Well, as we were pretty well covered with staff, I managed to take back my unpaid ovetime today, so had the chance to get to the plot in gorgeous weather! As you can see, everything has gone bonkers recently, especially with all the rain! Weeds are becoming a biiiig problem!
Plot 2 is looking good though, the maincrop spuds are still blight free, the early maincrops are ready to come up now, and the sunflowers, sweetcorn and pumpkin/squash are amazing! Mind you, first job for today (before harvesting) was to try and get the grapevine arbour / pergola extension to the shed finished!
I still had to add the reinforcing bars to the front, then finish wiring the main area and tightening it up, plus pop in the corner braces! Unfortunately, someone forgot to put the drill back on charge, so I had to charge it up in the cabin before I could use it, so I spent the first few hours sawing the bits of wood I'd need, and unfortunately sawing my finger too! The blood was everywhere, the saw I was using jumped and caught my left forefinger with 2 nice deep cuts!
But once the bleeding had stopped and the drill had charged up, there was no stopping me! The side bracing struts for the corners were cut and fitted...............
.......... the support wires fitted and tensioned..............
............... then the grapevine was unravelled and allowed to fall naturally over the arbour!
Its already at the front of the arbour in some places!
All thats left to do now is to paint it, then plant the 2 clematis at the front of the uprights, train the vine properly over the top, and then find some nice objet d'art to cap the upright posts! Methinks a weather vane and perhaps a couple of gargoyles (plus a greenman plaque) would look good, then possibly a bird feeder or two and next year a hanging basket or two!
Anyhows, whilst we've been playing with building the arbour, the crops have been growing well, tho unfortunately, so have the weeds! I've not shared any piccies of the crops recently, so I took some for you today!
Our early planted Runner Beans are cropping like mad, they are covered in beans and in flowers! Looks like being another bumper crop again this year!
Our broccoli is hearting up nicely, this one was one of 10 I harvested today!
French climbing beans, absolutely gorgeous and pretty prolific too! Next year we're going to grow more of them, and start them earlier inside, rather than sowing them direct!
We've 3 aubegines nearing harvestable size, moussaka methinks!
Lots of sweetcorn, although its not quite ready to harvest yet!
Lots of pumpkins and squashes too!
Including these little fellows, lovely baked and then stuffed!
Our sunflowers have been brilliant this year, some spectacular blooms, and the tallest is now over 7' tall!
Another pretty sunflower! The seeds will be harvested and fed to the wild birds hereabouts!
Finally, the late sown courgettes have just started producing, so although we planted these as insurance (and to continue the cropping once the main ones had finished), we've now got 13 courgette plants all in production! Eek!
Todays harvests....................
............... cabbage and broccolli.....................
............. another cucumber and more toms...................
................... lots more runner beans and climbing french beans.......................
.............. another 2 peppers and 2 jalapeno chillies, plus a few more blackberries!
Balance Sheet Update - 15th August 2010
Total Veg Plot Costs 2010
Rent + Subs for 2 full plots £100
Seeds £20
Seed Spuds £20
Onion Sets £6
Growbags £15
Chicken Manure Pellets £8
Plastic 'wannabe' Polytunnel £61
Bamboo Canes £8
Flower Plants £28
Scaffolding Boards £100
Watering Cans £8
Soft Fruits £16
Clematis £10
Arbour materials £ 40
Total Costs £ 440
The costings have escalated due to building the arbour, however, we're both happy with it and do feel its going to prove its value in making the plot a tidier place, supporting the grapevine properly and give us a comfortable shaded area to sit in! I've also got some more plans for spending on the plot, Argos have the exact coldframe I want to get to use as a hothouse for next year, and at present they are half price, so I've reserved 2 of them online for Lee to collect tomorrow! Bargain at £14.99 each!
Total Veg Plot Harvests 2010
Rhubarb £ 35
Fartichokes £ 4
Volunteer Spuds £15
First Early Spuds £15
Lettuce £12
Radish £10
Garlic £85
Strawberries £65
Raspberries £35
Blackberries £8
Peas £40
Broad Beans £42
Courgettes £63
French Beans £46
Red Onions £20
White Onions £40
Cabbages £5
Peppers £4
Tomatoes £10
Turnip £4
Runner Beans £15
Broccolli £14
Apples £4
Plums £5
Total Veg Plot Harvests £ 584
So, a total nett profit of £ 144 so far this year, with a large amount of harvests still to come!
Hope you're harvests are bumper ones! Thanks for reading, more updates to follow soon!
6 comments:
Lol, thanks for the kind words, personally I dont feel as though its looking fantastic, we've lots of weeds that we need to remove, but fortunately there's only a couple of weed infested beds that have crops in them atm, so its not all doom and gloom! However, with 2 gays off looming this week, and a weekend off on holiday (Lee's 40th birthday on Sunday), then we should be able to tackle the weeds, get the arbour painted and do the bee inspections, plus hopefully get some more crops harvested!
Yes, it is fairly hard work, but its also fun, destressing and relaxing, plus the satisfaction of eating what you've grown more than makes up for the work involved!
Hi suz keep missing you at work im in thurs and fri so give us a ring... The plots r looking really good all that hard work seems to be paying off for you both keep it up will pop and see it over the next couple of weeks.. mat
Hi Mat, Im off for next 2 days, then last day at Macc on Friday, so I'll give you a bell then!
We're BBQin on Sunday at the plot if you fancy coming up, its Lee's 40th (tho there's a BBQ going on anyhows at the plot) so you'd be welcome to join us! If not possible, then we'll deffo have to arrange something in the near future! Hope the new house n garden are coming on nicely, you got them chooks yet?
Всем привет!
Недавно перед мной встала задача, куда деть накопишиеся [b]европоддоны[/b], или еще их называют [b]Паллеты[/b],
[b]Поддоны[/b], [b]Европаллет[/b]ы Размеры 800*1200, 1000*1200- Это [u]Тара Пром назначения[/u].
Немного предистории.
Сам я работаю кладовщиком на складе. Нам приходит много продукции на [b]Европоддонах[/b],
товар продаем а поддоны остаются, у нас встал вопрос куда их девать.
Раньше мы их сжигали.
Потом мне подсказали, что за поддоны можно получить деньги.
Начал обзванивать фирмы везде были цены дешевые,
потом приятели мне подсказали, что в Челябинске есть такая Контора "[b]Уралсклад[/b]",
около 10 лет на Рынке Промышленной Тары с прекрасной репутацией.
Я нашел их сайт в интернет - [url=http://www.uralsklad.ru]www.uralsklad.ru[/url] и позвонил по тел. +7(351) 233-07-14.
Буквально через час подъехал их представитель, Авто с Логотипом "[url=http://www.uralsklad.ru]Поддоны Челябинск[/url]".
Цены закупочные оказались самые высокие в г. Челябинске.
Все цивилизовано грузчики загрузили [b]Паллеты[/b] ешё и лом поддонов купили, расчитались на месте наличными.
Про другие фирмы я узнавал либо Цены низкие, либо Бракуют много, да и денег от них не дождешься.
Так что если у вас завалялись [b]европоддоны[/b], не торопитесь их выбрасывать, лучше обменяйте их на деньги.
Hi Anonymous Russian.........
So, basically what you are saying is...
Recently I faced the task of what to do nakopishiesya [b] euro [/ b], or even call them [b] Pallets [/ b],
[B] pallets [/ b], [b] pallets [/ b] s Dimensions 800 * 1200, 1000 * 1200 - This is [u] Tara Prom destination [/ u].
A bit of prehistory.
I myself work in a warehouse. We have come a lot of products on the [b] pallets [/ b],
sell goods and pallets remain, we have the question arose of what to do.
We used to burn them.
Then, I suggested that it was for pallets can get money.
I started phoning the company always had cheap prices,
Then friends suggested to me that in Chelyabinsk have such law office "[b] Uralsklad [/ b]",
about 10 years the markets of industrialized Tara with a great reputation.
I found their site on the Internet - [url = http://www.uralsklad.ru] www.uralsklad.ru [/ url] and called on the phone. +7 (351) 233-07-14.
Just an hour later drove their representative, Auto with logo "[url = http://www.uralsklad.ru] Pallets Chelyabinsk [/ url]".
Procurement prices were the highest in the city of Chelyabinsk.
All civilized stevedores downloaded [b] pallets [/ b] More and scrap pallets purchased, designed for in cash.
About the other firms I learned or prices are low, or marriage, many, and money from them, nothing would happen.
So if you have lying around [b] euro [/ b], do not rush to throw, it is better to exchange them for money.
.... hmm, ok, I know we allotmenteers recycle, and often use pallets, but Im not sure how you're post about selling pallets in Russia applies to our blog, however, I'll leave it here for a while!
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