Plenty to harvest & still planting

A nice harvest to start this Blog off. 

Rhubarb, Strawberries & Sweetpeas too. 

The little pots are some flowers for our garden at home.

We finally took out the Kale that had gone to seed, but we waited until the flowers had finished as it was always buzzing with busy Bees.

Planted 3 outdoor Cucumbers, 1st time we have tried these so will see how they get on.

I got busy in the week, digging over this patch, but had to pull up so many weeds first, but is now ready for more Beans to go in.

The Runner Beans are doing well, there are a few flowers, so the beans will follow soon.

Everytime we visit, which is most evenings when we water things, we also pick about a pound of Strawberries. 

So its been a busy few weeks and we hope to do a test dig very soon of the Charlotte potatoes. 

Thanks for reading/returning.

Ian & Jo
 

Sunny Allotment, hottest day so far too

We expect a bumper harvest of Gooseberies soon, this bush is laden with them, some have already fallen to the ground!

I planted out more Sweetcorn, another 12 to add to the 9 I put in last time.

I made another pea frame, this time 7ft long! As we had almost 100 more pea seedlings to plant out. 

I used some twigs and sticks to protect them from Pheasant attack!

The Strawberries are ripening, we picked these two and ate them and they were so tasty and sweet. 

Jo put straw beneath to stop the fruit bruising on the bare soil.

I have been cutting the grass on the path again, all done by hand with shears, I will reach the end soon, then will have to start all over again!

Some of the many flowers we grow, for the Bees of course.

These are California Poppies.

Lupins.

In the background is a massive Horseradish plant.

And Chives, in the background are Foxgloves too.

We grow Chives to eat as well, they are lovely in a salad, Jo has chopped some onto cream cheese sub rolls for her lunch tomorrow. 

The Rhubarb has gone mad again!

The Pheasant. 

He was strutting about our plot today without a care in the world, like he owned the place, as you can see I got quite close.

Yes hottest day so far and we had to take regular breaks in the shade, had lunch there too, so we could get lots done. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

A week or more of planting & weeding!

This patch is being planted up, more Peas & Dwarf Beans gone in as were ready.

I planted out a block of Sweetcorn, haven't grown for a few years because Squirrels got the entire crop! 

Hope to protect the cobs, still trying to work out how. 

I planted more Beans, these are Dwarf Borlotti Beans. 

The Parsnips are doing well, all the sun & rain we have had has helped.

Still earthing up the Potatoes, they are loving the rain & sun.

More soil dug over to get the surface weeds out, we will be planting this up soon.

The grass path needed cutting, so I got the hand shears out, looks alot better too.

This male Pheasant just wandered onto our plot as I was having a rest. 

We dont really mind, we love all wildlife.

Asparagus almost 24" long and still tender, the top 8-10" anyway. 

So we had them in a Risotto for dinner tonight and yes it was tasty. 

So really we have been lucky, weather has been very up and down, but at least we have managed to keep on top of the weeding & planting.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo.

Sunday 16th May more planting done.

Just look at all the flowers on our Strawberries, each flower will soon be fruit and this is just one of many beds we have. 

Bumper crop imminent! 

Another wig-wam with mange-tout Oregon Sugarpod Peas.

I built the wig-wam, Jo planted the Peas that she started off at home.

We are trying the Runner Beans in a new place, so I built an 'A' frame with canes and 6" mesh netting. 

I have anchored it down in case we get more strong winds!

Jo started off some Climbing Courgettes, she planted them out today on the old runner bean frame. I hope they do well there. 

The potatoes are all up, but no earthing up today, I will check on these in a few days and earth up as neccessary.

The new Pear tree is full of new buds, we won't take any fruit this year, if we get any that is. 

Its best for new fruit trees to establish for at least a year, or two, before first harvest. 

The greenhouse upgrade is complete, I used old roof slates to make a deeper bed, then put pipe lagging over the top edge, to make it safer and neater. Jo planted a Cucumber, 2 Gold & 4 Plum Tomatoes in the new space.

There was rain in the forecast, so we only expected to be down about an hour, but ended up staying at least 3 hours, as the rain kept off, it did start just as we left for home, so we were lucky.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
 

Sunday 9th May lots to do

All the potatoes are up, so using my draw hoe, I earthed them up again, the hoe also cuts the weeds that pop up due to the sun & rain we have had.

Jo weeded around the broad beans & peas using the draw hoe too.

You can see the Charlotte spud shoots just before earthing up.

The peas are doing well, its lucky we have had rain since planting, it always helps & our rain butts are nice and full again!

One of our strawberry beds, all the plants have flowers now & some strawberries are forming, so wont be long now, as long as the sun keeps shining.

Our new fruit trees have taken well, the pear tree has even a flower, see below.

Jo weeded around the garlic, lettuces & parsnips.

Looks a lot better.

Here is a close-up of the pear blossom. 

Not grown pears before so in a few yrs we hope to have a few to try.

The apple tree blossom is in full bloom, so another bumper crop this year.

So Sunday was a good day, I carried on working in the greenhouse, making better deep beds and it was hot in there! 

Jo weeded all around and planted some marigolds near the tomatoes & spring onions. We harvested peas from the greenhouse and more rhubarb for a crumble too. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo 

 

Another busy Sunday on the plot

The King Edward spuds I planted a few weeks ago are breaking though the soil, so I earthed them up, as we are still getting cold nights, the Charlotte spuds are up too, so they have been earthed up twice now.

We had a tray of peas ready to go out, so I made another 50" length of chicken wire for them, Jo planted them both sides and protected them with dried Teasels again. Now we have 150" planted up both sides so 300" of peas. 

Good job we love them.

I finished renovating the planting bed at the end of the greenhouse, its now deeper due to me using reclaimed roof slates, so Jo planted a couple of tomatoes and a cucumber.

There are still lots of things waiting to go out, but each time we visit we are planting more.

We harvested Peas (from the greenhouse) and some more Rhubarb.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo