Spuds are poor, balance sheet and a new camera!

Sorry for not posting for a while, I've been mad busy at work (again), plus we've had a bit of a trying time of late!

I've had an early birthday prezzie (Canon EOS 10D digital camera - see lower down in the post for more details and a review) as I've been getting more and more annoyed with trying to use the cheap digital camera for taking pics of the plot, and buying one from ebay meant Mr D having to wait in at home for it to be delivered, so he's had a bit of a break from the plot and managed to get on top of a few of the jobs around the house (our loo no longer honks when you use it..... dont ask!)

Anyhows, our day off last week should have been a good one, our new bed was being delivered between 9am and 1pm, allowing us to get down to the plot for the rest of the day, so we set the alarm for 8am to give us time to get dressed and then move our old bed into the back bedroom!

750am there's a knock on the door, the bed is here! Que a mad rush from us both to get dressed, prevent Bella (the Great Dane / Alsatian xbreed dog) from eating the delivery men and move the old bed. Well, after 10 mins the delivery guys tell me they only have 15 mins per drop, so they'll bring it in now and wont be able to erect it, or they'll have to take it back, so in it came!

We had a brew, then went to put the new bed together, only to find that although its listed as 150cm size (King size), its base is actually 158cm, and the gap between the fitted bedside cabinets? 155cm!! Aaaargh!!

We contacted Sleepmasters, who unfortunately could do nothing, so set to dismantling the fitted bedside cabinets, cutting the back and cross pieces down and refitting them, which then allowed us to get the bed in! Fortunately the doors didnt need to be cut, they just fit, and we've done a good enough job that it isnt noticeable! (Mind you, although it was a pain, the new bed is rather LUSH! Its a Sensafoam bed, developed by NASA, keeps you cool or warm depending on the ambient temp, is ultra comfy and was half price! Its so nice you definitely dont want to get out of it in a morning! Add to that some Egyptian cotton bedding (Matalan have some great stuff at excellent prices) and a Duck Down Duvet (Debenhams sale) and its a wonderful sleep experience!)

But it took all day to sort the bedroom (instead of the half hour we were expecting), so we didnt get to the plot until 5pm!!

On arriving at the plot we switched off my MINI only to find that something was making a whining noise, so thinking it was the cooling fan for the radiator I didnt think anything of it, until 1/2 hour later after watering the greenhouses I noticed it was still whinning! Oh no! Got in the car and tried to start it, flat battery! So, we cut the harvesting short and had to get a bump start (fortunately other plotholders came to our rescue) to get the car home! Its booked in for next Wednesday (another 'lost' day on the plot!!), and from looking online it sounds like I've got a steering pump problem, that could potentially cost £700 to sort out! Eeek!!

So, overall it wasnt a good day, and made worse by the fact that I had my new camera, but the memory cards I'd ordered hadn't arrived, so I couldnt play with it! Frustrating!

Anyhows, onto the plot updates (and new piccies taken with the new camera!! Go, on, give em a click and open them up to the full size, revell in the detail and quality!!)


Plot 1, our new plot!!

Still looking good, few weeds, produce growing well, we're happy with it at the moment! The courgettes are now into their stride, producing 7 or 8 fruit every few days (we're struggling to use them all atm, fortunately Bella the dog like them too!) The celery is doing really well, methinks we'll be growing them again next year!

The brassica bed at the back of Plot 1, The cardboard mulch is working exceptionally well, the plants are strong and healthy, and very few weeds, we'll be using this technique again next year, and on more crops too!

The 2 sisters bed, the Mars pumpkins are setting fruit really well, and the sweetcorn are just beginning to show their tassles, hope we have a good harvest this year!

The grapes on the grpavine are now beginning to swell, we may yet get a crop from them this year!

One of the Mars pumpkins, looks like a possible good harvest of pumpkin and squashes this year!

So, onto the weed infested plot 2, our original plot!!

Lee harvested the maincrop spuds this week, after noticing the first signs of blight, as many others have said, the harvest of spuds has been poor this year!

The 2 beds of 20 tubers each of maincrop spuds on plot 3 (the half plot we're just giving up) produced less than 35lb of spuds each, pathetic! The Roosters did the best, with some decent sized spuds and about 35lb in total, but a lot of peanut sized spuds, and the second bed of maincrops only produced 20lb in total! We split the harvest with the new plotholder, but as you can see from Lee's face, it was a disappointemtn, mind you, the taste of the Roosters is superb! We're planning to do much better with next years tatties!

A general panorama of weed infested plot 2! If you click on the image and enlarge it you'll be able to see that the beans and peas on the supports to the left are doing well, as are the late planted broad beans and french beans, plus the Fartichokes, which are now at 8' tall, methinks a good harvest for the winter there!

Brassicas on plot 2, cabbages and sprouts!

The baby sprouts beginning to form!

Triffid house! Plot 2 greenhouse is rather full, I get the feeling I'm going to have to get a machette to get in there soon, Lee even thinks he saw a lost tribe of pygmies in there the other day! lol!

We've been eating cherry toms for a while now, but the main crops of beefsteak toms have lots of fruit yet havent started to ripen yet, tho we did notice the first few starting to turn now! Hopefully it wont be long till we're bringing home a bumper harvest of toms!

We've been suffering with wabbit attacks on the plots, the onions from seed, carrots, peas and beans have been ravaged, as has some of the sunflowers, so the plans for next year include more use of netting to protect our crops!

So, onto the Balance Sheet!

A fellow grower on the GYO forum has tod me that the costingsa I've been using are far too conservative, so I've revised some of them using Organic prices formt he supermarkets!

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 pounds sterling approx
Rasps 19lb =£152 (£8.40 a lb at Tescos!)
Strawbs 9lb =£45 (£5 a lb at Tescos!)
Courgettes x 40 =£25
Rhubarb 20lb = £40
Cucumber 8 = £6
Chillies / peppers = £4
Spuds 90lb = £60 (£0.50 -0.80lb at Tescos)
Onions = £40
Radish =£5
Mange Tout 10lb = £25 (£2.50lb at Tesco)
Broad Beans 5lb = £10 (£2lb at Tesco)
Lettuce x 8 = £5
Broccolli = £8
Cabbage = £8
Caulis = £6
Carrots = £8

Total Harvest so far 2008 = £448 - a profit now of £248!!

Ok, its not strictly GYO related, but as its something that I'll be using to provide the piccies for the blog, I thought I'd include a review I wrote for eBay of my new camera, you never know, it may help other budding photographers with their choices!

A New (ish) Camera!! My very early Birthday prezzie!

Having been into Photography since my mid teens I've recently found myself using my images mainly online, resorting to using a cheap 0.4Mpixel camera (all I could afford at the time) rather than my 35mm film camera (Canon Eos 100 SLR), so the time was right to finally upgrade to a decent Digital camera, and the Canon EOS10D seemed to offer all that I needed at a reasonable cost (being a discontinued model the prices have now reached a level that I was able to afford from eBay on my budget!)

I chose to remain with the Canon brand specifically as my current lenses (EF fit) are compatable with most of the current EOS cameras (watch out for the differences with EF and EF-S fit, they wont fit all models), the quality and reliability of their cameras has always been good and I'd also heard that if you've used an EOS before, then the controls on the newer models will feel both natural and easy to use.

I have to say how amazed I've been with both the ease of use and the picture quality of the EOS10D! The controls do feel easy to use, if you've ever used an EOS SLR before, then the transition feels very easy, the controls are instinctive and in the same places as on the older film EOS's, which means you dont need to spend ages concentrating on learning the controls, but rather can focus your attention onto the picture itself, where it should be!

On a technical front, the 10D offers masses more enhanced features than my old EOS100, the AF now has many more focussing points (7 in total), the exposure metering offers 3 modes (which should be suitable for most applications), plus there are 12 shooting modes, divided into 3 zones, which should enable anyone from the most experienced to the newest photographer to acchieve good results!

Quality wise, the 10D although now discontinued (originally released in 2004/2005) is a part of Canon's 'prosumer' range, (meaning that its aimed at both entry level proffessional and advanced amateur use), and features a magnesium alloy body, which makes it tough, if a little on the heavy side! All the function buttons and fittings seem well made, and the LCD screens are both good quality and easy to view. Picture quality is up to 6.3 megapixels, not amazing by modern standards, but more than sufficient for web use and for printing up to A3 size, the DIGIC processor does a great job of processing the image without any noise that I've been able to discern, even up to 400% magnification!

I was concerned before I used the camera that the focal length magnification (1.6x caused by the size of the CMOS sensor which is smaller than the size of a 35mm film plane) would make it less easy to compose the shots I wanted, but I'm happy to say that this hasnt yet been a problem, although I do now feel that I'd like to invest in an ultra wide zoon lens for wider landscape shots!

The digital imaging controls on the 10D are something that I am new to, the white balance isnt something you can normally control on a 35mm film camera, but I have to say that they are exceptionally easy to use, rather like chosing the type of film that you use on a film camera, plus the choices of ISO speed are good, the lower the ISO the better the quality, as with a film camera!

Overall I am very happy with this camera, it offers all the features and quality I need at a reasonable cost, yes I'd love to have an EOS5D (with its full frame sensor), but not for 10 times the price!