First real work on the plot this year.

Last week I could only manage a quick visit. This week we managed to do a little more, but still no real heavy work. My coughing from the lung infection has left my ribs badly bruised so lifting and digging are well and truly out.

But I managed to get round to giving the grape vine a proper trim, which it desperately need. Ideally pruning should be done in December. Ah well, better late than never.

The cutting from said vine went into the bottom of the new flower bed. I'll fill it with soil when I can lift a spade.

The other pots and root balls you can see below the cutting are plants that have died in the greenhouse. Unfortunately leaving things so long meant they dried up and died. Even during winter plants need watering.

But the strawberries seem to have survived(ish). I think some may be dead, but it can wait until spring before we know for sure.

Meanwhile, the Daikon Radishes that we planted last August appear to be almost ready. We pulled one to see. Yep, sure enough, a little crooked, but grated on top of a grilled mackerel with shoyu it should be be pretty good.

Last gasp of the Courgettes

We've been away for two weeks hiking in the Austrian Forests and Mountains, so it's with some trepidation that we return to the plot to see how it fared whilst we were away.

Well the first thing we noticed was the dead foliage of the Courgettes and the Tomatoes.

They have definitely past their best, but the have still left a few goodies for dinner.

The Wild Flowers in the wheel barrow are now all dead, leaving behind a lot of dried seed head. These will now be cut off and put into a paper bag ready for planting next year.

We have already collected a lot of specific seed head, such as the Poppys, but this will be a  mixture of everything. Just like we bought the pack in the first place.

Meanwhile, the Daikon is going great guns. Looks like we'll have a good crop early next year despite the damage done by the slugs.

The Morning Glory is still putting on an impressive display. A lot of people who walked by our plot today commented on it. At least it's now standing up. It's kind of fused to the grape vine now.

Talking of which, there are grapes on the vine. Not a large amount, but enough that they're worth harvesting a few bunches.

So we've done a lot of tidying up today. All the dead foliage has been removed. But we have left one courgette plant behind. We may yet get another one or two out of it.

But on the whole, our tally of courgettes has been quite impressive. Especially as we only planted 6 plants, and one of those we pulled because it produced somewhat mutated plants. So, including the 6 full size marrows that are sitting as potential seed stock for next year, the 2016 Courgette Tally stands at a mind blowing...

67

With maybe one or two latecomers. Here's hoping.

Daikon under attack

Remember last week when I said the Daikon was off to a great start? Well I reckon the slugs must have heard me. Because today's visit to the plot showed that they'd been busy munching their way down one of the rows.

Hmmm. Well at least there are a few left so hopefully we'll get something out of them.

Meanwhile the Tomatoes are on a roll. Today's harvest of Toms, blackberries (and a few apples).

Still not sure about the sweetcorn though. The cobs do not appear to be fully formed, despite the plants looking great. Time will tell.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

46

Daikon off like a rocket

It's been rather warm recently, so I pop down the allotment on Tuesdays and Thursdays to do a spot of watering. Sometimes the plot gets a bit thirsty.

So imagine my surprise when last Thursday I popped down the plot to find that the Japanese Daikon Radish had sprouted already.

Two things are surprising about this. Firstly that it's been a mere 5 days in the ground and already you can see the sprouts. It also shows where I failed to space them out properly, which means I've got a spot of re-arranging to do. But that's a different matter.

But the second surprising thing is that these seeds are out of date by SIX YEARS!

Yes these seeds I bought as a "10 pence special" back in 2012. There were already two years past their "use before" date. But not to worry. If seeds are kept cool and damp free then they should keep for a very long time. As these have shown. It's not unheard of for archaeologists to find seeds from digs hundreds of years old and then those same seeds go on to germinate and grow.

Anyhow, looking forward to some winter radish.

Elsewhere on the plot, things are trugging along as per normal. Which means that the courgettes are churning them out (though some I've now let alone to grow into seed marrows). The tomatoes are fruiting. And the Blackberries are now ripe and ready for picking.

The 2016 Courgette Tally:

38