by Philippa | May 27, 2013 | Allotment
We had a pretty busy bank holiday weekend-Neil had a five hour bike ride and then on Sunday did twice round the Manchester 10km race. Monday was our day of allotmenting and we were really looking forward to it. The weekend had been pretty warm and sunny but Monday was a bit cooler but that’s ok for a full day on the plots getting stuff done. And boy did we get stuff done!
The front of both plots were weeded and we planted out some evergreen plants I’d bought a couple of weeks ago. The front of plot 97 doesn’t have many evergreen things in it which means it has times in the year when it looks pretty shabby and I wanted something a bit neater and more manageable year round. Well that has been improved and it will look even more lovely when things have established.
The coldframe was stuffed to the brim and everything needed planting out as they were at risk of being straggly. We planted out the broadbeans (masterpiece green longpod) in blocks and also planted some more seeds so we have some successional cropping. We also put out the pea varieties on the wire mesh (early onward, purple prodded and sugarsnap) and some more seeds in the planting trench. The germination was pretty inconsistent but hopefully they will all catch up with each other. As usual they all looked very floopy after they were planted out but with the windy weather we have been having they will strengthen up in no time.
We had done a mega B&Q run before getting to the plots for grow bags and multipurpose compost and it was good timing as the tomatoes needed potting on immediately. Neil did all 8 varieties in the greenhouse on plot 118 so they are in the final large pots and also potted on the aubergines to intermediate pots. The sunflowers were taking up lots of bench space so Neil put them out in our makeshift coldframe using some classy old shower panels! Good recycling at work there! Neil also gave the grapevine a good pruning as it is really getting going and there were too many little bunches to have all made it to full fruit.
The weather started to get a bit drizzly so I retreated to the greenhouse on plot 97 for some more planting of seeds. We are pretty much on target with most things now, accounting for the fact that the weather is about a month behind usual temperatures. I planted climbing French beans and red knight runner beans, three varieties of borecole (dwarf green curled, scarlet and cavolo nero), savoy versus cabbage and some sprouting broccoli varieties (purple sprouting, summer purple sprouting, green calabrese and red arrow). While I was doing that Neil started a job I don’t think he had planned to do but once he started he wanted to finish! The paths on plot 97 have for the last year or so been getting quite mossy and weedy. It’s ok to keep on top of the weeds every few weeks but the moss is a bit more tricky and also gets very slippy when wet. So Neil scraped off the top layer of the paths and it looks really neat. Hopefully it will last for a while!
In general this last week has seen a sudden influx of green and everything looks a lot fuller. We will definitely be sorted for redcurrants this year! We might also see our first gooseberries after planting out a bush that was in a pot for four years doing nothing and which I think we both thought was on its last legs! Next week will have even more going on. Love this time of year!
by Philippa | Jun 20, 2011 | Allotment
We really feel like we are on top of things on both plots at the moment, which is surprising given our three week absence while on honeymoon. Most of the greenhouse plants have been potted on to their final pots and due to having glazed the new greenhouse some have been moved over to plot 118. We have split all the varieties into both greenhouses, just in case they don’t grow consistently although the new greenhouse seems to be doing its job so far. As a result we seem to have plenty of room for other tasks. Neil has decided to do a little experiment with some rosemary cuttings which he is trying to get rooted. I’m not sure he knows exactly what needs to be done so he has just put them into damp compost! Apparently some rooting/cutting gels have high hormone levels, which is a bit off putting, so we will see what happens without.
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We have managed to take a bumper harvest of fruit home already, including about 1.5kg of raspberries, 750g redcurrants, 500g blackcurrants and 500g strawberries, all of which have been delicious. The blackcurrants, our first harvest off the plant we got about a year ago, are incredibly tart when eaten straight from the bush, so need plenty of sugar adding to any recipe they are being used in. I have a plan for the box we have in kitchen, a combination of cordial (move over Ribena!) and some blackcurrant vodka, which will need three months maturing and so will be in good time for Christmas gifts.
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We would have had more strawberries, and gigantic ones at that, had it not been for some local pest problems. The plants we put in during winter have been growing nicely, with large, upright fruit. They started ripening in the last couple of weeks and we had been looking forward to harvesting them once ready. However, eagle eyed Bob noticed that suddenly there looked to be a lot less fruit on the plants. We’ve come to the conclusion that it is either wood pigeons, squirrels or a rat. Whatever is responsible, it is pretty voracious and has left us with few fruit on the plants in the bed. It is a bit disappointing as it has never been an issue in previous years, but I suppose the wildlife now knows after three years on 97 that it provides a consistent supply of treats!
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Another casualty of the wood pigeons has been the kale and the purple sprouting broccoli, again things we have grown for the last two years without any attacks. We only planted them out about a week ago, having reared them to be big and healthy in the greenhouse and they are now almost stripped bare! This necessitated an emergency dash for some canes and netting and Neil spent a good deal of time constructing frames to keep them covered. Hopefully they will be back to normal in a few weeks, although Neil remains pessimistic! I really hope so as kale has certainly been a good crop in the colder months.
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More planting out this weekend, a Crown Prince squash, very precious as it was the only one that germinated out of the four I sowed. The broad beans, three varieties, Streamline, Red Knight and Moonlight, have been strung up the munty frame and look quite healthy but we have decided we must be a couple of weeks behind some other plot holders who already have flowers appearing on their beans! The Sugarsnap peas are now twisted round the base of a cane structure, these are the second attempt at these this year, as the first ones that I sowed directly into the ground pre wedding were very poor at germinating. Courgettes, Jemmer, Zucchini and Tundi, have gone out too.
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With the leek planting, I’m trying an experiment of my own. The Gardener’s World website reckons on planting them out once they are pencil thickness into holes that are 15-20cm deep and then watering them in so a little of the soil falls back in the hole. Some others (Bob included) reckon that all you need to do is dig them in with a trowel and put the soil right back over it. So we have two rows, one of each method, and we’ll report back if it makes any difference! We hope to still be in as much control of things in the next couple of weeks, but we have this weekend off in Glastonbury so who knows!
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by Neil Wilkinson | May 9, 2010 | Allotment
Another long day at the allotment. We got there bright and early to find two gifts – a bottle of homemade banana and apricot wine from Chris (thanks Chris!) and Bob had rotavated all of the ground that we had turned over last week (thanks Bob!). This was a huge job giving us lots more usable space and must have taken ages because the soil was rock solid. – the soil looks perfect for planting in now. I tried on a section I had turned over on Saturday and whilst Iwas struggling with the rotavator Pilla was busy feeding and watering the garlic and shallots on plot 97.
We made a quick call in to the stores to buy netting and canes (you can never have enough canes it seems) and also returned with a massive amount of wire fencing, which should easily be enough to cover the full side and the back of our plot. After lunch I used hoops to make the tunnel covering the cauliflowers and red cabbage, while Pilla sowed a couple of rows of swedes. Hopefully this should protect them from attack better than last year as the mesh on this netting is much finer.
Back on plot 97 we planted out our sweetpeas across the front and up the bamboo arch and filled up their place in the cold frame with the runner beans and purple sprouting broccoli. I did some more weeding on plot 118 and Pilla planted out kale (dwarf green curled), savoy cabbages (tarvoy) and sweetcorn (sweet nugget and mini-pop, a mini variety from Bob) in the greenhouse and a few more lettuce varieties out in the plots. We also potted on some of remaining chilli plants.
Our first fruit shouldn’t be too long away now, the strawberry flowers will soon turn to fruit and the red current bushes already have little green berries on-exciting!
by Neil Wilkinson | Apr 13, 2010 | Allotment
After a slow start to the big seed sowing months we tried to seriously redress the balance this weekend. We took advantage of the sunny weather and managed to get loads planted on Saturday afternoon in the greenhouse and even a few directly outside. We now have growing at the allotment at least:
– purple sprouting broccoli
– spinach
– red and green lettuces
– Brussel sprouts
– sunflowers
– marjoram
– globe carrots
– marigolds
– petunias
– dahlias
– lavender
– more sweetpeas
The lavender is exciting because we have a rough plan to grow it and perhaps use it as part of the table decorations at the wedding. We also planted a fair few things at home to give them a head start in the propogater.
Whilst Pilla was busy sowing I got to work increasing the staging in the greenhouse, eventually it should be about twice the size of last year, which was pretty warm work in the sunshine.
After missing out on an apparently interesting monthly meeting on Sunday we got to work on the new plot which is still quite weedy in places. We tackled a small corner around the rhubarb and in the same area planted 4 rows of potatoes – this space must be about twice the size of the area we gave them last year. We covered the freshly weeded area with some spent hops to try and stop some of the weeds growing back.
The goods news is we took our first crop home this week, our rhubarb has taken off on plot 97 this week with the warm weather so we managed to pick a few stems.
Sorry for the lack of picures – we left the camera at home again 🙁
by Neil Wilkinson | Nov 15, 2009 | Allotment
It’s been a little while since we updated the site – mostly because it’s been a little while since we could spend any time at the allotment as we have been busy with stag do’s, trail runs and allotment treasurer admin work for the last few weekends. We had another couple of hours of work to do this morning signing people up for the year but we then managed to spend a few hours tidying up the plot.
Pilla cleared up the last of the plants in the greenhouse, the only thing left in there now is a solitary fuschia plant although it is trying it’s best to look colourful. I tackled the beds at the end of the plot, removing the sprouting broccoli (bolted before we could eat it) and the red cabbage (ravaged by slugs – we did manage to take a couple of tiny heads today though).
We also removed the runner beans, they have been consisently producing tons of beans since June but there is a limit to how many you can eat or store in the freezer (Shhh… especially as one of us doesn’t really like them), so we decided to chop them down today. Also on the job list was adding last years leaf mould to the compost heap and adding this years leaves the leaf compost maker.
The last job was very exciting, i’m not going to say any more today but we’ll have some picutres and news soon.
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