What on Earth........

What another wonderful day, morning off work my 2 girls at school so off the allotment I go. Time to get the sweetcorn in the ground, a spot of light weeding first to make the bed ready for planting and In they went, learning from last year when I planted out sweetcorn I made sure they were a little deeper planted to give them more stability when growing. I am growing mini corn and normal sweetcorn both were a big success last year and can’t wait to eat them again this year.

All my regular readers will know I am trailing loads of old heritage potatoes this year so today was the final earthing up of them. I thought I would use a technique I haven’t tried before using hay instead of earth to cover my potatoes I have read that it works really well and will also help to improve my soil for next year as I can dig it in once the potatoes are removed.

I was quite lucky that the council cut the grass around the allotments about 4 days ago and left the cuttings spread all over the place they had since tuned to hay so off I went with rake and wheelbarrow to collect to use for my potatoes.

I was a little concerned that once there was a little wind the hay would blow everywhere so just to make sure I added a small amount of earth to the tops to stop it all blowing away. I know it doesn’t look the most attractive in the world but the proof will be in the potatoes at the end.

Squashes, Wigwams & Raspberries

WOW. What a difference a week makes, this time last week it was chucking it down with temperatures of 10°C this week it’s in the high 20’s and with a prolonged spell too, so I made the most of it and planted out the squashes and courgettes, this year I am growing 3 types of squashes (check out my planting plan for the variety’s) the butternut squash I am going to have a go of growing it up a wigwam I am using the large branches from my eucalyptus I felled back in march. They look pretty good I think.

I am not going mad on courgettes this year only planting 4 plants 2 yellow and 2 green, last year I planted 10 plants and well to say I had a glut would be an under estimation I could have kept the whole of Essex supplied with them!

I have now moved the last of the veggies stored in the house out into the cold frames to harden off in readiness for a mass planting session next week.

Highlight of the week on the plot is by far the raspberry’s they are looking really healthy =, better start thinking about covering them up before the birds get hold of them.

It’s amazing what a few days of sun can do  to a plant the growth put on in just 2 days is staggering.

We’ll have a good week folks and make use of this fine weather.  

Frozen in time,waiting for the sun.....

I must start with an a apology, I haven’t blogged as much the last few weeks, I am in the process of moving jobs, to a much larger kitchen within the same company and this is putting a big demand on me at present so my allotment time has been short and sweet.

But that said all its done is rain, rain, rain and when we did get a spell of good weather like over the weekend just gone I was working!! Typical.

I have so many tender plants sitting in the green house and cold frames waiting to go in up the allotment but the temperatures haven’t been warm enough to risk planning them out, I don’t want to lose any of my plants they are all looking really healthy and strong.

Today is my only chance I think I will get to get down the allotment but as I type it’s starting to spit with rain outside and the forecast for later is rain so I may not get the chance anyway.

It’s been a very frustrating year so far for the allotment march promised so much but all downhill from there. I have never know a May as cold as what we are having at present, nothing wants to grow most plants seem “frozen in time” ready to burst into life at the first sign of sun.  so lets all hope that it shows its face sometime soon!

The first harvest of the new season....

Well today saw me harvest the first meaningful crop from this year’s sowings, I had a lovely bunch of radishes, they were sweet and very peppery just what you want from a radish, they went well with our salad for tonight’s dinner.

There is always that extra excitement with the first crop of the year I know it’s only radish but the taste is better than anything you can buy.

Today was also the first time I managed to spend some meaningful time up the allotment, what with all this rain (much needed in this part of the country) it made what time I did have spare for the plot almost impossible to do anything, some parts of the allotment are VERY muddy and some plots resemble bogs not allotment plots, but my investment in bark chipping has already repaid me I was able to come and go on the plot with ease. The weeds are at a manageable level too; wish I could say the same for the plot next to me it’s a vacant plot that has just been left to its own devices for a year and the weeds are now waist height!

I tried to give the potatoes there first earth up today I say tried the soil was so wet it was just sticking to the folk I did my best but will have to neaten it up when it dries out.

The carrot seeds I sowed back in late march have all germinated and I have today put some fleece round them to stop the carrot fly, I have never had an issue with this before but there is always a first time for everything!!!

The plot is looking really good at present the soft fruit is looking superb I have never seen so many flowers on my strawberries and the raspberries have flourished in this wet weather, the rhubarb looks like it’s a week or 2 from harvesting and the broad beans planted a few weeks ago are looking healthy. The early sowing of lettuce is a week from harvesting too. All in all I am pleased with the progress made so far in my first part of the season and can’t wait to get some decent weather so the tender plants can start to be put in their final homes.

The Adventure one year on..........



Wow has it really been a year?.....tomorrow(4th) sees my first year as an allotment holder the time has really flown by, I can’t imagine life without the allotment now it’s become such a big part of my life most of my free time is spent at the plot in one way or another, it’s my way of dealing with the stresses of running a busy kitchen and the challenges that it throws at me. I can spend an hour after work just pottering about and the stress and worry of the day just lifts from my shoulders.

 

I love spending time with my whole little family at the allotment if the girls aren’t digging or planting something they are hunting for daisy’s or playing with the other children on the plot.I have such big plans now this year for the allotment and I spent all the winter preparing for it with the addition of my raised beds and the new compost area it feels almost complete.I did have a really good harvest last year but I didn’t prepare much for the winter or spring but this year it will all be different.



Bring on the next 12 months………




Sunday Morning Treat.

A rare Sunday morning off so the weather was good so down the plot I went, I was dreading it a bit as I have been reading a lot of other blogs and everyone saying how the weather has made the weeds go wild, last year I really struggled to keep them at bay so over the winter I constructed raised beds and barked the main paths, to my surprise the only area that had gone mad was the dreaded path I mentioned a few posts ago I got a spade on them and just chopped them down for the time being until I can spend a bit more time tackling it. i gave the onions and Garlic a quick hoe just to keep them down.

I wanted to do some planting today so I put the first of the peas in with some twigs from my eucalyptus tree I cut down a few weeks ago, the soil in this bed is the best on the plot lots of organic material and some hard digging in the autumn really did pay dividends I plan to do 2 a year to get them all in top shape.
I also got another herb pot planted up with some flat parsley oregano and chives all grown from seed this year.
I used the time to contemplate a few big decisions I need to make this week and nothing better than a few hours down the allotment to clear my head.
The blossom on the pear tree is all out now and I hope to get a good harvest from it this year

theres only one thing to do with weather like this...shed time.

Well the rain has finally arrived it’s great for the garden and the allotment but means things at the plot have slowed up a little.
Days like today are made for the shed, there is something quite tranquil about a morning in the shed when it’s lashing it down outside.
The rain pounding on the roof, talk-sport radio on in the back ground and a mug of hot coffee siting on the side. Not a care in the world….

I pricked out more tomatoes today, I use to really struggle when it came to pricking out  I always handled the seedling to rough but with a little practice over the years now I have got it down to a tee. I also pricked out my celeriac Giant Prague the seedlings are by far the smallest I have ever handled its amazing to think that something so small will produce something so big.
The peppers sown in late February are really coming on now and I am hoping for a good crop this year as last year promised so much but delivered little.   
The house is becoming very full with plants that are to tender to have outside. My greenhouse is full and the cold frame is bursting at the seams I have even had to create a make shift table in the shed with some seeds on it to offer a bit of protection from the cold.
The aubergines that I sowed back in January are now looking really healthy and are ready to be put in their final positions but I want to wait on these until mid may when the threat of frost has passed. They look like they are going to give me a really good crop this year.

I am holding off sowing the French beans as the coming week doesn’t look great weather wise and don’t want to risk losing them to the cold, I am looking forward to my French bean crop this year I have 6 different variety’s to try my 2 young daughters adore French beans and even grow them on their allotment patch with a little help from daddy.
I also sowed some more peas this week with a little help from the youngest daughter she loves helping daddy with seed sowing. She likes to pop the seed in and push them down, she even wrote the label but at 3 years old only she knew what it actually said!

Potato trial part 2

I hope you all had a good Easter and managed to get some quality time down your plots. Me I mainly worked all Easter and didn’t get time to do much on the plot. Tuesday was a different story I got the potato trial under way. For all my readers that follow my blog will know this year I am trying 10 varieties of potato all mainly heritage and some over 100 years old I did have a bit of a setback in February and lost a few spuds due to the weather but I still had enough to go with.

I planted the First earlies (Dr Macintosh Winston & Ulster classic) a few weeks back now and the first signs of shoots are starting to appear.

Tuesday was time for the second earlies and the Main crops. I am planting in two different ways the first the tried and tested dig a trench 6 inches deep and place the potatoes in sprinkle with fertiliser and cover back up, the second is a far simpler way using a bulb planter taking out a small whole them plopping the spud in (with a little fertiliser) them covering it back up. I tried this last year with my Christmas spuds and I got a good crop.

All the potatoes have been chitting since February some of the potatoes really responded well to chitting, the Santé and the Majestic both had really good chits but the Doon Pearl and the Ryecroft purple had chits but were very small and look like they had only just started.
All the main crops went into the potato bed at the plot but the first and second earlies were both planted up in containers and dotted about around the plot. 

For me the first and second earlies aren’t really about yield but more about the taste and texture. I can’t wait to try the Dr Macintosh just because I love the name!  the main crops are a little more about the yield because this is what is going to supply us with our potatoes for the coming year but I still will have an eye on taste and texture because a potato may be a heavy cropper but it may taste like dish water!

I will also compare the different planting styles as the santé had 2 rows planted 1 with the trench method and 1 with the Bulb planter we will see what grows best and if there is even a difference.

The soil although it has been dug over was very hard going and due to the lack of rain over the winter when you get 4inches down its very dry and full of boulders I am hoping the potatoes will help break down the soil further.

All that’s left to do now is water them and wait….

TIMBER!!!..........

In my garden at home we had a wonderful Eucalyptus tree it was planted the first year we moved in and it was only a small shrub about 3ft tall but over the years it has got taller and taller and we turned it into a tree, but the last 2 harsh winters has taken its toll on the poor thing and all the leaves kept falling off and on an evergreen Eucalyptus once there gone there gone. The result is that it’s all up top and nothing down below so to speak. So after a bit of research I found that Eucalyptus lends its self to coppicing and comes back stronger. So several books and articles later last Wednesday I got the saw out and cut her down. I had to shout “TIMBER” just because I will never get the chance again, and the moment got to me (the wife gave me that “don’t be stupid” look) but it was worth it!

Before

The garden looks a little bare without it now but there is always a silver lining. I had 4 nice size stumps that I thought I would have a go at growing mushrooms on down the plot. At first I wasn’t sure that I could use this wood but again after a bit of research and some friends on twitter I found I could. I have always wanted to grow mushrooms and never could get hold of the right wood for the job and the kits don’t really appeal to me, does anyone else grow mushrooms or have in the past I would love to hear from you and how it went for you.

Other things that have been going on this week, the last raised bed was finally dug over and  finished with a sprinkle of chicken manure ready for this year’s crops.
I can’t believe how much the pear tree has come on since last week it really has put on growth and the buds are fit to burst. The strawberries are romping away too and there are flowers everywhere

The path

All that’s left to sort out is the “path” between my plot and my neighbours, they haven’t really done much on their plot since they got it last year and the path has been left and only given a little tidy every so often when the weeds get too bad that they encroach on my plot. So I have a length of landscape fabric left that I have ear marked for this job all I need to do now is get my hands on a petrol strimmer  and chop them down. Then hopefully this won’t be such a problem this year.

After

Enjoy your Easter whatever your planning     

as ever there are more pics on my facebook page

Busy, Busy, Busy...

The past week has been a good one down at plot 58, lots of jobs ticked off the list and I managed to get a few decent pictures too.
The pear tree is bursting into life and the herbs are looking good. I have picked some today for the kitchen and the rhubarb that I thought was on the verge of dying has sprung into life.
One of the main jobs that needed tackling were the 2 large raised beds. They were full of weeds and needed digging over so, last Saturday, I got to it and started digging them over. I managed to get one done, one remains and it can wait another few days before tackling it.
I had never seen so many people at the allotment as I did on Saturday the nice weather had got all the “summer gardeners” out.

the Plot 58 potato trial kicked off this week too with the 3 first earlies going in Dr Macintosh, Ulster Classic and Winston all planted up into tubs and ready.

Other jobs on the list were repairing the guttering on the shed, as this year in Essex we have a hosepipe ban and water is going to be at a premium, so having the guttering collecting all the water I can will help.

I also sowed 3 rows of parsnips (Gladiator) and 2 rows of Carrot (Early Nantes 5) and in my salad raised bed I sowed 2 rows of Radish (Poloneza), 2 rows of salad mix and a row of Rocket collected from last year’s crop. After sowing I felt that the season had really kicked into second gear.
The strawberries got a good tidy up and watering and I also finished off the palleted floor round by the compost bins, this is a really good space now and hopefully the weeds will remain UNDER the landscape fabric!
I have added a few other pictures to my Facebook page, give it a click and “like” it and that way you can keep up to date with everything going on at plot 58 as this will be the place for all the extra pictures and updates.