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Today, xmas eve, I went to the plot to dig up Parsnips, Potatoes & cut a few stalks of Sprouts, all for Christmas day dinner.
The allotment is looking very bleak as most things have died back now, the Onions & Garlic are doing well & I have a list of jobs for January to do.
So Happy Christmas to all my readers, old & new and a very Happy New Year.
Thanks for reading/returning, Ian & Jo.
These are the only Pumpkins that made it.
Smaller than the ones you carve up for Halloween but tastier.
Not a bad harvest of Cara potatoes, we have left plenty in the ground, where they will keep, so we dig them up as we need them.
Cara are good for Jackets, Roasties & Chips.
In this patch where we had Broad Beans, Onions & Beetroot, I dug it over to remove as many weeds as possible.
And I planted out some Solent Wight Garlic that we had started off at home (see below).
After planting I covered them with netting to stop birds pecking them out.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
I returned on Monday, to dig over this patch where we had early Winston Spuds growing in the spring.
I found a few that I missed when digging up, so will have them with a pie for Tuesdays dinner.
So after removing all the weeds & quite a few clumps of grass! I planted out 60 Red Winter onions.
Just to the left you can just see a Courgette & Squash that are still producing, so will leave them in a bit longer.
Alongside the Senshyu onions I planted on Sunday there is a stip of cleared soil.
So I put in a few Kale seedlings we had left over from a previous planting.
Then after taking the photo I covered them with a netting tunnel to protect from the birds!
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
We started off some Onion sets in cell trays in multi purpose compost.
They have done well and are ready to plant out.
Senshyu yellow & Red Winter varieties, that we have grown before and seem to do well in our soil.
In this patch that I started digging over last weekend and finished this week, I planted 3 rows of the Senshyu yellow, about 50 planted here.
I will have to dig over another patch for the reds in the week.
So while there I dug up some more Picasso potatoes, all these from just one seed potato planted back in the spring.
We had some of them as roasties with our Sunday dinner.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
It might be October already but we still have Sunflowers, infact we still have lots of flowers on the plot, which is great as the birds & insects love these.
Still lots of colourful veg growing:
Rainbow Chard and Beetroot doing well.
Our hens love a handful of chard, from time to time.
I removed a few canes from the plot today, Broad Beans & Borlotta Beans have finished, so their supports had to be stored away.
My latest tip:
When storing canes after pulling up, put them upright with the end that was in the soil uppermost so they dry out, your canes will last longer if you do.
Fed up of Squirrels gorging on our Sweetcorn so dont think we will grow it again, takes up a lot of space and time getting it started!
This is the patch where the Borlotta Beans & Broad Beans were.
I'm digging it over to prepare it for some over winter Onions, that we have started off at home in cells and they are ready to go in.
So not a bad harvest, for October:
Apples, Raspberries, Chard, Borlotta Beans, Runner Beans, Pumpkin and Cara Spuds.
As I mentioned still lots of flowers and it all looks lovely, if a bit overgrown.
But things are dying back now with cooler days.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
Been rather busy, so I appologise for the lack of Blogging.
But we have managed to get some picking done, so read on.
Not a bad haul here from the beginning of August.
We have started digging up the Picasso potatoes, some nice big ones, but quite a few small ones too.
But they make lovely chips & baked potatoes.
Another trug of veg, and more Courgettes!!
As you know we grow lots of flowers on our Allotment, they are beneficial for insects and especially Bees, these Zinnias are lovely.
The Borlotti Beans are still doing well, we wont harvest just yet though.
We have spotted quite a few Frogs around our plot, some really fat ones, probably from feasting on slugs & snails, but look at this tiny frog no bigger than a fingernail, one of this years I think.
Finally got round to collecting the Onions we have had drying for weeks!
This 'Bullhorn' pepper is getting bigger, will probably pick it soon. You cant beat a home grown pepper, so easy to grow too.
Another trug full:
Courgettes (again),
Beans,
Raspberries,
Tomatoes
and an Apple too.
Yet more tasty pickings:
This time with a mix of Picasso & Cara potatoes.
Today's (17th Sept) harvest:
Courgettes,
Pepper,
Cucumber,
Raspberries,
Tomatoes,
Picasso potatoes.
Was a quick visit today and the sun was shining.
We have our Son visiting from Canada with his Fiancee and they like our Courgette & Potato soup, so lucky we have plenty!
Thanks for reading/returning, Ian & Jo.
Lets start with the Harvest:
Redcurrants, Potatoes,
Courgette, Cucumber,
Broad Beans, French Beans,
Round Courgettes, Turnips,
Raspberries, Blueberries & Blackberries.
This patch, where we had Leeks & Onions, had a few bonfires here too.
But we needed the space for some winter crops like Kale, so I dug it over and removed lots of weeds.
Our scarecrow, put in for Open Day last week, is doing her job well as the Peas I put in a few weeks ago had been pecked out, only a few remained, but since our scarecrow arrived they have survived.
Another crop I put in 2 weeks ago has already popped up.
Its a mixed salad leaf crop.
We sowed another row of Beetroot seed here too.
One of our many Sunflowers, this one is Pikes Peak, that can reach 15ft!
But this one is barely 6ft, maybe it will keep growing?
Cox's Orange Pippin apples looking abundant still, I'm hoping for a bumper crop this year.
The Sweetcorn again, we planted 2 varieties, this one is a mini corn variety that doesnt grow too tall. Wont be long now before the corn cobs start forming.
So we spent a few hours yesterday (Saturday) watering, weeding and planting.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
Well it's now the week after the Open Day and what a day it was, so many people came and had a good time.
We were lucky with the weather as after early rain the sun came out.
Here are the dwarf Beans, we have had some already, both green & purple (the purple turn green when boiled).
Had to weed them all, so looked good for our visitors.
More Courgettes have gone in where the Charlotte Potatoes have been dug up from.
The Borlotti Beans still growing well, we will harvest soon, but wanted to leave them on for Open Day.
Sweetcorn getting bigger every week.
Not a bad harvest:
Potatoes,
Raspberries,
Blueberries,
Blackberries,
Beans and lots of Gooseberries.
We also weeded the Brassicas, some of the cabbage had bolted and gone into flower, so pulled them up and gave them to our Chickens.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo.
If you remember I put in a couple of tyre planters last year, well look, two round Courgettes growing in this one.....
And two green Courgettes growing in this tyre planter.
One of two Small Sugar Pumpkins growing well in the horse muck pile.
But the most important job to do today, despite the heat, was to finally put in some Peas, 3 lots gone in along these wire frames.
And some Purple Mange Tout planted around this netting wig-wam.
They should do well here, I prepared the ground for all the Peas by digging over and adding plenty of well rotted manure as Peas are a hungry crop.
The Sweetcorn is looking fine now, it took a while to get going, but the sun has really helped.
As the title says 'Super Sunny Day' and it was.
We managed to stay about 5 hours and got lots done, mostly weeding!
But at least I got the grass cut on the path earlier in the week when it was less hot!
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
