Dave's Allotment

July

2008-07-29T12:41:00.003+01:00

July has been a busy month at the allotment. Mostly it has been constant weeding and a lot of picking as the vegetables gradually start to become ready. Above is how one of the plots currently looks, at the end of July, with the Runner Beans now producing and the Squash plants well and truly taking over and covering the soil. Plenty of Courgettes are also being picked.

At the start of July I planted out Purple Sprouting Broccoli and White Sprouting Broccoli plants that were started off at home about a month before. They're inside a high net cage as the plants grow really big and tall. By the end of the month the plants had grown from how they look above when they were planted out, to how they look below.

During July I dug up all three rows of Potatoes, 1 row at the start of the month, 1 in the middle, and 1 row at the end. Their size was progressively bigger the later I dug them, as expected. There's quite a few with the wire worm holes as always unfortunately, but generally it's a good yield.

The Sweetcorn is growing very well and the cobs have all started forming now as you can see above, with their tassles clearly displayed.

The Leeks that were planted out last month are growing well, only a few have been lost so far, but obviously in need of some weeding soon.

The Squash plants are growing rampantly. Above are the Butternuts. Below is a Festival.

These are Turks Turban Squashes starting to grow, and below is the biggest of the Pumpkins so far. Probably about the size of a basketball already.

Late June

2008-07-10T10:50:00.003+01:00

The Cabbages I planted at the start of the month are growing really quickly now. I've also now planted out a few more of the various brassicas.

The Leeks have now been planted out from the initial rows they were sown in. Each Leeks is placed in a hole (made with the handle of a rake) and just watered in.

For the past couple of weeks I have been picking absolute bags full of peas! Definitely a good years for peas this year. Podding them all takes forever, but it's worth it. The supply in the freezer will last us quite a while.

The Courgettes are just starting to be ready for picking now. Shown above are the yellow variety I'm growing.

This is the first sign of a Pumpkin starting to take shape. Tiny at the moment, but it's growing quickly already.

The Squash plants are starting to grow quickly too, bulking up and looking very healthy. Some are already showing flowers.

The Tomato plants are all growing well and it's an on-going battle to keep pinching out the side shoots and moving the ties a little higher each week.

Here's a view of the square plot, with the Runner Beans just reaching the tops of their poles.

Mid June

2008-06-15T13:07:00.002+01:00

It's the middle of June and I'm now picking absolute buckets of Strawberries. I've never had so many! I'm picking them every other day, and regularly overfill a large ice cream tub. We've had so many that Melissa has even made several batches of Jam for the first time. The Raspberries are also starting to ripen now, so I'm picking a few of those too.

I've planted out some Cucumbers next to the shed, and fixed some horizontal wires to the shed wall to tie them in to when they grow big enough. In front of them I've also planted out a few Celery plants. It makes the purpose built bed between the shed and the patio look really good.

The first Peas are just days away from being ready for picking, and there are tons of them. I've planted the rows a little too close together once again, which will make picking and weeding quite tricky.

I've prepared the ground ready for all of the Tomato plants to go out. These are the canes that will support them. There are 3 rows of 7 canes, one row each for the Red (Gardeners Delight), Yellow (Sun Baby? can't remember now!) and Orange (Sungold).

Early June

2008-06-02T13:05:00.003+01:00

Some of the brassicas were ready to be planted out, having been started at home in newspaper pots. So using a bulb planter, I make a small hole then just drop the plant into the hole, complete with it's newspaper pot. It makes planting them out very quick and easy. I have Red Cabbage, White Cabbage, Savoy Cabbage, Broccoli and Cauliflower. A few more of each will be planted out in a few weeks time.

Using a bamboo cane frame (with build-a-ball joints) and a sheet of Enviromesh I then cover the brassicas to help keep off the pigeons (which regularly decimate any cabbage plant on our allotment site) and hopefully also the butterflies (which in turn lay their eggs and allow their catepillars to much holes in all the leaves).

The Onions and Shallots had become very overgrown with weeds, so I hand weeded them all. Above you can see how it looked mid-way through the weeding, before and after. Makes quite a difference.

May Update

2008-05-29T14:56:00.002+01:00

Haven't had much time to update this lately, but May has been quite a busy month both on and off the allotment. A lot of plants I started off at home are now ready for planting out. So as shown above, I now have Runner Beans planted out in two tee-pee arrangements, with sunken orange buckets under each one with holes drilled in the bottom to make it easy to water the roots. In between these will be the Courgette plants, one of which has so far been planted out.

Behind the runner beans is the large area which will be given over to all the different Squash and Pumpkins I'm growing this year. I've planted out about half of them so far, with the remainder either not big enough yet or having been resown after not germinating. The squash varieties are Festival, Sprinter (Butternut), Turks Turban, Futsu and Uchiki Kuri.

The French Beans have also been planted out and I've given them a mulch of grass clippings to keep the weeds down and aid water retention.

The Sweetcorn plants have also been planted out, next to the French Beans, in a grid arrangement to aid pollination. I'll give them a mulch too next time I cut the grass.

Last week I picked the first bagful of Broad Beans from the Autumn sown plants (shown on the left) and I also planted out the Spring sown Broad Bean plants (shown on the right) which are now big enough to go out.

The Potatoes are growing well and I've already given up trying to earth them up any more.

The Peas are also growing really well and the first few rows are already in flower. The next few rows are a couple of weeks behind and catching up fast.

This month I've also been picking quite a lot of Asparagus and Rhubarb. The Cherries, Strawberries and Raspberries have all produced 'green' fruits so far, so if we get a few weeks of sunshine they should start to ripen.

Asparagus and More Sowing

2008-04-26T19:51:00.002+01:00

Today the first Asparagus of the year was ready for picking. There was 7 stalks to be picked today, but it's still an exciting moment. Within an hour and a half of picking them we were eating them. Fabulous.

I sowed another 3 rows of Autumn King carrots today. They were then covered with a tunnel of Enviromesh to help prevent carrot root fly.

I also managed to lay the final slabs for the patio, which provides an area where we can sit and a convenient walk way in front of the shed.

Next to the patio you can see the peas are really coming through well.

The strawberry plants are all just starting to flower now too.

The Cherry Tree is covered in lovely white blossom and looking very healthy.

Rhubarb and Sowing Time

2008-04-21T19:23:00.002+01:00

On Saturday I picked Rhubarb for the first time ever! Just a few stalks so far, but it should be enough for a crumble. The colour of them is fantastic.

Over the past week I have sown all of the seeds that I always start off in pots at home in mini greenhouses on the patio. This year I'm using home made newspaper pots even more than last. In newspaper pots I have French Beans, Broad Beans, Sweetcorn and all of my brassicas: Cauliflower, Broccoli, Savoy Cabbage, White Cabbage, Red Cabbage. I've only sown half the amount of brassicas that I intend to grow so far, I'll wait a few weeks before sowing the rest to stagger them a bit.

Also in pots I have Cucumbers, Runner Beans, Courgettes (green and yellow), Pumpkins and five different types of Squash (Turks Turban, Futsu, Uchiki Kuri, Festival and Butternut).

The Tomatoes I sowed about 3 weeks ago are also coming along nicely at home.

Planting Potatoes

2008-04-14T10:58:00.001+01:00

The potatoes have been 'chitting' at home since early January and as you can see above, they have sprouted quite a lot and were definitely ready for planting.

My method of planting potatoes this year was to first dig three trenches and put grass clippings into the bottom of each trench (see above). I then place a layer of newspaper over the grass and put the potatoes on top (see below). This method is supposed to help retain moisture in the trenches and provided added nutrients for the potatoes.

I then filled the trenches in and made low mounds of soil to give added depth to the potatoes (see below).

The first few rows of peas are now all starting to come up, and germination looks good so far.

Also the first few spears of Asparagus are starting to come through. It will be a few more weeks yet before they'll be ready for picking, but it's exciting to see them start to appear.

The Rhubarb is very nearly ready for picking now, it's growing so quickly at the moment.

Parsnips, Carrots, Leeks

2008-04-07T10:45:00.002+01:00

I have now sown the Parsnips, Carrots and Leeks. Three rows of Parsnips are sown in the polytunnel on the right. Then the first three rows of Carrots (Autumn King) are sown in the Enviromesh tunnel on the left, with further rows to be sown in a few weeks time. Just to the left of the tunnels I have sown two rows of Leeks.

Sowing Peas

2008-03-31T13:38:00.001+01:00

The end of March and time to start sowing Peas (Kelvedon Wonder). The area in front of the shed has been covered in black plastic over the winter. So the first job was to remove the covers (see above) and then lightly dig and rake the soil (see below).

Having prepared the soil I put up 3 rows of chicken wire, using short bamboo canes to hold them in place (see below). The canes are topped with old bottles to act as cane toppers - the clanking keeps the birds off and it also stops anyone loosing their eye on the end of a cane.

I then made a shallow trench each side of the fences and sowed some peas in them (see below). The fences provide excellent support for the peas to grow up.

In a couple of weeks time I'll also add another row or two of peas (Hurst Green Shaft).

Between the shed and the peas I've just sown I have left an area that I intend to use as a small bed and a patio area. First I levelled the area where the patio will be (see above).

Next I put a wooden border at the foot of the shed to form a small bed that I will use to grow Cucumbers in later in the year. The plan is to grow them up the shed, using the shed wall and some garden wire as support. Then I started to lay some paving slabs in front of the bed to form a small area where the kids can sit and play when they visit the allotment. I still need to get some more slabs to finish the patio, the idea is to have two rows of slabs to form a big enough patio area.

End of March

2008-03-31T13:26:00.002+01:00

Just a quick look around the allotment at the end of March to show how things are growing. The Broad Beans sown in the Autumn are looking good, even a few flowers appearing. There's not as many plants as I would have liked so I'm thinking of trying a Spring sowing as well to increase the numbers.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli continues to grow well. A few of the shoots are starting to go to seed, but mainly it's in good shape and producing plenty of shoots to pick and eat.

The Autumn fruiting Raspberries planted late last year are definitely showing signs of life. Several of the canes have some small leaves appearing now.

The well establised Summer fruiting Raspberries are also starting to send up new canes and leaves are appearing on last years canes which will fruit this year.

The Rhubarb is growing really fast now. A week ago it was just appearing through the soil, now it has plenty of leaves.

I've also just sown 4 types of Tomatoes into modules. There are red, orange, yellow and red tumbling varieties. I've also sown Celery into a small seed tray. Both are sat on a windowsill at home.

Painting The Shed

2008-03-19T16:11:00.002Z

In order to protect the shed from the rain, I have now given it two coats of brown paint. I was also relieved to discover that it had escaped unharmed from some very strong winds recently.

The Rhubarb has just started to come through. I don't know if this is a late variety or just not fully established yet, but other people at the allotment have already started picking their Rhubarb. Not to worry though. This will be the first year I can pick the Rhubarb, so I'm looking forward to that. Last weekend I also weeded the summer Raspberrys and at last the Autumn Raspberrys are showing signs of life.

February

2008-02-29T10:58:00.002Z

I turned up to the allotment a few weeks back to discover my shed lying on it's side instead of standing upright! I don't know if it was blown over by some very strong winds or if it had a little helping hand courtesy of the local youths. Anyway, I managed to put the shed back upright and have now hammered in a large wooden post either side of the shed and bolted the shed walls firmly to the posts - as seen in the photos above and below. Hopefully this will prevent the shed ending up on its side again.

Another job this month was to build 2 simple beds (see below). One is basically just a border around the new Raspberry canes (planted in December) and the other forms a bed that my wife will use to grow salads and other things. These new beds are next to the existing Asparagus bed and Strawberry cage. I emptied the contents of last years growbags into the salad bed to give it a good start.

At the weekend I planted out my Onion sets and Shallots. I've planted one row of Shallots and 3 rows each of Red and White Onions.

After planting the Onions I covered the ground with some netting (see below) to prevent the birds pulling up the sets, or cats walking over the freshly dug ground and disturbing them. I usually leave the net in place until the Onions have all established and sent up their shoots.

February has also seen the first picking of the Purple Sprouting Broccoli (see below). There are quite a few heads on the plants now, some more purple than others.

January Jobs

2008-01-13T19:54:00.000Z

It's now mid-January and although there isn't much to do at the allotment there are a few jobs that I've been busy with. As you can see above the Broad Beans have all come up really well. I sowed 3 rows in the Autumn and it seems like just about all of them have come up. They're inside a mini polytunnel to try and keep any frosts off.

The Rhubarb has completely died back now, with not a single leaf remaining. Using some old fence posts I built a simple border around the Rhubarb crown to make it easier to see where the Rhubarb bed is (see above). I then covered the bed in manure to help feed the crown for this years crop - which will be the first year I pick the Rhubarb.

The Strawberry Cage on the old plot, which I moved in the Autumn to make way for the shed, needed a new lid. The old one was built with timber from an old fence, and it rotted a bit too soon. The lid was also previously hinged on the short edge, meaning it opened onto whatever was behind the cage. I've now built a new lid that hinges on the long edge, in the middle of the cage, so that one lid folds on top of the other lid when open. This will make it much easier to get inside the cage to pick the fruit in the summer.

Last weekend I bought some seed potatoes (Maris Peer, second early) from B&Q and they're now 'chitting' at home in some egg boxes (see above) ready for planting out in the Spring.

Cutting Back Asparagus

2007-12-15T19:51:00.000Z

The Asparagus spears have all turned a lovely golden brown colour now (see above) so it was time to cut them down to ground level (see below). I chopped them up as small as I could and added them to the compost heap. Then I added a layer of manure over the Asparagus bed ready for next years crop.

Over on the old plot everything is looking fairly tidy and empty (see below). The mini polytunnel has the broad beans in (just coming up) and there are leeks and parsnips.

At the near end of the plot is the Purple Sprouting Broccoli which has grown to be absolutely huge (see below). I've now taken the netting off as it is plenty big enough to look after itself.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli crops in Spring and the first head of Broccoli is just starting to form on one of the plants (see below).

Early December Visit

2007-12-01T13:23:00.000Z

First job of this early December visit was to finish off the shed - trimming the roofing felt and adding the corner battons. It's looking very smart sitting proudly at the end of the sea of covered ground. In the Spring I'll try and give it a coat of wood stain, but for now it will have to survive as it is.

There should be plenty enough space inside the shed for all the things I want to store. As you can see so far I've only added a few canes, but each time I visit the allotment I'll be bringing odds and ends from the garage at home that will now live in the shed.

Last Winter I planted some Autumn Raspberrys canes (Polka) but they failed to grow, so the company I ordered them from agreed to send me some replacements. Now that they have arrived I have planted them out in the hope of some success this time (see above). In the background you can see the yellowing foliage of the Asparagus as it gradually dies down for Winter. On my next visit I'll be cutting that back to ground level and manuring it.

This is the view of the newer plot, now completely covered in black plastic for the winter to prevent the weeds taking over.

Putting Up A Shed

2007-11-17T13:16:00.000Z

For a while now I've been planning to put up a shed at the allotment. For years I've relied on taking all the tools I need with me in the car each time, but finally I decided storing them on site in a shed was the way to go. So with the help of a hired van and a willing friend I collected a 6x4 shed from Wickes and took it to the allotment (see above).

I'd already prepared a base for the shed to sit on at the back end of my old plot. I'd levelled an area of ground as best I could and laid some concrete paving slabs which the floor of the shed would sit on (see above). Then despite constant rain and increasing darkness we put the shed up. A few finishing touches will be needed next time, but it's as good as finished (see below).

Harvesting Squashes & Pumpkins

2007-10-08T20:48:00.001+01:00

On Saturday I harvested the majority of this years Squashes. It was nowhere near as impressive as last years Squash harvest but still pretty good considering this years conditions. The squashes are Butternut Sprinter, Festival, Futsu, Uchiki Kuri and Bon Bon.

I also picked the 3 fairly decent sized Pumpkins (Spellbound) produced from 2 plants.

Another job I've been working on the last few weeks was to move the Strawberry Cage. The Strawberrys had been in situ for about 3 years, so it's a good time to move the cage and start again, plus I want to put a shed where it previously lived. The photo above shows where the Strawberry cage was, and below shows where I've moved it too. Not far away!

In preparation for this I dug over the ground to remove any weeds and roots, added some manure, covered with black weed suppressing membrane and cut holes to plant the strawberrys through. Back in June I potted up the runners from the Strawberry plants to make sure I had plenty of new Strawberry plants to start the new patch off. With the cage moved to its new position I planted out 30 new plants.

The lid needs some attention when I get a chance over the winter, but apart from that the cage seemed to survive being moved.

Clearing up in September

2007-10-08T20:48:00.000+01:00

By late September the Sweetcorn and Runner Bean plants had died and turned brown (see above). So it was time to pull them up and add them to the compost heap.

Here's the same scene after the plants had been removed and the ground covered with black plastic for the winter.

I also picked a few squashes from the allotment.

Getting the covers on

2007-09-10T16:10:00.000+01:00

It's only just September, but I've already started getting the allotment ready for the winter. The area where the potatoes and some of the peas were has now been cleared of weeds and covered over in black plastic (see above) to prevent weeds growing there until I need the space to grow something next Spring.

The Squash plants are still taking up most of the other half of this plot. There are loads of Squashes growing in amongst the plants, but only a few are ripe enough to be picked so far.

This is a particularly large Butternut Squash growing along side several other smaller ones.

I picked the first Futsu Squash. They grow to a decent size, almost that of a small Pumpkin, and they've ripened quite early. But probably not one to grow again next year as the flavour was a bit disappointing.

Late August

2007-08-29T13:59:00.000+01:00

More weeding at the allotment revealed how the late sowing of Peas are progressing (see above). Not a huge amount have germinated, but there are a few plants looking healthy so I might still get a late crop of Peas.

Having pulled up the Tomato plants that died prematurely from blight, I pulled up the weeds from the front of the plot where the Tomatoes had been and covered the area with black plastic to stop the weeds from taking over the ground again.

One of the Pumpkins is stating to ripen now, but the others are fairly well covered by Squash and Pumpkin leaves so are still green.

As I mentioned before, the Sweetcorn plants are looking very good at the moment (see above) and are producing loads of cobs for picking (see below).

I also picked my first ever Celery (see below). It's not up to shop-brought standard, but I'm quite pleased with it. I sowed the seeds at home in March so it's taken a long time to reach this size! But I think it's done enough for me to give it another go next year. There are still about another 20 Celery plants in the ground, so hopefully they'll continue to get a bit bigger.

Early August

2007-08-24T09:59:00.000+01:00

This has been the wettest summer on record. Almost constant rain through out May to August and it has really had a devastating affect on the allotment. The entire crop of Tomato plants (all 21 of them) got blight and died without producing any fruits, which was very depressing. The normally rampant Courgette plants have all but died off already, producing very few Courgettes this year. I have never had Courgette plants fail before, so that just shows how bad the weather has been. The Runner Beans have blown over several times, resulting in several plants dying but thankfully they're still producing a good amount of beans.

Worst of all, the weeds have been growing faster than I can ever remember and it has been absolutely impossible to stay on top of them, especially with the rain often preventing me from spending time at the allotment. So it has been quite an unhappy time for the allotment. Thankfully some crops have kept going and done really really. The Sweetcorn has produced lots of very good quality cobs. The Squash plants are doing great and producing lots of fruits. The Brassicas are doing well, the French Beans are slower than normal but still producing beans. Carrots have been very poor at germinating, but the early Peas have been superb.

The Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants are growing very nicely at the moment (see above), having just weeded around them. It will be a while before they're producing anything though so I'm just hoping they don't succumb to the wet weather too.

The Leeks planted out last month are also looking better for a recent weeding session.

The Uchiki Kuri Squash (see above) are obviously the earliest of the Squashes I'm growing this year as the plants have already produced their Squashes and started to die off. There are about 7 Squashes from the 4 plants I planted out. They look great, very bright colour, and taste very good too. Definitely one to grow again next year.

Late July

2007-07-30T09:48:00.000+01:00

The remaining Leeks have now been planted out (see above).

The Peas finally came to an end, so I pulled up the plants and all the weeds, gave it a quick dig and then sowed more Peas (Kelvedon Wonder) in the hope of a late crop.

There are a few pumpkins developing, the one above is the biggest so far.

The potato plants have all completely died off now, presumably aided by blight. But thankfully the potatoes themselves don't seem too badly affected. I started digging them up (see first bag full above) and they are quite good. The usual holes from worm/slug/bug damage but otherwise very satisfying.

This is the first Cauliflower I've ever grown! Unfortunately only a couple have actually survived, but I'm really pleased with this one.

The Cabbages are doing very well too. The Savoy Cabbages (above right) seem to be doing best of all, they're a really good size and plenty of them. The Red Cabbages (above left) are also doing well.

There are only a few heads of Broccoli so far, but they're doing very well. So all in all, not a bad crop of brasicas. Still picking loads of Runner Beans and French Beans as well.

Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Celery, Leeks

2007-07-10T15:05:00.000+01:00

The weekend before last I planted out the Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants that I had sowed in newspaper pots at the beginning of June. I've built a frame with netting over them to protect them from birds (see above).

I sowed Celery (Granada) at home at the end of March and it looked incredibly feeble and pathetic for months, but finally it has grown strong enough to plant out (see above).

The Leeks are now just about thick enough to plant out from their sown positions (see above). So I did the usual method of making a hole (with the rake handle) and dropping them in, filling the hole with water to settle the roots in. So far I've only done a few rows (see below), with plenty more still to plant out.

The squash plants (see below) are really taking off now and starting to cover the ground nicely. It's already getting hard to see individual plants, which is where the canes (topped with bottles) come in useful to identify where the roots of each plant are when I need to water (if we ever get a dry enough spell!).

The fruits on the squash plants are all starting to emerge now too. The first pumpkin is now visible...

...and here is the first Uchiki Kuri squash...

The Sweetcorn and Runner Beans are looking really good too.

Currently picking: French Beans, Runner Beans (just started), Courgettes, Peas, Beetroot, Salads, Raspberrys & Strawberrys (almost finished)

June update

2007-06-18T14:24:00.000+01:00

Mid-June and the allotment is starting to come alive now. The Squashes planted out a few weeks ago are starting to get established and spread out. Eventually they will cover all visible surfaces. The Bonbon Squash are the first to start flowering (see above). As you can also see the weeds are also starting to take hold!

Courgettes have very quickly got up to speed and after picking the first one last week, there are more ready for picking. The first yellow courgette is just about ready for picking (see above) and no doubt they will be coming thick and fast from now on.

The Parsnips (left) are looking very healthy now, as are the Sweetcorn plants (middle). On the right you can see the Leeks, Beetroot and Lettuce that I weeded at the weekend. The Leeks are still in their initial row where they were sown, but they're probably only a couple of weeks away from being ready to plant out into their final individual holes.

The French Beans (above) are coming along nicely too and a few have started flowering. The extra ones that I direct sowed, to fill in for the lack of plants that grew when I started the seeds off at home, have come up and completed the middle row.

I picked the first load of Peas at the weekend. These are the Kelvedon Wonder sown in April. There are tons to be picked, I started by picking and podding half a carrier bags worth (see above) but this is only a fraction of what is still on the plants.

The Brassicas planted out about a month ago under their Enivormesh frame have filled out very quickly and already they look far too squashed together. I should have spaced them out more, but that would have meant leaving some uncovered. Hopefully they'll put up with being squashed together though.

Since the first couple of sowings or Carrots hasn't been all that successful so far, I decided to do a later sowing of Autumn King this weekend. I had been covering the Carrots with fleece over tunnel hopes, but this is never very good as the fleece always seems to get ripped and torn by the wind and rain. So I now have an Enivromesh Tunnel for them (see above).