Interruption in Service

Thanks to the terrible weather, birthday parties, and visiting friends, I haven’t been back since the 3rd, and I don’t think I am going to make it next week either. I am feeling very frustrated.

First Visit of 2010

After last year’s pitiful postings (1), I’m going to try to do better this year. Also made it to the allotment three months earlier this year.

A quick visit today, picked some sprouts and a globe artichoke, covered up a couple of beds with black sheeting. I’m using old plastic milk bottles filled with water to weigh them down.

Water barrels were frozen over, and so was the water trough, ice an inch thick.

Priority tasks:

1. get wood chips and cover strawberry bed
2. and paths
3. get more manure
4. cover more beds
5. order up seeds
6. fix broken window in greenhouse at home
7. clean out greenhouse

First visit of the year

I made the first visit of the year, things didn’t look to bad.

List of things to do:

1. Weed strawberry bed. It’s very bad. Get some feed on.
2. Build proper supports for the raspberry canes. Feed and mulch.
3. Fit guttering to the shed.
4. Cover all the beds with sheeting to help them warm up.
5. Dig two more beds at the top of the allotment.
6. Tidy up the very top of the allotment, build a better long term compost heap for all the very weedy stuff.
7. Get lots of manure and compost.
8. Order up potatoes and get them chitting.

However, going through my seed box, which I for some mad reason left in the shed, it looks like the mice have been in and had some seeds.I’m also unsure whether seeds will keep from year to year. So got to make a list of new seeds to buy.

I have ordered my potatoes -Maris Peer 2nd earlies.

First visit in ages

I took the kids over to the allotment for a couple of hours today, to enjoy the sunshine. It’s the first time I’ve been over in a couple of months, due to work, family commitments and the weather.

I finally took down the bean poles, and cleared the last bed which had some rather past it lettuce and a few beetroots which still look ok.

Lovely weather, the kids enjoyed it, and I got some work done. Looking forward to the new year. Lots to do.

Planting

I've now got to decide what to put in for the rest of the summer and for winter.

More lettuce, radishes and beetroot for the summer. Not so sure about the winter though.

Update

Been beavering away as often as work and family allow.

Strawberries - a bit disappointed with the crop this year. A few fellow allotmenteers have said the same, I don't know if it's a local weather problem.

Runner beans- not been great, but got off to a bad start thanks to a rabbit killing half the plants. A fence has helped and there are now a few pods coming, but nowhere near as abundant as last year.

Broad beans - not a great crop, but not too bad. Also learned something. I dug a couple up out of a bed as they weren't looking to good, and noticed that the roots were covered in nodules. Fearing some disease, I googled and found that they are used by the plants to gather nitrogen which is a good thing.

Courgettes - 2 plants killed by slugs, the other 3 producing well.

Cauliflower - good, but don't know if I'll grow again next year due to the amount of space required for such few plants.

Brocolli - see cauliflower.

Potatoes - still waiting. I've put a main crop in, all my neighbours have had early crops. hoping for the best.

Onions - they've been good. Collected around 50 I think.

Catch up

It's only the blog that's been temporarily abandoned not the allotment. In lieu of the blog, I've been keeping a short diary of my allotment visits . Here's the last week or so:

 

28/5.	evening visit. heavy rain  since weekend. something (rabbits?) has been eating the tips of my runner beans. put a temporary chicken wire fence around them. applied slug pellets around brassicas.
24/5	afternoon visit. covered bed 6 with compost, bought as mine isn't quite ready. planted out more mystery plants and sewed carrots,cabbage etc. build a frame of mdpe pipe and netting.
23/5	morning visit. finished digging bed 6. started digging bed 7.
22/5	evening visit. planted more runner beans, cauliflower,  and some mystery plants
22/5	morning visit. dug over and weeded bed 6
21/5	evening visit. weeded strawberries. used mdpe blue water pipe to build frame and net strawberries.
21/5	morning visit. weeded raspberries. weeded brassicas
20/5	evening visit. cut grass on paths. weeded raspberries. covered compost heap.
19/5	went along in the evening . weeded the onion bed.

 

Bed 7 isn't progressing well, every time I have it half dug, we get a downpour and it regresses to a puddle. Which is leaving me without anywhere to put the last of my potatoes. I think I'm going to have to give up on them this year.

 

Here are a few photos: