Brilliant end to April

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

Busy Easter Weekend

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

April Planting Weekend

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.

 Thanks for reading/returning & watching. Ian

April Showers

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

Busy weekend, a very satisfied feeling.

On Saturday, I finished clearing this patch, by moving the Kale that was under the netting frame to another place, still under netting! 
The Cabbages are fine left on the right. I'm planting more spuds here, see below.

I've taken a photo of the Rhubarb again, you can see its getting bigger, we also got a Sweet Cecily (top of photo) which we found out is a good additive when cooking Rhubarb as it sweetens it.   

I've been clearing another corner of our plot, as we will need to make a parking space at the front of our plot, as some new tenants have taken plots on our lane & its becoming a bit of a traffic jam being a dead end. 
So lots of rotten wood needed burning, another collection of recycled timber I hoped to use one day, but 75% wasn't any good, but now its burnt the wood ash will make a good soil improver for most root crops & Cabbages etc. 

So here is the potato patch I prepared yesterday, I've planted 5 rows (55 seed spuds) of Sante (main crop), they have been 'chitting' since early Feb and ready to plant. So we get an earlier crop, I've still got Cara to plant next month, also Nadine & Charlotte (2nd earlies) to plant too.

So a very productive day (6 hours actually) and very satisfying too. 
Will return in the week to carry on clearing the corner, will need to make a new front fence & gate to accommodate the car space, so watch this space for news on that. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian 

Very busy week as spring is here.

One job I've been waiting to do was this Pallet Fence, the old one, also made from pallets about 10yrs ago, was rotten and falling over after the strong winter winds! 
As you know I've been collecting Pallets for ages, so I nailed 2 together, making a 6ft panel, then suspended between posts, so the base is just above the soil so it wont rot away again, It's 31ft long & it took me 11 hours over 2 days to do! But only a third of the length of our plot, so more to do later in the season.

Anyway today I dug up the last of the Mammoth Leeks, not as big as they should be but they were in the way of where the Spuds will be going in. 
The spuds are 'chitting' well, at home and ready to go in, 4 more varieties, so that's another job for next few weekends.

I have been saying it for weeks now, but finally the 'Stockbridge Arrow' Rhubarb is growing, now its milder and sunny, had rain too, which is good for growing. Won't be long before we get the 1st harvest this year.

Hope you can see this, the Frog spawn in the pond is changing into tadpoles, they are moving and you can see the shape changing from a black dot to a tadpole. It's so exciting to see nature at work.

Anyway we only spent a few hours today, it was wet all morning and as I had been down in the week (fence building) there was plenty of weeding to do, but its all looking good. 

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Planting has started

This weekend has been busy, we dug, we planted, we burnt..........

Tell you what, watch the YouTube video it's all in there, including my Planting Potatoes tutorial, enjoy.

Thanks for visiting my Blog. Ian