Canadian blog

Weird. Blogging about the allotment but sitting in Canada. It's an experiment.

25 October 2009 - A little catching up to do

Well dear Reader - no doubt some of you will have despaired of ever hearing from us again. It has been too long, and time has flown on by in ever increasing haste, tempus fugit. We now see gold and red trees, leaves being blown here and there and ... yes, the autumn heatwave is about to descend. Temperatures of around 20 deg C are forecast for this week. Not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing, especially as we now have harvested all our squash, and Fat Boy, who needed his very own transport home. Well, Keats did describe autumn as "close bosom friend of the maturing sun" so I guess it's OK.

Mostly the work has been to take down the trappings of summer (bean poles etc), lift spent plants (corn, the final courgette and rather sadly nasturtiums, etc), generally tidy the facility areas and make the most of the now definitely diminishing produce. Where once we could hardly stagger home with the produce we could pick in a week, it is now down to the odd cabbage or bit of broccoli, a handful of chard and of course the ever dependable raspberries. We dug up the maincrop potatoes a couple of weeks back - quite a lot of damaged tubers (slugs) and tiny holes, but we think there's enough to keep us going for a good long while.

As is normal this time of year, we have also of course been looking to the future, and have now added to the red over-wintering onions (Electric) with some yellow ones (Sokyu??). So we should have 100 onions come May time. Today we sowed a couple of rows of overwintering peas in bed 2 (Meteor) which should be ready in May too. We have saved some pods from the beans with the hope that they will serve again next year (very good practice, btw - sustainable growing and all that).

As is also becoming normal for us tenders of the soil, we have spent some time huming and ha-ing over next year's Grand Plan for the plot. Crop rotation we are beginning to discover is a bit of a pain. You are meant to follow the same pattern - Brassicas, Others, Roots. Only trouble is that we have an odd number of beds and frankly we don't want to eat that many brassicas - there is much more in Others we like to eat (corn, garlic, onions, peas, beans, etc). So there is some fudging about what is going where, though we have kept as far as possible to the pure aspiration of the three groups. It doesn't help that the horticultural authorities seem to differ as to what goes into the groups, though the definitions of Brassica seem pretty consistent. We have diligently manured and now covered the beds that are going to sleep for a few months. The plan will be shared with you in due course.

We wonder about how to use the bank next year. Quite honestly we weren't overwhelmed with the potatoes, a lot of which had tiny holes in. They are lovely to eat of course. Potatoes were a good bet as the rabbits don't like 'em and anything else we put there will be vulnerable. We are considering really going for it on the bank and clearing it of weeds which makes it very difficult to cultivate, and properly composting etc. N envisages squash and beans on the bank. I'm more cautious, given its proximity to wildlife.

So, our end of year report looks something like this:

GOOD GUYS Garlic, beans, courgettes, corn, strawberries, raspberries, broccoli, chard, last year leeks, this year leeks, cabbage, squash, last year kale, potatoes
COULD DO BETTER Shallots, onions, apples, peas, parsnips, this year kale (though there is still time), potatoes, blueberries, loganberry

Ever onward in the quest for excellence!

30 September 2009 - Harvest shmarvest

A busy couple of weeks on the plot, aided by beautiful autumnal weather and punctuated by energetic communal effort on reinforcing our site with Council-donated fencing. Hard work from the various willing volunteers with just a bit left to do. We at last have made a noticeable impact on protecting our site - by ourselves.

N took some pictures last week of an artistic bent so they will be appearing in their own gallery in a separate posting. Meanwhile, we have been consuming broccoli (yes, still - even though most are now uprooted), cabbage (white and red and they are huge), beans, beans and more beans, courgettes, raspberries galore, corn (yummy when eaten raw - how sad that we have only just discovered this), parsnips, onions, tomatoes, chard, carrots and of course, potatoes. It is truly astonishing how much produce one small plot can supply.

We are beginning to do the autumn clearing bit by bit. It's odd how one day is broadly summer and the next - just by a hint - declares the beginning of the end. The courgettes have slowed down and are covered with downy mildew. We have cleared away one of the squash plants and its fruits for storage. The other is going great guns and has produced 12 offspring. One lot of beans is finished and we'll leave them up to get pods for next year. We've left the maincrops in the ground still but one of the beds is half empty and covered with good manure. On the right is a picture of one of our compost heaps with the leeks on top that we left to flower. When we pulled them up they had little bulb thingies at the bottom.

We're very pleased with the late sowing of runner beans which have been prodigious and the lovely apples about to be harvested. A triumph of hope over adversity. Also with the emergence of spring cabbage seedlings in - where else - the carrot bed, which we think we will make into the strawberry bed next year, as they are hard to weed in the Pagoda. We have cleaned and prepared the seed bed to accommodate overwintering onions - a red variety - and we are doing these as sets for the first time as an experiment. And, just to keep us on our toes, the old strawberry patch we think will be the new seedbed. This means we won't have to run the gauntlet of the raspberries to get to the seedlings next year - currently I have scratches all up my arms as they are very prickly.

What is so good about our plot is that there is always an answer to the question "where shall we put X". Often we come up with something quite unexpected (see above paragraph). Why should the seedbed always be the seedbed? Why can't the strawberries move? N is contemplating making a new carrot bed at the top where we now have green manure, rye grass. We are lords of this plot and we can decide - always observing where possible the primary laws of crop rotation.

While the summer crops are beginning to doze, the winter crops are beginning to look more feisty. The leeks are definitely improved as are the kale and winter cabbages. We think that we should be able to leave the few carrots in situ until needed, a lesson sadly learned with our parsnips, which have not stored well. It is at this stage that we realise that our winter crops do not include brussels sprouts which N loves with his Christmas dinner. We shall have to barter.

On the home preservation front, we have made another lot of chutney and pickled red cabbage. The neighbours have kindly donated some apples from their enormous tree so we will no doubt make some chutney - that's Christmas sorted then. The garlic is all plaited and neat and tidy looking, and has already received commendation in addition to the mighty victory in the Show. We endeavour to use our produce as much as possible, for example, in a beautiful minestrone soup or braised red cabbage and apple. Mostly we manage to keep on top of it and nothing is wasted which is the main thing.

12 September 2009 – Dig for Victory!

The 2009 St Stephen's Gardening Club Show drawn to a close, leaving us contemplating a strategy for next year.

We entered seven categories:

• parsnips - our finest three from those we dug on the weekend
• courgettes (zucchini) - three of our yellow variety
• garlic – our five best, out of 180 or so bulbs harvested this year. Entered in the 'Any Other Vegetable' category; it seems to us that garlic deserves its own category, but we think the categories must be those hand down by the Royal Horticultural Society
• jam – which K boiled down from several pounds of strawberries
  
• tomatoes – five of our greenhouse variety – in the Novice category, Novice entry being an option for those who have not previously won a Novice category
• raspberries – 12 on a plate, again Novice
• hand-knitted garment – K's birthday jumper for her sister, borrowed back for the show.

No doubt you'll be anxious to hear the results. On tenterhooks, I imagine.

Parsnips: overshadowed by other entries. Not even the courtesy of a Post-It Note. Ours were thicker, the winners were longer. To each his own.

Courgettes: we knew our three weren't very precisely matched in size, but we thought they seemed fresher, more exciting than their fellow entries. Result: Third Prize. No shame there.









Garlic: the competition included a giant pumpkin, sweetcorn and several squashes - eight entries overall, so the most competition. Result: First Prize. "Yes, we can!"















Jam: No prize, but a Post-It Note saying: "tastes good but a little stiff". Again, it must be pointed out, to each his own.














Tomatoes: First Prize! K's twice-daily watering has paid off! Now that we have the greenhouse, ready for a full season next year, nothing can stop us from Tomato Supremacy.














Raspberries: A respectable Second Prize.
















Hand-knitted garment: Third Prize. We feel the judges have a weakness for frou-frou over Vision and Execution.


We feel that The Future Belongs to Us. We're ready to take on the Big Boys. Bring on next year's show.

6 September 2009 - Bumper crops threaten to engulf house

Phew! We just can't keep up. There's so much to do at the moment with the harvesting, the pickling, the decisions about who to dispense to and the freezing. The overflow freezer in the attic is already nearly full. We have donated veg to various colleagues, friends, neighbours and family and still we can't keep up. Last weekend was our camping Bank Holiday and we provided the main ingredients for the camp curry.

We were visited on Friday by K's sister and godson, L, who was extremely helpful on the plot, particularly when collecting beans. He had an amusing distaste for two courgettes which I cut for him which were not quite perfect - so much so that he attempted to repatriate them under the plant of origin. I relieved him of anxiety by taking them on myself. The visitors went away with a bag full of potatoes, broccoli, beans, courgettes, the first red cabbage (albeit a bit sluggy) and raspberries. It was lovely to see them enjoying the plot.

We definitely have more varied produce this year. The challenge is to find new ways of cooking - beans beans beans and more beans. The garlic is now fully dried and cleaned and ready for the dreaded plaiting exercise. It took 4 hours to clean it all - you have to cut the bottom thingy off and scrape off the dirty top layer so that the bulb looks like it does in the shops. They don't tell you about that.

We've also had the challenge of cooking a pumpkin that we rashly purchased from another allomenteer a few weeks back. Very lovely soup (enough for several days), a pilav and lots of cooked pulp to add to the groaning freezer. And we have the gigantic monster on the bank which is looking to be our very best yet. It has been christened it Fat Boy. The picture on the left is N with our very first parsnip, dug a couple of weeks ago. This was a random seedling in one of the beds. It has an interesting structure. Imagine our joy and surprise this morning when we tentatively dug up on of the pampered parsnips to find it long and true - and eminently show-worthy. We displayed it to Jan who let out a little shriek of admiration (and no doubt envy). So the nasty thing that ate the carrots from the inside out didn't destroy our parsnips and the special treatment worked. We dug them all up and have three worthy of The Show. The others can be stored. Woo hoo. I dream of a whole bed of parsnips next year. We will take a special picture of all the produce we will put into The Show, still a closely guarded secret, so you can see our lovely parsnips then.

Other news - we've dug up most of the second earlies now. They are a bit disappointing, in that they are big and nearly all have little holes. But edible nonetheless. After watching Gardeners World, we take off the blighty foliage of the maincrops and weed the whole bed. We'll leave them in until the first frost then dig 'em up. We also harvested the rest of the onions a couple of weeks back. Most of them are like spring onions and are not what we thought they were going to be. This is where the greenhouse will help - getting a head start and starting them under glass is, we realise, the way forward for good big onions.

We ponder sowing green manure on an empty bit in one of the beds and then I realise with a shock - that we have to have a plan for next year to know what to do with the beds as they finish this year. It may be better to leave it depending on what we intend to grow. You really have to think ahead. It's already the start of autumn and you can see the first signs of it on the plot. Two of the three apples on one tree have dropped, leaving one enormous fruit. The coxes are probably ready to pick although some of them have "issues".

The butternut squash is doing fine. The fruits are hardening up and we did some trimming off the shoots that aren't going to produce anything new. The leeks are still looking a little unhappy but we remain confident that their time will come. Next year we will experiment with leeks that come into their own earlier in the year. We discover to our surprise a rogue courgette plant amongst the squash which is harbouring what can only be described as a marrow. We had our first corn last week - very nice if a tad underripe.

Beans are still coming from the main patch and the runner beans on the wigwams are really getting into their stride now, as are raspberries. We were too tired to strim today - having weeded the beds, harvested and tidied up we have just enough strength to lug home our produce, whereupon we had to make instant managerial decisions as to its fate.

One of the questions to ponder is - whether to grow more of the crops next year that last over winter (roots, potatoes, kale, cabbage, leek) and less of the more ephemeral stuff (beans, courgette). We're hopeful that the transplanted winter cabbage and kale will be OK but will they be enough to keep us going? Another question that we have been actively addressing is our consumption of meat. Without really discussing it, we have drastically reduced our meat intake - partly because we have so many other things to eat, partly because red meat is a prime contributor to global warming. It's odd to think of meat as a sort of special treat but it's surprisingly easy to get used to.

And we had our second Allotment Association barbecue this weekend too which was great fun. Doesn't time fly when you're drowning in vegetables!

8 & 15 August 2009 - What a pickle

This blog is going to focus on Outputs rather than Progress Reports. But before we get onto that, we know you'll want a quick roundup of progress.

These two weekends have been extremely busy - we are in the eye of the storm in terms of harvesting, tending, weeding, etc, and we are truly tired by the end of each session. Courgettes and now beans (french and dwarf) are regularly picked. The recently planted runner beans have swarmed up their poles and the opportunistic peas also recently sown have come up strong. Raspberries are beginning to make themselves felt and more potatoes dug up (second earlies).

The pumpkin (spreading amongst the potatoes on the bank) managed to surprise us with a large hidden fruit and the butternut squash are beginning to throw out fruits - though the ones in the main bed seem to be getting got by something. The old original peas have been taken down and regular broccoli has been harvested - note to self - do not sow so many broccoli next year. Mind you I said that last year. The transplanted leeklings are still not great but at least they are upright. We hope that they are late winter leeks and just need lots of growing. We've also had a second, mighty tasty cabbage and on-going carrots, and dug up some of the onions. Rainbow chard coming up strong too. Opportunistic sowing of spring onions and pak choi. So, as you can see, lots going on.

But what do we do with it all? As last year, we realise that we have to run to keep up with the amount of produce. At the top of the blog is a typical harvest from a week's growth - more than we can eat. Harvesting and storing are the main reasons we can't leave the plot at this time of year for longer than one week. Here is a list of Outputs.

General excess - veggie bags to our Neighbours and miscellaneous visitors. Nobody who visits the plot goes away empty-handed. Usually consist of broccoli, potatoes, carrots, courgettes and very special one-off gifts of garlic (as we have a shed-load).

Carrots - quite a lot have been frozen. Mostly kept in storage for home usage or munched directly from the soil after washing.

Potatoes - stored in garage, kept in storage for home usage, general excess.

Beans - some frozen and kept in storage for home usage.

Broccoli - some frozen, general excess, fresh consumption at home.

Shallots - kept in storage for home usage, pickled.

Strawberries - munched, fresh consumption at home, jam.

Courgette - fresh pickle, general excess, fresh consumption at home, chutney, have just found a recipe for courgette cake (deep joy), help - running out of ideas

Garlic - kept in storage for home usage, one failed garlic in oil experiment (YEUCH), pickle

Peas - some frozen, fresh consumption at home.

Cabbage - fresh consumption at home.

We wonder about whether we should weigh everything, so that the end of the year we can say grandly that the plot produced 100lbs of produce (and that's probably just the courgettes). It's very interesting how differently we have to treat each vegetable once it is harvested. For example, soft fruit can be frozen but it's delicious eaten raw in situ. The maincrop onions and potatoes, when they are dug, will be stored for winter usage. Shallots on the other hand which keep just as well we decide to pickle. Courgettes are so versatile that we can do all sorts with them, though making chutney from one recipe means that we have to buy 1.5kg tomatoes, etc. We counter the expense by blagging free apples from The Neighbours. But still there is something inherently satisfying in cooking a huge batch of chutney from one 1.5kg monster courgette - even though when we made it yesterday it took 7 hours to solidify (which is probably the reason I decided to share the experience with you today).

Freezing is another option but we have been more choosy about what to freeze. Courgette though willing is not quite up to the mark (ahem) when it is defrosted, though peas and beans are fine. Carrots are OK, but nowhere near as nice. So there are limitations - and of course, we are both eating more vegetables than we have eaten in our whole lives.

So what pickle recipes do you use, we hear you ask? Well, for the shallots and jam, it was Delia. Simple, straightforward and the Goddess Delia is always right. For the courgette pickle, we rely on a somewhat shabby cutout of a Jamie Oliver recipe from the News of the World magazine (I know, I know, you're all shocked - but this is a feisty, "fresh" pickle that is ready in days to eat and very reliable). For the pickled garlic, some anonymous recipe from the internet involving soy sauce and honey (very tasty). For the chutney, we used a recipe circulated by Jan and Pat - it was light on the detail of when to call it a day and how long to leave it before we eat it so we decide 3 months before consumption to be on the safe side. The ingredients were courgette, apple, garlic, tomatoes, mixed spice, chili powder, mustard seeds, sugar and vinegar. The house smells like the pickle factory of my youth. On the right is the sum total so far of the pickling for your admiration.

We are going to enter the jam into The Show but we know there will be stiff competition. Too soon for the chutneys, alas. They and the pickled shallots will be left for 3 months. So they can remind us of summer and our herculean labours. And we haven't even mentioned the produce that we have acquired - such as a pumpkin and several cucumbers from various allotment neighbours.

Weather note: warm but not too warm, rain, cloud, you name it. Good growing conditions (i.e. we don't have to make special watering trips.)

1 August 2009 – End of staycation

Time alone will tell whether today was the best day of the year in the allotment. Perhaps, though, it is our end-of-staycation-tinged view that has made our day seem so rich.

To start, we had an 80th birthday party for Jim, who, we believe, is the oldest Burydell allotmenteer and, it is rumoured, whose father and grandfather had plots here. About 40 people turned up at lunchtime at The Falcon Public House (the pub nearest to Burydell Lane) and Jim was presented with a new bench for his plot. We may all be pitching in to help him in future, as his primary helper is moving house and will not be able to drop in as often. More community spirit.

A natter with the Ladies and a few other familiar faces, then off to the plot, which is in full bloom. Maincrop potatoes still doing well, despite us having had to remove two plants suffering from Leaf Curl. Cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli doing well, although some off the latter sort of going to seed. These stalks removed to the compost, with tender shoots to follow (we hope).

Onions and kale getting on well. Leeks, transported from the seed bed a little while ago, are perking up. K narrowed the deep wells into which they had been moved, because they didn't seem to have the strength/support to bring themselves erect. (We've all been there.)

Apples. Despite good advice from our Hungarian apple expert, the tree I like best has produced only three apples - though fine, plump apples they are. There's something we need to learn re pruning - all the new growth each autumn? Blueberry plant seems to be flagging. Autumn raspberries will explode soon.

Their Fruit Cage neighbours, two leeks, we have left in flower, as the bees love them. We will take a view nearer the Agricultural Show on whether to enter the fine, sturdy beasts.

Original peas dying away, and yet, and yet, newly planted peas are emerging. Too late for a further crop? Who knows?

Various beans and the corn are growing, but seem shorter in general than those of other plots.

Plentiful sun reminded us that a visit by our 3.5 year old neighbour Connor had been postponed earlier in the week due to showers. It turned out that he had a window in his diary (after a nap) and he, Jo and Dave dropped by for carrot-picking and the harvest of a small bag of second-early potatoes from the bank. He has a gift, we think, for spotting potatoes as they are uncovered by the pitchfork. They also left with a courgette (something like our eighth to date), and Dave's growing conviction that he is a Man of the Soil who should become an Allotmenteer.

So far, then, community spirit and conversion.

We left with second-earlies, courgettes, broccoli, carrots, raspberries and blueberries.

Earlier in the week - the second of our two-week staycation - we had a much-enjoyed, and all-too-brief visit from our friend the eminent Professor Jeffery, who had a feast of our produce at supper. He seemed to approve of our plot activities, and kindly carried home the first of our summer cabbages, a monster. (NB. this was one of the Homebase seedlings and turned out to be exceedingly tasty.)

Of the 148 garlic bulbs harvested recently, now drying in our home greenhouse, several have been pickled and, today, one put into herby oil for snacking. As the Radlett deli owner, himself an allotment novice, said, a 148-bulb harvest allows you some scope for experimentation. The drying bulbs could be smelled next door, but we hope to smooth over any temporary discomfort through vegetable bribery.

So it seemed to us, on balance, to have been a fine day, perhaps the day that will epitomise the summer of 2009.

July 2009 - Staycation Bumper Edition

Three long weeks without blogging doesn't mean that there hasn't been lots of action. And now we have a chance to catch up as we are having a Staycation - 2 weeks holiday, most of which we will spend at home. Not because of the credit crunch but because we cannot leave the allotment for a 2 week period in the summer time. Note that the search for something to provide shade is over - a £4 beach umbrella from Marlows.

So much going on and to do too. Much of the time on the plot has been spent weeding. It takes up so much time and energy, even with a fully charged wacker. And there's the bank now too. End of wingeing about the weeding.


Far more exciting headline news - we have harvested a grand total of 148 garlic bulbs on 24 July. We could probably corner the garlic market in Hertfordshire. Consulting the blog, we think we planted around 100 cloves - but that may have been an estimation, and 148 might be slightly out as quite frankly we were giddy with garlic fumes in the greenhouse (where they are drying). This picture does not do the sheer amount of them justice. We anxiously think about what we are going to do with them as this is roughly 3 times as many as last year - a few of which we still have. Lots of garlic pickling coming up and our friends can expect to receive garlic gifts. Enuff garlic already. The bag next to the garlic contains our shallot harvest, the majority of which we will pickle. The picture on the left is the same bed now populated with leek seedlings, transplanted from the seedbed. I am very proud of the expert way I did the dibber thing to make the hole and confidently placed the leekling inside. Quite different from last year. And they are not too big to move either (as last year's were according to some). (Philosophical note: perhaps the excess of garlic makes up for the dearth of peas.)

To the left is the remainder of the first earlies. The plants looked bitten and as we had already dug up quite a few we thought we'd dig up the rest. They are exceedingly tasty and no doubt our friends will benefit from a few presents of these too - as of course we have the joys of the second earlies to look forward to. To the right is the empty space on the bank where the first earlies were - now sown with green manure in a possibly vain attempt to keep out the weeds. The shadow is the Pagoda (mighty fruitcage which has received some remedial treatment to its structure).

Other breaking news from the plot.

Bed 1 - rainbow chard and a few late sown carrots coming through and an empty space where the shallots were. We think we'll go for a late sowing of peas, given the disappointing show of peas in bed 6 which got got by pea moth. This rendered half the crop inedible. The peas that were given to us by neighbours etc were much better but not enough of them. We have only frozen 2 or 3 small bags. The rest of the bed contains onions including the giant ones. There are no pictures of bed 1 or 6.

Bed 2 - as reported, garlic now pulled and replaced by leeks. Butternut squash also in residence looking happy. This was only meant to be a temporary measure before moving it to the bank but we've decided to let it be.

Bed 3 - various kinds of broccoli happening. We have frozen a fair bit and our pregnant Neighbour is scoffing quite a lot. It is delicious. The summer sprouting (?) stuff looks particularly nice. The red cabbages moved fairly recently have suffered badly from either slugs or caterpillar, but the other ones (sown in situ) look fine. Not sure what that means. The summer cabbage is also quite bitten but hopefully will be ready to eat soon as they are bloody huge. The winter cabbage also sown in situ looks good. As you can see, the nasturtiums have been a great success and make the bed look really "on trend".

Bed 4 - maincrop potatoes looking good, except for 2 which have leaf roll virus which is serious. The book says that they can be treated but apparently the chemical is no longer sold according to the garden centre. This leaves us with a moral dilemma which we have yet to resolve. As the virus affects the yield, maybe we should dig these plants up to prevent others getting infected. Or maybe the aphid that spreads the virus has gorn orf somewhere.

Bed 5 - now here's a bed that's going places. Lots of growth over the recent period. The corn and french beans are now well established whilst the squash is getting itself sorted. The main attraction though - of course - are the three courgette plants. They are already shooting out courgettes and we are now back in the familiar territory of excess courgettery. The yellow one is fab, though the courgettes look a bit like bananas. And yes they are yellow all the way through. The runner beans optimistically planted recently have come up and are climbing up their poles. I heave a sigh of relief - a plot without runner beans cannot be right.

Bed 7 - carrots are doing well and we've had and frozen lots. We've also sown some more with a view to overwintering. The parsnip plumage indicates that all is well with them too, though we don't know when to pull them up.

Pagoda - strawberries, alas, now finished but they were much better than last year. We must pot some runners for the greenhouse. The summer raspberries have yielded their first harvest but to be honest, people, we don't rate them as highly as the autumn brigade. The fruit is not as big or firm and they seem sickly compared to their exuberant autumn relatives. The blueberry has been getting into the swing of things and we've had quite a few delicious helpings. The seedbed has been cleared of leeklings and a strange broccoli (don't know, don't ask) which just seemed to sprout and bolt in about 10 minutes. Now we have kale and (I hope) some more winter cabbage seedlings left in there. There are 3 leeks left in the seedbed from last year and we decided to let them flower to see what happened. As you can see, Mr Bumble Bee finds them delicious.

Bank - two asparagus thingies have come up and the rhubarb is looking magnificent. We have spoken already about the potatoes. The pumpkin is having issues. While it is spreading, any nascent pumpkins have been spoiled by The Slug. We have sprayed it and put pellets down.

Weather note - warm, rainy, sunny, downpours, storms - usual English summer really

Good points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "great, now we know how to do X better"; courgettes; carrots; garlic; broccoli; strawberries; potatoes; shallots; nasturtiums

Bad points - opportunity to reflect on last year's experiences compared to this year and thinking "bugger, these (X) are nowhere near as good as last year"; peas; leaf roll virus; gaps appearing in beds with no back-up plan (e.g. bed 1).

So let the pickling begin!!

27 June 2009 - Hot hot hot

Blimey, it's hot. As I type, we have officially entered into a Heatwave. There's swings and roundabouts associated with heatwaves - swings are that crops like corn and beans get plenty of incentive, but roundabouts are that you have to water and be extra vigilant for things drying out. We try not to do it too often so as to encourage a proper spirit of sustainability - for some crops (e.g. parsnips), it's actually better if they are not watered so that the roots go down really deep. On the left is my first ever attempt at strawberry jam - 1.8lb of strawberries = 1.5 jars of jam. It's a very messy and tense business but tastes delicious. This is because we have that most joyous of things, a strawberry glut, many more fruits than last year. We even had the Neighbours over for a summer bbq and plied them with strawberries so as to use some up (and to see them as well of course).

Other developments include harvesting of the first broccoli and freezing it; removal and composting of both the noble chard and spinach as they had given way entirely to the reproductive urge. In their place we have sown rainbow chard (a rainbow of chard) and overwintering carrots as an experiment.

Overwintering onions, sown so long ago now, were harvested. A few of them (4/5) were of decent size but otherwise they are tiny. We decide to pickle these. Perhaps starting them in the greenhouse in the autumn will give us a better result next year as the yield is quite disappointing given their long gestation. Likewise some shallots, though we are not sure whether it's time, to see what happens. All laid out in our greenhouse, a far cry from last year when Jan and Pat kindly lent us their.s

We have reluctantly concluded that the various sowings of peas in the dodgy bit are not yielding the required results at all, so dug them up and reconfigured that area into two runner bean wigwams. After anxious consultation of the authorities, we conclude that it isn't too late to sow them direct. Orthodoxy be damned.

As you know, we dug up some new potatoes a couple of weeks back and have decided to leave the rest for a little while longer. The second earlies are definitely looking healthier as plants, so maybe the bank is not the best start for first earlies (this is about yield not quality).

But - other bank news - the giant pumpkin however is doing well and there is one baby fruit already - not bad. The rhubarb seems to have got over its teenage angst and has produced truly majestic leaves. And there is ONE proper asparagus spear.

The courgettes are showing their first flowers, though the plants are still fairly small. The other - main - peas are so nearly ready to pick. Someone already has sampled them to assess readiness. They are not quite there yet. But very soon will be. Carrots and parsnips are blossoming (well not actually but you know what I mean).

The brassicas are doing well, though the transplanted red cabbage still look not entirely comfy in their new home. We inspect the last remaining brassicas (excepting kale) in the seedbed and see that they are now summer purple sprouting broccoli. Yikes. Other recent sowings of winter cabbage (yes I know there are some already in the main bed but I like to be sure) and kale have come up. Summer raspberries are also beginning to ripen and one majestic loganberry is daring us to pick it. Blueberries are still an intriguing shade of green rather than blue.

The corn is definitely having a growth spurt and we hope that the french beans will catch up. They are in the game but seem a little shy. The onions have rallied and are getting weekly doses of magic juice. We have great hopes of rivalling Mr G in this year's show.

We have been experimenting with making a shelter to provide shade over our bench, as it is very hot in full sun and there is no shade elsewhere. The search for Sir N's perfect shade solution continues.

24 June 2009 - Viral carrots

We are entering the season of plenty.

Brought carrots to work for Sally and David. See their feedback here (if necessary, scroll to 24 June 2009).

6/7-13/14 June 2009 - 24 Hour Rolling News

Two weekends' worth in one blog. There is simply not enough time to garden, do allotment, tend greenhouse and now blog. But we must try. The greenhouse is very beautiful and even has some things in it, mostly tomatoes which is ye traditional greenhouse croppe. However, we have enlivened the proceedings with a melon (cripes!), cucumber, chili and sweet peppers. Whether any of these will survive the mysterious rituals of "damping down", raising blinds (wot blinds?), temperature control and ventilation who can tell. As far as our loyal readers are concerned, the chief value of the greenhouse is the opportunity it affords us to get more developed stuff on the plot at an earlier point.

(There may be editorial changes to this post along with pictures.)

Rather than go Bed by Bed as in recent blogs, we'll just give you an overview of proceedings.

Seeds sown - more Winter Cabbage and Kale in the seedbed, additional remedial peas for what we had fondly hoped would be a flourishing pea/mangetout area but is sadly not (fear not, the other peas at the end of the plot are doing great). This is a mystery, as we did dig in two trenches there of household compost.

Plants moved/planted - practically all the brassicas have been moved from the seedbed to the brassica bed. These are broccoli (2 sorts) and red cabbage. Not much space left so the winter cabbage/kale can only be moved once the summer crops are eaten. Everything on this bed looking very healthy, including the first broccoli which are now developing their calabrese heads, so here's to the Power of Lime. And the new netting solution not only looks great but seems (touch wood) to have prevented any Cabbage Whites from invading and laying their dastardly brood. But we mustn't count our eggs (or cabbages/broccoli). We donated two broccoli seedlings to Jan and Pat. Sunflower seedlings planted at the end, along with a couple of runner beans.

A few french beans and corn, sown directly into the ground, have come up. However, there are large gaps. Plan B (sowing some at home, buying from Homebase) has been put into action. The weird thing was that by accident and certainly not be design there were exactly the right number of seedlings to fill the gaps - spooky.

Weeds - weed weed weed weed, along along the bank and a huge effort in the Pagoda, where the many tall grass stems were getting seriously out of hand.

Construction - we began the assembly of a temporary shade shelter thingy to affix to the shed roof, as we have no shade on the plot.

General progress notes - all appears to be doing well, other than the peas mentioned above. We have been carefully selecting carrots as delicious hors d'oevres. Munching a just picked carrot is true joy. One of the first early potatoes made an early entry into the world due to the vigour of the weeding exercise and it was duly served with supper. We take a bite and are instantly rewarded by the sublime taste of early potato, a reminder of why we got so much into growing our own in the first place. There is really nothing like it - no butter or salt needed, just the true taste of potato.

The recently planted broccoli and squash appear to have survived, bar one which went to the slugs. We purchased a large pumpkin seedling and have defiantly planted it on the bank, surrounded by a temporary plastic pot and many slug pellets. And strawberries! We have now picked our first bunch and they are lovely, though evil mice have had a go at a few of the ripe ones. We put down traps baited with strawberry - which are completely ignored. Rats (ho ho). Onions, shallots, parsnips and garlic all looking healthy, and indeed, the overwintering onions look almost ready for eating.

Unfortunately, the runner beans sown into the Pagoda seem to have been consumed which is sad for me, who likes eating them. Although we remain hopeful that one or two might defeat the weeds and rise up.

Soon we will be eating, on a regular basis, broccoli, onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, strawberries (and blueberries), potatoes and peas. Yum. And that's before all the bean and courgette frenzy.

Weather notes: very rainy few days has made a huge difference to the plot. Plenty of sunny days, some quite hot. We now have a sprinkler device (we have to keep up with Jan and Pat after all).

Philosophical note: I ponder as to what our harvest will look like this year, in comparison to last year. We did so well last year, knowing very little. Now we know more, but will this in itself make any difference? There is no doubt that we will have a different kind of harvest - more garlic and onions, less peas. But that is part of the "fun" and a cost-benefit analysis (hours worked/output) seems totally inappropriate under the circumstances.

30/31 May 2009 - Phew wot a scorcher

Lots of work on the plot this weekend which was beautiful - hot and sunny with a slight breeze. We divided our forces so that N was engaged in erecting (ahem) the new Greenhouse which is great, and I did a lot of stuff on the plot. There are photos but frankly one is a little cream crackered so forgive me this time for not adding them.

Aside from the usual strimming and weeding (we do seem to get a lot especially around the borders which is a real pain) the following activities took place.

Bed 1 - chard is beginning to bolt and the overwintering onions are looking like real onions. Big job was to sort out the various onions as it seemed that there was a lot of space being wasted with the erratic germination of the original sowings. I am confident that I now know the meaning of the phrase "to know one's onions" as you really have to know what is what when sorting out the various seedlings. Suffice to say after a lot of pondering bed 1 is now the happy home for all the onions that have emerged, including the remedial onions sown at home. Not many red onions, alas.

Bed 2 - garlic is going nuts and the space vacated by the various onions has been given a bit of compost from the blue bag. We are using this as a temporary nursery bed for 1 courgette and 3 squash seedlings, duly planted and watered. I also used a new anti-slug product, a kind of gel that claims to be kind to nature etc whilst being deathly to slugs. We will see.

Bed 3 - the seedlings sown direct are looking great, as is the spring cabbage. They are carefully covered with enviromesh. I moved the first sown broccoli (February??) into the same quadrant as the spring cabbage. They are already showing their heads - they are calabrese. Unfortunately they have all wilted with the shock of the move though we are optimistic they will improve with judicious watering.

Bed 4 - just watered the maincrop potatoes and removed the purple sprouting broccoli.

Bed 5 - all traces of kale and rocket now removed (both covered with some hideous grey bug thing) and put onto reordered compost area. 3 courgettes and 2 butternut squash were planted, again after a bit of extra compost was added. Very excitingly the corn and beans sown a few weeks ago are beginning to appear. We have some "spares" in case things are not altogether successful and have been offered some corn seedlings by Derek. We are great believers in sowing direct, even though we will have the greenhouse to start things off. Will our lives change? The peas are beginning to show too, though I am confused now between peas and mangetout. Oh well.

Bed 6 - peas are still doing great one side, not so great the other, though hopefully they will catch up. Lots of weeding here including getting rid of comfrey, which though removed from this area, still has a grip. Never mind, it goes straight into enriching the compost.

Bed 7 - the carrots are looking terrific, and the parsnips too. No sign yet of the second sowing of parsnips.

Pagoda - strawberry fruits and apples are forming well. Some remedial work needed on the summer raspberry fixings. They seem a lot more trouble than the autumn variety, though the latter have invasive characteristics similar to comfrey. The seedbed was weeded and all is doing well. I planted some runner bean plants inside - and a giant pumpkin. (There is also one in the compost shelter.) No sign yet of sweet peas.

Bank - the weeds are doing well (too hot to weed up there) and the potatoes are growing. Rhubarb still looking ratty and only one asparagus has shown itself. We plan to plant the butternut squash up there once the first earlies are up.

It doesn't look much when you write it down but gee it's a lot of work. The plot is now beginning its summer phase with the removal of the last winter crops. It's not just the manual side of things, but the thinking and working out alternatives and spacings. One has to be flexible and not panic too much. Sunday was enlived by a lovely bbq with our erstwhile neighbours, Jan and Pat - a great way to celebrate progress so far and to look forward to the harvest to come. We are still eating last year's maincrops - probably just enough to last until the first earlies come - and the garlic. Frozen courgettes and broccoli are available if need be. Aren't we lucky!

16 May 2009 - There'll be some pictures with this one

So now for the picture show. A productive day yesterday with photographic evidence now to show you for each bed. Stay put and enjoy the ride. We begin with a picture of potatoes coming up on the bank. Both first and second earlies are now showing well. Rhubarb looking a bit eaten still. One asparagus. We plan to put squash up here as there's more room. And the comfrey are flowering and attracting bees!

Weather note: changeable, sun, rain, usual spring stuff but no frost recently
Bed 1
Shallots, overwintering onions, giant onions, normal onions, chard, spinach. This bed has been a stalwart over the winter. The normal onions need sorting.




Bed 2
The magnificent garlic and patchy onions. Hard to weed. Some sorting of onions needed (cf. above).








Bed 3
Brassica bed divided into quadrants. On the left are a few spring cabbages and 2 cauliflower. On the right red cabbage, winter cabbage and summer sprouting broccoli - sown direct into the bed. All protected by N's ingenious new contraptions.

Bed 4
This is the maincrop potato bed, still with a few purple sprouting broccoli plants sharing the space for a wee while longer.




Bed 5
This bed is still betwixt and between. You can see where we sowed french beans and sweetcorn, marked by bottle cloches. In the foreground is the pea/mangetout frame. This has had to be adapted slightly as though they are coming up (finally - rejoice) it is in an irregular fashion, probably due to the design strategy adopted by Luc (aged 2 years). The green patch is the opportunistic rocket sown a while ago now. The purple flowery things are the wonderful kale, which look too pretty to uproot at the moment - see how big they are. Though they will have to be soon, to make room for courgettes and squash.
Bed 6
You can see that one side of peas has come up strongly. We planted the kindly donated seedlings by neighbours last week on the other side. Another example of N's innovative approach to construction.






Bed 7
Welcome to the famous carrot bed. Thriving for the most part. The thinnings indicate that the carrots are not forking (missus) which is great. N very pleased. I got permission to sow another row of parsnips at the end, as the first row are doing really well.






Fruitcage
At the bottom is the seedbed. The broccoli seedlings are doing particularly well and the first lot should be moved soon. Leeks, red cabbage, various broccoli and of course kale. The green bushes are raspberries and behind them are the strawberries which are flowering profusely - more I think than last year. Apple trees at the end, with the loganberry inbetween. Blueberries on the left and summer raspberries on the right. I took the opportunity to plant some runner beans all around the edge as the spares we planted last year did really well. The household does not appreciate runner beans as much as french beans, hence they don't have the usual pean/bean arrangements. The fruitcage, aka Pagoda, is a bugger to weed.

And so ends our visual entertainment. I don't know how to switch off the underline function so here's looking at you - and you looking at our blog.

9-10 May 2009 - A little catching up to do

Once again, technical issues prevent photos being added at this time but we couldn't carry on keeping you in the dark. We promise a picture only spectacular soon. We realise too that while there has been much work on the plot, you probably don't believe us given the length of time since our last communique. We have been preoccupied with holidays and garden improvements. Of the latter, we can only reveal at this stage that we are now the proud possessors of a New Greenhouse. This means that not only can crops be started earlier (a source of much anxiety when we spot others' more advanced seedlings) but be able to grow tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and cucumbers. Hoorah! We just have to get the damn thing up now without breaking anything. Perhaps we should dedicate a separate blog to the GH... We digress.

A summary of each bed's contents and progress follows.

Bed 1 - some onions have sprung up from the seed planted a while back (two sorts - red and ordinary). Only some have appeared but we are now the proud possessors of several Giant Onion seedlings courtesy of Mr G, purchased at the recent Allotment Plant Sale (19 April) as well as the overwintering onions. The chard is going positively bonkers in the spring air and we have had lots to eat and some spinach to. The parsnips have failed to come up - I glean from books that parsnips are fairly fussy about soil and it is noticeable that the ones sown in the carrot bed (bed 7) have come up. The shallots are doing their hippy thing.

Bed 2 - garlic is doing very well but again the onion seeds sown are variable - they come up in little patches which is frustrating. May have to rethink the onion strategy. We baulk at sets. It seems like cheating. No matter, we have sown some "emergency" onions in the temporary Greenhouse facility at home for transplantation.

Bed 3 - we have now moved into quadrants for the various broccoli as this bed is quite big. Several spring cabbage seedlings purchased from Homebase are doing very well, as are two cauliflowers (purchased from the aforesaid plant sale) - this is quadrant 1. Quadrant 2 is a daring experiment in direct sowing of seeds cutting out the middleman of the seedbed. Here are winter cabbage, summer sprouting broccoli and red cabbage. They have come up and are looking sprightly. Remedial netting has been applied to defeat the White Cabbage Butterfly, curses on it for being both beautiful and deadly. The nasturtiums are beginning to come up but only a few marigolds so far. No matter - we have sown marigolds at home for transplantation.

Bed 4 - purple sprouting broccoli has been good but now coming to an end. Not so sure it is worth the extremely long wait but tasty nonetheless. We have planted our maincrops there (2 weeks previous). I find potato planting timings a little arbitrary but they were planted before the end of April which is the main thing. We worry about being able to eat all the potatoes ars we are still eating last year's crop (which my sister pronounces as very tasty mashed).

Bed 5 - this bed is still in transition (to use a work phrase). The kale are well and truly spent. We have let them flower both in a homage to their mighty performance and to admire the lovely yellow flowers on these strong yet delicate purple plants. They will, alas, be pulled up soon to make way for courgettes (both varieties now sown at home), beans (ditto), corn (ditto - but as last year I am unhappy with their progress), squash. May be reduced to buying some corn seedlings, chiz. We have had frustrations with sowing peas and mangetout in this bed as for some reason very little has come up. We may have to resort to emergency measures and will probably sow some at home. This bed will soon look very different. A little patch of rocket, sown a few weeks back, is now resplendent though no radishes (unless we have eaten radish leaves without knowing of course).

Bed 6 - we sowed peas there a few weeks back and have patchy success with germination. Application of mousetraps didn't seem to help. Remedial resowing has resulted in a few more plants but we were saved from doom and despondency (we love our peas) by the kind offer of some 14 extra seedlings from a kindly neighbour with some to spare. N had to repair the netting structure which was blown around by the wind but is now looking fab.

Bed 7 - carrots sown at various times are coming up as are the parsnips. N very excited and applies himself vigorously to the thinning process. Might see if I can sneak another row of parsnips in without N noticing - is it too late?

Pagoda - one apple tree (Cox) in better shape than the other, which again has been beset by ants. The first apple tree has blossomed well, as have the loganberry and the bigger blueberry. Little blueberry is still in short trousers. Raspberries, both summer and autumn now getting going, and the seedbed is pretty full of broccoli (various sorts), red cabbage, leeks (two rows) and of course kale. The first lot of broccoli seedlings are now quite big and will need to be moved soon. The sweetpeas are beginning to sprout upwards.

The Bank - first earlies have come up and looking good, with second earlies beginning to show. I sowed some sunflowers on 19 April, but none look to have come up yet, though the Bank is not the most hospitable environment what with the never ending battle with The Weeds. One asparagus of the two crowns planted has made an appearance too. The rhubarb is being eaten by something but is otherwise growing. (These two latter crops can not be eaten this year of course as it is their first year.) The comfrey is about to blossom - these plants are incredible in their rate of growth. Many flowers on the strawberries (which have self-increased due to runners).

Other developments have been the welcome arrangement with a nearby horse stable whereby we can purchase good manure for 25p a bag (proceeds to Association). We now have a lovely stash of the stuff gently maturing in one of the compost areas.

Weather note: mostly typical spring weather, mixture of sun, wind and showers. We have got sunburnt a couple of times up there but have still managed to enjoy our allotment picnics. It has been more dry recently and we have had to water. Otherwise, fasten your seatbelts for the next phase, which will be a positive orgy of planting in Bed 5 and expansion of contents in Bed 3. We are definitely more organised this year - but can we match the success of last year? This must be the gardener's dilemma, and incentive.

Good things: potatoes, garlic, apple tree, various brassica seedlings coming up so reliably, carrots, shallots, sun
Bad things: patchy onions, peas, mangetout, little blueberry, wind blowing stuff about, usual slug anxiety

13 April 2009 - A week is a long time in gardening

Dear Readers, we are struggling with technology on many different fronts, so although there are photos on my (replacement) phone they may take a while to appear on this blog. But appear they will because there is a lot to see so don't tut and give up on us.

Highlights are the shallots which now look like 60s flower children - crazy, man. Their green tentacles/spikes/shoots are well and truly doing their thing, even the slow ones. Other highlights are the fantastic garlic which is going for glory and the onions - god bless them - are showing their tiny heads at long last. And a few peas have risen up.

In terms of the winter crops, the chard is throwing out large leaves and looking very confident. Some was harvested, as was the trusty kale and purple sprouting broccoli. The kale looks as though it will flower shortly so we will let them do that and then consign them to the Great Compost Heap in the sky.

Today we sowed winter cabbage, red cabbage and autumn broccoli straight into the brassica bed (bed 3) instead of in the seed bed. An experiment.

The strawberries got a spring clean (remove dead and decaying leaves) and there is the beginnings of blossom on the two apple trees. The raspberries are going hip hip hoorah and the seedlings in the bed are doing well.

There has been a lot of rain in the last week and that has clearly made the difference. Although the soil now feels warm to the touch and many of our old enemies, the weeds, are making an appearance, there is still the danger of ground frost. But we felt confident enough to remove the covering from the first early potatoes.

And there are many carrot seedlings and more have been sown. And - I think - the first parsnip seedlings are showing. They are notoriously slow to germinate so I hope they are not weeds. The growing season has well and truly got under way and we are ready (ish). Readier than we were last year, anyway.

5 April 2009 - Spring!?

As a well-earned break from dismantling and reassembling our garden shed (to make room for the coming greenhouse), N and K planted our fifth bankside crop: more potatoes, which have moved from the comfort of the spare room (where they've been chitting) to the sunny bank. You should have seen their eyes!

Beautiful weather.

28/29 March 2009 - March winds

Two weekends to catch up on. 21/22 March was busy and so was 28/29 March too. No slacking, no sirree. Due to technical issues we were not able to take photos except the one on the left, which is of the new carrot seedlings in the Rolls Royce carrot bed.

Bed 1 - Shallots are now springing into life. They look like anenomes and are rather exotic looking. Chard is looking good and strong and the spinach is also looking better. Chicken manure pellets scattered to refresh the overwintering onions as they have had a hard time over the winter (predictably). They also got a drink of Magic Juice which hopefully hasn't fermented into some toxic brew since we last used it in September.

Bed 2 - Garlic looking good, no onions as yet.

Bed 3 - Nasturtiums and french marigold sown round the edge. This is supposed to divert the nasties from our lovely cabbages etc.

Bed 4 - Great news. The purple sprouting broccoli is now actually sprouting as it should and is very tasty. We had the first harvest with our neighbours for our Earth Hour celebration - very primeval.

Bed 5 - Kale hanging on in there and we planted two rows of peas in the bit that had previously been prepared for beans. We are flexible and dug the other side of the bed into trenches with kitchen waste for the beans, though there is still an on-going debate as to the sort of beans (french and/or runner) we are planting. Runner beans will definitely feature in the Pagoda though. Sowed radish and rocket in between the kale on the first weekend, and radish, as ever, has won the race to appear.

Bed 6 - We sowed two rows of peas and a row of mangetout.

Bed 7 - Carrots are finally showing their little feathery heads (see above).

Pagoda - Sticky wrappers were applied to the fruit trees. This is the organic way of preventing ant infestation. It traps the little sods. We forgot to mention that we have added a loganberry to our little orchard. So - raspberries, strawberries, apples, blueberries and loganberries will be ours for the munching.

Seedbed - Various seedlings are bursting forth and we sowed another row of leeks. The red cabbage and summer sprouting broccoli are the latest to be displayed. Some are in plastic bottles, others not. They seem to grow nonetheless, though the very first we sowed are definitely looking larger.

Bank - Rhubarb has grown exponentially and is clearly happy. No sign of the asparagus.

We were somewhat diverted by another security incident which necessitated the creation of a working party on Sunday to repair the torn fence and to plant hawthorn whips inside the boundary. We will add holly and there is the prospect of free fence panelling. Interesting that this time we decided to do something practical fairly quickly, although details remain to be sorted out. We have to protect our plots, not just from the wrigglies but from other vermin too.

Weather note: fairly unpredictable - warm sunny spells but windy and cold patches too. And some rain, which is good.