Sunday 26 October 2014

Busy weekend on the plot and Muck was spread!

Busy weekend
Cleared this patch where Potatoes were growing, dug out plenty of roots and weeds! 
Then planted out 42 'Red Winter Onions' that I had started off in cells at home.
A big pile of weeds was building, so good time for a Bonfire, got it started and it burnt well for an hour or so, then our neighbour turned up, and as the wind was blowing the smoke over her plot she asked me to put it out, so obligingly I did. 

Oh well there will be another bonfire day.
Muck Spreading:
Well rotted local horse manure, lovely stuff.  
Top right; the new Raspberry bed in the fruit cage gets a few barrows full! 
Bottom left; the Rhubarb crowns gets plenty on each. 
Bottom right; the Asparagus gets a few barrows full too. 
The Greenhouse picture shows that despite very high winds on Tuesday, it had very little damage, only one of the perspex panes popped out of the roof, so I retrieved from neighbours plot & fixed back in. 

So the plots looking better after a bit of a tidy up, rain threatened, but kept off, the wind was a bit blowy as I said with the Bonfire problem. 

So I'm glad we spent the time this weekend down there.






The only harvests we got were a few Rasperries, a couple of Parsnips for dinner and a couple of Potatoes I found while digging over the patch where the Winter Onions have gone in. 

We still have plenty of greens like Cabbage, Kale & Sprouts, the leaves we take home for our Chickens, they love them.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday 19 October 2014

Windy on the plot

So only spent a couple of hours today, but managed a start on this raised bed, where the Dwarf French Beans were. 

At the far end are some Strawberries we initially put there temporarily, but they have rooted and sent out lots of runners, we plan to make this a permanent Strawberry patch now, yes another!
The autumn Raspberries still producing. 
I like to toss a hand full on my cereal at breakfast, but the pantry is full now with jars of Jam made this year & Wine too.
As the title says 'Windy on the plot' you can tell by the flag, weather reports did predict windspeed up to 70mph! 

The sky was looking grey too & rain clouds moved in quick, pushed along by the wind, so our day was cut short. 

In the foreground you can see my 'Truck' its been used alot since purchase & is very useful.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday 12 October 2014

Autumn clear-up starts

 It's definitely got colder over the last few days, so it's time to clear up crops that have finished. 
In the fruit cage, the summer Raspberries have been dug up, as they are not cropping as well as they used to. We have bought some more that we expect will come next month (Nov) so now getting the ground prepared, will dig in some Manure next and cover with weed suppressant fabric.
I dug up another 2 rows of the Cara Potatoes, sadly they haven't given us a good yield this year, not sure why, except to say they flowered quite early and foliage died back too soon for the spuds to swell, they came out quite small!
I took my new truck down to the plot expecting to bring back a load of Cara spuds, but as you can see they hardly cover the bottom. But the Parsnips are looking good, a few Raspberries and the last of the Tomatoes.
As I said above, the last of the Tomatoes, we cleared the greenhouse of the toms, but left the Chillies these are 'Hungarian Hot Wax' they are looking good. 

The tomatoes growing outside the greenhouse have finished too, so with all the foliage taken out, the compost bin is getting full now, as well as kitchen waste & chicken poo, I'm hoping for a good load of home-made compost for 2016!
Despite more winter weather this week, colder & wetter! 

Today the sun came out, it was so peaceful down on the plot today, but glad we got some ground cleared, next job the bean frames & sweetcorn need clearing! 

Seed order to complete too.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday 5 October 2014

More planting and crop theft!

I bought some Senshyu Onions 2 weeks ago, put them in cells with multi purpose compost and watered well, they have already sprouted, so a good time to plant out. 
As they were outside all the time they are already hardened off. 
I know you like a before & after shot. 
So this morning I cleared the patch where the Nadine (2nd early) Potatoes were growing, prepared the ground and planted 72 of the Senshyu Onions.
Another job that needed doing was raising the netting over the Brussel Sprouts, all I did was to add a short length of cane to the blue pipe. 
As you can see the sprouts are forming and I don't want the wildlife to take them, see below!
Harvests this week: 
A test dig of the Cara (main) Potatoes, Tomatoes, Raspberries, Runner Beans, Kale, Sweet Peas and the last of the Nadine (2nd early) Potatoes.
Yesterday was a bit of a wash out, rain on and off all day, so glad today was dry, still lots to do before winter and crops still producing. 

The Leeks I put in a few weeks ago have taken well and the Spinach seems to be germinating too.
And now to the crop theft! 

When I was down on my plot on Thursday, I saw out of the corner of my eye a movement, to my surprise there was a Squirrel that had taken a Sweetcorn Cob and was tucking into it, if you recognise the culprit please don't call CrimeStoppers! 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian