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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
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
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
Last weekend of June and we got a lot done too.
Earthed up the Cara Potatoes again, using the draw hoe again.
No show yet from the Kerrs Pink I planted only a week ago LoL
This patch with the Cauliflowers, Onions, Parsnips, Broad Beans, Shallots and Runner Beans is looking good, everything is growing fast.
Except for the winter Onions that we will take up soon, then in the space left I will plant some Musselburgh Leeks.
In last weeks Blog video I tried to show the Gooseberries, but not very well.
So here is a better shot of just one branch laden with fruit!
The Cox's Orange Pippin apples are still getting bigger, can't believe how many there are on this one tree. Our Cox's apples trees were a free offer from Copella Apple drinks, when the Apples are bigger I will photo again and send them a copy.
So when a space becomes available we fill it:
Top left: Where the Rocket potatoes were dug up from, we planted 2 Patti Pan Squashes.
Top right: In the Horse Manure bin, 3 Jack 'O' Lanterns Pumpkins.
Bottom: In the now empty cold frames, 4 Butternut Squashes.
Not a bad harvest too, so far this month we have picked over 12lb (5.5kg) of Strawberries a mix of Honeoye and Alice.
About 6oz (170g) of Raspberries and a few pounds (1kg) of Rocket spuds too.
Another long awaited job was to edge the early potato bed (on the left) with recycled decking boards.
And strimming the grass path, so getting ready for our Open Day in 4 weeks.
I have done a aerial video of our plot too so please click the link below, it wasn't done today, so wont show the latest jobs done. I will do another soon though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZB19mwbI0U
Thanks for reading/watching/returning. Ian
On this patch, the one where we let the Chickens peck over last week, so we finished clearing the weeds, mostly Poppies but also a few rogue potatoes (see below).
Then planted, Sweetcorn, dwarf French Beans & Red Kale.
Had to earth up the Cara Potatoes again, as the weather forecast said we might get frost!
So using my draw hoe as it cuts the weeds and draws up the soil in one easy move.
We are so excited as this is the 1st year we will get a decent crop of Gooseberries, the bush has been in a couple of years, so has taken its time getting established, but its laden with fruit!
A bumper harvest today:
Lettuce
Asparagus
Rhubarb
Strawberries
and Potatoes, that were dug up while weeding!
Was a lovely day got some more soil turned over & weeded, had a bonfire too.
Love the Flag Iris around the pond, we have blue & yellow varieties, good cover for the frogs too.
Here are those Strawberries before picking, the Honeoye ones, are so sweet we had them after our dinner tonight, just with vanilla Ice Cream.
After fruiting we will cultivate the runners to re stock the tired beds in the fruit cage, to keep our Strawberries going.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Today was a lovely sunny day, so we set out early and got a lot done.
Weeded the Onion bed and around the Broad Beans.
Also:
Planted out Runner Beans that we started in root trainers at home, to climb up the permanent mesh.
Another very productive raised bed.
Mainly Garlic but in between the rows we have:
Lettuce,
Radish,
Carrots
and Rocket.
Chicken News:
We decided it was time to introduce our Allotment to our Hens, so we put up some temporary netting around this weedy patch and let them loose on it and they loved it.
We didn't hear a sound from them as they were so busy scratching around, eating weeds and bugs!
Another job done today, 2 cane wigwams, the near one has netting and Peas planted that we started off at home in root trainers.
The far one has climbing French Beans that only needs twine wrapped around the canes for the beans to curl around.
Crop update:
Cara Potatoes 53/68 now through.
I see Peas in a pod.
More Asparagus.
and
Our 1st Strawberry.
Wildlife/Bug Hotel update:
Now has 5 levels with 3 completed.
The basement is a Hedgehog retreat.
The 1st floor has logs for woodlice and beetles to live in.
The 2nd floor has Straw for birds to take for nests & also a habitat for insects etc.
Almost time to go home and the Hens have had a lovely time.
This won't be the only time, we hope to bring them down as often as possible, so they get used to the trip.
Our Allotment site has an open day at the end of July and our Chickens are very popular with the visitors, so need them to be happy, as open day will be a long day for them.
So as I said 'A grand day out' and it was, got lots done and glad we brought our Hens too.
Still a bit to clear and lots of weeds to burn, but come 'open day' it will be tidy & neat LoL.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
