A Good Joke!

My last blog - more than a month ago - was entitled 'Now the hard work begins'. And what have I done on the plot since then? Almost nothing! It has been raining most of the time, and as a result the plot has been underwater or at least too wet to do anything. I have picked some French and runner bean seeds that are now drying out and will be planted next year. I've also picked more beetroot, cabbages, parsnips, swedes and chard leaves, and cleared up the old bean plants, but it's been far too wet for digging. Never mind, I have until next spring to get the plot in order - let's hope for some dry weather!

We had some of the sweetcorn from the freezer the other day. They were nearly as good as fresh ones, so I shall be doing that again next year, if I have a surplus.

Now the real work begins!

Now that I have taken out all the onions, beetroot and carrots from this part of my plot, it is time to add some manure, then compost, and dig it all in. (There are still some parsnips in this area, covered at the moment against carrot root fly, but this will also be treated and dug when they come out.)
This should prepare the ground for next year's crop of potatoes and sweetcorn. The neighbouring mini-plot will also be manured/composted and dug, ready for beans (broad, runner, French) and peas next year. Where they are at the moment will be dug, then limed for cabbages and other brassicas.
The fourth mini-plot will be dug over winter, fertilised in the spring and planted with onions and root crops.
So over the course of a 4 year rotation, each plot will be manured twice, fertilised once and limed once. Hopefully, in a few years time, the soil structure will be a bit lighter than it is now....

Autumn has now arrived with a vengeance. From temperatures of 17 - 20 °C and light breezes with the occasional shower earlier in the week, it is now 10°C with a strong northerly wind and heavy rain - positively nasty! However, I am still picking courgettes, beetroot and a few beans, with parsnips, swedes, cabbages, Brussels sprouts and kale standing over the winter. The sweetcorn have been quite splendid, and many other crops have also done well - let's hope for the same next year!

The Autumn Show

 Every year, our local Horticultural Society has 3 shows - spring, summer and autumn. There are classes for flowers, vegetables, fruit, flower arrangements, arts, crafts, domestic, produce, photography and children, and it is all good fun. The maximum prize is very low, and most first prizes win only 50 pence, so no one enters it for the money, only the bragging rights! Nevertheless, there is fierce local rivalry, and much leg-pulling about the perceived lack of quality in exhibits by one competitor or another. Most people do not grow things specially for the show, but see what they can put in a couple of days beforehand.

I entered a number of classes, and managed wins for my French beans, chard and sweetcorn. We have been eating all of these for weeks now - delicious! The sweetcorn in particular are splendid - extremely sweet, and the cobs are all completely filled. In fact I have blanched and frozen 10 cobs only this morning, and there are more to come.The competitor who came third in the chard wanted to buy my leaves so he could burn them! So we all had a good laugh. It was however somewhat frustrating to have dug the largest potato - 1 1/2 lbs - but to have eaten it prior to the show. The largest potato on show was only 1lb 3oz! Never mind, next year ....   All in all, a busy weekend, but well worth while - it would have been even if I hadn't won anything. Overall, there were 370 entries from 61 competitors, up from only 45 competitors last year, and it was an extremely colourful show, as I hope the photos show.

Harvest time

 I picked my first sweetcorn yesterday, 1 September. Perhaps a few days too early - they still had a bit of growing to do - but absolutely delicious. Each had 15 rows of kernels, and they had all set properly. I did a bit of hand pollinating, which might have helped. I cut off  a few of the top tassels and wiped them over the silks protruding from the cobs lower down a few weeks ago.
Also harvesting beans and courgettes (lots) and chard, cabbage, carrots, beetroot, spring onions and potatoes. This year's hard work has not been in vain!

This shows our 10 000 litre water butt, which is now plumbed in. It has a submersible pump, which (when necessary) feeds the smaller watering stations dotted round the plots. It is also topped up automatically from the mains, and there is also a supply of drinking water, protected by a non-return valve. Well done Alan!! (And not for the first time either. Alan has been responsible for, and has done the work on, most of the improvements made to the site since we started here 2 1/2 years ago.)

Still lots to do!

 This shows just how well my cabbages have done this summer - both the pointed and the white ball types. I hope the winter cabbages that I am planting will be equally good! It's undoubtedly because I've kept them covered. This has kept the butterflies off, and also allowed me to put down a few slug pellets without fear of harming the birds. Each cabbage is plenty for four people.

I am also picking French beans, runner beans, spring onions, carrots, courgettes and beetroot, with sweetcorn looking good and chard coming along nicely. Red onions were however poor - but very

strong -  and white onions will be ready in a few weeks. I've also dug some potatoes, but there are another 3 rows to come. Swedes and parsnips are not ready yet, but will be in a month or so.

But there is still a lot to do! The weeds are growing strongly - they always do, come rain or shine - and there is feeding and watering to do. In the autumn, or when I have made some space, I will put down and dig in a lot of manure and compost. The soil still has a very heavy texture which has to be lightened, especially for root crops. Of course, we don't know what 2014 will bring weatherwise, but if it's warm, I will try to get things off to an early start - which will only be possible if I improve the soil a lot. There is no greater pleasure than picking fresh vegetables early on, when the ones in the shops have had to come half way round the world! 

Watering

This is our new 10 000 litre water storage tank, sitting on its concrete base, which will be used to collect rainwater from the containers against which it is standing. This will be topped up with mains water, and will be piped around the site to each 1 000 litre water container, from which we fill up watering cans.

I have now finished picking both peas and broad beans, and have taken out the plants. This gives room for some winter cabbage, which have just germinated in the seed bed. I also dug a row of potatoes, which gave room for a row of chard, which I have just planted out.

French beans and courgettes are now coming on as fast as I can pick them, and the runner beans have started as well. I have also pulled beetroot - many more coming on - and carrots will be ready next week. Still lots of cabbages, and potatoes, with onions (poor), parsnips (ready October ish) swede (also probably ready in October) and sweetcorn (looking good, and should be ready in September) to come.

Peas please!

I have picked LOTS of peas recently (Hurst green shaft) and they have been delicious. Too many to eat fresh, so we have made soup (plus mint, and frozen it) with some, have frozen others after a quick blanch, and may be making some chutney, as I now have a glut of courgettes (!) as well. The only problem has been pea moth, which lays its eggs on the flowers. The maggots hatch and burrow into the peas, and on average I have lost 2 or 3 peas per pod. I shall cover them with fine mesh next year. You can spray, but why bother when you can keep the culprits off altogether? Especially if you are trying to be organic.

Loads of excellent cabbages still - all covered with fine mesh to keep off the nibblers - and lettuces. I have given away lots of lettuces in the last couple of weeks, but despite planting them out in 2 tranches they all came at once because of the hot weather. Now they are all going over together.... Also picking French beans, broad beans (still, but I shall take the plants out this weekend) and potatoes. If I take out a whole row, there will be room for my chard seedlings. 

For a change, we have had some rain in the last few days, and very welcome it has been too! It's still 20+°C, so growth is still strong. 

Heatwave still!

The Meteorological Office defines a heatwave as 'five consecutive days where the temperature is at least 5°C above the average for the time of year'. Well, the maximum daytime temperature has been at least 30°C for rather more than a week (high by our standards) and there is no end in sight. Neither will there be any rain in the forseeable future, which means daily watering. I dug a root of spuds yesterday - the ground was like concrete, and the spuds were not nearly as big as they should be.

The weather has however helped quite a few things - peas for instance, which I started picking this evening. Broad beans are coming to an end, but I have just sowed some winter cabbage seed in my seedbed, so when the beans come out, the cabbages will go in. Likewise, when the potatoes come out, chard will go in, which I am also growing from seed. In the meantime, there are summer cabbages (in truth, it's been so hot that all we have eaten is salads recently!) lettuces - which are all coming on at once despite being planted at different times - runner and French beans, and courgettes. Beetroot and carrots soon.

Heatwave!

When I got back from Denmark on Monday night, the south of England was enjoying a heatwave (by British standards) and still is. As a result, things have grown very quickly. I dug a root of potatoes last night - Valor, very clean and tasty when boiled lightly with some mint - and also had a lettuce. These will ALL be ready in about 3 days! The sweetcorn are also looking very good, and there should be peas in 2 or 3 days, and as for the cabbages ....
Perhaps my courgettes will start growing sometime?
Of course, with the heatwave comes the daily watering, but at least it's too hot for the slugs!

The concrete slab has now been put down for our 10 000 litre water tank, to be filled with the aid of runoff from the roof of our containers, and topped up from the mains. Plus as I have already mentioned we now have electricity on site. There will be a community area in front of the containers. This has been seeded with grass, and picnic benches and tables are on order.

Here's a question though : my broad beans have been quite good, with many large pods. However, half of these have been empty - no beans in them at all - why?

Holiday time

 For a change, I think I'm more or less up to date on my plot. The sweetcorn are doing well, and I've fed and watered them, and more slug pellets inside the plastic collars. The potatoes are looking OK as well, and it will be time to try a root of the earlies in a week or so.

This is another of my mini-plots, with runner beans on the left - I have planted African marigolds in between to keep off the blackfly - and peas to the right, which will also be ready to pick in a week or so. In the middle is squeezed a row of beetroot. Rain is promised for this evening and tomorrow, which will hopefully remove the need for watering, which is just as well as I am having a few days in Denmark (a niece's wedding) and will not be able to water etc.



So everything is planted for the summer (with the exception of some leeks which are still too small to plant out), the paths are covered with a thick mulch of chipped bark etc, and there are boards round each plot so that the soil level inside can be raised. Lots of things are slow this year (like the courgettes, which have hardly grown since planting them out) but the pace is picking up. I have already picked lettuce, broad beans and cabbages, and in the next month there should also be peas, beans, beetroot, potatoes, spring onions and carrots - plus courgettes, maybe!

Midsummer

 The sweetcorn have grown really well since I put them in a week ago, and are now double their size. The weather has been warm, but not too warm, and basically dry, so I've had to water them. I have also dug my first potatoes - Casablanca - not many but enough for two and very tasty. I shall now have to be very patient and wait another month!

Buoyed by the success of my netting, I have put some more in the same enclosure, this time over rows of carrots (which were attacked by carrot fly last year) and swedes (which were attacked by flea beetle and pigeons) and beetroot (which just happen to be in the middle). This will also stop the birds eating the slug pellets.

I have also picked another cabbage - untouched! - and some broad beans, so already I'm doing better than last year (not difficult!).

I have also now finished putting boards around each of my enclosures, so it will be possible to raise the levels by adding compost and manure. Looking forward to next year!

A summer evening's delight

It was a real pleasure to go up to my plot this evening - warm, and (most importantly) very little wind. I took the opportunity to plant out my sweetcorn, most of which I have enclosed with plastic jars with the bottom cut off. This will give them a little protection against the weather, but it also let me put slug pellets round them, as the birds should not be able to get to them. The variety is 'Ovation', a so-called 'supersweet' variety, which is F1, so I won't be able to save seed if they are good. I have intercropped them with lettuces (Little Gem, which I have been growing in my seed bed), which should be ready in July/August, while the sweetcorn  should be ready in September. It will be interesting to see if the protected sweetcorn do better than the unprotected (in the foreground) ones.

That's nearly all of the planting/planting out done. I have also planted more carrot and beetroot seed, and a row of swedes. There are some more leek plants to go in - not big enough yet - and I shall sow some chard and early spring cabbage seed in my seed bed. No more room for anything else - in fact I shall have to take some things out before planting out the chard and spring cabbages. Of course, that is not the end of the work this spring! I have boards to install round 2 of my mini-plots in order to raise the beds, and there is always weeding, feeding and watering. But things are now back on an even keel, after a very slow start.

Only 9 days til the longest day.

 These are my apple trees and - under the green cloche - 3 courgettes. It has been quite cold - not at all like summer - but the cloche is there to keep the birds off the slug pellets that I have put down round each plant. Yes, it's slug time again, and they are either in my enclosures, or they have somehow managed to cross the 10cm depth of shredded bark that I have laid on all my paths.

These are the legumes. Broad beans (nearly ready to pick) in the background, then in the middle are runner beans. Despite the netting, they have been badly affected by the wind, hence the scorched brown leaves at the bottom. However, they are recovering now, and are beginning to twine round the poles. Nearest to the camera are climbing French beans. I put these out a week after the runners, and they escaped the worst of the wind.




I took my old cultivator up to the plot at the weekend. It's about 60 years old, is heavy, and makes a lot of noise, but it is very effective at breaking up the clods. So everything is ready for the sweetcorn seedlings, which are in the mini plastic greenhouse that is just visible in the top photo. I planted 36 seeds and every one came up, and is now a healthy seedling. This is because I put them individually in pots of seed compost, and started them in a heated propagator - they like heat. Most only took 4-5 days to germinate.  They will go in the space next to the potatoes, also in the top photo. Looking at my post this time last year, I see that the sweetcorn were already in (too early?) but the slugs were having a field day .... what's new?
(It was a busy weekend but fortunately the weather was kind - dry but not too hot. I cut some of my hedges at home, and ended up with 4 builders' bags of clippings.)
I have also planted another row of beetroot and another row of carrots on the plot, so space is quickly running out. Just room for another row of lettuce seedlings. 
Next week I hope to pick my first produce of the year - lettuce, a pointy cabbage and some broad beans. Can't wait!

Progress has been made.

The weather, as expected, has been cold, wet and dull mainly, although the weekend was OK, which let me make some progress. Everything is now dug, but it was very wet underneath, so it was not possible to cultivate the soil to give the kind of fine tilth I need for sowing seeds. So that is to do, possibly this coming weekend. There are of course more pressing things to do (aren't there always?) like putting down some concrete in our greenhouse at home. At the present, it has a path down the middle with soil at either side, but the last 2 years have been bad for tomatoes as there is a virus in the soil. The plants come up, then wilt away and there are no tomatoes. So this year, I'm concreting over the sides and using growbags, and this is now quite urgent, as my tomato plants must be put in.
I helped out at the composting site on Saturday. Hard work, but worthwhile seeing waste turned into black gold.
Also at the weekend, I finished off putting boards round on of my mini-plots to raise the level, and put together a plastic cupboard to keep the bits and pieces - string, trowel, labels, fertiliser, slug pellets, mesh etc - that I normally manage to leave at home. So some progress has been made! Now, if only the weather would perk up....

Ne'er cast a clout....

 It looks like a fine ev ening (and so it was) but the weather man says it will be a cold night, then a cold, wet, windy few days. So I've put a fairly fine mesh cover over the cabbages/lettuces/sprouts. This should protect against the wind and maybe even a little frost. And of course the cabbage white butterflies! (There were lots last year, but it's a little bit early for them this year, so hopefully I've got in first.)

I can't cover up my beans, with their poles, so they will have to take their chances. The French beans are under the green cloche, which will help. The broad beans have been in for a while now, so should be OK.



This weekend, I shall be helping at our composting site. I have mentioned this before - they have an area just inside our main gate where they receive green waste from members of the public (Horticultural Society members only, of course!) and put it in bins with manure and grass to make compost, which is then used on various gardens and plots, for a donation of £1.20 per bag.

We need warmth - but it is cold and wet

 This is my 'mini-plot' for legumes. I planted out broad bean plants and pea seeds a couple of weeks ago, and have just removed the cloches, since there is no frost forecast this week. In front of them are rows of runner bean and French bean seedlings that I have just planted out, but I have covered them with the cloches until they get established. I also have some leek seedlings, which will fill the plot completely, no room for anything else!

This is the onion and root 'mini-plot'. Onion sets are sprouting, as are the parsnips, which I have just covered with a very fine mesh to - hopefully - keep the carrot fly off. Also in this plot are carrots, beetroot and spring onions. No more room here either!







In another 'mini-plot' I have cabbage and sprout seedlings, soon to be joined by some lettuce plants that I have started in a seed bed. In my last 'mini-plot' I have potatoes - which are now showing - and I will have sweetcorn, although it's too soon to plant these out yet. I have just planted the seeds in a propagator, so hopefully they will be big enough to plant out around the middle of June. I also have some courgette plants to put in later, so things ARE happening - at last! IF I can find the room somewhere, I will make successional sowings of carrot, beetroot and lettuce. Also winter cabbages and swedes will need to go somewhere.....

All this of course depends on the weather, but despite there not being frost this week, it is wet and cold - more like March or possibly April

Spring?

Things are warming up now, but it has been very wet, so it has been very difficult to do any digging - the clay has just held the water and is very claggy.
However, I have been able to do a few things.As I said, last week I planted broad beans and potatoes. This weekend I have planted onion sets, parsnip seed, lettuces (in my seed bed) spring onions and beetroot. The parsnips were planted (3 seeds in each) in holes that had been made with a crowbar (a dibber would have done) filled with old compost. When they germinate, hopefully in a month, I will let one plant grow per hole. I've also put a lot of chippings on my paths, which were very wet. There are still some paths to do though! I've also planted some runner bean and climbing french bean seeds at home, which I should be able to plant out in about 6 weeks time, if I've got round to digging the plot over by then!
There are always more things to do of course, including putting boards round a couple of my plots. This will allow me to raise the level somewhat, which should help with drainage, and soil structure.

Planting at last

I've had some broad bean plants in the greenhouse for more than a month now, waiting for the weather to warm up a bit so they could be planted out. Yesterday was the big day! It was only about 6°C but this is such an improvement on the year to date that I took the bull by the horns and planted them under a mesh cloche, which should protect them from a degree or so of frost. I also moved 24 barrows of manure onto one of my plots. This morning I dug it in (with some blood, fish and bone) then planted some potatoes. Again, they had been ready to put in for some time.The next job will be to plant some onion sets, plus parsnip seeds and beetroot seeds - better late than never! In a couple of weeks I will plant some bean and pea seeds (in pots, in the greenhouse) then some sweetcorn seeds in a warm propagator. I have cabbage seedlings coming on and some tomato seedlings which just refuse to grow as it's still too cold. With everything so late this year, it's all a bit of a mass panic! There's lots still to do.

The weather, again!!

Today, 23 March, at midday, it is -2°C with a biting easterly wind, and as you can see snow - for the fourth (at least) time this winter. It is the coldest March weekend since 1963, and I expect that it will be the coldest March since records began, as there is no end in sight. Last year at this time it was more than 20°C warmer. So far this year it has either been wet or cold - or both - so it has not been possible to get onto the allotment as it is clay, and has been permanently waterlogged. I have - and indeed had, a month ago - 20 broad bean plants that I grew from seed in my greenhouse just ready to go in, but it has not been possible. Also chitted potatoes, and I would like to have sown some seeds, notably parsnips and carrots. All not possible, so I - like all other plotholders - am well behind this year. I spoke to two of the most experienced vegetable growers a couple of days ago, and they are in exactly the same situation. Let's hope for some better growing conditions later, and that the plants catch up!

I mentioned the third container which is to be used for the South East in Bloom baskets etc. This has now been installed on its concrete base, and will have some shelving put in before being used. We have also planted about 400 whips (very small bushes/trees) outside the deer fence and round the compost site, to replace the ones we lost last year. Also, we dug a trench for the electricity and installed a pipe for the cable - a cold, wet and arduous job. The sockets etc are all installed, and the electricity should be connected shortly. Then there will be a 10 000 litre tank to install underground, to store runoff, and the picnic area to flatten, improve with sand and sow with grass. So the jobs keep coming!