Sunday 25th April

Wasn't supposed to be doing anything at the allotment today but thought i should pop down to make sure all was well after the downpour on Saturday

I wasn't expecting what i found!! on the soil you could see where the rain had pounded down on it
i just wasn't expecting everything to have grown so much in 2 days must be all the rain , me and callum had to quickly construct my pea support and net it as they had grown out of the top of the wire that was covering them
managed to take a couple of pics

                                                       look how much they have grown

 

                                the pea support we quickly constructed still have lots more to take down there

Saturday 23rd April

Me and Callum headed off to the allotment again this afternoon to plant some shallots i struggled to get some this year as i left it late but managed to get some from the garden centre the last pack so hurried down and put them in the ground
Callum was busy digging a hole and adding manure ready for the pumpkin , after about an hour we decided it was just too hot we got back in the car and it said 30 c !!! that was just because it was in the sun i know it wasnt that hot

At home i planted some cauliflower seeds and some celery seeds i think i should stop now or ill have nowhere to put it all!!!
here is a list of what's growing (so i don't forget too )
new potatoes
second earlies
maincrop potatoes
onions
shallots
parsnips
beetroot
strawberries
raspberries
peas
runner beans
broccoli
brussel sprouts
savoy cabbage
golden ??? forgot the name lol its a cabbage
cauliflower
celery
tom thumb lettuce
iceberg lettuce
salad bowl mix salad leaves
tomatoes
hanging basket tomatoes
pumpkin
courgette
leeks
carrots
mint
finally the blackberry bush well it died i went back to where i bought it from and there's had too went to another garden centre ....anyway I'm waiting for one to arrive from Thompson & Morgan

will be sowing some swedes very soon
and i think that's everything

i took some pics of whats growing at home hope you enjoy them

tomatoes that go in my hanging baskets

                                         iceberg lettuce I'm sowing every 2 weeks

salad bowl mix lettuce

golden delight tomatoes

callums selection of sunflowers for the allotment

courgette only planted 2 weeks ago its a monster!!

pumpkin just sprouting

brussell sprouts

leeks have a lot more that are just sprouting

broccoli

savoy cabbages

golden ocre cabbage just starting

some of the runner beans have 16 altogether various sizes

finally some peas starting to sprout to fill in gaps at the allotment

and that's all I'm going to watch the lightning show now :)

Friday 22nd April

What fantastic weather this week :) me and callum have been to the allotment every day this week :) i have taken some more pics so ill post them now and just write a bit about what we have been up to :)

this is one of the blue tubs i have near my shed finally managed to fill it up and get some carrots planted 
in a few weeks ill do the other one

 Here you can see my first early new potatoes are really coming through now im still earthing up and clearing weeds just have to be extra careful incase a frost comes but i have lots of fleece on standby

 These are my second earlies love the purple colour again been earthing up and weeding

 the onions are really loving the weather they are really growing now been weeding around them this week

 i lifted up the wire (which is soon coming off ) to take this pic of my parsnips i thinned them out this week and in that row i have 27 coming along nicely

 beetroot have come through they didnt take long just need to thin them out now had a very good weed around the parsnips and beetroot

 look close on the peas and you can see the half circle nibbles on my peas classic sign of pea and bean weevil i spotted the damn things for myself apparently they should be ok i need to get the supports in now and remove that wire replace with netting

 these are my bare rooted strawberries they are just starting to flower

one last pic of the potatoes hopefully ill get down there this weekend too as fast as im clearing the weeds they are coming back

Monday 18th April

After doctor appointments and a trip to the vets me and callum went down to the allotment for a couple of hours it goes so fast!!

Today i decided to have a good weed around where i had sown the parsnips weeks ago and finally can report they have definitely appeared :) also after weeding where the beetroot had been sown i can clearly see they have also appeared so im pleased about that it took me ages
Earthed up potatoes again they are really coming up now
Had a good look around the peas as i noticed something had been nibbling the leaves having read up about the shape of the bites it looks like it could be pea and bean weevil :( i just hope they all survive
Callum finished off digging the runner bean trenches putting manure in the bottom
onions are growing really well and my strawberries are flowering i was hoping to sow carrots today but that will have to wait until next time :) ill try and get some more pics next time i go

Saturday 16th April

Another warm sunny day so me and callum decided to go to the allotment for an hour ,an hour that turned in to 2 hours but I'm not complaining i love it down there.
First job was to earth up 3 rows of first earlies (new potatoes) and 2 rows of my second earlies they had started to show above the ground  the mounds are quite high now so i think ill let them show and get the fleece ready in case a frost is forecast
Callum loves digging holes so i made him dig a very big hole and put lots of manure into it ready for the courgette to go in to that wont be going in until may.
had a quick weed around my strawberries and moved the soil back to where it should have been after a mole had made a lovely mess!!! fantastic
Had a quick check on my peas they are growing well the ones that have come through, i did sow more a couple of weeks ago but no sign yet so sown some at home as they germinate much quicker something ill remember for next year, also noticed something had nibbled the leaves wasn't slugs then saw the culprits damn ants everywhere they will be sorted soon.
The beetroot is coming through that hasn't took long and the parsnips well not much to shout about im struggling as there are that many tiny weeds in the line i sowed them in sow ill have to let them all grow until im sure which are the parsnips

callum filled the blue bins with soil so they are ready for carrot seeds now

Finally we started on one side of the runner bean supports dug a trench and put in the manure do the other side next time,runner beans are at home coming on well

This afternoon i went in to the garden and potted on a few tomato plants that outgrown their pots and moved on a brussell sprout plant and some savoy cabbages
sowed the following ,savoy cabbage ,another type of cabbage i forgot the name , brussell sprouts ,parsnips as a back up incase they are a no show at the allotment, more peas, some more runner beans , pumpkin, iceberg lettuce, broccoli
busy day but nice weather :) shame i spent most of it sneezing and wiping my nose with compost all over the tissue :( i have callum's man flu

Saturday 9th April

Been a busy 2 weeks and i haven't been down to the allotment as much as i would have liked 2 weeks ago we had some strong winds that blew one of my greenhouses over salvaged some stuff but the rest i decided to start again more on this further down.. also my poly tunnel got blown across the allotment and ruined but the home made ones stayed in the ground perfectly ????

Mother's day last weekend me and my son Callum went to put up some supports for the runner beans they can't be put out yet so are growing at home away from frost.
We also arrived at the right time as some horse manure had been delivered we grabbed some before it all disappeared like before

Because the wind ruined my beetroot seedlings at home i decided not to bother trying to salvage them but to

start again so on Thursday i went to the allotment and put the beetroot seeds direct in to the ground fingers crossed they germinate there i also managed to put in a row of maincrop potatoes and put in some more peas where they had failed to germinate spent 2 hours there that day :)

Today saw me and Callum making the most of the weather and headed off down to the allotment we thought

it would be really busy but only a couple of others there and soon we were the only ones good job as i       

decided to move the runner bean supports and anyone who might have been watching would have been     laughing at me but i got there in the end all up and supported in the correct place :)   

                                

callum grabbed the last of the horse manure and piled it in front of the shed while i stated to fill the blue bins ready for sowing my carrot seeds finally took some pics of things growing and we headed home another 2 hours spent there here's the pics :)

Strawberry plants are growing nicely :)

i have some peas :) spent some time on thursday planting some more where they hadnt come through

a parsnip seedling :) only 2 have come through ill give it a bit longer before i start some more

onions have grown loads this week

some mint that Hugh from the allotemnts gave me he said chop it in half and replant it i did and look at it :)

my potatoes 3 rows of first earlies 2 rows of second earlies and 1 row of maincrop have more maincrop at home