Potato's in

I had a chance this morning to go for a couple of hours so i put in the Red Baron onions and Red Sun shallots that i had growing on in some trays for the last month, and they had quite good root structure on them as well as some starting to show green shoots.

I also managed to put in 2 rows of potatoes, the 1st earlies Foremost and 2nd earlies Marfona. All i need now is to put in the final row of main crop Desiree and i have a small pack of Lady Christl also to put into a barrel/container.

24/3/08

I finished digging over the top part of the plot last week apart from a small grassy section, and my MIL kindly came and did the bottom part and some weeding also so the plot is looking ready for the new season, apart from the covered area which will need careful digging to remove as much couch grass roots as possible. This will be tackled when the weather improves and the evenings lighten up.The plots' secretary phoned me to say he had arranged for a few boards to be delivered to repair the path edge. It had been left to disintegrate so much that the path is joining the plot, and really needs attention. So this is a great help, i'll just have to sort that this summer also.
Purple sprouting broccoli just waiting to be picked, despite having 4 or 5 plants of good size only this one is producing spears so far. Hopefully this means the others will start later and prolong the season?
With my daughter who wanted to play in the shed with the soil (!) i got her to help plant some seeds. I thought that some dwarf french beans would be best, easy for her to handle, and its only a little early for them. I used the variety 'the prince' and in the propagtor they are now germinating. Whether they survive til planting i dont know but she had fun anyway!!

and more

The Red Baron onions and some Red Sun shallots i also picked up i started of in trays of compost in the shed, a method i read about somewhere. It seems to have worked as they have rooted well, some even starting to show green tips. I moved them into the greenhouse today to start hardening them off.

I sowed today some more seeds for the propagator, some savoy cabbage 'ormskirk', more spinach 'Monet F1', and maybe a bit early but some lettuce mixed leaves also.

The 'White Gem' parsnips also now have been start to be potted up, about 9 had germinated so went into loo rolls and into the greenhouse also.

I hope to get back over to the allotment again soon, i've turned over about 2/5ths ready for planting, and the potatoes are chitting so may end up in this area.

seedlings

the first seeds sowed have been in the propogator for a few days now and have started sprouting. Here comes 2008!!!
These above are the first through, cauliflowers 'all year round', and a couple of Brussels sprouts, same variety as last year.

These are parsnip seeds. I have always had trouble growing them, a common problem, and read about pre-germinating them on damp kitchen roll first, and as you can see a few have started to sprout! Hopefully i'll have more in the next few days.

26/2/08

Starting to tidy up the plot now and get things ready for the new season. I removed all the remaining plants (chard, swedes) still in the ground and have started to dig the soil over. The spring greens are still in the ground, although the cabbages and cauliflowers are not looking great, only a few have survived. The sprouting broccoli are appearing stronger though and a couple have even started to sprout so a small crop may still be had hopefully.

I also have bought a fruit collection from Aldi which was only £1.99 and is 3 roots, a redcurrant Jonkheer van Tets, Goosberry Red dessert, and Raspberry Glen Ample.

6/2/08

Well the plot has not changed much since the previous photos, and i still need to remove the remain chard and half eaten (slugs) swedes.

I have though been starting preparation for this year and been buying seeds. After buying all the seeds last year from a catalogue and have most fail, mostly due to the weather, i have decided to buy mostly seeds from stores nearby which are a little cheaper, and if i want a particular variety to get that specially. Reports of the seeds from the shop/chain i used are good on the allotments4all website which i highly recommend.

I still have some seeds left over from last year, either bought or saved from own produce. But these are the ones i bought the other day.

Sweetcorn - F1 swift
Beetroot- boltardy
beetroot - globe 2
Climbing french bean - blue lake
Dwarf french bean - the prince
Pea - kelvedon wonder
leek - musselboutgh
cauliflower - all the year round
broccoli - autumn spear
parsnip - white gem
courgette - zucchini F1
carrot - early nantes 5

There are alot of familiar names/varieties but all the packets were 70p/80p!!
I also picked up a packet of Red Baron red onions, which i have used before and have some success with. I found they do tend to bolt easily,but gave tasty onions on those that didn't succumb to disease.
In the past i think i have always autumn planted them and didn't plan to put any in this year but they were 99p a packet of 75 so thought i could plant them amongst the carrots this year to help deter the carrot fly.

I'm still unsure whether to plant alot of my seeds direct or start of in modules this year. A lot of the failures i had last year direct sowing i think was down to the weather but i'm not sure if i want to take the risk this year although it could mean alot of seed trays hanging around in the garden! But i suppose if many fail i will have not lost as much money this year because of the low seed prices.

I have also bought 2 apple trees for the garden, as we are not allowed to plant trees at the allotments. They were also available from the same shop and at £4.99 each it was to good to pass up my wife and i decided. We got Granny Smith and Elstar varieties which will polinate each other.

Still alive!!

Yes, finally an update, but honestly i've done nothing in the allotment for ages, apart from pick the odd thing. I did use recently the last of the pumpkins which we roasted and it was really good in a risotto.
Anyway i took these photos just before christmas. This one is a view of the whole plot, mostly dug over as you can see with a few things still in.
This one shows the one savoy cabbage i had, it did have a good sized head on it but then was eaten into by something. I've just not got round to pulling it out yet.These are the spring greens i put in, The purple sprouting look really good, and also the white sprouting. The two rows of cabbages are not far behind with a few casualties and the cauliflowers are doing okay.
Below are the things i need to remove, the chard, the remains of the swedes and a few weeds and pulled and eaten carrots. In the next few weeks i'll compost them, and remove the plastic covering to sort out the couch grass. I also need to rebuild the path edges with planks as they are quite degraded by the previous owners.
Anyway, see you soon, happy new year!!!

I have now

mostly cleared what needs to be out before winter sets in, and have covered the grassy area after weed killing it so that it should be much more manageable in the spring. All that is left in now is the last of the chard, a few swede's and the last of the carrots which are a little small and several actually were probably attacked by some bug, i need to look up the damage a carrot fly does before i pronounce him guilty.

The other winter crops are the solitary savoy cabbage who still looks good, and the spring cabbages, cauiflowers and sprouting broccolis. These are mostly looking healthy, certainly 90% have survived, although about another 10% still look a little small and pigeon attacked.

I also have now planted my overwintering onion sets and garlic. (L to R) 2 rows of Autumn Champion went in, then a row of garlic which consisted of 2/3 of a row being Spanish Roja, and the remainder being Purple Georgian Wight which i got at the Cowbridge food and drink festival this year. The next two rows are onions Swift which i have done before and were good croppers and stored well.

I also have now cleared the greenhouse of the last pepper plant, cleaned the glass inside and now all that remains is the herbs which seem to be doing well.

Etna chillies

now picked and strung to dry. Aided by my daughter we picked them on Sunday, although half way through picking them i realized that probably letting my daughter help me wasn't the smartest move if she decided to rub her eyes or lick her fingers!!! The idea of trying to get cold milk down to cool her down wouldn't be easy!! Thankfully mission was accomplished and hands washed quickly.
Amazed at how quickly these are turning red.

Tidying up

in the greenhouse this morning, and picked a lot of the chillies. Most went in the freezer but i've strung a few up in the kitchen to dry, but mostly for show!
I have been using 2 three tier greenhouses for staging and keeping grow bags and plant pots on. I always intended to move one into the greenhouse as staging but today got round to sorting it out. When i looked at them one was quite unsteady and the other was older and the plastic had degraded in several points. I ended up canabalizing them to make to make a three tier, then added another tier, until i settled on a five tier shelving system!! I popped the herb pots onto it, and also sowed more coriander and basil. I got round to weedkilling the floor and covering with gravel also.

The remains of the greenhouses!!!
This the Etna chilli, great looking clusters of chillies but the leaves are looking a little lackluster currently. I am going to dry these when they've all turned red.
I went onto the BigJim Chilli competition site (link below somewhere) to update my entry but its closed now, with the winner growing one to about 32cm. I only managed at one 19.5cm but still quite chuffed at he result. The site are going to announce next years competition in November so i may attempt that also.