Time for Compost

 Like last year, there is a supply of compost available for a limited time only. So there I was bright and early to stand in line (masks at the ready) to get a few bags of compost on my rickety barrow.

It would seem that I wasn't alone. As this is effectively the start of the growing season, and we're severely lacking in manure and woodchips (just like last year) everybody wants a bit of compost.

So, yes we started some of our early seeds today. There are still a lot more to come, but we may as well get some of them on the go. Although we're very likely to get other batches going in a few weeks time.

A lot of these are old seeds, so it doesn't really matter if they don't germinate. It's no great loss. We've been digging through our back catalogue of seeds and found a lot of old ones. Some had an expiry date of last year, but I'm guessing they will still be viable.

Now one thing I saw on a Youtube channel a while back was converting 2litre milk cartons into "self watering" plant pots. Well I tried cutting one up so the specifications and... I don't know. It just doesn't look viable to me. There are are so many issues with how it looks.

You're supposed to put the soil and plants in the middle section and then the water gets added through the gaps in the side. not sure of you can make them out in the photo above, but to me it just doesn't look right. I'd much rather stand my pots in a tray and fill the tray with water. Yes it might be a good way of recycling the plastic, but I'd much rather chop up the bottle into plant labels. Which reminds me, I need to get a better pen to write on the labels. Look at the Nasturtium and Okra labels above. Somewhat blurry and faded. But they give you an indication of what's planted.

But I need better labels for when we really get started. Maybe I should invest in a Chinagraph pencil?

All fall down...

The artichokes used to stand nearly 2.5m (8ft) tall. Now the weight of the flowers and the general die-off of the plant has caused the flower stems to collapse down.

Mind you, it hasn't stopped the bees doing their thing. They absolutely love this plant. As these two different bumbles and a honey bee show.

Meanwhile, it seems that some of the poor courgettes which got slugified have managed to recover a produce a bit of foliage. One of the is starting to show signs of producing flowers, so maybe those ones will recover.

But the big one at the end which has the spiky leaves has blossomed into a nice specimin. This is producing courgettes (the normal green kind) and the single yellow one at the end of the beans is producing. Throw in the marrows that we have in the raised bed and we have a nice selection... that all seem to be producing at the same time. Guess we're going to get overrun with courgettes again. Maybe I see a shed load of courgette cakes taken into the office in the not too distant future.

The tomatoes seem to be in full swing now. Lots of green ones coming along, and plenty of large red ones ripening on the vine. The Okra is also producing a lot as well. So tonight's harvest also includes a couple of beetroot for full measure. Marrow (stripy), three green and one yellow courgette, okra, and tomatoes.

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.

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.