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

Easter weekend tradition

It's my tradition to plant my 1st early Potatoes at Easter time. 
These 'Lady Christl' have been chitting for a while and are ready to go in, so Good Friday was the day.

Two rows already planted and as you can see the third is ready for covering. 

First I dug a trench, watered it well and put potato fertiliser in the trench & on the soil I'm putting back into the trench to cover the seed potatoes. 

Each potato is 12" (30cm) apart, in trenches 24" (60cm) between.

We also planted out some Broad Beans I started off at home in root trainers. 

There are 2 rows with 14 plants in each. 

I will have to protect these young plants, from frost and cold nights, see below.

Easter Sunday:
Another important job to do this weekend was to tidy up these beds and plant some new Strawberry runners, taken from last years 'Honeoye' plants. 

We had this 'Merryweather' Damson tree growing in a large pot at home, so we decided to move it to the Allotment in this sheltered corner. 
I made sure the hole I dug had plenty of well rotted manure in it first and watered it in well, hope it likes its new sunny spot.

Next job was to finish clearing this patch, I had to move some Spinach first though. 

I need this for the 2nd early 'Charlotte' potatoes, still chitting at home. 
I will put these in soon, using the same method as above with the 1st earlies. 

So a lovely long weekend of clearing & planting, I also covered the Broad Beans with fleece (you can see the white fleece tunnel in this picture) just to protect the young plants as they establish. 

Weather was mixed, Good Friday was dry and mostly sunny, but Sunday we had rain, wind, sun & even hail!

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian

Digging & Planting on such a lovely day.

If you remember a few weeks ago we started off some Garlic 'Pink' and 'Vigour' 

Well as you can see its come on fine and ready to plant out. See below

I have finally finished digging over this patch where I plan to put in the main crop Potatoes 'Cara' and 'Harlequin' that are 'chitting' at home. 

I will mix in some well rotted manure ready for planting time end of next month.

All that digging produced not only aerated soil but a lot of weeds and some ground elder roots, that we will never get rid of! 

So another bonfire was lit.

We also cleared this raised bed added some chicken manure pellets and planted out the Garlic, as shown above.

So that was a busy day and what a nice day it was. 

The sun was shining and warm too. 

I noticed the temp in the greenhouse was at 24 degrees.

But sadly no Frog Spawn yet, despite the fact we had loads this time last year and there is lots in the ditch surrounding our site.

Thanks for reading/returning. Ian