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!
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Sunday, 17 May 2009
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
7Welcome 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.
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
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
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
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