Biggest harvest from the new plot to date

I had a day to myself today to catch up on some chores and to treat myself to some gardening.  Last weekend, I focused on our front garden at home and carved out a new bed (7x0.8m roughly).  It was tough getting the turf off of such dry ground and even forking over the patch was hard-going.  I under-estimated the task but it gives us more scope for a sunny bed because the opposite bed is shaded by next door's hedging.  So today, I started populating it with the Mediterranean herbs from the other bed, and the fig plant which was sitting in a pot in the back garden and not fruiting.  I am hoping that the new location against a south-facing wall, albeit sheltered to the east by our house, will make it happy and get it in the mood for fruiting.

I did get some time over at the plot in the afternoon.  It was warm - about 23 Celsius.  The priority was to put some sort of barrier around the sweetcorn in an effort to put the badger off.  Two of the bits and pieces left on the plot when I took it on looked promising.  Someone had taken two sheets of plastic netting and attached thin planks along both ends of them.  Each plank was about a metre high so I cut them all in half leaving me with four pieces of netting with short planks at the ends.  I could then use them to form a boundary around 3 sides of the sweetcorn patch, keeping them upright and in place with bamboo canes.  The fourth side of the patch is covered by the courgette plants so it shouldn't be a problem that the netting doesn't extend that far.  Fingers crossed.  Some of the plants have cobs starting to grow nicely so the badger will come round soon.

The mange tout flowers look stunning (not that you'd know it from the photo below) and a closer inspection revealed a small handful of purple pods that were ready to pick.  Obviously, I tried one.  Sweet and crispy.

And I harvested a cabbage, two heads of calabrese, some onions and a few handful of chard leaves (for tonight's curry).

A whole carrier bag full of treats!

I watered everything then returned home for a lolly to cool me down.

My very first calabrese

I managed to get 40 mins or so at the plot today while the little one was napping.  I dug over a little bit more of the recently uncovered patch but less than I wanted.  I watered a couple of things but didn't have time to attend to everything.

I was very happy to be able to harvest my very first calabrese head.  It looks like it was about to start opening its flowers so I grabbed at the chance to pick it.  It wouldn't have won any beauty contests (ha - I can talk) but it tasted great with roast chicken and allotment-grown potatoes.

I really need to sow some spring cabbages this week before it gets too late...

I did forget...

...the brassicas!  Progress as follows:

• Calabrese - growing nicely and one plant looks like it might be ready to harvest by the weekend.  A couple of others are growing nice curds (not sure that is the right word)
• Brussels sprouts - growing ok but not particularly distinguishable as sprouts
• Cabbage - doing good with a couple looking ready to harvest though they are a bit soft when I squeeze them so they need to fill out more

This evening I picked up two compost bins (eBay bargains) for the plot.  Yay!

Summer update

I had a lovely couple of hours at the plot yesterday.  My main task was to dug over the patch in the top right corner that I'd uncovered the previous evening.  It was full of black mares tail roots and couch grass so it was quite satisfying to clear it.

The freshly dug patch can be seen in front of the potatoes in the top right corner of the piccie above.  It is worth giving an update on the crops right now...

• Potatoes: I have harvested 2-3 plants of small potatoes so far.  I planted them at the very end of April/beginning of May so they still have a few weeks of growing to do.  
• Leeks: These are growing well with their blue flags looking quite healthy.  
• Onions: I pulled one up accidentally yesterday but the rest look good.  Bigger than any of the ones I grew on the original Plot 35 on the clay soil.  A couple even look to be the size of tennis balls.  I think it down to the soil and feeding.
• Broad beans: Finished now really but one of the plants has a few pods left on.  These weren't the healthiest looking plants so some of the pods were very short and/or oddly shaped.  Tasty beans though.
• Tomatoes: 6 plants all very sturdy with green tomatoes looking good.  Variety - Shirley.
• Sweetcorn: Looking good with the frilly bits on top.  I need to fence around them very soon to defend them against The Badger.
• Courgettes: I've had a single yellow one off one the plants and am waiting to see more fruit.  The plants are like triffids and are shading the tomatoes unfortunately.  I am hoping that the removal of the lower tomato leaves will at least help the air to flow around.
• Sunflowers: 3 nice sturdy plants with main flowers open but looking toward the ground.  Smaller satellite flowers are budding up nicely.
• Jerusalem artichokes: 4 plants next to the potatoes.  Looking ok.
• Parsnips: Starting to fill out and they probably need more thinning out.  
• Celeriac: The two surviving plants look strong though I can't tell what is happening beneath the surface.  I'll take a look soon.
• Squash?: Someone kindly left 3 squash plants for me last week and I've planted them out.  I think they are squash as someone did mention that they may have some spare ones but I can't remember who it was.  Very kind.
• Horseradish: Looking good but hard to tell if it is happy or not.
• Mange tout: Growing strongly after a late-ish sowing.  A couple of gorgeous crimson flowers in places.
• Hyssop: Looking very striking in blue next to the broad beans and peas.  A clump of it came off in my hand when I touched it last week and I hope this isn't a bad sign.
• Cucumber: There is a single plant climbing up one of the end canes of the pea frame.  It has 2-3 flowers on it some fingers crossed for my first cucumber.

May have forgotten something...  The piccie below shows the top left corner of the plot.

I've applied organic chicken pellets 2-3 times on the various beds and have been watering frequently (every 2 days in the very hot period in July).

A way to go

I didn't get much time at the plot last weekend but I am hoping to get a few hours there during this one. I nipped over yesterday for a quick weeding session and bumped into one of my next door neighbours. We had a lovely chat. She had been digging up all her spuds and comparing the yield from the varieties she had grown. One outperformed the others significantly but I can't remember which one. I'll find out for next year. We were chatting and I mentioned that there was a small weed in my onion bed which I was hoping would turn out to be comfrey. She took a look and confidently said it wasn't but that if I wanted to have some comfrey, she has some potted up I could have. What a star! Out came a tall pot full of lovely comfrey. With gratitude, I transplanted it immediately.

 The weeds are prolific on my plot. Mares tail keeps coming up everywhere. A weed that looks like lamb's quarter (Chenopodium album - judging by the results of an Internet search, not an encyclopedic knowledge of common weeds on my part) is giving it a run for its money. I'm ashamed to be putting it on the compost heap when it is reportedly an important food crop in India and a close relative of quinoa. Incidentally, I am considering growing quinoa next year (it is for sale through the Real Seed Catalogue.

 This evening, I nipped over very quickly to move one of the bits of carpet so that the local wildlife could find new hiding places before I start digging over that patch tomorrow. There was a toad, a slow worm, some very fat slugs and an ants' nest. Hopefully, they will all be out of the way in the morning.

I was about to leave when one of the allotment representatives came over for a chat. A bit of banter but it turned out that he really came over to remind me that it was actually my responsibility to upkeep the path to the right of my plot. I hadn't realised so will get to it tomorrow with the strimmer. However, the chap with the plot on the other side of the path is storing some of his tools on it (and his wheelbarrow) so I'll need to have a word with him. Further on down the path, there are Jerusalem artichokes growing proudly. It would be a shame to have to remove those before their season.

 Before going over to the plot today, I had an optimistic feeling about getting it all dug over by New Year. After moving the next bit of carpet, that feeling dissipated. There is a way to go...

Must start blogging reg-u-lar

I've been finding time here and there to potter on my plot but none for updating my blog. No good for my record keeping for future years.

Things are looking pretty good in these early days. I'll put some piccies up soon if the predicted rain holds off long enough this weekend. Currently, the following crops are growing:

• broad beans (and I have had a few handfuls of those for my tummy and even my husband who doesn't tend to eat greens ate some)
• leeks
• onions
• potatoes
• mange tout
• parsnips
• celeriac
• horseradish
• dwarf beans (only just germinated - from old seeds so poor success rate but not surprising)
• cabbage
• calabrese
• brussel sprouts
• strawberries
• tomatoes
• dwarf sunflowers
• courgettes
• sweetcorn 

I sowed parsnips in early June and the germination was very good. However, just after thinking that I really should put some slug pellets down on that patch at the weekend, they got munched. Grrrr. Serves me right for procrastinating. I sowed more and they pretty much all came up so a lot of thinning was required. And organic slug pellets. Lots of them. Only 2 celeriac survived the onslaught too.

(For my records:) The heatwave we have had for the past 3-4 weeks is set to end with rain tomorrow. During that time I've generally been watering the plot every two days and all looks good. I've fed the beds with chicken pellets a couple of times.

I have a new friend - a small toad who has taken up residence in my potato patch. I think it likes the pools of water left in the trenches after I've drenched the haulms. It jumps out when I start watering that patch so I guess it doesn't want to get its head wet. Just its feet. I saw another toad near the broad beans yesterday evening. There are lots of butterflies around and friendly birds who have no qualms standing right next to me while I dig.

I've not done much digging in recent weeks because it has been too hot. Several days with midday temperatures of 28-32 degrees centigrade. Too much.

I don't think I'll get much opportunity to dig for a couple of weeks but when I do get some time, I'll remove the next bit of carpet and keep going. In the meantime, I'll write a long list of everything I want to grow next year.

I have a new enemy

I'm back! Long time no post. Since July 2010, a lot has changed. We have a toddler now and we've moved to Hampshire. I assumed the plotting would have to take a long break while the little one grow up and I had more spare time. I was going to focus on the small flower bed in our front garden and redesign our small back garden to give me some more growing space (for next year as other jobs need to be done first). Friends told me to put my name on the waiting list for an allotment so that in 5-10 years time, I could start one up again. I finally got round to it about 4 weeks ago. 2 weeks later, I got an email telling me that some plots were available. I chose one and started work last weekend. Plot35 is back!

I've not measured the plot but it is more-or-less the same size as Plot35 in Worcestershire was (not counting the bit at the bottom of the slope which was overgrown and often flooded). The new plot has two major differences from Plot35 that will make gardening on it much easier:

1. The soil is light and sandy rather than heavy and clay. It will of course need lots of organic matter added to maintain fertility.
2. It is flat rather than sloped and prone to flooding. It also catches the sun well compared to other plots on the site. 

According to the fellow plotters I've met so far (all a friendly bunch), the plot was well-tended up to a couple of years ago when it was then left to its own devices until quite recently. It is now overgrown with thick couch grass. Someone took it on and dug over a couple of small patches but then decided to take another plot instead. Those patches (plus a few more which were not dug over) have been covered so on my arrival there were 3 patches of about 3x1.75m which just need light forking over. I've done about half of that already on two previous visits. I'll need to take a bit at a time, covering over some of the grass for 2 months (which I've read is the amount of time it takes to kill it off), before removing the dead remains. It'll take 1-2 years to clear completely I think given the time limitations I have as a working mum of one.

My new enemy is Mare's tail. I've never come across it before having had to deal with bindweed and couch grass on Plot35. Mare's tail is all over the site, even on plots that have been neatly tended for 20 years or so. Apparently it just doesn't budge due to the depths to which its roots grow. It looks to me just like brown asparagus poking through the soil. It doesn't seem to cause any problems though, unlike bindweed which strangles its prey if left for too long.

I am keen to differentiate my plot a little from all the others on site which are very neat and tidy. All grow rhubarb as if it is law. My aim is to grow cut flowers as well as veg which doesn't seem like the norm there.

Ok, well, I've got a few hours to myself this afternoon for a good session of light gardening. I've got some digging and raking to do to prepare the clear patches for planting. To go in, I've got some broad beans, leeks, celeriac and potatoes (from Charlotte), lavender, hyssop, horseradish. Plus, I've got parsnip, purple sprouting and calendula seeds to sow. Yesterday, I had 15 mins there and I planted the first things in - two peonies. They were bought as dried up roots from the garden centre yesterday (buy one get one free) and I'm not convinced they've gone in the right way round. If they come up next year, it'll be a bonus.