Sunday, 29 June 2014

End of June on the plot

Typical June week on the plot, more crops planted out in the little space available, more Dwarf French Beans in the raised bed we cleared of weeds and more Peas planted in the new raised bed. 

Plenty of crops harvested too, see below.

The Lavender in the foreground has taken and now in flower, to add the the other Lavender we have, it has attracted lots of honey bees too. 
Watch the video walkabout for more views of the flowers we grow to attract Bees.
Crops harvested this week:
Strawberries 
Raspberries 
Loganberries 
Blackcurrants 
Broad Beans 
Asparagus 
Parsnips
And Rhubarb. 
So lots of Jam making & the Rhubarb for Wine too. 
This picture shows Matilda, our only chicken now, sadly Freda fell ill and the only kind thing to do was to put her out of her misery, our local vet did the deed :( 
But Matilda, now just over 3yrs old is fighting fit and we hope to get her some new companions soon, ex-battery hens again from the British Hen Welfare Trust. Watch this space for news of the newcomers.

Thanks for reading/returning and don't forget to watch the video, link below. Ian

Sunday, 22 June 2014

What a busy 2 weeks on the plot and more!

Quite a busy fortnight. Mainly been harvesting crops, as you can see here plenty of ripe Strawberries. I've repaired an old raised bed by making new sides from reclaimed timber & I found a Hedgehog sleeping in our wildlife corner, I have named him/her Sonic :)
The reason I didn't do my usual weekly Blog was last Sunday we went to BBC Gardeners World Live at the Birmingham N.E.C there was so much to see, Plants, Gardens, Fruit, Flowers, Veg & Monty Don live on stage!
But back to the plot and this week harvesting has been busy, so far (since April) we have picked: 
Rhubarb 56lb 
Strawberries 11lb
Winston spuds 8lb 
Asparagus 1lb 5oz
 Raspberries 7oz 
Blackberries 6oz. 
We have had sunshine almost every day too, just a few light showers. 
But it has meant everything has shot up, all the Peas & Beans are climbing, the Parsnips are swelling & need thinning out too! 
And the Beetroot is getting big too, so I decided to make another batch of wine from this years crop, there is about 4lb here and as I need 3lb to make a gallon of wine, by the time trimmed & washed, this will be perfect.

I made a few gallons last year and they proved to be very popular so it makes sense to make more. 
If you want the recipe let me know & I will send it to you. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday, 8 June 2014

Allotment flourishing in June

Everything is growing at a pace now. 

Here are the Charlotte potatoes, planted almost 2 months ago (April 13th) and now in flower, so won't be long before we can dig them up.
The Onions are swelling now we have had some rain & sunshine.

They have been going to seed but I have nipped off the buds, just to give us some time before lifting, oops just noticed the label says planted 10/10/12 of course it was 2013!
The Currants, Black on the left, Red on the right, are doing well, there are so many and as you can see still very green, just need the sun now to ripen them. 
Its been a mixed week, sunshine & showers. 

On Friday night into Saturday we had Lightening & Thunder with heavy rain, but it brightened up later. At least it filled up the rain barrels :) But the Allotment is looking very lush and green, with the odd splash of colour from the flowers. 
Due to the showers, we were limited to what we could do, just a bit of weeding, planted a few more crops & harvested (see below). 
We planted a Honeysuckle to climb over the archway, but it hasn't flowered until this year, luckily the bees are busy now the whole plot is buzzing!



Crops harvested this weekend:
Rhubarb, Asparagus, Broad Beans & Strawberries.
Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Sunday, 1 June 2014

June already and Plot is Blooming

Strawberries almost ready to pick, and plenty of green ones to ripen soon.
The Charlotte 2nd early Potatoes, some in flower so will be ready to dig up soon. 
Will wait until flowers die back before a test dig though.
Onions also ready to lift soon, Potatoes beyond are Cara main crop. 
The wire frame has Runner Beans that we put in a few weeks ago. 
Really pleased with this patch, there's lots growing here: Parsnips, Shallot Onions, Beetroot, Broad Beans, Peas, French Beans & Sweetcorn. 
No space wasted even 4 Courgettes planted in between! 
Been clipping the edges of the grass path, looks a lot better now. 

The whole plot is buzzing with Bees too, we have spotted so many including: Banded Orange Tail, Black Bodied Orange Tail, Two Banded White Tail, Three Banded White Tail, Orange White Tail & Brown Bumble Bees. You can do your own Bee spotting by signing up to JoinThePod via this link: http://jointhepod.org/experiment-zone
We often get a few geese flying overhead, but today we heard them coming en-mass, probably heading for one of the local ponds at Gilroy Nature Reserve or Ashton Park in West Kirby.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian