Allotment Tales

Dad

2010-09-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I've been keeping something of a low profile over recent weeks. This is mainly due to the fact that my Dad had taken ill early in August and sadly, unexpectedly, died on Tuesday 31st August 2010.

As you can imagine this has been very hard for all of us in our family to come to terms with especially as, at the time of writing this, his funeral is yet to take place.

As part of the healing process, I guess, I wanted to dedicate a post to my Dad. He was a truly kind and generous man, ready to offer advice when required but knowing when to hold back and let us get on with things our way and helping to put right the mistakes invariably made. He was always the person my sister and I would turn to as young adults for assistance with practical things like putting up wallpaper or changing the wheel on a car. I remember when I first left home and was living in a top floor flat, the skylight keep leaking whenever it rained and it was Dad who clambered on to the roof of the converted Georgian house to renew the flashing and clear the guttering and sort out the problem.

He had a kind manner and infectious sense of humour and a penchant for minor practical jokes. He was always ready to "spin a yarn" and would often keep me believing some made up story for ages before I caught on that Dad was pulling my leg.

I think it was through Dad that Cloddigger and I caught the growing bug and, as regular readers will know, it is with Dad and my Mum that we share our allotment. The allotment was very much shaped by Dad's efforts. He put in so much time and energy to clear the derelict site and turn it into the thriving plot that it now is.

I can't say much more at this time other than I will very much miss you Dad and the allotment and our lives won't quite be the same without you xx

bring me sunshine

2010-08-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

Not an allotment post today but a few pics from the garden. I had a stroll around this afternoon and realised that many of our flowers are starting to go over, so took the opportunity to take a few snaps of our sunflower while they are still in full glory.

We have grown some different types of sunflower this year and they seem to have been fairly successful. Here are a few from our garden.

Giant sunflower - this one is about 8 feet tall

Just love the deep purple centre with contrasting cream tips to the leaves

These hint towards 'traditional' sunflowers with the heavily seeded centre and tri-colour leaves of pale yellow, lilac and cream

A real stunner this one - I just love the purple leaves; very striking

spud you like?

2010-08-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

We're due to go on holiday in a few days time so it was decided that we needed to harvest the 2nd earlies and what a crop it was! We have from left to right: Kestrel, Courage and Mayan Twilight. We'll leave them to dry off in our greenhouse at home then bag them up and store them. Should keep us going for a week or two!

So here's a quick and tasty potato-based dish:

Layered Potato and Onion Bake

Potatoes sliced thinly

Onions any variety (I used our red onions) sliced

Milk or single cream if you're feeling extravagant

Grated cheese

All quantities to fit in whichever dish you're going to cook it in

Pre-heat oven to 180C

Alternate layers of potato and onion

You can also add anything else you fancy, e.g. courgette, tomato, aubergine, etc.

Splash over some milk (or cream) to give a bit of moisture

Cover in foil and place in oven for about 45 mins or until potatoes have begun softening

Remove foil, sprinkle over cheese and return to oven for about 20 mins or until cheese golden and bubbling

Allow to cool for 5 mins before serving either as a main vegetarian dish or accompaniment to chicken or fish

Enjoy!

flowers and a courgette recipe

2010-07-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

As well as all the lovely veg growing at the allotment, we've also planted up loads of flowers not just because they look pretty and add a splash of colour but in the attempt to lure the bugs and insects away from our crops. It stuck me the other day just how lovely some of the flowers are so I couldn't resist photographing them.

Ok, this shouldn't strictly go to flower but I just love the fluffy lilac flowers of our mint. They're soon to come off though as we want to contain the plant to just one spot so I'm afraid the plant will be having a trim very soon before all the seed disperses across the plot

These Nasturtiums were grown from seed harvested by Cloddigger from a neighbouring plot last year. They add a wonderful splash of colour and seem to grow in just about any condition

We love Marigolds not just for their magnificent display of colour but because they've helped keep the blackfly off the broadbeans this year. Such jolly little fellows guaranteed to brighten up the dullest spot

Our latest harvest - snowball turnip, courgettes (green and yellow), red onion, two HUGE cauliflower and, just out of shot, a big bucket of spuds - Kestral (whites) and Courage (reds).

The round yellow courgette have been very successful, much to our delight as it's the first time we've grown courgette. It's been nice to pass some of the excess on to friends and family but it has been even better to eat ourselves. If you've ever wondered what to do with a round courgette, you might like to try the following easy-to-prepare recipe:

Stuffed Courgette

INGREDIENTS

1 round courgette

250ml passata or tin of chopped tomatoes

Clove of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp olive oil

Couscous (plain or flavoured - I like the Mediterranean variety available at most supermarkets)

Seasoning

Optional - fresh basil, finely chopped

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 180 C

Cut the courgette in half going through the middle of the stalk

Scope out the seeds and discard (or keep for drying out for sowing next year)

Carefully scope out some of the flesh and place in a bowl; retain the two halves of the courgette

Add the passata, garlic, oil and basil (if using) and mix

Add the couscous straight from packet and mix thoroughly, seasoning to taste

Divide the mixture equally between the two halves

Loosely wrap each courgette half in tin foil leaving enough of an air pocket to allow the couscous mixture to expand

Place in the oven and cook until couscous has risen and courgette flesh is soft - depends on size of courgette allow 40 mins to 1 hour

Makes a delicious dish on its on or as an accompaniment to chicken or fish

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

bad blogger >:{

2010-07-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ahem, I'm back *waves*. Sorry I haven't been round much lately, no excuses to be offered just been a very poor blogger *hangs head in shame*.

Please don't think I've neglected the allotment in the same manner. Oh no, no, no. Have been very good there and enjoying a very productive season so far. A photo from the weekend shows beds bursting at the seams:

Here is a flavour of just some of the goodies pulled from the soil in recent days (1st earlies "Emerald Vale", beetroot, red onion, green & yellow courgette, mangetout & turnip)

I would like to think I will be less tardy with my blogging from now on, but I won't make empty promises ;)

new year, new planting

2010-03-21T09:51:00.001-07:00

Yes, yes, I know. I have sorely neglected my blog and this is my first post of 2010. To be honest there hasn't been a lot to write about as the weather, until a couple of weeks ago, has been so appalling. And there have been other things which have taken precedence, hence an extended period of radio silence.

Anyway, I'm back and pleased to say that a couple of weeks ago it was dry enough to get on site and do some digging and planting. Last year's brassica bed was cleared out, turned over and seed potatoes planted. We've planted 2 varieties each of 1st earlies, 2nd earlies and main crop. We actually ran out of room in the bed so the rest of the main crop - Mayan Twilight - were popped in the greenhouse for planting up at a later date.

The image below shows the brassica bed after it was cleared and turned over.

Also managed to lift the last of the snowball turnips which are fantastic in stews or as an accompaniment in their own right. Managed to dig over the root veg bed after harvesting the turnips, so all in all a good afternoon's work.

Fast forward two weeks and today found us working hard on site again. The garlic patch has been tended and all the plants are looking really healthy and seem to have survived the harsh start to the year.
We somewhat overestimated the number of seed potatoes required this year and ran out of space in Bed 2 (which had been planted up a couple of weeks prior). So we've utilised Bed 1 which was supposed to be the permanent bed in order to plant the remaining main crop spuds. Also sowed beetroot and parsnips in alternating rows in an attempt to introduce some inter-cropping. The theory being the beetroot will be ready well ahead of the parsnips and we'll be able to plant something else between the parsnips when the beetroot have been lifted. Time will tell! Below is a shot of Bed 1 (garlic patch in foreground) and Bed 2 which is completely over to spuds.

Bed 3 (to right of the picture below) is till jam-packed with onions and shallots so Bed 4 has now been designated as this year's brassica bed. This crop rotation business can be quite challenging !!!!

So today has proved to be another productive day and we're looking forward to being able to plant up cabbages in a few weeks' time once the seedlings have come on. There is lots going on in the greenhouse at home and I'm keen for things to start growing in the ground!!

blog makeover

2009-12-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

I decided that the blog was long overdue a makeover, so I've made a start and loaded up a new header image. I'm certainly no graphic designer but I'm quite pleased with the result. The image currently on display is from our permanent allotment referred to as "Site 2". As you can see the local hill provides an idyllic backdrop to our plot as well as being a great place to go for a walk when you need a break from digging or weeding!

Over the coming weeks I plan to update elements of the blog so don't be surprised if it looks somewhat different from visit to visit. I'm still relatively new to the blogosphere and I'm keen to try my hand at a little web design, therefore the results may be a little unpredictable so please bear with me.

This is likely to be my last post of 2009 (yikes! where did this year go to?) so I would like to take the opportunity to wish you all a Happy & Productive (horticulturally speaking) New Year.

All the best, Michelle

Christmas veg woes

2009-12-18T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well it's a week to go until the "Big Day" and hasn't the time flown by? I haven't had a chance to blog all week as I've been busy with Christmas preparations.

Managed to get on site last weekend. Still very soggy up there and we weren't able to do too much apart from a little weeding. Came away with some more snowball turnips (they're doing great guns) and swede and a nice red cabbage from My Folks.

We had been hoping that the sprouts would be doing better than they had been up to now. The sprouts My Folks are growing look super and will definitely be ready for serving up with Christmas dinner. Ours, on the other hand, were looking very stunted and almost dwarf-like. On closer inspection I noticed some of the leaves had a white mould-like substance on them. After consulting my disease book I concluded some of the plants had succumbed to White Spot. There was nothing for it but to strip off the infected leaves and chuck them on the burning pile. We had to pull up a couple of plants as they were too far gone. According to the book, mild damp conditions and too close planting can cause the disease to occur. Certainly we've had the weather conditions for it. As a further precaution we've staked out the remaining plants to ensure they don't grow over each other and stripped off some of the lower leaves to keep them away from the soil. I don't know if this remedial action will help or not, but its a pretty safe bet to say that we won't be having our own sprouts with Christmas dinner this year.

On a happier note, I'll leave you with a picture of a little bit of natural decoration I found for our shed

wet, wet, wet

2009-12-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not referring to the 80's pop group but to the dismal weather conditions we've experienced over the last few weeks. As many of you will have experienced first hand, heavy rain does not make for productive allotmenting !

We've lost the carrots. To be honest I think we were a bit optimistic to hope that we would get a harvest from such late planting. They had been doing really well up to a couple of weeks ago then it got too wet for them and they started to rot.

On a happier note, we've harvested some petit pois - very unexpected - and some snowball turnips which are doing well. The turnips have been a bit of a hit at home as I've been using them in slow cooked stews. I "disguised" them by cutting them into cubes roughly the same size as the potatoes and everyone just assumed they were potatoes. Result!!! Our Nicola potatoes have had mixed success. We harvested the whole crop about 2 weeks ago but about half of it had been lost either to some unidentified burrowing insects or voles. Cloddigger picked up what looked like a large spud only to find it was just the skin - a vole had perfectly gnawed out all the potato leaving just the skin. Amazing and frustrating in equal measure. However, I can recommend this variety for its taste and we'll definitely try this one again.

There are still things growing and hopefully we will be able to harvest the sprouts and parsnips in time for Christmas.

A dry spell is forecast for the next few days so I'm looking forward to catching up with some tidying and preparing for Winter this weekend, and hopefully some up dated photos too!

an unexpected award

2009-12-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness. How completely unexpected (but very gladly accepted!) a Best Blog Award from Maureen of the marvellous Allotment Heaven fame. I'm sorry I don't have a better prepared acceptance speech ready, but suffice to say it is a lovely surprise and I feel humbled to know that somebody out there takes the time to read my blog!

The idea is that by accepting the award you pass it on to 15 other people whose blogs you enjoy, and put a link to their blogs. I have chosen the 15 and hope they accept the award, but will understand if they don't as it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

If you accept the award and pass it on, don't forget to let the people you pass it on to know. And so, in no particular order, here are 15 blogs that inspire me:

first harvest from Site 2!

2009-10-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well this is our first item harvested from Site 2 - a lovely cauliflower. We cut it yesterday and it was served up with our Sunday roast last night. Very nice it was too.

Sadly our Broad Beans have gone. We noticed recently that some of the plants had strange brown spots on the leaves. After consulting the diseases book, we concluded they had been struck down with chocolate spot. So all the plants came had to be pulled up and burned. We haven't had much luck with broads this year - we lost our crop at Site 1 due to black fly earlier in the year. Still we'll try again and see if it's a case of 3rd time lucky.

late September sunshine

2009-09-26T11:56:00.000-07:00

Things have been a bit quiet on the allotment front this last couple of weeks. Went up today and was pleasantly surprised at how well the Snowball turnips are progressing. We thinned them out and, rather than chuck them on the compost, we've transplanted the thinnings into the remaining space in bed 4. It was only after they had all been watered in that Cloddigger wondered whether or not he actually like turnips. Well, he's going to have plenty of chances to decide if they all grow!

'Snowball' turnips - today's thinnings transplanted to the right of the main turnip row

Some of our brassicas have been suffering from wooly aphids so have been sprayed. Hopefully this has dealt with the problem and the plants will recover enough to grow to maturity.

Another pesky problem is our resident mole(s). It/they appear particularly fond of the brassicas bed so we've been looking into humane methods of repelling them. The best bet looks to be solar powered sonic stakes. These clever devices are placed into the ground and emit sonic waves which irritate the moles thus encourgaing them to move on elsewhere. I couldn't find anywhere locally which sells them so I'll be ordering online. I'll let you know how successful these devices are once we've given them a go for a couple of weeks.

Pests aside, other crops appear to be doing well. The potatoes are going great guns and the first tender shoots of beetroot & garlic have made an appearance. The petite pois are now big enough not to be tempting to birds, so I removed their protective wire cloches and have fitted pea netting to their wig wam.

September continues to delight us with its warm, balmy days so it is an absolute pleasure to spend lots of time at the lottie. The nights are starting to draw in now and I'm sure it won't be long before we're having to think about putting out the protective fleeces and cloches.

The lottie today enoying late September sunshine

growing, weeding, watering

2009-09-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day and perfect for doing some odd jobs at Site 2. Even though it was only 6 days since our last visit loads of growing had been going on. Potatoes, onions and shallots are doing really well and the swede thinnings from Mum I planted out last week are beginning to pick up.

It wasn't only the veggies growing well but also the weeds! We did a lot of weeding (as my aching thighs will testify to) but I think it is definitely worth keeping on top of it. As it has been dry for the last few days we made sure everything was well watered.

Just about all our 4 beds are filled up with the exception of bed 1 (in the foreground with black tiles on it) which has the Jerusalem artichokes growing out of shot. We'll probably just put weed control matting down on it over winter ready for planting up next Spring. There is still a little bit of space remaining in bed 4 (potatoes and root veg) so may sow more parsnips and turnips.

Bed 3 has broad beans (which are growing a little too well - I wish they'd slow down a bit!), onions, leeks, shallots and chives; all of which seem to be thriving

Cloddigger grabbing a quick cup of coffee while admiring the marigold bed. These are such great plants - they've flowered twice this season, which is brilliant considering they were all abandoned plug plants rescued from a compost heap!

Looking round at neighbouring plots, there are signs that Autumn is truly beginning to set in with summer crops coming to the end, beds being cleared and bonfires being lit. A timely reminder that we need to be doing some clearing ourselves up at Site 1; that'll be a job for during the week I think.

unearthed

2009-09-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

As anyone who follows this blog will know, a few months ago Cloddigger, My Folks and I took on an overgrown plot (dubbed Site 2) which we have cleared and taken back to bare soil. During the clearing process we came across a fair amount of rubbish and rubble, most of which was disposed of.

Some of it, though, proved to be rather interesting to one of us at least and ended up being crafted into very beautiful and unique object. To find out more about the piece "Unearthed", check out the Woodwose Carving website.

autumn planting

2009-09-06T12:24:00.000-07:00

Well, the holidays are well and truly over and we find ourselves back into the usual work & school routine. Things are shaping up rather well at Site 2 with the beds filling up rapidly.

To date we have sown / planted:

Jerusalem artichokes

Peas

Sprouts

Broccoli

Cabbage

Cauliflower

Swede

Broad beans

Spring onions

Onions

Shallots

Garlic

Potatoes

Carrots

Parsnip

Beetroot

Red currants

Gooseberry

There's still some room left in a couple of the beds so we're deciding what to fill them with. Considering some more potatoes at the end of the root veg bed - it may be slightly late to get them in for harvesting this year so I need to consult my books.

view of our half of the plot this afternoon

plums R us

2009-08-28T04:56:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been on holiday for a week hence the lack of posts. We haven't really done much at either allotment since coming back other than a quick visit to both sites to check on things. Site 1 is still coming up trumps with the runner beans and we harvested (prematurely as it turned out) the first of the sweetcorn. The silkies had gone over brown and the corn was milky when pressed with a thumb nail, but on opening 4 large cobs they were mostly immature and covered with an excess of green outer. Never mind, they've come home and been blanched and are in the freezer - they'll be absolutely find for using in stir frys. Guess that's what comes from being too eager.

On Site 2 the Nicola potatoes are all doing well as are the onions. Photos on those after the weekend when we have a proper session up there.

The main focus this week has been on home produce, namely plums. When we arrived back at the start of the week we were amazed that all the plums were ready to harvest. There were about 25lbs of plums to do something with. I passed a couple of pounds over to my Mum and a few were eaten, but that still left a lot to use up.

A couple of weeks ago, Cloddigger had taken a first harvest of plums - enough to start 2 gallons of home brewed wine. From this bigger harvest he has started a second batch of plum wine. All being well it will be ready in time for Christmas.

I spent a few hours yesterday afternoon making Spiced Plum Chutney using an amazing recipe recommended by Mum. It's an adaptation* of Deliah's Spiced Damson Chutney and boy, does it taste good. The recipe recommends letting it mature for 3 months before opening, so that'll be another plum product ready in time for Christmas.

* my adaptation was to use 1.5 pints of vinegar (Deliah says 2 pints, but I find it doesn't all evaporate off) and I used equal measures of malt vinegar and white wine vinegar, rather than just malt vinegar. I couldn't get any whole berry mixed spice, so sprinkled in about a teaspoon of ground mixed spice over the cloves and cinnamon in the gauze square before infusing it in the other ingredients in the pot.

I still had a couple of pounds of plums to use up, so this morning I spent an hour or so making Plum Jam from a really easy-to-follow recipe found on the Internet. This was the first time I'd ever made jam and was surprised how straight forward it was. Of course cook's prerogative meant I got first taste and was pleased that the resulting mixture was just the right balance of sweetness and fruity tang.

all the ingredients in the pot to start the Spiced Plum Chutney. I didn't have gauze so improvised with an old clean muslin square to infuse the cinnamon, cloves and mixed all spice

near the end of cooking, I dished some out to check how well it thickened as it cooled (yummy flavour!)

the chutney all bottled up, labelled and ready for storage

plums, water and lemon juice boiling up before adding sugar jam (this already has pectin added so no need to buy separately)

the finished product. The photo doesn't do justice to the wonderful warm colour of the jam. If might not be the prettiest jam (it has a few bits of plum skin in and perhaps hasn't cleared as well as it should) but it is really tasty and that's all I'm interested in!

two days, two allotments

2009-08-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

Its been a bit of an "allotment fest" this weekend with us managing to hit both sites over both days. Before going any further, I must apologise for this post being rather photo-heavy; my excuse being that I'm feeling rather fatigued from all my efforts and so too tired to compose a proper post. Anyway, the photos pretty much speak for themselves!

a treat for me - new pair of Town and Country leather and fabric gloves. So comfy and no more cuts and stings. Pricey but definitely worth it. And no, they don't look this clean now!!!

Yesterday we went to Site 2. The fruit bed is now planted up. Against the fence are a loganberry and 2 redcurrant bushes. The rest of the bed is taken up by gooseberry bushes courtesy of Deb & Dan who popped up yesterday with them as an allotment warming present (very much appreciated). At some point we'll construct a fruit cage over the whole bed to keep the birds off the fruit.

Our Nicola potatoes have started making an appearance already! Not shown, but the first of the onion shoots have also come through and all only a week after planting.

Today we went to Site 1 and were greeted by a huge sunflower smiling down at us as we walked along the path to the plot. Cloddigger is going to harvest the seeds to keep for next year.

The Boyz flower patch is looking particularly colourful. All the plants you see here were plug plants rescued from the compost heap!

Our first pumpkin has started to grow

managed to harvest more runner beans (they just keep on coming) and the spring onion

another bed has been cleared - the remaining carrots have been lifted

So another successful couple of lottie days. We're going away for a few days to visit family so we'll be taking some of our produce with us by way of a gift. I hope they like carrots!!!!!!

a lovely surprise

2009-08-16T02:52:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Site 2 yesterday to find a lovely surprise waiting for me in the shed - this lovely yellow courgette courtesy of Dad. He's been growing them in his greenhouse at home and had very kindly brought one up for me. It's enormous; plenty big enough to make a tasty side dish. I haven't decided yet which recipe to use it in but I'm certainly looking forward to eating it.

a film about allotment life

2009-08-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Cloddigger and I watched a lovely film on BBC 2 tonight called "Grow Your Own" about an allotment site in Liverpool and the impact that refugees introduced to the site have on the existing allotment holders.

A wonderfully engaging film which we really enjoyed.

If you didn't get a chance to watch it, possibly its available to see on BBC iPlayer. I would really recommend watching it if you get the chance.

not so good old Blight(y)

2009-08-10T14:20:00.001-07:00

Disaster has struck. All our tomato plants on Site 1 have been wiped out with the dreaded 'B' - Blight. We had an email from Deb last night to say her tomatoes were diseased and thought that ours might be too. Cloddigger hot footed it up there today after work to find that all our tomato plants had been infected. Nothing for it but to pull them up and remove the plants for burning. We couldn't believe how quickly it had taken hold as there were no evident signs of blight on Saturday.

Looking at a neighbouring plot, Cloddigger could see that their potatoes have been infected. Luckily our last batch of salad potatoes had been spared so these have now all been lifted. We're not taking any chances though, the potato plants will also be burned.

I guess it was pretty inevitable that we would feel some effects as the weather conditions have been perfect for encouraging the disease. I think we will be cautious about planting up tomatoes at Site 2 and just stick with growing them in the greenhouse at home where there is more control over the climatic conditions.

magic beans?

2009-08-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

We had rather a lot of runner beans off Site 1 this weekend so I thought I should prepare some for freezing. While doing so, I came across a very large, mature pod which was far too tough to eat so I decided to remove the beans to see if they could be dried and stored for next year.

When I took them out of the pod I was surprised at just how shiny and colourful they were. They almost look magical and put me in mind of how Jack must have felt when he exchanged the family cow for a handful of "magic" beans.

If they do produce plants next year, then they truly will be magic !!!

meanwhile, back on Site 1

2009-08-09T04:41:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since I've posted any updates about Site 1. Rest assured, we haven't abandoned our efforts there. In fact we've been busy harvesting and most stuff seems to be doing really well.

All the potatoes from the main barrow have been lifted, as have the onions. The carrots are still going strong and are now starting to be quite big. The taste of them is amazing - having never grown carrots before, we can't get over how much better they taste compared to shop-bought ones which are insipid in comparison.

The runner beans are consistently providing plenty of pods each visit and I'm having to now freeze them as we are in danger of glut.

sweetcorn are doing very well. Lots of cobs which should be ready to begin picking by the end of the month

the cauliflower have started to develop

a little sad that the potato barrow is now empty and onions all lifted as this signifies the start of the gradual "closing down" of our section of Deb and Dan's plot

some of the many onions harvested - now hanging up to dry in the greenhouse at home

still plenty to pick in the coming weeks

planting up on Site 2 (at last!!!)

2009-08-03T05:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, while the men were installing the wooden frame greenhouse, I was able to get on with some planting - yippee!!! On the cards were:

Jerusalem Artichokes in Bed 1 (permanent bed) right at the back to act as a screen. These have been transferred from Site 1 so fingers crossed they'll take ok

Bed 2 is designated for brassicas this year, so have planted up sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli and cauliflower. Also set up a net cage around them as cabbage white butterfly are prevalent on the site

Bed 4 is for root veg so the spuds ("Nicola") have gone in and, if I've got my calculations right, should be ready to harvest just in time for Christmas Day

Also planted up a clematis to grow up the side of the shed

All in all it was quite a productive day. Didn't manage to sow the spring onion (need to do soon as just slipping past the ideal time to get the seed in the ground) as the netting took longer than I thought. But hey, time has its own pace on the allotment :D

(clockwise from top left) Beds 4, 3 and 2 with all paths in and chippings laid down

brassicas all protected (hopefully) from butterflies and slugs and any other little chompers

jerusalem artichoke

greenhouse #2

2009-08-02T13:34:00.001-07:00

We have been on the lookout for a greenhouse for Site 2 for some time. I had placed a wanted ad on our staff intranet site at work and was delighted when someone responded saying they had an old greenhouse they were looking to dispose of. Cloddigger and Dad went to have a look and were thrilled to discover a 30 year old, hardwood greenhouse complete with solid base in excellent condition. They spent a morning last weekend dismantling it and then today hired a van and delivered it on site and then put it all back together again. The results are very pleasing and it will prove an invaluable space for bringing on seedlings and cuttings. So, big, big Thanks to ND (you know who you are!) and expect some produce to come your way in the near future.

some of the component parts prior to re-assembly

are you sure that bit goes there?

ta-dah! The finished item. Well done to Cloddigger and Dad for your splendid efforts!!!

bed time

2009-07-25T14:48:00.001-07:00

Wow it's been a tiring but productive day up at Site 2 today. We really cracked on with levelling and marked up all our beds and Cloddigger started boarding out. The plot is looking fantastic now. But oh my goodness we're both paying for it now after 3 hours of raking, picking up stones and rubbish, hammering and sawing. Still it is so worth the effort. We had a lovely comment from one of our allotment neighbours who stopped by to see how we were getting on: "Looks like you've got Ground Force in", he said, "Nice to see the plot coming together so well". How lovely was that?

Mum planting up cabbage, Dad and Cloddigger boarding out

All our beds are marked out and mostly boarded - just need to get some more timber cut to finish them off

My Folks' half with beetroot planted in the nearest bed and cabbage in the next bed

Just need to decide now what to plant up first. Going to consult with my planting calendar to see what is suitable to go in the ground now...

the levellers

2009-07-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

We spent last Saturday afternoon on Site 2. It looks really good now that it has been rotovated but there's still quite a lot to be done. We decided to make a start on our half by clearing out some of the larger stones and other detritus which had worked its way into the ground. There is a lot of broken glass on the site which, according to some of our neighbours, is probably as the result of an old caravan been broken up on the plot at some point.

Not too onerous a task as the soil is nice quality and is easy to rake over to turn up the rubble to the surface. Just time consuming and involving a lot of bending over!

Cloddigger doing what he does best!

After a couple of hours, we'd managed to clear and level about half of our share. To the left of the picture you can just make out two lines of orange string marking out the pathway dividing our half of the plot from My Folks' half

beginnings of the main path coming from entrance gate across to the shed.

Once we've finished the levelling, we will mark out the beds and internal paths and then (all being well!!!!) we will be ready for planting.

fencing, painting, rotovating & levelling

2009-07-18T04:54:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd create a short photo montage of the work carried out on Site 2 over the last few weeks. Cloddigger and I can take absolutely no credit for what you are about to see - it is all down to my wonderfully enthusiastic parents. So, Mum and Dad "Thank YOU" for taking this all on whilst we've been busy with Site 1.

ground awaiting rotovation, no fencing up

Some of the pallets that My Folks managed to source (with thanks to one of our fellow allotmenteers) which have been used to finish off the fencing around the whole plot

whole plot completely enclosed - no pesky rabbits for us (we hope!)

soil after being double-rotovated and in the process of being levelled off. A lick of green paint has smartened up the shed and should extend the lifetime of the fence

Next task is to head up there this afternoon to start laying down paths (with any luck) and re-measuring so we can begin mapping out how we're going to set out our beds. This has been rather like watching a beautiful butterfly slowly emerge from a cumbersome cacoon. It's going to be interesting to see how the plot develops once the beds go down and we begin planting up winter crops...

the fruits (veg) of our labour

2009-07-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Fabuloso - we're now starting to bring home fresh veggies on a regular basis. It is exciting that we've been so successful in our first season as allotmenteers.

peas and tender baby carrots

some of the 8+ kilos of potatoes harvested so far - there's plenty more to come!

the sweetcorn is starting to produce cobs. Roll on late August / early September when they'll be ready for picking - yum, yum !!!

in the garden at 07:30

2009-07-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

Ok so this isn't strictly speaking an allotment post, but I just wanted to share some images with you taken in my garden this morning before breakfast.

how exciting is this? the first tomato ripening. This is a Tumbling Tom planted in the mini-roof garden

this isn't the best photo I took of this alium, but I just love the way you can see the sunlight streaming into the garden

I have no idea what this flower is but I just love the colour and shape of it. If you could enlighten me as to what it is, then please feel free to post a scrap in the compost bin below!

mini roof garden

2009-06-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

We're keen Gardeners' World viewers and particularly like the "30 Minute Make" section of the show. This idea for a mini roof garden on our tool shed is courtesy of Gardeners' World.

The make is really simple although took somewhat longer than 30 mins - mainly because everything had to be done from scratch, e.g. cutting up correct lengths of wood, trimming the plastic lining, etc. Cloddigger also had to reinforce the shed as the weight of the planting medium started to cause the roof to bulge slightly.

All the materials used to make our version of the mini roof garden have been recycled. The timber came from a couple of sources; pine from an old cupboard door (look carefully at the picture and you can see the door handle still attached!) and an old teak fire surround. The interesting thing about the teak is that there was a smallish off cut left over so it was donated to Woodwose Carving. Click here to see the post about "Gilgamesh"

The mini garden has been planted up with a mixture of different varieties of sedum - some from plants already in our garden which were split into smaller plants, the remainder from the bargain plant shelf at a local nursery - interspersed with marigolds and other plug plants and even a couple of Tumbling Tom tomato plants. The hope is that the sedum will eventually carpet the whole of the mini garden.

the mini roof garden runs the whole width of the tool shed (approx, 6') and goes back 2'6"

the only change made recently is the addition of a layer of grit surrounding the plants to discourage snails from chomping the marigolds. The picture below shows a close up of the plants pre-grit

plants in glass houses

2009-06-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

Some time ago I wrote about being given a greenhouse, well I thought I should create a post about its installation.

The greenhouse was originally 8' x 6' but this was just a little too big for where we wanted to site it (a small courtyard area to the rear of our property adjacent to an outhouse), so it was decided to reduce it to 6' x 6'.

frame went up quite quickly and easily; My Folks (who you may remember dismantled it) had labelled up each section of the frame to aid putting it back together again

so keen was he to get the thing up (and to stop me nagging about plants in the conservatory!), Cloddigger even worked for hours in the rain to fit the panes

greenhouse even came with a potting bench. Racking at the end was a mini-greenhouse of ours which provides welcome additional shelving

cucumber and tomatoes growing well. Cucumber is supported by eucalyptus branches lopped off said tree in our garden

The greenhouse is a welcome addition to our garden as it will mean we can bring on many more different varieties of plants for later transplanting to the allotment. Many, many thanks to the Lowes (they know who they are!) you've made a big difference :D

site 2 clearance update

2009-06-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

Clearing the ground at Site 2 is going extremely well. My Folks have been working exceptionally hard and have gained another 5 feet of ground to the right of the shed which means we should have enough space to set up a greenhouse (at some point in the future).

Dad has erected a fence from pallets to the rear of the plot. Behind it is rough ground which requires clearance (at a later date) but this will, eventually, become an area for soft fruit and be converted into a fruit cage. However, plenty of other tasks to do before then! I think the fencing really neatens the appearance of the plot and will make it easier to define where paths and beds will go.

The next stage is for rotovation which can take place any time from now as all the grass and weeds have died back.

One slight hitch was the discovery of metres and metres of black plastic under the soil running pretty much the length of the wire fencing dividing our plot from the neighbouring one. Cloddigger got to do what he does best and was deployed to help dig it out - a hard but necessary task as leaving the plastic in would not have been the best of ideas!

I'm really hoping that my next post about Site 2 will be to report the completion of the ground prep and moves on to show plans for beds etc. Can't wait !!!

photo shows new back fence and you can just glimpse the extra ground gained to the right of the shed

spud u like?

2009-06-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

Cloddigger harvested the first of the homegrown potatoes this weekend. These have been grown in bags on our sheltered decking at home. They were planted up in March and are Maris Piper (we think - Cloddigger "lost" the plant marker!!!) Anyway, regardless of the variety, I'm looking forward to having these with dinner tonight served simply, steaming hot with a knob of butter melting over the top; yum, yum!

Meanwhile, at Site 1 the potatoes in the long barrow are doing really well. I think we will leave them for another couple of weeks before we dig up the first batch - there are still 3 bags growing at home so we are in no rush to disturb these beauties.

Final note on potatoes - the photo below shows our short barrow of salad potatoes planted up about 3 weeks ago. These were excess seed potatoes from my sister-in-law; cheers Lindsey, we're very much looking forward to eating them when they're ready.

starting them young

2009-06-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

My oldest son's junior school has, over the last year or so, developed a lovely courtyard garden at the school which is tended by pupils through the School Gardening Club.

Last year they created an Edible Garden for the Malvern Autumn Show, where their efforts were awarded with the presentation of a bronze medal. This has spurred the staff and pupils on and this year they have created a mini-allotment on the school grounds and have been very successful in growing all sorts of vegetables which will be used in the school. There was even a potato growing competition with every class carefully nurturing a bucket of potatoes.

The gardening initiative is led by Shane Gue, one of the teachers at the school and he has created a blog recording the work of the pupils. Check it out for yourself and you will get a flavour of the obvious enthusiasm the pupils have for gardening. Click here to access the School Gardening Cluster blog.

slow steady clearance

2009-06-19T01:07:00.000-07:00

We popped along to Site 2 last weekend to see how the ground clearance was progressing. My Folks have done loads to clear out the rubble that was scattered all over the site. The weeds and grass have been strimmed down and treated. The old compost bins (originally located to the left of the shed) have been dismantled - to be honest they fell apart - and the compost moved.

The site is starting to look bigger already. Hopefully the last of the weeds are just about dying off and we can then arrange for the site to rotovated. Yes, we should probably just get on with digging by hand but the site is so uneven that we figured rotovating will make it easier for levelling off. It has felt like it's taking quite a while for us to get this site ready, but we all agreed from the outset that we won't rush things and just take our time with the prep work.

We're all really looking forward to getting the beds planned and marked up. I've already started to think about what we can plant up for winter harvesting. Have bought another really excellent allotment book called "Allotment Specialist". It is well set out and easy to follow and has a useful section on crop rotation, a year round calendar and month-by-month quick reference guide to sowing as well as loads of other practical advice. We picked this up at the local garden centre and I've also seen it in Waterstones.

ground now cleared of tall grass and weeds and old compost bin removed

I am a mole and I live in a hole

2009-06-14T02:42:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Site 1 yesterday afternoon to find a strange mound cutting diagonally across the main bed. We had been visited by a mole. On closer examination it didn't look as if it had surfaced anywhere so we can only assume it had been passing through.

Luckily it's path mostly went across an area where nothing has yet been planted although a couple of young cauliflower were damaged and one of the jerusalem artichoke was dislodged. We've taken the artichoke back home to nurse it hopefully back to full health in the greenhouse.

In the picture below you can clearly see the mole's route from bottom left, where it just bypassed the broccoli, up towards the artichoke.

blooming lovely!

2009-06-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since my last post but, as you can see from the picture below, we've been rather busy at Site 1. After a rather shaky start, the lettuce are now well established and growing well. Potatoes are going mad, as are the onions. The beans and peas are finally starting to spread outwards and upwards. We've also planted up some cauliflower and jerusalem artichoke - which is new one for us so it will be interesting to see how they turn out.

click image for full size

just like buses...

2009-05-15T06:43:00.001-07:00

... you spend ages waiting to get an allotment then, all of a sudden, two come along at once.

About 3 weeks ago we took My Folks up to have a look round our bit of the allotment and to have a look at the set up of the site. They seemed quite impressed; so much so that it set them thinking. A couple of days later I had a phone call from them saying that they had found that there were some vacant plots on the allotment site near them and would we be interested. So, we arranged a visit a few days later and found a half plot which needs a reasonable amount of work to get it up together ready for use but nothing that the 4 of us can't handle.

My Folks said they would make enquiries and as it was the start of a bank holiday weekend we thought we wouldn't hear anything for some time. Well, surprise, surprise a couple of days later had a phone call to say that the plot was ours!!! Wow - couldn't believe how quickly this had happened.

That next weekend we descended on the new plot (I'm calling it "Site 2") armed with tape measure, paper, pencil and camera to begin planning out what to do with it. This is what we're faced with:

#10 - Site 2 is approx. 12m x 11m and hasn't been worked for some time

#11 - the view from the rear of the plot is superb (shame about the waist-high weeds!)

#12 - existing compost bins will be moved to free up space by shed

So the plan of action is to strim down the worst of the grass and weeds before killing them off and rotovating the whole lot. Luckily one of the chaps on site has a heavy duty rotovator and is happy to go over the site for us. Once this first pass has been made, we (there it is again - the royal 'we' !) can go over it with a smaller, finer rotovator to break the soil down a bit more. At that point we should be able to begin planning where beds will go and how the plot will be divided between us.

Cloddigger also had a conversation with Deb and Dan about our original plot ("Site 1") to reassure them that we will continue up there for the foreseeable future as we would really like to see at least one success harvest from there.

We're looking forward to working Site 2 with My Folks. They have been growing veg and plants in their home garden for many years now, so I think they will have a lot of knowledge which we can tap into and learn from. I think we're all in agreement that we'll take our time fixing and preparing the site and accept that we may not get much done in the way of planting this year. It will also be interesting to experience the different challenges the two sites throw at us over the coming months.

Watch this space ...

we have a greenhouse!

2009-05-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

STOP PRESS! Hold the front page, and other newspaper-type phrases.

We are now the very proud owners of a greenhouse. No-one is more excited than me because this means I finally get my conservatory back!!!!!!!!

My sister phoned me the other day to say that her father-in-law wondered if we would be interested in an unused greenhouse. Cloddigger jumped up and down with glee and said that, yes please, we would love to take it off his hands. The only stipulation was that we (that's the royal 'we' - I really mean Cloddigger) dismantle it ourselves and arrange transport. Not a problem. The greenhouse was situated close to where My Folks live and they said that they could take Cloddigger down there one evening to help him dismantle it and load it into the car.

Well, said evening comes along. Cloddigger goes to the address and, hey-presto!, turns up to find that it has already been taken apart. Woo-hoo the garden fairies had done all the hard work (big, big thanks to Mum and Dad xx) and all Cloddigger had to do was load it up and bring it home. Perfect.

I now have a greenhouse in my conservatory waiting for a space to be cleared in our garden for it to be rebuilt!

learning the hard way

2009-05-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

Because allotmenting (is that a real word?) is so new to us, we tend to get very excited about the smallest amounts of growth in the plants and I've taken to recording this achievement on a weekly basis by taking photos of everything. I then upload these on the laptop at home and compare this week's photos with last week's (how sad am I?)

Last weekend I was a bit puzzled. Potatoes are going great guns, as are the onions, beans, peas, carrots (so much so they needed strict thinning out), even the sweetcorn and spring onion both of which were only planted a week before. However, the lettuce were looking very sad indeed. They had been in 3 weeks now and didn't appear to have grown a millimetre - very strange. We had been very careful with their treatment; well nourished bed, fleecy cloches to protect from the wind and frost, regular watering. It just didn't add up.

Anyhow, Cloddigger decided to consult our allotment guru (Deb) who was able to reveal that lettuce are "top feeders" - I thought this applied to marine life, but anyway - therefore spread their roots just under the surface of the soil rather than sending down a big tap root. The penny dropped.

When we planted them up we had kept them in their little cardboard blankets to, so we thought, give them a bit more protection. All we'd actually done was effectively bonsai them, DOH!

So BIG lesson learned there. Will make sure that the next batch of lettuce are extracted from the cardboard tubes before committing them to the soil.

Ah well, its all a learning curve.

"Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence" (Abigail Adams, 1780)

paving the way

2009-05-09T03:06:00.000-07:00

We had set out mud paths between the beds but hadn’t put anything down to cover the surface. We had considered getting some hard wearing membrane to put down but, by a stroke of sheer luck, the owners of a neighbouring allotment had taken delivery of a truck load of wood chippings for their chicken coop. There was laurel mixed in at the bottom of the pile which is not suitable for use with livestock, so they kindly said that we could take what they couldn’t use in order to cover the pathways.

This worked out really well as we had enough to cover the paths in our section as well as Deb and Dan’s paths so the whole allotment now has lovely wood chip paving.

#9 – newly laid wood chipping pathways really tidy up the appearance round the beds

lettuce hope something grows

2009-05-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

At home in the greenhouse (aka the conservatory!) we have been propagating seeds and bringing on plants before planting them up. We had over-sown lettuce thinking that they wouldn’t all germinate and ended up with loads of seedling lettuce. They looked ready to plant out so we decided that we’d plant some up in vegetable bags on our decking at home and plant the rest on the allotment.

We prepared the lettuce bed by digging out trenches and filling them with well rotted garden compost before transferring the young plants into the ground. We had brought them on in cardboard tubes found in the centre of toilet paper rolls – not only does this reduce cost but is a great way to recycle the cardboard (which The Council does not accept in its recycling boxes). Each lettuce was kept in its cardboard tube when planted into the ground to protect the roots from damage and frost. The cardboard will soon rot down into the soil so there shouldn’t be any worries about the roots not spreading.

As our plot is rather windy and exposed to the elements, I decided that the lettuce needed a little extra protection so I installed some bamboo arches (cheap to buy from local hardware store: 3 for 99p) and covered them in garden fleece creating a warm cloche. The fleece will allow moisture to get through so that the plants don’t dry out while protecting the young plants from the worst of the wind and cold.

#7 – lettuce planted and bamboo arches installed

#8 – garden fleece finishes off the protective cloches

pest control

2009-05-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

I spoke previously about the need to fence around the whole allotment in order to keep out rabbits. This has so far proved effective against ground attacks from predators, so the next step was to pre-empt any air strikes. Looking round at neighbouring allotments, we could see that a variety of different devices are in use from traditional scarecrows, to bottles on sticks, to old CDs on string. Deb had plans for creating funky spinning windmills out of old drinks cans which she passed on to Cloddigger who duly spent a couple of evenings with a pile of cans from the recycling box, some wire and a pair of tin snips. The end results have been eye catching and very effective as well as prompting admiring comments from fellow allotment holders.

#6 – drinks can bird scarer

planting up

2009-05-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

With all our area dug over, grass and weeds removed we were ready to begin planting! This was a very exciting time as it felt like we were about to do something real and creative. First off, we created a long mound in which to plant the potatoes. Beside this we planted several onion varieties and then sowed the carrots.

Bear in mind that we are complete novices at growing vegetables, especially in an allotment setting, so we invested in an extremely useful and easy to read publication: “Practical Allotment Gardening” by Caroline Foley (available on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Allotment-Gardening-Caroline-Foley/dp/1845172523/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241554268&sr=8-1 ). As newbies to allotment gardening this is an ideal read full of practical advice and great projects. No doubt our library of allotment books will grow through time, but this particular one is likely to become well-thumbed as we use it time and time again.

#3 - potato "barrow" with onion bed to the left. A sun flower is planted at the head of the barrow.

#4 - carrot bed fully prepared and ready for planting up

#5 - a view of complete area dug over and paths set out

dig dig dig dig dig dig dig, we dig the whole day through*

2009-05-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

* inspired by the “Dig Dig Dig Song” from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

First task on the allotment was to do some serious digging. The ground hadn’t been turned over for nearly a year and grass and weeds were rife. We didn’t have access to a rotovator so the whole area had to be dug and turned over by hand. This took around 3 hours or so with 2 of us working on it. We then decided to roughly mark out where we thought beds might go to enable us to do a planting plan on paper. Important tip – make sure you have a tape measure, paper and pencil with you on site as guessing just isn’t accurate enough when it comes to drawing up a planting plan! Our first attempt (because we didn’t have a tape measure with us) was miles out necessitating completely re-doing the plan once we had properly measured up.

The first bed to be prepared would be for carrots, lettuce and sweetcorn. It actually wasn’t too difficult to dig over as there were no grass or weeds on it as a weed suppressing membrane had been placed over it. All that was required was for the area to be turned over, broken down and some good quality garden compost dug in. The approximate measurements of this bed are 3m x 1.5m.

Next job to be tackled was fencing off the whole patch as there is a substantial rabbit population on the site. We certainly didn’t want to be planting up young, tender plants only to provide a free meal for a bunch of bunnies. Fencing proved to be a weekend job. Cloddigger and Dan spent the best part of two days sinking in posts and attaching chicken wire and creating two gated access points to the plot. The picture below shows the results of their labours. Well done lads !!!

#2 - fencing around whole plot

a seed of an idea

2009-05-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

So where to begin? Well, for some considerable time Cloddigger and I had been talking about 'getting an allotment' (since before the period known as "Credit Crunch") and had put our names down with our local council to go on the waiting list.

So we waited, and waited and waited. Phoned "The Council" (can't name and shame cos I still want our bins emptied with regularity) and eventually got put through to the right department only to by told "The management of The Council's allotments is undertaken by a 3rd party". Thereafter was given contact details of said 3rd party but couldn't make contact, grrrrrr!

Fast forward 18 months and the 'getting an allotment' conversation came up again. This time, fortuitously, it was held with a colleague of Cloddigger's who said "we have an allotment which we're struggling to manage, if you help us dig it over and give us a hand to put up some fencing, you can have a section to use for yourselves". So that was it - in March 2009 we took on a small section of Deb and Dan's allotment.

#1 - our first view of our bit of the allotment (click on image for more detail)