed they are bulking up nicely so hope these red skinned spuds will make up for the bad Cara yield.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

A quick harvest before the rain!

Today we left early for the Allotment as heavy rain was expected by lunchtime.

Managed to harvest all this:
Tomatoes
Raspberries
Potatoes
Peas and Beans. 

I dug the last row of Charlotte, 2nd early, Potatoes. 
Didn't get a very good yield this year, what you can see here only weighs 3lb I planted 3 rows so I estimate 9-12lb was harvested in total, I blame the shocking weather we have had. Last year I dug up 45lb from only 2 rows!
But I managed to plant 5 seed tubers of 'Nicola' late cropping Potatoes, so will see how they do, might get some new spuds for Xmas dinner.
There are still the 'Cara' and 'Sarpo Mira' mains to dig up though. A job for the next few weeks.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian  

The better late than never Blog

Sorry haven't Blogged for a week or two, but have been rather busy on other projects.
But don't worry I have not neglected the Allotment.

There is no sign of the Rhubarb dying off yet, I want to pick a few stalks, but read somewhere you shouldn't harvest after the end of July. 

The late Raspberries are still producing, here is just today's haul, but have been gathering them up weekly.
These are a mix of 'Joan J' and 'Autumn Bliss' varieties.

In the greenhouse the Tomatoes are doing fine, I know lots of you have suffered from Blight this year, but as we always grow our Toms under glass we never have that problem.

This year we tried a new Runner Bean, a dwarf variety, meant to be picked short & tender.
This is just a few, picked today, from the many already harvested.

The climbing French & Purple Beans have started late this year, I blame the weather. But as you can see they are cropping well now.

And here it is:
The obligatory Courgette.

Chicken News:
We thought we were going to loose another this week, Peggy has been staying in the hen house, not eating and generally looking miserable. But the last few days she has perked up, even laid an egg, so she's much better now.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian