Chillies growing in the Greenhouse, I think these are Hungarian Hot Wax so quite hot!
The Sweetcorn is doing well, lots of cobs forming, the Beans behind still producing (see below)
The Parsnips we thinned out a while ago are looking good, will be massive by Xmas day :)
And for the first time in ages Brussel Sprouts forming fine, also a good Xmas day veg :) Not had much luck with these in the past, but lime & netting seems to have worked.
Not a bad harvest again: Tomatoes, Beetroot, Courgettes and Raspberries.
The Bean harvest: Green and Purple French beans, Yellow Dwarf beans and Runner Beans too. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian.
P.S We have re-homed 8 more Chickens, 4x Ex Battery (age unsure) and 4x Light Sussex (4 month old). We got them from a local couple who, due to ill health, had to give them up. They have settled in well and I will report on them again soon.
Well we had a lovely holiday in Canada. But back now and still Jet Lagged so only went to the Allotment to harvest and not bad too: Yellow, Green & Purple Beans, Runner Beans, Courgettes, Tomatoes & Raspberries, some Sweet Peas too.
In the Greenhouse at home we have a good crop of Aubergines coming, don't they look good.
The Cabbages have been attacked by slugs, so brought one home for our chicken Matilda, she loves it. We will halve the large round Courgette too for her, she will hollow it out in minutes! Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Another good week for harvesting. Here is a good days haul: Courgettes, Peas, Broad Beans, Purple French Beans, Raspberries, Blueberries, Blackberries & Blackcurrants, Sweet Peas too.
And not a bad haul of Red Currants, about 4.5lb and not long before its made into Jelly, lovely on a Sunday Roast.
Finally lifted the Onions, been saying I would for ages, here they are drying on a wire rack I set up on breeze blocks. The white are 'Senshyu' I'm trying them again this year. The others are 'Red Winter' not grown them before so will see what they are like. Didn't grow as many Onions this year as the Shallots have done so well, we will be eating those for months!
Sweetcorn doing well now they have been weeded, they have got their seed heads now, so not long before the corn starts to show & grow. Hope its a long hot summer for maximum growth & ripening.
The Purple climbing French Beans are ready now for harvesting, a daily task but they freeze well if blanched, but loose their purple colour when boiled. The Peas are cropping well too. The Green Beans haven't reached the top of the wigwam, but wont be long. Still no better taste than home grown.
The first of the Tomatoes from the Allotment Greenhouse, I think these are 'Money Maker' or maybe 'Gardeners Delight', we are growing both but forgot to look at the label (silly me). Even the ones outside are doing well, but still green.
I've been to the local stables, to get some horse manure, it took two trips to fill the holding bin, 12 compost sacks full each time, but will be plenty for soil conditioning over winter. I usually go for manure late in the year and it doesn't rot down fully, but this year I'm ahead of myself and getting prepared early. I have covered it in black plastic so it doesn't get too wet when it rains and keeps it warm too.
Well the title of this weeks Blog is 'Pre holiday Blog post and will be the last for 4 weeks. We are going to visit our son in Vancouver Canada and can't wait. Our Daughter will be looking after the plot for us as well as house and pet sitting, so its in safe hands. So hope you all have a good Summer & see you in August. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Harvesting at full pelt. Here you can see all the Blackcurrants about 10lb, some Raspberries, Loganberries, Blueberries a few Courgettes & Sweet Peas too. Most of the Blackcurrants will be made into Jam (6lb) the rest I will make wine out of.
It was time to lift the Shallots as the leaves were flat on the ground. Once home I weighed them and placed them on our drying shelves made from an old pine shelf unit, there's about 12lb too!
Yet more Beetroot, this variety 'Boltardy' has been a good cropper for us, we had to thin these out to leave room for the rest to get bigger!
The Sweet Corn is getting bigger, we have weeded them to give them more chance to grow without competing with the weeds! A long summer is needed to ripen the corn, lets hope it will be.
On the wigwams I put up behind the Sweetcorn, for the Beans & Peas to climb up, here you can see the pea pods not full of Peas yet but wont be long. The Beans are doing well too, they have reached the top of the wigwam and pods are forming. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Yes July and the weeds are taking over, well not literally, but they are growing faster than some of the crops! But in this picture you see some rather tasty looking Parsnips & these are just the thinning out's, we will have them roasted as usual and they taste so nice tender and sweet too.
But as I said weeds are taking over so we cleared the Asparagus bed, that we put a couple of Courgettes in, now the weeds have been pulled it will give the Courgettes more room to spread out.
I weeded the Cara spuds and earthed them up again, in the hope they put on more growth now as not competing with the weeds!
Crops harvested this week: Charlotte spuds, a Round Courgette, Beetroot, Broad Beans, Rhubarb, Raspberries, Strawberries, Gooseberries, Blackberries & Loganberries.
I might have missed something out, but you see its a bumper harvest again this year.
The Teasels we have growing outside our plot are lovely at the moment, I have taken a photo through them looking onto the Poppies on our plot. Thanks for reading/returning. Ian
Typical June week on the plot, more crops planted out in the little space available, more Dwarf French Beans in the raised bed we cleared of weeds and more Peas planted in the new raised bed. Plenty of crops harvested too, see below. The Lavender in the foreground has taken and now in flower, to add the the other Lavender we have, it has attracted lots of honey bees too. Watch the video walkabout for more views of the flowers we grow to attract Bees.
Crops harvested this week: Strawberries Raspberries Loganberries Blackcurrants Broad Beans Asparagus Parsnips And Rhubarb. So lots of Jam making & the Rhubarb for Wine too.
This picture shows Matilda, our only chicken now, sadly Freda fell ill and the only kind thing to do was to put her out of her misery, our local vet did the deed :( But Matilda, now just over 3yrs old is fighting fit and we hope to get her some new companions soon, ex-battery hens again from the British Hen Welfare Trust. Watch this space for news of the newcomers. Thanks for reading/returning and don't forget to watch the video, link below. Ian
Quite a busy fortnight. Mainly been harvesting crops, as you can see here plenty of ripe Strawberries. I've repaired an old raised bed by making new sides from reclaimed timber & I found a Hedgehog sleeping in our wildlife corner, I have named him/her Sonic :)
The reason I didn't do my usual weekly Blog was last Sunday we went to BBC Gardeners World Live at the Birmingham N.E.C there was so much to see, Plants, Gardens, Fruit, Flowers, Veg & Monty Don live on stage!
But back to the plot and this week harvesting has been busy, so far (since April) we have picked: Rhubarb 56lb Strawberries 11lb Winston spuds 8lb Asparagus 1lb 5oz Raspberries 7oz Blackberries 6oz.
We have had sunshine almost every day too, just a few light showers. But it has meant everything has shot up, all the Peas & Beans are climbing, the Parsnips are swelling & need thinning out too!
And the Beetroot is getting big too, so I decided to make another batch of wine from this years crop, there is about 4lb here and as I need 3lb to make a gallon of wine, by the time trimmed & washed, this will be perfect.
I made a few gallons last year and they proved to be very popular so it makes sense to make more. If you want the recipe let me know & I will send it to you. 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
