by Neil Wilkinson | Apr 17, 2011 | Allotment
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So, not only does my camera have a rather nifty panorama mode but I sit next to Rob at work who knows a few tricks on how to use it. The above picture is a 360 degree view of plot 118 and I think it looks pretty neat!
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We had a really great long day at the allotment today and got tons done. Pilla planted lots in the greenhouse (cucumbers, kale, pumpkins, celery and a few types of flowers) and more outside on the old plot including beetroot, lettuces and carrots and peas. We’ve really caught up on the April sowing now, with almost all of it done.
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We set up a few of the structures on plot 118, moving the munty and pea frame and setting up a length of wire fence for the peas. Whilst Pilla was busy doing the sowing I planted the main crop potatoes in the ground that last year was the huge soil mound.
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Bob very kindly gave us use of his rotavator which made quick work of the soil where we had the green manure and also up the side where the pea frame was. I also had a good weed of the whole plot and even had time to sweep the path – the whole plot is looking pretty decent now, and touch wood we seem to be on top of the weeds just before the wedding (they will come back I know, but right now, we might as well enjoy it!).
Now, where is that aftersu, I think I might have some sunburn coming on….
by Neil Wilkinson | Nov 21, 2010 | Allotment
It’s Pilla’s 29th birthday today and we celebrated it in style. Allotment style of course. We’ve had another big break in blogs, for which we are very sorry but it’s been a combination of a) not getting down to the plot that much recently and b) not much going on at the plots. Well, I say not much going on, this is actually my favourite time of year. The weeds are not growing, the place is quiet and you actually feel like you are making progress with the plots, it’s just that there is not that much interesting stuff to report. The day was slightly interrupted today with the annual allotment task of signing up the other plot holders and payment of rents but we managed to get lots done over the weekend none the less.
On Saturday Philippa spent her last few hours as a 28 year old by removing all the old plants from the greenhouse which is now almost completely empty and giving it a good clean out. It only seems like a few weeks ago we could hardly get in there and now there is not a single plant growing! I tidied up the raspberry canes on plot 97 by removing the canes that had fruited this year and tying up the new growth. There are probably about three times as many canes as last year and we were overrun with raspberries so it’s a little bit frightening how many we might get next year.
We’ve been talking for a while about getting a little tea shed on 118, before we could do this we needed a shed base, which I made on Saturday with a layer of sand and 8 of the 2″ by 3″ flags. It started level enough but by the time you have laid a few of those flags you get pretty tired and in the end it’s probably best described as ‘level enough’. It now sits proudly next to the greenhouse base. We did have a plan to put the greenhouse up today but we probably couldn’t have done it in the time we had available, so instead I decided to make a brick path to both the shed and the greenhouse. I think they are best described as rustic! No-one could describe them as level and if you hit the right bricks there are definitely a few wobbles, but it is a good way of using up lots of the bricks we have dug up over the plot. Pilla sorted through the many pots we had of spent compost and grow bags from the greenhouse and spread it all over the asparagus bed.
We’ve harvested our first sprouts since the last blog (of which Pilla ate three, a record!) and today took our first parsnips. What with the beetroot, cabbage and kale we are well into our winter crops already.
by Neil Wilkinson | Sep 1, 2010 | Allotment
It seems like it has been a very long time since we’ve updated the blog, which is a shame for lots of reasons, we have a whole lot of news and next year we’ll be wondering what on earth we did in August without any reminders!
The first big job was to collect a new (to us anyway, its actually 20+ years old) wooden greenhouse that we bought on eBay. We had to hire a big van and get ourselves over the Pennines with some help (Tom and my Dad-many many many thanks) we managed to dismantle the structure and bring it back to the plot without damaging it. Whilst there I cheekily asked for the flags underneath the greenhouse and managed to take 10 of those for the path. It’s got to be accepted allotment behaviour to ask for free things, and if you don’t ask you don’t get.
In the meantime the sunflowers which were blooming away so brightly a month ago quickly drooped and we rescued the heads to save the seeds for eating. They are currently drying off in the greenhouse, hopefully away from the squirrels that seem to love finding the seeds and eating them. You can’t mind too much when you see little neat piles of the carefully removed husks around the plot!
The harvesting has continued, we’ve been taking lots of everything really. We have been completely over run with courgettes but have managed to find some interesting ways to eat them. Special mention here goes to the courgette bread Pilla made and the hollowed out massive courgette stuffed with chili. Both delicious!
One of the long standing jobs (I think that should read ‘one of the many long standing jobs’) we’ve needed to do was clear the soil pile left over on plot 118. As I mentioned in the last post this was left over from the path excavations by the previous plot holders and we had since covered it with a membrane to try and kill off some of the weeds. It was a pretty big job over about three weekends but I finally managed to get rid of it all, most of it going to other places on the plot where the soil was a bit low. This has cleared a whole patch of land for us to grow on next year (with the caveat it will still have a lot of weed roots and tons of glass we will have to watch out for). As I was doing this Pilla was busy harvesting the onions and turning the chair into a handy drying rack-good job we don’t often have time to sit down!
The allotment fairies have been kind to us lately as it seems as soon as we need something it’s been magically appearing. Right after finishing the soil pile and so being able to re-use the membrane, the site got a big delivery of wood chippings. This meant we could lay the membrane over the back right corner of the plot and lay the chippings over the top. Pilla got to work in her week off (with help from Bob, thanks Bob!) and managed to move a load of chippings onto the plot ready to be put into position. We managed to move all the chippings into position this week (with help from Nic, thanks Nic!) at the same time re-fitting the fence at the back and weeding across the back path. The whole back of the plot needs a lot of attention as we’ve used it as a bit of a dumping ground whilst it’s not been in use so it’s good to finally making a start clearing it up.
Just as that job was finishing up and my thoughts were turning on how to get more flags for the path and greenhouse base, Bob shouted me over as we’d just got a big delivery. I managed to snaffle 12 3 x 2 flags, along with the few more I’ve got off eBay we easily have enough for the path now. More good timing! Pilla planted some leeks we got fromDenise on the new plot and some lettuces off Bob on the old plot, two more wintry crops that should give us something to eat in the slow months to come.
It was the annual summer show this weekend and with it the allotment veg prizes. Last year we were very happy to win a single first prize but were not as confident this year, so we were very pleased when the tent doors were opened and the prizes announced. We won first prize for our garlic (that’s two years running!) and also for our shallots along with a few third prizes for french beans, beetroot, a jalapeno in the open class and a single flower. We were really pleased for Bob who managed to scoop first, second and third prize for his tomatoes which included the cup for the best in show. Continuing our lucky streak, Pilla won a prize in the raffle which turned out to be a goody box of allotment things. The fairies at work I think 🙂
by Philippa | Jul 21, 2010 | Allotment
Don’t panic, it’s not Neil that is getting thrown out! It’s the crops that have passed their best!
It is a strange time of year as we are harvesting lots but there are some crops that are already starting to look a bit tired. The unpredictable weather has not helped either, as the wet and warm conditions have meant that a few of the lettuces, the broccoli raab and the pak choi have gone to seed. Part of me felt bad that they had to be pulled up but they are no good once they reach that stage as the leaves taste bitter. In any event they make the way for other exciting things!
Something that we wanted to improve on from last year was making better use of our space and extending our growing season. One way we have done that is to keep on top of those crops that need to be successionally sown, such as lettuces, spring onions and various herbs. Another way to achieve this goal was to do some clever seed shopping. About 6 weeks ago we placed a further seed order specifically for those crops that can be sown later in the season. Once I had cleared the seeded crops this weekend I set about planting some of the new varieties which included beetroot (boston), carrot (nanco), mustard (red zest) and bunching onions (shimonita). Hopefully this will mean that we will be harvesting tasty crops during the September-December period which was pretty lean last year. We have some more late sowing seeds that we will sow over the coming weeks as more of our current crops reach the end of their useful life.
Neil was busy once again with the path on the new plot, which is growing as fast as the vegetables! We are almost out of flags now though so we are on the scrounge from anyone who has any spare. He also built a little raised bed that we have been talking about building for ages. We finally got round to visiting the reclaimed timber yard this weekend and so Neil dug up the top trek layer to give some extra depth for this new bed. In true recycling style he then used some of this top trek to level out the path flags and the rest to fill in some holes in the car park! To fill the new bed he sorted through a few wheelbarrows worth of soil from the ‘mud mound’ on the new plot, so it really looks like a sizeable chunk has gone already.
Exciting news to end with! Firstly, we ate our first homegrown cauliflowers this week and they were tasty! We tried to grow them last year and after weeks of anticipation watching their crowns form they all blew and went to seed before they were ready to be picked. This year we tried them on the new plot with much more success. We put this down to the slightly lower soil temperatures compared to the raised beds, but who knows! A little tip to share, once the heads are almost fully formed use some padded pegs to clip the outer leaves over the crown to protect it from the sun and hopefully prevent the head blowing.
And finally…we have a new greenhouse! After a few failed auctions we were finally successful in winning a greenhouse on eBay. It is a 10ft x 8ft wooden framed one with a louvre window which will replace the wooden ramshackle shed on the new plot. It is to be collected from its current owner in the next few weeks so wish us luck for the deconstruction/journey/reconstruction!
by Neil Wilkinson | Jul 14, 2010 | Allotment
Had a lovely allotment lunch today, a salad only containing things we grew on the plot. I went last night and got salad leaves, beetroot and broad beans and added some new potatoes, an egg and our cucumber. With a homemade honey and mustard dressing it was flipping lovely!
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