Hurrah a sunny Saturday!

When Thomas saw this picture he thought we had some sort of Kraken plant growing in the allotment. It is actually the head of a sunflower - In the sun!!!

Despite what the weatherman predicted yesterday was lovely, I think it was the hottest day since April! We had already harvested about half the Desiree potatoes over the course of a couple of rainy Sundays, so we were really happy to get another 5 carrier bags full from the 15 remaining plants. I will definitely have Desiree again next year as a main crop, they have been tasty and virtually pest free - obviously with all the rain there has been no sign of scab! When the ground had been cleared I put in the Butternut Squash. We have not had very good results growing these from seed - half the seeds didn't germinate and 2 grew upside down - very weird to see leaves growing into the soil and roots in the air. Not sure why this happened but I ended up with 3 plants - probably more than enough if they produce as well as the courgette have been doing. We have had a steady crop of courgette since the middle of April, harvesting 3 or 4 on a Sunday, by the following Sunday there have been another 3 or 4 ready. Last week there was one on the small side so decided to leave it, by yesterday it had grow into a marrow! OK, not quite a marrow, but a very large courgette. Mum said she was going to make soup, has anyone else got any ideas for storing courgette?

On a previous post I had said that there was no real difference in the Bright Lights chard and the organic one from the Real Seed company - I have a revised opinion now. 1. The Bright Lights looks much prettier, varying colours of leaves and stems, including this almost purple and yellow one(above). 2. The sparrows prefer to munch the Bright Lights so you would need to net it, unless you have too much like we have! 3. The organic one has bolted and gone to seed - this could be good if you want to save the seed but I would rather have nice tasty leaves now. 4. Stink bugs appear to favour the organic one (not sure if stink bugs damage the plants at all, but they really do stink if you happen to scare them - a bit like a skunk, they expel a really noxious smelling liquid) 5. The stems on the Bright Lights are much thicker - I like stems best. Conclusion - Bright Lights are better for me.The tomatoes are coming on well both inside and outside the greenhouse. The plants in the greenhouse are much bigger and have a lot more flowers and small fruit, the ones outside have had a pretty poor summer so I don't suppose it is really fair to compare, if the weather continues like this until the autumn I fear that we won't get many to ripen outside.

The runner beans are flowering well now they have established.

And some teeny tiny beans.

The apple tree that we brought from home has really benefited from being planted in the ground, rather than the container it was in. It is a James Greaves - a memory of childhood for me. My Nan used to have one in her garden and I used to help her pick the apples in the autumn. It is a really lovely old English apple but is best straight from the tree as they don't store too well.

The gourds have started to produce tiny fruit now, the only problem is since it was a mixed packet of seeds I won't know which variety they are - whoops, I didn't think of that at the time I bought them. I presume all gourds are edible, even the ornamental ones, might have to do a bit of research on that one. Lets hope the rain doesn't make them rot, I haven't decided if I should lift them off the ground - and if I do what to put them on. Any ideas?

The onions are starting to look ready for harvesting, I might leave them until next week, I am so impatient to harvest things but I know if I leave them they will get bigger. I have taken up the garlic from the garden at home. I knew we wouldn't have any space ready for them in the allotment last year so I put some in the garden, so glad I did, there is nothing quite like the taste of fresh garlic. I bought some sets from a garden centre about 4 years ago and grew it at home, I saved some of the smaller cloves in the pantry after harvesting . Then the following year I had my own sets. I have found they don't benefit either way from feeding or manure so any old bit of soil is fine, but they must get a heavy frost to give the best crop and are therefore best planted before the start of the winter. When they start to flower I pull them and leave them on the top of the soil to dry (unless it is 2007 and then I put them in the shed).

Mum decided she couldn't bear to see the thistles between the sunflowers and sweet peas any longer - check out the pile she fetched out of just that one small area, aaghhhhh!

But they do look pretty when they are in flower. We have left a small area of nettles and thistles for the wildlife. I think we may have to chop them all down before they seed though!

The bindweed is also looking pretty, what a shame it is so invasive!

I am just going to go and prepare dinner now. We are having fresh Salmon (half price from Tesco) with Fennel, Sage and Rosemary (from the garden) and Desiree potatoes, French Beans, Cauliflower, Chard and Courgette (from the allotment). Now that is what it is all about!

Rain Rain Go Away

I can't believe that 2 months ago we were having to water the allotment and praying for rain. We have now had 6 weeks of rain in one day. Not funny for our neighbours who's garden you can see in the photo above. We have come off quite lightly, there have been many more in Sheffield who's houses have been flooded for the second time in ten days.

On the plus side everything in the allotment is coming on in leaps and bounds. We harvested chard, potatoes and beetroot yesterday, the chard and potatoes were amazing with our Sunday lunch - yummy. It almost makes it all worth while. We still have a long way to go with the digging (and removing the weeds that have re-grown in the areas we have already dug) but now at least we can see the fruits (and vegetables) of our labours.

The bush tomatoes are flowering (Gardeners World hanging basket giveaway - Gartenpearl). We have planted some in grow bags in the greenhouse, some in pots in the greenhouse and some in the soil outside as a trial. At the moment the greenhouse pots seem to be winning but I will let you know when we get some tomatoes off them.

I have been given a cucumber plant, having never grown cucumbers before it was quite exciting to see this the other day.

One of the first peas (telephone) from the Real Seed company. Next year I must remember to plant on a higher frame, they have far exceeded the 5' net that I put up. I must also plant a bigger path between them, I am not sure how I am going to pick them as they have gone wild.

The potatoes are looking great and taste even better, these are Desiree and come up with a pretty red skin. So far the ones we have picked have been perfect, no damage at all from pest or scab. Possibly more luck than judgement, but all organic.

Potato flower (with a small bug - not sure what)

Chard - the first two rows nearest the camera are Bright Lights and the second two rows are organic seeds from the Real Seed Company. The Bright Lights looks pretty and the stalks are much wider but slightly tougher than the Real Seeds one but they have less leaf. The Real Seeds Company chard is all green and the stalks are thin but tender. Neither is a clear winner, I would grow either next year.

The arachnophobes amongst you shouldn't scroll down any further.

We found a female spider carrying her egg sack under her body - as Thomas said "cool"

And this was the sight that greeted me when I took the lid off the compost bin. I have never seen so many woodlice in one place!

For those of you who have been brave enough to scroll down here is my favourite picture this week, I can almost taste the bramble jelly!

One man and his shed

The shed is a couple of weeks old now but as promised, here is a photo. My Dad, looking very smug - as well he should be, standing in the doorway of his creation. The only thing we had to buy was some wooden uprights and some roofing felt, a total of £25. I challenge anyone to find a 7' shed in B&Q for that sort of money. A true allotment recycling endeavour.

The whole plot is looking absolutely amazing - even though I do say so myself. Hard to believe that in less than 10 months we have gone from shoulder high weeds to this. I am managing to keep on top of the weeds whilst planting crops in the newly prepared ground. My OH is doing a sterling job with the digging, he is very meticulous fetching out as much root as he can, although I am still finding that Rosebay Willow Herb, Couch Grass, Bind Weed and Thistle are tending to get the better of him. Until the end of the season and we dig the ground over again I am working in the hope that if I chop the tops off often enough they might give up and go away!

Our dog, Cassie, loves the allotment. Mainly because it means she gets to lay outside in the sun all day - I wonder where the saying "It's a dogs life" comes from? It sure looks like a good life to me.

The potatoes are coming on a treat, I can't wait to harvest them. Mmmm melted butter on freshly harvested boiled potatoes - yummy.


The Purple Sprouting Broccoli is not doing so well, I thought I had covered it up adequately with some plastic netting, the sort you pin to a wall to grow climbers up. Unfortunately I hadn't taken into account the size of the holes and the size of a pigeons head. Ah well live and learn - I've covered them properly now and sewn another row, just hope we have a long summer this year or it looks like Tesco will be providing our brassicas again this year.

The peas and the french beans look good too, originally I was going to make a 3 sisters bed as advocated by Carol Klein on her TV show Grow Your Own Veg. But having read the comments on Welsh Girls Allotment from other people who had tried it, apparently the beans grow up the sweetcorn and make it difficult to harvest anything. I have therefore opted for a 2 sisters bed, just the sweetcorn and squash. I don't mind wading through squash to pick the corn, and by the time the squash are ready the corn will be finished.

And finally - an egg. I found this buried just below the radish in the old bath. My OH had riddled all the soil before it went into the bath so there is no way that it could have come in with manure (as in Our Allotment Blog). I have seen other reports of mystery eggs, usually duck or goose but this one appears to be a hens egg. I don't think there are hens on the allotments, I have certainly not heard any. My only thought is that a fox buried it before the radish started to grow.

Last but not least, a photo of my garden, it looked so lovely in the sun today I couldn't resist posting this photo.

A Real Allotment

One month on and things are really starting to grow now. We have harvested our first crop - granted you can't really fail with radish, but never the less they were extremely yummy.

We are having to cover absolutely everything with netting, I made the mistake of planting out some cauliflower and not covering them. Even with CDs hanging over them by the next day the wood pigeons had annihilated them, leaving me with some poorly looking stalks. Luckily my mum had sewn a full packet of seeds (over 100 cauliflower) so we are not short of seedlings!

We have managed to acquire a huge amount of wood from a friend, enough to make a shed. Luckily my dad has offered to help so on May Day Bank Holiday we started by clearing the ground and laying some slabs.

Less than a week later we have a 7 foot shed, we certainly won't be short of storage space now. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I will post a picture next time.

One of the most satisfying plants I have grown from seed this year must be asparagus. I saved some seeds last year from the plants I have in the garden at home. We planted them in a seed tray, not expecting much but 6 weeks later we have baby asparagus plants. I will have to wait several years before I will be able to harvest them, at the moment they are a couple of inches tall. They look like little Christmas trees in the photo but they are really soft and feathery.

Planting

Things are moving along quickly now at the allotment and I have not had time to update for a while so I think a list is in order.

1. Seeds planted in the greenhouse by Mum - Basil, Coriander and Tumbling Tomatoes courtesy of Gardeners World free seeds hanging basket trial. Plus Sorrel, Cauliflower, Leeks, Courgette, Chard, Peas (so the mice don't get them) and Cardoon (I've never tried these but they look great, apparently you eat the stems of the leaves)

2. Thomas planted potatoes, onions and shallots, and now considers everything he plants to be his - although he has consented to share with us!
3. More digging and path laying (see the labels on the left of the path where the potatoes etc have been planted). As we haven't got enough wood yet to put in edging for the beds we are just using planks to walk on whilst we plant. Not ideal but it does allow us to put in plants and then think about the layout when we have finished digging.

4. Radish planted in the bath - just until it is time to put in the carrots. Apparently if you plant carrots in a bath they don't get attacked by carrot fly, something to do with how high they fly off the ground. I'll let you know if it works.

5. A week after planting the seeds have sprouted in the greenhouse - these are the peas (and cauliflower above them). The weather over Easter has been so hot and sunny we have been everyday to water the seedlings and open the greenhouse.

6. And the onions are sprouting.

7. The weed pile grows bigger still. I am in the process of reading up about companion planting and have discovered that the Mexican Marigold effects the growth of couch grass and bindweed, plus has a insecticidal effect on keeled slugs - sounds a winner to me, must see if I can source some. Has anyone got any other tips for companion plants that subdue the growth of weeds? I need all the help I can get!

8. Spring has well and truly sprung.

Happy Gardening

Getting There!

Although I have not been posting very frequently recently, we have still been going to the allotment. I have made a start on the path, we decided that the slabs would go further if I put bricks in between them, (I think it also looks nicer). Pete has been on holiday for 2 weeks and has been up to the plot everyday weather permitting, to keep up with the digging. We dismantled my sisters greenhouse last weekend and took it up to the allotment. Unfortunately just as we got there the rain came down - as my grandma used to say "in stair rods". We got soaked unloading it and decided enough was enough. Yesterday, as it was such a beautiful day we decided to go and put the greenhouse up. My dad offered to help, and between him, me and Pete we managed to get the frame built before lunch. I had dug up some small fruit trees (apple, plum and cherry) from home and Mum planted these along with some raspberry canes, she even got dad to dig a couple of holes for her! (dad is great with fences and greenhouses but he is not much of a gardener). After lunch Pete and I returned to the allotment to glaze the greenhouse, we managed to get it all done in a couple of hours (well 3 actually) - what a sense of satisfaction. We have been again today and put up the shelves, this was nearly as time consuming as the greenhouse frame itself but at least now we have somewhere to start our seed off whilst we dig some more weeds out of the plot.

High winds and hedgecutters

Spring is most definately in the air, I know we can't expect it to stay like this but I intend to enjoy the sun whilst I can. This in mind we decided on a visit to the plot yesterday. Full of digging enthusiasm we arrived to absolute carniage at the allottment. The fence and gate had been hammered by the high winds and was at a 45 degree angle out into the lane. We managed to push it upright and get the padlock off to open the gate, then wished we hadn't. The greenhouse was laying on its side in a mangled pile of aluminum and broken glass. Now initially I thought this was the wind too, but after clearing the wreckage to the top of the plot we realised the hedges had been cut on the lane. It looks like the machine that had been used didn't just cut the top and lane side of the hedge but also halfway down the inside of the hedge. I suspect the machinery operator hadn't noticed our greenhouse frame and ploughed his hedgecutter into it.
Although this was a bit annoying it actually was a blessing in disguise, I was undecided if we should keep the greenhouse anyway as my sister had said we could have hers (which is in much better condition). So with our minds made up for us I can now use the remaining glass and framework to make coldframes.
Needless to say we didn't do any digging, I spent a good hour putting the fence back up and making everything secure again. Then we carried the pallets up to the far end out of the way and made 2 open fronted compost bins.
Decided that the next job is to dig the rest of the way across to the other hedge and lay a path with the slabs. That way I may at least be able to think about planting some seeds ready for the summer. Ah well I can at least dream!

New Years Resolution

New Years Day and I had promised myself I would go to the allotment whatever my hangover was like. I eventually pulled myself together and we had a trip there after lunch. Unfortunately when we arrived we discovered the high winds had not helped our partially glazed greenhouse. A lesson to be learnt I think, if you can't fully glaze a greenhouse don't do it at all!

Some of the panes that had been ripped out by the wind were OK but 4 or 5 had smashed. After picking up the glass and replacing the carpet that had been blown about we started a to dig - again.

After taking stock of the already dug patch I discovered we had lots of seeds sprouting. As I had not yet planted anything I deduced by my powers of detection that they must be yet another type of weed. On closer inspection it turned out to be goose grass, rather than let it get established I took the hoe to it, although I am not sure it will have done much good as the soil was quite wet. Only time will tell I suppose.

I decided that instead of turning a row over and weeding as we went along we would try turning the soil and leave it until we go again to take the roots out. That was the plan until Pete found the longest Dock root I had ever seen. It must have been over 3 foot long.

As you may have noticed it is now 13th January. The new years resolution has not been broken completely, we fetched some more free paving slabs for paths last week, thanks to George and Charlotte from Sheffield Freecycle. We hope to go tomorrow (Sunday) and see if my digging plan has worked. Today as I sit and type the country has been savaged by high winds all week so I am pleased I removed the remaining panes of glass from the greenhouse.