by Philippa | Mar 23, 2014 | Allotment
It soon comes round to that time of year when the seed packets come out, they get stacked in little bundles with post it notes on saying when they need to be planted and the seed sowing starts afresh.
The earliest seeds to start off were some flowers, so I sowed dahlias, marigolds, lupins, phlox and a colourful selection of sweetpeas. As per Neil’s usual instructions, I planted lots of marigolds!
The tomatoes we brought from the propagator at home were ready for transplanting to larger pots and were looking really healthy.
To make room for the burgeoning collection of seed trays Neil was busy putting the extra staging up. As a result of the B&Q offer on woodstain we had bought some dark red stain and Neil painted the pieces as he constructed. It looks pretty smart!
Meanwhile, outside, the white onions in seed trays were bursting out the bottom and ready so we planted these on plot 118 in blocks of three rows with enough space to walk between them for weeding. This first required a good bit of digging and I think we got a bit carried away with trying to get to the next fence panel as we ended up with a cleared space about twice the size we needed! It’s a really good plan starting them off in the trays first as by the time you plant them out they immediately look green and on the it way and you can see your progress as you work.
There are signs of Spring all around and the trees are in bud. It suddenly feels like there is lots to be done!
by Philippa | Mar 15, 2014 | Allotment
A run to B&Q was in order as we needed to stock up on sowing compost and also some growbags (permanently on the 5 for 4 offer so 10 was a bit of a squash to fit in the boot!). While there we took advantage of an offer on woodstain to get some green for the fence, blue for the shed and dark red for the staging. While quickly checking to see if they had starting stocking organic liquid tomato feed again Neil managed to spot a stash of four bottles of the feed we used to use until they discontinued it last year! They were a bargain price of £3 instead of £4.50 so we grabbed them in case we don’t see it elsewhere.
The white onions were doing so well that they needed to be brought out of the greenhouse as they will be ready for planting out in the next week or so. We left them in front of the greenhouse so they had the benefit of a bit of shelter, especially as the weather has turned cooler again.
Neil was very excited this week as he had made some internet allotment purchases that were delivered. He has treated us to some new secatuers and a pruning knife and also some bits of sharpening kit so that he can give some much needed to TLC to our older tools. So despite not having long at the plot due to other commitments, Neil managed his own before and after shot.
I had the much quicker and less messy task of replanting those propagator seeds that perished last week. This included both varieties of aubergine, several varieties of chilli and our peppers. What was rather frustrating was that some of the chillies and peppers come in small quantities, perhaps only 6 or 8 seeds so I discovered that I couldn’t replant the Tasty Grill variety of mixed colour, long peppers so made do with some Long Red Marconi that we have used in a previous year. Here’s hoping that these second propagator sowings don’t suffer any casualties!
by Philippa | Mar 8, 2014 | Allotment
The weather has really warmed up this week and so the windowsill sowings in the heated propagator had all sprouted swiftly and some were even ready to be taken to the greenhouse. I think we had our most successful germination, but maybe I had that thought too quickly as the chillis, aubergines and peppers which weren’t quite ready to go to the plot suddenly all died! They looked like they had burnt almost so I wonder if it was too hot for them. So we would have to sow them again. At least we have only lost a week or so.
The garlic and the onions have green tops over a couple of inches already which is great. The onions are in seed trays in the greenhouse and the white onions have definitely sprouted more and better than the red. We planted the shallots (Longor) that had been delivered during the week. We decided to put them on plot 118 so this will be the first year that they haven’t been grown in beds. I’m hoping that they are not going to be adversely affected, for example by slugs, so fingers crossed! The other planting we did was of some crocus and daffodil bulbs that have been in the shed for too many months! I suspect it is too late for them to do much this year, but it will be a nice surprise when they pop up next Spring.
We wanted to do some more clearing up so we are ready for the next few weeks when things will explode into action. We had some tubs of soil still in the greenhouse on plot 97 that we’d grown tomatoes and chillies in, so we got rid of the large root balls and spread the rest of it over one side of plot 118.
The herb beds had gone a bit crazy and were showing signs of growing again and so now was the time to do some pruning back or we would have missed our chance. It is always satisfying doing a before and after shot of a job like this! And it was a very pleasantly fragrant job too-certainly better smelling than digging the manure that we put on top!
Speaking of manure we put about another ten barrows of manure on plot 118, joining up all the gaps so now it has all had a thick layer. Neil also did some digging over, of which there will be a lot more to do before too long!
We harvested some cavolo nero, purple sprouting broccoli, horseradish and our first picking of the forced rhubarb. The rhubarb was a revelation, so pink and tender with a lovely delicate flavour with much less tartness. I just simply poached it and served it with some creme fraiche with some orange stirred through, delicious! Think we will be picking more next week…
by Philippa | Mar 7, 2014 | Allotment
Well, it isn’t long before you suddenly feel that Spring is upon you and that you don’t have much time left!
After some quiet weeks following the new year we visited the plots to see what needed doing. I pruned the currant bushes while Neil tackled the blackberry plants and the raspberry canes. Neil must have been feeling creative because after wondering why he had been so quiet for a while I found him by the shed with this little beauty! For growing peas up apparently!
All the seeds ordered for us from Kings by the society had arrived and so I sorted them into bundles of when they need to be planted, which seems like only a matter of weeks away! We also received the garlic bulbs ordered. After the best in show success of the summer we decided to just plant one variety this year, the Lautrec Wight. We did this about three weeks ago and no sign of life yet. In the following week we planted our onions (Sturon and Red Baron) in seed trays in the greenhouse to give them a good start as this really helped last year, particularly with the red onions.
The February storms brought chaos with them for the whole site. While other plot holders found sheds on the other side of fences and bits and pieces all over the place, we weren’t sure what to expect. We knew that we had a piece of glass missing from our greenhouse on plot 118 prior to the high winds and were dreading how vulnerable this would have made it. We were right to be anxious as the greenhouse had lifted up and shifted across the base considerably. Bob next door was lucky not to see it flying his way I think!
As a result of the wind most of the glass on one side was broken and all over the place and some of the frame is twisted and damaged. It prompted a big clear up in general really. It took two tip runs to clear all of the broken glass, buckets of debris dug out of the soil and other rubbish. We swept up all the small branches and leaves that had blown about and dug over most of the beds on plot 97, adding manure and organic chicken pellets to them.
We have moved a massive amount of manure onto both plots over the last few weeks but not really dug much over just yet as it has been so wet it becomes too much of a chore! That will be a job for the next few weeks as the weather picks up.
This last week we have bought our potatoes (Charlotte) and put them in trays to chit. We have also planted all of our tomato, chilli and aubergine varieties in the heated windowsill propagator at home and have already had most of them germinate after a couple of sunny days. We did some of our oddest planting yet. We have studiously followed the packet instructions for the bluebells which apparently need a forced 4-6 week period of cold and so we now have a bag of damp compost and bluebell seeds stashed at the back of the fridge! There is a reminder on the calendar to get them out in several weeks for the next step. That is, if they haven’t accidentally been eaten in the meantime!!!
by Philippa | Mar 7, 2014 | Allotment
After a successful end to last season, there wasn’t much left on the plot save for the usual late crops like the squash and parsnips-some of which were corkers!
The curly kale, cavolo nero and all the sprouting broccoli that had looked so grim after being eaten by some variety of pest were worth keeping in the ground as almost all of them perked up. In fact we’ve been able to pick quite a bit of the kale and cavolo over recent months which is welcome greenery at this time of year.
Neil has been wanting to split some of the rhubarb crowns on plot 118 for some time and decided that the time was now. He split two or three of the original large crowns, using some of them to extend the line of rhubarb further down the length of the plot. The rest he planted into the open soil in the greenhouse to cover with bins to force for some early pickings. Thanks go to Bob T for this idea!
We also cleared the strawberry bed, taking off any runners that weren’t needed, as we had potted on about thirty runners earlier on and planting those out. This means that whole bed is now full of strawberries of the varieties that had such a great year this year.
We managed to move a few barrows of manure over the Christmas period before downing tools for worst of the weather and the quiet part of the year.
by Philippa | Sep 1, 2013 | Allotment
Wowee! What a result! Last weekend was the annual allotment summer show. We hadn’t been sure what we would have to put in as entries in the produce competition. Some things were passed their best, some things were not quite ready enough! It’s always a bit of a gamble what will look good enough in the day or two before the show. You would think that we would be lovingly tending to each and every entry for weeks, ensuring that it is up to standard but it’s more like ‘hmmmm what looks passable and do we have enough of it?’.
This year we managed to enter our old favourites, garlic and beetroot, along with a cucumber, a single sunflower and a corker of an aubergine in the open category.
It was a good turn out for the show, with lots of items lined up in the judging tent. After the anxious wait for the RHS judge to do the rounds everyone crowds in to check out the results. We managed a respectable second place for our cucumber, beetroot and sunflower. Our poor aubergine didn’t place but the open category is always a tough one. However that was more than made up by our garlic not only being awarded a first place but also winning the best in show! According to the judge he had never seen any as good as ours! What a compliment! So as well as a certificate we have a trophy which is to be engraved! Seeing some of the previous winners on there we certainly feel like we are in esteemed company.
Massive congratulations are due to Bob who won a trophy for best plot over all three sites. This was also decided by the RHS judge who had done a thorough walk round in late July, so he definitely knows his stuff. Well done Bob!
With it being the bank holiday weekend there was plenty of time left for other allotment activities. Neil worked like a trooper as I was off on a cake course. He dug all of the onions up which despite an inauspicious start look amazing. The average size is probably the best we’ve ever had. We’ve left the drying upside down on the bench but will soon have to bring them in for storage.
He also collected a mammoth number of wheelbarrows of manure to cover the area where the onions had been.
The peas had served their time so he pulled them up for composting. Some of the broad beans were starting to flop over and no longer had any harvest worthy beans on them so he pulled up the row which had gone in first. The remainder are still ok for another week or two as they went in later and still have a good amount of pickings on them.
The raspberries have really come on in the last week. We’ve had one or two at a time up till now but this time we could take a full punnet home. The blueberries are still going strong, one plant in particular has flourished since we moved it into a large barrel planter. It’s so bushy with new growth you really have to search to find the hidden fruit.
And to prove I had a worthy excuse for not helping out with all the wheelbarrowing, here is my Gruffalo cake!
Recent Comments