by Philippa | Oct 19, 2014 | Allotment
It is now officially Autumn given we have entered October but the weather is unseasonably warm. We have picked one or two large bright red strawberries on each visit over the last week or two, along with lots of blueberries and while the squash are almost ready to be picked, the dahlias continue to bloom next to them. It is lovely to see but we can’t help but wonder what the impact on the next growing season will be!
Speaking of strawberries, we covered the asparagus bed with well rotted manure and the strawberry runners we potted on and cut off can rest there until there are ready to be planted out.
We cleared out the greenhouse beds on plot 118 and in order to make good use of all that space we buried some dahlia tubers from plants that had not lasted quite as long as some of the larger ones that were still flowering well.
Neil was on a mission, a manure mission, and put about eight barrows on the plot to be dug in at a later date. It really does feel like Autumn when the expanse of dark manure takes over from the green.
The basket of goodies has also taken an Autumnal turn, with gluts of tomatoes replaced by beetroot, apples and grapes making regular appearances. Although it is sad to think that the tomatoes, peppers, chillies and aubergines are gone for another year it is made better by the anticipation of parsnips, squash and kale and is totally forgotten in dreams of crumble and other treats to come!
by Philippa | Jun 12, 2014 | Allotment
Oh well. With all the rain we’ve had I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. This last week seems to have been more about feeding the local pest population than growing produce for our plates! The flowers we had planted out last week were the favourite targets, some sunflowers had been totally decimated. We had bought some more organic pellets during the week and within about five minutes of arriving at the plots we had used almost a full bottle! To fill the bare spaces we planted out some chrysanthemums as they were bursting out of their tray.
We also planted out the ipomoea. We had grown some last year but left them and left them and they were never put out but even then they grew some beautiful deep purple flowers shaped like trumpets. This year I was determined to do them justice. Having wanted some more information about where they are suited to and how they grow I did some googling and discovered they can grow up to 5 metres tall! Not sure I realised that when I bought the seeds! Or that they are the same family as bindweed. They grow in the same climbing fashion, twisting round things. As soon as I told Neil that, he wasn’t keen on planting them out in case they run riot with their roots! As a compromise I planted them along the back fence of plot 118 as this gives them something to grow up without risking them spreading further.
We did a lot of watering, the tomatoes were ready for tying up and needed side shooting again. I also gave them some feed for the first time this season. They’ve grown so big in the last week they needed moving to their final spacing which meant Neil had to dismantle the side staging to make room. We potted on the peppers (new ace) and the chillies (jalapeño) and everything looks quite tidy in plot 97 greenhouse.
Outside things were looking quite good. The beetroot and carrots I sowed (or in the case of the beetroot replanted!) had germinated really well, as had the turnips which I thinned out as they were already a good size. The chard and parsnips were fairing slightly less well, so I’ll check their progress next week and see if any more sowings are required!
Despite the warm weather Neil did a mountain of digging! He cleared enough space for the hoops and canes that will cover the brassicas in the next week or two.
The sun also meant we have signs of ripening, the redcurrants are turning blush pink and there were quite a few strawberries tantalisingly close to being ready. Am just hoping the liberal scattering of pellets means the slugs will have left some for us!
And a sunny note for the end, thanks to Bob for a lovely bunch of beautiful sweet williams to brighten up the living room!
by Philippa | May 3, 2014 | Allotment
Glorious sunshine on Saturday and given the forecast worsens for the rest of the bank holiday weekend and Neil has the minor distraction of another marathon to run on Monday we thought we would make the most of it today.
In a fit of giddiness of being ahead with our ‘things to do’ plan we did some more planting. The first of the seeds to be sown straight outside this year were parsnips (countess and imperial), spinach (medania and perpetual), chard (red and rainbow) and beetroot (boltardy, forono, golden and barbabietola di chioggia).
More planting in the greenhouse of green and purple basil, melon (Blenheim orange), courgette (zucchini, jemmer, tondo chiaro di nizzi and dundoo) and cucumber (gherkin and burpless tasty green). Things that had not even germinated last week, such as the cucino cucumbers or Savoy cabbages, had grown pretty tall, all in six days. Some of the brassicas were growing so well that they needed thinning out, especially as we have no need for 50 plus red cabbages! Neil got busy snipping with the scissors-cruel but necessary! He also pricked out the pak choi and in a bit of an experiment put some in black growing bags and some in a seed tray to see which fares best.
Due to the warmer weather the onions and garlic looked like they could do with some water so I watered them with some organic feed which should perk them up. I always worry about how much this feeds the weeds too as I’m sure things like mares tail must love it! We did some outside sowing of flowers too. Cornflowers were sewn in ‘deep masses’ and poppies were cast in ‘majestic drifts’ according to packet instructions. Otherwise known as fling ’em in and see what happens!
Neil, always one to be tempted by an internet purchase, had added a white marker to his order when getting some seeds online and now it had arrived was keen to try making some signs for our crops. So we used it on some slate pieces that we have previously written on with chino-graph pencil with only short term success. Apparently it is waterproof but can be easily removed with soapy water. Stand by for reviews of its progress in a few weeks time. Meanwhile Neil thinks any allotment judges will like the extra effort to make the place look nice!
Having emptied the manure bay on plot 97 with recent loads to dig into the plots, Neil filled it back up again while there was spare manure in the communal bays. He also put about 6 barrows of it at the end of plot 118 which was only cleared of the kale a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure digging it all in will appear on the ‘things to do’ list for coming weeks! So much for being ahead, there are always jobs to be done!
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 | Jun 9, 2013 | Allotment
A lovely weekend at the allotment in the sunshine, several hours flew by on Saturday but that may have been in large part to lots of chatting with Bob! Neil managed a couple of hours with me on Sunday after getting his almost 3hr run out of the way.
You really cannot miss too many visits at this time of year, the weeds have gone bonkers! The high temperatures all this week have had a noticeable effect. I popped along this Tuesday and gave things a good water and weed but even despite that there were plenty of new weeds to tackle by the weekend. Neil did a mammoth weeding of the onions, which seemed to have attracted more weeds than anywhere else on plot 118.
The heat has contributed to most other things growing great guns this week. All the tomatoes needed sideshooting already. The parsnips were ready to be thinned and the beetroot also, which incidentally seems to have had a really good germination rate. You could practically watch some of the greenhouse sowings grow. I planted some pak choi (joi choi) on Tuesday and yet by Saturday they had germinated well. The climbing beans were all sprouted and so I moved them to the coldframe to go out next week. I suspect the Brussels and cauliflowers already in there will be ready to go out too, but will need netting.
All of the cucurbits have done well and will be outgrowing their 7cm pots soon so it will probably be time to get them outside in the next week or two. I potted on all of the cucumber/gherkin varieties and also all the chillies and peppers. We always pot on more than we will end up using as chillies are really nice to give to friends and families and are generally well received!
Outside, the strawberries on both plots look decidedly perky and you can see that they are going to crop well, as long as we beat the slugs! I gave the shallots and garlic some water and added some organic general feed to the watering can.
Neil put in some ‘cross training’ by digging over some more of plot 118 and getting a few barrows of manure. I sowed some flower seeds, much less tiring work! We say every year that we want to plant more flowers and while we have started quite a few off, I’m not sure we’ll have many due to patchy germination. Even our marigolds, usually a winner, have been a bit off. Bob clearly took pity and generously donated some of his spares which we can be transplanting or planting out in the next few weeks. There were some marigolds, lobelia, lupins and petunias. I did have two small buddleia and a hydrangea plant I’d bought last week, so I planted these out at the rear of the left side of plot 118 along the fence. Hopefully these will add some interesting colour and height when they establish. I sowed some pansies (forerunner), Michaelmas daisy, aster (milady), chrysanthemum (mixed), ipomoea (grandpa ott) and zinnia (Oklahoma) in the greenhouse and coldframe. I also sowed some poppies outside (Shirley double mixed). The packet rather poetically suggested sowing these in drifts for a majestic display, so I did my best to cast them in majestic drifts!
We are all up to date with seed sowing now, save for lettuce varieties. I think it’s because they grow so quickly that I have a tendency to leave them until we’ve caught up with other veg, which is a bit daft really as they are a tasty and value for money crop. Anyhow, I’ll get them in sometime over the coming week!
Recent Comments