Rainy days and harvesting crops

 I've been picking blackberries recently from the lane outside our allotment gate. It looked like I was the first to get to them. Usually I'm late picking them and often miss out. But the lane has got very overgrown this year so I don't think many people are walking that way along the path.

We are unfortunate that our neighbours on either side of our plot as well as another next but one have not been maintaining their plots, so access to their end of the lane is full of nettles and brambles. This is where the fruit is.  I'm hoping we will get some new neighbours soon who will look after their plots as the council do an inspection at this time of year. It would be nice to have some neighbours who we can chat with and who will keep their plots looking reasonably tidy. Whoever takes them on will have a difficult job on as they have been allowed to get into a really bad state.

Picking blackberries always makes me think of autumn. It's the time of year coming up to late summer when we start to harvest a lot of our allotment crops and down on our plot we are getting some good harvests. Our jobs when we go to the plot are more about watering the greenhouse tomatoes and cucumbers and picking fruit, vegetables and flowers. If we have any time to spare after that we try to catch up on weeding.

With all the rain we have had recently not much work has been done and we have been dodging the showers. But on better days we've been able to get back to doing important jobs. I have cut down the pea and broad bean plants and weeded the bed. I also pulled up all the onions and put them to dry out in the cold frames. There were an awful lot of weeds in that bed which also has leeks in it. So I spent some time last week weeding them all out.

When I planted up the brassica bed months ago, I noticed that there were some nasturtiums which had self seeded from last year, so I left them there thinking that they would make good companion plants for the cabbages. Unfortunately they seem to have become a bit over friendly and run riot, taking over the bed so much I could barely see the cabbages. So the nasturtiums had to come out. It seemed such a shame to get rid of them as they were so colourful, but I managed to cut a lot of the flowers off to take home. I know the nasturtiums will be back next year as they drop a lot of seeds. Once they were out of the way I could see that I had a few cabbages, some Cavalo Nero kale  and purple sprouting broccoli.  

In the other cabbage patch next to them the cabbages and kale I planted early in the year are doing really well and there were no nasturtiums in that bed.

We've had a lot of courgettes, but I did plant rather too many, so it's been courgettes with everything for our meals. Thankfully they are are now coming to an end and I'm just picking little ones which are quite nice. Now the climbing beans are starting to appear and I know there will be a lot, there always are. In the greenhouses the tomatoes and cucumbers are producing good crops. I have made tomato chutney and soup and we have had lots of salads with chunks of cucumbers. I have given lots of my surplus crops away to friends and neighbours who seemed very happy to receive them.

The blackberries have gone in the freezer and will be used to make apple and blackberry jam and maybe a crumble. My daughter has a Bramley apple tree in her garden and lets me me help myself to the apples. So the rain doesn't seem to have affected any of the vegetables we've grown, but I do wish we could have some better weather.

 

  

Highs and Lows on the Allotment

Last time I blogged about the allotment was when I was making plans for the year and buying seeds. Well, the allotment has now changed from empty beds and bare soil to looking like an allotment should with rows of vegetables growing. How it all changes in just a few weeks from bare soil to showing green.  For a while it was quiet and relaxed on the plot as we got on with all the preparation jobs and then suddenly it seemed like everything was happening at once with so much to be done--sowing, planting and weeding.

We haven't had much rain the last few months and last week the weather was really warm with record breaking temperatures. Its been too hot to do much allotment work except to harvest fruit and veg and do watering.

In the greenhouse the tomatoes and cucumbers are doing well and we have been picking some lovely little cucumbers.  There are so many of them we pick them while they are small to encourage more to grow. There are tomatoes appearing but not ripe yet. 

I thought I would try growing aubergines this year, I've never grown them before. I did read that they are hard to grow, so I have just got two growing in tubs in the big greenhouse. They have looked very healthy so far and produced plenty of flowers. I was really pleased to see that the first flowers on each plant have now produced tiny aubergines. However it looks like something has been eating them as there are  holes in them, one being very badly affected. I got rid of this one and decided to cut the other one while it was still small before any more holes appeared.

The onions are flopping over now so I will be pulling them soon. The cabbage bed is full of big cabbages, and they are looking great as the cabbages start to form hearts.  Also in that bed are Kale and Swedes. 

I was disappointed that the peas haven't done well this year.  The first lot were started off in lengths of guttering and there were three varieties.  They seemed to get weevil damage early on and some recovered but others didn't. The best ones were 'Onward' and I have been picking those recently. The second lot of peas sown straight into the ground also suffered from being nibbled by the weevils-or I have wondered if it was pigeons. So I had one last attempt to get some decent peas and sowed purple podded peas in guttering, then planted them out and they look ok so far.

Another disappointment was the broad beans. I don't usually have any problems with blackfly on broad beans, but this year I was amazed to see some of the plants totally infested with them. I pulled up the affected plants which was actually only two, then sprayed the rest with soapy water and pinched out the growing tips of them all. I hope this will keep the blackflies away now. I have been able to pick some of the beans and there are plenty left still.

The ground has been looking very dry and cracked with the lack of rain and I was thinking some of the seedlings might  not  survive. I have been watering as best as I can.  But in the last couple of days we have had some rain.  It may not have been enough to get deep down into the ground or fill up the water butts, but the soil now looks damp, the seedlings have perked up and everything looks much fresher.  

So although there have been some low points, the high points are that I  have plenty of crops to pick and I am buying less veg from the supermarket each week now.

A New Year on the allotment

After a fairly mild spell of weather, it has now turned very cold. We made our first visit to the allotment of the new year this week. It was a lovely day, although very cold. I needed veg so we went mainly to dig up some leeks--they are doing really well this year and are a good size. I cut some kale leaves too--those are not as good this year as in previous years. Next to the kale I noticed that the little cabbages which I had planted in the summer were growing well--still quite small but plenty of new leaves coming.  They should provide us with some nice early spring greens or small cabbages, as long as the pigeons and slugs don't get them first.

The plot was looking quite tidy and we were pleased with that.  We haven't been to do any work since the middle of October because I have been quite poorly with Rheumatoid Arthritis and was unable to walk properly or do anything with my hands.  On this last visit we had cleared most of the beds of dead vegetation, topped with home made compost and covered with membrane.

There's still work to done but nothing urgent:

• clear away the dead sweetcorn stems
• cut down the asparagus
• clear the old tomatoes and cucumber plants from the greenhouses
• prune the fruit bushes
• sweep up leaves from the paths

and as the weather improves and I get a bit more mobile we will work our way through the jobs.

 We sat awhile at the garden table with our flasks of hot tea  and slabs of Christmas cake, watching the birds and admiring the plot.

It was good to be back.

Looking good on the allotment

 It's quite some time since I last did an allotment blog. So much has happened since then, but although things are not good in the world at the moment we have been able to spend a lot of time down on the allotment. In fact it has never looked as good as it does at the moment.

We have prepared all the beds and started planting and sowing. The potatoes-- Swift and Charlotte are planted in the containers.  Richard has been cutting some height off the privet hedge which runs down one side of the plot. It takes a lot of light off our plot. It has been hard work sawing through the branches but he has finished that now and it has made a big difference.

My kitchen has been full of seedlings for weeks now and it will be good to be able to see the windowsill again soon. I start most of the seeds off at home, then gradually the seedlings move out to the greenhouse at the allotment as they get stronger. It is filling up now, tomatoes and chillies are in there, flowers and leeks.

The allotment beds are starting to fill up. Peas and broad beans are in. I started broad beans ( Bunyards Exhibition) off early on in cardboard tubes and planted them in the ground in a double row when they were big enough. After I planted them I then sowed some more broad bean seeds (Super Aquadulce)  straight into the ground. I have been watching for ages to see signs of them coming through and last weekend there they were all through. I never fail to get excited by the sight of seedlings poking their heads through the soil.

The first lot of peas (Douce Provence) to go in the ground were started off in the greenhouse in lengths of guttering and as with the beans, once they had grown enough to be planted I then sowed another row straight into the ground.

This second lot are Onward. I'm hoping I will still have room for another row of beans and peas. These are vegetables which we really love so I try to grow as much as I have space for. We put three cane wigwams in place at the end of the bed for the climbing beans. I have started some off at home in the shed in cardboard tubes. I have done two varieties--Blue Lake and a purple bean Blauhilde. These will be ready to plant out in late May.

In another bed I planted the onions a few weeks ago--Sturon and Stuttgard. These were started off in cell trays and planted out when they had formed a root system. I find them easier to plant this way and they get a head start so are stronger and less likely to be pulled out by the birds.

In the brassica bed are two rows of cabbages--Kilaton and Greyhound. I covered them with netting as there are a couple of pigeons which keep coming on the plot and eyeing these cabbage plants up.

So things are starting to happen on the plot, it is all looking good. We are enjoying the time we spend there, it is a good place to be at the moment and we are happy that we are still allowed to go to our allotments.  It is quiet and we are well away from other people, we feel quite safe.

Christmas foliage and a small harvest of veg

We popped down to the allotment yesterday, not to do any allotment work, but to cut some conifer branches for when I make Christmas wreaths in a few days time. There's a conifer hedge down one side of the plot which I really don't like as it takes a lot of light off the plot. We've hacked a lot of it back and tried to reduce the height but the branches are too thick to be able to cut it down easily. It comes in useful at Christmas though when I want some evergreen foliage. The  branches are also useful for hanging the bird feeders on.

I decided to pull up the remaining cabbages which were looking a bit slimy, but were big enough for the two of us even after removing lots of outer leaves.  I don't usually have much luck growing Brussels sprouts so I was delighted to see that there were some decent looking sprouts growing. They are a bit small yet but I picked some of the bigger ones.  There was only a small handful, but again enough for two of us and some kale too.

The plot is looking quite dreary at the moment, there are some jobs which need doing but they can wait until after Christmas. We filled up the bird feeders and left with plenty of veg to keep us going for a few days.

On our way out of the allotment site I cut some red dogwood stems and some branches of an unknown shrub which was full of red berries--possibly cotoneaster, all useful for Christmas wreaths and very colourful.

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Harvesting, planting and weeding on the allotment

sweetcorn

We've had some welcome rain at last and the water butts on the plot are full again. The temperatures have cooled down too making it so much easier to get our gardening work done. The plot is looking good.

A couple of  weeks ago I  planted kale, purple sprouting broccoli  and calabrese. These are later than I normally plant them, but I didn't want to miss out on them, they are good winter veg.

the brassica bed covered with netting

There are an awful lot of cabbage white butterflies around at the moment so all our brassicas are well covered with netting although they are clever creatures and seem to be able to find the tiniest gap to get in and lay eggs.  The brassica bed is now full and there's no space left for anything more to be planted. At one end of the bed are the young kale and broccoli plants whilst at the other end are the cabbages I planted in the spring. We ate the first of these last week and it was really good. It was as good looking as any you find in the shops and tasted so much better.

the onion bed cleared and a row of late peas coming through

Onions now drying out in the greenhouse

I have been running out of planting space in other beds too. Last weekend I started planting out the leeks and had to search around for suitable places to plant them. The onion bed is now empty but I didn't want to plant the leeks there because they are part of the onion family and  disease could spread. So I spent some time time weeding and hoeing in other places to prepare the ground for the leeks. Leeks are one of our favourite winter vegetables and I have an awful lot of them to get in the ground.

leeks ready for planting

This hot summer has been good for some vegetables, but not for others. The climbing beans have gone mad. I have frozen some and given lots away to friends and neighbours and we have been eating lots of them. There are plenty of courgettes too. I planted more plants than I would need in case any got eaten by slugs. there are two varieties--'Black Beauty' and  'Tondo Di Piacenza' which is a round variety. In past years I have never had good crops of courgettes, so of course this year when I planted too many I have loads. What do you do with so many courgettes? I have made soup and used them in several recipes. They go well with tomatoes, make a good risotto with prawns or bacon or another veg such as beans. This week I may try making courgette burgers.

too many courgettes

Earlier in the year we moved the blueberry plants to a place where they would have more space and Richard made a fruit frame to cover them. We have had a good crop of them for the first time. The sunflowers both at the allotment and at home in the garden have grown to a magnificent height. I don't think I have ever grown any so tall before.

sunflowers

As I work through my jobs list, it's good to cross things off. But I never get to the end of the list because other jobs get added all the time. One of the jobs which always gets left to the end is weeding. The plot boundaries and the pond are in need of a really good weeding but never seem to get done. Each year I think I will make a bigger effort, but something else always takes precedence.  There are two corners of the plot which are getting taken over with bindweed and I really must try to get rid of it. Perhaps when I've got the rest of the leeks planted I'll be able to do it.

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.