More Piccies and some News!

So, finally a day off and time for us both to get to the plot! Unfortunately the early darkness means we couldnt spend as long down there as we wanted, but we did manage to get some work done!

Before having to stop due to failing light, I managed to paint some of the fence (that Lee had missed when he painted the shed), harvest parsnip, leeks and sprouts for tea, and move 55 self seeded foxgloves from the beds where they'd germinated into the flower bed at the front of plot 1 and along the allotment border near our plot!

As you can see, the fence is now painted, and the bed in front of it is full of foxgloves! The rest are planted along the fence to the right of where this piccy was taken!

Thought I'd take advantage of the reasonable light to take a few piccies to show how the plot is coming along! The leeks are looking good!

Cleared beds and newly barked up paths on plot 1!

Cleared beds and barked paths on plot 2, looking towards plot 1!

Plot 2, before the fence was painted!

Whilst I was moving foxgloves and painting, Lee was clearing the very back of plot 2, beyond where the rhubarb is, in preparation to laying the freecycled pavers that we are collecting soon, which are going where the plastic sheet is, and will have 4 BEEHIVES on them!

Yep, you heard right, we are becoming Apiarists! We both like honey, and with the decline in the UK Bee population, and the possible problems that this will cause with pollination, we had a chat, and along with another plotholder we've decided to give beekeeping a go! We've managed to get 4 Smiths Hives for a very good price, 2 for us and 2 for the other plot holder, and they are going to be located at the back of plot 2, beyond the rhubarb! If we enjoy it and they do ok, then we may look at further hives in the future! Stay tuned for more info, piccies and to see how we progress!

Finally a couple of piccies of the sunset, nothing spectacular, but pretty enough for a few snaps from the allotment!

GYO Grapevine Virtual Veg Show results + Newly barked paths!

So, the results of the GYO Magazine's Grapevine Forum Virtual Veg Show were announced recently, and we managed to do better than last years two 2nd places!! Below are the piccies of our entries, and where they placed!

These 2 Cucumbers got us a First Place!

3 Stalks of Rhubarb - this got us our second First Place!

These 3 Onions got us a 2nd Place!

These 3 spuds got us a Second Place!

These 3 Bulbs of Garlic got us a 3rd Place!

So, all in all, 2 firsts, 2 seconds and a third, not bad at all! Especially when you consider we only entered those five categories!!

For the full thread and a great place to visit, follow the link below to the Grapevine!

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/fruit-vegetable-showcase/2008-showcase-results_23820.html

So, the growing season is over and the time to tidy up and prepare for next year is now upon us! Today we managed to get to the plot for most of the day, Lee clearing another bed and having a fire before clearing the smaller greenhouse, whilst I tidied up a bit, then weeded and barked up about a third of the beds on plot 1! (Lee helped with the chippings too, once he'd finished in the greenhouse!)

So, as can be seen, the bark chippings do make the place look a lot tidier, as does the work Lee did with the celery (tieing and earthing it up yesterday)! Plenty more work to do before spring, but plenty of time to do it in, so no rush as yet!

Hope you're preparation and tidying up is going well! Thanks for reading!

Belated Samhain wishes, the Old Year is Dead, and now begins the New Growing Year!

Well, with what for us heralds the end of the growing year, Samhain (Halloween), we now look to the start of the coming years growing season, starting with the overwintering Garlic and Onions from set, which are now planted on Plot 1!

We've got 37 Christos Garlic and 99 saved garlic cloves (Electrik and San Marco) planted today, filling one bed on Plot 1, prepared firstly by digging in a load of manure, then Blood fish and bone and lime added to the bed, with a load of potash (from last nights end of season BBQ and bonfire at the site) cooling in the wheelbarrow (Lee went to fetch some, and came back with it flaming out of the barrow, a bit hotter than we'd thought it would have been, but a lovely warm mobile heater for todays planting!) ready to add to the beds in the not too distant future!

We also planted up 2 beds of overwintering Onion sets today, Senshui, one bed having 98 sets and the other having 130 sets in it, again prepared by digging in manure and then top dressing with blood, fish and bone (with more potash to follow once its properly cooled down!)

We've planned out the plot for the coming year, with 5 runs of beds (running front to back) spanning the 2 adjacent plots, we've decided where everything is going, with the second run of beds from the right taking the alliums (1 bed garlic, 2 beds of overwintering onion sets - already planted - and then the further 4 beds in that run planned for onions from seed - 5 varieties - and leeks).

The other runs of beds are going (in the main) to contain (from right to left) Brassicas, Aliums, Spuds, Beans and Peas, Sweetcorn and Squashes, so this should give us a 5 year rotational plan!

After a conversation with another plotholder today we are also considering keeping bees, tho whether this comes off will wait to be seen!

Anyhows, hope your plans for the coming year are progressing!