Super sunny day, we got lots done!

If you remember last time I started off some Cucumbers, well look how they have done, the heat in the propagator certainly worked. 

Another little project, when we had a new roof a few years ago, I thought I'd keep some of the old batons that were being thrown in the skip! 
See later what I made from these 8 pieces of 1"x1" and some chipboard offcuts. 

Had to earth up the early spuds again, they are growing daily, of course they are, it would be odd if they didn't. 

Planted more main crop spuds 'Harlequin' just 2 rows today, but have more to put in next week to stagger the harvest.

Earlier in the week, I went to a local reclaimed timber yard and got some hard wood planks to make raised beds from. 
One here near the greenhouse. 

And a smaller raised bed here at the front of the plot, next to the brick floor and wall. 

We plan to put some wild Garlic here to contain it.

I forgot we still had a sack full of woodchips from the Laylandii we cut down recently, so I finished these Gooseberry beds. 

Cant get over how quick the Rhubarb is growing, this one 'Victoria' at the back of the plot, has shot up since last week. 

The Asparagus is growing an inch or two a day too!

Here is what I made from those lengths of roof batons, with the addition of some old chicken wire & wood treatment in 'woodgreen' 
Good for Peas to climb up, I made 4 of these, so with Peas both side, it makes 32ft of growing space!

So a very busy day, the temp got up to 28c and was so hot. 

Hope to get down next week on my days off, to continue planting, weeding, watering & maintenance.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

May Day bank holiday planting between the showers.

Potato planting time again, the Cara main crop have been 'chitting' for a while now and have short stubby green shoots, perfect for planting. 
If they had long thin white shoots, it means they were chitted in too dark a place, so I'd rub them off and start again. 
Best in an unheated greenhouse or on a windowsill out of the sun.

So I dug each trench about 8"-10" deep, 30" apart. 
Then put manure in the bottom of the trench & some potato fertiliser on the soil that's to be drawn back over the seed potatoes. Each spud is 15" apart, so they have plenty of space to grow. 
I put in 40 potatoes into 5 trenches, will put more in soon for a staggered harvest.

We did some weeding around the Broad Beans and put some support canes in, now they are growing taller, we don't want any to be snapped off if windy!

Finished these new raised beds, by adding some well rotted manure, covering with weed suppressant fabric and planting the Gooseberry's through. 
I will cover them with woodchips when we have some. 

This border that was cleared while I put the trellis up last week has been planted up with: Clematis, Jasmine, Teasels, Oxeye Daises, Feverfew, Sweet Rocket, Echinops and for ground cover Sweet Woodruff.

While it was raining this morning, I started off two lots of Cucumber in toilet roll tubes, Pepinex & Femspot, both F1 types, so should do well. 
You may notice the tubes are short, its because the seeds only need to be 1/2" deep, then when ready the whole lot can be planted so as to not disturb the roots.  I put them in a heated propagator as they need heat to get started, at least 21c.

Only crop harvested today was Rhubarb, we got some yesterday too, so added the weights together, 3lb so far. 

We had a rhubarb crumble from the first lot and it was lovely with vanilla ice cream.

So as the title says 'planting between the showers' well the sun came out around lunch time, so we did manage all that planting in 4 hours. 

Glad I got the potatoes in as they need plenty of time to grow, ready for harvest time about Sept/Oct.

Exciting news, we saw 6 baby Frogs in the pond, so now we have more pond life to observe.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

More raised beds made, clearing & fencing too

Finally got this corner sorted with two extra raised beds, we will plant some more Gooseberry bushes in these. 
Two new ones, red dessert type & a sucker that came from our other Gooseberry bush, a green type. 

Our daughter got some free (a donation was given) 'Seeds for Bees' from the 38 Degrees organisation, so we have scattered them over a spare patch, see below.

We thought it was time to remove the fleece cover from the Broad Beans, as you can see they have benefited from the fleece as they have grown well. 

The dark patch, just beyond, is where we scattered the 'Seeds for Bees' we have Lavender in the path boxes (on the right) Bees love that too. 

We could not find any frog spawn in our pond, but a fellow plot holder who had a pond full of tadpoles let us have some, so now our pond has life in it (apart from the water bugs). 

Rhubarb update: 

Well its grown a lot since I last looked, I expect we will be picking a few stalks in a day or two. 
Love the first Rhubarb crumble of the season

Another job done today, I put up some trellis above the tin fence, our neighbour had some they didn't need, so I took it. 

While I did that my wife dug over the narrow bed ready for planting soon, some flowers & climbers for the trellis will go in there.

So despite the forecast of rain all morning, we did get a lot done and the sun came out in the afternoon, no rain though, which was lucky.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Allotmenting in the Sunshine

1st stop the greenhouse:
Potted up some Courgettes, did someone say don't plant too many?
I think it was me LoL

On the staging lots of seedlings coming on well, some flowers, Leeks, Peas, Chard, Kale & Salads.

In the raised bed along side the green house, we sowed some Beetroot & Carrot seed.

The Asparagus has started, I swear this one grew while we were there.

In this patch, freshly cleared & dug over, we sowed some Parsnips & more Carrot seed along side the Garlic, in the hope the root fly will be put off.

This corner is still awaiting attention, I've started digging over a small area, where I will construct a raised bed for some Gooseberry bushes to go in, the rest will need weeding & digging over!

This patch has been dug over & I've also done a bit of dry brick walling. Its where the main Potatoes will go in soon.

So as the title says 'Allotmenting in the sunshine' it's been a lovely day and the sun certainly did shine all day. 
No wonder we stayed for 5 hours.


Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

April sunshine at last

This patch needed weeding and digging over. 

So I started top right:

Worked down the right side and across. 

Then I stopped for lunch:

After lunch I continued, so 2/3 now done, will finish it next time.

I did stay on my plot for 6 1/2 hours today!

As mentioned last week, the Charlotte potatoes are ready to go in, you can see the short stubby green shoots that are produced from chitting in a light but cool place.

So now I've planted the Charlotte's we now have 6 rows of early potatoes in the ground. As they grow I'll earth them up, watch this space.

While clearing another patch I remembered we still had a few Kerrs Pink in the ground, so I dug them up before they started to grow again.

As the title suggests it was a nice sunny day, still a little chilly, but no rain for a change. 

Might get a chance to return tomorrow.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Another busy day on the plot & chicken news

We decided to re-do these Strawberry beds, as we still had some runners from last years plants, a bit of a mix but we don't mind. 

Looks a lot better and we conditioned the soil before putting new mulch fabric down.

I've used chipped laylandaii wood (the tree we cut down) to cover this Victoria Rhubarb bed, hopefully will suppress the weeds better, there is mulch fabric beneath the chippings. 

I sorted out some rotten wood recently, dried it and got a bonfire going, put all the weeds on it too! 
I will dig in the ash from the fire into the soil, when its burnt down and cooled.

I've been wanting to tackle this corner for a while, it's behind the pond & Apple trees, we have a couple of Gooseberry bushes to put in so I'm making room for them here. So still a work in progress.

Chicken News:
When we got home from the Allotment we checked the hen house & 3 eggs were in the nest box, our Chickens have been busy too :) 

So it was a lovely day today, we arrived at 10am and left at 4pm :)

So glad we did a lot today, because we are away next week. But I'll be back on my plot on Sunday, as I need to plant the Charlotte 2nd early Potatoes.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Easter Bank Holiday Monday Extra

Yes Easter Monday and we returned during a shower but it brightened up. 

So I finished digging over this patch ready for more Main crop Potatoes.

Alongside the wire, where we grow Runner Beans, I dug a trench and added plenty of well rotted manure as the beans are a hungry crop.

We finished clearing this raised bed, topped it up with spent compost and plenty of Chicken pellet fertiliser. 

Then sowed some Calendula seed.

We also weeded the Asparagus bed, which was a tricky job, as Asparagus has very fragile roots, but it was worth it. 
We might top this up with some spent compost too. 

So another 3 hours spent today & well worth it.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian