Well, the longest day has now come and gone, summer is here with all its bounty and things on the plot are looking great! We're now on holiday for 2 weeks, so plenty of time to spend on the allotment, plenty of time to rest and a chance to go away for a few days to one of our favourite places in the world, Shell Island in Wales! (http://www.shellisland.co.uk/ http://www.shellislandcampers.co.uk/)
As you will see from the piccies, the plot is looking great, fingers crossed that we're having our best every year of growing (and long may it continue so!)
The foxglove bed at the front of plot 1 is absolutely spectacular, plenty of food for the proffusion of bumble bees that live on the allotments, the celery is now beginning to flower, so plenty of seeds for making our own celery salt, and we're now harvesting on a regular basis, especially broad beans, peas and salad, with the first cucumbers, broccolli and courgettes also now ready!
The overwintering garlic and onions are looking absolutely fab, normally I'd have expected to have harvested them by now, but they are still growing away nicely, so we'll leave them for a while yet!
The spuds this year are looking great, touch wood we've no blight as yet, so hopefully we'll have a good harvest from them!
Plot 2 is also looking good, we had the first 5 courgettes yesterday, very tasty! The squashes and pumpkins are flowering, and there's even some fruit beginning to show! The raspberries are also ripening, the fedge is absolutely dripping with berries! The pear tree is also doing fab, loads of pears on it, and not too much fruit drop, so perhaps we'll be making pear cider this year!
The brassicas are looking fab this year, we're already eating broccolli, and the cabbages are looking fab!
We finished tidying up the pond area, which is now planted up with a mix of herbs and flowers and looks a lot better than the weed infested area it used to be!
A close up of one of the onion beds, looks like some good onions again this year!
The greenhouse on plot 2, getting full now and lots of green toms, just need a bit of sunshine and we'll be eating fresh home grown organic toms, cant wait!
Finally, we moved the 1st beehive on to the plot last sunday night, and the bees have settled in really well! There's loads out flying around and gathering supplies, seems they like the apiary and the flowers that abound on the allotment site! The second hive is still at our friends apiary, the queen hasnt yet commenced laying workers, so its possible that she hasnt been properly mated as yet, we'll have to wait and see, otherwise we may be looking for a queen for that hive!
Lee spoke to his folks yesterday, and it seems they have a bees nest in their loft, it sounds like honey bees, so when we go over later in the week we're taking some equipment with us, and if it is honey bees and we are able to remove them, then we'll be bringing them home to our apiary, so we could even have another colony!
So, onto the balance sheet!
Total Costs 2009
Rent + subs for 2 plots £85
Debris Netting £70
Seed Spuds £20
Compost £20
Seed Compost £5
Seeds £20
Miracle Grow feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15
Total costs so far £247
Harvests 2009
Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £2
Lettuces £4
Peas £3
Broad Beans £3
Cucumber £1
Courgettes £1
Broccolli £1
Total Harvests 2009 £65
So, we're out of pocket by £182 so far this year, but that is starting to change!
Hope your growing year is going well!
Hope your growing year is going well!
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