.... And Relax!!!

Had to take my car in for some work this morning, then I had the dentists at 10am, so with the weather looking a bit chancy (rain clouds covering the sky) we thought we'd pop to the plot after dropping my car off for a quick look if anything else needed doing, then back to the plot after the dentists for some harvesting!

We arrived to find ourselves followed onto the plot by the Trafford Allotment Judges, 3 women who immediately started looking at the whole site, starting with the first plot as you come through the gates, always a well presented plot! This gave us a few minutes to run round n get any last minute tidying done, so we staked the late sown broadies with canes and string to stop them from falling over, then had to go to the dentists!

When we returned 1/2 hour later they were debating whether to stop as it had begun to rain, but as the sky seemed to be brightening, they decided to stay and finish the inspections!

They had already looked at our plot, so we watered in the greenhouses, then had a brew n took some piccies before Lee started to harvest some of the broad beans. At this point it started raining again, so we retreated to the car till it had passed, to watch the judges come back up the site, photographing some of the plots on their way, including ours! This usually means that you are in with a chance of at least a commended, so we'll see what happens once the judging is finished!

Anyhows, now thats over, we can relax, and concentrate n growing some fab fruit and veg!

As I didnt get to post any piccies yesterday, I've gone a bit overboard with them today, so without further ado.....

Plot 1

One of the two courgette beds, with a total of 10 plants of 3 varieties, now producing plenty of courgettes..............

............. as you can see! With these 10 plants in production, and another 3 later sown ones still to start, I have a feeling we wont want for courgettes this year!

Net are the early broad beans (to the right of the piccy) and the pea / french bean bed, both of which are cropping well!

Early sown broad beans, plenty of beans for us!

The early sown french beans are just starting to produce, we may have enough for tea tonight, or at least enough for a taster!

The runners are still only small, but the victorian purple podded peas are fab, as are the late sown broad beans!

Purple podded victorian peas, easy to spot when it comes time to harvest those pods!

The strawbs in the main bed are still going great, should have another 3lb or so today!

Borlotti beans, leeks and early runner beans, all looking good, if not as far on as we'd like! Behind is the garlic and overwintering onions, almost ready for pulling!

Successional sowings of lettuce, under protective cloches, aka uptuned hanging baskets!

Swede and Turnip, really coming on well this year, plus the french climbing beans, which are getting there, albeit slowly!

Peppers and aubergines in the hot house, not too bad at all methinks!

The side of the polytunnel / apiary. which Lee cleared the other day and laid the path, much neater and tidier!

The 27 sprout plants, 3 varieties to give us extended cropping through the winter!

Some of the cabbages and broccollis!

Cooking apple, cant wait for fresh homemade apple pie!

Eating apples, not so many on the trees this year, we'll have to do a better pruning job this winter methinks!

Plot 2

Pond area is looking good, as are the sweetcorn n squashes behind it!


Sweetcorn n squashes, mmmmm!

Overwintering onions, bulking up nicely!

A couple of the white onions..............

............ and some of the red! We're still growing about 200 onions again this year, plus the ones we harvested already!

Tomes on the greenhouse, cant wait!

The new strawberry bed, these strawb plantlets came from seed that we planted this year, amazing that they come from such tiny seed soo quickly!

First and second early spuds, should be taking some of these as we need them, once the 'volunteer' spuds are finished!

Maincrop spuds, we've 2 beds of different varieties of maincrop, it would be nice to be able to see ourselves through the year for spuds, but so far we havent managed it.... yet!

Late maincrops, so far blight free!

The sweet potatoes and leeks we planted yesterday, we've got to build them a hothouse to see whether we cna get any usable tubers from them!

The rhubarb at the side of apiary 1.

Finally, a pic of Pats sweetcorn, the ones I grew from seed n gave her (as we had plenty)! Hers seems to be doing really well, almost better than ours! Grr!

We're beekeeping this afternoon, so I may post another update later with piccies from inside the hives, but until then, thanks for reading!

Plot is finally ready!

Well, after another long hard days work (well, sort of, we couldnt go to the plot until this afternoon as we had to wait for a delivery to arrive), the plot is finally completely tidy and ready for judging (almost, there's always something left to do on an allotment, and ours is no exception, I'm sure somewhere there will be a few weed seedlings hiding and ready to grow at an alarming rate, probably under the spuds, courgettes or cucurbits!!)

We got there at 2pm, and started by having lunch with Pat and Colin, then we started work in earnest!

Lee started clearing the nettle patch at the front of Plot 1 (I like them for the nettle tea and the wildlife that they bring, but judges dont always appreciate them, so as they were setting seed (and I dont want a plot full of nettles next year) it was time for them to go!), whilst I tidied the wood near the compost bin on plot2, moving it to the wood store (behind the shed), then I weeded the flower beds under the fruit trees on plot1, whilst Lee dug over the small bed next to the Fartichokes for the sweet potatoes to go into! I then potted up some volunteer foxgloves and poppies into the 2 empty planters next to the apiary on plot 1, then planted the sweet potatoes and finished that bed off with some leeks, whilst Lee weeded the new strawberry bed next to the 'fedge' that has strawbs that we've grown from seed in it!

After that it was time to finish the weeding with Lee tackling the 2 brassica beds at the front of Plot 2, whilst I watered the greenhouses, polytunnel and hothouse, then I went round and removed any weed seedlings / mares tail shoots from the path edges on both plots!

Lee then set to removing the few raspberry canes from the fedge that were growing out into the path at the side of the compost bin, whilst I removed the cardboard covering from between the bean supports, revealing lovely virgin earth with no weeds in it! The cardboard will go back in place after judging, but I thought it best to remove it whilst there's a chance the judges may come round!

Finally I gave everything another really good watering, and at 930pm we packed up and finished for the day, both worn ut now, didnt even get chance to harvest the first of the rasps or take any piccies, so tomorrow we'll be harvesting crops, taking some piccies and doing the weekly bee inspections, then a hearty meal and a day off on Thursday before returning to work on Friday!

An enjoyable holiday, if one of hard work!

Hope your plots are looking fab, that your veg is growing well, and the weeds arent being a problem!

Time for a pictoral update of the plots!

Morning Guys n Gals! Apologies for no blog update yesterday, with only a few days left of our hols we decided to push on and get as much done as we can, not only to try for a commended in the allotment judging, but also to make it easier for us to keep on top of things when we go back to work on Friday! We were at the allotment for 10am yesterday, and left at 830pm last night, if we were employers forcing our staff to work as hard and as long, then I'm sure we'd end up in trouble, but as its a labour of love, then its worth it (even tho my back and feet disagree! lol!)

Both plots have been (almost) fully weeded, the messy areas tidied up, all traces of untidyness removed and the few uncultivated areas are now planted up with late sowings of various crops!

So, we'll start with Plot 1, completely weeded, the broad beans and victorian purple podded peas have been tied round with string to try and keep them under a bit of control (and stop them falling onto the paths)

The early leeks have been weeded, as have the beans! The small areas between the beans and the paths (to the left) have now been planted with lettuce seeds, protected from the local rabbits with upturned empty hanging baskets, we hope that this may keep them safe from being nibbled!

The swede and turnips are looking great, mind you, there was a lot of weeds mixed in with them, so it took a bit of time to hand weed them, specially after the rain on Sunday night meant we were unable to hoe them!

The brassica beds have also been completely weeded, some of the cabbages are looking great, not ong now methinks! Lee also finished sorting the last bit of path near the polytunnel, so its been completely covered with weed control fabric and bark chippings, it looks great!

I spent a few hours in the greenhouses, weeding, tidying, tying in the side shoots, side shooting where needed, and although it was a hot, sweaty and dirty job (dont you just love pulling weeds up and getting showered in dry soil, especially when you are all sticky with sweat!), but they look much better for it! This greenhouse is the smaller one (8'x6') that was on Plot 1 when we took it over, we've 9 toms in here (we decided to limit the numbers of plants in the greenhouses this year in an attempt to reduce the chances of blight that we suffered with last year!)

Finally for Plot 1, the path to the right hand edge of the plot, where we moved the compost bins to this year, weeded, tidied and the straggly bits of trees/bushes that were coming out into the path area have all been cut back, making it much neater!

So, onto Plot2! Again, the whole plot has been weeded, the paths rebarked and the messy areas tidied. Lee tackled the overgrown area to the left of the apiary at the bottom, removing the weeds, relaying the path in front of it and covering that area with black plastic. Its where we go to observe the bees in Hives 1 and 2, (which are both in Apiary 1), but we're not sure what we are doing with it yet! Lee wants to keep it as a viewing area, so I've told him it will need properly leveling, covering and bark chippings laid, with perhaps a seat or two put there (and some steps to get up to it), but I'm not so sure it wouldnt be better to put some small fruit bushes on there, say some redcurrants and possibly Goji berries, but its a job for later in the year!

The bed in the middle here (covered with fleece) is our maincrop carrots, we have always had major problems with carrots on the plot, generally with carrot root fly attacking them, so in an attempt to try and keep them safe we've delayed planting the maincrops until after the cow parsley is out (local lore says its safe to plant carrots then as the carrot fly leave them alone, but we'll see) and covered them with fleece! I know its late to plant carrots, but we may get a crop, even if its smaller than it would otherwise be!

The onion and garlic beds have been weeded and the volunteer spuds removed! We got about 8lb of lovely new spuds from the volunteers in these beds, some of which we had for tea last night, wow, what flavour!

Just some of the volunteer new potatoes! Yummy, especially with some fresh peas and broad beans!

The garlic is looking great, almost ready to be harvested, but as we are in no rush for this bed we'll leave it until they are completely ready!

The sweetcorn and squash/pumpkin bed is looking great! Lee weeded it whilst I weeded the spuds, we have high hopes for a good harvest of sweetcorn this year!

Plot 2's greenhouse was also tidied, weeded and had the sideshoots tied in yesterday, another long hot job, but worth it! Theres lots of toms in here, and the first cucumbers have now set, hopefully we will be eating them soon!

The pond area just has a few bits of wood to be moved to tidy it up, the plants we put in a week or two ago are doing well!

The spud beds are looking good, the blight treatment seems to be working, though we have lost a couple of haulms, but I'm reapplying some more bordeaux solution today to help keep them safe!

The last thing we did yesterday was to give everything a really good watering, with the recent hot windy weather and lack of rain the ground is bone dry, so regular watering is essential to keep the plants healthy and ensure we get some decent crops!

So, its not looking too bad at all, hopefully we'll be able to keep on top of watering, weeding and harvesting once we go back to work on Friday!

So, still to do? The 2 broccolli beds at the front of Plot 2 still need weeding, there's a small bed besides the fartichokes that we are planting up with the homegrown sweet potato plantlets, tho we have to build another hothouse for them as they are really a tropical plant! There's a few small area that I'm going to plant some catch crops of salad in, a few pieces of wood in the compost bin at the front of Plot 2 to tidy up, the front of the compost bin on plot1 want the grass trimming, then its time to get some more harvests in, it looks like the first of the summer fruiting raspberries are just about ready, so I'll be taking some of them, plus more strawbs, more peas and beans, the last harvest of rhubarb and anything else that looks ready, possibly some turnip thinnings (they are at large marble size now)

Finally a couple of pictures, the first is from Pat and Colin's plot, in their 'nature reserve', we noticed the other night when we were BBQing a chinese lantern in the sky that didnt seem to be working quite right, what we didnt know was that it was coming down on the allotment!

It landed on the edge of thier pond, and set fire to the liner, damaging it for about 3'! Its a right mess and is going to be difficult to repair, and will leak if the water level gets any higher, but just goes to show that these chinese lanterns that have recently become popular arent actually as safe as you would think! I'm just glad it didnt land on someones shed, or in the apiary!

And finally, I've seen this insect around the plot a few times, it looks like 2 dead twigs, really effective camouflage, but I've no idea what it is, can anyone enlighten me?

Oh, and the beetle we saw and photographed last week has now been identified, its a Violet Ground Beetle, and eats slugs, so its a welcome visitor to the plot!

Hope your plots are looking good and that the harvests are going to be bumper ones!

More updates to follow soon, thanks for reading!

Weeding, weeding, weeding!

With the warm sunny weather, combined with a couple of haevy rain showers in the last week we now have weeds germintaing all over the plot, normally not too much of a problem, as we hoe them regularly, but with the Trafford Allotment Judging starting tomorrow, it looks like we've got some work ahead of us to keep the plot weed free!

The allotment judging can result in a few awards, the most basic of which is a Commended certificate, which is supposed to mean that they acknowledge the hard work you have put in and that it is visible that you are fully working the plot. Next comes a Highly Commended, which means not only is the plot being fully worked, but also has some good crops growing on it and has impressed the judges. Above that is Very Highly Commended, which means they think you have an exceptional plot. Some of the plots on our site have had commended, highly commended and very highly commended, but we've never had anything!

We've had the plot fully cultivated for the past 3 years (well, apart perhaps one or two small messy areas at the back or sides, but they are now sorted), yet we havent even had so much as a Commended certificate! Its become a bit of a sore point now, we're not sure if its because the two plots are being judged separately, and as such there isnt the mix of produce in each individual one (we tend to do a full column of each veg type as it keeps crop rotation simple), whether they dont like the fact we have an apiary on the plot, or that they dont like our make do and mend attitude (and would prefer to see bright shiny new things that had been paid for with hard cash)

Whatever the reasons, we're determined this year to present the plots to their best, and if we still win nothing, then thats ok, as we dont grow for the judges, but for ourselves, but it would be nice to at least have our hard work acknowledged! Another plot holder who has a great looking plot and has also never even gotten a commended has also said that if they get nothing this year, then they are going to complain, as it always seems to be the same folks who win it! Anyhows, I dont suppose its all that important or meaningful what some petty minded buerocrat from Trafford Council thinks about our efforts, but it would be nice to be at least acknowledged for our hard work!

So, yesterday we spent a full day weeding, Lee sorted out inside the glass extension to the shed (that was full of some prize winning nettles, lol) then gave me a hand pulling the red onions that had gone to seed and then sorted the last small bed at the front of plot 1, ready for some more french beans to be planted!

This was the disappointing red onion harvest, 100 onions sized from marble size to tennis ball size, but as they had started to go to seed, then they wont store, so I'm going to be processing them, some will be frozen but the rest I think will become Red Onion Marmalade sometime this week! We also got a meal or two's worth of volunteer new spuds from this bed too!

I carefully transplanted the poppies from the onion bed, then planted more parsnips in there, with radish interplanted to mark the rows.

Next Lee started weeding from the front of Plot 1, whilst I weeded inside the polytunnel and the hot house, much tidier now!

The peppers, chillies and aubergines seem to be doing much better in here than in the greenhouses with the toms, possibly because they can get a lot more light as they arent being shaded by the toms!

Next Lee weeded the strawbs and the first bed of cabbages, these were planted through weed control fabric, and weeds havent been too much of a problem, just compare it with the next bed where the planting was done without weed control fabric!

This cabbage bed is one of my first jobs for today, we've got about 2/3 of the plot to weed today, plus an organised Site tidy up for a couple of hours, followed (weather permitting) by a BBQ, which is always fun!

Some of the beds on Plot 2 are ok, having recently been weeded, such as the salad bed behind the large greenhouse, but there's still a lot of weeding to do, so methinks its going to be a longish day today!

Mind you, the last 3 years we've been one of the last allotment sites to be judged, so although we will have the plots looking great by tonight, I have a feeling that as we are back at work on Friday, if they come at the end of the judging (in 2 1/2 weeks), then we could loose out if there's plenty of rain and the weeds germinate before we get a chance to clear them!

Hope your weeds are behaving and not becoming a nuisance! More updates to follow soon!