Pre judging update + balance sheet n piccies!

Apologies for the delay in updates, have been busy and on holiday, so havent really had the chance to post much!

Its the Trafford allotment competition judging this week and next, and after all the hard work that Mr D has put in on the new plot, he's determined to get a look in (even a 'commended' would be great!), so following on from 6 days away on holiday, plus a day looking for a new bed yesterday, today has been all about getting the new plot (plot 1) back up to scratch!

We've now finished weeding all the beds and paths, sideshooted the toms, fed n watered everything, made a couple of (very heath robinson) signs for the plots (Plot 1 and Plot 2) and put them up, had a darn good tidy and harvested what was ready to come out!

As you can see, most of the crops seem to be doing well, the courgettes are now producing, the pumpkins and squash have started flowering, toms have set fruit, beans are flowering and its all looking good for a reasonable harvest, even tho we were late with a lot of crops after having to sort out the new plot!

3 sisters bed, squashes seem to be doing really well!

Brassica bed on plot 1, planting thru the cardboard seems to be working really well, plants are growing well and weeds are not a problem!

The plastic greenhouse toms are also growing extremely well, just look at the diference a few weeks makes!

Plot 2 (our original plot) is still a work in progress, with the paths still to be finished off and barked up, plus 2 beds to plant up and a lot of weeding to do, so depending on when the judges come to view, we 'may' be able to get it back into shape, but it will very much depend on the weather. As you can see here, the greenhouse is growing really well, and the overwintering onions are amazing!

Another view of the greenhouse, we're both waiting for the triffids to attack every time we go in there!

Although it would be nice to have all the hard work acknowledged, its not the be all and end all of having an allotment, the real reason we are GYOing is for the fresh, tasty, health organic veg, and as long as thats what we get, then its definitely worth while!

So, to finish this update, here's a run down of the current balance sheet for 2008!

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

Harvests so far this year

2 batches overwintered garlic (97 bulbs) $40

Rasps 4lb $5

Strawbs 3lb $5

Courgettes x 8 $3

Rhubarb 15lb $30

Cucumber $1

Chillies / peppers $1

Spuds $5

Onions $2

Radish $1

Mange Tout 3lb $5

Broad Beans 5lb $5

Lettuce x 4 $3

Broccolli $2

Cabbage $2

Carrots $2

Total Harvest so far 2008 $112

So far that means we're 88 pounds out of pocket, but as we havent had to buy glass or greenhouse fixings, nor tools or fleeces etc, expenses are far down on last year as we're now getting established, and most of the heavy set up expenses were paid for last year!

As to crops still growing currently we have :-
Fruit
8 crowns of well established rhubarb
85 Raspberry canes - flowering
4 apple trees - lots of imature fruit
2 pear trees - lots of immature fruit
1 dwarf lemon tree (indoor) - flowering
1 dwarf orange tree (indoor) - lots of fruit
6 blueberry bushes - lots of imature fruit!
12 gooseberry bushes - lots of goosegogs
2 jostaberry canes
3 bramble canes
300+ strawberry plants - now have lots of green strawbs, just need some sun to ripen them!
3 melons
3 watermelons
1 huge grapevine - masses of flowers
2 blackcurrants bushes - flowering
2 redcurrant bushes - flowering
1 cherry tree - lots of imature fruit
Herbs
1 bay tree
2 types of mint
2 types of parsley
1 rosemary bush
2 types of basil
3 types of sage
lots of chives
plus cumin, dill and coriander growing from seed to be added once they are of a big enough size!
Greenhouse crops
59 tomato plants (9 varieties) (plus 8 outdoor already planted and other tomato seedlings ready to be potted up for the back yard and hanging baskets)
3 cucumbers
9 peppers (4 varieties)
18 chillies (15 varieties)
3 aubergines (2 varieties) plus another 6 seedlings
Vegetable - Peas and Beans
6 double rows of runner beans 9' long (2 varieties) - with another double row of seedlings still to be planted
48 Dwarf french beans (3 varieties)

18 Broad Bean plants (2 varieties) with further successional sowings coming along
2 double row mange tout - 10' long
6 double row peas 9' long
Vegetable - Potatoes
3 1/2 beds of spuds, 120 seed spuds in total, consisting of First Earlies (24 seed spuds), Second Earlies (24) Early Maincrops (24) and Late Maincrops (48), of 9 varieties in total
Vegetable - Roots
2 tubs carrots in and approaching edible size
80 parsnips
8' by 8' bed planted with carrot root fly resistant varieties in the root bed on plot 1.
Turnip (2 varieties) and swede(3 varieties) 3 rows each in a 8'by 8' bed
Vegetables - Aliums (Onions and Garlic)
450 onions from set (150 overwintered and approaching harvest) - 3 varieties
350 onions from seed - 3 varieties (sown in February and transplanted last month, methinks we should have sown earlier as they seem a bit small yet, but we'll see how they get on!)
200 leeks planted out (with another tray germinating ready to go in later)
Vegetables - Salad crops
15 Beetroot (further successional plantings planned)
40 radishes (nearing harvestable size) - further successional plantings planned
9 lettuces (in greenhouse borders - 2 varieties) with successional plantings planned
20 spring onions, further successional plantings planned
Vegetables - Brassicas
12 brussel sprout plants - 3 varieties
6 spring cabbages - nearing harvest
12 summer broccolli
12 autumn broccolli
6 Purple sprouting broccolli
10 red cabbages
20 white cabbages (4 varieties)
12 caulies
more successional plantings of cabbage, broccolli and cauli planned)
Vegetables - Cucurbits
12 jack be little pumpkins
12 courgettes (4 varieties) wwith another successional sowing planned
5 Mars Pumpkins
5 Baby Bear Pumpkins
5 Avalon Squash
6 Butternut squash
6 chestnut squash
5 carnival squash
Vegetables - Other
65 sweetcorn plants (3 varieties)
Jerusalem Artichokes - 1 bed 10' by 5' - already at 7' tall!
4 beds of trenched celery - approx 80 plants

Both plots now almost fully planted!

So, the antibiotics worked, I'm still here, tho the bites have taken a while to go down! We've seen some more of the wee beasties that bit me, and they definitely are striped, tho whether they are officially mozzies or rather some sort of nefarious wee beastie we're still not sure, but anyhows, on to the latest plot updates!

After Lee decided that he wanted to rejig our original plot (officially plot 2) to tie it into the new plot, he's been working hard to sort it out, whilst I've been working hard on getting our crops sown and the seedlings / plantlets planted out! After an 11 hour day on the plot yesterday (on our day off), I am now in a position to say that the new plot (officially plot 1) is fully under cultivation, every bed now has growing crops in it! Not only that, but almost all of the paths have been lined and barked up too!

Our original plot now has some extra paths in it, the beds are edged and only awaiting some more bark chippings to be delivered to the site before it too is almost fully finished too! All but 2 beds are now cleared and planted, and there's now only another 4 cross paths to edge and line before barking them up!



As you can see from this piccy taken from the left of both our plots (looking towards plots 2 and 1) there's now only the 2 beds (under the cardboard in the center) to get cleared and planted!




Another panorama, from the shed area of plot 1 looking towards the back of plot 2. All plot 1 is now under cultivation!

Plot 1

Believe it or not, we've only had this plot for 5 weeks now, having taken it over on the 8th of May 08, and it was in a right state too! Thanks to hard work from Lee (and some help from me), in only 5 weeks its gone from a mess of weed infested beds and weed filled paths to a full plot under full cultivation!



This first run of beds on plot 1 (from the rear where the piccy was taken to the front where Lee's car is parked) has the plastic greenhouse behind the piccy viewpoint, then in front there's a bed of swift sweetcorn and chestnut squashes, a bed of 190 leeks, a bed of ovation sweetcorn and pumkpins, 2 beds of spring sown onions from seed, a small bed of celery, then the greenhouse and beyond the greenhouse a bed of outdoor toms, a bed of jack be little pumpkins, 2 beds of celery (Lee slipped when planting a tray of celery, so we have rather a lot growing!) and a bed of foxgloves, the only flower bed on the plot!



The second run of beds on plot 1 has from front to rear - 2 beds of courgettes (with catch crops of radish, beetroot and spring onions, a bed of sweetcorn and pumpkins, a large bed of carrots, a large bed of pumpkins and squashes, a bed of peas / beans (victorian purple podded peas, borlotti beans and carlin peas) and a bed of brassicas at the back!



As can be seen here, the first planting of sweetcorn and squashes seem to be doing ok!



The 190 leeks, I cut the holes thru the cardboard in the hopes that it will keep watering down and suppress the weeds in the leek bed, so far it seems to be working fine!



The grapevine on the shed on plot 1! Growing away nicely, looks like we're going to have to give it a prune soon! Longer term we are thinking of adding a gazebo to the front of the shed to allow the grapevine to be trailed over the top of it, giving more light and air in the hopes that it may even further increase the potential harvest!



Not sure if you can see them, but look closely and you'll see the grapes beginning to form!



This is the carrot bed on plot 1, there's still another bed of carrots to go onto the other plot, once its been cleared and edged! To the right of the piccy you can see the 3 brassica beds that have been made from the large brassica bed, covered in netting to prevent wabbits and cabbage whites from reaching the crops!

Plot 2



Growing away nicely, here we've a piccy of the overwintering onions and garlic, methinks that we'll be harvesting these soon! We're going to split this bed (after they've been harvested) down the middle, then after it's been manured, we'll be using it for the spring cabbages that are due to be sown this weekend, ready for planting out once the onions are harvested!



This first bed on plot 2 has the large greenhouse on it, with a small bed in front of it that we are going to use for seed crops (we'll put leeks / parsnips / shallots etc that we want ot save seed from in it next year!), then in front of them are 2 largish brassic beds, then the goosegog bed and then the fedge and strawberry beds!



As you can see here, the new paths between the brassica beds are aligned with the paths on plot 1, tying them in nicely together! We've still 2 paths to put into the central bed on plot 2 to tie that in (the grass to the center of the cardboard directly in front of the camera), but we're hoping to get them finished very soon now!



The goosegog bed, we've only got the weed control fabric and bark chippings left to do on this bed, unfortunately the site has run out of bark chippings at present (tho they are on order, so hopefully we'll be able to get this and the other paths finished by the end of our holidays (hols a week on Monday fro 2 weeks, I cant wait!)) Behind the goosegogs is the central bed that we've still got 2 beds to dig and 2 paths to lay, then the beanery!



The Beanery! To the left of the piccy (out of shot) are some dwarf french beans, then 2 double rows of rondo pea and 2 double rows of early onward pea, then in the piccy are scarlet runner beans, early onward peas, enorma runner beans, then this years seeds bed and some more dwarf french beans! The 'paths' are reinforced concrete slabs that were inherited at the bottom of this plot, we dragged them out and placed them to keep the paths between the beans weed free, even tho at 12" by 8' and 4" thick they were a right pain to move!



The last bed in the beanery, with the broad beans (2 types) mange tout and yingyang beans, with the fartichoke bed visible to the right! The bed immediately to the right of the first bed of beans has more spring sown onions from seed in it! I know the broadies are a bit behind, but the first direct sowing didnt germinate at all (too cold perhaps) and with having to clear the other plot we were late in getting them sown!



A view looking forwards, showing just how much is left to clear, not much more now!!!

Greenhouses!



A piccy of the inside of the larger greenhouse on plot 2, we've toms at 2" and cuces at 3" in here, plus lots of plants doing rather well!



Another more closer view of the left side, strangely this side grew better than the other side last year, and seems to be doing so again this year, strange!



Inside the plastic greenhouse on plot 1, looks like a possible good harvest of tomatoes this year methinks!

The greenhouse on plot 1 is coming along nicely, as are the toms and chillies in the greenhouse at home, they are both at a stage somewhere between the large greenhouse and the plastic greenhouse!

Still to do!



Well, with getting the new plot up to scratch and tying the 2 plots together we've sadly neglected the strawberry bed and adjoining fedge, so one of our priorities once all the planting is done is to weed and remove the bed, then replant the strawbs thru weed control fabric and to then bark it up to attempt to keep the weeds under control and increase our potential harvest for next year! This may reduce the strawb harvest this year, but we both agree it needs to be done asap!



Another are we need to sort out is the pond area and the 'wall' between the pond and the manure pile, it got damaged in high winds not so long back and needs rebuilding, one of those jobs that will be nice to do, but only once we've got everything growing for this year! In the meantime it makes a lovely 'shabby chic' wildlife area!



The next priority is to finish off digging this middle bed and get the paths in it (the areas under cardboard in ine with my MINI), once thats completed, then all of plot 2 will also be under cultivation, quite a feat considering the upheaval with taking over an unused second plot and after already clearing the other half plot (which we are in the process of giving up - another tennant has taken it on - and is doing a fab job - but we've still got spring sown onion sets and all our spuds on there, so we wont be fully finished with it until they have been harvested (we are splitting the harvest with the new tennant!))

Well, thats us up to date for the moment, hope you're crops are growing well! Further updates to follow soon!

A great day on the plot!

Well, it seems like there's a new threat out there on the plots, the 'super mozzie' aka Tiger Mosquitto's!! I got badly bitten on Monday night when I nipped down to the plot after work to plant out the last of the sweetcorn and 6 more squashes! The 6 bites have become inflamed, itch like hell and rather nasty, so we rang the Dr's first thing this morning, to be asked if we could come in straight away! Got to the Dr's, he took one look and said it was badly infected insect bites, and was given high strength Antibiotics and high strength antihistamines, the course of which has got to last for 30 days, AND NO ALCOFROL! I'll have gone mad by the time the course is over!!

Got to the plot for 1030am, straight from the Dr's! Mr D started clearing the weeds from the large brassica bed on our original plot, then moved 7 gooseberry bushes from one side of it into a square area, so he could add 2 cross paths. He then cut wood and fitted it to edge the paths, set up the netting over the brassicas and watered everything. He's managed to get 2 of the 3 paths in place on that bed, and it really looks good!

I started by feeding all the toms and other plants in the greenhouses, then rotorvating 2 beds, then putting up 2 pea netting supports and a cane bean support, then planting the netting with heritage Carlin Peas and Heritage Purple Podded Peas, and the bean support in the center with Borlotti climbing beans. After that I planted out another 48 broad bean seedlings (24 were planned, and 24 were from a seed packet Mr D left outside that got wet in the rain the other night!), 12 Mini D'or french beans (and netted them against the wabbits) and another 2 double rows of peas, rondo and early onwards. Finally I planted out 2 chestnut squashes that we needed to get out, which are now happily sat in the end of a courgette bed.

We left the plot at 840pm, had a great day in glorious weather, got loads done and the plots are looking great, the first bed in our original plot that now has paths in to match the new plot looks brill, and once we've put in matching paths in the other beds it will look like one huge plot, all tied in together, all paths tidy and much easier to keep on top of the smaller beds!

Lee is going to continue with path laying tomorrow, he's hoping to get the last one into the brassica bed and then to start with the middle bed (4 paths to go in) and once I get home from tomorrows Managers Meeting, then I will be rushing down the plot to plant out some more brassica seedlings and sow some catch crops of more radishes, beetroot, spring onions and lettuce!

Plans for our first plot!

So, after concentrating on clearing our new plot for the past few weeks, we've now got to decide exactly what we are doing with our first plot, the one next door! As you can see from the piccy here, its almost fully dug over (apart from about half of the large bed we used for brassicas last year - the yellow grass in the center) and already under cultivation, with about 35 brassicas, 3 rows of broad beans, 2 rows of runner beans, 2 rows of peas, a large bed of Jerusalem artichokes, about 100 garlic plants, 180 onions from set (overwintered) and about 150 onions from seed, plus of course the rhubarb, 85 raspberry canes and 300 strawberry plants!

We have kept on top of hoeing (when the weather has allowed it), but still, there's a couple of areas that we know we need to tackle (the strawberry bed is half full of weeds, where we ran out of weed control fabric for planting thru and just mulched with bark chippings), so we've decided that what we are going to do is split the largets beds (they are currently 8' to 9' wide and anything from 12' to 40' long) with the addition of more paths, to bring the bed sizes down to a more manageable size and allow us not to have to step onto them! Putting more paths in sounds like a big job, but as they will only be cross paths (between the long paths that already run front to back), then it shouldnt be that bad a job (tho there are about 18 of them to be out in!)

The addition of these paths will remove some of the growing space that we have, but will also make it much easier to keep it tidy and weed free, and allow better segregation of our crops into their own beds.

The greenhouse will be staying where it is, and as you can see here, its growing away nicely, especially after being weeded and the toms sideshooted today), with the first toms now flowering (later than last year tho) and the first cukes and peppers beginning to form! The bed behind the greenhouse that currently has brassicas and goosegogs in it will be split into 4 beds, one for the goosegogs (that we will plant thru weed control fabric and bark up to keep maintenance to a minimum) another nearest the greenhouse for those plants we wish to let run to seed for future seed harvesting (think shallots, leeks and parsnips here) and the other 2 beds will retain their brassicas, probably planted thru cardboard to keep the weeds down a bit!

The onion and garlic bed in the middle will be left alone until they are harvested, but once thats done, then this will be split in 2, and the bed behind will be split into 3, making it easier to keep clear and to move around the plot!

The last bed (furthest from the new plot) will also be split with the addition of further paths, tho not until the beans that are in have been harvested!

Also to do on this plot is to sort out the area between the pond and compost bin at the front, as it was damaged in the high winds recently, and needs looking at, so perhaps this will be the last job for us to tackle whilst on holiday at the end of June beginning of July!

So, it should look really good when we've finished, just a lot more hard work to go to get it fully there, but having the new plot has proven to be an inspiration, and hopefully once all the works are complete it should be easier to keep on top of, especially if we're planting thru cardboard and using no dig and mulches!

Strange to think that last year we were happy with this plots layout, even tho it meant we had to walk on the beds to reach everything, and now we are going with a full individual beds system!

New plot cleared and almost fully planted!

So, just 2 weeks after taking it over our new plot is now fully cleared and the paths have now been weeded and barked up! Mr D has been amazing in what he's acchieved in such a short space of time!

Another view of the cleared and almost fully planted plot! The beds in front of the greenhouse now contain 3 beds of onions from seed, 2 beds of sweetcorn and squashes, and a bed of 190 leeks! The beds to the right of the greenhouse in this piccy contain 1o courgettes, 1 bed of sweetcorn and squashes, and a large bed with 15 pumpkins and squashes in. There's still 3 beds to be planted, one of which will be for roots, another for some of the brassicas we are going to transplant from our first plot (Lee has decided he wants to put in more paths, so it matches the new plot) and one for some more beans and peas, that'll be going in this week!

At the back of the plot next to the compost bins we set up the plastic walk in greenhouse, with 5 growbags and a total of 15 tomato plants, as you can see, they are looking ok!

The grapevine on the front of the shed, lots and lots fo flowers, so potentially lots of grapes this year!

Finally, the herb bed near the greenhouse!

Plans now are to get the last few beds rotorvated and planted, then to concentrate on finishing weeding / rebarking up the paths on our other plot, then to put some more paths in to match the new plot. Hopefully this will then give us a good structure thats going to be easy to keep on top of and allow us some time to potter!

Hope your plots and crops are coming on nicely!

So, whats actually growing in our plots so far this year?

Well, last year I kept a running total of our expenses and our cropping, in the hopes that I could justify (at least to ourselves) that we were not only benefitting from fresh organic produce, but also that we were in fact saving money over shop bought produce, and after a prompt from a fellow allotmenteer on the Grapevine forum (see link to the right), I thought I'd do the same again this year!

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

So far we're 200 pounds out of pocket so far, but havent had to buy glass or greenhouse fixings, nor tools or fleeces etc, so expenses are far down on last year as we're now getting established, and most of the heavy set up expenses were paid for last year!

As to crops, well, apart from Rhubarb, a few broad beans, some clamped (heeled in) leeks, some Purple Sprouting Broccolli, a few pimento peppers (from overwintered plants), lots of Jerusalem Artichokes and some radishes and lettuce, we've yet to start harvesting in earnest this year, but growing currently we have :-

Fruit

8 crowns of well established rhubarb

85 Raspberry canes - flowering

4 apple trees - lots of imature fruit

2 pear trees - lots of immature fruit

1 dwarf lemon tree (indoor) - flowering

1 dwarf orange tree (indoor) - lots of fruit

6 blueberry bushes - lots of imature fruit!

12 gooseberry bushes - lots of goosegogs

2 jostaberry canes

3 bramble canes

300+ strawberry plants - now have lots of green strawbs, just need some sun to ripen them!

3 melons

3 watermelons

1 huge grapevine - masses of flowers

2 blackcurrants bushes - flowering

2 redcurrant bushes - flowering

1 cherry tree - lots of imature fruit

Herbs

1 bay tree

2 types of mint

2 types of parsley

1 rosemary bush

2 types of basil

3 types of sage

lots of chives

plus cumin, dill and coriander growing from seed to be added once they are of a big enough size!

Greenhouse crops

44 tomato plants (9 varieties) (plus 8 outdoor already planted and other tomato seedlings ready to be potted up for the back yard and hanging baskets)

3 cucumbers

9 peppers (4 varieties)

18 chillies (15 varieties)

3 aubergines (2 varieties) plus another 6 seedlings

Vegetable - Peas and Beans

2 double rows of runner beans 9' long (2 varieties) - with another double row of seedlings still to be planted

48 Dwarf french beans (3 varieties) with further sowings planned

18 Broad Bean plants (2 varieties) with further successional sowings coming along

1 double row mange tout - 10' long

1 double row peas 9' long - with another 2 rows of other varieties planned to be planted tomorrow!

Other bean varieties still to be planted!

Vegetable - Potatoes

4 1/2 beds of spuds, 120 seed spuds in total, consisting of First Earlies (24 seed spuds), Second Earlies (24) Early Maincrops (24) and Late Maincrops (48), of 9 varieties in total

Vegetable - Roots

2 tubs carrots in and approaching edible size

1st sewing of parsnips (only 8 doing well, another direct sowing planned to follow this week once the root bed is fully dug on our plot 1)

2 further tubs of carrots planned for the new plot, and a large bed, 5' by 15' to be planted with carrot root fly resistant varieties in the root bed on plot 1.

Turnip and swede sowings also to go into the root bed on plot 1 once its dug over.

Vegetables - Aliums (Onions and Garlic)

90 bulbs of garlic (2 varieties) - growing away nicely!

450 onions from set (150 overwintered and approaching harvest) - 3 varieties

350 onions from seed - 3 varieties (sown in February and transplanted last month, methinks we should have sown earlier as they seem a bit small yet, but we'll see how they get on!)

100 leeks ready to plant out (with another tray germinating ready to go in later

Vegetables - Salad crops

15 Beetroot (further successional plantings planned)

40 radishes (nearing harvestable size) - further successional plantings planned

9 lettuces (in greenhouse borders - 2 varieties) with successional plantings planned

20 spring onions, further successional plantings planned

Vegetables - Brassicas

12 brussel sprout plants - 3 varieties

6 spring cabbages - nearing harvest

12 summer broccolli

12 autumn broccolli

6 Purple sprouting broccolli

10 red cabbages

20 white cabbages (4 varieties)

12 caulies

more successional plantings of cabbage, broccolli and cauli planned)

Vegetables - Cucurbits

12 jack be little pumpkins

12 courgettes (4 varieties) wwith another successional sowing planned

5 Mars Pumpkins

5 Baby Bear Pumpkins

5 Avalon Squash

6 Butternut squash

6 chestnut squash

5 carnival squash

Vegetables - Other

65 sweetcorn plants (3 varieties)

Jerusalem Artichokes - 1 bed 10' by 5' - already at 3' tall!

2 beds of trenched celery - approx 60 plants

So, all in all quite a lot of things already in, some nearing harvets already, and lots more still to plant out or sow!

Hopefully the growing year will be a bit fairer than last year, and a possibility of good harvests all round!

Hope your plots are growing on as nicely!

New plot fully dug!

So, another full day at the plot on the Bank Holiday Monday! The weather dawned bright and sunny, but very windy, and started out warm, but once the clouds rolled in at about 1pm it turned quite chilly! Lee finished digging over the new plot last Thursday, and as anticipated he had to construct a 3rd compost bin to take the remoced grass and weeds! So, the new plot is now fully dug apart from 2 small beds which we tackled 1st thing today - the one at the front having had the foxgloves from the half plot transplanted now looks great - as can be seen below!


Foxglove bed at the front of the plot, probably the only dedicated flower bed on the plot!

The other bed we had to tackle was this small one, which has now been planted up as a herb bed, with 2 types of mint (planted in pots to stop it crowding out everything else), rosemary, 2 types of sage, chives and parsley, with cumin, dill and coriander hardening off ready to be added!


The next priority was to try and get the trench celery in, but as it was sooo windy we decided after doing the first bed to delay planting the other bed until Wednesday, when we are both off!


The other things we managed to get done today were to weed and feed the greenhouses, set up the growing supports for the toms, plant the melons into the greenhouses and lean-to, and dig over last years herb bed, ready for the comfrey from the half plot to be transplanted into it! We also fed everything with a foliar feed and removed 8 seed heads from the overwintering onions to stop them running to seed (just means these will be the ones we have to use first!)

I also managed to pick the first few pods of broad beans, which were used in a risotto last night, which was very tasty indeed!

Tomorrow we are hoping (weather permitting) to erect the walk in plastic greenhouse on the new plot and plant it up with 12 toms from the backyard greenhouse, then transplant the comfrey, plant more beans and peas, plant some more catch crops of lettuce, radish, spring onions and beetroot, plant out another 2 beds of sweetcorn and squashes, and perhaps get some of the paths weeded and barked up!

Hope your plots are coming on as well as ours!

New plot is now almost dug!

Well, a day off today for us both, and a chance for me to see just what Lee has been doing for the past few days whilst I've been at work! I have to say just how amazed I am at how much he's managed to do! In less than 2 weeks our new plot has gone from a weed infested mess to a growing space thats ready to be planted! He's now dug over all but 1 main bed and 1 small bed next to the compost bin at the front of the plot (which we are going to fill with some comfrey plants from the plot we're giving up!) Fellow allotmenteers have been joking that he has to clock on to the site at dawn, and isnt allowed to clock off again until dusk!

So, today he dug the last but one bed, whilst I had a good clear up, built another compost bin at the bottom of the new plot, moved all the perspex from the other plot behind the compost bins at the back of the new plot, trimmed the hedges (we have anothre path now, and access behind the shed for storage and to be able to paint it!) and sorted out the pile of wood, tubing, fleece and assorted other junk!


As you can see from this piccy, its much neater and tidier, and a lot less weed infested!

Just to illustrate how much Lee has dug over the past 2 weeks, all these beds are now ready to be rotorvated and planted, and indeed, 8 of the 18 are now planted, with others due to be planted in the very near future (the seedlings are hardening off in the backyard greenhouse as I write!

Another view showing the changes over the past 12 days!

Another task I did today was to rotorvate and then plant up (thru cardboard) the bed in front of the shed, next to the greenhouse! This was planted with 5 full size toms and 3 bush varieties, its a bit early, but the forecast seems ok, and we'll just have to see how they get on!

The 2 beds at the back (next to the goosegog bushes and apple and pear trees) are the ones Lee has attacked over the past 2 days, unlike most of the other beds these 2 have been much worse, with a lot more weeds, methinks they werent touched at all for the past 2 years plus!

A piccy of the new compost bin we built today, which as you can see is now almost full! Methinks we're going to have to build yet another in the near future!

Last piccy for today, showing the tomato supports in front of the shed for the outdoor toms!

I'm back at work tomorrow, but Lee is going to try and tackle the last bed, then hopefully we'll be able to get most of it planted on Bank Holiday Monday, and perhaps start to clear some more of the paths and re-bark them up!

Hopefully with having 2 days off next week I'll be able to give Lee a bit more of a hand, and perhaps we'll also get a chance to catch up on the weeding and to finish digging the last beds on our other plot (the paths of which also want a bit of weeding and re-barking up!)

Needless to say, if we're able to keep up the tempo, then its possible that we'll have the structure in place and sorted by the end of June, which will mean we will be able to get away for a few days holiday this year, hopefully camping with friends at Shell Island in Wales!

Next post will probably be on Monday, after we've spent the Bank Holiday digging!

Hope your plots are coming on as well, and your plants are growing on strong!

Update and News!

So, got to the plot for 1030am, did the work I wanted to do, then had to attend the allotment societies AGM! About 1/2 of the plotholders were there, and it was a good meeting (the first I'd attended as I was working when they had last years), some great ideas coming forth! All the 34 plots on the site are now let, and generally under cultivation, and those present decided that we need to do more social stuff together and perhaps organise a work party or three to improve the site a bit (a BBQ area and fire pit, possibly some flower planting at the front etc) It was decided that we would form a proper allotment committeee, and before I knew it I found myself voted onto it! Not something I was looking for, nor expecting! Fortunately as I work full time I was able to take a non-executive committee position, but I have a feeling that they want me to get involved with the fundraising side of things! Ah well, it could be an interesting period ahead!

Well, as you can tell, I managed to get some more piccies of our new plot today, showing just how much we've managed to get done since the last piccies were taken alast wednesday! As you can see, the first 2 beds have been covered with a cardboard mulch (help suppress weeds and retain moisture), and have been planted with courgettes, 6 and 4 respectively! We've left a space for another 2 courgette plants which we are going to sow in a few weeks time, to prolong the harvesting period when those we've currently got in (which were successionally sown in the greenhouse, 4 varieties) run out of steam in a few months time! The bed bbehind this has had the 24 sweetcorn, 4 sunflower and 6 pumpkins moved into it from the half plot we are giving up, and the 5th bed back has got 15 assorted squash and pumpkins in it (dont worry, its twice the size of the smaller beds at the front of the plot!)
I spent a bit of time improving the soil in the new plots greenhouse 1st thing today (after Mr D cleared it on Thursday), as it seemed very dusty and lacking in humus, so dug in chicken poo pellets, growmore, fish, blood and bone, and then top dressed with 3 trug loads of very well rotted pony poo from the 2 1/2 year old compost bin at the front of the plot (lurverly stuff it is too!) Then I planted it up with 8 toms (6 varieties), 2 chillies, 4 peppers, 4 french marigolds (to deter pests) and a marketmore cucumber!
This is the bed of onions from seed that Mr D dug over and planted on Thursday afternoon, hopefully it'll give us a few more onions to help us last thru the winter (we ran out in Feb this year and are determined not to run out this year!)
A general view from the bottom of the new plot, as you can see, Mr D has managed to dig over more than half of the beds in this plot (lots of fellow allotmenteers have been asking him if he goes home at all, or just stays digging all night as he always seems to be first on and last off when I'm working!) Our current plan is to get the beds under cultivation, have a good tidy up on both plots, cut back the overgrown hedge a bit, then do a good weed of the fruit beds and paths before bringing some more bark chippings (fortunately provided free at the other end of the plot) to re-bark up the paths! Hopefully this should give us a nice looking and easy to manage couple of plots!
A view over the 'fedge', looking from the strawberry bed (a little overgrown - we've decided to dig out the half we didnt plant through weed control fabric and then plant it up thru weed control fabric like wot we should have done in the first place! Fortunately we now have some fabric going spare, and Mr D's boss (who keeps horses) has offered us some straw to mulch the strawberries with, so hopefully once we've got the beds into cultivation we'll be able to spend a day getting this sorted once and for all!

As you can also see, the Jerusalem Fartichokes (in the bed next to the strawbs to the right) are shooting up at an incredible rate! We had 2 beds of them last year, and only managed to eat our way thru one of them, so this year we've just gone for a single bed of them!

The beans seem to be coming up quite well, tho some of the French have had poor germination and some runners seem to have been munched (pesky wabbits!), so we've done a second sowing in the backyard greenhouse to replace the missing ones!

Lee is hoping to be at the plot for the next 2 days until 3pmish, and then all day Weds and Thurs, so its looking like he may get the beds all dug over for the end of the week! I'm off on Weds, so gonna have a good tidy up, perhaps some more bean planting, hopefully cut back / trim the hedges and possibly begin weeding and rebarking the paths (tho as always I get the feeling we'll be lucky to get even half of what we want to do done!