by Philippa | Aug 24, 2014 | Allotment
It’s that time of year when things start slowing down towards the end of the season. We still have the summer show to go but it has felt cooler and as if it was later in the year than that. But we also have some things which are coming into their own now the height of summer has passed, such as the flourishing squashes and the grape vine that is threatening to burst out of the greenhouse.
We have still been taking full baskets of goodies home, the selection is gradually changing to the later crops. It starts to feel like planning for the next season is the focus of our time and attentions, which can be just as exciting as picking lots of treats. Neil certainly likes this time of year and it can be hard not to get itchy fingers and tear stuff down too early!
We have restrained ourselves to pulling up the broad beans, storing bags upon bags of the tasty beans in the freezer and putting the first barrows of manure out. We also cut off all the strawberry runners that we potted up a few weeks ago. When you are potting them up it always feels like you might not have enough but once they are cut free from the main plants and the pots are lined up it suddenly feels like an awful lot of strawberries! It’s a good job we love them!
by Philippa | Aug 3, 2014 | Allotment
This visit this weekend was relatively short, firstly due to their not being that much that needed doing (ssssh before we find jobs to do!) and secondly due to being busy with other things.
As such the main jobs were picking things to take home. We had quite a treasure trove which included that last of the potatoes which Neil dug up, broad beans, French beans, courgettes, tomatoes, cavolo nero, cucumbers, herbs and flowers. We also had a bonus of a good bunch of salad leaves, all in miniature as they were actually those leaves that we had thinned out from the beds and were too good to go to waste!
There are plenty of things that are being closely watched, with growing impatience for when they will be ready to pick. Almost immediately on arriving at the plot each time I go to check on the progress!
We got another haul of goodies to bring home and some beautiful flowers including the first of the dahlias. But we left this one for the bee!
by Philippa | May 17, 2014 | Allotment
We were due to go on holiday on Sunday, straight after the Great Manchester 10km, so an hour or two on Saturday was all the time we had to do some of the jobs that really couldn’t wait until our return.
The peas and sweetpeas had been outside for a couple of days and were ready to be planted. Leaving them for much longer, particularly if the weather was going to be warm would have made them too leggy and pot bound. So we planted them out along with the climbing French beans and the broad beans. The previous days had been quite hot and due to not being on mid week to water, the broad beans were very flopped over. They looked a bit pathetic after planting out but it didn’t take long for the good soaking to start to work and they looked much perkier by the time we left.
There were a few other casualties to the heat. The sprouting broccoli and calabrese varieties I sowed last week and which had germinated successfully had completely collapsed and despite watering they didn’t look as if they would recover-it would be pretty miraculous if they did but we’ll see! It is always a bit of a worry that there will be a heat wave while you are away but by planting out what we did we gave ourselves the best chance of things being in good nick when we get back!
by Philippa | May 12, 2014 | Allotment
We knew we were in for a wet weekend this weekend. We also knew that Saturday was a working party day at the site. Always seems to be the way! Thankfully it didn’t put everyone off and despite having to periodically hide from the heavy downpours, there were up to 17 members helping out! The plan was to clear some of the back of site 3 so that a poly tunnel could be dismantled and brought across from the bottom end of site 2.
We made good progress, clearing a large area, laying membrane, taking the poly tunnel apart and bringing the parts over. Unexpectedly, there was also the offer of about 60 flagstones from a local house, which are going to be used around the tunnel. Given the number of helpers and the fact that Steve had his van, it was too good an opportunity to miss, so after two trips and endless carrying of flags, they too were shifted onto the cleared site.
After all the work on the site, we didn’t manage a great deal of time on our own plots, but then again we didn’t have a very long list of things to achieve. Last weekend, after the monthly meeting we did manage a short burst in the greenhouse before we set off to Milton Keynes for Neil’s race. I planted a selection of brassicas and by this week they were all sprouted-borecole (scarlet), calabrese (minicole and green sprouting), sprouting broccoli (purple and red arrow), cabbage (tundra) and broccoli (summer purple).
All the things going on in the greenhouse meant it was time to start moving some more stuff out to the coldframe. We took the dahlias, lupins and marigolds out of the coldframe and to take their place transferred some of the brassicas and all the broad beans, climbing French beans and peas in.
We then potted on all of the tomato varieties into both greenhouses, digging the pots into the greenhouse beds in the 118 greenhouse. We put a handful of organic feed pellets into the tubs before transplanting.
Then on to slightly more delicate transplanting, pricking out the zinnia and chrysanthemum into separate cells. One thing is for sure, I think we will have plenty of flowers this year! A slightly amusing bit of innovation from Neil while in the greenhouse. It became obvious that our tray of pak choi was providing a comfy warm seat for one of the resident allotment cats. So Neil fashioned an anti cat bum device. Here’s hoping it works!
We know we don’t have a lot of time next weekend and so it was good to get these jobs done as while they weren’t urgent, by the time another week had passed they really would be! Now all we need is some sunshine to dry off!
by Philippa | Apr 20, 2014 | Allotment
The long weekend started off uncharacteristically sunny and Neil managed a full afternoon down at the plots on Friday. He had a plan to do some DIY and build a new gate for the back of plot 118, as our ‘temporary’ one has been in use for about two years! He finished the gate in record time but didn’t quite manage a full coat of woodstain as it takes longer than you think to do a good job of it.
We both returned on Saturday. Lots of signs of Spring, blossom open on all the fruit trees which looks beautiful. Also, the tulips at the front have opened and added some colour. The daffodils that we unceremoniously shoved in far too late after we found them starting to sprout in the shed have even made an attempt at flowering! Very full blooms but only about 3 inches tall!
However, it is that time of year where it seems all you need do is turn your back for a moment and the weeds are abound. It gives you itchy fingers to just get blitzing everywhere and so for the first hour or so that is what we did. I weeded all of plot 97 and down the outside of the fence by the path as there were a lot of flowering dandelions that will soon be sending their seed out so heavily it looks like it is snowing! Neil cleared all along the back of plot 118 and I then cleared in front of the greenhouse where the weeds were coming through the membrane. After a bit of hard work it looked much neater all round.
Neil completed painting the new gate which I am very impressed with! He then started to dig over the front left side of the plot ready for planting the chitted potatoes sometime later over the weekend. As soon as you start digging, the robin who hangs around our side of the site pays a visit. He is so tame it’s almost like having a pet, he will come right up to you while you work and you sometimes catch him with a worm in his mouth! It’s easy pickings when you’re turning up hundreds of them at a time!
While Neil was digging I did some planting as I had a bit of a panic when I realised it seemed like we were a bit behind with sowing. I’m sure it’s all in your head at this time of year, all it takes is a couple of sunny days and it suddenly feels like you are running out of time to get things done! So I planted cauliflower (snowball), cabbage (candissa), broad beans (masterpiece green longpod), Brussel sprouts (hastings and Evesham special) and Spring onions (white Lisbon and lillia). So we felt quite smug on leaving on Saturday with how much we had achieved and there looked to be quite a difference between when we arrived and when we left!
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