Update and Piccies 6th May 2009

Well, after a weeks holidays we've managed to get all but 7 1/2 beds sorted and planted on the allotments, unfortunatley the weather hasn't been brilliant, so we didnt manage to get quite as much as we'd have liked done, but whats left to do shouldn't be too difficult now! As can be seen here, the first earlies are now breaking through, the overwintering celery, garlic and onions are doing well, salad is coming along nicely, and the broadies are flowering well, so we should start harvesting in the not too distant future!


Another panoramic view looking accross the plots, everything to the green netting (on the brassica beds) is ours, 2 full plots next to each other, set up with bark chipping paths and wooden edged 'no dig' raised beds (that still get dug, tho as they arent walked on they are much easier to turn over than they were when we took on the plots!)


So, a more detailed view of plot 1, the beds to the right of the picture (in front of the greenhouse) contain overwintered celery at the front, with broad beans behind, the perspex glazed shed extension (behind the white chairs) has 3 large tubs, 2 of which contain sweet potatoes and the third has 6 pepper plants in it! The greenhouse has been planted up now, with 9 tomatoes, 2 aubergines, 4 chillies and 4 peppers + french marigolds to keep the white fly away! Directly behind the greenhouse are the strawberrys, blueberries and herbs, in individual beds, both the strawbs and blueberries are flowering well, and most of the herbs are flourishing. Beyond this is a row of 5 beds, each of which has an end bed to the right containing flowers and fruit trees, conference pears, branley apples and an eating apple. The main 5 beds (which are 4' by 10' each) next to the fruit trees contain (from front to back) Runner beans, peas and broad beans in the first bed, french beans (under netting) in the 2nd bed, another bed of runner beans and peas (still to be dug and planted), a bed for turnips and swedes and finally a bed for borlotti beans and more peas / mangetout (still to be dug and planted)! Beyond this is the plastic walk in greenhouse, that was put back up this week and planted with 5 growbags of peppers, 4 plants each of 5 varieites!

The second run of beds contains (front to back) 140 overwintered garlic plants, 120 overwintered sturon onions from set, 140 overwintered red onion sets, 120 spring planted onion sets, 140 onions from seed (some spare space in here than may take some of the outdoor toms too), then a bed for carrots and parsnips (still to be dug) and finally a large bed of maincrop spuds, containing 40 tubers!

So, only 3 beds left to dig and plant on this plot!


The view down plot 1 from the plastic walk in greenhouse! The beds still to be dug are the one with the black plastic on the corner, and 2 to the left of it!


Plot 2 Panorama, from the front! Again the beds are pretty much planted up!

On the right of the picture, the greenhouse contains 11 tomatoes, 1 cucumber, 4 aubergines, 10 chillies, 6 peppers and some companion planted french marigolds! Beyond the greenhouse is a small bed of salad, beetroot and spring onions, then 3 beds of spuds, 2 first early beds (20 tubers each) and 1 larger bed of 2nd earlies (40 tubers, 20 each of 2 varieties), beyond this is the raspberry fedge!

The middle row of beds contains 9 courgettes (under the plastic cloches) edged with flowers (for the bees), then 3 large beds (still to be dug) for squashes and pumkpins which will be companion planted with our sweetcorn and some sunflowers (for the bees and to try and keep the squirrels away from the sweetcorn), then the comfrey bed, another bed (still to be dug) for more sweetcorn and squash, then a bed whick is half full with Jerusalem Artichokes, the other half of which will take our overspill of brassicas!

The final run of beds (to the left of the piccy, beyond the muck heap and pond) is our brassica bed this year, 6 beds all netted, containing 20 sprout plants (2 varieties) 20 broccolli plants (3 varieties) 20 caulies / romanesco broccolli, 20 Golden Acre Primo cabbages, 20 Red Drumhead cabbages, 20 Greyhound cabbages!

At the bottom of the plot is the Apiary, with the 6 crowns of rhubarb growing in front of it and blackberries behind it!

To the immediate left of the fedge (behind the grey compost bin) is the area we had the strawberries in the first year, unfortunately it proved to be too weed infested, so we had to move the strawbs, so the plan here is to dig another bed, 15' by 4' and use that shelted area this year for our outdoor toms and peppers, quite a big job to dig and edge it tho, so this will probably only happen after we've got the other beds dug and planted!

So, a closer up shot of the greenhouse on plot 1! Looks very bare atm, but give it a few weeks and it'll be like a jungle in there!

Plot 2's greenhouse, with the outdoor toms on a tray on the center path!


The interior of the walk in plastic greenhouse, 5 growbags with 4 plants each of 5 varities of peppers! Big Banana, Sumer Salad, Chocolate Pepper, Worldbeater and Sweet Pepper! We've had much better success with pepper germination this year, so have had to try and find homes for almost 100 pepper plants, but as we're hoping to dry and freeze enough peppers to see us through the year, it shouldnt be too much of a problem for us to deal with a glut!

Inside the perspex shed extension, showing the sweet spuds growing away nicely and the newly planted 6 peppers!

The pond on plot 2, teeming with tadpoles and looking much better after we did some work, rebuilding the edging walls and relocating the liner (which had slipped down on one side, limiting the depth). Our plans here are to get a solar powered pump and to build a small waterfall in the bottom left corner, perhaps planting the area with wildflowers and a small almond tree, this will involve removing the damaged dacking and clearing the area, rebuilding the retaining wall between the muck heap and the area and generally building up the soil depth, fortunately the 2 compost bins at the back of plot 1 look to be ready for use!

The 6 crowns of rhubarb (Timperley early) growing next to the apiary! We've had huge problems with bindweed at this end of the plot, so we've used some recycled car mats (free from another plotholder) to cover the ground between the rhubarb in the hopes of helping to keep it under control, fingers crossed it works!

So, the front of plot 1, the overwintering celery is going to be allowed to go to seed so we can harvest it for celery salt, and the broadies behind are going great guns!

The first runners are just poking through (next to the bamboo supports), the first peas are now podding and the last sowing of broadies have just been planted! The area towards the rear of the bed next to the peas wil be used either for catch cropping or for some of the outdoor toms!

Lee decided to pick me some flowers, so first he grabbed some mint (was lovely on the morroccan style lamb chops), then he brought me an armfull of rhubarb! Typical man! Lol!

Have to say tho, the rhubarb was lovely in a crumble! We'll have to get harvesting and freezing some more soon, lots of folks on the plot have had their rhubarb go to seed this year, so we've fingers crossed that ours doesnt go to seed yet!

The greenhouse at home is now getting a bit more empty, I'm going to be sorting out the grow bags in there this afternoon and planting up the 18 tomatoes in them, then potting on the 3 aubergines and masses of peppers and chillies into pots to allow us to move them in and out as required!

So, what exactly have we got growing this year? You ready for a mega list??

Herbs

Parsley, Coriander, Basil, Rosemary, Mint, Chives, Sage, Thyme and Peppermint.

Fruit

6 crowns rhubarb, 65 Raspberry Canes (in fedge), 5 blackberry canes (around edges), 6 blueberry bushes, 2 pear trees, 3 eating apple trees, 3 cooking apple trees, 1 cherry tree, 1 grapevine (trained up the front of the shed, we've plans to build an arbour type extension to support it a bit better, hopefully this year), 160 strawberry plants, 40 in the plot, 100 in planters and 20 in hanging baskets!

Garlic

3 varieties, 140 plants

Onions

140 Sturon from set (overwintered), 140 Red Barron from set (overwintered), 120 White onions from set (spring planted), 100 Ailsa Craig from seed, 25 Bunyards Exhibition from seed, 50 red barron from seed. 60 spring onions (so far) Total 575 maincrop onions!

Leeks

Musselburgh, 120 seedlings growing away nicely to be planted once the first early spuds are out!

Spuds
40 first earlies, 40 second earlies, 20 early main and 20 late maincrops! Total 120 tubers!

Sweet Potatoes, 3 tubs full, 9 plantlets in total!

Brassicas

20 brussel sprouts (2 varieties), 20 broccolli (2 varieties) 20 caulies / romanesco broccolli, 60 cabbages (3 varieties, golden acre primo, red drumhead and greyhouse, 20 each)

Broad Beans

70 plants (3 varieties)

Runner Beans

24 growing, another 24 to be planted!

Borlotti beans, 24 to be planted!

French Beans

50 plants of 3 varieties!

Peas

20 planted (1 variety), another 3 varieties + mange tout to be planted yet!

Courgettes

9 plants (2 varieties)

Cucumber

Marketmore (1 plant, we lost 2 others of another variety!)

Roots

Jerusalem Artichokes, 1 bed full!

Swedes (2 variety), Turnips (2 variety), prsnips (2 variety) carrot (4 variety) all still to be planted!

Sweetcorn

80 plantlets of 3 varieties in total, poor germination this year!

Squashes / Pumpkins

50 plants from 8 varieties, waiting to be planted once the weather warms up a bit and the frost risk is passed!

Celery

60 plants (overwintered) Lathom self blanching!

Salad

25 beetroot seedlings, 6 lettuce salad bowl, 8 lettuce little gem, 6 lettuce iceberg.

Radish, 4 varieties, still to be planted!

Tomatoes

38 in the 3 greenhouses, 12 specific blight resistant outdoor toms, another 40 to be planted out once the weather improves!

Peppers

36 on the plot in greenhouses, 68 still to be planted up into pots in the back yard greenhouse! Total 7 varieties!

Chillies

54 plants of 9 varieties in total!

Flowers

Nicotiana, Foxgloves, Sweet Peas, Marigolds, Asteria, Fuschia

So, even before planting carrots, parsnips, swedes or turnip, or even the rest of the peas and beans, radish and further crops of lettuce etc, then thats over 2200 plants already growing on the plot!!

And so, onto the Balance Sheet!!

Total Costs 2009

Rent + subs for 2 plots £100

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 £262

Harvests 2009

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £35

Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £1

Total Harvests 2009 £36

So, we're out of pocket by £226 so far this year, but that should soon start to change!

The Apiary Costs

Hives £140 for 2

Frames & foundation £75

Beekeeping suits £25 each, total £50

Apiary construction £60

Smoker ??

Total Cost approx £325 so far!!

Setting up the Apiary hasnt been cheap, but if we can become self sufficient in honey, plus aid pollination AND more importantly help to safeguard the survival of bees, then it will be a worthwhile addition to the plot!

Hope your growing year is off to as good a start as ours seems to be!

Update - Sunday 03-05-2009

Well, although the weather wasn't quite as good as yesterday (more cloud around), we still managed a full day at the plot, and seemed to get plenty done again!


Lee started off with planting out another batch of onions from seed, another 108 in total went in today, after which the onion and garlic beds were topdressed with potash and chicken poo pellets! Overall the onions are looking good, some of the overwintered sets are looking really good! The overwintering garlic (the bed nearest the camera) is looking great, we've hopes for another bumper garlic harvest this year! The beds nearest the greenhouse to the right are the broad bean beds, another 54 were planted out today, mainly here, but 18 of them went into an overflow bed near the peas and runner beans the other side of the greenhouse!


A piccy of plot 2, showing the brassica beds that we planted and netted yesterday, along with the 2 beds of courgettes (under the plastic cloches at the front) which have been edged with lots of flower seedlings! (Yes, I know you cant eat flowers, but they'll be good for the bees, encourage pollination of the crops and look pretty too!)



Planting Onions, Dobby Style!!


Does his bum look big in this? Lol!


In addition to planting the onions and garlic, we also noticed that the 'May' at the front of the allotment site is 'Out', (explanation, 'Cast Ne'er a Clout Till May Be Out!' is an old rhyme that warns the impatient gardener not to plant too early, locally tis believed that once the Hawthorn flowers then there wont be another frost and you should be ok to plant out the less hardy seedlings), so we decided to plant up the unheated greenhouses on both the plots! The soil was bone dry, so after digging it was then enriched with some well rotted pony poo, then watered and finally we planted 19 toms, 1 cucumber, 6 aubergines, 8 chillies, 14 peppers and a lot of french marigolds into the greenhouses!

We also managed to make a nice rustic (heath robinson more like) warning sign for the apiary, and I also managed to get a pic of how the hives look inside the apiary! Hope you like them!

Ok, so thats all for today (and my aching back says definitely enough!), we're not at the plot tomorrow, but going to visit some close friends and to meet their new daughter for the first time! Can't wait to see them all! Mind you, with the forecast being for rain tomorrow (typical Bank Holiday weather), its probably fortuitous that we arent down there tomorrow!

Only 4 1/2 more beds to plant up on plot 2 ( 3 are cleared, 1 1/2 need clearing, 4 of them are for pumpkin/squash and sweetcorns, the half bed will take the brassica overflows) and 3 beds on plot 1 (2 should be easy to clear, 1 needs some serious digging, 1 bed is for borlotti beans and toms, 1 for turnips and swedes and 1 large one for carrots and parsnips), plus the walk in plastic greenhouse to put back up for more peppers anc chillies, so with any luck we should be almost fully planted by the end of the week (depending on weather and also whether we choose to risk the pumpkins / squash and sweetcorn outside as yet, tis a tad early yet methinks!)

As to this years balance sheet, well, here we go!

Total costs 2009

Debris netting (2mx50m + 4mx50m from ebay) £70

Seeds £20

Seed Spuds £20

Seed Compost £5

Rent £84

Subs £10

Total costs £209

(Apiary not included, but amounts to approx £200 including 2 hives)

Harvests

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £24

Total Harvests £24

A long way to go to break even, but plenty of growing season in which to do so!

Hope your growing year has got of to a good start!

Building the Apiary!

Well, after lots of computer problems and having to reload windows gods alone how many times, I think we're now at a point that I can start posting again! Last years complete harvests came to about £2000 of organic fruit and veg, and this should be a better year, as it will be our first year with both plots fully under cultivation for the whole year!

As can be seen, we've not been too idle over the winter, most of plot 1 is now clear and dug over, and over half of plot 2 aswell! We've 130 bulbs of overwintering garlic and over 200 overwintering onions doing well, spuds are in and growing (2 types of first early, 2 types of second earlies, 1 type early maincrop and 2 types of late maincrop, a total of 120 seed spuds in 4 largish beds), we've 30 cabbages (2 types) planted out and covered with netting (to keep the wabbits off), overwintered celery is doing well (hoping for a crop of seeds to make celery salt with this year) and 18 broad bean plants flowering, with lots more planted in the back yard greenhouse to go out this week!

The main thing we've been concentrating on recently is getting the apiary up, ready for the bee hives and the nucleus of bees that another local beekeeper is hoping to be able to provide us with sometime in May! The following series of pictures detail the construction of the Apiary, with Pat and Colin, fellow plotholders who are going to be beekeeprs along with us in the apiary!


So, the area before we started, we were fortunate enough to be given a load of car mats by another plotholder, which make great ground cover!


The cleared and levelled site, plastic laid to stop the weeds!


Support posts in and the bamboo and willow fencing starting to go in!

The bamboo end wall we put in at first, unfortunately this didnt last, as it was bought from the bargain bin by Lee and the wire had rusted, so we've since had to replace this with a new set of willow type!

Finally, a piccy if the completed apiary, from the bottom of the middle bed on plot 2! The Hives have now been sited within, and the door is finished, it looks really good and is a testament ot the hard work of Pat, Colin and Lee! Hopefully we'll soon have the nucleus of bees on site and have the apiary fully up and running!

We're on holiday this week, so weather permitting are hoping to have most of the rest of the plot planted up, look out for further updates and info in the near future!

Hope your planting is going well, and that you have a succesful growing year!

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!

Time for an update methinks!

Sorry I havent posted about the plots for a while, been mad busy at work, then had a slight accident in my MINI, which really upset me for a couple of weeks, only just now getting back into the swing of things!

So, things are winding down on the plot now, and most of the harvests are now in, apart from the winter veg (sprouts, cabbages, jerusalem fartichokes, leeks, parsnips, celery, turnip, swede, etc) plus the last few peppers, chillies, tomatos in the greenhouses and the late raspberries, which are fruiting like mad!

The plot has become a bit weed infested over the past month or so, but we've still been cropping regularly, as can be seen from the balance sheet below!

Total costs so far this growing year

Rent (for 2 full plots and a half plot) £100
Seeds £30
Seed Spuds £20
Compost / Grow Bags £20
Fertilizers etc £20
Muck £10
Lopper (tool from wilkos) £13

Total costs £213

Total Harvests

2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) =£50
Rasps 60lb =£512 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)
Strawbs 13lb =£65 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)
Courgettes x 180 =£90
Rhubarb 21lb = £42
Cucumber 60 = £30
Chillies / peppers = £25
Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)
Onions = £75
Radish =£8
Mange Tout 20lb = £50 (£2.50lb at Tesco)
Broad Beans 15lb = £30 (£2lb at Tesco)
Lettuce x 10 = £6
Broccolli = £30
Cabbage = £35
Caulis = £15
Carrots = £20
Tomatoes 145lb = £170 (£1.22lb at Tescos)
Peas = £30
Runner Beans 65lb = £130
French Beans = £15
Mushrooms = £3
Apples = £25
Aubergines = £2
Brussel Sprouts = £10
Leeks = £10
Pumpkins = 62 = £100
Sweetcorn = 35 = £40
Swedes = £5
Turnips = £5
Beetroot = £5

Total Harvest so far 2008 = £1693 - a profit now of £1480!!

I'd say there's 220+ more leeks (£100+), at least another 20lb rasps (£160), another 12 cabbages (£10), 4 more caulies (£8), a bed of Jerusalem Fatichokes (£50), about 50 bunches of celery (£40) plus about 30 bunches of grapes still to be harvested yet (the grapes are almost ready, another couple of nice days of sun and they'll be ready for harvesting!), so if they ripen and we get them in, we could be looking at a further £400+ of crops still to come, which would take our growing total to over £2000 for the year! Not bad at all, despite the lack of summer again this year!

We're on holiday in a couple of weeks, and are hoping to get the plot put to bed for the winter, rebark the paths and cover the beds etc, so hopefully we'll have some piccies to post at that point, but until then I hope you've enjoyed seeing how our plots have developed and what we've been able to harvest this year! I hope you're own harvests have been as good and that you've enjoyed you're growing, thanks for reading!

Alderley Edge - Cheshire

These autumn leaves really stood out to me, so I tried a couple of different edits, landscape and portrait orientation, which do you prefer?

Some of the paths reminded me of scenes from the LOTR films, have a look and let me know what you think!

Latest Balance sheet

Well, despite the weather and the blight, the toms are producing about 10lb+ twice a week now, the freezers are full of passatta and I'm now making ketchup and tomato puree for canning! Runner beans are cropping at a tremendous rate, we took over 20lb in one day this week, and they are still dripping in beans! The first of the sprouts are now producing, we had the first last night with tea! The autumn fruiting rasps are now coming into their own, we picked 3lb the other day and are harvesting abut 2lb at least a couple of times a week! The sweetcorn is ripening, so with any luck that should be a decent harvest, and the leeks and winter brassicas are going well too! The pumpkins and squashes look good too, ripening really well! The Jerusalem Artichokes are also looking like a bumper harvest, so with any luck we'll be eating fresh produce for most of the winter!

On the down side, the grapes havent yet ripened, so unless they do something soon it doesnt look like we are going to get a crop! The weeds are doing well too, methinks next year we've a bit more to do to stay on top of them!

Total costs so far this growing year
Rent (for 2 full plots and a half plot) £100
Seeds £30
Seed Spuds £20
Compost / Grow Bags £20
Fertilizers etc £20
Muck £10
Lopper (tool from wilkos) £13
Total costs £213

Total Harvests
2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) =£50
Rasps 30lb =£252 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)
Strawbs 12lb =£60 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)
Courgettes x 170 =£85
Rhubarb 21lb = £42
Cucumber 50 = £25
Chillies / peppers = £14
Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)
Onions = £75
Radish =£8
Mange Tout 20lb = £50 (£2.50lb at Tesco)
Broad Beans 15lb = £30 (£2lb at Tesco)
Lettuce x 8 = £5
Broccolli = £25
Cabbage = £24
Caulis = £10
Carrots = £15
Tomatoes 95lb = £118 (£1.22lb at Tescos)
Peas = £20
Runner Beans 65lb = £130
French Beans = £15
Mushrooms = £3
Apples = £20
Aubergines = £2
Brussel Sprouts = £1
Total Harvest so far 2008 = £1139 - a profit now of £926!!

Update!

Once again I find myself having to apologise for not having posted recently, all I can say is I've had time off work with a bad back, then broke a tooth and had to take more time off (was in hospital til 1am in the morning with it!), and finally had it pulled out today!

Anyhows, it looks like the weather has turned, the trees are beginning to change colour, and autumn is here, along with the bounty of the ongoing harvest and the realisation that things are soon going to be out of time, so the last chances for crops to ripen!

We're still harvesting lots, a normal week will see us harvest about 15 to 20lb of tomatoes, about 8 to 16 large courgettes, a couple of cucumbers, an aubergine, a couple of peppers, about 5lb of runner beans, about 5lb of peas, a cabbage or two, and a few other odds and ends. Most of the toms and courgettes are being processed into tomato sauce / soup / pasta sauce, which we now have over 40x 1 1/2lb bags frozen in the chest freezer for the coming year! We've now got about 20lb of runner beans frozen for use in the winter, so think we may be alright for them!

On the plot we've lots more toms still to come, the autumn fruiting rasps and late strawbs are now starting, looks like a possible bumper rasp harvest, the pumpkins are ripening nicely, looks like this years squash and pumpkin harvest is gonna beat the 30 we had last year by a long way, the celery is looking good, as are the sprouts and winter brassicas! The first bed of leeks is also going really well, plus the sweetcorn is starting to ripen, hpefully there will still be time for us to get enough to see us thru the winter! Next year we're going to have to start it off earlier!

So, overall, although the weather hasnt been fantastic, we've been doing ok, just a shame about all the weeds that this type of weather brings out! Anyhows, onto the balance sheet!

Total costs so far this growing year
Rent (for 2 full plots and a half plot) £100
Seeds £30Seed Spuds £20
Compost / Grow Bags £20
Fertilizers etc £20
Muck £10
Lopper (tool from wilkos) £13
Total costs £213

Total Harvests
2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) =£50
Rasps 25lb =£206 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)
Strawbs 12lb =£60 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)
Courgettes x 150 =£75
Rhubarb 21lb = £42
Cucumber 40 = £20
Chillies / peppers = £10
Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)
Onions = £75
Radish =£8
Mange Tout 20lb = £50 (£2.50lb at Tesco)
Broad Beans 15lb = £30 (£2lb at Tesco)
Lettuce x 8 = £5
Broccolli = £20
Cabbage = £20
Caulis = £10
Carrots = £15
Tomatoes 65lb = £80 (£1.22lb at Tescos)
Peas = £20
Runner Beans 20lb = £ 40
French Beans = £15
Mushrooms = £3
Apples = £8
Aubergines = £2
Total Harvest so far 2008 = £924 - a profit now of £711!!

So, with winter brassicas, leeks, apples, rasps, blackberries, peppers, chillies, runner beans, swedes, turnips, carrots, jerusalem fartichokes, pumpkins, squashes, sweetcorn, celery and herbs to harvest, I have a feeling we may well have an overall harvest equivalent of a lot more yet!

Hope your harvesting is going as well as ours!

Harvesting + Balance sheet!

Hi Guys, sorry not posted for a while, struggling to keep up with work and all the harvesting!
This week's harvesting includes.........

12lb of toms (mainly processed into tomato and courgette soup/pasta sauce and frozen) Lots more to come!

gazillions of courgettes (note to self, dont need 3 plants each of 4 varieties of courgette next year! 15lb made into soup and frozen, still about 10lb to eat or process!)

10lb runner beans (processed and frozen) lots more to come!

5lb mange tout (processed and frozen) lots more to come!

5lb french beans (processed and frozen) lots more to come!

5lb broad beans (processed and frozen) lots more to come!

40lb spring sown onions from set4lb pickling onions

5lb peas (processed and frozen) lots more to come!

couple of green peppers, lots more to come!

1 1/2lb broccolli (eaten!)

2 cabbages

1 cauli

about 200000 parsnip seeds!

1lb carrots lots more to come!

4 cucumbers lots more to come!

8lb cooking apples lots more to come!

First Turnip!

And the one that made Mr D smile more than anything else, the first mushroom from the kit we bought last month! Big enough to feed 2 of us, and as you can see, Mr D was really impressed! (when he first saw it there was a cry from upstairs, I wondered what had happened!:D)

The first Mushroom, 4" across!!

Proud Mr D!!

So, onto the balance sheet then!

Total costs so far this growing year
Rent (for 2 full plots and a half plot) £100
Seeds £30
Seed Spuds £20
Compost / Grow Bags £20
Fertilizers etc £20
Muck £10
Total costs £200

Total Harvests
2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) =£50
Rasps 22lb =£196 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)
Strawbs 10lb =£50 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)
Courgettes x 90 =£45
Rhubarb 21lb = £42
Cucumber 16 = £10
Chillies / peppers = £6
Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)
Onions = £60

Radish =£8
Mange Tout 20lb = £50 (£2.50lb at Tesco)
Broad Beans 13lb = £26 (£2lb at Tesco)
Lettuce x 8 = £5
Broccolli = £15

Cabbage = £14
Caulis = £8
Carrots = £11
Tomatoes 22lb = £25 (£1.22lb at Tescos)
Peas = £10
Runner Beans 15lb = £ 30
French Beans = £10

Mushrooms = £1

Apples = £8
Total Harvest so far 2008 = £740 - a profit now of £540!!

Also managed to get a grabbed piccy of Mr D at the plot, which lent itself to a good B+W conversion, but meant it lost his lovely brown eyes, so a bit of a play in Photoshop and voila!

So, what do you think, does the piccy work?

Anyhows, hope you're enjoying the summer weather (feels more like late autumn round here!) and that your enjoying a bumper harvest!!

Update and piccies!

Ok, as promised, after last weeks post of pretty flowers, back to normal, along with the weather! lol! First a few piccies, then an update on the balance sheet!
A few days sunshine and everything seems to take off like mad!! A view of plot 1, with the courgettes, squashes, pumpkins and most of everything growing like mad!!

Another panorama, taken in the middle of plot 1, looking 180 degrees (7 pictures stitched together!) Click on the image for a bigger version!
One of the pears on plot 1, we've not got many, but are planning to esaplier the 2 trees this winter, and hopefully a good prunning will result in better fruiting next year (and more light to the beds beneath!)
The 2 sisters bed, the sweetcorn have started to show the tassles, and the Mars pumpkins are producing a LOT of pumpkins, 17 at last count, all of a decent size!
Romanesco Cauliflower, the only 1 we've managed to grow in 2 years! Looking forwards to eating this one when it gets a bit bigger!

Leeks (musselburgh) from saved seed! Planted early and doing well, looking forwards to these come the winter!

The other pumpkin / squash bed, lots of fruit on here too, and the purple podded peas behind are also doing very well too!

Peas and runner beans on plot 2, going great guns! We've harvested loads, and still have loads more coming on, perhaps a bumper harvest this year! I was originally a bit dubious of growing runner beans, with childhood memories of stringy yeuchy stuff served up, but I have to say the 2 varieties, (scarlet emperor and enorma) are absolutely delicious, tasty, tender and sweet!

So, onto the balance sheet then!

Total costs so far this growing year

Rent (for 2 full plots and a half plot) £100

Seeds £30

Seed Spuds £20

Compost / Grow Bags £20

Fertilizers etc £20

Muck £10

Total costs £200

Total Harvests

2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) =£50

Rasps 22lb =£196 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)

Strawbs 10lb =£50 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)

Courgettes x 60 =£30

Rhubarb 21lb = £42

Cucumber 10 = £8

Chillies / peppers = £5

Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)

Onions = £40

Radish =£8

Mange Tout 15lb = £37.50 (£2.50lb at Tesco)

Broad Beans 8lb = £16 (£2lb at Tesco)

Lettuce x 8 = £5

Broccolli = £12

Cabbage = £12

Caulis = £7

Carrots = £10

Tomatoes 10lb = £10 (£1.22lb at Tescos)

Peas = £5

Runner Beans = £5

French Beans = £5

Total Harvest so far 2008 = £613 - a profit now of £413!!

Not a bad haul so far, especially with the tomatoes now beginning to crop! Courgettes are cropping like mad, we've a load of soup made and frozen, along with lots of peas and beans, with many more to come! Toms and courgettes are also going to be processed and frozen, the base for warming winter soups, pasta sauces and spicy indian meals!

Hope your growing year and harvesting is going as well as ours! More piccies n further updates to follow!