Busy Weekend

It's been a bright sunny weekend. So much so that when the time came to actually write up the work to put it on this blog, I just fell asleep totally exhausted. And I also think that I need to take more photos, but then again, how many photos of dug over beds and pulled weeds do you want to see? I mean, I'm sure you have enough of your own.

Now I think I've been foul of the Allotment Regulations for a couple of years now. For one thing, I haven't been displaying my plot number. The last time I saw a plot number was back in 2014, but even that was small and insignificant. So this time I made one bigger and better.

It will definitely need a waterproof lacquer on it, so in the meantime it will have to hang inside the new greenhouse, which is not really the best spot. I used a luminous chalk pen for the letters, and then the same wood stain that I use for the shed to make it really stand out.

Of course whilst I had the wood stain out, I also painted the shed. Not the full blown paint job like last time, but just a touch up where it needed it the most, along drip points and on the south facing side.

Now I need to sort out my beds. I've built a couple more of my stackable frames but I need to clear the space to set them out. So at the moment they're stacked up on what will be the sweetcorn beds. I had a whole load of weed membrane down covering one of the new locations, which I duly pulled up to reveal nice black soil. But of source having been stood for so long and being walked on it's somewhat compacted so will need a good digging over before it gets put into use.

In the meantime the weed membrane is moving to a new home to cover the pestilential couch grass that's everywhere. As this is going to be a pathway, I'll throw a load of wood chip ontop to help suppress it.

But I have a rogue Leaf Beat that's sitting proud in one of my beds. Thought I'd try and move it back into my dedicated bed. Although I seemed to have removed it without damage to the roots, it's not really happy with the move and seems to be wilting. Whether it'll survive or not, I'm unsure. I gave it a shed load of water to help it settle, but I fear I might have killed it. But we did get some leaves off it last week for a pasta dish, and it was a rogue anyway, so not a great loss overall.

The strawberries however are going from strength to strength. I think the wife is very pleased with her Strawberry Empire.

(But don't tell her that I knocked over one of her stacks and had to re-plant them.) Need to find a more stable area for them.

And the apple tree has finally started to blossom.

I'll have to try some Codling Moth traps this year in an attempt to cut down on the number of maggot apples.

Trouble with Beans and Sweet Potatoes

It's a bit of a mixed bag down the plot at the moment. Some things are going great but others are not doing so well.

The Soya Beans I planted a few weeks back have completely failed to materialise. I planted 32 beans and not one of them germinated. Nada. Zilch. Zip. Instead I'm left with a weed filled square of nothingness.

Guess I'm going to have to put something else in there.

Meanwhile, there appears to be slugs in the greenhouse because they haven't half munched their way through some of the small seedlings. My Rockets has gone, the basil has been attacked, and the Courgettes are looking sorry for themselves.

Outside the Sweet Potatoes have failed dismally.

However, the backups in the greenhouse have been going great. (In the middle of some of the better courgettes and sweet peas.)

The strawberries inside are in full flourish (when the slugs don't get at them).

But the ones outside are just coming into flower.

I've snipped the tops out of the Chard to stop it running to seed and growing so tall.

And even the Onions are doing well.

Next door, the Beetroot has now been planted out.

Two new beds are now Borlotti Beans, and a herb mixture (Thyme, Sage, Rosemary and Basil) in amongst the rogue potato.

Spuds in the Spud bags are also a bit hit and miss. Some have worked, some haven't. Not sure what is going on with the plot this year. All very strange.

The seeds have sprouted

Last weeks seeds have germinated. Well some of them have. Most notably the Purple Cauliflower and the Cornflowers.

But there is something odd going on here. Look at the colour of the water that has drained off. Perhaps a better angle will help.

It's a bit brown. Almost coffee coloured? Well that's hardly surprising really. You see the compost we are using to the start these seeds is one third sieved compost from last years compost bin. One third commercial compost (left over from last year), and one third compost from work. Yes the work compost is made from left overs from the canteen, which includes the coffee dregs from the morning fresh brew that I always start the day with.

The wife has expressed concern over whether such a strong coffee mix is suitable for these seedlings. Well it remains to be seen, but we do have spare seeds if necessary. Perhaps "watering" down the coffee based mix with a little more commercial compost may not be a bad thing. What do you think?

Elsewhere in the greenhouse, the Blueberries are in full flower.

We're hoping for a good crop from them. Mind you, this will only be their second year so we're not sure whether they'll produce. I've been told that Blueberries take at least three years before they really get going.

But outside the Leaf Beet that survived the winter has took off like a shot. Guess what's for dinner?

Cold day down the plot

I was on shop duty first thing this morning. The day started off clouded over, but gradually cleared throughout the day. But it was still pretty chilly.

The Rhubarb seems to have made a start. Well, the "small" rhubarb at the back of the plot (the one that I almost pulled up) has certainly got off to a good start. Pretty much the same as last year.

The the big one seems to be lagging somewhat. Maybe it just can't decide whether to get going.

The beets seem to have survived the winter mostly intact. In fact one of them has taken off with great guns.

Mr. Fox has been enlarging his den somewhat. New Front door...

and back door...

Meanwhile I emptied out the last of the carrot bags.

A bit misshapen. Needs to have more sand in the bags next time. Although I did sieve the soil before going into the bags, I didn't count on the effect the British Weather had on them. The soil basically compacted inside the bags, leading to a firming of the soil which accounts for the splits and twists in the carrots.

I've had the courgette seeds laid out on a baking tray in the greenhouse for the past couple of weeks. The are now dry and loose ready to be planted. Anybody want about 100 courgette plants?

I guess most of these will be given away to friends.

Compost and Courgettes

The courgettes are coming to the end. Considering that they started out very sorry looking after the slugs decided to feast on them, they have really performed quite well. Certainly we haven't had as much this year as we did last year. There are still plenty of flowers on the courgettes, but they seem to mostly be male flowers on long stems. The Female flowers are lower down but they cannot really been seen at that level in amongst the huge number of leaves. So it's time to thin out some of the more worn leaves and let fresher growth come in.

But they still have a couple of surprises hidden under their leaves. Firstly there are three (yes three) giants that are growing for seeds.

The weed membrane has orange stripes that are 25cm apart. So this beastie hiding beneath this leaf is a shade over 50cm in length. The other two are shorter, but a lot fatter. They're all going to stay in place until the very end of the season. Then they'll go home to sit and cure in the kitchen for a while, before spending the winter in the shed.

But the courgettes have worked wonders. I've even had enough "spare" that I could take them into the office where they have featured as part of the canteen offerings.

The Leaf Beat is also going to seed. But there are still a few tasty young leaves poking through the huge growth of stuff.

Now everything that gets cut back or cleared goes into the compost bin. However at the office they go a step further than a simple bin. They use a proper composting system for all the kitchen waste and from the coffee/tea making areas.

Now obviously this is a commercial system. But it's something we would like to try and reproduce at the allotments. There is too much waste being generated into the waste bays. Each time we get the council to come in and remove the rubbish, it costs us £160. If people composted more, we'd have better results (nothing like a good dose of stimulants for plants) and less costs. All-in-all not a bad thing.

You turn your back for two minutes...

Been a bit quiet on the blog recently. And no it wasn't due to holidays. It was actually due to illness. The last Bank Holiday weekend, when I could have done a lot of work on the plot, I instead spent shivering in bed. Got some sort of a Flu thing that kind of knocked be sideways. So of course I didn't manage to get down the plot.

Needless to say the courgettes ended up a giant size marrows and  a whole load of them to boot. So the only decent thing I could do was to take them into work on Friday to give to my colleagues. Those they didn't take went to the canteen kitchen. I expect courgette and marrow to feature quite heavily in next weeks meals.

The last lot they turned into cakes...

 Meanwhile on the plot, after giving the plants in the greenhouse a much needed drink, there is still things which need doing. The last of the beans need to be picked.

Mind you, we still might get some more out of them if those flowers are anything to go by.

A few weeks back we put our few strawberry plants into long planters. Two main plants at each end, then we ran some of the sucker shoots through the middle. Hopefully those 4 plants should turn into 12.

The leafbeet has started to bolt to seed. But there are still plenty of small sweet leaves in there.

We grabbed a few bits and pieces from the plot. And picked our apple tree clean. Yeah, all three of them.

But those grapes just keep looking better and better.

"Plonk de Plot 30" anybody?

Flowers and food

I'm a veggie person. I prefer stuff that grows on the allotment to be stuff that I can eat. But there is also the need to keep the pollinators happy and, of course, the wife. So we have a variety of flowers growing as well as veggies.

Such as...
Morning Glory

Cosmos

Nasturtiums

A selection of bedding plants (I have no idea what they all are. Anybody?)

 

Sweet Peas

Lavender

Artichoke (not quite ready to blossom but soon)

And Okra.

Yes I know that you can eat the Okra, and we have done so. But they have a decent flower,

Elsewhere on the plot things are coming to fruition. The Leaf Beet is really starting to take off.

So I pulled a few leaves for tonight's dinner.

And along with the potatoes...

... we should have a decent meal.

The Rhubarb needs a damn good thinning out, so I guess I going to be making Rhubarb and Ginger Jam again.

And we even have some other stuff for little visitors such as this little moth.