Winter

Things have really slowed down for the winter, including me, hence the time between posts! I have put a layer of chippings over all of the paths, and put manure and compost on two of my mini-plots and dug it all in. On plots 3 and 4 I have put compost only, which has been dug in, so the whole area is basically ready for winter. I pop up very occasionally to pick parsnips and leeks, and do the odd bit of weeding, but that's about it until the spring.





This is a new shredder that was demonstrated to us today. Apart from the allotments, there is an active composting group at the site. All members of Tatsfield Horticultural Society can bring green waste to the site on Saturday mornings in the summer, where it is shredded by volunteers and put into bins - we have about 40 of them. Then, for a small donation, they can take away some of the compost - it takes a few months to rot down - which is excellent as a soil improver. We have a big shredder, but the volume of incoming material is now so great that a second machine is needed. Will we go for this one? We will need a grant to get anything!

Autumn jobs

This is how parsnips should be, but mine almost invariably are not! Mine always have several roots, and short cylindrical tops, but they taste extremely good. For whatever reason, this one came up looking good, and was large enough for 3 of us! There is also a good number of quite large leeks, plus a few cabbages and (next spring) some purple sprouting broccoli. Other than that, we will be relying on the freezer, which contains many runner, French and broad beans, peas, sweetcorn, broccoli and lots of fruit.

So now it's on to the autumn/winter jobs : digging in manure and compost, putting a layer of wood chippings on the paths and general maintenance. I can't do everything yet (even if I had the time) because there are still runner bean plants ripening seed, and a few beetroot to come yet, but it really feels autumnal. Time to go into hibernation for the winter!

Autumn

It's suddenly looking very autumnal on the plot. The beans have just about stopped, and the sweetcorn are all ready to pick. I have had some already, and they cannot  be bettered. I am saving the bean plants - both French and runner - for seeds to plant next year, but I have started digging in some manure and compost in preparation for next spring. The manure is all fresh, so cannot be used directly on the crops, but if it is dug in before and over winter, the ground should be ready for sowing next year. In the meantime, there are still a few courgettes coming, plus leeks, parsnips and cabbages - and the rest of the sweetcorn - together with some purple sprouting broccoli which will be ready in about March.

Yesterday was our local horticultural society Autumn Show. We had lots of entries - 382 as opposed to 306 last year - and the village hall was bursting with monster pumpkins and marrows, along with an excellent selection of flowers and vegetables. It was exceptionally colourful. I managed to win with a rope of onions, but more to the point, I beat my main rival in the men-only cooking class of chocolate bonfire traybake. All good friendly stuff!

Sweetcorn, hopefully

These are my sweetcorn - very prolific runner beans in the background - which are virtually ready. They are looking good, but last year most were eaten by mice. So I have picked a few already, and very good they were too. I have also put down a mousetrap, and shall see what that does! The mice are still eating my potatoes - perhaps they will stick with those?

Otherwise, things are looking OK. I am still picking beans, courgettes, beetroot and potatoes. The spring onions, broccoli and lettuces are just about finished now. If there had been more room, I would have sown successional crops. Perhaps next year? But something else will have to go. Onions are all in store now, and leeks, parsnips and purple sprouting broccoli are all coming on well. Soon it will be time to put manure and compost on a couple of my mini-plots, and to dig them. In the meantime, I am taking off all the strawberry runners that I don't want - there are hundreds - and have potted up a dozen of the strongest (still attached to the parent plants at this stage) to replace the old plants that I dug up after the crop had finished this year.

Tatty Trouble

I have been digging some of my potatoes recently. In general, the yield is good, and the slugs don't like Sarpo Mira, although there has been a little damage. However, what concerns me most is the damage seen left, which is affecting 10 - 20% of the crop. The tubers are being gnawed by something, but what, and how do I stop it? Is it mice, even though the tubers are of course underground? Or moles, but I thought they were carnivores? Last year, I lost a lot of sweetcorn to (I think) mice, but there has never been any damage like this to potatoes.
Otherwise, things are still going well on the plot. Picking lots of French and runner beans, courgettes, broccoli, lettuce, beetroot, spring onions, onions etc and freezing a lot as well. Had to get another fridge for the veg, and the freezer is about full ... If the mice allow, sweetcorn will be ready in a couple of weeks. Then, after that, there are parsnips, cabbages and leeks for the winter, before the hard preparation - manuring, digging - has to be done.

Harvest time

Yesterday I harvested French beans, runner beans, onions, spring onions, courgettes, beetroot, cabbage, broccoli and lettuce. The day before I dug my first root of potatoes. The top picture shows the runner bean row with the broccoli in front, and the lower picture shows the French beans and some of the beetroot. All have been virtually pest-free, although both the cabbages and the lettuces show some slug damage on the outer leaves only. Both kinds of beans have been prolific - far too many for us to eat, so I have been freezing a lot, although there is not much room left in the freezer, after our glut of strawberries and other red fruit! Everything has come on much earlier than expected, because of the good weather. We have had temperatures in

the mid twenties by day, and the high teens by night. Last night we had some significant rain, the first for a week. I certainly was not expecting broccoli yet, but it has come on very quickly, and is delicious, not at all like the broccoli  that you can buy.
Of course, we don't know how long this good growing weather will continue, but if it's for long, my winter vegetables (leeks, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli) will be ready next month! (I have already dug a couple of parsnips. They were small, but exceptionally tasty.)
Roll on the autumn show!

The end of the strawberries

These are the peas that I have recently started picking. They are so sweet, and there are lots of them. I shall freeze some, and we will eat the rest. Same with the broad beans, which are coming through in large quantities. However, the strawberries have just come to an end, after an amazing crop of well over 80 pounds. Many of the plants are now three years old - their peak - so I have removed several, and am rooting runners from others. Hopefully, the ones I rooted two years ago, and last year, will make up for this, and there will be a decent crop - I am not hoping for 80 lb though - next year.

I am also picking beetroot, spring onions and cabbages. Courgettes, runner beans and French beans are coming on quickly, and I will also be harvesting onions and potatoes next month, together with the next crop of lettuces

What we need now is some rain. Everywhere is very dry, and I am having to water frequently. Some is promised in the next few days, together with cooler temperatures - let's hope that it's enough!

More strawberries!

So far, I have picked over 80 lb of strawberries and there are more to come. On the whole, they are a good size, very juicy and extremely tasty, with very few mouldy or with damage. I have been very selective with what I have kept, but have only had to discard 2 or 3 lb. So the hard work - weeding, feeding, putting up a cage etc - has been well worth while. We have given lots away, made jam, made puree (2 of chopped strawberries to one of sugar, boiled to sterilise then frozen in small pots - delicious on icecream or a steamed sponge pudding) frozen some individually (put a few in a glass instead of ice cubes) and of course eaten lots raw. However, although I put in 3 varieties (early, mid-season and late) they have all come at once!

This is my brassica plot. In the foreground are cabbages - quite small but we are eating them now - and purple sprouting broccoli. In the background are my broad beans. I sowed two separate batches about a month apart, but the later ones have now caught up, and I am picking lots of beans, some of which are being frozen. Other people sowed in the autumn, but success here depends on the winter weather, and they only produce about a week earlier, so I don't bother. We started eating the beans as 'mange-tout' when they were only finger sized, but many have gone well past that stage now!
In other beds, I have lettuce, beetroot, beans (French and runner), peas, broccoli, sweetcorn, courgettes, potatoes, onions, spring onions and, for the winter, parsnips and leeks. I shall  be picking peas soon - there are lots of pods on the vines - and other things shortly afterwards. The weather has been hot recently (over 30­­°C for the last 5 days) so things have been growing madly, but today is cooler (25°C) and we have had a little much-needed rain.

Strawberry time

I started picking strawberries earlier this week - 3 lb so far, and now about 2 lb coming through each day. However, it has been wet and very windy this week, and not very warm either, or they would have ripened even quicker!

The photo shows my broad beans and some cabbages that I planted out a couple of weeks ago. I am picking the broad beans finger-sized, and we are eating them 'mange tout', ie pods as well as the beans. When they get too big, I will freeze them. The cabbages have come on apace, and I expect to start picking them in about a month, although they will still be small. I have also planted out some purple sprouting broccoli - I hope they're as good as the last crop - and some ordinary broccoli, which will probably start maturing in about September. Also planted out, and  coming on, are parsnips, courgettes, beetroot, runner beans, French beans and sweetcorn, and I shall shortly be planting out more lettuce and peas, which will just leave leeks to plant.

No more frost?

I hope that there is no more frost this spring, as I have just planted out my runner beans. Probably a bit early, but the plants had grown very quickly from seeds (20 out of 20 germinated, from my own saved seed) and the roots were coming out of the bottom of the pots. I think that they  should have a good chance of making it, although there will of course be more cold weather. They are all tied up, watered well, with slug pellets (of course) and under a wide mesh to keep the birds off.


My strawberries are looking very good - lots of blossom, which is being held up on rigid vertical stems. These will bend over as the fruit grows, but the fruit will then rest on the chippings, so should be OK. Now all we want is some decent weather. April was very dry - practically no rain at all - but we have recently had a couple of days of rain, which has softened the ground nicely.

I have also tied up my broad beans, which were beginning to flop over, and the peas, and planted purple sprouting broccoli, green broccoli and cabbage plants.Still to be planted out are French beans and courgettes in the next couple of weeks, then leeks later.

The tent - again

I have now taken down my fine-mesh 'tent' from one small plot and put it up over the next, and have planted cabbages inside. This has already got my broad beans in, which are doing very well - lots of flowers and growing strongly. But the weather is very variable. I took this photo yesterday, when the sun was shining and the ground was warm, but today it is overcast and very cold.
I shall also plant some purple sprouting broccoli in here, as it has been such a good crop this year.



Last year, I surrounded my strawberries with
(you've guessed it) straw. However, this was barley straw with lots of seeds in it. They all sprouted and I was left with a lawn around the plants. So this year, I have put a lot of wood chippings round the plants. Hopefully, this will keep the fruit dry and soil-free - and the slug pellets will keep the creepy crawlies off. And the mesh will keep the birds off! The plants look healthy (and have lots of flowers) and have had fertiliser added, so now I must hope for some good weather.
At home, I have French beans, runner beans and courgettes sprouting, and will put in sweetcorn soon.

Spring, maybe

These are the first of my broad beans. I planted the seeds  in the greenhouse some time ago, but the weather has been so good recently that they have been outside hardening off, and were planted out today. I have put some blood, fish and bone fertiliser round them, also of course some slug pellets, and they are now covered with the fine mesh that is hanging over the fence. I have another 20 coming up, which will be planted out in a week or so.
I have also planted some pea seeds, and it is almost time to plant out my potatoes, which have been chitting in a cool but sunny spot indoors.
Still harvesting purple sprouting broccoli! An excellent crop, no bugs etc, very tender and tasty.
Almost time too to plant carrot, beetroot, lettuce seeds. Too much to do at this time of year!

Strawberry preparations

This is my strawberry cage, now complete, so I can - and have - put slug pellets around the plants. I shall also plant out my 'new' plants that I grew from runners in the autumn, so, weather permitting, I should get a good crop this year.

Lettuce, carrots and beetroot are now germinating in my hotbed, and the broad bean seedlings are doing well, so I will plant those out in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, there is always the purple sprouting broccoli, and a few miserable leeks, plus of course the produce that I froze last year.

I attended our garden club this week, where the speaker was very generous - as he always is - with seedlings etc, so I shall also be planting out some cabbages and some more onions.

Early spring

The first of the season! Small, but very tender, very juicy, very tasty. I have two varieties of rhubarb, and this is the earlier. I don't force it, but am quite happy to wait  until March for the first picking. The later variety is showing, and will be ready in a couple of weeks.
So things must be happening, and it's time to start planting. I have already planted some seeds in my hot bed, which are coming up, but an animal - rat, mole? - has burrowed underneath and the soil looks like the surface of the moon, all craters.  I have also planted some broad bean seeds at home, which have started to come up, so I'll be planting them out in a month or so. Potatoes - they have been 'chitting' for a month - have now got short green shoots and will be planted out next month.
I have started tidying up my strawberries, which have all survived the winter and look very good. The small plants that I grew from runners last year are now ready to be planted out, and I have managed to finish the strawberry cage, so the birds cannot get at them, and I can put slug pellets down.

Late winter

I see that I last wrote a post in October!Not much has happened at the plot since then. I have done a bit of digging, and replaced the manure in my hot bed, into which I have sown lettuce (just showing) carrots and beetroot. And I have continued picking purple sprouting broccoli, which is delicious. The onions that I sowed in autumn have nearly all survived, but I shall be filling in the gaps and sowing some extras this spring. In addition, my potatoes are chitting at home, but it will be a while before I can sow any.

The picture on the left shows what will, when finished, be my strawberry cage. I am putting coarse netting over the frame, with a doorway at one end, so the birds cannot get in. Then slugs look out! I shall be dosing the ground inside liberally with slug pellets.

One other project that got off the ground last year was a hive of bees on the allotment. For a long time, I have been interested in keeping bees, so I made myself known to the beekeeper, and have helped over the last few months, although the winter has been cold and wet so we have not been able to open the hive to see what is happening as it would chill them. I have now taken the plunge, and (having been given the basics for my birthday) I am attending a theory course, and have just been given a 'nucleus' of bees. Honey glazed parsnips? Can't wait!"