Planting, Harvesting and Bees a plenty

A massive bunch of Sweetpeas, Jo said it was like she was a bride again walking home with this massive bouquet.

Broad Beans & Courgettes again! 

Another trug full of Peas, it took us an hour to pod, blanche & bag these ready to freeze. 

Tonight we had the cheapest meal so far:

Cauliflower Cheese, with Mangetout, Broad Beans & New Potatoes. 

All our own veg :)

I dug over this patch removed as many weeds including self seeded poppies as I could, added lime and planted 12 Romanesco Cauliflowers.

Dug over this patch too, as above. Planted 6 Brussel Sprouts.

Both netted to protect from birds, especially Pheasants we get on our plot, who are partial to young plants!

Today's harvest:

Rhubarb, Cauliflower, Potatoes, Courgette, Mint, Raspberries, Loganberries, Strawberries & Sweetpeas.

And finally the Bees, we have so many Poppies on our plot and they are full of nectar collecting Bees, this one (not a good photo sorry) had pollen sacks on its legs so full !

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo
 

Harvest after Harvest

For the last few weeks, its gone a bit mad, everytime we visit there is so much to pick, dig or cut. 

2lb of Strawberries everytime!

So far, Jam & Ice Cream has been made and a handful on our breakfast too. 

Our plot is like a Poppy field with veg too!

Yet more Strawberries, Raspberries and Charlotte potatoes.

A trug full of Peas & Sweetpeas 

Blanched Peas ready for the freezer.

The sky darkened and rain was on its way so we headed home.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo.

Did someone once say 'what are we going to do with all these Courgettes' I think they wrote a book!

 

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