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.

Getting back to work on the plot

The allotment has been really neglected the last few weeks whilst we have been busy moving house. Our time has been taken up with so many other things. I have been to the plot to water and check over things and every time I've been so aware of all the jobs which needed doing but I didn't have the time to do them.

This week, feeling more settled in our new home, we finally managed  a couple of sessions on the plot to do some much needed jobs. There was the greenhouse to sort out. The tomatoes needed side shoots removing and then staking. I had plants to get in the ground, some Savoy cabbages and flower sprouts. As this is the first year I am growing flower sprouts I wanted to make sure I got them planted.

Arriving on the plot we could see that the moles had been at work in the onion bed. The onion bed also needed a good weed. In fact the weeds were growing in abundance all over the plot. But it was good to see other things doing well. The Sweet Williams are full of flowers and the sweet peas are just starting to flower. The peas and broad beans have got pods on now and we will soon be picking them. 

And the brassicas are growing well too, although I did spot a couple of caterpillars on one cabbage even though it was covered in netting. Those cabbage white butterflies are very good at finding ways to get under the netting.

We set to work, Richard weeded the onion bed and sorted out netting frames for the cabbages whilst I planted courgettes, cabbage, flower sprouts, cauliflowers and swedes. The tomatoes got a good tidy up and it was good to see some fruits appearing.

I decided not to get too stressed about the weeds, it's more important to get the food crops looked after, the weeds will get sorted eventually.

Rushing around

There's lots going on at home at the moment as we continue with the house moving process.  And when the days are busy with sorting and packing, getting stressed over why things aren't proceeding quicker than we want, it's good to get down to the allotment for a break. This is where we find peace and quiet. It's our retreat place, a place where we can take ourselves away from the stresses and strains that are getting to us at the moment.

We haven't been able to get down to the plot as much as we would like, but I don't want to let things go and miss out on all the lovely veg which we look forward to. So it's a busy time trying to keep up with all the jobs. The allotment is looking good though. The second lot of peas and broad beans are now showing through. The French beans I sowed in the greenhouse have germinated and will soon be ready to plant out.

The greenhouse is a busy place. The tomatoes are ready for planting into their final big pots or growbags, I must do that soon. There are also flower seedlings to be transplanted. I love to grow flowers on the allotment, I am behind with that job but I have at least got the sweet peas planted.

At the weekend I planted out brassicas into the borders, cabbages, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohl rabi, calabrese. As I was planting, Richard was setting up frames with netting to protect against the cabbage white butterflies and pigeons.

We  have had what seems like  weeks of dry weather, the ground has been so dry, but this week the rain came and hopefully, the newly sown seeds of radish, carrot and spring onion will have the moisture that they need to germinate.

As I rush around trying to do jobs, although some things may not get done, I know that the allotment is looking good and if things get bad it is still a place where I can get some time out to relax and enjoy.

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?

A busy bank holiday weekend

Whilst we have been digging and clearing rubbish over on plot8, there has also been a lot of work going on over on plot10b. We were very busy over the bank holiday weekend.

We now have two cold frames, one is a cheap one from Aldi and the other a quick build made by Richard with some bricks which were lying around the plot and an old shower screen which we had been storing in our garage for a time when we might want to build a cold frame.  It's only temporary but at the moment we are needing somewhere to harden off our plants.

In the roots bed we have sown parsnips, carrots, beetroot and radish and planted more beetroot and some  spring onion.  We have planted all our onions, garlic and shallots which were started off in cell trays. The peas and broad beans which were started off in the polytunnel have now been planted in the raised beds outside.  We also sowed another row of peas, a purple podded variety.

peas supported with twiggy sticks

Cabbage, brussels sprouts and cauliflower were planted in one of  the brassica beds and these were covered with some netting frames to keep the pigeons and cabbage white butterflies off for the time being. We have a plan in mind for a better system of netting them as they get taller.

One of allotment neighbours gave us some little gem lettuce plants which we planted in between the peas and broad beans as catch crops.

Plot 10b is not a big allotment and we are carefully planning our crop rotation scheme.  There is so much to plant and sow at this time of year that we are in danger of running out of space. We are glad we took on plot 8 . Even though it's not finished yet it will help us with any overflow of plants.

Plans and projects at the allotment

We've now got the most important work done on our new allotment, which means we can have a bit of a breather and ease up on the heavy work until we start with next year's projects.

My husband has now finished building the raised beds in the main part of the plot. There are 12 of them. This may seem a lot but we share the plot with our daughter so we are feeding 2 families on the produce we grow.  We also wanted to have as much if not  more growing space as we had on our old allotment.

 There are two beds where we are growing brassicas--red cabbage, brussels sprouts, sprouting broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spring cabbage and swede. Another two beds are planted with leeks and garlic. Three beds are going to be for growing fruit bushes and rhubarb. Last weekend we topped up the remaining five empty beds with manure which will rot down over the winter.

 

Also at the weekend we went over to the old plot where we cleared away the pumpkins, squash and french beans which had all gone over. We dug up the rhubarb, brought it back to our new plot and planted it up in one of the new beds. We still have  blackcurrants, gooseberries and raspberries to move to the new plot. We have the old plot until the end of the year, so we have time yet to clear the beds completely and move the  fruit bushes.

Back at the new plot my husband has been putting some cladding on the lower end of the fence to keep the weeds out.  He is also digging a border along the front fence where we want to grow some climbers and shrubs to give us some screening as it is very open and exposed at the moment.  It's not an easy job though, as there are lots of big boulders, stones and bricks below the surface.  We are getting quite a collection of rubble. I'm sure it will all come in useful in other areas of the plot eventually, but it's hard work shifting it and trying to dig. The cladding for the fence came from the old cabin which we demolished a few weeks ago. It's come in very useful for all sorts of things and there's still lots of it. Even if we can't use it all there are plenty of other allotment neighbours who have got their eyes on it.

Our plans for next year are to sort out paths between the raised beds and to clear the top end of the plot behind the grow house. The area behind the grow house is like a secret garden and my daughter and I love to spend time there cutting back the brambles and nettles, each time revealing a bit more space.  We haven't decided yet what we will do with that area.  We may have a wildlife area and perhaps one or two fruit trees.

 

Busy at the allotment

Our allotment visits are usually just at weekends unless we need to harvest or water midweek, so when we go at the weekend we can see what a difference a week makes.

Most things were doing really well when we visited at the weekend. I'm pleased with the brassicas they look really healthy and hopefully well protected by the new netting  frame which my husband made.

 
The broad beans were amazing and looked to have grown at least 2 feet, but probably not!

The peas are doing well too but I must take more notice of planting distances on seed packets as they were very overcrowded.

The climbing french beans were looking a bit sad and some had died since last week's planting, so I planted some of my 'spare' plants in the spaces left.   I don't know what the problem is, maybe poor soil or cold.  I also sowed some dwarf french beans in between the  fruit bushes. I planted some celeriac which I've grown from seed. I've  never grown or eaten it before so that's something to look forward to. Also sowed some oriental radish in between the rows of celeriac. Another new plant to try out.

The brassica bed is full of weeds, so I started weeding there, but it really needs an afternoon just focusing on weeding and we didn't have enough time on Saturday.

We were pleased to see the sweet peas planted in old tyres are starting to take off. They had looked a bit sad for a few weeks but now they are racing up the netting.

The fruit is coming along fine and the rhubarb is looking good, but I'm not picking it as it is in its first year. Shame!

My husband started work on the compost heaps after the council workers had almost destroyed all the work we had done so far. They had been doing some cutting back of conifers and some weeding around the plots and just chucked all these perennial weeds and stones on everyones' compost heaps. He cleared all the unwanted weeds and stones from our bins and put old carpet down on top of the heaps.

Every time we've been recently I've meant to sow swede seeds, but either forget or run out of time. That's a job for next weekend.  I also think we need more flowers to brighten the place up.  We planted some nasturtium in each raised bed last week, and the sweet peas will look lovely when they are in flower.  I've got some calendula seedlings at home which I'll take along next weekend .

Plenty of jobs to keep us busy.!

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.