Digging over Bed 3

I headed over to the plot for a dig today. There are several beds that need tidying up but Bed 3 was selected as today's focus. See its poor state below.



Just as I put the fork into the ground, a new allotmenteer entered the site. As he passed by Plot 35, we engaged hellos and introductions. He has just taken on Plot 21 and was on his way to have a bonfire. We had a nice chat and he commented on both types of artichoke on my plot. He likes the Jerusalems but is not so keen on the Globes. I think it was just us two on the site at the time. It was a chilly but sunny day.

I got back to Bed 3 and found that the soil had just about dried out enough for digging. A marked improvement on the last couple of weeks. Some of the small cabbages in the bed have been nibbled by something so I decided to leave them there for a while.



A couple of hours later, Bed 3 was dug over and looked much improved. I tried to take piccies to record my effort but the battery on my camera ran out (I'd only just charged it so time for a new battery methinks).

Merry Christmas

Belated Merry Christmas to one and all. I haven't posted for a while due to flu, kitchen installation (keeping me busy with wall preparation and painting - not ideal when poorly) and having lovely people round for Christmas. I aim to get back to the plot today or tomorrow for some fresh air and digging. The mound of veg peelings will be taken over to the compost heap too.

It was a shame that the Brussels didn't work out on the allotment this year (bloody rabbits!) but it has made me determined to get them sorted this coming year. I'll sow them nice and early and will cover them as much as possible once planted out. I may sow a few small batches rather than a single large one so that any losses can be replaced easily.

The parsnips, on the other hand, were a complete success. The ones I dug up a couple of weeks ago for Christmas lunch were huge. On Christmas Eve, I heard on the grapevine that one of my neighbours was in need of parsnips but couldn't get any. I nipped over to the plot very briefly before darkness fell to get some for her. They were absolutely enormous and seem to be appreciated. Any chance for me to show them off. Apparently, their enormity caused a fair amount of giggling in my neighbour's house. In return, my neighbour brought me over a portion of yummy parsnip soup. I will definitely grow parsnips again. The trick is to keep the seeds moist in the ground before they germinate (pre-chitting didn't seem to work out). And they are very low maintenance once they have germinated.

It will soon be time to start sowing again. I need to write sowing dates in one of my new calendars so that I can keep up with it all.

Need some more photos on here...

Her indoors

...that's me that is.

No allotmenting yesterday because it mostly rained. Today, it was a drier but I stayed indoors with the lurgie.

Nothing regarding the plot to report this weekend unfortunately. It might be a good time to report on the spuds I have ordered for next season. I ordered the following from the Organic Gardening Catalogue:

- Amorosa (1.5kg, First Early, Organic, New variety with long, oval tubers and moderate resistance to tuber blight, scab and lead roll virus).

- Remarka (3kg, Early Maincrop, Organic, Large tubers, which can be left in the ground for longer for really big spuds, with good all-round disease resistance).

- Anya (2kg, Early Maincrop, Long, waxy tubers with high resistance to scab and moderate resistance to blight and slugs).

Once I receive the spuds, I'll be giving some to the future in-laws for their new veg patch and some to a colleague at work (who may, fingers crossed, be getting a full-sized allotment soon).

To the same order, I added a pack of Lady Godiva squash seeds. These have shell-less seeds which can be eaten raw or roasted. I like the sound of that. On top of that, I ordered a sprouting jar and starter pack. So there will be something healthy to eat over Christmas (other than the nice Jerusalem artichokes and parnsips from the plot).

Assuming I'll be fighting fit again next weekend, I may get to do some gardening between bouts of cooking in our new kitchen which is being fitted later in the week. Can't wait.

Now, I'm off to Bedfordshire (that's bed for those who haven't seen Bridget Jones).

Who's been nibbling my parsnips?

That's what I'd like to know.



I have left the nibbled parsnip in place in the hope that no others get touched. I might have to dig up the parsnips next week for Christmas to ensure that I have enough for the special day.

Today was cold and the frost on the ground didn't budge at all. The picture below shows the frost still lingering on the grass after 1500.



The walk over to the allotment was quite treacherous as the pavements were all frosty and slippy. Don't get me wrong - I am very happy to see it. Hopefully, it will kill off lots of pests and diseases. Apparently, the temperatures are slightly lower than usual at this time of year.

I think I was the only one on the allotment today. I popped over to check on things and to dig up some Jerusalem artichokes. Under the glass of the raised beds, there are some seedlings emerging from the sowings I made 3 or so weeks ago. There is clearly some warmth under there. No sign of the garlic I planted a couple of weeks ago. There may be a chance that the frost has put a stop to them. If I don't see any sign of them in a couple of weeks, I will assume they didn't make it.

The piccie below shows the results of 1 of the 5 Jerusalem artichokes I planted back in Feb.



I took them home before scrubbing and peeling them. I sauted some onion (red - from the allotment a few months back) and some celery (shop-bought) in some butter for 10 mins before adding 500g of the artichokes cubed. After a minute, I added some chicken stock (homemade) and simmered it all for 20 mins. I whizzed it up in a liquidiser and added some milk and seasoning. It was a lovely white colour and tasted fantastic, though I do say so myself. I ate some of it with a friend and neighbour. She loved it and has taken the leftovers home for her lunch tomorrow. She is not a big fan of veg and had never heard of Jerusalem artichokes. She knows all about them now. I still have some tubers left from today's harvest so I might try them chipped or roasted later in the week. I will hold a few back from each plant for planting in the New Year and for giving away to fellow gardeners.

Just to show that there was some nice sun today - below is a piccie of our cat sunning herself in a nice spot on the coldframe in the garden which catches the sun in the afternoon. She is not the lightest of cats so I hope she doesn't make a habit of sitting there, for the sake of the frame.

November planting

I had an hour on the plot yesterday. The weather has turned a little arctic, mainly in the East of England where I was last night. There was some snow and everything. It was brighter here in the West.

I removed the peas and canes from Bed 7 (a silly idea of mine to sow peas so late) to tidy it up and watered the raised beds which are now covered with glass. I then forked over enough ground to plant some garlic (2 rows - about 20 cloves - of Fokhagyma) in Bed 5 next to the parsnips, where the carrots have been recently removed, and the 10 plants of perpetual spinach (that were still waiting in pots on the patio at home) in Bed 4 nestled up to the globe artichokes. I covered the perpetual spinach with a mesh tunnel cloche.





While planting, I was being assisted by a robin (see piccies below).





Today, while it was still light, I planned to pot up some of the horseradish roots from last weekend's harvest. I hope they didn't dry out too much - I kinda forgot about them in the week. I did get around to it but it was raining by this time. Now, I am going to retreat to the kitchen, as it gets dark outside, to process the remaining roots for the Winter storage in jars.

Hot, hot, hot

No, not the weather. It was quite wet today but the rain kept off after noon, providing an opportunity for a bit of a potter. The soil was too wet for digging though. Earlier in the day, it struck me that November is a good time to dig up horseradish roots so I thought I'd have a go at that. There seems to be two main clumps of it - one next to the shed and one next to Bed 8 (somewhere down there anyway). The one near the shed could get a little awkward if it gets much larger so I started with that (see the piccie below).



As shown, there was a little sapling in amongst the roots. I assume it is a plum tree. I decided to dig that out and replant it. For now, it is in a pot (see below) - I'll decide what to do with it another weekend.



Below is a photo of the plot taken from where the sapling is and looking up towards the road.



Before leaving the plot, I picked some apples and some salad and spinach leaves for the week ahead - adding to the heaps of big fat roots of horseradish.

When I got home, I stewed the apples ready for the freezer to make a pie or crumble some other time. The salad has been washed and stored. Now, for the horseradish... I have washed, peeled and whizzed up one of the roots. According to information on the WWW, I added some white wine vinegar to it (enough to make a paste). This should store ok for a few weeks.

Now the smug bit. I roasted some beef and some potatoes, parsnips and carrots from the allotment. I then mixed some creme fraiche with a bit of the horseradish (about 1 part horseradish to 2 parts creme fraiche, I think) and served that with the beef and veg. The WWW is right - you really don't taste the vinegar very much. Yum in my tum.

At the root of it...with extra photos for Andy

No time for gardening yesterday but got chance for a brief visit today. It rained a lot overnight and it was forecast to rain from 1500 onwards today. As it turned out, there were showers from 1300 onwards.

I was planning to do a little bit of digging in Bed 9 to lift some of the main crop potatoes that I'd left there. I was expecting the ground to be a little too wet but actually it wasn't too bad. Hopefully, it hasn't led to too much damage to the soil structure. Lifting the grass that has been trying to take over was quite easy. I lifted a few carrier bags of muddy spuds. They were mainly on the small side as all the others have been this year. That will teach me for planting them so shallow. I really don't think I have lifted them all so will need to dug over that bed again when it is drier.

I was about to leave when I thought I'd check out the carrots underneath the mesh cloche next to the parsnips (Bed 5 I think). I hadn't looked at them for ages and as I haven't had much luck with carrots, I wasn't expecting anything. A good opportunity to clear them out and use the cloche elsewhere. Lo and behold, there were actually some carrots there (see below).







None of the carrots were huge but there are plenty of useful looking ones. My first decent crop of carrots! I think it was down to the cloche which kept the carrot fly off.

But the excitement (for me) doesn't end there. While I was pulling out the carrots, I spied a couple of parsnip tops amongst their leaves which are now starting to collapse (see piccie below).



Although I was planning to save them for Christmas, I just couldn't resist digging them up for a closer look. Some interesting shapes (see piccie below) but they look very edible. My foot is there to give an idea of size. They are not small. Not bad considering the number of stones in the ground. Mmmmm, roast parsnips...



Before leaving the plot, I took two cabbages to complete the week's harvest. Bring on the cooking!

Rooting around

I was away for most of the weekend so only managed an hour on the plot before it got dark today.

I dug up the last (hopefully - bound to have left some volunteers somewhere) second early potatoes next to the leeks. The leeks look to have perked up significantly after last week - not many signs of rust on quick inspection.

The foliage of the Jerusalem artichokes appeared to have some frost damage in places (not a surprise) so it seemed appropriate to cut it down. I read somewhere that the cut foliage can be laid down over the ground to protect the artichokes from frost. Before doing that, I stuck some bamboo canes into the ground to mark where the plants are so that I can dig in the right place in a few weeks time when the stems may have disappeared completely. I put the canes in a few inches back from the stems so that the cut foliage could be laid directly over the plants (see piccie below).



Finally, I placed window panes over the raised beds to warm them up.

Next week I should have a few hours to spend on the plot. I really need to sort out Beds 8 and 9, by digging up the last main crop spuds and disposing of the courgette and sweetcorn plants which have finished now. I may have a bonfire on Bed 9 once that is cleared. Very seasonal...

Well, the Earth certainly moved today

I didn't get chance to visit the plot today but I did get round to a brief bit of pottering. I tried propagating an apple mint plant. Both the mint plants I bought this year have been acting strangely - one minute they are big, green, bushy and healthy looking and the next they are bare and brown. It might be that they are getting drier than they look at times. When I dug up the apple mint, it had plenty of strong rhizomes to cut up for propagation so I took 5 bits to pot up. The Moroccan mint didn't seem to have any long rhizomes so I've left that one for now.

Warning: this next bit has nothing to do with gardening but is just something I wanted to record to make up for this weekend's lack of gardening...

After this pottering, at about 1800ish, I was sitting on the sofa when I felt a weird thud through the house. My future mother-in-law (Jean) who sat down on the sofa about 1 second after the thud, didn't feel it and thought I was mad when I cried out "what the hell was that?" I was a bit freaked out because it sounded like someone had jumped off something upstairs and landed with quite a thump but there was no-one upstairs. It sounded much heavier than a cat - very creepy. Jean and I both heard the plastic surround on the TV set crack slightly though at the same time. Now I find out that a minor earthquake has been recorded in Herefordshire at 1806, affecting parts of Worcestershire too. Well, that certainly explains the weird thud. If Jean had sat down just 1 second earlier, I'd just have thought she was heavier than she looked and not thought anything of it. I was away last time there was a noticeable earthquake in this area which apparently shoke the everything in our flat. There's a lot going on under that there soil.

May I take this opportunity, though, to say that Jean doesn't look at all heavy ;-) (she does occasionally read this blog).

I spent a few hours on the plot this afternoon (day off work). I intended to dig up the courgettes like I keep meaning to but I was struck by how poorly the soil was looking around the leeks. The piccie below shows how poorly drained it was.



The soil on the left has a green tinge to it, probably because I haven't hoed around the leeks since they have been in. I weeded around them and fluffed up the soil and I hope they perk up and put on some good growth in the next 2-3 months.

After working around the leeks, I did a spot of weeding in Bed 1 (around the raspberries, cauliflowers and perpeptual spinach). I also pruned the gooseberries a little and replanted the rhubarb. I am not sure that the rhubarb crown looks very healthy but I'll just have to wait and see.

Before signing off, here's a piccie of the flowers at the top of the Jerusalem artichokes.



Maybe I'll get round to the courgettes later this weekend...

This weekend, I only had chance to pop over for a couple of hours late in the afternoon today. Weatherwise, it has been fantastic - blue skies with light cloud. It was quite warm today. The soil looks quite dry in places so I should water it all when I next go round if it doesn't rain in the week. I only watered the leeks today after scattering some fertiliser around them.

I also did a bit of digging today. I had been growing some potatoes and other things in a bed of my next door neighbour's plot. After removing the potatoes a few weeks ago, I had neglected it and it had got covered in weeds. I felt a bit guilty and my neighbour will hopefully be back any day now so it was something I had to get on with before tending to my own plot.

Talking of my plot, there is a lot to do. The courgettes look well past it now so I need to remove these at the weekend. I could probably clear that whole bed as the sweetcorn and squashes seem to be past it too. I also need to dig up the remaining potatoes.

In the meantime, I'll be poring over the seed catalogues.

Early retrospective of 2008

Just thought it was worth recording this year's lessons learnt, if a bit early.

I still have lots to learn and to do better. However, I did manage to grow a few things this year than I didn't manage last year including parsnips and artichokes (globe and Jerusalem). Blight was the major downer of the year taking all my tomatoes (even the ones at home on the patio). Though it didn't really hurt the potatoes, it got me worried.

Some things I should have done:

- sowed more broad beans;
- sowed more parsnips;
- planted Brussel sprouts a lot earlier;
- used wigwams not rows for the peas.

Specific issues

Potatoes

This year, I used a bulb planter to put the seed potatoes in. This meant that the job was relatively quick and easy which was important given that I was getting them in so late (mid May I think). The disadvantage was that many of the potatoes were on the green side. Not a big deal unless you eat one or two with the skin on without realising. It is a really horrible, sickening bitter taste. Next year, I really have to get them in the ground earlier, to get them to good maturity by the time blight comes around. I should also dig trenches for them. And grow slightly less of them.

Onions and garlic

I have planted out onion sets and garlic cloves in the Autumn twice now. The results, particularly in the case of the onions, have been a little disappointing. Onions have be small and few. In heavy clay soil, which gets quite hard over Winter, it probably restricts growth until later in Spring. It is nice to have something in the ground over Winter but I will try waiting until Spring before planting onions out.

The garlic has tasted fantastic but the bulbs have generally been a little on the small side. I may try preparing the ground more thoroughly and continue to put these in in late Autumn.

Sweetcorn

One weekend, I heard from others that "The Badger" was on the rampage. I thought to myself (God knows why), "next weekend, I put some chicken wire up around that sweetcorn to protect it". Of course, between that moment and the next weekend, The Badger paid a visit. Next year, I should plant the sweetcorn in a tighter area and should put protection up as early as possible.

Everyone blames The Badger. I find it funny to think of a single badger terrorising the whole site. I am sure there must be a whole gang of them.

Pests

The netting tunnel cloches I bought seemed to help hugely in keeping brassicas safe from cabbage white and rabbit(touch wood). I have been pinning these down with tent pegs too which I think help to make it harder for anything to burrow under them. And the bright blue organic slug pellets you can buy also seem to be effective so I should continue with them.

Awaiting the rain

I was hoping to spend a decent amount of time on the plot this week but when I mentioned this to a colleague at work, he broke the news to me that the weather forecast was not looking good. Rain forecast all weekend. This morning's news suggested that it would start to rain heavily here from 1300 onwards. Apart from a few spots earlier this morning, there is nothing but overcast skies and strong winds.

Given the weather predictions, I nipped over before 1200 to get one job done - dismantling the strawberry bed. See the before and after piccies below. I took the plants home to put in pots and the old leafs that I cut off were put aside for the compost heap.





On the topic of compost, I emptied one of the compost heaps onto the ground vacated by the strawberries. That patch is quite dry and hard now so I'll dig the compost in once the rain has done its thing.

Before leaving, I picked a few courgettes and pulled up a cabbage. Unfortunately, while inspecting the single butternut squash that seems to be growing, it came away in my hands. It was only about 3 inches long. It hadn't seemed to put on any growth for a while actually which is probably explained by the fact that it was only loosely connected to the plant. I picked a small cob of sweetcorn too but none of the plants look very healthy.

So, I took the strawberry plants home, out of the reach of the pesky strawberry thief. I have at least 23 plants (some are clustered and separation seemed impossible without harming them). I only planted those that clearly had new growth in the middle. I hope they like the peat-free compost. I had added some organic fertiliser to a couple of the pots last weekend. I'll add some to the other two pots another time. I threw 4 small ones plants (for the compost heap) - these didn't have new growth in the middle.

Bit of a catch up now. Early last week I cooked some achochas up (see piccie below).



They squeaked as I gathered them together in my hand. Inside, they were emptier than the ones I tried a few weeks ago. The seeds were easier to shake out and were very black. In the previous lot, I had to scoop flesh out with a spoon and then pick out the seeds. I have saved lots of seeds - plenty for seed swapping sometime. Achochas are ok but I don't think I'd bother buying their seeds again.

Just a little potter

I went over to the plot yesterday after a 2 week break from it. It was lovely and sunny after mid-morning once the fogginess had gone. There were only three of us over there on the lower end of the site. I was surprised.

I was greeted by some more courgettes so I picked them. I removed some big weeds from the two sisters patch while I was there. There are a few cobs of sweetcorn growing but I will wait for a bit longer before harvesting them because they are a bit small.

There is some salad almost ready for picking in one of the raised beds. The Little Gem lettuces need to be thinned next week though. I think that the weather is due to get a little colder in the next few weeks so I should cover the beds with glass asap.

I look forward to more time over there next weekend. I plan to dig up the strawberry plants and bring them home to a couple of large pots. That should keep them safe from the thieves next year...

Robin' the worms

I did focus on the garden yesterday so didn't go to the plot. There was lots of tidying up to do including the tomatoes which are getting very bushy but not very ripe. I have removed a couple of the most mature vines to ripen in the kitchen. A couple of the plants which were obviously planted out too late for fruiting (I was pushing it after all) were removed to make some space for the others giving it a go.

While the tidying and hoeing was going on, the cat slept. She often 'helps' but was clearly not in the mood. However, I did have another little helper (see piccie below).



Before packing the tools away, I did sow some seeds in recently vacated pots on the patio. I sowed onions (Hi Keeper F1 Hybrid), Mispoona (the last lot have been munched I think), Herby Salad Leaf Mixed and Spicy Mixed Salad Leaves. There were only about 10 onion seeds but I have plenty of others to sow in January.

What's that in my vegetable patch? Is it a monster...?

No. It's a marrow.

I popped over for a couple of hours this afternoon after a spot of shopping. The sun came out and it got quite warm. Warmer than it has been for a week or two. I picked a few courgettes and apples and a small sweetcorn cob. I did a bit of weeding and cut some comfrey and put it into the two compost bins. I should empty the compost bin at the bottom of the plot soon.

Tomorrow, the focus will be on the garden - it needs tidying up. The fennel herb is going mad and is threatening to join the achocha in suffocating the olive plant.

A bit close for comfort

Went over to the plot for a potter around. There is flooding and it has reached my compost bins at the bottom. It has not quite reached the raised beds thankfully (see piccie below).



It should be ok - the water shouldn't reach the raised beds. There is a little ledge between the water and the beds and it hasn't rained today (certainly not since 1100). Fingers crossed (there is a lot of finger crossing in this business).

In Bed 1, I planted out some perpetual spinach (about 12 plants), 4 leftover cauliflowers and 1 kale (at least I think it was a kale). I also dug up some of the main crops in Bed 9. The crop was disappointing - each plant only provided about 6 small tubers. I think this is down to the fact that they weren't planted deep enough. Noted.

As well as the spuds, I took home some courgettes, the first cob of sweetcorn and a cabbage. The sweetcorn was delicious (2 hrs from plant to plate).

Fat baby

Strange title, eh?

Back today after going to the Bristol Organic Food Festival (bought some seeds from Jekka's Herb Farm stall - more about those another time). It has been raining lots this week. It isn't raining just now so I'll nip over to the plot in a mo. I'm a bit worried about flooding though as the river has burst its banks up by the motorway. I have some perpetual spinach to plant out.

When I got back, I was greated by a surprise on the patio. My Achocha ("Fat Baby") has made some cool, spiky fruits. The first piccie below shows how the achocha plants (planted in a circle around a terracotta pot) have enveloped the olive plant. Poor olive plant. The second shows a couple of the fruit. I think the one in the centre is ready to harvest and fry up. It supposedly tastes like green pepper when fried. When small, it can be used raw like cucumber.





The plants have been looking quite poorly and yellow for a few weeks so I wasn't expecting any form of harvest. I gave them a feed about 4 weeks ago but it didn't appear to make any difference. Perhaps that is just the way of the achocha...

Rain stops play

Yesterday was dry though a bit cloudy. Quite warm though. Andy corrected some of the screws on the one raised bed frame that I had put together last week and confirmed that it was difficult to get them in. Then he put another frame together for me.

Today, we took them over to the plot and Andy hammered them in (see piccie below).



After a break, I returned to the plot to sow some seeds into the new raised beds and to harvest some courgettes and fruit. I added a thin layer of peat-free compost to the new beds, then it started raining quite hard though not for long. I went home thinking that was the lot for today.

It cleared up and the next trip to the plot was more fruitful. I sowed some lettuce and spinach seeds in the raised beds and covered them with a net. I also picked some apples from the tree right at the end of the plot (I thought it was on my neighbour's side but he insists that it is on my side), a small, pitiful handful of blackberries and several courgettes.

I did a spot of weeding round some of the cabbages, the ones right in front of the shed. I should have uncovered the mesh cloche a while ago as they were getting big. There were loads of slugs around because of the rain, halfway up cabbages, on top of cloches and among the courgetts. I gathered some of the most visible ones and put them unharmed onto the compost heap. I liberally sprinkled organic slug pellets around the most susceptible plants.

Knobbly spuds competition, anyone?

The weather was good today - a couple of big grey clouds in the morning but no rain and then sunny skies later. I spent over 3 hours at the plot today. I was just going to pop over for a brief visit but I decided to do something about the main crop potatoes. The Pink Fir Apples were looking decidedly brown and sad so I dug them up. The word 'dug' is misleading - there were easily harvested by hand. No signs of blight in the tubers, which were on the whole extremely knobbly, but about a fifth of the harvest had green bits. Shame. I cut back the foliage of some of the other main crops. I took the potatoes home, dried them off, and they are now in a paper sack in the shed. I hope they store ok.

I dug roughly over the patch for the raised bed. Installation will wait until next weekend. I did redo some of the screws so they don't stick out so much. Still not pretty but perfectly functional (hopefully).

As well as the potatoes, I harvested 4 Summer Squash, 3 courgettes and 2 cabbages. I stir-fried one of the cabbages and it was good. The heads are small but each is perfect for one. One of my fellow allotmenteers, who I saw on my way over (he was carrying home 2 bags of runner beans and a very large marrow) told me to watch my brassicas as his were covered in caterpillars. Mine seem to be ok. They were covered with a mesh tunnel cloche until a few weeks ago. I think that did the trick of preventing the butterflies laying eggs on them. It may have been the two nearby Hyssop plants though...

Knowing my limits

Well, I had a go at putting together a frame for a small raised bed. As you can see from the piccie below, it is possibly the worst example of workmanship ever (the piccie shows its good side).



On the plus side, it is still standing after an hour and it seems to be a rectangle. On the minus side, I couldn't get all of the screws in properly so lots of them are sticking half way out. I might ask my partner nicely to sort these out once the thing is solid in the ground. For future reference, sawing the wood = easy, screwing together with a drill = challenging. It is a 2xFlowerPowerGirl job. I know that now.

I am not sure how I am going to get it over to the plot as it won't fit in my car. I might just have to carry it over though I'll look pretty stupid doing it.

In an effort to cheer myself up, I sowed some seeds. I sowed some basil and coriander in pots for the windowsill. And I sowed some parsley and Savoy cabbage for the mini-greenhouse.

I only popped over to the plot very quickly this morning. I saw a Summer Squash that needs picking. The cauliflowers I planted last week seem to be surviving ok. I might harvest one of the cabbages even though it is quite small. Just to try it.

A woman with a plan

After procrastinating for ages, I finally have a plan. It still needs some checking but here it is:



As well as those beds shown on the plan, I will be adding a couple of mini-raised beds to grow salads all year round using some glass panes I picked up free from a skip (with permission of course) and some old pallets and planks. I hope to get these together this weekend. That's another plan though...

Just sow

There has been a lot of rain this weekend though, thankfully, there have been breaks in the middle of the day to allow for some gardening.

Today I planted out 6 more cauliflowers to join the other 8 where the broad beans were a few months ago. I didn't bother digging over the area beforehand as brassicas like firm ground. While planting, came across three broad beans that had germinated. I planted them next to the row of cauliflowers just in case they manage to grow.

After that, I did a bit of general weeding and hoeing. I moved 6 Brussel Sprout plants from next to the parsnips to next to the cabbages and strawberries. They don't look too good though. I netted them up and I will just have to hope that they grow a little stronger. When I watered them in, I added some seaweed feed in to help them out.

The beetroot and carrots next to the parsnips were not looking good. Neither seems to be growing edible roots. I wonder whether they weren't sowed deep enough. I removed the beetroot and will use the leaves in a salad. I left the carrots. I then sowed two intermingled rows of Autumn King carrots and White Lisbon spring onion.

The chinese cabbage I sowed a few weeks ago has not appeared. In its place, I sowed a row of Skyrocket rocket and a row of Little Gem lettuce. As well as a tunnel cloche, I sprinkled plenty of organic slug pellets for protection. Next to these, it seems like there might be some chicory that have germinated. Not sure though with all the little weeds that have shown up. Just to be sure, I sowed another row in the same bed and have put a cloche over this along with some more pellets.

No sign yet of the seeds I sowed last week. The transplanted globe artichokes don't look too bad though and the Jerusalem artichokes are now much taller than me (I'm about 5 foot 8 btw).

The main crop potatoes have made it to 14 weeks now. If they can just hold on for another couple... I removed a couple more poorly leaves from the courgette plant with mosaic virus. It doesn't seem to have affected any others as yet.

Back at home, the rocket, spinach and mispoona are developing true leaves. Some salad leaves that I sowed a couple of months ago had been eaten by something - I assumed it was a slug. However, on closer inspection, they were covered (and I mean covered) with caterpillars. The butterflies really had been busy - I didn't realise they had been laying eggs in the leaves. Some very quick Internet research (I found http://www.uksafari.com/caterpillars.htm) confirmed that these were made by the Cabbage whites). I have to remember to check for this in the future at this time of year. One caterpillar had made it to one of the cauliflower seedlings in the cold frame about 2-3m away from the salad. Luckily I spotted it (and checked the other plants) before taking it to the allotment.

RIP tomatoes

Well, it was a bit of a disappointing session at the plot today. The tomatoes had succumbed to blight and were looking awful. I removed the fruit and threw the foliage and roots in with the rubbish. I have brought the fruit hope to try and ripen some of them. Lots of the fruit is a bit small and young but 10-12 or so may be mature enough to ripen ok. I'll either get a banana to help them out or just cover them with newspaper. Against my intuition, Internet research suggests that tomatoes need to be kept in the dark to ripen quickly not in the sunlight.

The main crops don't look too bad - they are not yet revaged by blight (see piccie below). The tomatoes actually had sections of stem that had turned black. That doesn't seem to have happened to the potatoes yet. I have left them in for now. I cut the foliage from the last row of earlies though.



I picked a few courgettes for some friends. The sweetcorn amongst them had clearly be attacked by a badger. The same badger who seems to be terrorising other allotmenteers' carrots and runner beans. Some of the sweetcorn has been ripped out completely - it wasn't just nibbled cobs. I put some chicken wire around some of the corn (see piccie below) and have pinned it down with tent pegs.



One of the courgette plants had strange looking leaves (see piccie below). I am guessing this is mosaic virus. I know nothing about this so I will do some research...



I planted out 8 All The Year Round cauliflower plants and transplanted 4 Florence Fennel seedlings. I thought I had more fennel seedlings than that but I guess that some of these were eaten or gave up.

Diagnosis blight

I was looking for some piccies of blight on the web and found some good ones (http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/gudmesta/lateblight/image.html). Perhaps, if my potatoes do have blight, it has been spotted early because the other examples show brown blotches with yellow outlines or white-ish bloom.

Not that I'm concerned or anything...

Taking precautions

After work, I thought I'd nip over to the plot to remove some of the leaves that seem to be showing signs of blight in an effort to prevent it getting worse. There were more affect bits than I thought there would be. I stuffed a carrier bag full of leaves and branches that had brown patches (see piccie below).



By and large, the foliage looks very healthy - certainly better than last year. I may have to consider digging the spuds up at the weekend if it gets any worse. At the very least, I should try to earth the spuds up a little more.

Apparently, you can even buy blight testing kits (http://www.pocketcheck.co.uk/product_ranges/30/potato). Wow.

Making space

There was lots to do on the allotment this weekend but I didn't think I'd get chance to get through it. Today was showery until 1500 when I finally went over. It was quite wet under foot and almost too wet to dig. Not enough to put me off though.

First task was to transplant the globe artichokes to give them more space. As the piccie below shows, they were a tad crowded.



The largish one had even produced a couple of chokes (see piccie below). I removed these so that the plant can save its energy for its second year. On closer inspection, it seems that a couple of the others have also started to grow very small artichokes.



The second main job was to transplant the leeks from the four pots that have been sitting on the patio for a few months to the bed that has recently been almost completely vacated by early potatoes. I hope it isn't too late. I tried to select the thickest specimens - I planted 6 rows of about 12 (see first piccie below). There were about 27-28 thinner ones which I planted three to a hole with the aim of getting some miniature leeks (see second piccie below - a tad out of focus though). It was that or waste them.





As an aside from the main tasks, the piccie below shows how much the parsnips are romping away. I wish that I had sowed some more - lesson learnt for next year.



Also, I think I spotted a ghost slug on the plot (see piccie below). It was quite sweet really (until it starts doing some damage).



I am a tad worried about blight. One of my fellow allotmenteers popped over and mentioned that he spotted the start of blight on his tomatoes. He sprayed Bordeaux mixture on them to prevent it getting any worse. Although we both saw that my tomatoes look fine, when I inspected my main crop potatoes, there do seem to be a couple of suspicious-looking brown patches on a couple of the leaves. I may need to be prepared to cut back the foliage next weekend or to dug up the spuds. Unfortunately, the spuds have only had 12 weeks in the ground (since May 17th) which is not long enough for them to be fully-grown. The flowers do seem to have come and gone though. I will return tomorrow if I can to remove the leaves that look like that they have got a brown spot. Fingers crossed - it would be nice to harvest the potatoes in four weeks time and not sooner.

This and that...

I finally got round to the allotment today. There has been no rush to water anything as the last couple of days have been quite wet. Yesterday was a little damp so I focused on the garden. Today was shower-free if a little grey though it warmed up in the afternoon, just as I hit the plot for a few hours.

There was lots of tidying up to be done and the soil was in top condition for weeding. I started with the bramble near the top. It was getting in the way of digging up the early potatoes. There was a lot to cut back but I have left the branches that are busy fruiting. I moved on to the peas which I dug up. I haven't saved any of them for seed because they haven't been looking very healthy recently. I have put the chard that has gone to seed quite wildly on the compost heap. I plan to use the vacated bed for the globe artichokes. I have ten plants but they are bunched up too close to each other at one end of the bed. At the weekend, I will transplant these to give them more space.

As well as three carrier bags full of potatoes, I harvested five courgettes, the last of the peas and a small bunch of spring onions which I had grown (and forgot about) on my neighbour's patch.

Til the weekend...

Taking it easy

I didn't get up to much today. I didn't go round to the plot but concentrated on thining out the cauliflowers and chard that I planted a few weeks ago. I have about 30 cauliflowers and 10 chard so I'll be giving some away when they are strong enough to plant out. I also sowed some Mispoona, rocket and spinach in pots on the patio.

It rained hard for a few minutes around noon so there was no need to rush round to the plot to water everything. There'll be a chance to catch up later in the week though.

Focusing on the garden

Today has been fantastic weather-wise. Warm but not too hot in the morning - some threats of rain but really amounting to anything more than a couple of drops. Warmer in the evening though the wind is picking up a little.

Today was all about the garden at home. One corner of it was taken over by old and new Summer raspberries and it desperately needed clearing out. The cat was enjoying the den it provided for her but it was still time to go - the raspberries had moreorless finished fruiting. So, I trimmed the plum tree and the roses. I moved one of the roses from under the plum tree to give it more light. I cleared out the old raspberry canes and moved the new ones into position snugly against the fence. I then went to move the gooseberry bush from behind the coldframe so that I could move the coldframe back against the fence. A few branches of the bush must have come into contact with the soil over the past few months and developed roots. There was one main bush, one smaller one and several single stem plants (plus a small handful of large red fruit). I have planted the two biggest ones near the raspberries and have potted the other up to get established. Hopefully, I'll have some to give away early next Spring. I also put some canes up for the two sets of tomatoes I have on the go in the garden.

I nipped over to the allotment to put the cuttings from the roses, plum tree and raspberries, which I chopped up, onto the compost bin. It is almost full now - I might have to organise another soon. I checked the courgettes and found two large, round marrows (stuffed marrow on the menu tomorrow me thinks) and three more reasonable-sized cougettes to pick. The tomatoes are looking good - the fruits I saw on them last weekend are much bigger. It is not a surprise that thirsty things are growing well at the moment. The weather has been perfect for them this week with a few long bursts of heavy rain with warm sunshine in between.

I think the focus will return to the allotment tomorrow...

Scorchio!

Gosh, it was warm today. Two sessions today, one before 1100 and the other after 1700. Today's main achievement was sowing some peas (the ones I meant to sow last week). These were Early Onwards, I think, from the Potato Day. They went into one of the beds vacated by the onions and garlic. I also transplanted a couple of Good King Henry plants and a couple of Sea Kale.

There looks to be some form of action in the next bed in which I sowed chicory, Chinese cabbage and fennel. Fingers crossed for some plants.

Permission to be smug...

For lunch today (and tomorrow), I cooked up a Spanish tortilla with red onion, potatoes and courgette from the allotment and chilli from the windowsill (see piccies below).





Together with some spinach from the patio garden, it went down pretty well.

It was baking over at the allotment this afternoon. I only managed to net over some cabbages as the tunnel covering them before did not have enough room for their growth. I just hope that they are big enough now to withstand nibbling by the rabbits.

This Summer, I will be mostly eating courgettes

Yum! I am very sad, I know, but I have just picked my first courgettes and am very happy. See piccie below.



I'll probably stuff and cook the two round ones at the weekend but I just ate the yellow one for tea. Don't worry - this is not going to turn into a cookery blog but, for my future reference, I gently fried strips of the courgette (made using a potato peeler) in garlic-infused olive oil (garlic from the allotment) until they softened while also cooking some pasta. When the courgette strips dried out and there was a risk of burnage, I added some water from the pasta. When softened, I added a liberal amount of parmesan, salt and black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. I mixed in the cooked pasta, plated up and grated over some more parmesan. Not rocket science, I know. With a glass of Pinot Grigio (which I don't normally like that much). Yum! I'll definitely do that again. Good job too because the courgettes might be on the menu every day for a while.

There were a couple of other allotmenteers on the site when I nipped over just now. They were mainly watering their runner beans. I didn't do any watering as I hear there might be rain tomorrow evening. If it doesn't rain, I might nip over tomorrow after work to water as things looked pretty dry today.

Aside from the courgettes, there are several tomatoes starting to form and the sweetcorn is starting to look stronger.

What I didn't do last Sunday...

I didn't dig up all of the early potatoes...
I didn't plant any leeks...
I didn't sow any peas...

But I did put two new compost bins on the plot - one for weeds and one for kitchen waste. And I had a chat with some mates on the allotment and have agreed to help organise a BBQ sometime in August. So it wasn't a completely wasted afternoon.

Things move fast in our house...

After taking the shots of some of chillies yesterday starting to turn red, when we woke this morning, we saw that they have actually turned completely red. I might add them to a burger or two for tea tonight.

I spent about 3 hours on the plot yesterday in the afternoon. The showers kept off though it was quite windy. I dug over half the bed vacated by the onions and sowed the chicory, Florence Fennel, Chinese cabbage and some radish.

I wasn't sure when I went over whether or not to expect any harvestable courgettes. I was hopeful after seeing a couple of small ones last week but I have since read that the first lot can be quite slow. Once they are cut though, they come through thick and fast. When I arrived though there were a few more small ones (see piccie below for one of the plants). Fingers crossed for some fully grown ones in the next couple of weeks.



A fellow allotmenteer was harvesting his courgettes a couple of plots away and cursed at finding one approaching marrow size. He kindly offered it to me as he and his family really don't like them at that size. I love marrows so I was happy to take it. I picked some sugar snap peas and dug up some early potatoes and went home. The main crop potatoes are starting to flower nicely so hopefully they will be ready next month.

I am about to go over to the plot for a couple of hours. I plan to dig up the remaining potatoes and plant some leeks in there place. I might also sow some main crop peas and it turns out that it might be possible to get a crop out before the frosts start. I have plenty of seeds left from the half pint I bought in Feb so it might be worth trying.

Chilli update

Just thought I'd add an update on the chillies for future reference. I meant to keep just 4 plants for myself, one of each, but I still have several to give away. The plants could do with the space. I must remember to take some into work.

The 'Iranian Round' Big Cherry Chilli (below) seems to be quite prolific. The fruits are very cute but they look like they might pack a punch. One of the plants has six of them but has more flowers to go.



The Early Green Jalapeño is the least productive at the moment. Just one on one of the plants but it was one of the first to appear.



The 'Wenks Yellow Hots' chillies look strange - I've not seen yellow ones before. These are coming thick and fast now. I can't wait for them to turn orange.



The 'Westlandse Lange Rode' chillies are starting to turn red. Hopefully, they will be fully ripe in a few days and ready to sample.



So, these seem to be on track.

Much improved weather

I didn't get back on the plot yesterday afternoon as the rain set in good and proper. It has done the plants good though - especially as the sun shone all day today. The weather and soil were both perfect for hand-weeding.

The first job was shearing back the long grass on some of the paths. A bit dull but it made quite a difference. A fellow allotmenteer then came over and kindly gave me some leftover swede seedlings so I planted those next to the brassicas before going home for lunch.

Over lunch at home, I sowed some Cavolo Nero, perpetual spinach, parsley, swiss chard and cauliflower. These will all overwinter nicely, hopefully.

After lunch I focused on the onion bed. While weeding, which was very easy, I pulled up all the onions. Their stalks seem to have bent over so I figured they were ready. They are now drying on a table on the patio in the garden (see bad-quality piccie below).



The harvest is a bit weak - many are the size of pickling onions (which was not the intension). The best performers were a couple of large red onions (from sets rather than seeds).

As I was clearing the onion bed, another fellow allotmenteer came over to say hello. He asked me why I hadn't planted any runner beans. It does seem that everyone else has gone some and there are many pretty wigwams about the site. I told him that I don't really like them enough to grow them but that I do like other types of green bean. I am not anti-green bean or anything (allotmenteers - it seems - are a little suspicious of people who choose to have an allotment but who do not grow runner beans. He offered me 6 spare plants of climbing french bean. I quickly erected a wigwam and planted these in the bed just cleared of onions.

Allotmenteers are lovely people and very generous. I should start growing extra in future to give to other allotmenteers who are even newer than me. That seems to be the done thing. I'd better do my bit.

I did mean to sow some things directly onto the plot including fennel (bulb) and chicory but I didn't get round to it. That's for next week...