Some unwelcome visitors

 When we arrived at the allotment last Saturday we had a nasty shock--the plot had been broken into.   An attempt had been made to break the big padlock but having failed at this  a panel had been pulled out of the gate to enable the intruder(s) to climb over. As we walked up the plot we could see there was no damage to the vegetable beds but the shed door was open and various boxes and tins had been opened and left strewn about the benches. We don't keep any valuables on the allotment so there was nothing worth stealing and we know from past break-ins on this site that it's always the power tools which get stolen from plots. There were other plots which had been broken into on Saturday and some things had been stolen, so we were lucky.

So things could have been much worse and after a chat with our neighbour on the next plot we set to work on our jobs for the day.  Richard's job was going to be to put up a brassica frame which he has been making, but that had to be put to one side while he mended the gate.

We've been enjoying our time spent at the allotment these last few weeks. The beds are filling up and looking green. In the pea and bean bed the first lot of broad beans I planted are now starting to form some pods and the first lot of peas also have pods which are beginning to swell. We are so looking forward to being able to harvest them.

I have two other lots of peas growing in another bed, one of them is a purple podded pea. Unfortunately these two rows of peas have been nibbled by pea and bean weevils--more intruders but of a different kind! They don't look very attractive at the moment but I'm hoping that they will all recover.

                                                     

In the roots bed I am now picking beetroot and sowing successional rows for throughout the season. I sowed some fennel seed a few weeks ago but there is little sign of germination. Old seed perhaps?

Looking in the fruit cages I could see that there are plenty of blueberries which will be starting to ripen in a few weeks.  Fruit are appearing on the raspberries which I planted last year. In the other cage there are blackcurrants and the branches of the redcurrant bush are heavy with fruit. The gooseberries don't seem to have much fruit, but they have been moved this year to another bed and so might need time to recover. And the rhubarb just keeps on going. I freeze some and give some to friends.

Over in the brassica bed things are growing well. Weeks ago I planted two rows of cabbages--Kilaton and Greyhound and these are looking great. They've not hearted up yet, but could be picked for spring greens if we needed any. I do hope the slugs keep well away from them. I will be planting more cabbages next to them soon as well as cauliflower.  At the other end of this bed are kale and brussels sprouts. It's a big bed and needs to be netted against pigeons and cabbage white butterflies. So this is what Richard has been doing recently at home--making a wooden frame with netting fixed to it which can be put in place and then moved each year to another bed as we rotate the crops.

Well that's my allotment update for now, I'll be back again soon, and let's hope the intruders won't return.

Allotment catch up

 It seems quite some time since I blogged about the allotment, but we have been so busy. At the moment we are sharing our time between making a new garden at home and doing essential work at the allotment. It's usually alternate days. We are still enjoying good weather and haven't had rain in ages. That of course means we have plenty of watering to do.

 A few weeks ago, we started putting up frames on the plot. Wigwam frames went up for the climbing beans (Blue Lake). My friend gave me the bean plants, they looked amazingly healthy, so I am hoping for good results from them.

The cabbages needed protecting from cabbage white butterflies so they got covered with a frame and netting.

The sweet peas were planted and another frame went up. The biggest frame project though was for the fruit. We moved the blueberries to another bed earlier in the year because they needed more space so Richard made a big fruit frame for them. Last year I lost a lot of blueberries to the birds, I'm determined to get my share of them this year. The other fruit frame needed repairing too. The building of all these frames involves a lot of recycling of wood which is stored behind the shed. We have bits of metalwork too which gets put to good use.

So frames done, the next thing was to sow some peas. The first lot which were planted a few weeks ago had been started off in cardboard tubes. A week or two later I sowed some straight into the ground. I did one short row of  Kelvedon Wonder and a longer row of  Onward. I covered the rows with holly branches to deter the mice. 

The Onward germinated well, but the Kelvedon Wonder only produced two seedlings. I don't know why that is but this week I sowed another row in a different bed of Hurst Green Shaft, so I will wait to see how they do. As the peas start to grow I put twiggy sticks in amongst them for support.

I planted some courgettes last week, along with some flowers--Zinnias and sunflowers.  This week I planted a few more courgettes. They are a round variety with a long Italian sounding name which I have forgotten. I always plant more courgette plants than I really need in case any get eaten by slugs. If they don't then I will have absolutely loads of courgettes, but this doesn't usually happen and I have enough but not too many. 

I also planted more climbing beans this week--Fasold and a purple variety called Blauhilde.

The rhubarb is very big now and I have harvested several lots of it. I freeze a lot of it otherwise we would be eating rhubarb crumble nearly every day. We are still eating the rhubarb jam which I made last year.

Weeks ago I sowed rows of radish and salad leaves and they are now being harvested. The radish were the best I have ever grown.

We have been cutting a few spears of asparagus occasionally, but I feel it is not enough to warrant taking up the space on the plot so I am considering giving up with them.

Hopefully soon all the harvests will get bigger. I can already see broad bean pods forming there are flowers on the peas where pods will soon form, the cabbages are getting bigger and the strawberries are starting to turn pink. That reminds me I need to net them, I have seen one or two of them have been chewed at by some cheeky birds.

A busy time down at the plot

It's been a busy few weeks down at the allotment, getting seeds sown and plants in the ground.  We've had some lovely weather too which has made our time down there much more enjoyable. Gradually the beds have been filling up as plants have started to grow and it's started to look like a proper allotment full of produce. I love to see rows of vegetables and peas and beans climbing up frames.

climbing beans

The onions got planted early on and the leeks were put in a couple of weeks ago. We still have another variety of leeks which I would like to plant but there's no space left. I might have to find some big containers to plant them in. I particularly wanted to to grow these as they are supposed to be rust and bolt resistant and those are the problems we often have with leeks.

The brassica bed is looking very neat and tidy at the moment with cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, swede and five sorts of cabbages. The whole bed is covered with a netting frame to deter the pigeons and cabbage white butterflies.

brassica bed

There are two double rows of broad beans, three rows of peas and two wigwams with climbing beans. The first lot of carrot seeds I sowed in April and put a fleece cloche over, but not a single one germinated. We don't give up easily though so another lot has been sown, along with parsnips and beetroot. Courgettes and sweetcorn are also in the ground now.

sweet peas, sweetcorn, beetroot and more

It gets to the stage at this time when there's the mad rush to get everything in the ground and just when I think I have it all sorted, I remember that there is still fennel to sow and celeriac to plant and where am I going to put them.

As well as the vegetables, I have been planting annual flowers which I grow for cutting. There is no space for a separate bed for them, the fruit and vegetables take priority, but I always manage to squeeze a few in  various places, between crops, at the end of a row or in amongst the fruit bushes. The sweet peas though are allowed a special place with a big frame. I love sweet peas and so do the bees.

Now I am hoping for our work to ease off a bit with just the odd row of salad leaves or radish to sow every couple of weeks.  I'm not sure it will though, there's always plenty to do on the allotment and as I write this we have had a day of drizzly rain which wasn't enough to fill the water butts but it was enough to get the weeds growing.  I know what my next job will be.

What's growing on your allotment at the moment?

Gluts

This year has been fantastic for growing vegetables, everything has done so well on our two allotments.  But some things we've had just a bit too much of.  First it was the lettuce—lollo rosso and little gem. We’d planted too many thinking some would get eaten by slugs or just not survive.  But they grew and grew, we ate what we wanted, gave some away and when they went to seed we threw them on the compost heap. At least they will rot down to make something good.

Then there was the rhubarb.  We’d moved it from our old plot last autumn and it had been a fairly new plant then, so we hadn’t expected great things from it. People told us not to pull much from it the first couple of years, but there was so much, so we just took what we wanted. They also say don’t pick any after July, but it was still growing like mad during August.  So I picked even more.  I froze most of it.  It freezes well, just wash it, trim the stems, cut into short pieces and bag up. We’ve had one or two rhubarb and ginger crumbles and in the next few weeks I shall be making rhubarb and gingervodka in time for Christmas.  It’s really easy to make and is delicious, it doesn’t last long in our house.

The beetroot has gone mad too. It’s lovely in salads cooked or raw. Helen has made some beetroot chutney and we have also pickled some of it. I haven’t yet tried roasted beetroot which I’m told is really good.

The biggest glut of all on our allotments this year is runner and French beans.  Much as I love this type of bean, I may get fed up with them soon and we’re running out of freezer space.  I have given plenty away to neighbours. The runner bean variety is Czar and the seed packet says any beans not picked can be left on the plant to dry and use as butter beans.  That seems a good idea, we like butter beans in soups and casseroles. French beans can also be used in soups if they get a bit too old to pick for boiling. I made a broad bean and runner bean risotto which was really good

I have also been making soups  full of allotment vegetables, turnips, carrot, kale, cabbage, broad beans, French beans and leeks.  It’s getting to that time of year when a big hearty soup is very comforting.

What gluts have you had on your plot this year?

Allotment progress

In the last week we have made much progress on the allotment. During the week we dug over the new raised bed and added 10 bags of soil improver from the council recycling centre which conveniently is only just along the road from the allotments.

This year we are going to grow brassicas in the new raised bed.  Yesterday we planted cabbages. Back at home in my growhouse I have brussels sprouts, red cabbage, cauliflower, kale and purple sprouting broccoli just waiting to grow a bit more and be hardened off and then planted out.

In our peas and beans bed we were pleased to see that the peas we had sown only a couple of weeks ago have now started to come through. I put some twiggy sticks around them for support. The broad beans are also doing well.  Soon we will sow more peas and dwarf french beans. The carrots and beetroot sown the other week are now showing through the soil. We also sowed leek and spring onion seeds.

Down at the bottom of the plot, my husband has put 3 old tyres lined with membrane, filled with soil and compost and put up a tripod of canes. Yesterday my daughter and I planted sweet peas in them which had been started off at home. 

There is still a lot of weeding to be done around the raised beds and surrounding areas, my husband made a start on that yesterday, but it's a long hard job. But we had a good day and feel we've made lots of progress.

During the afternoon there were visits to this communal plot by 3 other plot holders. We loaned our hosepipe to 2 of them and had a good chat with them all. It made me think about how when we first started with our raised beds that I was a bit concerned over the fact that it was so communal.  I had really wanted a plot which was fenced off and more private. Just over 18 months on I feel differently.  Although there are some disadvantages it's good to chat with people, share tools, ideas, give support.