Security at last

We have finally had these new security gates put in, and a little bit of fencing as well, but only a bit each side of each gate. The prickly hawthorn hedges are now well enough established to deter all but the most determined troublemakers. However, as yet the gates are not locked, and we haven't been told whether or when this will happen or if we will all get keys. Apparently some people don't want the gates to be locked, but it seems a rather expensive and pointless exercise to have new gates if they are not secure. We'll wait and see.


Here's my strawberry/fruit/squash patch prior to weeding....

and after. I removed quite a lot of the nasty, unidentified weed with the long stringy roots, but there is still quite a bit left and I will probably have to fork through it again before planting out my squashes here.


Here are my potatoes, (looking as if they're planted on a very steep slope, but it's just the camera angle) before I earthed them up again, as best I could, but some of them are getting too big to be earthed up any more. Which is worrying as we are forecast more frost tonight and tomorrow, and no apparent end in sight to this cold weather. I still haven't got any fleece. When oh when are we going to get some seasonal weather again? Everything (apart from the potatoes) seems to have just stopped growing.

My asparagus is really disappointing, we have had about seven spears so far, and there are only about four of the original ten crowns that are producing anything. The rest seem to have died.

The purple sprouting brocolli has almost run out of steam. The plants look extremely healthy - big, bushy and lush dark green in colour, but they haven't really produced many actual sprouts. They're all leaf and no sprout. If anyone has any explanation for this or tips on how I can encourage more sprouts, I'd be glad to know.

Help! It's May already

I'm not exactly behind, but where did April go? In a couple of weeks I will have to start thinking about sowing my beans, so today I have been clearing the weedy patches where they are to be grown. As usual, I forgot to take the camera, but here are a few pictures of how my young plants are getting on...


chilli


sweetcorn


squash (not sure which ones these are)


tomatoes

leeks.

My butternut squashes are a bit behind, none of the four original sowings came up, so I decided to put the rest of the packet to chit, to see if any of them would. I've sown four more, but as yet there is only one starting to show.

Since my last post, I have planted out summer cabbages, celeriac and sunflowers, cleared the summer veg area and made a start on clearing the bit at the end where the nasty weed infestation is. The potatoes are up and away and I have already had to earth them up twice. The peas are looking brilliant and the lettuce, kale, spinach and parsnips are all trying hard. The carrots are struggling, as are the spring onions. Yesterday I spent about three hours weeding the onions and garlic - all looking good. Photos next time.

Yesterday we went to the woods to see how the bluebells are getting on. It was cold and windy, and cloudy, but the bluebells are just coming into full swing. If it's sunny next weekend I might try and go again, see if I can get some better photos.

A Productive Weekend

Yesterday I weeded the perennials/ornamentals patch (above left), sowed some flower seeds, and erected this sweet pea teepee ready for planting out sweet peas this morning. We have had the first rhubarb (top left) of the year, in a crumble, with proper home-made custard, just to see what it's like. It's ok but not really worth all the faff. I prefer cream myself anyway.

This is the tidier end of the allotment. Top left is where the lettuce, kale, spinach and parsnips are. Lettuces and kale are just beginning to show. The weedy/grassy patch is where the runner beans are going to go, and to the right of that are the broad beans. Far right you can just about make out the pea frame. In the foreground, the potato ridges (no sign of growth yet).

So obviously I still have to clear the runner bean patch, and the patch where the summer/tender stuff is going to go, but worst of all, the bit at the other end, where the strawberries, loganberries and a couple of currant bushes are, is going to be a nightmare to weed, as it is infested with some mystery weed which spreads via wiry brown roots, and are impossible to pull out without breaking off and leaving some behind. They are all tangled up with the fruit bush roots as well. So I have to hand pull everything out, rather than just dig it all in as I usually would. This is where the majority of my squashes are going to go, because I have had to put my carrot tunnel in the summer veg patch, and I have sowed far too many squash seeds. I know, that doesn't make sense. Suffice it to say that I will probably not have room for everything I intend to grow this year. Daft really, considering how much space there is on an allotment. I have never had this problem before. I have no idea where the celeriac is going to go. Maybe it will fit in the cabbage patch somewhere.

Seed Sowing Session

At last! the purple sprouting brocolli has started to sprout! Not quite enough for a meal yet, but it's a start.

Today I have sown peas, carrots, spring onions, spinach and two types of kale. It's taken me most of the day as not only did I have to prepare the areas first, I also had to erect a pea frame and an enviromesh tunnel for the carrots. The allotments were absolutely full of people today - the warm weather has brought them all out - clearly everybody feels that now is the right time to start sowing and planting. I had hoped to sow a few flower seeds as well - Candytuft, Calendula and Cornflower, but I ran out of time and energy.

Earlier in the week I sowed some Sunflowers, Borage and Marigolds, more leeks and some Brussels sprouts. They are all here at home in the greenhouse for now. I have also put some parsnip seeds to chit but as yet there is no sign of activity - I understand they take ages.

In another week or so I will be sowing the frost-tender veg: the squashes, courgettes and sweetcorn. I have decided to sow all the runner beans and french beans directly outside this year, in mid May. Last year the french beans I sowed direct did much better than the pot grown ones, and it saves so much time and effort. So long as nothing eats them before they get a chance to grow.

The chilli and Stevia seedlings have been moved out to the greenhouse now, must remember to cover them up before the sun goes down, it still gets very cold at night time.

Potatoes all now in the ground

I probably shouldn't mention it but these are in fact last year's pictures - but there really isn't much difference except that the ground this year is somewhat wetter. Also the potatoes are in the next patch along from this one.



In fact - another difference is that I have done more maincrops this year, I'm not sure why. This means that although I have planted fewer altogether, they take up the same amount of space. If I can find somewhere to store them, and they store ok, it should work out quite well, because hopefully we will have lots to keep us going over the winter.

A bit of good news - finally the broad beans are up! In the picture above you can see last year's broad beans behind the potato patch - they were much more advanced after a milder winter. I think the purple sprouting brocolli may be nearly ready to eat as well, although I have been thinking that for several weeks now...

I used up about eight or nine sacks of home made compost in the potato trenches, and there are still several bags left. I am anxious to empty the bin that the rats have been in, so that I can move it back onto the mesh properly, keep the blighters out. It looks as if it will be ready quite soon, just need some warmer weather for a bit.

More sowings and plantings....

I sowed these sweet peas back in February, they are starting to put on some serious growth now.


These are the greyound cabbages I sowed last week (or was it the week before?), and the leeks are starting to sprout now too, which were sown on the same day.


The Stevia (left) has grown a little bit - I have put the pots into a tub of water and I'm keeping them quite wet, which has given them a little boost. On the right are some Heatwave chillies, the first to germinate. And next to these, below, in the propogators are more chillies (in various stages of germination) and two lots of tomato - Ferline and Legend. Both are meant to be blight resistant, which is just as well as they are destined for the allotment.


Speaking of the allotment, still no sign of the broad beans. I'm getting a bit worried now. Perhaps they still need more of a chance. The garlic is doing great and the autumn planted onions not too bad. On Sunday I planted about 10 more rows of onion sets. I hope I haven't overdone it. The weeding is going to be a nightmare....

Other news: we have exchanged contracts on our new house, and have accepted an offer on this one!

Shallots are in!

This is one corner of my alium bed, on the right is the garlic - doing quite well, further along are the overwintered onions, not quite so perky. I have scattered a few chicken manure pellets among them so with any luck they will start to green up and get going soon. A row of shallots has gone in next, to demarcate the spring planted onions from the autumn ones.

Here are the still rather small and puny leeks, in last year's alium bed, this year's potato bed. Below is the purple sprouting brocolli, which seems to have been about to sprout for several weeks, but still hasn't. I'm seriously wondering whether it's worth growing any psb this season. Because I may have a new allotment by this time next year, I don't really want to plant anything I may not be able to harvest. And it needs so much looking after for such a long time. Maybe I'll just do a couple of the early sort and it can share a row with the brussels sprouts. I've never done sprouts before but I have set myself a goal to grow all our own veg for Christmas dinner. I'm doing some parsnips as well, also a new departure for me.

These are the stevia seedlings, sown on the 8th February! I've never known anything grow as slowly as these are doing. They are about the size of a 5p.

Even the celeriac, sown only a week before, are romping ahead in comparison!

Somehow I don't think I will be using stevia to cook my rhubarb!

I have sown my chilli seeds, they are in the heated propogator, and also some leeks and some Greyhound cabbages, in the greenhouse. Everything else will have to wait until the week after next. I have a very busy week coming up - it's the last week of term at work, which means putting in extra hours to get the reports/end of term mailing out; our house is now on the market, with the first viewers coming tomorrow morning, which means constant cleaning and tidying from now on, plus I have just taken on two big curtain-making jobs. That and the start of seed sowing frenzy should keep me busy over the Easter holidays.

Anyway, I have just had a phone call from my mother to say thank you for her Mother's Day card, and to ask how my Mother's Day had gone, to which I was able to say: I received two beautiful home-made cards, with some very touching words inside, a bar of chocolate, and some lovely hugs from my two lovely boys. My husband is now cooking the supper while I amuse myself with blogging.