August ambitions

1st August 2013

Now summer is in full swing, harvesting is almost a full time job.

Chard, beans and courgettes are ready for picking every couple of days.  Soon my second batch of lettuce will be ready and I now need to start digging up  some potatoes as I need the space for some seed raised onions that are ready to go in. I am hoping these will be ready for harvest in late spring.

At home, my 'Inca' plum tomatoes are swelling up nicely.

Check out this year's garlic harvest! Awesome.

2nd August 2013

Been busy digging up potatoes today. I am about fair pooped out! From one row, which is what I harvested I got 3.5kgs of 'Foremost' and 4kgs of 'Pink Fir Apple'. They have been washed and are currently laid out on the lawn drying off.

Yesterday I made four veg bags from calico to keep some of the harvest. Each bag holds about five or six kilos. I also harvested 1kg of courgettes and about a kilo of beans, peas and mangetout (in total).


On the down side, I sprayed some of my cabbages a few days ago and the weather was rather  hot yesterday and they now look a little burnt. Fingers crossed that they recover. I had a similar issue last year with some swede but it bounced back and was fine.

What is wrong with these people?

I am incensed at a recent incident on our allotment site!
Between the hours of 11pm and 5am someone came onto the site and wreaked destruction just for the supposed fun of it.

Twenty plots in total were affected. For our part, they broke open our shed door and our next door neighbour's shed door was pulled clean off! Other neighbours had potatoes and carrots pulled up and cucumbers picked; particularly gut wrenching because of the hard work they put in.
Even more difficult to accept is the damage done to one or two people's chicken runs. Someone had their chickens let out.

Nothing was stolen...it was wanton destruction. Grrh!

The bigger the summer vacation, the harder the fall...

1st July 2013

That's right, summer is upon us and there's no room for slacking.

I have begun to harvest an abundance of delicious, juicy strawberries, the chard is also coming into fruition and I foresee many salads in the weeks to come as the heads are all firming up on the lettuce.

I am loving (as are the bees) the quantity of flowers on the herbs; the Salvia (sage) is looking awesome!

The beans are growing well, but  they are taking a bit of a battering from the wind. This is a very windy site.

One of my favourite vegetables is beetroot. I love it grated raw on salads, roasted, and pickled. Last year, I made some beetroot and orange preserve which was delicious. I have two rows nearly ready - another couple of weeks to maturity - and there are some seedlings just emerging next to them. 

6th July 2013

Well it's salads all round. I harvested two more beauties yesterday for tea. There'll be plenty for a few days. I am also mixing up things with a little added chard leaves. I also managed to harvest a small beetroot, about 5-6 cm in diameter, which was lovely and sweet and we have a batch of spring onion 'Purplette' which I have been growing in the hope of pickling a few but at the moment, they're proving too delicious to leave.

What is horrifying is the amount of waste there must be from the supermarket ones because there's barely anything left once they're packaged:

...not to mention added unnecessary packaging.

The weather is quite warm at the moment so lots of watering needs to done and I am looking forward to the first courgette which is just coming up to size and will be ready in a day or two.

10th July 2013

Today, I pulled up the remaining  spring onion 'Purplette' to prepare and pickle tomorrow. I also pulled up the shallots I planted in the autumn and left them to dry. I have been picking them a couple at a time for the past few weeks but I wanted to use he space for some radishes and parsnips.

These beauties are bound for a pickle jar.

Also, I planted out some pea 'Maro' plants. Between them I sowed some more seeds which will hopefully come on later. Pea 'Maro' is a marrowfat type which I am hoping to dry and store for winter.
I can taste the fish, chips and mushy peas already, yum...

30th July 2013

I have been wanting to post for over two weeks but have been far too busy to have the time.

I have been busy with pickles and jams in addition to freezing a batch of chard.

In total I have made ten meals worth of chard for the freezer. I wilt and then freeze it in little pots and when they're frozen I pop them out into freezer bags.

I have made twelve jars of blackcurrant jam, four of blackcurrant, apple and strawberry and three jars of strawberry jam.

Additionally, the first batch of beetroot made two kilos of pickle and I managed one jar of pickled onions so busy,busy busy.

The courgettes are growing beautifully; I've harvested many beans of Runner, French and Broad types.

The sweetcorn is now starting to develop too

This last week I have planted out leeks 'Below Zero', and some more lettuce (a week apart).

May is out, June spells summer?

1st June 2013

Yesterday, I spent a good couple of hours planting out some of my home reared plants.

Three courgette 'Golden Delight' plants, two pumpkin 'Mini Lanterns' plants and six cucumber 'Burpless Tasty Green' plants. These will all hopefully share the plot with the sweetcorn. I say 'hopefully' because I am not having a good time with getting the sweetcorn to grow. In previous years, they  have germinated and grown without a hitch but this year they simply do not want to co-operate. The variety is 'Extra Sweet' and out of 45 seeds sown, twelve have germinated - go figure?

Next up was the beans. I set up twelve eight foot canes for the french and runner beans and planted out three pots each of runners 'Lady Di', 'Desiree', 'Sunset', two pots of French 'Farsold', and a pot of 'Blauhide'.

On a different area, I planted twenty borlotti bean plants.  Despite being labelled as climbing beans, they didn't get very tall last year so I am going to wait to see what they do before messing about with supports.

Today, I returned to the plot to do a little watering and put protective collars around the beans. These are made from the body of pop bottles. I am hoping they will keep the snails at bay and help protect against wind damage while the plants are getting established.

3rd June 2013

I went to water this evening as the weather has been warm, dry and a little breezy. I think we might be getting a little of the breeze from the coast even though we are 40 miles inland.

Everything I planted the other day seems to be settling in well and the beetroot and chard are beginning to put on some growth as are the lettuce.

 

Along the back edge of the plot, I have the two blackcurrants I saved, the rhubarb and a bed of strawberries. At the very end of the path in the pot you can see a golden hop I acquired last year when someone was throwing it out at work. I am hoping it will grow along the fence and help 'mesh' it up a little to help combat the hoppy invaders.

5th June 2013

So what is going on with my sweetcorn?

The tray at the front is the most recent, second sowing (20 seeds), while the pots and tray at the back are what is germinated out of 30 seeds in the first batch; it's pretty pathetic.

7th June 2013

Okay, so I have got some advice on the sweetcorn issue and have decided to have one more try. I have some left which I have placed on some wet kitchen towel in a plastic box in the airing cupboard. Fingers crossed...

Meanwhile, at the allotment things are beginning to look fruity.

Strawberries:

Blackcurrants - last year we harvested over 2.5kgs of fruit from these two bushes so I have put a few supports in:

Apples - almost ready to thin out:

These are 'Lord Lambourne', a great all rounder which tolerates all sorts of situations and soil. The fruit are large and crisp like a Braeburn. I also have 'Katy' which I like for its dessert and cider potential and I have a Shropshire damson too.

The herbs along the border are all growing well and a carpet of Calendula is helping to suppress the weeds. I am hoping that they'll attract predators and keep the bees happy. The sage plants towards the end are covered in flower buds, the chives also have lots of flowers and I am hoping to get the dill to flower too.

But overall, things are starting to pick up and grow...looking fairly good I'd say.
Just got to look out for pests on the broad beans - I noticed a couple of ants lingering which can only mean one thing - aphids!

You can see though, that I am fighting a potentially losing battle with weeds. My neighbour's plot behind is now a jungle...not good. Additionally, my neighbour to the left works the plot on her own and I think she struggles to get on top of the weeds.

Lastly, just as I was leaving today, I noticed this fella:

I guess the spores do well in the wood chippings.

9th June 2013

Update on the sweetcorn saga...

So I set some sweetcorn seeds to germinate in plastic boxes in the airing cupboard a few days ago.
They have almost all germinated. Aha! Success you might say - not so - they have gone moldy.
That dreadful white hairy stuff. Ah, but perhaps I left them too long? Well, I did the same with some pea 'Maro' seeds and they have germinated beautifully in good health.

As this was my third attempt, I reckon that the seeds were dodgy.

So I am going to plant out my healthy, chitted pea seeds in cells today.

14th June 2013

I've not done much this week. Largely because I spent the first few days of the week feeling sorry for myself, suffering from one of those annoying summer colds.

I did get a chance though, to acquire some potting compost and some pots to plant my tomatoes which I did today in spite of the changeable weather.

There are three pots of tomato 'Inca', a plum variety and a pot of three Tumbling Tom'; I also have some in a hanging basket. 

16th June 2013

Just a little update folks. Despite it being Father's Day yesterday, I put my beloved to work to weed the allotment. Meanwhile, I set out a row and a half of carrot 'Resistafly', making a tent of fleece over them for resistafly reassurance. I also planted out the few sweetcorn plants I have. I put them on the curcubit bed as they are spaced well and it allowed me to place the sweetcorn block-like as is required. 

The strawberries are all fruiting nicely, and ready to ripen, as are the blackcurrants. I put a simple netted cage over them  to deter thieves.

20th June 2013

In an effort to get some seeds sown before the rain sets in at the weekend, we went to the plot yesterday.
I sowed two rows of carrot 'Royal Chantenay',  A row of cabbage 'Mammoth Red Rock', a row of broccoli 'Di Ciccio' and a final row of beetroot 'Red Ace'.

As we were about to leave the plot we noticed some caterpillars on the damson. I left them in order to identify them first and when I got home referred to my insect books; turns out they are Vapourer moth caterpillars - very attractive.

Armed with knowledge, knowing that the female has no wings so remains on the plant, we returned today to remove all offending wrigglers. Here's hoping we got them all.

Summer is almost here

26th May 2013

So the allotment site is now buzzing with all sorts of activity. A new family have moved in to the plot a couple of doors along and we have new neighbours the other way too. There is plenty of enthusiasm it would seem and the occasional  day of good weather is maintaining everyone's spirits.

As our site is not owned by but under custody of the local council and there are currently negotiations to ascertain responsibilities for the site and there are certain things we hopefully can benefit from. The land is owned by an Oxford University College but they don't  partake in any administrative activities, largely leaving everything to the local council who don't seem to be very interested in the site. We have learned today that a meeting will be held to decide what is to be done. I intend to take part.

Today, we planted out some 'Little Gem' lettuce. I plant them on a ridge to allow the  air  to circulate and then I keep them covered with fleece to protect them from all manner of pests including flea beetle and pigeons.
Some time was taken up talking to the neighbours and then I planted some chives. I have a pot in the garden in which they have got too big for their boots so I turned the chives out, split the plant into three, replanted one section in the pot and planted the remaining two in the border with some other herbs. 

Finally, I planted a square of pea 'Boogie', erecting a netting cover to keep off the pigeons.

28th May 2013

I haven't managed to get to the allotment today but I have been able to make the most of a break in the rain to sow some seeds at home. Since last year proved to be difficult in terms of getting stuff to germinate because it remained so cold, I have taken to starting more plants off at home to be sure.

So I sowed some Parsnip 'White Gem', Swede 'Best of All', Leek 'Below Zero' and some more lettuce 'Little Gem'.

Additionally, I sowed some Primula denticulata hybrids, Primula veris and Myosotis 'Symphony Blue'.

The Work Begins Again

2013

The year began very slowly. Harsh, cold  weather persisted throughout January, February and March continuing into April.

10th March 

This picture is of my modest back yard. The poor Nandina domestica on the patio took quite a hit.

10th May

Finally, a break in the weather allowed us to get on top of the weeds at the front of the plot, covering the area with landscape fabric and council supplied chippings. Still to finish are the areas with pallets and corrugated sheeting but provided we get the weather, this shouldn't take too long.  

Shallots, onions and garlic are all planted and growing well except that a few of the onions that were planted in the autumn haven't survived the winter weather.

10th May

Meanwhile, in the growhouse at home I have broad beans, ridge cucmbers, lettuce and courgettes almost ready to plant. French (Blauhide & Farsold), Borlotti and Runner beans (Lady Di, Desiree & Sunset) are all planted and beginning to germinate. I have sown some onion 'Bedfordshire Giant' in the hope I shall  have a later crop.

This green and pleasant land

2011

In late March 2011 we took on allotment plot at our local site.

In the first year we took several weeks to clear the plot and make it ready to plant on.
As we 'got the keys' on the 31st March, that left little time to get sorted.

4th April 2011

The plot had been used for fly tipping so there was plenty of rubbish to remove including a dog bed, several moldy carpets and a whole lot of broken glass - shameful. One of the other plot-holders offered to get his friend to rotivate it for us. This wasn't necessarily the best course of action as there was lots of couch grass but I think that in the the end we have prevailed, mostly, in the weed war, mainly through persistence.

  

Easter 2011

Once it was rotivated, we set to work marking out growing beds. I didn't want to waste any space so there are six rotational beds and a fruit bed at the end. This will two blackcurrant bushes and a rhubarb which I rescued from the sprawling mass of weeds. You can see them sat in black bags at the end, awaiting new digs.

So, we took on the plot at what became the beginning of a drought period. This added to the workload with the extra watering that everything required. The plot is located midway between two taps so we were able to run relay with a number of watering cans. I am not particularly fond of using a hosepipe as you can't really measure how much water you are giving.

June 2011

Soon potatoes, beans, sweetcorn, onions, garlic, peas, chard and brassicas were growing happily.

There was still a patch of weeds down the side of the path to deal with but this had to wait until the following spring.

 July 2011

 On the up side, the potatoes, cucumber, chard, kale, beetroot and onions grew fantastically well. In fact, I dug up a record potato weighing in at 1.3kgs!

This is our first harvest taken in the first week of August 2011.

So as summer turned to autumn, we had more potatoes and, particularly, more chard than we quite knew what to do with then eager pickling, and freezing ensued.

2012

Spurred on by an exhausting but successful first year, we were looking forward to the second year.

2012 was a complete contrast. Off to a good start, March was warm, sunny and encouraging. What a false sense of security we were led into. April brought unseasonably cold and wet weather which persisted for months causing much consternation in the agricultural sector as crops failed to grow, ripen or yield anywhere near what is expected.

I had three attempts at growing French beans, ending in either premature death due to cold winds and cold rain or mollusc damage till finally a weak and disappointing crop was harvested.

Potatoes were grown, blighted, but saved from destruction by a dry spell. The resulting harvest was relatively healthy but tubers were small.

On the up side, I had fantastic crops from my golden courgettes - three plants yielded plenty of soup and chutney. I managed to get on top of the weeds along the side path with a few applications of weed killer and a lot of digging. The border was then planted with 'Russian Giant' sunflowers and sown with calendula and nasturtium seeds. They grew really well, covering the border and preventing the weeds from making a return.

So as the long, freezing winter set in...