Early start to a disappointing day!

Well, we're now into the second week of our holidays, yesterday was just too darn hot, so apart from putting up Fester (our scarecrow - something we've been meaning to do for a while but never quite got round to) and making some new wooden bed labels (with whats in the bed and the varieties on them, ready for the allotment judging in the next 2 weeks), we didnt manage to get much done apart from a little bit of sowing, weeding and harvesting (3lb of first early spuds, 3 courgettes, 3lb of rasps, 1lb of strawbs, 2lb of broad beans and 1lb of peas), so we decided that today we'd get up extra early and get to the plot whilst it was still cool to give everything a good watering and then get some serious weeding done!

We got to the plot for 615am, lovely and cool, but also overcast, and we then spent the next 12 hours dodging rain showers, attempting to get as much of the plot weeded as we could, giving everything a really good watering (it takes 1 1/2 hours to fully water now with the hosepipe - yes, it did rain today, but none of the rain was heavy enough to properly water our crops, so we still had to water) and once again harvesting for tonights tea!


By the time we called it a day (6pm) we'd managed to weed the garlic, 4 beds of onions (the ones in this piccy), the carrot bed, the courgette bed, 2 beds of sweetcorn / pumpkins and 1/4 of one of the brassica beds, so still lots left to weed before the judging starts this coming monday!

Doesnt look like we're going to make it to Shell Island this year unfortunately, but we should be able to get a day out on Thursday, though we may be moving the other hive from the apiary where its colony was from, down to our apiary on Thursday night!

Plans for the rest of the week then are shopping tomorrow morning (Wednesday), followed by the afternoon on the plot and then doing the weekly inspections on the 2 beehives (the girls on our plot have been mad busy, lots of bees coming and going, mainly collecting poppy pollen by the looks of things!), Thursday will be a day out, followed (we hope) by moving the other hive, Friday will be a full day on the plot, then Saturday also will be another day on the plot, though we will be helping out with the allotment tidy up before the allotment BBQ later in the afternoon! Then Sunay Lee is back at work, so hopefully I'll be able to finish any weeding and tidying ready for the judging, then back to work on Monday for me!

Last picy for today, Fester and Lee, can you tell which one is which??

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

Plant feeder / feed £12

Growbags (4 for £5) £15
2 Apple trees £30
Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40

Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50

Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £5

Lettuces £7

Peas £8

Broad Beans £15

Cucumber £3

Courgettes £8

Broccolli £3
Strawberries £15
Raspberries £22

Potatoes £5

Total Harvests 2009 £141

So, still out of pocket to the tune of £176 so far, but that is definitely changing! Hope you're growing year is going well!

I'll try and get another update done tomorrow, on the Beekeeping we've been doing, hopefully with a bit of info about how a hive is constructed and what beekeeping actually involves!

What a difference a week makes!

Well, 1st week of our holidays, weather has been great and everything on the plot is growing on at a tremendous rate! All of a sudden things seem to have started to grow by inches a day, tis fab!


The celery we've been growing for seed (to make our own celery salt) has just begun to flower, tiny but oretty white blooms! The Broad beans are absolutely covered in bean pods, and generally its looking like we could be in for a bumper year!


A pano from the top left o the plot looking back across both plots! We've chopped back the first growth of comfrey (it now composting nicely for organic tomato feed) to allow the second growth to come through, the brassica tunnels are looking amazing, the pumpkins are beginning to set fruit and the sweetcorn is now taking off!


Second sowing of peas n mange tout is coming thru, as are the turnips and swedes in the bed next to them!

Courgettes are now romping away and producing some very tasty courgettes!

Early Maincrop spuds are looking fab, as are the brassicas behind!

Dont think we'll get bored of the broad beans, but they are looking like a bumper crop this year!

The pear tree is absolutely dripping with pears, cant wait for them to ripen, think we may even have enough to make some pear cider with this year!

As you can see, the fedge is dripping with rasps, looks like we're gonna be making plenty of raspberry jam this year too!

Friday we decided to sort out the areas under the fruit trees and 1 bed at the edge of plot 1, by filling them with flowers that we know the bees like, so we took a trip to 2 local garden centers (I know we dont usually buy in plants, but its a bit late to be sowing some flowers for this year, so as we wanted to have some impact for the allotment judging in the next week or so we thought we'd cheat a bit! Lol!) to buy some herbs, verbennas and salvias plus a few bedding plants, however we spotted 2 more apple trees, gala and bramley, on offer, so ended up buying them and squeezing them into the MINI with us, as you can see, it made for an interesting drive back to the plot!

This area (behind the french bean and runner bean / pea beds) was one of the three we wanted to sort out, hence all the plants on the path ready for planting!

And afterwards, 2 more apple trees and lots of herbs and flowers to fill it up! The soil is very dry and lacking a bit in humus, so we top dressed it with some well rotted FYM (farm yard manure) and are going to keep on top of watering and feeding these beds!

The other 2 areas beneath the existing fruit trees, after clearing and planting!

So, overall we seem (so far, touch wood and fingers crossed) to be having a good year, crops are looking good, plot is relatively tidy and everything (apart from the parsnips) is growing! It'll be interesting to see how well we do come the end of the growing year!

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
Plant feeder / feed £12
Growbags (4 for £5) £15

2 Apple trees £30

Herbs and Flowers (for underplanting 3 beds of fruit trees) £40

Total costs so far £317

Harvests 2009

Rhubarb (£1 a stalk in Sainsburys) £50
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £4
Lettuces £6
Peas £6
Broad Beans £9
Cucumber £2
Courgettes £5
Broccolli £3

Strawberries £10

Raspberries £10

Total Harvests 2009 £105

So, we're out of pocket by £212 so far this year, but that is starting to change! Hope your growing year is going well!

Still growing this year............

Herbs

Parsley, Marjoram, Chamonile, Lemon Balm, Lemon Verbenna, Coriander, Basil, Rosemary, Mint, Chives, Sage, Thyme and Peppermint.

Fruit

6 crowns rhubarb, 65 Raspberry Canes (in fedge) (Possible Bumper Crop!) , 2 pear trees (Possible Bumper Crop!), 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!

Maincrops

Garlic 3 varieties (Looking fab!) 140 plants

Onions

140 Sturon from set (overwintered (Possible Bumper Crop!)), 140 Red Barron from set (overwintered), 120 White onions from set (spring planted (Possible Bumper Crop!)), 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 (Possible Bumper Crop!), 40 second earlies, 20 early main (Possible Bumper Crop!) 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) - All Possible Bumper Crops!

Beans n Legumes

Broad Beans 70 plants (3 varieties)(Possible Bumper Crop!)

Runner Beans 48 growing, 2 varieties!

Borlotti beans, 26 planted!

French Beans 50 plants of 3 varieties!

Kentucky Climbing Beans 24 growing!

Peas

2 x 10' rows Klevedon (approx 120), 1 x 10' row Twinkle (approx 40), 1 x 6' row Mange Tout (approx 30)!

Cucurbits

Courgettes 9 plants (2 varieties)(Possible Bumper Crop!)

Cucumbers Marketmore (1 plant, we lost 2 others of another variety!), 2 Telegraph, 2 Melonie, 2 Burpless Tasty Green

Roots

Jerusalem Artichokes, 1 bed full!

2 x 14' rows Swedes (2 variety, approx 60), 2 x 14' rows Turnips (2 variety, approx 80), 5 12' rows parsnips (3 variety, approx 100), 10 x 12' rows carrots (5 variety, approx 300)

Sweetcorn

80 plantlets of 3 varieties in total, poor germination this year! (Possible Bumper Crop!)

Squashes / Pumpkins

50 plants from 8 varieties

Celery

60 plants (overwintered) Lathom self blanching (for seed to make celery salt) + 60 seedlings planted on the plot!

Salad

25 beetroot seedlings, 12 lettuce salad bowl, 20 lettuce little gem, 8 lettuce iceberg.

Radish, 4 varieties, interplanted with parsnips + 2 x 8' rows!

Tomatoes

38 in the 3 greenhouses, 32 outdoor toms, 12 varieties! (Possible Bumper Crop!)

Peppers

36 on the plot in greenhouses, 14 planted up into pots in the back yard greenhouse, 21 in the plastic walk in greenhuse + lean to, 16 outdoor on the plots! Total 87 plants of 7 varieties!

Chillies

54 plants of 9 varieties in total!

Aubergines
10 plants, 3 varieties!

Flowers

Nicotiana, Foxgloves, Sweet Peas, Salvias, Verbennas, Marigolds, Asteria, Fuschia, Lavender, roses

Hope your growing year is looking as good (if not better) than ours!

Solstice Greetings!

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!

Beekeeping News!

Well, a busy day off on Saturday, we agreed to inspect the hives at 12 lunchtime, meeting up (Pat, Colin and I) with Dave to check whether we had capped worker brood present (indicative of the queen having been properly mated and being fertile)!

In fact, on opening Hive 2 we found plenty of capped worker brood, so this hive is now ready to be moved to our apiary on plot 2 at our allotment site, which we are planning on doing tomorrow night!

The girls in Hive 2 have been busy, the comb is now drawn out on 7 frames, and the queen has been busy laying, so as these bees start to come out of pupae in about another 2 weeks, then the size of the colony is going to expand greatly! We saw the queen again in this hive, so hopefully she will now be able to get the hive up to strength and ready to survive the winter, they've got a few months yet to expand the colony and get some honey stores put away for the winter, but we will be keeping a close eye on them to ensure that they dont starve if stores run low!

Hive 1 has comb on 5 frames now, and a few capped brood, but we'll wait till later this week to do an inspection and see whether there are more capped brood, if there is, then we will be moving it in the next few weeks!

After we had done the inspections on our 2 hives (and completed a sugar treatment to help remove any varroa mite that had found their way into the colony) we were fortunate to be given a bit more experience by Dave, who allowed us to do the inspections on his fully up and running hives in the apiary! 1 hive he had been worried about (not having seen the queen yet this year) was concerning, as there didnt appear to be a queen present, nor any brood or eggs, but as we were doing the inspection a queen landed and made her way back into the hive, returning from a mating flight! 2 minutes later and in comes another queen to the same hive from her mating flight!! It seems that the workers had hatched 2 of the queen cells that Dave had inserted to the hive, and it now only needs us to wait and see whether one queen takes over and kills the other, or whether the hive swarms and both queens then become viable!

A very interesting and enjoyable afternoon, followed by an impromptu picnic, which was then followed by an impromptu BBQ back at our home! Seems like a great night, enjoyed by us all!

So, more news on the hive move later this week, hopefully with some piccies of the hive in our apiary!!!

Beekeeping Update!!

It looks like our girls have been a bit busy, in fact, they've been very busy bees!! We (Pat, Colin, Lee and I) undertook our weekly inspection of the hives yesterday, checking the colonies general health and to see whether the queens are present and whether they have started laying, on opening hive 2 it was to find that some of the smaller super frames (usually used in the super boxes at the top of the hive above the queen excluder, where the bees store the honey) that we had used to fill the brood boxes (the larger bottom section of the hive where the queen lives and lays eggs) had been 'extended' by the workers to increase their size towards that of a normal brood frame!!


On removing the first frame it was to find that the queen in hive 2 (the one that we shook into that hive only 2 weeks ago) has started laying! As you can see from the photo, the eggs are individually laid in the comb cells, the eggs usually hatch after about 3 days and larvae are then fed by the workers for between 5 (worker bees) and 7 (drones) days, before being capped (9 days worker, 10 days drones) when the bees pupate and are 'capped' or sealed into their comb to complete the transformation to adult bees (13 days for a worker, 14 for a drone) to emerge at 21 days (worker) to 24 days (drone) from the laying of the egg to emergence!

Once the larvae are capped it is then possible to determine whether the 'brood' is worker or drone from the shape of the capping, flat capping indicates worker bees whereas a domed cap denotes drones. Only once you have both present can you be certain that the queen has been properly mated and is fertile! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brood_(honey_bee)


As this photo shows, we also found live larvae in Hive 2, at several stages of development, hopefully when we next do an inspection at the weekend we'll be able to see capped brood of both worker and drone, at which time we'll be able to plan the moving of this hive to our apiary on Moss View Allotments!


We didn't see the queen in hive 2 this time, but we have seen her in the past, so we know that she is in there, but on opening Hive 1 we not only found eggs present, but were able to see the queen in this hive for the first time! Brilliant news, as it means we possibly have 2 viable colonies, though we wont know this for certain until we have capped brood of both drone and worker!
Finally a piccy of three of the four of the Moss View Beekeepers! Pat, Colin and Lee inspecting the hive floor inserts to check for Varroa mite 'drop', fortunately there doesnt seem to be any, so with regular management we should be able to keep the hives as clear as possible!

Anyhows, more piccies to follow soon, along with any news on the developments within the hives and our plans to move them to our apiary!

So, whats now growing on the almost full plots?

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!

Maincrops
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
48 growing, 2 varieties!
Borlotti beans, 26 planted!
French Beans
50 plants of 3 varieties!
Peas
2 x 10' rows Klevedon (approx 120), 1 x 10' row Twinkle (approx 40), 1 x 6' row Mange Tout (approx 30)!
Courgettes
9 plants (2 varieties)
Cucumbers
Marketmore (1 plant, we lost 2 others of another variety!), 2 Telegraph, 2 Melonie, 2 Burpless Tasty Green
Roots
Jerusalem Artichokes, 1 bed full!
2 x 14' rows Swedes (2 variety, approx 60), 2 x 14' rows Turnips (2 variety, approx 80), 5 12' rows parsnips (3 variety, approx 100), 10 x 12' rows carrots (5 variety, approx 300)
Sweetcorn
80 plantlets of 3 varieties in total, poor germination this year!
Squashes / Pumpkins
50 plants from 8 varieties
Celery
60 plants (overwintered) Lathom self blanching + 60 seedlings planted on the plot!
Salad
25 beetroot seedlings, 12 lettuce salad bowl, 20 lettuce little gem, 8 lettuce iceberg.
Radish, 4 varieties, interplanted with parsnips + 2 x 8' rows!
Tomatoes
38 in the 3 greenhouses, 32 outdoor toms, 12 varieties!
Peppers
36 on the plot in greenhouses, 14 planted up into pots in the back yard greenhouse, 21 in the plastic walk in greenhuse + lean to, 16 outdoor on the plots! Total 87 plants of 7 varieties!
Chillies
54 plants of 9 varieties in total!

Aubergines

10 plants, 3 varieties!

Flowers
Nicotiana, Foxgloves, Sweet Peas, Marigolds, Asteria, Fuschia, Lavender, roses

Still to plant - Kentucky Climbing Beans, 11 more outdoor tomatoes, more salad, leeks once the first early spuds are out!

We've now only 1 half bed left to dig, which is where the kentucky beans and another 5 outdoor toms will be going, but other than that we are now pretty much fully planted and the plots are now almost full to bursting, with over 2850 plants in and growing, excluding the flowers! Cant wait to see what its like once everything we've recently planted starts to grow on apace! Hope you're planting and growing is going well, and that your beds are full!

And so, onto the Balance Sheet!!

Total Costs 2009
Rent + subs for 2 plots £90
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) £40
Spring Onions (£0.99 a bunch for organic) £1
Lettuces £2
Peas £1
Total Harvests 2009 £44

So, we're out of pocket by £218 so far this year, but that should soon start to change!

Long Day on the plot! 4th June 2009

Well, we got to the plot early, and didnt leave until 9pm gone tonight! Lots to do, so we cracked on and got a lot done! Those who have been following this blog will notice that there are now more cane structures, plus we seem to have sprouted a forest of canes topped by bottles and cans in various beds..... all will be revealed in the next few pictures!


So, lloking at the normal panorama across the plots we can see lots of things are blooming, the foxgloves are fab this year, a great swathe of colour at the front of the plot, with others planted throughout the plot to provide colour and food for the bees when they come home to the plot!


Today whilst Lee was digging a new bed to the South of the Fedge I spent the day rotovating and planting up 2 beds (the 2 at the back next to the plastic walk in greenhouse), 1 with borlotti beans, mange tout, kelevdon peas, parsnips and some lettuce n peppers, the other with 2 rows of turnips, 2 rows of swedes, 1 row of celery seedlings, the bed to the fore of those 2 beds has runner beans, twinkle peas, 4 outdoor toms and an outdoor cuke, a row of spinach and a row of chard, and the bed to the left is our carrot bed, with 10 rows of carrots (5 varieties)


So, whilst I was getting the sowing and planting done, Lee was clearing the area we used to have the strawbs in, we decided to make another bed there, as it was totally overgorwn, as you can see here from when Lee was starting!


Several hours later, and after Lee had dug it I planted 13 outdoor toms, 7 outdoor peppers and 8 french marigolds, while Lee cleared the bed at the end of the fedge ready for more toms and chillies!


Once cleared we planted another 4 toms, 4 more chillies and 7 french marigolds!



To the south of the apiary the area wasnt being used for anything, its been very weed infested over the past few years, so its been covered this year, but even so we decided to try some pumpkins in there, 4 x hundredweight, in the hopes they will give good ground cover n make use of the area (plus make it look nicer!)


Finally, a few piccies of some of the crops, the brassica beds are looking good, some of the cabbages should be ready in a few weeks! We've got a few more to plant in there, so will be planting them inbetween the existing ones, in the hopes that they will grow on as we harvest them!

The greenhouse on plot 2, growing away nicely, lots of flowers on the toms and small cukes now becoming evident on the marketmore!

Greenhouse on plot 1, not as far on as plot 2, but even so coming on nicely, as are the broad beans!

Finally, a panorama looking from plot 2 to plot 1, the salad bed (under the netting) is looking really good, we'll be harvesting lettuce from now on until the end of summer, just a shame we were late on getting them in otherwise we' already be eating them! The first early spuds are beginning to flower, so shouldnt be long until we're eating new tatties! There's no comparison with home grown spuds and shop bought, they taste a thousand times better!

Anyhows, only 1 half bed left to dig and plant, then the plots (in their current form) will be full!
Once thats done, then we've a bit of work to do near the pond to sort out that area, then we're hoping to start work on clearing the compost bins from near the plastic greenhouse and moving them to the side of plot 1, then starting to clear the area that the second apiary is going to be sited in next year! Other than that its now all about weeding, hoing, watering and (hopefully) harvesting!

Hope your growing year is going well and all your beds are now full!

Allotment Update - Monday 1st June (piccies from Saturday 30th May)

Well, after a fairly damp couple of weeks, it looks like summer is finally here! The rain of the last few weeks has meant we havent had to do too much watering, and has resulted in the night temperatures staying pretty good (no damaging frosts hereabouts), so as you can see, everything is coming on really well, including (unfortunately) the weeds! We've been hoing the plot every couple of days, but even with this we are going to have to spend some serious time weeding over the next few weeks!



Th courgettes are now close to flowering, and the pumpkins and sweetcorn seem to be settling in well and staring to grow rapidly now!


The overwintering onions are growing really well, as are the First Early potatoes, we're hoping to be eating these in the not too distant future!

The 10'x8' greenhouse on plot 2, tomatoes are now flowering, as is the cucumber, and all are now growing apace! The peppers have small flower buds, so hopefully we'll be eating fresh organic peppers in the not too distant future!

A quick piccy of the herb bed, mint (3 varieties), sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, chives and a few others, all growing really well this year!

The brassica beds, the cabbages, broccolli, sprouts and caulies are growing really well, the netting seems to be doing a good job of keeping the cabbage white and cabbage root fly off them, tho it is making weeding a right royal pain in the bottom, hence these beds are the worst for weeds, hopefully we'll be weeding them this week!

The 8'x6' greenhouse on plot 1, growing well, but not quite as far on as the larger one on plot 2!

A view from plot 2 towards plot 1, really showing how well the first earlies, the onions and the broad beans at the front are doing!

One of our star performers this year, the overwintering garlic! I asked Lee to kneel down to highlight how well its growing, there are 2 varieties planted from saved bulbs from our crops for the past 2 years, and 1 variety that came from the garden center, the saved cloves seem to be growing much better, perhaps we've now acchieved an acclimatised variety!

Finally, a quick piccy of the chives near the pond, stunning in purple!

So, after the weekend we've now only 4 beds left to sort out, 1 bed for outdoor tomatoes 9that still needs to be created), 1 bed for borlotti beans, mange tout and some of the outdoor toms (still to be dug over), 1/2 bed for the climbing french beans (still to be dug) and 1 bed for the carrots (which I'm hoping to get planted tomorrow!

Overall we're doing ok, still a few things to get in that we are a bit late with, but still time yet!

Hope you're growing year is going as well! More piccies and updates to follow later in the week!