The sun is back!

After a few weekends of work on the allotment, in the garden and greenhouse I thought I would update the blog and put up some more pictures.

After what was a very wet and dismal start to the year it’s been very refreshing to have some dry and sunny weather and I know Dugless the Allotment and Nigel the Garden have appreciated it. Unfortunately so have the weeds, and they seem intent on growing twice as fast as the veg and plants that we’ve put in.

Anyway, the alliums (leeks, onions and garlic are brilliant at the moment – and very weed free as well after a concerted effort this morning).

Whilst I was weeding Mary was busy planting out our purple dwarf bean seedlings, to go with the borlotti beans and peas that were planted recently and the broad beans that have come along well since being sown in November; those that did not rot in the ground whilst we trying not to sink in the floods! Some of the broad beans are now starting to show pods!

The purple sprouting broccoli has been a real treat this past couple of weeks. It always fills a niche in the growing circle and also makes a brilliant soup. We also have some hearts appearing on the cauliflowers at last. I was on the point of digging them up and consigning them to the compost bin! They have just bought themselves a stay of execution. Well, at least until they are big enough to make cauliflower cheese with!

The stars of the allotment again are the soft fruits. They are looking very healthy and with lots of flower. We even have gooseberries starting to appear already.

The biggest treat this year is the greenhouse. Another great big thank you goes out to Julie for giving it to us and Jo, Allan, NJ and Dan for spending the day with us last month putting it up! A really fun day was had by all!

The great thing about the greenhouse was that after coming back from holiday last week we were met by a forest of seedlings.

Some of which have been planted out on the allotment, some in the garden and some potted up for growing on. Hopefully we will end up with a bumper crop of tomatoes (purple and black), purple tomatillos, cucumbers, peppers and chillies.

Watch this space to see what happens next and Happy Gardening!

Getting ready for planting!

So whilst it’s been too wet to go and work on the allotment we’ve been busy at home getting things sorted ready for spring planting. We popped into Wilko’s the other day and bought some first early seed potatoes.

They were doing bags of five seed potatoes for a £1 so being wild we bought a bag! After leaving them in a warm, dry dark place for a week to chit they were soon ready to go into the ground.

I had prepped the bed with some compost and feed the week before and since it wasn’t pouring with rain this morning into the ground they went!

The thing that was needed next was to find some suitable seed trays to sow leek seeds in. These need to be quite small but still able to hold 2/3 plants to the approximate size of a pencil. At that point they are ready to transplant into the main growing bed. After a bit of searching on the internet I had what we needed at a very reasonable price.

I also purchased some slightly larger seed trays as well to grow tomato/tomatillo/chilli/pepper seeds on as plug plants. Hopefully having a greenhouse (which we need to get sorted/moved) this year will be a major plus.

A few years ago we bought a cold frame that had served us very well. However, after a few seasons of footballs landing on it and cats using it as a jumping pad the plastic panes in the top had become pretty knackered. So I decided it was time to carry out some repairs. I figured if we got some heavy duty plastic and some roofing nails we could soon

have a functioning cold frame again. One quick visit to B&Q later and we were in business. The good thing is, not only do we have a cold frame again we have enough plastic sheeting left over to carry out repairs for a good few years!

Happy Gardening!

Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day!

Seriously, I’m thinking of investing in some gills and fins. I don’t think we have enough time left to wait for evolution to catch up with the weather. Then again, this time last year we were ice locked and wondering if we were going back into a polar ice age! I must admit I would rather have the cold than the wet but the allotment seems to be coping with the rain ok.

        I decided to go and have a bimble around the allotment this morning to see what was happening and to do some tidying up. The first job when I got down there was to weed and turn over the soil at the end of the fruit bush bed. This is so that at the weekend we can transplant the gooseberry bushes so that they’re not blocked out by the jostaberry bush. As great as the josta is, it does tend to block out everything below it when it gets into leaf. It will also make it easier to harvest both the gooseberry and the jostaberry later in the year. Last year’s crop of goosegogs was good but I’m hoping this year’s will be even better now that the bushes are established, especially from the hinnomaki (red).

        After that it was down to some long overdue weeding. After a quick tidy up around the currant bushes, which weren’t too bad to be honest, it was time to move on to the main event – kale, leeks and parsnips.

        This was a job that we had been putting off for a while. I figured today was a good day to do the weeding as the ground was soft. Two buckets of weeds, a pair of very wet knees and a couple of mud caked hands later and the job was done. It was with immense satisfaction that I stood back, in the pouring rain (again), and surveyed the result of my labours.

        This means that at the weekend the only real weeding that will be left to do will be the onions and garlic (as promised, they will be receiving lots of extra love and attention). The additional bonus to doing the weeding now is that we don’t have to spend all Saturday morning listening to the incessant drone of the Moody Teen complaining about having to spend time on the allotment! A win, win situation all round!

The final thing I did before coming home was to have a quick check on the broad beans. They’re approximately 2 – 4” tall now and seem quite strong. Another few weeks and we may have to dispense with the cloches as they will be too tall to be covered!

Happy Gardening!

Happy New Year!

Well that’s Christmas and New Year done and dusted. This morning it was time to pop down the allotment and get a bit of maintenance done whilst there was a break (however brief) in the weather. I had driven past the other day and noticed that one of our cloches had been lifted up by the wind and when we got down there a second one had joined it.

        The only other damage if damage at all, was that our tool box had been blown over (again) and the lids off of our composters had been whisked away on to our neighbour’s plot; all easily rectified.

        We had received some pennies for Christmas and decided to use some of it to get some new tools. Our last set was from Wilko’s and whilst they got us going (and turned a fair amount of soil in the process) they weren’t exactly top quality. So this time we found some Draper tools online that had been reduced (got to love a bargain). They were all shiny and new and I didn’t want to get them muddy.

        Anyway, Mary and Lyta set to work reseating the cloches and making sure they were well bedded down to protect the broad bean shoots that seem

to be doing quite well so far. Not all of them have come up but then we didn’t expect them too. It will just be a result this year to actually get some to harvest without the blackfly killing them off. Hopefully by having planted them so early they will be ready before the blackfly arrive. We’ve also been advised to pinch the tops out as this seems to deter the little buggers as well.

        Whilst the ladies were busy at one end of the plot I set to work at the other end spreading the manure and straw to fertilise the potato patch. It

may be a dirty, smelly job but there is such a sense of satisfaction once it’s done that I really don’t mind doing it. Plus you have the added bonus of knowing that the soil will be perfect for growing awesome potatoes! This year we will once again be growing some new (new to us) varieties and some tried and tested. We will of course be doing Purple Majesty and hope we get a better crop than last year.

        The final note for the first blog of 2014 is to announce our new arrival! We are proud to say that the Elephant Garlic has finally started shooting! I must admit it was a bit touch and go there for a while and I didn’t think it was going to happen but they have finally peeked above the soil and will now be pampered and spoilt until harvesting time.

Happy New Year

Merry Christmas

Well the last of the leeks from our first batch were taken up at the weekend to go into a hamper for some friends along with some other bits and pieces from the allotment and some homemade treats. That means that once the flood is over and Noah has parked his Ark we can get back down to the serious work of covering the beds over ready for the winter slumber and replenishment of nutrients.

            We do still have leeks growing from the second batch we planted and a few of them are just about coming to the right size for eating. Hopefully between them, the remaining parsnips, the purple caulis, the oncoming sprouts, the kale and the few remaining carrots we will still be eating fresh veg for a while longer before we have to start raiding the stores in the freezer. We never set out to be, nor do we intend to be, self-sufficient but it is a wonderful feeling for six to nine months of the year to thumb your nose at the supermarket veg aisles each week.

            We have been offered a huge 10’ x 8’ greenhouse by a rather wonderful lady I went to school with and it was our intention to dismantle it, ship it in to Nigel, and hopefully start rebuilding it over the Christmas holidays. I think the weather has pretty much scuppered that idea; although we are still aiming to get it built before the spring. We’ve bought quite an assortment of tomatoes (heritage and heirloom varieties with black and purple flesh), tomatillos and peppers (both sweet and hot) for 2014 and having a greenhouse to grow them in would be the icing on the cake. It’s something that we’ve both really wanted for quite a long time.

            We’ve got our seeds already for 2014. As you would expect from us there are a few curios from golden beetroot to blue sweetcorn to multi coloured carrots. We’re also trying salsify, new for us but an old vegetable that has fallen out of vogue in modern times. I’ll let you know how we get on with it later next year.

            We had to reseat a cloche at the weekend which gave us a chance to check out the broad beans. I’m pleased to report that they’re coming on well. Hopefully because of the early planting we’ll beat the blackfly next year. The onions and garlic are coming on nicely as well, although the elephant garlic doesn’t appear to have germinated so I think we may have to buy a couple of extra cloves soon and try with them rather than planting from what we had grown.

            Well that’s all the news for now. I’m sure if the weather abates we’ll be spending a few hours on the allotment over the holidays so maybe more soon.

In the meantime Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year