Rhubarb cordial and radishes

In the last week, we have sight of the first early potatoes :). The remaining carrots have been planted.. Of course the ongoing potato bed digging has continued.. As well as weeding, watering and covering!!!

But the most exciting news being we have our first batch of rhubarb cordial, and the radishes are ready (yum)!

Don't plant carrots on a stormy day

Fooled by the sunshine.. I excitedly planted a row of carrots (Chanteney Red Cord).. With the intention of planting a second... However the weather was not on my side!  No sooner had I planted the last carrot in the first row, when the heavens opened...

All I can advise is.. It is not a great to try a set up a carrot net in wet and windy conditions.. And in retrospect I don't think the carrot fly could have landed in the wind!!!

Mowing, weeding.. And more digging!

Over the last week, a couple of trips have been productive.. Despite lack of planting!!!!

Warren is doing a grand job keeping the annual weeds at bay!! And we have got the paths and lawns mowed for the first time this year...  Couple of compost tubs have been moved to main composting bin!! And redundant cold frame unearthed, ready to be resited and used!!

Digging has continued in brassica bed... And CD bird deterrents strategically placed : )

More digging trips.. And parsnips

Over the last week Bernard and I have battled with the carpet/ lawn, which will become the root bed! Thankfully Bernard's weekend trip had turned over the entire bed.. And today I dug out carpet.  With carpet removed.. 3 rows of parsnips (palace f1) planted... With space left for carrots and swede!

Beetroot seedlings beginning to appear.. And hops trained up really tall pole : )

Digging.. And more digging

Over the weekend there was a lot of activity.. But not much to report : )

Bernard has continued doing a grand job digging the potato bed in preparation for main crop.  I dug the covered bed by hops.. Only to discover many hop roots, and much cooch grass.  A bed to build a compost bin on I think.  Also, Warren started building a den for the children : )

Today I started digging up the lawn by the fruit trees.. Which will form the root bed!! Was really 'pleased' to discover it hid a buried carpet!

First roots planted.. And Chard!

Seizing on the current sunshine, the first root plants have been planted!  We now have three rows of Beetroot (Boltardy) in a bed alongside three currant bushes...

Also managed to plant a row of Chard (Sibella) next to the spinach in the brassica bed : )

Where to put the roots bed!!

Over the last few days we've begun planning out where the root bed should go..

A small bed, by the hops and salad bed has been dug over!  We have decided that the salad bed can be taken over by roots when eaten (leaving larkspur).. And the lawn by trees will be dug over (covered today)!!

Also managed to get some sweet peas in by raspberries..which I hope won't get frosted!  Growing more seeds at home just in case :)

Netting, weeding and watering

Spinach netting now looks respectable.. And we spread chicken pellets around the young plants!  Warren weeded most planted beds.. And all salad plants, peas, beans and spinach were all watered!

Spinach is in!

We now have a row of young spinach plants in freshly dug and weeded soil...enhanced with our own compost!!   The plants are netted.. But this needs redoing, as my young companions were getting restless.. and needed to be fed : )

First Early Potatoes Planted

We have three rows of International Kidney (Jersey Royal) in the ground as of this morning; twenty eight seed potatoes in all. We made trenches about six inches deep, covered the seed potatoes in our own compost, and then scattered chicken manure pellets before pulling the soil up over them into ridges. It was quite hard work getting out as much of the rampant couch grass root as possible. We will be eating new potatoes in a hundred days from now- mid July.

The top and bottom of it!

In the glorious sunshine Bernard continued digging the bottom bed in readiness for the first early spuds to go in... And I started preparing the top bed for brassicas!

At the weekend we also rescued a small number of peas from annual weeds.. And planted some sugar snap peas alongside.

Also think seeds planted in salad bed are starting to emerge (hurrah)!

Quick bit of chicken pelleting!

Quick trip down to assess the damage after yesterday's storms!  Not too much to sort thankfully.

Took opportunity to spread chicken pellets round all planted beds.

Friday night bonfire

Another night of bonfire, weed burning, marshmallows, ukuleles and singing!  Lovely, joyful time : )

Another short visit...

Working around end of term fun.. Planted 50 onions!!  Again need some help from those that can wield an azada.. Stubborn weeds and blurry path edges!

Started redeploying plastic covers around raspberry bed.. Would love to get more raspberry canes : )

Short sharp pit stop

It would be great to get all onions in this week.. So had a quick session finishing planting the red onions (approx 80 now in)...  Also managed to have dug enough bed to start the white onions (16 planted.. Only 95 to go!!!).

Yes, we love onions! Going to try making caramelised onion jam in the autumn : )

More onions...

We didn't manage to get down to the allotment this weekend..  But started the week by lifting more covered beds, and planting 4 rows of red onions!  More red onions planted in unplanted garlic row...

And there's still more red onions to go in...

Shallots are in!!

Problem root removed.. We now have 5 rows of shallots!!! Pickled onions and Harissa paste (yum)!

Also spent time preparing for next bonfire... Hopefully this weekend : )

Bonfire and ukuleles... And other activities

Friday 13th was a busy day.. Including a trip to garden centre, seed planting and a bonfire..
A lovely evening with ukuleles, singing and marshmallows... To be finished on another evening!  Hopefully this bed will be where we plant spuds!

Over the weekend, Bernard finished pruning the apple tree, moved a rhubarb and retrieved one of our builders bag compost bins from plot 204 : )

Lifting the covers..

Planned to plant shallots today.. Unfortunately didn't get as far as I hoped!

One row planted... Rest of shallot bed dug (6 rows total)...  But need some muscle to get imbedded root of bracken out.

On a positive note, at least it won't take long to plant out shallots when the problem root is removed :)

One small bed dug... One giant leap for plot 205

Seizing on the spring time sunshine and new found drive.. We now have a small bed planted : )

Largely salad bits.. Icicle (long white) radish and lettuce (lobjoits green cos), with a row of Spinach beet (perpetual spinach).. And not forgetting a corner of Larkspur .. Inspired by BBC Big Allotment Challenge.

Must remember to slug pellet this bed !!!!!!

Spring sunshine and allotment shop

The gorgeous spring sunshine beckoned the core team to gather onion sets and seed potatoes ready for some spring action.

Potatoes were chitted and plans made for the week ahead... Looking forward to our bonfire and ukulele sing along : )

So what happened (or didn't) on Plot 205 last season?

And suddenly it's March again.

After our ever-optimistic start last year, our two plots 204 and 205 fell into neglect to the point that we had to do some frantic work before the end of season plot inspection, and took the decision to give up Plot 204.

So what was our excuse? Team 205 was depleted with one of us away on a residential training course all Summer which left it to Sam to manage two plots. This all got to be a bit too much and before we knew it the weeds were chest high and we'd missed most of the key planting times. It's hard to stay motivated when this happens.

There was some consolation  in September with a great harvest of hops which we used to make sleep pillows as gifts, and a bumper crop of apples which were used to make the first ever Plot 205 cider.

As we write there is garlic growing well from Autumn planting, and broad beans that have mostly survived over Winter. The Autumn planting peas have disappeared without a trace.

Onwards and upwards for 2015.

Spring Gathering. More Broad Beans & Green Garlic

The Spring Social was this afternoon. It was a very pleasant gathering with a barbecue and plant / seed swap. Musical entertainment was provided by a plot holder who played some excellent accordion music. Plot 205 played a few tunes on the ukulele too.

There are plenty of young broad beans for picking and we also pulled some green garlic which sprouted from a couple of garlic bulbs we missed when harvesting last year.  The whole plant can be eaten and will make a delicious omelette.

Weeds & Broad Beans. Runner Bean Planting.

It has been wet and we have been busy so we haven't been to the plot for a couple of weeks.

The potatoes are growing well, and so are the weeds. We strimmed and mowed the paths today but there is lots to do.

We started harvesting small broad beans pods from the bottom of the plant. They can be eaten whole. We picked some broad bean tops too. You can't buy such delicacies in a supermarket. Delicious.

At home we planted a lot of runner beans saved from last year for transplanting later on.

Precious time lost to a rainy weekend

A week is a long time on an allotment, especially at this time of year so it was disappointing to wake up this Saturday morning to see that it has been raining heavily.  The ground will be too wet all weekend.

Last of the potatoes planted. Hop supports. Peas, leeks & weeds. Draw Hoe.

The weather was nice this Spring Bank Holiday weekend and the soil has dried out enough to work in.

We have planted the last of the main crop potatoes.  The bed still had some space so we planted block-planted some  peas and two rows of leeks.

The peas (Jaguar second early) were out of date seeds that we never got around to planting last year. Hopefully enough of them will germinate.  They are planted quite closely together, approx 2" apart and in rows around 8" apart. The packet says they will self-support if you plant them that way.  They are netted to keep the pigeons off until they have established themselves.

The leeks (Winter Giant) should really have been sown by the end of April. We planted a packet in a seed bed for transplanting later on.

The annual weeds are starting to grow quickly.  We hoed around the garlic, onions and shallots using a draw hoe for the first time. It is great for getting close to the sets without causing damage.  All are growing well.

The hops have wound themselves almost to the tops of their canes so we made a wigwam for them using coppiced hazel we got last year from the nature reserve adjoining the allotments.  It's about twelve feet high.

Rhubarb Crumble

It rained a lot this week so the ground is too wet to work this weekend.

There is absolutely loads of rhubarb so we picked some to make the first crumble of the season. English rhubarb is £5 per kilo in the shops right now.

Main Crop Potato Planting

Planted four different varieties of main crop potatoes in the rotovated and manured bed: Arran Pilot, King Edward, Pink Fir Apple and Cara. We still have a few more rows to plant.

Rotovator - Wow! Planted First Earlies

We tried out the rotovator for the first time today. Although it is heavy work we got an awful lot done and it leaves a fine tilth. Very satisfying. We used it to dig a potato bed and to work in some manure.

We planted three rows of first early potatoes; Rocket, Jersey Royal and Red Duke of York.

Planting onion sets, Strimming

Our new petrol strimmer gets a lot done fast so the plot is looking quite respectable.

We have planted a lot of onion sets, Sturon and Red Baron. No early onions this year as we missed the boat with over-wintering onion sets.  All of the alliums are in now; garlic, shallots and onions.

Manure, Hops

The allotment committee kindly arranged free manure - up to two barrows per plot. Ours will be used on the potato bed.

The hops are growing again. Weeded around them and put some canes in the ground so that they can climb. A taller structure will be needed later on.

More Digging. Broad Beans, Cabbages and Garlic

It has been dry all week and the fine Spring weather this weekend made for a busy and sociable weekend at the allotments.

Our plot is beginning to look in better shape after the neglect of last year. We carried on with digging where we had previously covered the soil and moved the mypex to cover other areas. The ground had dried out quite well so the digging is getting easier.

We planted out a few more cabbage plants under the netting, and broad bean seeds in the gaps between plants sown last Autumn.

Where we have prepared beds we planted garlic and shallots.  We have always had a year's supply of garlic since we took on the plot.  However we usually plant the cloves in later Autumn but like most tasks on the plot we didn't get around to this last year.  We planted out a mixture of sprouted garlic (Wight) that was grown in modules at home over the past six weeks or so, and the bulbs that we bought at the allotment shop recently.  It will be interesting to compare the progress of both.  We accidentally left some garlic in the ground last year.  This has sprouted and is growing well in clumps.  We will leave it to grow and harvest the delicious green stems later on.

We bought various brassica seeds to plant at home for transplanting later on.

Digging

It was a lovely sunny day today. The ground is dry enough to dig.  We also put new netting over the early cabbages.

Seed Potatoes, Onion and Shallot sets, Garlic. New Petrol Strimmer

It was nice to be back on the plot today.

For various reasons, our attention to the allotment was very sporadic last year so it was a pleasant surprise to see the broad beans doing well, and there is kale that wasn't expected.

There was some lovely Wight garlic in the allotment shop so we bought three bulbs. Usually we plant the garlic in October but we never got around to it last year.  There is some growing in trays at home.

We also bought twenty rows of seed potatoes, shallots and onion sets.

We have a new petrol strimmer and got loads done with it very quickly today. We covered some of the strimmed areas with black plastic to kill off the weeds before we rotovate it.  The plot looked well before we left. Very encouraging.

Wettest Winter Ever

The wettest Winter since records began in 1766. No activity on the plot so far this year.