Plot in December

These are just some photo's of the allotment in December. The first picture is the sprouting broccoli, growing strong for next spring. They seem very large plants so i will see how much they crop to see if they are worth it. The next has the swiss chard and perennial spinach. Then its the kales, curly and black.

Most of the tender plants and pot are in the greenhouse for some added protection. I am hoping to bring one of the greenhouses form the other pen to fit on the far end to make a bigger greenhouse.

These next two picture just show what the pen looks like this time of year

Flaming June Turns into Roasting July

This week has continued to be warm and humid with temperatures slowly creeping up as the week progresses 23-25 degrees most days. One or two thunderstaorms with the worst rain of Tuesday but this had little impact on dry land! Most plants doing ok but a rush to get organised for convention and holidays. Not much in pots now so they will go into any available space. Need to sort out strawberry runners and pin them into pots. No more sowing now until after holidays unless its a couple of rows of radish or similar outside.

This set of photos taken on Thursday morning hopefully showing where everything is and how its growing. This will give a good indicator for next year

Staring at the west facing border I have Broadbean 'bunyards exhibition' (sown 27/2, planted ?)very nice stir fried young whole pods. Next are peas 'oregon sugar pod', kelvendon wonder', 'meteor' (6/4) kelvendon wonder' (4/5)



In the border you can just make out more broad beans (sown 4/5), in the raised bed from left to right runner beans 'cobra' (sown 4/5) peas 'kelvendon' and 'meteor' (sown 7/6) dwarf bean 'valour' (sown 7/6) fennel (sown 8/4 & 11/5) peas 'meteor' and 'sugar pod' (sown 4/5)



Just between the two lots of peas are a row of dwarf beans 'tendergreen' (sown 4/5) next a row of peas 'celebration' (sown 14/4) spinach beet 'perpetual spinach' and swiss chard 'bright lights' (sown 6/4)

Just behind these raised bed some sweet peas in the border, slow to get going but worth the wait. Nice sweet fragrance and hopfully attracting useful insects plus adds a splash of colour to all the green!

Looking further along the nursury bed lots of cuttings and seedling waiting to be planted out in autumn. To the right are some sprouting broccoli 'early purple', 'late purple' & 'italian'waiting to be planted out but they are sprouting now so i am cutting off and eating the heads as they are ready. Not sure if this is supposed to happen but why waste them. Under the netting are 'green calabrese', dwarf kale and calevo nero (all brassicas sown 25/3) The netting has protected them well with no catapillar damage. The dwarf kale has been especially nice to eat just picking a few leaves per plant and cooked with a little oil and garlic.

Courgettes in tyres! The tyres have protected the plants from the worst of the weather and will keep the courgettes of the floor and protect them. Staarting at the top left and going clockwise are 'kojac', '?', 'dundoo', 'defender', 'zucchini', 'golden zucchini', 'bianca de trieste', 'kojac' with 'butternut squash' in the middle. As you can see the two zucchinis and butternut are not doing as well as the others (all sown 15/3, planted out 13/5)

Here is my attempt at the three sisters growing of sweetcorn (sown 12/3), baby sweeycorn (sown 14/4) bean (sown 4/5?)and squash (sown 25/3)together. As you can see all three are doing well although the beans have grown far quicker than i thought so they will need some cane to support them.


These are the leeks and onions. Not sure whether to grow or not next year, wait and see. I am Tempted to grow overwintering onions to fill the gap next year. Most sets were planted end of March/early April

In these shots its the fruit border. The beans have finally recovered from being put out too early when the weather turned much cooler. Other beans that were planted narly two monthe later are not much further behind. Lesson here i think. Dont sow too early! Not sure of the varieties.

The kid's raised beds are doing well with peas, lettuce and carrots as are the beetroot and chinese cabbages in the next bed

The herb bed is growing well. I think it is more for decorative than useable herbs. There is some lemon balm, thyme, garlic chives, oregan, tarragon and sage which can be used in the kitchen but the others are mints which may need digging out and putting in a border instead!

These strawberries are well protected from the blackbirds and are just starting to ripen

The potatoes in tyres are also doing well, not sure weather to do the same again next year or maybe put strawberries instead.

Flaming June

June continues to be an excellent growing month with warm sunshine and showers. Not had to water the palnts too much this week with heavy showers on Tuesday evening and Sunday afternoon. Continuing to dig up salad potatoes. Because some of the varieties are maincrop i can leave them in longer and eat them full size. I think i planted too many this year taking up too many beds. The ones grown in containers did really well with better quality spuds with no scab or pest damage. Slowly moving some of the Sprouting Broccolis into where the potatoes were though some of them are sprouting now. Not sure if it's the warm weather or because i sowed them too early. Anyway I will eat then now before they go to flower. The Dwarf Kale Has been especially good to eat, just picking off a few leaves per plant then i will leave them to overwinter.

On Monday I made Aloo Saag with potatoes and spinach from Karol Kliens recipe book. I think the secrect to growing is also knowing how to cook things and what they can be used for as there is a tendancy for gluts of food and the inevitable over facing of the same veg!

On Tuesday I took cutting from shrubs, Hebe, Buddleja, Honeysuckle, Fuchia and Willow.

The rest of the week is picking and eating salad, radish, beetroot, baby carrots, tidy up and weeding. Potted up some chillies and peppers and pricked out the artichokes. As the summer holidays approach quickly i need to make sure all plants in pots are planted out and settled in before going away. Not a good time of year to go with so much going on in the allotment but I need, we all need a good rest. Ronnie on the next allotment has agreed to look after things and pick the veg and fruit thats ready. Millies also will keep an eye on things as well. Always exciting coming back from hols to see whats grow etc.

On Saturday planted out the last of the peas 'kelvendon' and 'meteor' and beans 'valour'. Then got soaked with the heaviest downpour i have seen for ages. Did the plants and duck good though.

Sunday was a lovely day, warm and humid, too hot to work so some friend came to visit us which was a real treat. Good to have friends that appreciate what we do. Hopefully we can all do it together soon!

Had a little barbeque just for the kids and us. Two fresh Trout, new potatoes and salad with marshmellows to finish. Perfect end to perfect day.

to busy to take any photos i think this week. will sort some out for next blog

Friday was another day of rain. Whilst always welcome for watering the plants it is difficult to be motivated. However my first attempt at pak choi was a good success as this picture shows. These went into a nice stir fry with sweet chili sauce.

Saturdays weather was a little better quite sunny in the morning but then the rain came back. I try to work outside in the good weather and inside when it is not so good. It sounds pretty obvious but i try to save jobs for inside when the weather turns. So in between showers i cut some new pieces for the staging from old pallets. This gives me more work space and frees up a section of staging to make a complete section for the back of the greenhouse. The bottom photo shows the salad tray pricked out into respective pots.

The next job was to make a large cloche for one of the salad beds. Both the beds are the same size so the cloche can move from bed to bed depending on requirements. These will be handy for protecting early and late crops. The design is similar to geoff hamiltons from gardeners world. A rectangular frame is made from 4"x1" treated timber. Blue water pipe is then fixed to the insides with screws. A ridge of timber helps hold the pipes and rigid and supports the polythene which is then stretched and stapled to the wood. The cloche can be propped up for ventilation and access. The crops inside really do grow better under protection. Next step a polytunnel i think! The smaller square raised bed has a similar cover made from a timber square with a polythene cover. Finally i planted out some lettuces between to strawberries. It's good not to be tied to certain crops in certain beds, with salad leaves etc they can go anywhere there is a gap without affecting any crop rotation.

Sunday was a good planting out day. I put the green calabrese and dwarf kale in their permanent positions 12" apart and covered them with netting to prevent cabbage white butterflies and other pests. The sprouting broccoli's (Italian, early and late purple) are put into the nursery bed for transplanting later. Apparently the calabrese not good for transplanting. I also started off the compost heap properly. I got a load of fresh manure, grass, cardboard and materials from last years heap and built up in layers so there wasn't too much of one material. The compost heap was filled to the top but a few days later it was starting to heat up and the heap has settled down. in a week or so i will turn the heap over and mix everything up so that oxygen can get in and rot everything down quicker. The heap needs enough heat to kill weed seeds etc but not too hot or it will kill useful bacteria and worms.

On Tuesday i planted out the peas, celebration, alpine strawberries origen improved and the second sowing of delphiniums. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are doing well and the first strawberries. These are aromel which are an everbearing variety. The last picture is the asparagus bed. Most of the crowns have taken and are sprouting. It's just a case of keeping them clear of weeds, a little feed in summer and patiently wait

End of March

The weather this weekend was cold but much brighter. Finshed off the seed bed, tidied up next doors fencing and started fencing the other sides. These fence panels are made from old wood pallets broken up and nailed together.

All the seedlings and plants are doing well if a little slow but the cold weather will slow things down. The forecast is for milder weather which usually means rain.

These are my brassica seedlings. Kale, broccili and calabrese

You can just see the first shoots from the salad potatoes.