Souper allotment

2011 - A Recap

2012-01-02T16:36:00.004Z

Wow, what happened to the second half of 2011? Despite NO posts since August (resolving to do better this year) I did manage to keep up with the allotment so here is a recap of 2011:

Winning fruit - Raspberries. They started fruiting early and keep me fed with a regular supply of delicious fruits right through until September.

Winning Veg - Difficult to choose just 1, it was a great year for leeks, potatoes and carrots.

Best Newcomer - Brussel Sprouts - an unexpected success!

Never again - Sweetcorn - it takes up loads of room and never seems to pollinate properly.

Most over-grown - French beans, after accidently sowing 2 packets of seed I was overrun with the things (and the freezer is full of them too)

Sadly missed - Broccoli, I failed to germinate and keep alive any of my sprouting or calabrese Broccoli. Maybe next year.

2012 is off to a great start, I finally have guttering on my shed so watering should be much easier this year. Despite the very wet wethaer I have managed to dig over most of the plot, and clear some nasty weeds in the process. Hopefully I'll soon get a chance to get some garlic planted and the broadbeans sown.

Happy New Year!

Last chance to sow

2011-08-07T17:21:00.003+01:00

The allotment is now running at full speed and every visit results in a bounty of veg - just today I came home with the first cucumber, a slightly over-large courgette, new potatoes, raspeberries, onions and more french beans than I know what to do with.

Evenings are drawing in but there is still plenty left to do, there are still a couple more weeks in which to sow seeds, and in fact seed germination was so poor this spring that you might find it easier to get things growing now. Today I put in more fennel, lettuce, chinese greens and a slightly optimistic Japanese Kale which can also be used as a green leaf. Hopefully these will come through to fill the gaps left by the finished peas and completly disasterous spinach.

Now I'm just waiting for that first ripe tomoato.

In Praise of...The Hoe

2011-06-20T15:13:00.003+01:00

So it appears my last post was in March, ahem. Sorry about that. Despite appearances I have been busy digging and planting, the allotment has battled through the dry weather and it at last starting to produce food. This year has turned out to be incredibly busy; I changed jobs, went to Manchester, went to Dudley, went to Croatia, saw numerous friends and even managed to fit in a few concerts but despite this my allotment is relatively weed free. The reason is simple; my hoe.

Rarely mentioned, my hoe is quite simply my can't live without allotment tool (well ok, I need my fork and spade too, oh and I use my watering can a fair bit as well). Coming quite late in my purchases I finally had my "Ah Ha" moment a few weeks ago when a fellow allotmenter kindly offered to "Hoe up" a weedy area for me, I finally realised that waiting until I had time to dig the ground and clear the weeds properly was exactly where I was going wrong, everyone else is simply hoeing them down.

Oh course they come back, if it's hot and wet they'll be back before the day's out but it doesn't matter, clearing an area with a hoe is so quick and easy that you can whizz round and clear the worst of the weeds* in half an hour and if you persist, the weeds not only don't self-seed everywhere but are also weakened so when you do finally get around to digging them up the tangle of roots stands no chance.

So next time the ground is so dry you can't get a fork into it, or you're rushing to get home in time to feed to family reach for the hoe and enjoy the beautiful, if temporary, weed free allotment**.

* - Couch grass remains annoyingly resistant to my hoe
** - obviously I still have some weeds but compared to last year...well lets just say it's much better.

First sowings

2011-03-27T18:02:00.002+01:00

This year seems to be taking on a life of its own, and sadly there is only limited time for gardening hence my posts being very few and far-between. I don't think you need me to say that I am woefully behind but really I'm already at least a month behind and it's only March!

I have managed to sow some peppers, aubergines and chillis but, so far at least, only the chillis seem to be thriving. I expect I'll try another sowing next week. Today I put in some assorted lettuce seed and some beetroot but there is still plenty to do.

My potatoes are chitting but things seem to be going very slowly which is concerning. Hopefully they'll be ready to put into the ground soon, mind you I'll have to finish digging the potato bed first...

On a positive note the garlic is doing really well and I'm still harvesting leeks from last year which is impressive.

Here's hoping for a sunny weekend next week so I can actually get some stuff done!

Seedy start to the year

2011-01-12T16:38:00.001Z

This year's seeds have arrived! I love this time of year when everything is still in the planning stage, the allotment is half dug and I can sit inside with a cup of tea and dream of the bumper harvests. Sadly we all know that not everything will go smoothly but part of the fun is seeing just what will thrive this year.

I will be growing 'True and Tender' parsnips, 'Giant Red' red carrots and having another try with the 'Diamond' aubergines. After last year's success I am repeating the 'Wautoma' cucumbers but this time I'm going to follow the instructions and try and save some seed! In fact, all of my seeds are from 'Real Seeds' so in theory, since none are F1 varieties, I'll be able to save seed from all my vegetables. Watch this space...

Tomato wise I'm going to risk growing a few plants on the allotment so alongside 'Latah' and 'Gardener's Delight' I'll be growing 'Galina' and 'Solanum Spontaneum' which is an intriguing orange currant variety.

Also going into the new category are some blue 'Azur' khol rabi and a brocolli raab. All of these will join the usual brassicas, salads, beans, potatoes and leeks that I have seed left over from.

Now I just need to finalise a planting plan and quickly work out where the seed gaps are. How is your planning going?

Happy New Year

2011-01-02T12:07:00.002Z

The last few months of 2010 went a little mental so sorry for the lack of posts. I did manage to get my sister through a wedding, and of course give her a proper send off with a rather boozy hen night, and then there was some craziness at work which doesn't look like it will be fully sorted until February.

All of that and the terrible weather has meant considerably less time was spent at the allotment. As a result the allotment is looking very weedy, even with all the snow and ice there are lots of things growing and it's just a shame they're not things I can eat. I have managed a couple of recent visits so the digging has at least begun but once your feet have doubled in size and the spade is twice as heavy with wet mud I start to wish for a cup of tea and a warm sofa.

Late in November I found time to plant 'Sicilian Red' and 'Lautrec Wight' garlic in the raised beds at home, where they will hopefully avoid the rust I have had trouble with at the allotment. Since then I have been given some garlic bulbs by a kind neighbour so I will be putting in a couple of rows on the allotment too.

I still have kale, cabbages, brocolli, celeriac, parnips and leeks growing but annoyingly now that my rabbit proofing has stopped the rabbits eating everything it has given the pigeons a good chance. It looks like next year will see the purchase of some proper netting for the brassicas.

Now I just need to get my seed order placed before the VAT rise.

Happy New Year!

Rain, weeds and the first frost

2010-10-24T20:43:00.003+01:00

I spent Saturday battling the cold and the rain to try and get some of the weeds cleared. Luckily at this time of year most things are dying down and weeding becomes more of a simple digging task, the wet soil helping the long tap roots to slide out satisfyingly. I managed to dodge the first few rain showers and enjoyed a cup of tea huddled inside my shed but after a while I decided to face up to the fact that real gardeners just get on with things (well I have seen it raining during Gardener's world and during River cottage...). A few hours later I had made some progress and had also succeeded in completely coating myself, and all my clothes in a thick layer of mud. In fact I think I might have caused some alarm for my neighbours as I trudged back!

We had out first frost last week and more are expected in the coming days so it was time to pull up all the remaining carrots, mostly small but hopefully still tasty. I also pulled the first of many celeriac and we enjoyed eating it alongside some stored potatoes. Annoyingly I haven't managed to get all the potatoes up yet but a wet weekend isn't the right time to try and do this so I'll have to wait for drier conditions.

Most of the allotments on my site are already being put to sleep for the winter, everyone seems to live at the allotments for 6 months of the year and then vanish completely during the winter months. I think this is a missed opportunity and will still be there nurturing my cabbages, perpetual spinach, parsnips, celeriac, Brussels sprouts, leeks and of course the sprouting broccoli. Hopefully I'll have plenty to keep me going until spring.

Finally don't forget to buy your garlic, I have ordered Lautrec Wight and Sicilian Red, both are Autumn planting and should store well. I love knowing that even on the coldest and darkest days there is something slowly growing beneath the soil.

A long overdue plot visit

2010-09-27T20:43:00.008+01:00

In the weeks where I have been enjoying events such as Duxford airshow, yes the parking was awful; London Open House, queues were pretty bad; and several visits from family members, the weeds have been playing havoc with my allotment. Finally this weekend was free so I managed to get down to the plot twice, although to be fair I could have done a lot more work whilst I was there...

The brassicas are growing incredibly well despite the weed competition. The white fly were so bad earlier in the year that I though all my brassicas would be sucked dry but it did have the unexpected effect of giving me my first cabbage white free year and that was without covering them. On Saturday I picked a few of the larger kale leaves and we enjoyed them baked and salted.

The leeks are looking very good (again there are a few weeds...), I am growing my usual 'Musselburgh' which are a very late variety along with 'Monstrueux de Charentan' which are almost ready. I used the dib a hole, drop leek in and fill with water and it has been very successful.

Quite a few of my early, and mid, sowings failed to germinate but the rain and sun we have been having for the last 6 weeks has done wonders for my late sowings. Hopefully the fennel will have time to bulb up before the cold weather really hits, but if not I'll use the leaves as seasoning.

Finally, the very odd fungi that appears on my allotment, it is about the size of a football and seems to grow and grow. Anyone got any ideas what sort it might be?

Goodies

2010-09-16T05:51:00.003+01:00

Last night I arrived home to this:

So thanks to Lands' End for the seeds and thanks to Damo for hosting the giveaway. I think next year is looking like a colourful one!

The end of summer

2010-09-14T21:02:00.005+01:00

Now that we are mid way through September you really notice the dark mornings and the dark evenings not to mention the cool breeze and regular rain but when I see the sweetcorn ripening and the pumpkings swelling I remember that I love this time of year. Soon will be the time for hearty soups and stews and soon the whole plot will be dug over so I can ignore the weeds for a while yet.

A Potimorron squash

The giant pumpkin plant has decided to fruit

One of the many small aubergines ripening on a tiny plant

The warm weather and rain has made late sowings possible, but here come the weeds

Tomato tart

2010-08-27T19:42:00.004+01:00

Hopefully you're all wallowing in delicious home-grown tomatoes and are in need of a quick and easy recipe to put them centre stage. Or if, like me, that hasn't exactly gone to plan then I would recommend buying some ripe tomaotoes just so you can enjoy one of the tastiest tomato dishes I ever tried.

I followed the recipe to the tee using pre-rolled puff pastry to save time and effort. Do make sure you use good quality goats cheese to complement your lovely tomatoes and don't worry if you don't have a food processor, mushing the paste ingredients together worked for me.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/14/tomato-galette-recipe-vegetarian-ottolenghi

The beginning and the end

2010-08-08T17:23:00.005+01:00

Today I picked my first tomato, it was a 'Latah' which is an early ripening variety from Real Seeds, warmed from the sun it was delicious. Sadly today was also the end of my tomato bed because all the plants are showing the dreaded signs of blight, I had hoped that evening waterings and the blistering hot heat would delay the inevitable but sadly not. The are plenty of also ripe and unripe fruits which will be turned into sauces and chutneys; the bed will be used for some over-wintering kale and next year I will be growing blight resistant varieties.

The hot and wet weather should hopefully provide perfect seed germination conditions so I have sown Pak Choi, Mizuna, Fennel, Swede, Endive and Mispoona to hopefully provide crops in the coming months and over winter.

The new potatoes are continuing to delight, 'Charlotte' has proved to be an excellent masher so we are enjoying plenty of potatoes in all forms. The courgettes have started to go mad, I returned home today with 1 marrow, 1 very borderline marrow and a baby courgette as well as 6 cucumbers and another pot of raspberries. Now I'm off to dig out my stash of courgette recipes to turn these beauties into something truly delicious.

Enjoy your plots.

Fruits of July

2010-08-01T17:31:00.001+01:00

The first cucumbers

2010-07-25T15:04:00.004+01:00

The hot weather has made germination very difficult so despite the plot being much clearer than in previous years I have far fewer crops growing. It looks like I'm going to have to try again and then keep my fingers crossed if I'm going to see any swede, pak choi or endive this year.

I have lots of healthy plants sitting in pots at home but it seems to shock them when they get planted out at the allotment; I think it must be the increased heat and strong wind which causes the problems. The courgettes have finally found their feet, hopefully I'll be picking my first 'Black Beauty' next weekend and the squash are starting to stretch out and produce flowers, maybe they'll decide to take on the weedy patch which is growing next to them and save me a job. 8 of the aubergine plants are planted out and I have another 6 waiting at home, this is my first year of growing aubergines so I'm not sure how this is going to turn out but it feels like I'm running very late!

On the plus side the cucumbers are making up for everything! This is a new one for me but my four 'Wautoma' plants are all growing very happily and today I picked my first two cucumbers, I think they'll join the 'Reine des Glaces' lettuce to make a homegrown salad; I just wish there were some tomatoes to join it! Interestingly the plant I kept in the cold frame the longest and which got planted out last has produced the first fruits so it just goes to show that you should wait until the plants are ready and the conditions are good before planting out.

Now that we are almost at August it's time to start thinking about winter crops, I'm going to sow some more cabbages and lots more kale ready to plant out in a couple of months, if you're very lucky late sowings will miss the cabbage whites whilst still having enough warm weather to establish before winter really sets in.

Journeys, fruit and the first potatoes

2010-07-11T18:19:00.005+01:00

The last few weeks have been very hectic; we have spent 2 weekends away visiting friends and family, I have been training for and then running in several races and then the rest of the time I have been flopped from the heat! Luckily I have managed to fit in a few morning visits to the allotment to keep things ticking along.

This year there has been a bumper crop of berries, first with the strawberries and now with the raspberries. Today I picked the first of the gooseberries, hopefully the rest will be ready soon, and also a glut of blackcurrants from just from 1 shrub. Strangely I have some raspberries growing under the apple tree and about 4 metres away from the actual raspberry bed, I have no idea how they got there but they seem happy enough and are fruiting already; I just wish I had cut the nettles back before I started picking the fruits!

The potatoes are flowering which is a relief after the poor chitting and then the late frosts, we enjoyed a few of the Charlottes last night but they were a little small. The peas were delicious but a little sparse and are already nearing their end; I grew Karina with were very early and then 2nd Early which did lengthen the picking season a little but from reading your blogs it seems this just wasn't the year of the pea.

I have followed Toby Buckland's advice regarding sweetcorn and them into modules a month apart, sadly the 2nd batch were planted out just as the weather started to get really hot but also when there was a very cold wind so they decided to give up the ghost. The first batch are now about a foot tall and look very sturdy, and I actually have quite a few plants anyway because Toby also said that sweetcorn is quite happy growing close together so you can sow 2 seeds to a module, I hope he's right.

The end of the asparagus season

2010-06-21T20:54:00.003+01:00

Summer solstice marks the end of the asparagus cropping. Now you should let the spears grow into lovely wispy leaf stems to feed the crowns ready for next year's crop. The leaves are really pretty but I am sad that there will be no more asparagus for at least 9 months.

Rhubarb Relish

2010-06-19T16:35:00.004+01:00

Around this time I year I start to get bored of eating stewed rhubarb which is a shame because the plants are still producing loads of juicy stems. This year's solution is Rhubarb Relish from the River Cottage Handbook No2:

Ingredients:
500g granulated sugar
100ml cider vinegar
1kg rhubarb (untrimmed weight)
125g raisins
50g fresh root ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves

First bruise the ginger with a blunt object, I used a rolling pin, and tie into a spice bag with the cloves and the snapped cinnamon sticks.

Put the sugar, vinegar, 100ml water and the spice bag into a preserving pan. Heat gently to dissolve the sugar and then remove from the heat and allow to infuse for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, trim the rhubarb and chop into 2-2.5cm chunks.

Add the rhubarb and raisins to the sugar syrup and cook gently for 15-20 minutes until the mixture is thick, but the rhubarb still discernible as soft chunks. Remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars and seal with vinegar proof lids. Use within 12 months.

This was my first recipe from the River Cottage Handbook and I was very impressed, it has been complementing my mackerel pate all week. Somehow I don't think I'll have any trouble using it within 12 months.

Weeding, Seeding and trying to keep up

2010-06-15T21:18:00.003+01:00

Wow things have been rather hectic over the last few weeks; work has turned manic and the hot and wet weather is making everything, including the weeds, grow like mad. I had a week off work and we spent a few days down in Dorset which was lovely but what with all the eating, drinking and of course walking also quite tiring.

Still, this is the wrong time of year to rest so I finally got round to shearing down the long grass and nettles around the front, sides and back of the plot. I also discovered where the bumble bees were nesting this year, this time it is right next to the shed but being more docile than the honey bee I don't usually have any trouble with them. Apparently the colony splits up every winter and then they re-nest the next year which explains why they keep moving around.

I also re-located my raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants from within the weeds. All are fruiting up very nicely and with a bit of luck (and sun) the gooseberries will be ready in just a few weeks. At home the strawberries have lots of fruit but none is yet ripe, sadly my attempts to stagger the crop by planting some early plants seem to have failed so I think there will be a short glut and then nothing. Well there will be a glut if I get around to putting out the nets and beer traps...

In amongst all this I managed to sow some swede, carrots, fennel and more radish as well as planting out the remaining cucumbers and several rows of cabbages. There is still lots of potting on and planting out that needs to happen over the next few weeks but finally it seems like things are going. Don't you just love this time of year?

Celeriac is planted out

2010-06-04T08:26:00.003+01:00

Yesterday I swapped my daily commute for several hours on the allotment, strangely the allotment visit was much more enjoyable than my commute ever is!

I had a pressing task to get the celeriac planted out as they had started to yellow in the modules. After an hour of digging bindweed roots out of what looked like clear ground I was able to start planting. It quickly became clear that my seed sowing might have been a little enthusiastic and after putting in 3 rows I decided to call it a day. The remaining plants will be passed on to friends and family this weekend.

Next week I'm on holiday which means a long weekend in Dorset followed by a long weekend on the allotment. Just as well really as I urgently need to do some weeding, the shed is almost lost to weeds and I haven't seen my raspberry plants for weeks. Have a great weekend.

Rabbit proofing and Parsnips

2010-05-31T18:17:00.003+01:00

The rabbits are increasingly becoming a problem on the allotment; after munching their way through most of my winter veg they have seriously stunted the growth of the onions and the shallots. Since neither of my allotment neighbours seem to be putting in much work this year, both have far more weeds than veg and it turns out that rabbits like veg far more than weeds. So before the planting really kicked off I decided to invest in some chicken wire and build a protective fence around some of my allotment. Version 1 is now complete and features 40 meters of wire fencing with a slight ground cover to stop them digging under. Over the next few months I'll try to increase the supports and cut some gates into the sides but hopefully it'll be enough to protect the young plants that need to start moving outside.

The coldframe has become a logistical nightmare because although the days have been hot, the nights are still dropping down just low enough to make me nervous. Today I planted out the first of the cucumber plants, 2 more are spending the night outside in the garden and 1 gets to spend all day outside before returning to the coldframe overnight. Hopefully all 4 will survive the next few weeks but if not then at least 1 should pull through. Now I need to start moving the aubergines outside too.

A trip to London with friends as well as the fence building has put me behind with seed sowing. I have managed to get some beans into the ground as well as some more peas to fill the gaps on the row that germinated a few weeks ago. I sowed a tray of sweetcorn at the beginning of May and have followed it up with another tray today, hopefully this will extend the cropping season for me. The second sowing of brassicas unfortunately had to replace the first lot which cooked inside the propagator on a particularly hot day. I'm hoping this batch has a longer an happier life.

Finally the parsnips, 1 seed out of the 4 rows has germinated on the allotment, 1 more than last year anyway. Today I also planted out a full row of seedlings which were chitted seeds sown into compost filled rolls of newspaper. If they survive the next week they should have an excellent chance of turning into tasty parsnips. I think I'll chit some more just in case.

Potting on

2010-05-16T17:00:00.002+01:00

Not much plot action this weekend because I've just run 10k for Cancer Research, a worthy cause but unfortunately one that highlights how incompatible my love of running is with my love of veg growing! I'll explain how I ended up pursuing both another day.

So with the need to rest prevalent I have spent the weekend sowing seeds and potting things on. The seed sowing guide is still in use and it does seem to be working; now when I have 10 minutes spare I can quickly consult my spreadsheet and get some seeds sown rather than wasting all the time sifting through my mess of seeds. 2 trays of leeks have joined the 2 sown a few weeks ago, this year I am attempting to have a decent crop of leeks, something which didn't seem important in previous years because we hardly ever ate them. The discovery of Sarah Raven's creamy leek recipe has completely changed that and we are now buying leeks on a regular basis.

The courgettes and squash have all been sown, I might follow them up with some later sown courgettes to make sure I have a supply right through the summer. Alys Fowler has been giving some tips on how to store courgettes for the winter in her "The Edible Garden" programme on BBC (still available on the iPlayer if you've missed it) so I'm not feeling quite so worried about the courgette glut as I normally would. Normally I grow 'Crown Prince' as my Squash variety but the F1 seeds are very expensive so this year I'm experimenting with a variety called 'Potimarron' which is meant to be excellent for roasting as well as being a French heirloom variety so I'll have a chance of saving the seeds.

The aubergines were in desperate need of potting on, as were the chillis but annoyingly the weather is still far too cold for either to move outside so I have completely filled my coldframe. The aubergines are from Real Seeds and should fruit outside provided we have a decent summer, they have certainly been excellent in germination and growth so far so I'm starting to worry about an aubergine glut - well I can dream can't I?

Getting organised

2010-05-12T18:55:00.001+01:00

A few weeks ago I met Sandra, one of the allotment newcommers, she is doing simply stunning things with her allotment, mostly involving lots of digging and sifting to remove the weed roots. In amongst our conversation she mentioned that she has all her seeds organised in an index card box so that she knows exactly what to sow and when. So despite her lack of experience Sandra is more likely that me to have successional crops and a year round supply of veg.

You see, I love buying seeds and I love raising as many of my plants from seed as possible but one thing I am terrible at is the organisation of it all. It isn't uncommon for me to rummage through my seed box in Septermber and find several packets of seed which should have been sown in Spring or early Summer, just sitting there un-opened. Last year I completly forgot to sow my winter brassicas, the seeds were there but they just slipped my mind until it was too late and I was forced to buy some plants from the garden centre.

I have a lot of seeds so I know an Index Card box won't work, and anyway I tend to leave packets of seed in my pockets and scattered around the shed so I needed another way. The recent cold and rainy weather drove me to my computer and I am now the proud owner of a seed sowing guide. Each packet of seeds is listed on my spreadsheet and then placed into sowing groups for each weekend. As they are sown I mark them off so that I know what I did and didn't manage to sow each weekend. The idea is that any missed sowings can easily be moved to the next sowing weekend and successional sowings are scheduled in throughout the year. So far things are going well and despite running out of seed compost (schoolboy error at this time of year) the sowings are mostly on target.

So my geeky solution seems to be working for me, but how to you manage your seeds?

Seed sowing is in full swing

2010-05-03T14:01:00.005+01:00

It seems like we have skipped early spring and gone straight into the mad rush of late spring. Suddenly the weather is hot but wet and things are growing like crazy, the weeds in particular. This weekend I had a mammoth bindweed clearing session, there is still plenty to do but I cleared enough space to start with the direct sowing. 2 rows of carrots and 2 rows of parsnips are now in and badly covered with a piece of fleece that has seen better days, hopefully it will shelter the seeds from the heavy rains we've been having recently.

I have started some peas in pots but I know they don't like root distrubance so I have also sown the first of several successional pea sowings direct on the allotment. Now I need to construct some serious rabbit proof protection to shelter the seedlings as they grow. Next week more peas will go in along with the first of the beans, I have runner beans as usual as well as several varieties of french beans and Borlotti beans, which I will allow to dry before picking.

The cold frame is full and I am busy moving things in and out each day, hopefully some of the seedlings will be ready to stay outside soon because I still have plenty of seeds to sow. This weekend I have put my propergator to good use protecting lots of kale, cabbage and Brussels Sprout seeds as well as some borage. Some of the Kales are more unusual varieties from Real Seeds, I'm looking forward to tasting the "Red Ursa" and "Komatsuna" which is a Japanese Kale.

There is still no sign of the potatoes, hopefully they're busy doing something down there. On a positive side I managed to plant out the last of the strawberry runners on the allotment, these are an early variety and are already flowering. The salad leaves are looking very healthy and the radishes have come through after only 7 days. I have planted out the first lot of white beetroot and sown some more radish, now I'm counting down the time to the first salad!

Finally, a break

2010-04-29T22:11:00.002+01:00

Work has rather taken over my life for the last couple of weeks so there hasn't been much time to blog, garden or even cook which is a shame. Luckily I have tomorrow off and with the bank holiday that means a 4 day weekend!

I will be sowing like mad, so far I have the tomatoes and salad things going, as well as the peas, hopefully beans, herbs and courgettes will soon follow. I managed to plant half the strawberry runners my Mum kindly potted up for me, I'll get the rest in tomorrow. The leeks are hardened off and I hve made a second sowing of beetroots and lettuce.

The asparagus is going like mad so I popped to the plot on Wednesday night to check for spears and also to water the onions and garlic. I'm still recovering from the shock of the weed growth so I think some serious weeding is also on the cards!

What have you got planned for the weekend?

Potatoes are in

2010-04-18T21:31:00.004+01:00

This week has turned out to be rather hectic and it is already Wednesday! The weekend was just incredile, two days of sunshine and as it looks set to stay. I finally got around to planting the potatoes, which turned out to be a bit more stenuous than I had anticipated. Somehow the potato area always seems to need to be twice as big as I planned but after 3 hours of digging and lining and measuring I had the four rows planted up. No doubt we'll see just ho9w wobbly my lines are when they start growing!

This year I bought my potatoes from the local garden centre, mainly because of the cost of postage, this limited choice a little but I have Charlotte as usual and Desiree for Maincrop. I don't think the quality of the potatoes is as good as the ones I have had in previous years, the chitting was certainly slow but hopefully now they're in the ground they'll get to work.

At the same time as buying the potatoes I treated myself to a bag of Shallots, it was quite late to be buying shallots so I started them off in modules and planted them out this weekend. They have put on great growth and had excellent roots so hopefully they'll cope with the transplanting and I'll be on course for a bumper shallot harvest (well you gotta hope).

The coldframe is almost full so I have started to harden off the salad leaves, white beetroot, leeks and celeriac which should mean that I can sow some more seeds this weekend. Finally it seems the growing season is on the go.

Cooking horizons are broadening

2010-04-15T06:33:00.004+01:00

I tend to get stuck in a meal rut where week after week I’ll cook the same recipes, obviously I’ll vary the day a little but still it gets a bit predictable after a while, so I have decided to make Saturday night my experimental meal night. Maybe I won’t always manage it, sometimes only pizza will do but I’m hoping it will encourage me delve into my many recipe books and actually try to cook something new.

Last Saturday I kicked off with a fantastic recipe from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook for Spinach ??? which is a basically an easy and slightly cheaty (in my opinion) way to make spinach ravioli. Spinach was featuring on my mind because despite the odds my spinach patch survived the winter and has begun to re-grow; suddenly have an abundance of baby spinach leaves. Sarah Raven’s book is perfect for these situations because the recipes are divided by ingredient; gluts are instantly turned into opportunities!

Spinach Malfatta

for 4:
500g spinach
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 egg white
50g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
100g breadcrumbs
plenty of fresh grated nutmeg, to taste
1 tablespoon spring herbs (parsley, chives or fennel)
Salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon flour
Tomato sauce to serve

Remove the stems from the spinach and finely chop the leaves. Cook in a little salted water until tender and then drain and squeeze out the water. Combine the spinach with the garlic, egg white, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, herbs, salt and pepper.

Shape the mixture into small balls about the size of walnuts. To cook, lay them in a steamer lined with lightly oiled greaseproof paper, you can do 2 layers at once if you need to. Steam for about 10 minutes.

I served them with the last batch of tomato sauce from the freezer.

Sun, Spring and Sheds

2010-04-11T17:33:00.005+01:00

This weekend has been all about the letter S!

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for an allotment visit. Spring seems to have finally arrived so I was keen to finish digging the plot before the ground dries out any more. Several hours later and I could no longer stand up straight but at least the last of the plot was dug and ready for the potatoes. Obviously you are now wondering how there can be so many weeds in the photo of an apparently dug over allotmnet so let me explain; by dug over I mean that the soil has actually seen a spade in the last 5 years. The area I have been clearing this weekend had some impressively big weeds but now that the soil has at least been turned I should be able to focus on preparing the ground for some planting.

By some rare force of nature I was joined by OH (this is a very unusual event) and he put himself to good use pianting the shed. Yes it is blue and Yes I did choose the colour. One of the books which encouraged me to take on an allotment was "The Allotment Book" by Andi Clevely and the picture at the start of The Perfect Allotment chapter is my idea of a dream shed so the blue paint is just the beginning. Hopefully I'll have some pot of flowers growing around and even up it this summer.

Back in reality the garlic is growing well, including the bulbs in storage so I used a few of the sprouting cloves to plug the gaps in the garlic rows and I also put in another row to bring the total number of garlic rows up to 4. I'm really trying not to grow as much garlic this year but it does seem a shame to waste them. The forced rhubarb is ready and has just been baked in orange juice with star anise, I'll be eating it for breakfast this week.

In the cold frame the leeks and beetroot have germinated and the aubergines and celeriac are growing well. I have sown some more sweet peas and also 3 pots of tomaotoes; Minibel, Red Cherry and Latah. I still think I'll need to buy some Sungold or Gardener's Delight seed before I feel the tomato side is done. Next week I really need to get the potatoes planted but with the sun set to shine all week I don't think that'll be too much of a chore. Enjoy it.

A helping hand

2010-03-27T19:05:00.004Z

It was my birthday on Tuesday and along with lots of lovely cards, biscuits, several books, a meal out and of course cake I recieved a very useful present; a cold frame.

Having a birthday at this time of year really focusses the mind on the great seed sowing challenge that it about to start. Well I suppose the sowing part isn't too hard, unless you're lazy like me, but it's that part after they germinate but before they get planted out, where on earth do you put them? For the last few years I have had the crappy greenhouse which was really more trouble than it was worth, each year it waited until it was packed full of tender seedlings and then it would collapse into a mass of soil, pots and dispair.

Last weekend I removed the smallest of the raised beds from the back of the garden and OH kindly carried it down to the allotment where it will be used as an extra strawberry bed. Then we assembled the coldframe which was super easy, positioned it and filled it with gravel before finisheing the whole thing off which some bark chippings. I think even OH was surprised at how good it looks (he's a bit sceptical about this whole veg growing thing).

So far I have the remainder of the potatoes chitting, the sweetpeas and salads hopefully germinating and the very late shallots sprouting in modules. Tomorrow some leeks and tomatoes will join them. So as well as having a frost free place to harden off my seedlings I also have somewhere to grow my chillies throughout the summer and something to supply me with salad throughout the winter. I am very happy.

The start of Spring?

2010-03-14T17:32:00.005Z

The last 2 weekends have been warm, and sunny, and the days in between mild if overcast so does that mean Spring is finally here? I have seen snowdrops and crocuses but not yet a daffodil so things are certainly running late this year.

On the plus side the long harsh winter has really helped me to clear the allotment, as you can see in the picture I have been working my way down the right hand side of the plot. Previously there was a horrific nettle patch which had become so well established it was impossible to even get a fork into the ground but by covering it for about 6 months and then leaving it to suffer the snow and the frost the roots were finally weakened enough to be cleared. I had the left hand side of the allotment fully cleared and planted last year so it just needs a going over before the planting begins but I am feeling very satisfied to finally, for the first time, have a full allotment available for growing.

The rhubarb has started to show so I have selected the strongest crown for forcing under my as yet un-occupied water butt, so far the longest stem is about 3 inches so I think I am free to start dreaming of rhubarb crumble, rhubarb creme brulee, rhubarb flapjacks...ahem.

The overwintered onions and garlic are growing well, this is my own garlic saved from last year so I am hoping everything goes smoothly. So far I have almost 100% germination rate and relatively little damage from birds and rabbits, I think I'll have a couple more rows of garlic to plant out due to some of my stored garlic shooting but I'm going to try not to end up with quite as much as I did last year!

The sight of the first leaves on the blackcurrant bush have allowed me to think that things might finally be warming up so I have sowed my Celeriac (which is actually several weeks late this year) and also my aubergine and chilli seeds. I think there might be something slightly ironic about Celeriac needing a cool wet summer and Aubergine and Chilli needing a long hot summer. Maybe I'll just say I'm hedging my bets or something.

Seeds of hope

2010-01-31T18:00:00.002Z

The weather has been so awful, and the days so short that very little has been happening at the allotment so it was with great excitement that I opened the packet containing these lovely seeds of hope. This year I have decided to buy almost all of my seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue, this gave me a wonderful choice of seeds designed to be grown on a small scale and selected for their excellent taste.

The final choice included:

'Diamond' Aubergine - Ukrainian so it should be used to short cold summers
'White' Beetroot - looks like beetroot, tastes like beetroot but it is white so you don't have to stain skin and kitchen red
'Cherokee Trail of Tears' Climbing French bean - well can you resist that name?
'Tender & True' Parsnip - a great, reliable variety
'Green Boy' Pak Choi - Ready just 5 weeks after sowing
'Early Purple' Sprouting Broccoli
'Red Ursa' Russian Kale - A pretty kale (well taste isn't everything
'Double Standard' bi colour sweetcorn - with white and yellow kernels
'Monstrueux de Charentan' Leek - Short fat leeks for an autumn harvest
'Colossale' Fennel - A large fennel that is bolt resistant
'Latah' Very early tomato - Good for cold, short summers
'Green Heading' Calabrese
'Reine de Glaces' Toothed crisphead Lettuce - A variety from the 1800s with a crisp heart
'Komatsuna' Japanese Kale - Related to Turnips and Pak Choi but with leaves like Kale. Grows year round
'Wautoma' Cucumber - Productive and early with good disease resistance
'Collet Vert' Green topped Swede - A long keeping variety
'Long Lisse de Meaux' Carrot - An old french variety chosen for its keeping qualities
'Giant Red' Carrot - very vigorous which can't be a bad thing

I've been quite organised this year and checked my left-over seeds before ordering the new so I also have runner beans, salads, more Kale and other goodies to grow. Of course the second I placed my order I realised that I had forgotten Peas so no doubt there will be more purchases over the next few months.

As well as supplying a wonderful range of seeds, most of which I had never heard of before, the Real Seed Catalogue only supplies 'Real' seeds so you won't find any hybrids here. This means you have access to varieties which aren't widely available or in some cases varieties which are almost extinct but more importantly you can save your own seeds for future years and they even supply detailed instructions. I'll certainly be having a go but I think the cross-breading risk could make things difficult for some vegetables.

So how are you getting on with your seed buying?

A new year

2010-01-01T17:46:00.003Z

Happy new year! I can't believe it is actually 2010. Where has all the time gone? Luckily today was a beautifully sunny day if maybe a little cold, so I continued my tradition of spending new year's day at the allotment. After a couple of good visits I am making progress with the seemingly never ending digging and even found time to cut the asparagus back. The pics above show the allotment in December 2008 on the left and today on the right, it is certainly looking less grassy!

2009 was another cold and wet year looking back I am amazed to see how much more time I spent at the allotment in 2008 compared to 2009 but on the plus side I am finally getting on top of the persistent weeds so I had a good harvest despite my absences. 2009 brought my first plums although sadly I am still to get an apple off my tree but it did prove to be another great raspberry year. I have added a Pear tree and 5 more raspberry canes to my collection so hopefully they are all spending the winter months putting down some sturdy roots.

On the veg side the losers were clearly the parsnips which failed to germinate and the Celeriac which hung up its boots in September but there were some impressive successes; the garlic is still going strong and who would have imagined that this would be the year of a tomato glut? 2010 should be the first harvest of the asparagus crowns which were planted in 2007 right at the beginning of the allotment story.

So how did you find 2009? Any lessons learnt? I am going to be trying much harder with my winter roots and hopefully I'll remember to sow some winter crops this time around. The garlic might have been overly successful so I have toned down the number of cloves somewhat and I might not plant quite some many cabbages next time around. Still a pretty good year, heres to the next one!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-30T13:49:00.003Z

Merry Christmas to you all! I spent a few days with my family in Dorset which was lovely, and also noticeably warmer than round here. After almost too much turkey and definitely far too much bad Christmas TV I am back home and weather watching. That's right I once again have some time off work so of course it is cold and wet to keep me away from the allotment.

I'm starting to feel guilty that I still haven't cleared the pumpkin plants, cut back the asparagus, or the raspberries and there is far too much digging needing to be done before the planting begins. Tomorrow looks bright so hopefully I can make some progress but in the meantime I have turned my attention to seed buying. Last year I made the mistake of just buying all my seeds in November and then struggling to remember when they were meant to be sowed and harvested so this year I am being super organised and have a spreadsheet to record all the important details, including number of seeds so I can order the right number of packets.

I'm going to be buying the majority of my seeds from Real Seeds, a company set up to supply seeds for Kitchen Gardeners, hopefully this will lead to some very reliable and tasty varieties, best of all they are all true seeds so you can save them for the next year. I have already been convinced by their impressive Kale selection and am going to risk some outdoor aubergines along with some new winter squash varieties and the usual carrots, parsnips and brassicas.

On the one hand it is very exciting to anticipate all the wonderful things which will grow this year but on the other spring is always a mad rush of sowing and planting, hopefully I'll manage to get a coldframe sorted out before the rush otherwise I think I will have a ridiculous number of pots in the kitchen. How are you getting on with your planning? Anyone trying any new varieties this year?

Making the most of the winter

2009-12-13T12:56:00.004Z

At this time of year there isn't much to convince me to go to the allotment, obviously there is still plenty that needs to be done but without the pressures of planting and picking I find it easy to let the horrible weather keep me indoors. So without the allotment to keep me busy I have started to do a bit more cooking, now is a great time to experiment with new recipes and foods because any you find you love can be added to next year's growing list.

A few weeks ago I made this recipe with my borlotti beans some tomatoes and a few other bits from the allotment and it was amazing. So if you're not sure whether to add Borlotti beans to next year's planting list buy a few and try this recipe. I think you'll make up your mind.

My celeriac has been a total disaster this year, only 8 survived long enough to be planted out and all but one died over the summer before the final one scorched to death in September so I am celeriac free this winter. Only I'm not because I love it too much to go without, so they have had to be added to the shopping list and I can continue to eat the lovely smashed celeriac. Hopefully next year I'll have more success in the homegrow area.

Next year I am planning to experiment with some new squash types and increase the variety of beans that I grow too so I'll be putting these cold wet months to good use to find some winning recipes. Which foods are you planning to add to the list next year?

Garlic time

2009-11-29T15:46:00.004Z

Garlic should be planted before the end of November which has been something of a challenge this year but finally with 1 day to go the weather was dry enough, and actually even a little sunny. Luckily I had dug and raked the garlic bed a few weeks ago when I was planting the onions so all I had to do was break apart the bulbs and push the individual cloves into the soggy soil.

Last year I bought the Garlic Lovers pack from T&M and ended up with rather a lot of garlic so this year I have replanted some of my own cloves, but just 4 bulbs instead of 8 this time. The garlic did suffer from a little rust this year so I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will grow up and swell as they're meant to.

Obviously I could have just played it safe and bought some new bulbs this year but the problem is I read somewhere that if you keep replanting your own cloves after 3 years you will have effectively cultivated your own variety of garlic which is completly suited to your allotment or garden. I think I have a romantic attachment to this idea so I'm risking the complete garlic failure of next year to give it a try. Who knows you could all be clamouring to try "Souper garlic" in just a few years time. Or maybe not.

Sorry about the lack of photos there wasn't much to see on the garlic front (well you know what a clove looks like and they just went into mud right?).

How not to plant onions

2009-11-08T13:47:00.000Z

Don't order packs of onions until you are sure about your planting plan and have considered your need for fresh onions vs. storage onions. It helps to have some idea of just how much space onions will take up, if possible clear the weeds and dig this area over before the packs arrive. If you fail to do this don't put all 3 packs in the shed for a warm autumn, they tend to sprout at best or just start rotting. Rotting onions are disgusting.

Once you come to plant the sprouting sets be very careful when getting them out of the packaging or you will break each and every one of the sprouts. Mark the rows with a proper string and post thing, don't use bamboo canes laid on the floor; bamboo canes aren't straight. Remember not to mark your rows in relation to other wonky rows or you will have to look, and everyone else can laugh, at your wonky lines of onions until next July.

Once you start planting the sets make sure you don't stand on all the previously planted rows and most of all keep any eye on which row you are up to; it takes a long time to plant a row of carefully spaced onions, each covered with a crumbling of soil only to discover you have planted them on top of the previously planted red onions. Digging up the sets and replanting will be a slow and tedious task.

If you can avoid all of these pitfalls planting onions will be quick and painless. It took me the best part of 2 weekends.

Autumn progress

2009-10-25T16:16:00.004Z

How soon Summer seems to slip into Autumn, the trees have suddenly turned into amazing mixes of yellow, red and brown. OH is being kept busy by a constant covering of leaves on the lawn, I think Autumn is the only time you really consider just how many leaves a tree has! Not everything is dying though, some plants have just started to flower such as this Clematis and the Jasmine has the most wonderful red berries, once it gets colder the birds will eat them but for now they are there for me to enjoy.

Autumn is a time of birthdays in my family so we have been away for a few weekends, it was lovely to see everyone and we managed to return with several pumpkins and squash, loads of apples and enough Kale to keep us fed for weeks.

Today was a excellent day, I managed to have a very lazy lie in and still get to the allotment at a reasonable time, wouldn't it be good to get an extra hour every weekend! After a seriously dry September we have finally had enough rain to make the soil workable, most of the old men have taken advantage of the weather and cleared and dug most of allotments already.

This year I had lots of success with my overwintered onions but less so with the ones I planted out in spring; they just didn't seem to want to swell. So this time I am going to plant a lot more overwintered varieties and maybe just 1 packet in the spring. I have the whole onion area dug over and weeded but have so far just planted out a packet of "Shakespeare" sets, next week the "Senshyu" and "Electric" sets will go in.

In a couple of weeks I'll get the Garlic planted and then that really is it for 2009, the tomatoes will soon be cleared and the courgettes and raspberries are already finished. I have plenty of cabbage to see me through the winter but the tasks ahead are all about digging, clearing, painting the shed and preparing. The number of seed catalogues is increasing so I am mentally preparing for some long dark evenings pouring over the little pictures and descriptions trying to select all the things I want to grow and eat next year.

1010

2009-09-26T18:32:00.002+01:00

In the last few weeks the momentum behind 1010 has been building, hopefully you have at least heard about their goal to get everyone to commit to cutting 10% of emissions in 2010, maybe you have even signed up?

Obviously we already help in many ways, I have planted 6 trees in the last few years as well as prunning 4 others which are already in my garden and allotment. Growing your own veg drastically cuts down on the food miles (I don't think miles walked counts) and we are all more aware of climate change as we have wet summers and hot sutumns.

But I still own a car, I still use gas and electriciy as well as water. Worst of all I still have to buy food from Tesco, most of which is overpackaged. At work I have less control over the environment so I recycle less of my waste and spend my day in front of a computer.

I have signed up to 1010 and am committed to making as many changes as I can to cut my emissions, hopefully I will see the immediate affect on my utility bills but I also hope to see the long term affect on my allotment, I really hope to continue growing cabbages and leeks, somehow I don't think an entire allotment of grapes and peaches will have the same appeal.

Join me and make a different: http://www.1010uk.org/

Allotment update

2009-09-13T16:12:00.002+01:00

I had a caterpiller attach on the spring cabbages but hopefully they will recover before spring, I really hate picking caterpillers off but it is still better than having to use chemicals. The local garden centre had spring cabbages and sprouting brocolli so my dismal preperations for winter have been overcome and I now have plenty of cabbage as well as a few kale and 2 rows of sprouting brocolli. I think that should be enough to see us through to spring.

Most of the potatoes have now been dug up, the Charlottes were quite sparse and the King Edwards have so far been disappointingly small but the Roosters are incrediable so I think we will still have more than enough to keep us fed.

The onions and garlic are dried and in store, the garlic is absolutly amazing and I am hoping to have success next year by replanting some of the cloves. I grew 4 varieties this year, the purple wright seem to be the most successful with a great flavour a huge bulbs. The overwintered onions also turned out to be pretty impressive although they are fairly lethal to cut.

The courgettes and sweetcorn have almost finished but the squash are still going strong so I will leave them until the leaves start to die off. So far I can see 4 crown prince although only 1 is fully ripe, and 3 of the suspicious marrow/pumpkin cross things.

Authumn is nearly here so most of the tasks will now be to clear things up, weed, and dig over ready for next year. The new raspberry canes are making a mockery of my raspberry support so that will be high on the list of winter tasks and the shed could do with some paint before I put the guttering up.

This week I have been mostly eating...

2009-09-12T18:19:00.002+01:00

Sweetcorn! And there is still plenty more in the freezer.

As soon as you pick a cob the sugars start to turn to starch so I you don't plan to cook it immediately chuck the whole thing in the freezer and then cook it from frozen, the leaves are a little tricky to get off but persevere and you'll get there.

All of these cobs are from my Swift sweetcorn plants which I had intended to plant close together to encourage them to produce baby sweetcorn. Unfortunately the germination of my Swallow sweetcorn plants, intended for the corn on the cob, was so dreadful that I had to abandon the baby sweetcorn plan; well you can't go without corn on the cob can you?

Squash

2009-08-24T20:34:00.002+01:00

This is the first Crown Prince squash to be spotted beneath the rather impressive squash leaf canopy which is currently threatening a good third of the allotment. I love growing squash and pumpkins; they can easily fight with even the most persistent weeds, have long roots to break up the soil and give you something of a surprise when the leaves die back to reveal, hopefully, a dozen or so squash.

This year I have at least 4 Crown Prince plants, they are a nightmare to cut open but the taste makes it all worthwhile. I also grow Baby Bear which looks like a mini pumpkin but is apparently a squash, anyone know where the difference comes in?

Finally I am having a go at some butternut squash for the first time, I am fairly sure this plant is meant to be a butternut squash Hunter but somehow I think I am in for a pumpkin...

Avoiding the gluts

2009-08-23T18:07:00.003+01:00

The borlotti beans are coming along nicely, I don't think I will ever have a glut but hopefully there will be enough to try out a couple of Sarah Raven's recipes. I took the time to patch up their rather shakey structure and removed a few of the weeds but this weekend was mostly about improving the look of the allotment rather than actually improving the allotment so I have been hoeing the weeds rather than digging.

The weekend turned out to be a hot one and also to be a weekend of firsts, the first plums were eaten (very tasty) and the first maincrop potatoe roasted, more exiting thought was the first of the sweetcorn, boiled and eaten. Delicious, and there is plenty more to come.

The couregettes have been politely producing 1 couregette per week which has been a very modest amount but it looks like all this sunshine has convinced them to put out 3 or 4 each, next week will mark the beginning of the courgette glut...

Tomatoes

2009-08-05T12:02:00.003+01:00

The tomatoes have been doing brilliantly and today I finally got my first few, there were 6 "Gartenpearle" which were good but fairly thick skinned and just 1 sweet "Sungold".

The "Gartenpearles" were strange plants, they hardly grew at all, most are about 15cm tall but carry loads of fruits for their size, they are the earliest to ripen but are also suffering from some slug attacks, probably just because the fruit is so low down.

The "Sungold" and "Gardener's Delight" all have plenty more green fruits but also the early signs of blight, not really surprising after the humidity we have been having but annoying early compaired to last year. Since all the plants have signs I am going to leave them alone for now and hope a few more fruits ripen, then I will be digging out the green chutney recipes.

A short gap

2009-08-01T18:54:00.002+01:00

So it has been almost, but not quite, a month since my last post. July really was a very busy month, OH turned 30 so we had lots of birthday celebrations and somehow I just didn't manage to fit much allotment time in.

There is plenty to be eating at the moment, the onions are good and the garlic is very tasty. We have almost finished the Charlotte potatoes but hopefully some of the maincrops will be ready soon. There is plenty of spinach and at the moment the courgettes are supplying just the right amount for us to get through, no doubt that will all change soon.

Hopefully tomorrow will be dry enough for me to have a go at reclaiming my allotment, yep you guessed it the weeds have taken over.

Squash, heat and some bees

2009-07-05T14:42:00.004+01:00

All this hot weather is really making things happen, the first courgette was picked today (a beautifully small one which I am quite looking forward to eating), the beans need staking and the weeds are making good progress in taking over my plot.

The squash plants are starting to spread out, soon I hope they will be big enough and brave enough to fight it out with the weeds which I have deliberately not bothered weeding because I know squash have excellent smothering tendencies which will hopefully kill even the most persistent of weeds. Most of the squash plants are planted over an upturned bottomless bottle to help funnel the water to the roots, and it seems to be working, the plants with the bottles are definitely more vigorous than the ones without.

It was far to hot to actually attempt anything today so I picked some cabbage and globe artichokes to go with my new potatoes and then took some snaps of the bees enjoying the flowering parsley.

Tomatoes are romping away

2009-06-28T21:48:00.003+01:00

The tomato plants which I sowed back in February have now been planted out and the first fruits are forming. Last years tomatoes produced some amazing fruits but then succumbed to blight, so this year I have followed advice about planting distances to hopefully keep air moving between the plants.

I had heard that you shouldn't plant tomatoes out until they have formed their first flowers and it seems this is true; the plants which had flowers have stayed small and focused on producing flowers whereas the plants which didn't have flowers are definitely just growing big and leafy. Someone remind me of this next year! arr

I have 18 plants, mostly "Gardener's Delight" but also a few "Sungold" and "Gartenperle", all of them are cherry tomatoes which should increase the chance of any actually ripening outside.

I love growing tomatoes, mostly because the rewards are great but also because they have so many demands, but unlike some things, if you can keep up with the divas you will get the rewards. At the moment I am frantically tying up, pinching out side shoots and trying to water them consistently which is quite a challenge in this weather. Luckily the plants don't seem to be bothered by pests.

I am already dreaming of home made tomato sauces and fresh salads with basil.

First potatoes

2009-06-07T16:18:00.003+01:00

The first potatoes have been harvested and eaten! They were Charlottes, which although not technically an early (they are a salad which I think makes them a second early) still produces enough baby potatoes to be eaten as new potatoes.

I managed to harvest them by rummaging around the roots of the biggest plants rather than actually pulling anything up, hopefully they plants will continue churning out the beauties.

So this is it, the official start to the summer accompanied by a bit of butter and plenty of fresh mint.

Fruitful

2009-05-30T19:16:00.005+01:00

The hot weather is certainly doing the soft fruit some good.

The plum tree is in its second year and is covered in baby plums. It will need some serious thinning out in a month or so.

Not quite ready but the blackcurrants are swelling up quickly. I think there will be some eating in just a couple of weeks, this year I might even have enough to take some home rather than just grazing on them as I go.

The new gooseberry bush is doing well and has plenty of berries ripening, hopefully there will be enough to make a crumble.

Sun, Bank holiday and beer

2009-05-25T18:26:00.004+01:00

Unbelievebly the bank holiday weekend coincided with one of the hottest weekends of the year. As I hadn't been down to the allotment for 2 weeks I was feeling guilty enough to leave the fun jobs (sowing) and get straight on with some weeding, so the garlic, onions and cabbages are now weed free and thoroughly watered.

I managed to clear 2 of the embarrasingly weedy areas but only with the dutch hoe, it is far too dry to dig over so that will have to go on to the To-do list for a wetter week than this one. Still I am hopeful that if I keep the leaves off the weeds then the roots should weaken enough to make the removal just a little bit easier. Only 2 more embarrasignly weedy areas to go.

Still no sign of the carrots or parsnips but the new carrot seed arrived so I sowed another few rows and gave them some all some water. It should be noted that watering is no small task, each can requires a walk past 4 other plots and then a thorough soaking as you remove the full can from the water trough (no we don't have taps). Next year I intend to have one of those funky hand pump hoses.

As I was weeding away it occurred to me that we haven't seen much of Joe Swift's allotment this year, what do you reckon, has he lost it to weeds?

Anyway after all this exertion, and in the full sun too I had to go home to have a beer or three.

Carrotless!

2009-05-08T20:23:00.003+01:00

Several weeks ago I started my successive carrot sowing, a little late but at least there was a good chance of them germinating. Of course there is no sign at all of the little terrors, not even a groan of soil to indicate they are down there.

Picking my dignity up I prepared to sow again, well it is successive sowing so 3 rows every 2 weeks should give me a beautiful, and continuous, carrot crop and than was when the disaster stuck - I have lost the seeds! Thats right not only have I failed to germinate a single seeding but I have somehow failed 2000 others! Surely this is a carrot disaster?

Slow but steady progress

2009-05-02T18:28:00.003+01:00

Today I managed to earth up the potatoes, I only covered the leaves with a very thin covering of aoil after reading this on Pumpkin Soup's blog. This year I will be aiming for little and often and hoping for a bumper crop. Strangly the Rooster potatoes (a maincrop) are far more vigourous than the Charlotte (a salad crop). Go figure.

I also got around to sowing 8 more squash plants, the batch sowed 3 weeks ago came through ok but then I lost 3 so hopefully I will have a full set before the month is out. I have also sowed my courgettes inside, two plants this year and also a full list of couregette lovers from work, well you need to have somewhere to ofload the excess.

No sign of the carrots or chitted parsnips on the allotment, hopefully they are just biding their time. Managed to get the dward beans, pak choi and beetroot sowed but sadly no extra carrots because I left the seed at home, doh!

With 2 more days of the bank holiday stretching ahead I am hopefull that more sowing will happen, some weeding might not go a miss and if the weather stays like this there will certainly be more watering.

Sowing, sowing and growing

2009-04-26T16:49:00.005+01:00

Well the weather has turned, the snow seems like a distant memory and everything is going full steam ahead. The allotment is going wild and I have spent a fair few hours battling with the weeds, so far I am winning but the ground is definitely getting harder to dig. So far 3 rows of carrots have been sowed and 3 rows of parsnips are in, 2 of the parsnip rows are from chitted seed so I will be able to compare the results (provided at least some come through of course).

With all this beautiful weather it is easy to get carried away and in fact my neighbor's row of tomato plants has had me very tempted but there is still a risk of frost for a couple of weeks yet so I am going to play it safe and keep my tomato plants in the crappy greenhouse until we are well into May.

The celeriac and leeks were started off inside, so far both are growing well and I allowed them out for their first day of sunshine today, they'll go back inside for the night and I'll begin the tedious task of moving things inside and out for the next week or so. The spinach was also started off inside to keep them safe from slugs, they'll be planted out when they are a little larger.

Last week I also sowed rather a lot, probably way too much, sprouting broccoli, so far most of it has come through so if I case just keep it safe from the cabbage whites and the rabbits I am in for a bumper crop. We are due a week of rain so hopefully the soil will get a thorough drenching without losing too much of the heat and then next weekend can be a complete sowathon!

Potatoes are in!

2009-03-29T18:23:00.002+01:00

I didn't have as much success with the chitting as I did last year, for a start the bookshelf had more books on it so there was less room for potatoes, the addition of a dehumdifier seems to have left the potatoes a little wrinkly. Still I am thinking positive so lots of digging later and the area which was a nettle patch just 4 weeks ago has been turned into a potato bed. The potatoes should also help to prevent the return of the weeds.

This year I am growing lots of Charlotte, these did very well last year and kept us well supplied with lovely new potatoes. Being a salad potato and therefore a potatoe which holds together well when cooked I found Charlotte to be very useful for putting in Spanish Omlettes as well as for potato salads.

I am also growing Rooster and King Edward as my maincrops. Rooster is a red skinned variety which is very popular in Ireland, the Potato council rate it as a 6/10 for flouryness so it should be good for mashing. King Edward is also rated as a 6 but it is more suited for roasting. Both are good for chips.

Hopefully I will also have some volunteer Arran Victory potatoes overlooked in last years potatoe bed. If I do then these should crop much earlier than a normal maincrop, they might even miss any blight.

Early birthday pressies

2009-03-20T20:38:00.007Z

It is my birthday on Monday but my pressies from OH arrived a little early and so of course they had to be opened. And planted.

I have 5 Glen Moy raspberry canes to join my other 10. Glen Moy is an early summer variety and spinefree - yey. In the background you can see my new pistachio (no it is NOT green) trug which is a present to myself (well you need to be sure there is at least 1 present).

I have also got a pear tree. This is a 'Concorde', a late variety, and hopefully a heavy cropper even on juvenile trees (I hope Ken Muir is right!). Yes it looks a little wonky but after I took this picture I dug it up and planted it straight so all is well.

Now that the weather is turning warm and sunny the work is progressing at the usual frantic March pace. Most the plot is cleared of weeds but there is still plenty of digging to get the soil ready for sowing.

A year of Celeriac

2009-03-08T13:22:00.003Z

Celeriac is likely to be the slowest growing vegetable you will ever attempt to grow, sow seeds in early March, and then wait until December (if you're lucky) to start harvesting them. Finish harvesting before the end of March and you can begin all over again.

All this means that Celeriac will be present on your growing schedule for 12 months but it really is worth it. Shop bought Celeriac will cost you at least £1 and is miles away from the tender home grown roots. Easier to grow than Celery but with a similar albeit milder taste Celeriac, or Celery Root as it is often known is the swollen root and contains most of the plants nutrients making it super good for you.

This week I enjoyed watching my seedlings stretch for the sun, maybe I could do a better job with the tray turning...
And enjoyed eating several of last years successes in a very tasty Celeriac and Bacon layer:

Serves 2 hungry people
Ingredients:
3 medium celeriac
1 onion
4 rashers of un-smoked bacon
Brown sugar
Ground Cinnamon
1/3 pint Veg stock
Grated cheese
Butter

Heat the oven to 200 oc
Peel the celeriac and chop in half. Boil for 5-10 minutes until soft
Meanwhile chop the onion and fry until soft
Add the chopped bacon and 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Fry until the bacon is cooked.
Add 1 tsp of brown sugar to caramelise the onions. Then turn the heat off
Remove the celeriac and chop into 1 cm thick slices
Butter an oven proof dish that is about 15 cm wide and at least 10 cm deep
Layer the celeriac over the bottom of the dish, add half the bacon and onion mixture
Repeat with another layer of celeriac and the remainder of the bacon and onions
Finish with a layer of celeriac
Pour over the stock and finish with the grated cheese
Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour
Remove the foil and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbling.

Serve with veg.

A Shed

2009-02-22T10:11:00.003Z

No doubt many of you were thinking my long absence was me taking some time to wrap up, sit in front of the TV and eat lots of chocolate but actually I have been doing all that and also building the shed!

I am hopeful that the council have finished faffing around and that I am now a permanent resident on plot 19 (now re-numbered but that is a story for another day) so I have bought a shed.

The building project began back in December when I bought the flag stones and then provided my fellow plot holders with a long afternoon of entertainment as I heaved them from the car to my allotment. Once the bruises had subsided OH helped me dig over a nettle patch and we laid them in a vaguely level square.

The shed arrived and sat in the garden for oh a few weeks until my parents took pity on us and helped carry the pieces down to the allotment. A surprising number of trips later we had everything in place and just needed a cordless drill to get it together. Strangely there seems to be a unusually high demand for drills so we have to wait a week for HSS to locate one, finally, in the middle of the snow they did. One day later and the shed was standing.

So there you go a full 5 weeks to build a shed. We have actually put the roof felt on since the pic and there is a huge fat padlock which will hopefully keep my spade safe. But more importantly I have shelter from the wind and the rain so I can drink my tea in comfort. Just need to buy a chair now.

A look back at 2008

2009-01-02T14:56:00.003Z

As we enter the new year amid frantic plot tidying and seed buying I thought I would stop and have a look back at 2008.

It was another washout summer but there was still plenty growing, I had my first experience of growing tomatoes and potatoes, and then my first experience of blight, although thankfully the potatoes were untouched. 2008 also saw me completely fail to get any spinach, beet or normal, growing.

The allotment was going well, the cold winter months gave me a chance to make some impact on the nettles and the vigorous growth of the squash and pumpkin plants helped keep things under control. There was a bumper crop of Crown Prince squash and the Baby Bear pumpkins were pretty good too. Once again I had far more courgettes than I would ever want to eat.

Sadly the plum tree failed to fruit and the apple tree dropped all its fruits and then had a nasty case of leaf miner which finally seems to be under control. I failed to net my blueberries so a lucky bird received a very tasty meal, but I did have some fantastic raspberries and the asparagus crowns seem to be settling in well; with a bit of luck I can harvest a few shoots this year.

The parsnips are making up for their poor germination by being huge and very tasty, the celeriac took plenty of time but I am now harvesting small but wonderfully sweet bulbs and there are plenty more to go. Sadly the carrots were a complete disaster, the fleece tunnel experiment gave the slugs some warm lodgings from which they ate most the carrots and the rest fell victim to root fly.

So the winners of 2008 were the squash, pumpkins, potatoes and celeriac; and the losers were the carrots, spinach, tomatoes and plums.

2009 will hopefully see a shed on the allotment, some proper raspberry supports, carrots, plums and asparagus. How was your 2008?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T00:29:00.001Z

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Heres hoping for a warm, sunny (but not too dry) 2009!

Home grown food for Christmas

2008-12-22T14:13:00.002Z

Today we are heading off up north to spend Christmas with OH's family. Yesterday I made a quick visit to the allotment to dig up some more potatoes, there is now just 1 and a half rows left (probably about 100 spuds), and more importantly the first harvest of this year's parsnips.

The potatoes are doing really well, I reasoned that since the soil is peat I could effectively store them through winter by not digging them up, a few were slug damaged but I still have more than enough for Christmas dinner. Mind you, I think I'll do the digging up and storage thing properly next year because washing wet mud off potatoes in December is really no fun at all.

The parsnips have somehow morphed into monster veg, sadly the photo I took before eating the really big gnarly ones was rubbish so I'll spare you the pain. I expect that some of the ones still waiting to be dug will give a better photo so be patient. Last week I dug some parsnips from the beds in the garden and they were very small, about the size of a large carrot so I was unprepared for the allotment versions, planted at around the same time. One of them was more like a swede with a long root! Luckily a few look like real parsnips rather than the more common multi rooted thing so they have been selected, and washed, ready for the Christmas dinner. I'm not sure OH's family are keen on muddy veg, or small holes in their potatoes so there has been more washing and selecting than usual.

I love being able to share home grown veg with friends and family, this year as well as the potatoes and parsnips I'll be taking a few Crown Prince squash as gifts. I think I am more generous with the root veg too, maybe it is to do with the fact it grows underground so I don't impatiently watch it ripening whilst salivating. All requests for soft fruit are ignored.

Onions

2008-12-17T17:19:00.003Z

I sowed a pack of onions a few weeks back, can't remember the variety but maybe Rador? Anyway they have just started sprouting, something of a surprise for me since I thought they just stayed in the ground during winter and then put on all their growth in spring. Luckily dad was on hand to set me straight!

Next year I am intending to be self-sufficient in onions, or as close to this as possible, so from late February through to April I will sowing a couple more varieties as sets and hopefully at least one other from seed.

If you are new to onions then you need to know that some varieties are planted in Autumn and overwintered to give you an earlier crop next year, it works well but they don't store as well as spring planted ones which is why it is good to have a mix. Onions come in seeds or as sets, which are like baby onions that you plant where you want them.

This year we had just one overwintered variety, they were quite easy to grow and even if they weren't the best for flavour, nothing could beat the freshness of a home pulled onion.

The plot

2008-12-16T17:46:00.003Z

I managed a brief visit to the plot last weekend and I suspect this is was led to the onslaught of flu. Now recovered enough to get the pictures off the camera. Not going to write much today so I will just share the picture of the plot as it is now:

Still have quite a way to go.

Snow and garlic

2008-11-23T12:50:00.003Z

Waking up to snow on the ground and a lovely combo of sleet, rain and more snow coming from the sky I though that a positive post might be in order to cheer me, and hopefully some of you, up.

Yesterday I finally succeeded in planting the 5 rows (8 bulbs) of garlic, I hadn't anticipated needing to dig quite so much earth but I really do love planting garlic, I love the fact that the bulbs look exactly the same as the ones you eat, and in fact last year they were the same bulbs. I love cracking them open and removing the cloves from the papery wrapping, and the fact that each clove will hopefully turn itself into a whole new bulb, but most of all it just feels great to be planting something at this time of year when everything else is dying back for winter.

We have had a couple of frosts already which are finally killing the nettles, yesterday's digging removed some major nettle roots, this is the only time of year you can make such progress, the nettles are weakened and for once not growing, and the ground it still dry enough to dig. Roughly dig over the area and the frosts will break the clods down into lovely crumbly soil for you.

At this time of year, with the months before spring stretching ahead of you, I am always hopeful that I will manage to get on top of the weeds and next spring will be all about planting new seedlings into clear fertile soil.

To Do

2008-11-21T23:05:00.002Z

Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny but cold, after weeks of rain and the rapid approach of Christmas I am determined to make the most of the sun and actually plant my garlic. I ordered the bulbs way back in September and they have been sitting in the shed ever since, somehow there has always been something else at the top of the to do list.

Tonight was also the night of the first celeriac and it was fantastic! Despite having been sat in the fridge for a few days it was wonderfully tender and with a little homegrown garlic and some herbs turned into a perfect accompaniment to the fish. Just as well since there are about 30 more waiting to be pulled and eaten.

Warning: Contaminated Manure

2008-11-10T15:43:00.002Z

I have been asked to pass on the warning about contaminated manure, hopefully you all heard about this terrible situation earlier this year, but please be aware that it is still an issue.

If you, or anyone you know are thinking of getting some manure for your garden or plot please read this first: http://www.glallotments.btik.com/p_Contaminated_Manure.ikml

If you have already bought manure then please do read the warnings before spreading it.

Recycling

2008-10-26T12:56:00.004Z

A worn pair of jeans is my latest recycling experiment; the bin is cooling down a little due to the cold weather but I am still expecting them to be reduced to hearty compost before to long. Amazing that you can nourish your vegetables with old clothes.

Pumpkins Galore

2008-10-26T12:39:00.002Z

This year turned into a great year for pumpkins and squash, fairly surprising given the lack of sunshine, I had planted 1 Ghost Rider pumpkin plant to get that perfect Halloween pumpkin and it surprised me by managing to produce 3 huge fruits. As you can see in the picture only 1 is properly ripe, hopefully the warmth of the shed will sort the other 2 out.

I also grew 4 Crown Prince plants, this is meant to be the tastiest squash variety, it certainly proved to be one of the most expensive at £2 for 4 seeds! Luckily all 4 seeds germinated and went on to be rampant plants, you can see 2 of the squash in the picture and there are another 4 still at the allotment, they have proved to be rather heavy so getting them home is a bit of a challenge.

Finally I planted 4 Baby Bear pumpkin plants which have proved to be fantastic, in total I had 15 pumpkins (4 have already been eaten). The small size is perfect for 2 so we have been enjoying lots of pumpkin roasted with cinnamon and mixed spice, don't bother peeling just wash, chop into smallish pieces and stick em in the oven for half an hour. Yummy.

Next year I am planning to grow even more squash and pumpkins, they are just so easy to grow, actually after planting them out I did absolutely nothing to them, they do need a lot of space and the seeds are very expensive so this lot of top of my seed saving list, but once you have them they taste great and should store for a few months. Failing that just turn them into soup.

Not a great picture, but I wanted to finish this post with some evidence that despite the weather, the darkness and now the clocks changing it isn't winter yet:

Allotment politics; part 2

2008-10-12T16:13:00.003+01:00

Back in May I blogged about my antisocial nettles, now it seems I am in trouble again. Yesterday I received a letter from the council informing me that since my plot clearly hasn't been tended in some time I have been evicted!

After plenty of anger and shock I have managed to get hold of the Councilor and arrange a meeting for Tuesday so that she can convince me that it really is my plot she is talking about; I mean it is a bit messy but surely not so bad I should be evicted? Needless to say that this weekend has seen some frantic nettle clearing. I will let you know how it turns out.

Wish me luck.

Not a vegetable

2008-09-28T16:19:00.004+01:00

But my current favourite sight in the garden; this is my Yucca in flower, I think it looks pretty impressive and certainly adds some much needed colour to the garden.

Strawberry confusion

2008-09-28T16:09:00.004+01:00

I seem to have a very confused strawberry plant, either the changeable weather has caused it to think it is July (well it is hotter now than it was in July) or the label that says Cambridge Favourite is sadly mistaken. I'm not aware of an variety, apart from the Alpine ones, that should be fruiting at this time of year

But either way I have strawberry flowers so I am keeping my fingers crossed for a few weeks of sun, who knows, I might have fresh strawberries in October!

Blighty

2008-09-14T10:30:00.002+01:00

Life suddenly turned busy and a weekend trip to Edinburgh last weekend (yes very nice thank you) contributed to the lapse in posts but the allotment never sleeps so plenty has been going on.

The tomatoes have succumbed to blight, disappointing but fairly expected given the amount of rain we have had. I was lucky and did have some fairly hefty harvests before the blight arrived. About 50 semi-ripe tomatoes are now covering the windowsills and actually seem to be ripening up quite nicely. The Sungold variety were the outright winners this year, the small size meant they ripened up very quickly and tasted great.

I was concerned that my potatoes would also be affected by blight so I have pulled all the plants up but left the potatoes in the ground. I am hoping that they will store in the soil over winter without problems, but just in case I have a large supply stored in the shed. The Pixie potatoes are a bit bland but the Arran Victory are stunning, they are a purple skinned variety so look lovely and they taste divine. Hopefully they have also succeeded in suppressing the weeds too.

Courgettes are still going mad, I harvested 14 this week from just 2 plants! I am running out of recipes for them now, especially the marrow sized ones which are a bit too sqidgy for my liking. Luckily I have uncovered some courgette lovers at work so I am going to palm them off.

The globe artichokes are fantastic, the plants are huge and look lovely, even when rising out of a nettle patch. I have decided to let the remaining buds flower because they look so nice. Isn't it a shame that courgettes don't spoil into something so pretty?

Carrot disaster

2008-08-16T17:33:00.006+01:00

Many months ago (well maybe 3) I sowed a row of carrots under a fleece tunnel in an attempt to avoid the dreaded carrot root fly, well today with huge anticipation I pulled up the crop and got this...

5 pitiful little carrots full of holes! It seems that the fleece provided all the other pests with a nice place to live and from the irregular growth it seems water doesn't seem to go through fleece as well as I expected.

So far this year the carrots have been the most troublesome crop, first refusing the germinate and then growing very weakly. Still at least with this lot I avoided the carrot root fly...

On the plus side there was more sweetcorn, tomatoes, courgettes (phew!) and raspberries to pick and also the first of many globe artichokes

Later...All 3 artichokes have now been eaten, simply trimmed, boiled, and accompanied by a lemon and herb butter. Yum.

National Allotment week

2008-08-11T21:46:00.002+01:00

Today marks the beginning of National Allotment week which is great news. Sadly there are no events taking place on my plots but it is good to see that interest is high, last year there were 4 empty plots (until I grabbed mine) and now there is a waiting list as long as me arm (well maybe).

According to the BBC we can all expect our allotments to be highly productive where a "Typical annual yield is £300 of produce", or maybe not...

Still enjoy the week everyone, I think I will make a special effort to make a mid-week visit just to celebrate.

Tomatoes, sweetcorn and more

2008-08-10T16:17:00.003+01:00

This weekend saw the first harvest of tomatoes, 16 sungold, and 3 cobs of sweetcorn, there were also a few raspberries, runner beans and plenty more courgettes. This is the first real harvest where more than 1 thing has been ready at the same time so I am very excited. The tomatoes are my first experience of a home grown tomatoes and they taste fantastic, hopefully the rest will ripen soon.

One rather normal pumpkin fruit has somehow morphed into this monster, see the pic below for some scale, I think it must be the Ghost Rider which I planted for a real Halloween pumpkin, the alternative it that is one of my baby bear pumpkins but that seems just a little unlikely. Just behind the pumpkin you can see one of the Crown Prince squash which is also growing pretty quickly. I am repeatedly being told that the soil on my allotment isn't that good, I think these two prove something rather different.

Souper allotment (abridged)

2008-08-01T13:40:00.004+01:00

Thanks to Rach@The big sofa I now have a Wordle:

Try it yourself here

A perfect summer's weekend

2008-07-27T21:16:00.003+01:00

This weekend was fantastically hot with some really heavy rain on Sunday morning which removed the need to do any watering. Actually the hot, wet conditions are making everything grow at an incredible rate, as you can see in the picture the squash plants, which are planted between the sweetcorn, have started there mission to cover the plot. Last year I grew 5 squash and pumpkin plants in the garden and spent most of the summer trying to keep them to the confines of the raised bed so this year I am going to leave them to their own devices as much as possible. So far there are about 4 visible fruits but it is fairly hard to identify the plant from the stem so I'm not sure if they are the Baby bear pumpkins or the Crown Prince squash.

After a few close encounters with a pair of pheasants it occurred to me that I would have to net the raspberries if I actually wanted to eat any of them. Thanks to Wilko and a few garden canes I now have a temporary fruit cage, visible in the pic behind the sweetpeas, this should keep the birds out until fruiting finishes and then I have great plans for a real fruit cage... Also of note this week I ate the first 2 raspberries! I am now anxiously awaiting a real crop.

It has been a while since there was a full plot pic so I thought I would finish this post off with one. As you can see it is still fairly weedy but not as bad as in previous months. On the bottom left you can see the asparagus which is growing well, behind that is the netted raspberries followed by the sweatpeas and runner beans. Just beyond the oil drum there are the potatoes and also my new tarp (hopefully that will stop the nettles), and right at the back is the sweetcorn (visible only to those of you with good eyesight).

Modest? Moi?

2008-07-20T11:53:00.002+01:00

The weeds are taking over the allotment and I am spending hours cutting them down to keep the grumpy neighbour happy but it has occurred to me that my planting plan for this year was far too modest. Last year I had just 4 raised beds in the garden and they were rammed full for most of the year, this year I have the same beds plus the allotment and I only growing slightly more. In fact I am struggling to keep the raised beds full, let along get the allotment planted up.

More poor planning on my behalf means there is very little to harvest at the moment, most the salad has bolted and successional sowings have failed to produce anything worthwhile, the potatoes are doing fantastically well but the peas have yet to pod and I was very late with my runner beans so they are still playing catch-up. Next year I intend to fill up the allotment and my stomach with lots more fruit, early raspberries are high on the list, along with a few more varieties of peas and beans, loads more carrots and more winter veg.

In the meantime I have just sowed some more cabbage, beetroot, lettuce and some very late carrots to hopefully fill things out a bit.

Sweetcorn update

2008-07-07T20:57:00.003+01:00

The sweetcorn I planted out in May is doing amazingly well, due to the plot being flat and exposed I was worried they might be damaged by the wind so staked them but after just a few weeks they were strong enough to support themselves. Yesterday I went down and saw that several of the bigger plants are already forming cobs! I have 16 plants growing so if the sun continues it looks like I could be in for a bit of a glut, not bad considering these are from my 10p seeds!

Elsewhere the tomatoes are forming at amazing speed, I am having to nip out the side-shoots every couple of days. I think I was looking in the wrong direction and have missed a few which are now whole new branches, so I have left them, hopefully they won't shade the tomatoes too much.

Potatoes are cropping well, we got another bag of Charlottes and there is still a row and a half of plants left to dig. I'm not sure how the maincrops are getting on, they are in flower but I had a gentle feel under them and couldn't find any potatoes, I guess it is a wait and see situation. No sign of any blight yet which is very good news.

Contaminated manure

2008-06-29T17:53:00.003+01:00

I have just read this article and though I had better share it...http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/29/food.agriculture

For once I am actually very glad that I didn't manage to manure anything last year.

Planting out and digging up

2008-06-29T17:26:00.003+01:00

The hot weather has finally prompted me into action and the pot bound peppers, chillies and sunflowers were planted out in the garden. I think I might have left the chilli's for a bit long as they seem to be very small for this time of year.

Carrots have been resown into the gaps in the garden, the gaps actually make up 3 entire rows bar from 2 seedlings. I have totally given up any hope of successional growing with the carrots this year, just hoping for a full row before winter! Anyone have any theories as to why carrots have been so tough this year? Too hot? Too wet or maybe dry?

All onions have been pulled up and are now hopefully drying in the sun, it was going well until about half an hour ago but I am hoping the rain is a brief interruption to the amazing weather we have had this weekend.

Today I went down to the allotment and planted the remaining 9 celeriac plants, this brings the total up to 29! No idea what I was thinking when I sowed this many, if they all survive I have more celeriac than I have eaten in my entire life...soup anyone?

Finally I dug up my first ever potatoes! I had 2 Charlotte plants that had died although it isn't clear why, doesn't look like blight, so they were first and provided a reasonable crop of new potatoes, I thought I would have a rummage under a couple of other plants to top it up a little and found some whoppers. Fingers crossed I will be enjoying potatoes for many months yet.

The first real harvest

2008-06-22T17:32:00.006+01:00

Despite the stupid amounts of wind I went down to the plot today, mainly because I promised the work people some rhubarb, and it turned into the first real harvest of the year! Obviously we have been eating the salad for a few weeks now but that isn't really exciting whereas today I picked the first lot of blackcurrents - now that is exciting! Sadly there are no photos because I ate them all too quickly but be reassured that they were very tasty.

Whilst I was down there I thought I would do some useful things so the asparagus bed is fully weeded and so are the measly 9 carrots under the fleece tunnel, with conditions like that I was hoping for a carrot glut.

The strawberry sweetcorn is now planted out and growing well. This is an ornamental variety which produces red husks shaped like giant strawberries, you dry them on the plant and then use them for popcorn which sounds fun. I have planted them well away from the real sweetcorn to prevent any cross pollination. Hopefully they will be ok in this wind, they looked a little bent but so far nothing has snapped so hopefully they will straighten up when it dies down.

The courgettes are growing well, no flowers yet but they are turning into sturdy little things and thankfully there is no further slug damage. I am not a huge courgette fan but I though I might try eating the flowers stuffed with cheese which is a very tasty combination, and they are also useful for padding out the lasagna so you don't need so much mince - cheapskate? me?

Yesterday's worry over squash turned out to be unnecessary and all are growing very nicely indeed. They haven't started sprawling everywhere yet but I expect that overnight they will transform from nice neat little plants into great messy things trying to take over the earth. I just hope that they don't get mildew with all this warm wet weather.

My trip to the garden centre failed to procure any cabbage plugs so instead I returned with 3 packets of cabbage seed, it seems you can sow some cabbage at this time of year, some more lettuce seed, tomato food and an extensive collection of herbs. The warning about the long-term harm to aquatic creatures put me off the copper fungicide so I am going to the tried and trusted blight prevention method - cross your fingers and jump up and down on the spot 4 times whilst whistling.

Raining

2008-06-21T10:26:00.002+01:00

So no plot visit for me. Still I am going to the garden centre later to buy my copper fungicide - I have been recommended by an old boy to start spraying my potatoes at the end of June - and I am hoping to get some cabbage plugs since I have missed the seed sowing opportunity.

Hopefully it will dry off later so I can check my squash plants haven't died after my failing to give them well rotted manure (see http://www.soilman.uk.com/ for full details on this particular concern)

Post holiday tidy up

2008-06-14T21:16:00.002+01:00

I arrived home yesterday from a very relaxing holiday and was thrilled to see that everything was still alive and doing well. The blueberries and black currents look like they are very nearly ready, both are the right size and colour but feel a little hard so I will give them a bit more time before the taste test.

The sweetcorn, peas and squash are all doing well in the 3 sister bed, raspberries are flowering and the grape vines have finally found the trellis to climb up.

Before I left i was worried about the courgette plants which had been nibbled by a naughty slug (or snail) but both are growing away and there is no further damage which is a relief. In fact the only disappointment is that the seeds I sowed before I left haven't come through, hopefully it is just a delay rather than a failure but I seem to be struggling with the carrots this year.

Today I just about managed a general clear-up of the whole plot so everything is looking very controlled. I uncovered loads of snails when I cleared the nettles so hopefully the birds are now doing a great job of eating them all. Tomorrow I will hopefully plant out the runner beans, remaining squash, sunflowers and maybe even have another go with the spinach.

Pea germination

2008-06-03T21:59:00.002+01:00

I have discovered a completely fool proof approach to pea germination:

1) Buy a large packet of pea seeds, make sure the packet is made of paper and unlined

2) Wait for torrential rain, take seed packet into the rain whilst wearing waterproof coat

3) Open seeds and spend some time poking muddy fingers into the packet in a vague attempt to extract single seeds to sow

4) Roll up remaining seeds in packet and place into pocket of now very wet coat

5) Hang coat in a nice warm place to dry

6) Leave coat in nice warm place for up to 1 week

7) Plunge hand into pocket to discover hundreds of germinated seeds

Voila!

Busy busy

2008-06-01T18:16:00.004+01:00

I am going on holiday on Friday so this weekend was a last ditch attempt to get the plot into some sort of order before I go. Hopefully the weeds won't manage to recover too much whilst I am away. I managed to get all the weeds cut down to the ground with my new shears, it was quite amazing how much of a difference this made, you can actually see that some areas are planted!

After all the rain and the sun it is now perfect seed sowing conditions so I over-exerted myself to get the whole root bed dug over and sowed with 3 rows of carrots, 1 row of beetroot and 1 row of fennel. I also planted out the nasturtiums that OH's gran had kindly given me and the celeriac which was sowed way back at the beginning of March. Hopefully when I return all these seeds, and the parsnips which I sowed 2 weeks ago, should have germinated.

The first pumpkin plant and 2 of the squash plants were planted between the sweetcorn and finally I wanted to get the globe artichokes, which have been looking a little sad in their mini pots, planted out. I cleared an area by the sweetcorn to plant them in and hopefully they will create a barrier between the compost area and the plants to deter the slugs, I can't imagine they like prickly plants.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today...

2008-05-25T20:45:00.003+01:00

Especially if today is sunny and tomorrow is forecast torrential rain; after abandoning the sweetcorn planting yesterday due to a lack of canes to support them with I was forced to return this morning, in the absolute pouring rain, to plant the remaining 8 plants. After plenty of slipping around they are all now planted into a grid of 4 x 4, apparently this will give the best pollination results, and every plant has either a pea seedling or a couple of seeds sowed next to it. Most importantly they are all carefully staked against the prevailing wind.

Due to the extensive mud and water I decided against any photography attempts so i will have to owe you a picture post of the results at a later date (preferably a sunny date so it all looks nice).

Planting, planting, planting and a little bit of accosting

2008-05-24T18:30:00.005+01:00

Today is supposed to be the bank holiday's only day of sun so I have been fairly busy trying to make the most of it. This morning I planted out the masses of plants we were given by OH's very lovely grandparents, re-potted the strawberry sweetcorn and planted the tomato plants in the final garden veg bed; they are slightly overcrowded and I have 3 more which were never going to fit, so they will be going into a growbag at the bottom of the crappy greenhouse.

This afternoon I ventured down to the allotment to plant out my sweetcorn, unfortunately due to the extreme wind I ended up having to stake them and since I only had 5 canes with me I couldn't finish planting them out. I did manage to plant both courgette plants though. Each of the sweetcorns will have a pea plant next to them, today's lot get the pre-germinated ones and the rest will have to make do with a seed after a few pea disasters along the way.

I also bumped into one of the potential council complainers but after accosting them with my fork it turns out to not be them, this means it was definitely Mr he who got the council to clear him plot and then just sprayed chemicals all over it before planting it up with lots of nice seedlings from the garden centre. Nothing against anyone who chooses not to clear their own plot, or grow their own plants but I really don't think you can then go complaining about people who do!

Things are progressing well on the allotment, all the asparagus crowns now have a spear each so hopefully will gain strength over the summer to produce plenty more next year. The peas which I sowed but the wonky twigs are germinating. The sweat peas are growing well and I even have some carrot seedlings in the fleece tunnel! Not all the carrots have germinated but in the spaces where they have, there are a couple of seedlings so I should have enough to replant into the gaps.

Anti-social neetles

2008-05-20T20:52:00.002+01:00

I arrived home last night to a mini crisis; one of the councilors had been around to report a complaint about my weeds. Apparently one of my plot neighbours, not quite established which side yet, has made a complaint to the council about the amount of weeds on my plot and then affecting him etc etc. So much for that community aspect of having an allotment.

Very worryingly the council was suggesting I move to another plot further down, no idea what this would achieve apart from moving me away from Mr Complainer but it certainly doesn't fit into my planting plan! So OH nobly joined me last night for a frantic weeding session, the ground was like iron but we managed to clear a large part of the boundary weeds and I also relented and spread some weedkiller around; The prospect of losing my plot after almost a year or digging up nettles suddenly squashed my organic principles.

After a very sleepless night I finally got up again at 5 to return to the weeding and franticly hoed over the root bed which is actually completely dug but slightly weedy due to the delay in sowing things. luckily when I did finally catch up with the councilor again she was very apologetic and couldn't understand why he was complaining, I think she had originally though I never went down there but OH was very convincing when he said he never saw me because I was always down there, shouldn't be hard to make that convincing though because it is totally true!

Anyway after a lot of worry and weeding the matter seems settled but I am feeling the pressure to clear the weeds now. The original plan for the bank holiday was to get lots planted and sowed but now I will be making the plot look pretty, hopefully there will still be time to plant the sweetcorn and courgettes....

Another successful weekend

2008-05-11T22:14:00.009+01:00

This weekend was another scorcher so I hot-footed it down to the allotment where I was greeted by the first potato sprouts, not bad considering they only went into the ground at the end of April, unfortunately the ground was baked solid after all the wonderful weather so it took some time to scrape together enough clods to create mounds. I think the finished result is quite impressive, all things considering...

The Sweat Peas are still alive, and despite the heat, and lack of watering, all are still green and climbing. I took confidence from this and sowed a row of peas, not sure anything will come of them due to mice but there were loads in the pack so worth a try. The real pea area will be with the sweetcorn so they can climb the stems rather than my wonky tree cuttings. Behind the wonky twigs you can see the Sweat Peas and their canes, the raspberries and finally the asparagus. Ignore the wilderness behind that :)

All the raspberry canes are now growing, which is a relief, only half of them were sprouting last week and I was starting to get concerned but all this sun has got them going. If I can get the fruit cage (or maybe just netting) sorted then there should be plenty of raspberries to look forward to. The dandelion was removed shortly after this picture was taken...

The asparagus is growing like no tomorrow, here is one of the spears which was just emerging a week ago. So far I have got 1 spear from all but 3 of the 11 crowns, so things are going ok. I have sowed parsley in the bed to try and prevent asparagus beetles so hopefully they will get through the year unscathed.

After all the rain and then the sun I was thrilled to see the blackcurrant bush has loads of currants forming. They are already a fair size so if the weather stays nice they should be very successful. I haven't ever eaten a blackcurrant before due to the fact that they are almost impossible to buy so I am very excited about the first harvest.

Finally, for those of you who have made it this far I was thrilled to see the first 2 tubes in the Red Mason bee nest are filled. I even managed to see the bee flying into one of the tubes which was pretty good timing. Bees are fantastic pollinators and the Red Mason bee is completely docile, interestingly this is because they have nothing to defend unlike the Bumblebee which will defend the nest, therefore they are very welcome in my garden.

Rainy bank holiday?

2008-05-04T18:37:00.005+01:00

The weather forecast for the bank holiday was rain, rain and then some more rain but, not wanting to tempt fate or anything, the weather so far has been lovely. Yesterday was sunny and then a little cloudy but still hot, and today has been very cloudy but very warm and both days have been almost completely dry.

So of course I have been busy at the plot and also in the garden, my veg beds at the back of the garden have finally become too much of any eyesore, I think it was the fleece which finally broke the camel's back as it were, anyway we have now erected a rather fetching reed screen to hide said eyesore. Actually I am rather pleased by the result because what was previously some veg beds at the back of the garden is now a fully fledged veg garden :)

The allotment has had some attention too, the sweet peas are planted around my new rustic (homemade) pea support and the first row of carrots has been sow under fleece. I have spent about 4 hours fighting the nettles and ever spreading grass so things look generally tidier but the most exciting part of teh whole weekend was discovering the first asparagus spears...

Of course I can't crop them for several years yet but at least I know they are alive and kicking!

Hardening off

2008-04-30T21:40:00.003+01:00

Normally I give hardening off a skip and just leave the poor plants to suffer the shock of the great outdoors, but with the weather being so changeable (read shit) and with my entire collection of globe artichokes having come courtesy of mum (read cannot be re-sow), this year I have been attentively hardening off the sweet peas and globes.

Every morning I trudge between the crappy greenhouse and the patio moving the 15 or so pots of sweet peas and similar number of globes to a sunny position, later than night, usually after they have experienced some torrential rain, I trudge back and forth again to move them under cover. It would, of course, be easier if I had bought some more gravel trays to put all the pots into so that I could move them in one go but there you go. Live and learn and all that.

According to books this should go on for 2 weeks, the sweet peas have been moving for a week and the globes for 5 days but I have decided that enough is enough, everything is still alive so if the weather is reasonable at the weekend they are all going out for good!

Sun!

2008-04-26T23:26:00.001+01:00

The sun has finally managed to coincide with the weekend. I spent most of the day at the allotment and have finally managed to get all the potatoes planted out, no small task when you include the actual digging of the bed first!

Elsewhere spring seems to be here, the plum tree is in blossom, as are the 2 apple trees in my garden, and the raspberries are starting to sprout. I have starting hardening off the sweet peas and globe artichokes so with a bit of luck they will be ready to be planted out over the bank holiday. I just need to get the rest of the seeds sown and I will be ready for the growing to begin.

Gardeners World Seed Trial 2008

2008-04-23T21:55:00.002+01:00

I am very excited to have been chosen to join in the Gardeners World Seed Trial 2008! I have now been sent a packet of sunflower Mezzulah F1 to try and grow, it is a poll free semi-dwarf variety so it should complement my normal sunflowers which I am planning to sow this weekend.

I decided to apply for the sunflowers rather than the tomatoes because I am already planning on growing quite a few tomato plants this year whereas sunflowers will be good in the garden and on the allotment to attract bees. Fingers crossed all goes well!

Fruitastic

2008-04-12T18:52:00.007+01:00

Over the last couple of weeks I have come to the conclusion that I have not killed the raspberry canes or the plum tree that I planted out last year, in fact all seem to be slowly coming to life as the weather improves. Buoyant by the arrival of the first baby raspberry leaves I have turned slightly fruit mad, it started with the new strawberry plants, 6 'Hapil' and 6 'Cambridge Favourite'. Last year I grew some strawberries in a pot but after the nightmare of trying to keep them watered, even last year, has convinced me to make some space in the raised beds. Foolishly I choose 2 last summer varieties so I think I am heading straight into a Strawberry glut and I don't think strawberry soup is going to be the solution...

Last year I claimed a free blueberry plant from Gardener's World but sadly the twiggy little thing died over winter so I have finally replaced it with a slightly more robust looking sample, due to blueberry plants loving acid conditions I have it in a pot on the patio. The variety is 'Bluecrop' which is a apparently a vigorous upright grower and hopefully also a prolific fruiter. It already has some buds on it so hopefully there will be blossom soon.

Finally I surrendered to a Blackcurrent bush to go on the allotment, after reading that 90% of all blackcurrents are turned into juice I was overcome by a desire to actually eat the little things. The variety 'Ben Sarek' is a compact bush but heavy yielding and according to Ken Muir the berries are unusually large, which sounds alright to me.

Free seeds

2008-04-07T13:20:00.000+01:00

The Guardian newspaper is giving away free seeds with today's newspaper, well you get the coupon to use to send off for the seeds in the paper. They are giving away cabbage seeds 'Guardian' which I think is a summer cabbage but as there doesn't seem to be much info on the web I will have the wait for the seeds to arrive before I know the full details. Still I have completely omitted to buy any cabbage seeds this year so I think that for the price of a newspaper this is a pretty nice offer.

Almost spring

2008-04-05T20:54:00.003+01:00

Today was almost a spring day, if it just hadn't been raining and snowing then it would have been lovely. All week has been dry and yesterday, whilst I was at work of course, was a beautiful day so I had high hopes for today.

As it is now spring (in my mind I mean) I was determined to get some seeds into the ground, everything which has been grown in pots inside is doing amazingly well, even the peppers have germinated, but it simply isn't the same as actually putting seed into the ground. So today I set off to the allotment to enjoy some surprisingly warm sunshine, as I forked over the bed, marked lines and hoed the drills all was good, as I started to sow the seeds the snow arrived. As I determinedly continued the rain arrived, and wouldn't stop.

Anyway Seeds are in and covered with some bubble wrap on account of all my fleece having been commandeered by OH for germinating grass seed, apparently grass is more important than carrots, heres hoping that the seeds germinate.

Luckily I am not too upset about the poor weather because I have received a rather great book: 'The Allotment Book: Seasonal Planner and Cookbook', for those of you who have read 'The Allotment Book' then this is the follow up, if you haven't read either then they are highly recommended. I am now salivating over all the tasty recipes that I will be able to cook using my own crops!

Asparagus has arrived

2008-03-29T20:49:00.005Z

This morning I got up super early (well 7am but that is pretty early for a Saturday) and headed down to the allotment to tackle nettles before the rain arrived. It was actually very pleasant and in between the frequent coffee breaks I managed to make good progress with the clearing, it I can keep it up then I will actually have somewhere to plant my leeks.

I returned home completely spent at around 10:00, 1 hour later and the postman kindly delivered 10 asparagus crowns, after reading Ken Muir's instructions that they must be planted immediately on receipt and seeing that the weather forecast was predicting rain for the next 10 years I trotted back to the allotment to quickly chuck the crowns in my carefully prepared asparagus bed.

Unfortunately I had overlooked that although I had dug over the bed and covered it in manure several months ago, I would still need to actually dig the bed. 1 hour later and rather a lot more tired I had a rudimentary asparagus bed, as you can see from the photo the crowns sort of fit, although to be very fair it isn't all my fault because I have ended up with 11 crowns instead of 10 so my careful (ahem) measuring was never going to add up.

After the pain of digging the trench I actually had a pretty good time placing the crowns and spreading the roots around. Re-filling the trench wasn't so much fun but I am hopefully looking forward to many years of home grown asparagus, and at least I have learnt in advance that there is no way I am digging a trench for the potatoes.

A plot visit at last

2008-03-25T14:42:00.002Z

After a sickeningly long time I finally managed to get some visits in at the allotment, I spent a couple of hours up there yesterday complete with snow and then actually had a sunny morning there today. Not all that much progress to report, raspberries might be starting to grow and the plum tree has a couple of hopeful looking buds, the apple tree is just about to burst into flower which made me feel very spring like, despite the wintery weather. In fact I am feeling so hopeful that I have sowed my tomatoes and sweetcorn (inside of course), with a bit of luck the weather will sort itself out before I need to plant them outside.

I was lucky to be away over Easter so missed the real snow which was evidently here. I also received some sweet peas and some Globe Artichoke seedlings from Mum which is very exciting. I am planning to plant the sweet peas in the garden along with 1 of the Artichokes, the other 8 will go to the allotment where I am thinking of planting them as a sort of boundary fence. I have never eaten artichokes but at least they make spectacular flowers if nothing else.

Yesterday I dragged OH off to the Garden centre and bought a cheepy plastic greenhouse to put seedlings in, hopefully this will reduce the fatality rate after I manage to germinate them. I also got a very nice blueberry plant 'Bluecrop', which is going to live in a pot since they only like acid soil and I hacve very strong alkaline. I am now setting my sights on some strawberry plants for the garden (last year's look rather dead) and also some blackberries and red currants for the allotment.

Finally one last piece of excitement; I now have neighbors on both sides of my allotment! I met one side yesterday and they seem very nice, also very novice which is good, hopefully I will see the other side soon. This means that finally I can be certain about my boundaries and also that I have some other hands to help with the battle against the nettles.

One potato, two potato, three...

2008-03-16T12:28:00.003Z

Last week my potato seeds finally arrived from Mr Fothergills, a staggering 5 weeks after ordering, it seems the delay was because the free Yukon gold tubers were out of stock, I mean who cares? If they are free then I am not really bothered about the variety so just give me something else right?

Anyway grumble over, they have finally arrived much to my joy, a parcel for me and the long awaiting potatoes, OH immediately declared me crazy on the grounds that these potatoes were exactly the same as the ones Tesco sells (for a fraction of the price of course). I patiently explained about certified growers, reliable stock and disease resistance etc to which he concluded that they were exactly the same as the ones at Tesco. I guess there is no getting through to some people!

So I now have 2 shelves on the bookcase filled with egg boxes of potatoes quietly chitting away. I have 20 Charlotte, 10 Pixie (the replacement of the free Yukon gold) and 12 Arran Victory, heres hoping for a long season of potatoes, but before than I am holding my breath for the first shoots.

Growing veg without the plot

2008-03-09T19:12:00.002Z

I was very interested to read, in the Guardian weekend magazine, an article about growing veg in small spaces (sadly it isn't available online). By following their plan you could have home grown veg all year round, obviously there might be times when you only have a little bit but they did manage to squeeze in peas, carrots, lots of salad crops, kale, leeks and even squash amongst others. The entire things was based around a 3m x 3m bed divided up into squares into which you sowed the goods.

Now obviously I have an entire allotment but it was a really refreshing view to read that maybe 1 squash plant would be enough, and carrots could be fitted in around the onions. Last year I stuffed all my veg into the raised beds in the garden and after under-estimating the size of a pumpkin plant the chard ended up a little crowded, the onion (there was just 1) was lost under the courgettes and the lettuce had to battle to stay alive but in the end it just sort of worked.

Now that I am about to start planting up my allotment I am trying to work out planting positions and spacing but after reading this artlicle I think I will just relax and see how it all works out. Maybe some stuff won't thrive (or survive) but hopefully plenty more will and if this article is anything to go by then I don't really need all 6 of my squash plants to produce. So if you only have 1 flower bed, or even a few pots don't be put off there is still plenty of veg that you can grow.

Today I sowed the first of my salad crops in one of the raised beds in the garden, I was planning to go with rows but have been converted to the use of squares so the bed has been divided up into sections and each one will have one of the following sown in it: Rocket, Land cress, Lambs lettuce, Mizuna, Mustard and a mixed lettuce seed, as they germinate and grown I will start to sow some of the other squares until I hopefully have a patchwork of salad crops for continual harvesting.

Stormy waters

2008-03-07T09:24:00.002Z

Over breakfast I was thinking of all the things I hoped to get done this weekend, more digging maybe, sowing the lettuce seeds that arrived yesterday, maybe even buying my banana plant a bigger pot. As I left the house it started to rain, there goes any hope of having a fire with all those nettle roots I thought (for some reason nettle roots are natural fire retardant) and just now I have read that storms are set to batter Britain. Great.

Introducing the plot

2008-03-05T13:40:00.007Z

I thought it would be nice to write a sort of monthly roundup style of post to record the developments throughout the year, then I realised that I have never really introduced the plot, so here it is:

The plot, number 19, is one of about 20 on a fenland site, a 5 minute walk away from my house, it is owned by the council, who sadly run a very loose ship so the size of the plot is unknown but I have marked out an area which is roughly 10ft wide and 100ft long, a pretty large space me thinks. There are 3 apple trees on the plot, none of which did all that much last year but provide some shelter at least.
At the top of the plot you can see where I am starting to clear the ground, luckily this area was covered in a huge wild cabbage patch which was easily cleared and is now destined to become my pumpkin, pea and sweetcorn bed, I plan to plant them using the "Three sisters" planting method.

The middle of the plot has now been cleared, except for the rather evil looking nettle patch which I have been avoiding. I am going to be using this area, my largest cleared patch for the root veg which is by far the most popular type of veg in my house.

Finally you get to the interesting part of the plot, the bottom. When I took on the plot last July this part was mostly covered in carpet so the nettles were slightly less prolific and I tackled it first. When the raspberries and plum tree arrived this was the only part of the plot which was ready so they were planted here, not exactly a great planting plan but it seems to be working out ok. The area for the asparagus bed has been dug behind the raspberries and I will also be building the shed and compost bins down here.

The soil is actually peat which is interesting, it easy to dig, hopefully full of nutrients and also recommended for use when storing veg through winter, I have translated this to mean that I can leave my winter crops in the ground until I need them. On the downside the plot is very exposed so there is a stupid amount of wind and plenty of frost, not sure how this is going to work out but I guess that is what this project is all about. So there you have it, Souper allotment in all its glory.