Sunday 19 July 2015

Sunny Sunday

So pleased with this patch, there is so much crammed in and its all growing well. 

Beetroot, Peas, Carrots, Kale, Climbing Beans, Spinach, Squashes & Leeks.
The Sweetcorn & Dwarf French Beans we planted out a few weeks ago are doing well too, all the sun & rain has helped a lot. 

The Lavender border boxes are so full and the Bees love the tiny flowers. 
This patch is crammed too, two types of Onion, red & white, Parsnips, Broad Beans, Shallots, Courgettes & Runner Beans.

Sadly the Romanescu Cauli's have bolted, so feeding them to our Hens, they love it! More on them, later. 
So pleased with the Potato patch, these are the main crop Cara (to the rear) & Kerrs Pink in the 3 rows at front. Some of the Cara are in flower so will be digging up soon. 

But I put in the Kerrs Pink in for a late crop.
Lovely Cox's Orange Pippin apples. 

This tree has loads coming, can't wait to try them, an autumn treat :)
Today's Harvest:

Loganberries, Blackcurrants, Raspberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Gooseberries, Peas, Broad Beans, a few spuds, garlic & Sweetpeas too.
Well as my title suggests the sun did come out, a few dark clouds, but no rain that was forecast earlier in the week. 

Next Sunday is our sites annual Open Day, so we've been busy tidying up our plot for the visitors. It's sure to be a good day, weather permitting. 


Talking of the Open Day, all the plot holders have been asked to supply a Scarecrow, this is my effort, the sign around his neck say's 'Still tackling these darn weeds!' 
I've also put a temporary hen house in the fruit cage for our Hens too, the visitors love seeing them, so as they will be there most of the day, they need a place to lay their eggs. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Sunday 12 July 2015

A good day and a cracking harvest, the best yet!

Dug up some more Rocket 1st early potatoes as needed the space for another crop to go in (see below). 

There is about 15lb (6.8 kg) from only 6 tubers planted. 
I think that's a good yield.
So in the space left after digging all those Rocket spuds, I built a cane wig-wam and put in 12 climbing Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco (Firetongue) beans.

As they get to about 6ft (1.8mtrs) tall I used 8ft (2.4mtr) canes pushed well into the ground that I prepared. 
Using weed suppressant fabric in the middle, as it will be hard to weed when the beans are fully grown.  
In the main spud bed, the Cara (at the back) have grown well with all the rain & sun we have had. 

In the foreground I've done the 1st earthing up of the Kerrs Pink spuds as 50%+ have come through just 3 weeks after planting.
Back in March we planted out the Carousel Pink garlic. 
Well today we lifted it and are now drying in the greenhouse, I will post a photo when dried and plaited up :) 
And here is that bumper harvest:
Gooseberries, Blackcurrents, Peas, Strawberries, Blackberries, Raspberries, Broad Beans, Rhubarb, Courgettes x3 & Sweet Peas.  Not forgetting all the Rocket Spuds and the Garlic.
So the weather was kind to us and we had a very busy afternoon on the plot, also managed to get a bit more of the new path edge in, so its almost done. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday 5 July 2015

Busy harvesting & planting again, but rain stopped play!

As I have mentioned before, as soon as a patch is cleared we re-plant it.

So we lifted all the Winter Red Onions and planted 60 Musselburgh Leeks that we started off in a seed tray and as the rain came down I planted 24 more Leeks in the patch where the Garlic was. I think 84 will do for us LoL. 


So glad we now have Ladybirds, this one is on the Broad Beans and munching through the Black flies that are all over the Bean tips! 
I finally bought a new thermometer for the greenhouse, a digital min/max one too. 

So glad I did, as you can see the temp ranges over the last few days 15.8 c to 45.9 c (60.4 f to 114.6 f).

No wonder we have to water our Tomatoes & Peppers alot.
Harvest's this week  

Just a few more Strawberries and Raspberries. 
Our 1st Courgette and Peas.
Rainbow Chard and Borecale.
The 1st digging of Charlotte potatoes.
Rhubarb and Sweetpeas.

We also picked a large punnet of Gooseberries and made a pie for after dinner.

Was lovely with vanilla ice cream.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian