Bucket'o'weeds

The plot is doing well. Of course most notably the weeds are doing better if the number of them is any indication. So we went to the plot early today (to avoid the heat) and started pulling.

We have a wild area at the back of the plot, which was supposed to have been turned into a seating and picnicking area this year, but a certain pandemic meant I couldn't get the materials that I wanted. So once again it's been left to go wild. Perfect place for throwing all of the resulting weeds, after all no green thing should leave the plot. It'll all compost down.

So we emptied loads of buckets into the back. I lost count, I think I did about 4, and The Wife did about 5 or 6. Anyway, it seems like we've hardly made a dent in the totals in the beds. But things do look a little tidier.

And we have yet more courgettes. Can't give them away fast enough.

...and sweetcorns, and beetroots, and tomatoes, and potatoes....

Soon we'll get round to apples. The tree is creaking under the weight of them, but they're still rather small, and also, sadly, rather moth eaten.

And somewhere hidden in the Crown Prince patch are a few CPs growing there. Considering that we almost lost them all due to a late frost then I think this is rather remarkable.

Anyway, time to avoid the heat and head for the hills. Also known as home.

(Incidentally, have you noticed how bad the new UI for Blogger has become. It's now "optimised for mobiles" and because of this they have completely forgotten the usability of the system. Where before it was easy to select the tags for your posts, now you have to scroll down a huge list to select them. You can't type them in or pick from a condensed list any more. 

They have also blocked you from uploading images in the old interface. So you're now forced to use the new system it you want to include images in your posts. And any images you do upload no longer auto-scale. So now you have to upload images fro the New Interface, switch back to the old one to add them with the scaling, select them by choosing the option "from this blog" and scroll down to the very bottom - that view should really be reverse date ordered - to add them with the scaling.

This is very badly thought out. As somebody who works in the tech industry I find it appalling.)

Harvesting in the rain

So there was only a light cloud covering when we left for the allotment. The weather forecast said there was only a 10%-20% chance of rain. And the day started out quite well.

We fired up the Ghillie Kettle to have our usual cup of coffee and started pottering about watering in the green house, pulling weeds etc. But then a few spits started. Not so bad, we thought. The cloud cover was still light, but it did look darker on the horizon so we carried on. It was only a couple of minutes later that we realised that it was getting darker so we did a mad dash to collect all the currently available courgettes (and a beetroot) before it got really bad.

By the time we grabbed these and dashed back inside the greenhouse (to finish our coffees) it really starting coming down. So we decided that we didn't need to water outside, and we made a beeline for the car and home.

Even so, we were a little bit wet but nothing a warm shower, dry clothes and a nice courgette soup made from one of the above (I think it was the one on the far left) couldn't fix.

Flower power

The veggies are prolific at the moment. But that's not all.

The Wife is really happy that all her flowers are blooming. Her flower bed of mixed blooms are showing a variety of flowers. I couldn't even name one of them.

At the front of the plot, the petunias in the trough are in full flower.

And the Sunflower is attracting it's fair share of bees.

A while back, we discovered an albino spider. I expressed a hope that it would survive. I am happy to report that we have found another one. Now either it's the same spid, or one of it's offspring, or a totally new totally new one with the same genetic shortcoming.

Anyway, I am happy to see a unique spid living large down the plot.

Elsewhere we're looking forward to a few beetroot...

... and a really bumper crop of grapes this year.

Quick visit to plant Beetroot

So whilst The Wife is doing the shopping run, I'm off to the plot.

The Beetroot which survived the munches of the Mouse is getting a little pot bound. So it's time to get it out into a bed. I tried my usual method of digging a hole, dropping the plant and then watering them in. Unfortunately the bed that I'm putting them in hadn't seen rain or a hose pipe in well over a month so it's a bit more like a dust bowl than a bed. So instead I had to give the bed a good soaking before I could actually plant anything.

So I only have 20 beetroots. I was expecting more, but since mousie had his breakfast, I have to make do with what I can get.

I'll leave you with a picture of yesterday's sweetcorn, since I forgot to take a picture yesterday.

This is the bed that has two beans planted under each transplant. Whether it works, who knows. But it's worth a try.

Working Party

There are times when work on the actual plot has to be put on hold for the work on the site for the good of the community. Today we were working on fixing up one of the central pathways across the site. It took a couple of hours to get through it but with everybody helping we soon managed to clear out the old carpet and weeds and laid down a nice thick pathway of woodchips.

Once we managed to fight our way through, we ended up with a pretty decent path.

The Workers then stopped for tea (and brownies courtesy of Sue) and posed for photos.

The workers (left to right): Hiroe (aka The Wife), Pippa, Greg, Brian, Julie, Jasper, Simon, Michelle, Abby with Yours Truly taking the photo.

The whole thing probably took a shade under three hours (including tea and snacks). It's one of the benefits of everybody pulling together. Many hand make light work as the saying goes.


Once we all disbanded then we could face some work on our own plots. For my part I planted out Beetroot and Purple Carrots, into what we're calling the Purple Bed. The Wife potted on some of her beloved Cape Gooseberries. After that it started spitting with rain, so while we packed up and sheltered in the greenhouse we had a visit from the local Vixen.

We've been told that she has two cubs but we've yet to see them. Unfortunately it seems like we've lost Ben as we haven't seen him for a few months now. Now we have to choose a name for this little lass.

Back to the plot tomorrow as I have Shop Duty, and there is still much to do.

Beetroot and Sweetcorn and Courgettes, Oh my.

Like wayward kids, it's time to kick some of the plants out of the house. Greenhouse that is.

The Beetroots have been put into the recently re-covered clay bed.

One bed of sweetcorn has been put out. Hopefully these will fare better than the last lot.

There are still a few more sweetcorn growing on as seedlings, so there will be a second bed. And the courgettes that have recovered from the frost have now been put out.

Meanwhile in the 2nd greenhouse, I've re-arranged the pallet shelves to lay things out a bit more. Everything is now up off the floor and hopefully out of reach of the snails.

It's getting a little strange in there these days. The strawberries are loving the heat though. Even the mutated Frankenberry.

Tidying the bed(s)

Duvet's are nice. To make your bed after sleeping in it, you simply give it a flick. Raised beds are a bit different.

I had only intended to dig over two of the beds, but I guess I got a bit carried away and dug over four. But let me tell you, digging the bed with the old sweetcorn roots in was not fun. Those things look like some sort of alien with root tendrils going all over the place.

I still have the second bed of beetroot (the one which flooded back in June), but I pulled all of the existing ones from the original bed.

Some of them may be a little woody, but I doubt it. They have been really sweet and tender.

But there is still much to do. Plans for this winter include the second greenhouse, and a new raised flower bed for the wife. Work work...

Flooded!

As the ravers attending the mud-fest known as Glastonbury will attest to, we've had a little bit of rain recently. So it's with a little bit of trepidation that I parked the car in the car park and headed to the plot...

And yes, like last time, most of it is under water.

The onions are totally drowned. They'll have to come out otherwise they'll rot in the ground.

The Beetroot are also flooded, but they will probably survive.

Even the greenhouse is underwater (again).

Actually, I tried moving that bag of compost... boy was it heavy. It had obviously slurped up the rain water.

But did it stop there? No, whilst we were dashing around trying to tidy everything up, it started throwing it down again. Into the greenhouse to keep us (relatively) dry.

Not much we can do in conditions like this except head for home and try to dry out.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

3

Rampant sex at the allotment

Things are growing really well down the plot. Not only are the plants putting on a display, but it seems the insects are getting into the swing of things as well. A couple of shield bugs on the rhubarb...

And these red lily beetles on the lilies...

The shield bugs I don't mind. The red ones, though have to go.

Today threaten a bit of a downpour. When we got to the allotment, it was reasonably clear. Enough time for me to plant out a second bed of beetroot. The first bed had certainly grown from when I planted it out a month ago. Hopefully this one will catch up.

We also tried out our new tower.

We're not sure yet what we'll put in this. Possibly strawberries. Possibly cascading tomatoes. One thing is for certain though, it's not going to be this tall in the finished product. It's somewhat unstable at this height.

But no sooner had I finished building the tower to test it, then the clouds opened up. Fortunately we could take shelter in the green house.

There is stuff to do in the greenhouse as well. The tomatoes need staking to stop them falling over.

Back outside, now the rain has gone, it seems things are progressing rather well.
The courgettes are starting to produce. Still small but showing lots of promise for another tsunami of delights...

The Autumn Wings are also starting...

There are flowers on the peas...

and on the potatoes...

The sweetcorn is growing stronger as well.

as is the Zierkurbis behind it.

All-in-all, we seem to be having quite a good year so far this year. Apart from the slugs that is. But you can't have everything.

I hate grass

Grass is the world's biggest commercially grown crop. It's just that we (Humans) don't eat it. But it gets everywhere, and worse, if you turn your back for 2 mins it kind of takes over. Especially after the rains at the start of the week. The other menace is that damned bind weed that's sending up little tendrils through the paths that I put down. The bind weed is easily pulled. The grass is going to take a little more managing.

Meanwhile plants are starting to move out of the overcrowded greenhouse. The first two courgettes have made it to the mound.

 The beetroot has been planted out.

And the remainder of the borlotti beans now fill the bed.

The Flower bed is also starting to bloom. This is the arena of the Wife so I have no idea what these flowers actually are.

But they are expanding into other areas... For example a fellow plotholder was throwing away their wheelbarrow. The tire was completely wrecked. They had been using it to grow things in. So we took it and decided to use it as a front piece for the plot. We put a mixture of Mediterranean wild flowers in there, which should make for a good show.

Last year we had a rogue potato growing up through the un-managed part of the plot. This year we seem to have a number of rogues in last years compost bed.

Well I suppose they can stay there. They're not doing any harm and as I have to dig out that bed at some point, they'll just help to break it up. I guess thats what happens when you chuck some of your unwanted small spuds on the compost. they come back to deliciously haunt you.

The weather seems to be pretty good this weekend. Better than originally forecast. Just have to keep everything watered.

Time to head for home to water ourselves now. Where's that cider?

Anti-mouse measures

That damn mouse has really made a mess of my courgettes, sunflowers and sweetcorn, so I've had to improvise. I made some temporary shelves using planks of wood and coat hangers. These hook onto the top of the greenhouse frame and fasten beneath the "shelves" with a simple screw to stop them falling off.

This lifts the shelves way up where hopefully no mouse can get to. Almost on a par with the existing shelf that runs across the back of the greenhouse.

The tools of the trade...

We've planted a load more courgettes to compensate. Can't plant any more sweetcorn or sunflowers though as we have no more seeds. This photo was taken a couple of days ago. We had 15 sweetcorn actually showing. We now have only 10 remaining. :(

The leaks are little whisps at present. But they're looking better than the ones we tried last year. Last year the compost made from the coffee grounds from work was a little too harsh. It may have been good for keeping the slugs and snails at bay, but not good for seedlings.

The beetroot is doing well.

But by fay and away the best performer at present are the little dwarf Borlotti beans in their cardboard cups.

Going to have to make a few more of these if they're going to do this well. May as well go with the crops that work out best.