February 2018 update

 Well its been a very cold, wet and windy start to 2018.

So we haven't been down much, except to dig up some spuds left in the ground and to top up the compost bins with kitchen veg waste and chicken waste from the hen house.

But we did do some clearing on Sunday last and now have plenty of dry matter ready for another bonfire. 
I wont just set light to the dry stuff, but will move it to a clear spot, just incase a Hedgehog is sleeping underneath!

So on Wednesday last I went to the local stables and filled 12 sacks with horse manure, that half filled our holding pen.

I returned today and filled another 12 bags with manure. So our pen is now full!
All that muck will do our veggies good.


Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

First post of 2018

 Spent a couple of hours today, mostly clearing up. 
We cut back all the over grown marsh grass from around the pond, it looks alot better for it too. We also cut back all the Raspberries and we spotted some new growth poking through. 

We cleared the Rhubarb bed, as we want to split each as they are getting too big. 
There are 3 large root clumps!

So all that clearing up meant we had to have a bonfire. 
We had plenty of weeds drying so all that went on the pyre.

So in between the clearing I dug up some more Cara potatoes. 
So its roasties tonight & chips tomorrow, I'm sure we will have mash sometime in the week too.  

So a good start to the year, we did a bit last weekend too, including pruning the Apple trees, so today wasn't the 1st visit.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

Happy Christmas

Today, xmas eve, I went to the plot to dig up Parsnips, Potatoes & cut a few stalks of Sprouts, all for Christmas day dinner.

The allotment is looking very bleak as most things have died back now, the Onions & Garlic are doing well & I have a list of jobs for January to do.

So Happy Christmas to all my readers, old & new and a very Happy New Year.

Thanks for reading/returning, Ian & Jo.

November update

These are the only Pumpkins that made it. 

Smaller than the ones you carve up for Halloween but tastier. 

Not a bad harvest of Cara potatoes, we have left plenty in the ground, where they will keep, so we dig them up as we need them. 

Cara are good for Jackets, Roasties & Chips.

In this patch where we had Broad Beans, Onions & Beetroot, I dug it over to remove as many weeds as possible. 

And I planted out some Solent Wight Garlic that we had started off at home (see below). 

After planting I covered them with netting to stop birds pecking them out.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

Blog update

I returned on Monday, to dig over this patch where we had early Winston Spuds growing in the spring. 

I found a few that I missed when digging up, so will have them with a pie for Tuesdays dinner.

So after removing all the weeds & quite a few clumps of grass! I planted out 60 Red Winter onions. 

Just to the left you can just see a Courgette & Squash that are still producing, so will leave them in a bit longer.

Alongside the Senshyu onions I planted on Sunday there is a stip of cleared soil. 
So I put in a few Kale seedlings we had left over from a previous planting. 
Then after taking the photo I covered them with a netting tunnel to protect from the birds!

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Onions planted

We started off some Onion sets in cell trays in multi purpose compost. 
They have done well and are ready to plant out. 

Senshyu yellow & Red Winter varieties, that we have grown before and seem to do well in our soil.

 In this patch that I started digging over last weekend and finished this week, I planted 3 rows of the Senshyu yellow, about 50 planted here. 

I will have to dig over another patch for the reds in the week.

So while there I dug up some more Picasso potatoes, all these from just one seed potato planted back in the spring. 
We had some of them as roasties with our Sunday dinner.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo

First of October already!

It might be October already but we still have Sunflowers, infact we still have lots of flowers on the plot, which is great as the birds & insects love these.

Still lots of colourful veg growing: 
Rainbow Chard and Beetroot doing well. 
Our hens love a handful of chard, from time to time. 

I removed a few canes from the plot today, Broad Beans & Borlotta Beans have finished, so their supports had to be stored away. 

My latest tip: 
When storing canes after pulling up, put them upright with the end that was in the soil uppermost so they dry out, your canes will last longer if you do.

Fed up of Squirrels gorging on our Sweetcorn so dont think we will grow it again, takes up a lot of space and time getting it started! 

This is the patch where the Borlotta Beans & Broad Beans were. 

I'm digging it over to prepare it for some over winter Onions, that we have started off at home in cells and they are ready to go in.

So not a bad harvest, for October: 
Apples, Raspberries, Chard, Borlotta Beans, Runner Beans, Pumpkin and Cara Spuds.

As I mentioned still lots of flowers and it all looks lovely, if a bit overgrown. 

But things are dying back now with cooler days. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian & Jo