Harvest

So I was kind of told off last week by one of my regular readers for not posting anything up. Well the reason why was clear. Just consider the same time last year.

But that doesn't stop things growing on the plot. Indeed it seems that everything is coming along nicely (including the weeds). Tonight's dinner will be a combination of one or more of this little lot.

Okra, Broad Beans, Beetroot, Leaf Beat, Basil and Blackberries.

We've already had a selection of other stuff from the plot...

Potatoes, Courgettes and Lavender. Whilst yes, you can eat Lavender, this lot is for drying to be used as an air freshener at home. We can't have those horrible chemical ones, so we have to "make do" with natural ones.

The Artichoke is starting to flower. Which I suppose will keep the bees happy.

But I don't suppose the bees will mind. They seem to be very happy in my runner beans.

Or they can have a choice of the sweet peas.

But lets not forget the other residents. Whilst cleaning out the top of the kitchen cabinets, I came across this old bird feeder. We didn't have a place to hang it, so I built a tripod of canes and filled it half with some of the old sunflower seeds, and half with some bird seed mix which we had around.

And finally, the triffid seems to be coming good on it's bounty after it's haircut. There are a lot of grapes coming forth on this.

Hopefully not the Grapes of Wrath.

The Good, the Bad, and the Other Stuff

So this is the first full year of growing stuff. What worked out well and what didn't?

The Plot:
The Greenhouse. This was an excellent improvement. It allowed me to get things up and running in terms of seedlings. Protected me from the rain at times.
What wasn't so good was keeping plants in there longer than was strictly necessary. Must try and get them outside earlier next year. Also need to create a better doorway to allow bees in fertilise the plants, especially Tomatoes.

The Shed. Well it was a place to throw things to keep them out of the way. Nothing especially important about it, other than it's use as a support to the grape vine. The addition of the vine supports and wires held the shed together even better than it was normally supposed to do so. Although improvements will have to be made to the inside... such as clearing out the rubbish and installing some shelves.

The Beds. Well they kind of worked, but there are serious issues. Firstly the bed I placed next to the green house is just plain wrong. It is way too close to be used properly as I cannot get round it properly.

The Mound. The mound was really an accident due to the scraping of the topsoil last year. I needed to deal with the overgrown plot and scraping it all off seemed like a good solution. Well it worked, but only after a re-working later in the year. The mound then became the home of the Courgettes and didn't it do well. Well next year the mound will be reduced as I dig it out and sieve it into the new beds.


The Plants:

• Apple Trees - The crop from the main apple tree was superb. But most of the apples suffered from a severe infestation of critters. I'm loath to spray but that may be the only solution. The main apple tree needs a damn good pruning this winter. The third one needs to be staked upright. And all three need to be super mulched (not just the cardboard and wood chippings) to prevent brambles and bindweed.
• Artichoke - Produced a superb set of flowers. But the huge infestation of black fly prevented consumption. But the bees really loved those flowers. Not sure if the plant will regrow as it put up two huge flower stalks and promptly fell over. Will have to read up on the vagaries of Artichokes so see how it fares. 
• Basil - Started off well. But the excessive heat in the green house during July caused it to bolt to seed. Said seed has been duly harvested and we'll try again next year. Will have to consider splitting it. Some inside, some outside. Seems to grow well but attracts aphids like nobodies business.
• Blackberries - Well the brambles kept trying to take over. And I kept cutting them back. Needless to say they did not produce anything close to edible.
• Chillies - Grown well. A few small chillies. The plants should improve as time goes by.
• Courgettes - Slow start but once the got outside took off like a shot. Must consider getting them put outside earlier next year. Although they definitely need to be in a weed proof environment. The amount of courgettes produced meant that we were eating (and giving them away) for the better part of a couple of months. Maybe less plants next year. 
• Garlic - Started out well enough with green shoots. But then gave up and died. Perhaps it's better to start with seed rather than garlic corms that were left too long to home.
• Ginger - Failed dismally. You are supposed to be able to grow ginger from a spare root corm. Tried 5 separate pieces all of which simply rotted away.
• Grape Vine - Considering that previous years it has simply been growing on the ground, this year giving it something to grow up and support it seems to have helped immensely. Also the extra carpet mulching seems to have helped in keeping down the weeds around it. Gradually being trained to grow up and over the shed. 
• Lettuce - Planted in the wrong place. But still grew true and tasty. Kept us in salads during the summer months.
• Nasturtiums - Did well - for the black fly. Not much use with anything else.
• Onions - Grown from seed they seemed to do OK, though they never reached the size stated on the packet. Still I did get a nice pot of pickled onions to go with my fish & chips. 
• Oregano - Sadly it did not do so well. A combination of too small a container and the July weather meant it really didn't do as well as expected.
• Peas - Well the peas did get off to a reasonable start. The only problem was that I expected the sweetcorn to do better and provide them with better support. Unfortunately it also provided support for the bindweed as well and having the two together (peas and bindweed) made for a bad combination. As pulling out the bindweed inevitably meant that the peas were also unearthed. 
• Raspberries - Dismal. Bound in bindweed. Small straggly things. They are just taking up space and will be ripped out.
• Rhubarb - Superb. Even the new little plant at the back of the plot seems to have recovered due to me removing the surrounding weeds. Kept us in Rhubarb and ginger jam and the odd extra batch all summer. Have to chuck a load of compost on it over the winter to ensure it does the same again next year.
• Rocket - Did not go well. Bolted to seed just like the Basil. 
• Spinach - Planted mixed in with the lettuce. Not a good move. Also planted in the bed right next to the greenhouse which meant that getting at them was nigh on next to impossible. 
• Sunflowers - Seemed to be ok, but could have done with being put outside a little earlier. The rogue sunflower outside the greenhouse did much better. Will try and get the seeds from these to germinate next year.
• Sweetcorn - Went well(ish). Though they could have done with being turfed out of the green house a lot earlier. Got a few good cobs off the plants but they didn't seem to thrive and grow as tall as you would expect.
• Tomatoes - Varied success. Whilst we had a few, the keeping of the toms in the greenhouse meant that, although we had loads of flowers, they didn't get the necessary visits from the bees to allow them to set. I'll still keep some of them in the greenhouse, but I'll make sure that a good lot are outside.
• The unknown plant. Yeah that oddity. Not edible. No flowers. Made a one way visit to the compost bins.
• Weeds - That damn bindweed gets everywhere. Planting directly in the ground just encourages it and you constantly have to keep pulling it out. Very time consuming. The brambles kept getting in the way as well. Will take serious work to keep under control. 

Things to do:

• Build better beds. The beds at the moments are open to weeds. Need new beds with enclosed borders and base to stop errant weeds from getting in.
• Clearly defined border. On the north side of the plot is an access pathway. But the south side borders my neighbour. It is overgrown with brambles and bindweed further hampered by the apple trees. A clear border and mulched base needs to be installed to prevent weed encroachment.
• Paths. Get the place laid out a little better and have some clearly defined paths.

Bolting plants

Both the Rocket and Basil have bolted to seed. Not so much of a problem though, but I do need to collect all the seed.

The Rocket seeds are like small thin miniature pea pods on the flower stems. The seed inside is small. Incredibly small. So the first thing I do is start off by removing the pods. Once they have dried, the seeds should be easier to recover.

The Basil is a lot simpler as the seed stems can simply be snipped off and kept in a paper bag. In fact these lants are from seeds from previous year where I grew them on my window sill. One thing you can always guarantee is a lot of seeds. Just wish I could guarantee a decent amount of Basil that will stay health and not bolt. Maybe I should just scatter the seed all over the plot and harvest as I need.

This last week saw the 1 month anniversary of putting the courgettes out. Since I did they have gone crazy. I have been giving away the courgettes to anybody who wants (mostly the neighbours) as well as making the courgette loaf. Following on from a "complaint" from work (I said last week that I should bring the loaf in on Monday and I didn't) so instead I brought a loaf in on Friday. It seemed to be very much appreciated.

Next attempt is the making of courgette pickle. At least I have more than enough to spare. Oh, and I've left a few to grow into full marrows. I'll see how those turn out.

We had a Committee meeting last week. We have new height barriers fitted to the gate way to the East Side. Seems a little low to my mind.

But at least the bees are appreciating the artichoke flowers. Bees? That one isn't. But it's bigger than any bumblebee.

Not so wilted

Went back to the allotment to check on my wilted veg. After last night's serious need of a drink it seems that most have recovered.

The rocket and basil is certainly looking a lot healthier. But I do suspect that they will probably bolt to seed after undergoing such stress.

Meanwhile my poor artichokes are under serious infestation. Not even regular dousing with washing up liquid can shift these blighters.

Wilted

Sunday was shopping and a BBQ at a friends place in the afternoon. I didn't get chance to get to the allotment. Nor did I manage to get there today until I got home from work at around 7.30pm. So I was kind of dreading what I would find after two extremely hot days.

My worst fears were made real. Things had wilted.

Foreground: Rocket
Background: Basil

Everything got a nice big drink of water. Fortunately on Saturday I gave them a good dosing so I think they should all recover. I work from home on Tuesday's so I can get down the allotment earlier as I knock off work and make sure everything is ok.

Looks like it's going to be another scorcher.

A horrible miserable day

Well it wasn't first thing this morning (8am) it was nice and sunny. But the clouds rolled in as the day progressed. Fortunately I have work to do inside as well as out. But lets start at the beginning.

First thing I started on the weeds. The bindweed is trying to take over, so every little piece that I find peeking up through the mulch has to be pulled. It's not a nice job but it's got to be done. And on the subject of pests, I now have a new source or irritation. My artichoke has been growing well since I cleared and mulched around it. It's started putting out the artichoke flowers. But there is a problem. The green fly seem to have made their home in it.

I guess that tomorrow they are going to get a severe dose of washing up liquid spray.

I also managed to start trimming some of the borders that surrounds my plot. As well as doing the entranceway into the allotments. We have ordered a strimmer for the allotment and I am awaiting delivery. However in the meantime, those long grasses need culling.

And now comes the rain. So I head into the greenhouse to shelter and stick the kettle on. I have to plant out the chillis....

and courgettes (which are looking a little sorry for themselves) into bigger pots.

I meant to do this a week ago, but didn't manage to get round to it. But at least the basil has survived it's transplant and has taken off like a shot.

Now here's a strangeness. I planted some mint into seed trays ages ago, but only half of it grew. Something else grew in the other half of the seedtray, but I have no idea what it is. So that also got transplanted into it's own pot. I don't think it's edible, but does anybody know what it is?

Kettle's boiled. Time for coffee. Does the cup give things away?

And now as I sip my coffee I look out over the plot. Will the rain stop?