The snow has finally gone so a good chance to catch up on some jobs before spring. Most of the beds have now been manured and a couple more turned into raised beds. Lack of wood has stopped this for now. The new greenhouse from the garden plot is now in place and just needs finishing off

Snow

Its been very cold and as you can see lots of snow, looks nice though

Snow

Over the past couple of days the snow has been falling quite a bit now. As you can see the allotments are covered but i still managed to work despite the cold. At least it was dry. The early Broccili are somewhere under all that snow

The storage shed is nearly finished, just need a side and some more glass for the roof.

Down on the garden allotment everything is covered as well. Not much to do here until early spring. The bottom greenhouse will probably go up to the other pen sometime soon.

A view of the setting sun over towards Belthorn.

Raised Beds

The temperature has dropped quite a bit and there has been a few flurries of snow. Nothing too deep but many places the roads are quite icy. I still managed a few hours this afternoon though.

So armed with a flask of coffee and a fire i managed to build two raised beds and another car load of manure, with this i managed to cover one of the asparagus beds.

Manure and Garlic

I am on holiday now for a couple of week so i can spend a bit more time on the allotment. Not much to do plant wise but lots of tidying up and setting things out ready for next year.

First job for today was manure. As you can see I dont have a trailer so I use a large builders bag, tie up the corners and shovel it in. Then all i need to do is fork it into the wheelbarrow and on it goes. Granted the car does stink afterwards but i dont mind it too much. Anyway I managed to get 4 car loads on today before it got too cold. The weather forecast is cold and snow but at least there was some blue sky mixed in

The next job was to plant out the garlic. I put these into individual cell earlier in october in the greenhouse. There is plenty of strong growth to get them going and the cold weather will encourage the cloves to split.

These are some autumn onions. They are a little late but they should grow ok for pulling next summer when the autumn onions from this year have run out. The yellow onions grown this year are keeping well but the red ones have started to rot, I believe red dont keep too well so next year i will use them up first instead of storing.

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

End of Year Review

Since i last posted i have been busy with other things and as the season come to an end i have not had too much to report, plus i broke my camera phone so i have not been taking photo's which serve as a reminder to what has been going on.

Most of the summer fruit and veg has now been picked and eaten. The potatoes lasted well into november, onions have been dried and stored. Leeks are still being picked as is kale. Most of the plants in pots have been put into the green house

The compost bins have been emptied and refilled hopefully ready for next year. the secret seems to be adding lots of fresh horse manure to get them going. The leaf mold is coming on nicely and another layer from this year has been added

So what have i learned this year?

Dont sow too early especially beans and courgettes. not too many seeds sown at one time, succesional sowing is a must, not too many potatoes.

Most veg was successful especially carrots, sweetcorn, chillies, tomatoes, potatoes

Next year: no broad beans, better tasting varieties, lots of chillies and tomatoes, hopefully some asparagus and artichokes.

To do: move greenhouse up to top plot, raised beds