Busy indeed, both Saturday & today (Sunday) we have been busy, been earthing up all the Potatoes, even the Sante I planted only 2 weeks ago have come through now.
In this corner I have made 3 cane wig-wams, I added netting, large mesh for the climbing French Beans 'Violette' and finer mesh netting for the Peas 'Onward' the wig-wam behind Wendy Worsel will also have large mesh netting for more Beans.
In Brassica corner, everything is growing well, we have Cabbage, Brussel Sprouts & Cauliflowers all under netting to keep the birds off!
In the Fruit Cage we have done some serious weeding, covered most of it with weed suppressant fabric, will cover that with woodchips soon. All the fruits, Blackcurrant, Redcurrant, Blueberry & Raspberries are in bud, in fact the Currants have set already.
In Strawberry corner, we have been adding some straw, beneath the plants as there are hundreds of Strawberries forming, still green, the straw will stop the fruit spoiling if it touches the soil.
In the Herb bed some California Poppies have self seeded themselves, they look nice mixed in with the Chive flowers & Bee friendly too.
Still harvesting Rhubarb & Asparagus. 8oz of Asparagus 5.5 lb of Rhubarb
I have also been cutting the grass along the edges of the path, not completed yet but its looking a lot better and I built another planter box, for more Lavender plants, at the end of the new raised bed. There is not much space left and we still have Sweetcorn, Courgettes & Squashes to put in! I think I'll do a walkabout video next week, as there is so much to see now everything is growing. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
As the title says, rain and sunshine didn't stop us. It's been raining on & off all weekend, but between the showers & as it cleared up Sunday afternoon we got to do quite a lot on the plot. Here are the Sante Potatoes I have been earthing these up for a few weeks now. Also been weeding the fruit cage & putting weed suppressant fabric down to keep the weeds under control. Only have the centre to do now where the old early Raspberries are, we will just get one more year out of them, then will replace with some new canes.
The new raised bed has some Strawberries in it now, rescued from the fruit cage whilst weeding around the Blueberries. But in the patch further back I have been earthing up the early Potatoes, Winston and Charlotte, the Nadine I put in a week ago, are not showing just yet. But more sun & rain will help the 1st early Winstons to mature ready for digging soon.
Been hoeing around the Shallots, Beetroot and Parsnips. Have put canes in to support the Broad Beans as they have shot up and its a bit windy, they don't like to be windswept! Empty 500ml bottles on top of the canes act as Bird Scares and protect us from eye jabbing!
More earthing up, this time the Cara (main crop) they haven't been in long but are already showing. The Onions are looking better after a hoeing session and the Brassicas are growing well under the netting.
We have also planted out the Runner Beans, that we started off at home in toilet roll tubes. I prepared the ground under the netting frame by adding plenty of Manure & Newspaper (to retain moisture). Have also put some Sweetpeas to climb up the other side of the netting.
Crops harvested this week: Asparagus. Broad Beans (from the greenhouse). Plenty of Rhubarb (Stockbridge Arrow and Victoria). I have started a batch of Rhubarb Wine from what we picked last week. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Lots and lots to do, over a 3 day weekend, but weather was good. Saturday: I started with adding a row of Romanescu Cauliflower, alongside the Onions and next to the other Cabbages. I prepared the bed by digging it over adding Lime and mixing it in then firming the soil again, as all Brassicas like firm soil, as you can see its netted to stop the birds feasting on them!
Harvested some more Stockbridge Arrow Rhubarb, but I chose these 3 almost straight stalks, the longest is 24" / 60cm long worthy of a 'Best in Show' surely. I also put some Mulch fabric under the Victoria Rhubarb to stop the weeds taking over.
Sunday: I bought a sack of this 'Gro-Sure Farmyard Manure' as recommended by some other plot holders, to add to the soil in the raised bed I made last week. We then sowed some Dwarf Bean seeds.
The other job I had to do was dig up all the MusselburghLeeks that were growing between the Potatoes I had put in. I needed the space for yet more Potatoes and the Leeks were ready to harvest, the weight of these with leaves & roots removed was 2.2lb/1Kg plenty for a few meals.
I put some more weed control fabric down underneath the Currant bushes and Blueberries, this patch in the fruit cage is plagued with Ground Elder, so we hope to keep it under control with this.
Bank Holiday Monday: In the space where the Leeks were, I dug it over again, removing as many weeds as I could, added some Potato fertiliser & planted 33x 2nd early Nadine Potatoes in 3 rows, a quick crop turnaround! So all the Potatoes are in now, not planted in order but I'm trying a new system: 1st early - main - 2nd early - main - 2nd early, to give us a better choice over the year.
We cleared half the greenhouse of Rocket, Peas and a few Broad Beans and added 3 Tomatoes and a Cucumber. We have lots of Tomato plants waiting to go in so will have to wait until the Broad Beans have finished, had some pods already.
A bit of a drama unfolded today, we heard a loud buzzing coming from the hive on a nearby plot, we watched the swarm of Bees as it moved towards our plot and they settled on our fence, compost bin & archway! We had to call out the local bee keeper, who is also a plot holder and he came to our assistance, it was nothing to worry about, but as he explained it is the time of year for swarms!
We were in no danger and if you can see a bucket upturned on the top of the arch its there to attract the Queen so the other Bees follow her, then they are collected and taken to a safe hive. Tuesday: I returned this morning to find all the Bees had gone, happy that they found a new home :)
Crops harvested: Leeks, Kale, Peas, Asparagus, Rhubarb, Rocket and Broad Beans. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Been another busy end to the week, got lots done, digging, weeding & planting. It's all on the video, link below. But as the sun was shining why not get lots done, quite a few cups of tea brewed too :)
Another good harvest of Rhubarb, we pulled a few stalks yesterday for a Crumble pie tonight, but had a stalk left over, so I pulled another 3-4lb as I need that much for a gallon of Wine. We also harvested some Asparagus and made a quick pan of soup for lunch, it was so tasty so here is the recipe link so you can try it too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/asparagussoup_83241
We are so excited that our Apple trees 'Cox Orange Pippin' are producing lots of blossom, I did some drastic pruning in Jan/Feb and it has worked, it has produced far more Blossom than last year, a year after it was planted. So as I said check out my You Tube video for more Allotment fun, link below. Thanks for reading and viewing. Ian
Well I started the weekend on Saturday by incorporating the manure into the soil here with my Rotovator. So today I planted 36 'Cara' main Potatoes in 4 rows. The space was a bit tight, so planted them a bit closer than I would normally, each row 28" between, each seed spud 14" apart, this wont make much difference except the spuds might be a bit smaller. But as Cara are usually massive this will be fine.
Another job that needed doing was this corner by the Shed where the rain barrels are, the path was full of soil, weeds (nettles etc) so dug all that out, nettles etc burned! and re-laid the weed suppression fabric and a good pile of woodchips on top.
Sunday: I got another 4 pallets (2 lots of 2 nailed together) up as a replacement fence between us & neighbour. Not much left to do, only one more 2 pallet panel to go, before I can have a break from it. Our neighbour has fruit bushes in flower at the moment, so will replace the fence along that patch in the autumn/winter.
Already earthed up the first early 'Winston' potatoes a few times they are coming through and getting taller daily, the 'Sante' potatoes I put in a few weeks ago are also just showing. We've also got Asparagus coming up daily, already cut 3, another 9 almost ready to cut today & even more appearing :) Rhubarb is massive too, so harvesting this every time we visit!
Just love this colourful patch, with Spinach on the left, Rainbow Chard front right and soon a patch of Poppies that have been sown, back right. Under the netting tunnel is Kale, for us & our Chickens :) We have also sown a patch of BBC Countryfile 'Grow Wild' wild flowers.
So a busy Easter weekend, I think we have spent 10 hours! 5 today & 5 yesterday. Still Monday to go but think we have something else to do in the morning!
Bank Holiday Monday: I moved the remaining pallets, stacked back into the corner, might make a Bug Hotel out of them, then started to dig over the compacted soil, removing some big roots, bind weed & ground elder, planning to use the space reclaimed for Squashes & Pumpkins, the netting frame on the right has Cabbages in it, we weeded that a week ago. In the foreground is a patch of self seeded Poppies that we might leave for the Bees.
And another harvest of Rhubarb, that's over 4lb we have taken so far this spring. Time for a video next w/e so keep checking. Thanks for returning/reading. Ian
Such a lovely weekend. Good job too, had lots to do, planting, clearing, weeding & burning! But first, the planting of Potatoes, getting my 2nd early Charlotte in, the 3rd to be planted, still have 2 more to go!
As you can see here they have 'chitted' well, lots of people ask me how 'chit' them, some even show pics of long pale shoots.
But as you can see here these have short stubby, dark colour shoots which are perfect for planting.
Our first harvest proper of 2014.
Rhubarb & Spring Onions, If you watch the video you will also see another crop almost ready for picking.
So as I said a lovely weekend, no rain, some sun, but a bit windy.
But still perfect for digging, planting & weeding. Watch the video too, lots more to see.
My view from the shed while it's raining! But at least it was only one of many showers today. But things are growing well, spotted the first Asparagus spear poking through, wont be long now the others will follow.
We noticed the Frog spawn had disappeared and now we have thousands of Tadpoles all around the shallow edge of the pond, and a few on this Lily pad. Its great the Frogs returned to spawn in our little pond.
The Rhubarb is getting bigger by the day, the mix of sunshine & rain lately will have helped, as it has for all crops. The Kale & Cabbages are so much bigger now too. Still no sign of the early Potatoes I put in on March 16th, but expect any day now I will see the first shoots poking through the soil.
The Cox's Orange Pippin apple trees we put in in 2011 have over wintered well and my pruning didn't do any harm, in fact I think it has helped. Just look at all the buds, we only got 1 apple last year, so hoping for a few more this year.
I did a spot of digging and weeding over the week, to make room for more Potato planting, if you look on the old broken fence (to be replaced soon) you can see a Robin who has been visiting regularly and searching the dug over soil for grubs & worms. I'm sure there is a nest close by, as visits are about 5-10 mins apart. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Welcome to our Allotment that we've had since 2000. I will be doing a regular blog with pictures to show our progress through the year, plus any new projects. Hope you like it and get some ideas from it too. Ian & Jo
