New Planting & still Harvesting

After a dull and damp week, today was a lovely sunny day, so we decided to plant some crops for autumn/winter.

This raised bed used to have Onions & Garlic in it, but now have been harvested & dried. So today planted Spinach, for a late crop.












This raised bed used to have Mange Tout Peas growing, but as they had finished, although we did get a fantastic crop this year, cleared it all away, all foliage in compost bin of course.
Have planted more Onions (seed) for winter growing.
But some Sunflowers have self-seeded so leaving them for the Birds & Bees.












This bed contains our late Rhubarb 'Victoria' the crowns were moved from another location earlier in the year, so haven't done so well but we expect to get a good crop next year.









Today's harvest included:
Carrots
Cucumber

Not in picture:
Courgette
Green & Purple Beans
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Rhubarb
Raspberries

and Flowers too.



So as I said today was a lovely sunny day, and things are still growing well, I was expecting to harvest some Sweetcorn today but it's still not ripe, you can tell by squeezing one of the kernels if clear liquid comes out its not ready, look for milky liquid which means its ready.

Thanks for reading/returning, look out for next update.
Ian.

Best time of the year 'Harvesting'

First must apologise for not up-dating last w/e, but think I have a good excuse, I was at the RHS Tatton Park Flower Show and it was good again, we were lucky with the weather too :)

But now the Harvesting, I love this time of year when all the hard work pays off.
These Round Courgettes have been producing well this year, again.


The Purple Climbing Bean tower has just started producing fine long beans, strangely they turn green when cooked, but taste lovely when steamed.
















These Peas are ready for picking and today we picked 2lb (900g) not bad from a 4ft x 6ft frame.

















The Sweet Corn is doing well and will be ready to harvest soon, maybe next week. So look out for next up-date.










So today was a good harvest day, also pulled up the Onions today which are now drying at home, but rain did curtail the harvesting somewhat.
Don't know whether you can see in this picture but it is raining.

Thanks for reading returning, look out for next up-date, hopefully next weekend.

Ian.

Redcurrants made into Jelly within 12hrs

It was another overcast & showery day today, so more harvesting had to be done, but also had to harvest the Redcurrants as they were ripe & ready.
















There was at least 4lb of Redcurrants on our one and only bush.












So less that 12 hours after harvesting Redcurrant Jelly was made.
Lovely on New Potatoes, Pork, Beef & Lamb.







Other harvesting done today:
Mini Cauliflower
Curly Kale
Petit Pois Peas & Mange Tout
Round Courgette
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Raspberries & 2 Final Strawberries.

Thanks for reading/returning, look out for next weeks up-date.
Ian x

A fatastic days work on the Allotment

Lovely weather today, not too hot & yesterdays wind had dropped too. So a busy time ahead,
This photo shows our Pea & Bean patch, this years Pea crop has been great especially the Petit Pois, harvesting every day now.
The frame in the foreground contains Curly Kale & Mini Cauliflowers.




Main job today was to dig up some more Charlotte Potatoes, to release extra space for more crops as the potatoes had done their stuff loosening the soil, it's ideal for Carrots.









So two rows of Carrots have been sown, under fleece, as a barrier against root fly and also some Leeks (on right).

Here's a tip:
You can plant most things after potatoes except Brassicas (Cabbage etc).







Also had to drastically cut back one of the Black Currant bushes, as it had developed 'Big Bud' disease. But removing it has given the Red Currants more space & in less shadow so should ripen sooner.
We have harvested over 7lb of Black Currants from the remaining two bushes, now made into Jam.
Also weeded the Raspberries to aid ripening.



So this is today's haul:
Black Currants
Strawberries
Raspberries
Mange Tout & Petit Pois Peas
Lettuce
Broad Beans
Garlic
Mini Cauliflower
Charlotte Potatoes (out of shot) & Flowers too.

So it has been a busy but satisfying day on the plot, lots done and lots harvested.
There is still lots more to come too, I love our Allotment.

Thanks for reading/returning next up-date real soon, so watch this space.

Ian.

Independance day on the Allotment

Today has been a slightly odd day, weather was a bit disappointing, dark sky with rain clouds, but it mostly missed us, only a very small shower for a minute or two, but very windy.

We were greeted by one of our neighbors who asked if we had noticed anything missing from our shed or plot, which after a quick look around we found nothing missing. It appeared that over Thursday/Friday someone had visited our site and helped themselves to Fruit & Veg from several plots and some sheds were broken into too. Our neighbor had all his Gooseberries taken, another a whole Bush of Blackcurrants, Redcurrants taken from another & Asparagus too. After our Rhubarb was taken several times we were concerned that whoever it is knows where they can get FREE fruit & veg and we were right :(
The committee are working close with the local Police, so hopefully after this spate of thefts, Police patrols will be stepped up and the thief caught.
So knowing thiefs are about we harvested as much as we could.
In this photo there is about 4lb of Blackcurrants, 2lb Strawberries, Raspberries, 2 types of Lettuce, a Cucumber & Mange Tout.





We also harvested the Garlic as it was ready anyway, see below for a great idea for hanging it to dry.

There were 2 Onions also ready to lift.





We use a sock/underwear drying hanger to dry our Garlic & Onions







So today was just a Harvesting day, also dug up some more 'Charlotte' Potatoes we plan to sow some more Carrots (under Fleece) in the space left, as the soil will be light after the Potatoes have done their stuff :)

Thanks for reading/returning, sorry the start was a bit sombre, but it had to be said. Look out for next up-date.

Ian.

The hottest day of the year so far!

So the weather report said hottest day so far, and they were not wrong it was 110F in the Greenhouse today!

1st Picture shows the many flowers we grow, many self seeded, but all attract beneficial Bees*

*Sorry I keep mentioning Bees, but if everyone grew just a few flowers, even in a window box or on a balcony our Bee population would be more healthy, so please give a thought to the Bees :)

This information pack (download) has some good advise & a game to play too:
http://tinyurl.com/29k3yw9



Earlier in the year we bought a Goji Berry, cultivated it at home and today planted it out in the fruit cage. According to information supplied it can grow up to 3mtrs tall, but as our cage is only 2mtrs, a bit of pruning will be needed as it grows.

If you are interested in growing Goji Berries there is more info via this useful link: http://tinyurl.com/59chxk









Our Strawberries 'Alice' are still producing well, in fact we are harvesting on average 1lb (450g) per day, but so far none made into Jam.











These 'Petit Pois' Peas are almost ready to harvest, loads of pods have formed over the last few days and will be so sweet when ready :)










Due to the hot temp, not much physical work was done today except weeding of this Brassica patch, which contains Curly Kale & Mini Cauliflowers. You can see Sweetcorn in the patch behind which is also growing well and will be pollinating soon (if it needs help we can assist). Cant wait to taste that super sweet corn :)



Thanks for reading/returning, look out for next update.
Ian.

Very busy Sunday

This is Poppy & Delphinium corner (self seeded) next to the Greenhouse which contains Tomato, Cucumber & Pepper plants.

We don't mind self seeded flowers as they attract beneficial Bees.






Despite several Thefts of Rhubarb (the last time the thief took more than half the crop (if too much is taken it goes into shock, producing thinner stalks) but luckily the Rhubarb has recovered well.
We managed to harvest about 10 stalks, to make a crumble from :)






A row of Lettuce between the Brassica bed (right) & the Climbing French Bean wigwams (left), Sweet Peas are also grow here.

I made a small protective cloche from offcuts of Chicken Wire, to keep the birds off the Lettuce.





I planted more Sweetcorn today, as a succession crop, the ones in the background were planted about a month ago and are doing well.

I also planted more Kale too, so we should have a continuous crop for later in the year.





And with the help of my Petrol Strimmer, I trimmed the path edges, so you can see from one end of the plot to the other now :)