Early spring

This is the only thing ready for harvest. I put a wheelbarrow over my rhubarb, which protected it from the worst of the weather - it went down to -11°C last month.
Since my last post some months ago, I have planted out potatoes (not showing yet) and broad bean plants. I sowed some more in the greenhouse for planting out later, also some pea seeds, but the mice ate the lot! They also ate the beetroot and the shallots seeds that I planted! So now I have planted beetroot, lettuce and spring onion seeds in my hot bed, and some more peas and shallots in the greenhouse, but protected from mice this time. The hot bed is just a cold frame that I dug out, filled with manure, trod this down and covered with a layer of compost.
We had another couple of lots of snow in February and March, with very cold temperatures, so this spring is taking a while to get going. However, I now have mesh over 3 of my 4 vegetable beds. A bit inconvenient - the sides are only about 3 feet high, although the middle is about 7 feet - but it should at least keep the pigeons off. Any plants that need more protection will be covered with fine mesh, which should keep the pea moth and carrot fly off, if the weather ever warms up enough for them to grow!

Cold and wet, but time to start!

Since my last posting, I have only been up to my plot a couple of times. We had snow in early December, and my tents caved in under the weight, so I have been doing a few repairs. Of course, I should have taken down the tents over winter, but it is a lot of work to put them back on in the spring. It is apparent that the very fine mesh that I was using on one plot let no snow through at all, so the damage there was very significant. I have taken this off and discarded it, and tidied up a bit. I shall replace it with a coarser mesh material in due course. This will keep off the birds and some of the butterflies etc, but not the smaller insects like carrot flies or pea moth. Perhaps I will cover these with a separate piece of fine mesh material? The coarse mesh will also not keep out the bees, so pollination of eg beans should be OK.
I have started potatoes chitting at home. They should be ready to plant out in March/April. I've also started off some onion sets in modules - I shall put some more out directly in due course if we have some warmer weather - and also planted some broad bean seeds in pots. Again, I shall sow some directly when we get some warmer weather. This should give me a succession, although the ones planted later always try to catch up! If I leave it a month, they will probably be about a week behind at harvest.

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.