Back to the plot...

Today I visited the plot for the first time in weeks. I have good reasons as I have recently moved house...

So, with some trepidation I went. It wasn't as bad as I feared. I spent a good hour and a half down there picking the last of the beetroot and turnips and some broccoli. I also dug over one of the beds which was good.

The photos show the dug over bed and my garlic I planted around 8 weeks ago. Hoping it over winters well. Having got down there once I am now hoping to get down a little more before Christmas.

Planting out Sprouts

Had 2 hours at the plot while eldest was at gymnastics. Decided to plant out my Brussel sprouts. Planted 12 out today and have more to go if needed.

Also using old inner tents I made some temporary protection. Will need proper netting as they grow but this should do for beginning.

The evening shift.

Decided to head back down for a few hours in the evening for a fire and a bit more of a tidy.  Here are a few pics. I also planted another set of French beans so Will hopefully have a succession this year.

The evening shift.

Decided to head back down for a few hours in the evening for a fire and a bit more of a tidy.  Here are a few pics. I also planted another set of French beans so Will hopefully have a succession this year.

A bit of a tidy.

I do have to admit that i have been a little unloving towards my allotment recently. So much that I got a comment of a few people... My fault. So today I started a bit of a tidy. Trying to make it a bit better.

We were down for over 4 hours today and there is a lot more to do tomorrow as well. However I will get back on top of it and one day hopefully it Will look prestine.

As well as the tidying I planted out around 15 French bean plants i started at home and I also put 4 of my courgette plants out. 3 more to do tomorrow.  Dug up some more new potatoes for lunch tomorrow and thankfully the weather stayed mainly dry.  Will get some photos in a few days when it is tidy.

First spuds!

 

Popped down briefly to the allotment this evening to water the seedlings and thought I would find out how my Earlies, planted in containers were doing.  I pulled up one plant and got a few tubers for eating tomorrow.  I think I will wait another few weeks for the other 4 bags but it is nice to have something to eat from the plot this year.

Also checked the strawberries and a few are almost ripe!  looking forward to that.  This weekend is going to be a busy one as there is plenty to do - the weeds are catching up on me and I have some netting etc to put up for my brassicas.  Looking forward to it though!

Happy Seedlings

Just a few pictures of my seedlings.  The sprouts have been repotted and our doing well.  The beans were planted on 1st June.

Rain dance

I know I shouldn't complain about the dry weather we have had and I have enjoyed the sun but a little rain would be good...

Popped down for a quick watering today and things are looking good. Strawberries are coming on well and will hopefully have the first ripe fruits soon. French beams i planted a few weeks ago have germinated and should be good. Time to plant another row.

Back at home the sprouts and broccoli i potted up are doing well and my second lot of courgettes have worked which is nice. I have 7 plants.

Will try and get down longer tomorrow as away this weekend. One or two pictures as well.

An evening in the sun

What a lovely evening tonight - although the day was cloudy the sun came out and made the decision to go to the allotment an easy one.  I also got a good few jobs done which will help this weekend.

Because of the lovely weather the grass, as well as the potato's and onions etc has been growing at an incredible rate - I started cutting some of it back today, still a fair amount to do though, a weekend job!  I also started sorting out the 'bog' corner - trying to get it back into some kind of order and de-weed it.  Those were the big jobs.

As well as that I planted out my 3 squash plants - hopefully they will be ok.  I also put in some very small broccoli seedlings.  I am not over hopeful about these but I have already potted up about 15 so if these work, great, if not then it is not the end of the world.  The runner bean seeds I planted have not germinated at all so I planted some more.  This weekend I must plant some in pots as well.  It is looking quite nice down there at the moment - more and more like an allotment plot!  There are a fair few weeds still and one bed looks distinctly unloved but a few more evenings like tonight and hopefully I'll be back on top of it.

A few photos as well to share - the potato's in the bed were planted at the same time as the ones in the bag.  It is thefirst time I have done spuds in a bag and I'm looking to see how earlier they are ready.

A little work done.

Today we all popped down for 2 hours. The plot is still looking a little unloved - the grass needs cutting and the outside needs cutting back and weed killing.

However I did do a little tidings, planted some French bean seeds and weeded the raspberry bed.

When home transplanted some broccoli from seed trays into separate pots.

First day of Summer

Well, I had meant to get down to the allotment this week (it being half term) a little bit more than I have but decorating and the weather have got the better of me.

However today I have done some alloment stuff at home!  My sprouts which I planted at beginning of May have been doing well and I potted up around 15 of them today.  I also planted some Dwarf French Beans and some new courgettes as none of the others I planted germinated.

Tomorrow I hope to get down and actually do some tidying (as it needs it) and some grass cutting etc.  But, for my records here are a few pictures of todays work.

Sprouts Potted on.  Have Cabbages and Broccoli to do tomorrow when I have got some more pots from the allotment.

My Butternut Squash plants.  3/8 germinated.  New courgettes are next to them

Shame about the weather

Why does it always seem to rain on weekends when I could get down to my plot?  Looks like today will be spent inside.

To cheer myself up here are some pictures front Wed 15th May.

Bank Holiday Monday

A good day today.  Runner beans planted (see above picture)  Again, tried another technique this year and dug trench, filled with manure and then planted seeds.  I normally grow in pots first...  I'm looking forward to seeing results

 

 

It's been quite dry recently so here is my number one son watering the potato's...  He quite enjoyed it really.

 

 

All my onion sets are in now - just need to watch them grow.  Planted them in long rows with compost in to start them off.

 

 

In the afternoon number one child had had enough so number 2 came down instead.  Here is is pretending to do some weeding...

Main crop in (at last)

Today was about getting my Main Crop potatos in.  I have gone for Desiree this year hoping for a good crop.

I have planted them slightly differently than usual - putting manure on top of the trench before earthing them up.  The picture shows before I earthed them.  I have got two long rows of these so looking for a lot!

My earlies in the bags and boxes have started to show - around 2 inches of leaf so far.  Gave them a good water today as they were looking dry.  The earlies in the bed are still not showing at all yet. 

Am interested this year in the difference between the earlies in the bags and the earlies in the main bed - will there be a difference in growing time and also quality?  Hoping that the ones in the bags are ready earlier and then can have the 3 rows.  I'll let people know!

Other things done today:

• Planted 30 sweetcorn seeds - left in shed
• 1 row of turnips and 1 row of beetroot planted outside
• Spring cabbages, Sprouts, Broccoli, Courgettes, Leeks and Butternut Squash seeds all started.

Will hopefully be back again tomorrow.  A bit more landscaping needed and preparing things for the Greenhouse build.  Also have some more fencing to do.

All in all a lovely day down at the plot, was sunny and warm which is slightly unusual for a bank holiday!

April and hoping that spring is here...

Potato day today. I know good Friday is the traditional time to plant your spuds but it was cold and I was on holiday. So I got my earlies in today.  3 rows and 4 bags. Am trying some in potato bags this year to see what will happen

• Other things done today
• Planted more onion sets
• Weeded strawberry beds
• Planted broad beans
• Dug over the wet beds
• All in all a good day.

Also, checked on my new Apple trees from Aldi which I got a few weeks ago.  They seem to be doing fine.  Need to train them along some wire and posts to make sure that they are under control

Repairing and building a new fence down

A lovely sunny day. I went down hoping to get a fruit cage up using my old tent poles and some netting and ended up building and repairing the dividing fence.

It has been in need of replacement for a long time and the guy behind us was re-doing his and gave me the old panels. So I changed my plan and built this:

Had fun! Although I had to cut down the brambles / blackberries to the ground. Im hoping that they grow back.

Off down tomorrow to tidy up...

Another bed done

Another day another bed dug over. Today I suggested over the new raised bed we made earlier this week. Soil looking good and added manure as well.

The plot is looking better than it has for a long time. It will hopefully be a good year. I now need to go skip hunting and look for some nice  wood to make another new raised bed and hopefully some paving slabs.

Will hopefully get down again this week...

Day 2. More digging and weeding

Another beautiful day and another afternoon on the allotment. Basically the same as yesterday but started planning out a new raised bed.

Also weeded one of my raised beds. A lot of couch grass.

See what i get done the rest of halfterm

Day one of halfterm

Had a lovely 3 hours at the allotment today with the whole family. We got a fair bit of digging done and tidied up the raspberry canes and black currents and gooseberries.

The boys enjoyed finding worms and the photo shows my youngest with one of the ones he found.

The ground was still wet but just about diggable. Looking forward to spending even more time there this week.

Beginning halfterm

Potato's have been brought and are chitting. Lots of rubbish has been taken to the tip.

Now about to start halfterm and have a long list of jobs.

1. Dig over as much as i can
2. Prepare the way for a new front fence
3. Complete at least 1 new path
4. Manure beds

We'll see how far I get.

A new year, a new start

So i popped down to the allotment yesterday to check how wet it was and to begin planning the beds etc for this year. Took a few pictures so i can see the progress we make this year. The pile of wood is for a new fence.

Ground still quite wet but planning on doing a lot of clearing next week...