17th September 2012

I thought i would do another post in this blog i have been neglecting it again :(

Ive just been reading last years September entry at the end of the month  and apparently it was very hot!! i cant remember this

I did manage to get to the plot this morning as usual Mr mole had been busy *shakes fist* although i should be very grateful this time there were no crops ruined!!

 

It was quite busy there this morning i think it was the sunshine.  as usual lots of tiny weeds had appeared so it was out with the hoe I'm sure there is a weed fairy that sprinkles seeds and casts her wand overnight!!

 

I was emptying my bright pink wheelbarrow when another plot holder asked if i wanted some everlasting spring onions?? Ive never heard of them ,i was told they just keep on dividing all year long and are frost hardy too.

 

 

 

Here they are everlasting spring onions also known as welsh onions as i found out when i got home ,you just split them up to a small clump of around 4 and put them in the ground and they just grow and keep dividing :) they are frost tolerant to around minus 10

 

 



 

and this is how they look now they are in the ground ,the man who gave them to me had 4 rows he said he had far to many so was giving them away or on the compost heap they would go ,I had some with a salad you just peel back the brown skin and they are just like spring onions that separate and mild tasting too they last for years as they just keep on dividing, he said he pulls off what he needs and plants them back in ....fantastic :)

 

 





25th August 2012

I haven't been keeping up to date with this blog!!! which wont be useful next year when i want to look back and compare growing .....

There are 2 things that have done badly this year at the allotment they are onions which bolted,split and then rotted and the first lot of beetroot that were attacked my flea beetle .
Next year i will sow the beetroot much later in the year as only a few weeks ago i started off some in the greenhouse then planted out ,they were picked today!! really big too I'm impressed.

All of the squashes......pumpkin,courgettes,and butternut squash are doing very well i did panic a few weeks ago because of the cold wet weather they were struggling but they are doing fantastic

The runner bean harvest is is full swing so every time i go there are lots to pick then i come home and spend ages chopping them for the freezer that way we can enjoy them all year round.

My potatoes did get blight but the second and first earlies were eaten and the were fine ..... the maincrops ,i ended up chopping the leaves and stems and now I'm gradually digging them up to store them fingers crossed they will be ok the red roosters have done really well I'm impressed ..... i have another 2 rows of others to dig up then that will be it for another year :)

12th July 2012

It's been a while since i wrote on here so thought I'd update with a few ramblings :)

Couldn't believe it this morning the sun was shining as predicted!! managed to get to the allotment for 9:30am.
The allotments aren't a typical allotment site it's more like veg gardens all are very well kept as is the site it's not very big but i like it there i always feel safe there are houses all around and a main road so you are always seen.
I did lots of weeding I'm sure it rains weeds there!! most of it by hand as the hoe hurts my dodgy back.
I have a small salad area with a few lettuce and radishes so after weeding that  i sowed a few more seeds of both.
Next was to find out what was nibbling my turnip leaves, it was the same holes that were all over the beetroot leaves and eventually they stopped growing ,on close inspection i found what i was looking for the flea beetle, i thought it was them but haven't seen them until now, they jump like fleas horrid things .... gave them a spray and sowed a few more turnip seeds in the row, fingers crossed they leave them alone.
Pleased to say all squashes are now looking much better :) the round courgette and normal courgette are producing again and looking green rather than yellow.
The pumpkin has tiny flowers starting and has really started crawling along .. finally the butternut squash is looking much bushier I'm not sure it will produce the weather hasn't been warm enough for it but we'll see :)
My first french beans are growing and the runner beans have quite a few flowers on them now :) even the sweetcorn is starting to look well.

One of the other plot holders told me to go and pick as many raspberries as i wanted ,as he didn't want anymore i picked about a pound in weight and made some raspberry jam with the seeds removed tastes lovely :)

There might be more yet as he has told me to pick anymore i see :) I'm really lucky to have such nice plot neighbours .

I had a bit of an accident today :( after picking peas, courgettes,strawberries and digging up a few potatoes i was rushing around putting everything back in my shed all going well until i stepped in to the shed on to the rake and BANG!! ouch the handle hit me in the side of the head ...it really hurt ... but i did laugh afterwards hoping no one had seen it ,i have a nice trophy lump behind my ear now!!

29th June 2012

When i stepped out this morning i didnt really want to go to the allotment as it was so windy!! but went anyway had to finish off from what i was doing yesterday before the storm hit.

Planted my winter king cabbages and netted them not easy when the wind is blowing!!

Checked on my peas and some were ready so picked some and brought them home

These are greenshaft different from last years ,have to say im very impressed so far the pods are huge and some had 11 peas inside i have half a row of these and the other half and hurst greenshaft

It takes a while to check every pea before picking it i need a pea harvester lol

Next back to the strawberries picked another 2lb today and yet again there are still many more to pick!

then dug up some more new potatoes

Hoping to pop down again tomorrow morning to put another row of peas in a different variety that can be planted up to july .... there is a nice gaop for them now a row of first earlies have gone

28th June 2012

Havent posted for a while so thought id do a quick post

At the moment im busy weeding and picking strawberries there are so many i went back today to pick some but the sky went very dark and i heard a rumble so just ran to the car with what i had .... when i got home i weighed them another 2lb thats 8lb in total and may more to come yet!!
One of the other plot holders gave me some netting that was wider than i have and sturdier he told me he would bring it when i saw him on tuesday ,so i was quite suprised when i saw it on my strawberries today :)

Everything needs weeding nettles are growing everywhere they are only small but they grow so quickly i really need more time to sort it all out.

Some of my potatoes have had blackleg which turns the stems black and rots them ive found 3 plants so far .... and on tuesday the starting of blight on some leaves :( i knew it would come its been the perfect conditions for it, at the moment everthing is ok

courgettes ,pumpkins ,butternut squash are so far behind compared to last year but they seem to be growing nicely now we have had a bit of sun

The peas are almost ready i grew them in different stages so some wont be ready for a while yet

Runner beans finally have some flowers but they arent as bushy as they usually are i hope they will be ok

had problems with brocolli and cauliflower they have produced head way to early im not the only one with this problem

Tiny heads they shouldnt be ready for a few weeks yet im glad i only grew 1 at this stage the others in the row are much further behind

This year is proving to be very challenging for growing veg i'll be doing a big photo update soon

Managed to get some planting done today i found some in my greenhouse that were ready i put in 3 cauliflowers and 2 savoy cabbages ready for winter harvest and 2 calabrese. I did take down some winter king cabbages but because of the stormy looking sky i ended up bringing them back home again!!



17th June 2012..mushrooms and new potatoes

well well well .... look what i found when i opened the cupboard under the staires :)

My first mushroom!! i just kept going over and over the instructions i wasn't giving in!!


Went to the allotment today i haven't been since earlier in the week I've either been too busy or its been raining,so although i had back ache from hell i decided this afternoon to pop down quickly just to check on things as we have had lots of rain and bad wind
sweetcorn is looking bad :( but I'm not alone so is everyone elses on the allotment, the courgettes butternut squash and pumpkin are growing slowly but compared to last year not as well its just been too cold for them.
Strawberries are doing well have lots that are red :):) but underneath they are still pale so I'm hoping the warm weather for the next couple of days will help ripen them some more ... some of them are really big!!
 everything else is fine, peas will soon be ready to pick :) i did pull up a couple of potato plants at first i was a bit disappointed i was sure i had more last year but looking back on here at the pics its about the same amount ... i might try a different first early next year....the pentland javelin look better plants in the next row so if the harvest is better i'll go for them

Oh and its the first harvest of the year :)

11th June 2012

It was a bit chilly this morning at the allotment i was first to arrive around 10am so i had to unlock the gate unusual for this time of the year ,it wasn't long before others arrived and i had a good chat with them each time i emptied my pink wheel barrow

I took down some Kohl Rabi plants today managed to squeeze them in amongst the fruit bushes there was quite a gap at the end so i put them there ,i wanted to let them grow a bit bigger before taking them down but i needed the space in my greenhouse so they had to go .... then i arrived home later and found another one hiding with the winter cabbages grrrr

i dug over near my shed which was grassy its quite soft ground so it was easy going gave it a good rake and sowed some radishes and more lettuce

Had a look at my beetroot and it really isn't happy, a few weeks ago i took about 6 plants down that i had grown at home and because they are bigger they weren't attacked by the bloody beetle that's stripping the leaves as soon as the come through so i have decided to sow some more at home ,and make a mental note to sow at home next year too!!

I had did more weeding there wasn't that much to do as me and callum went down yesterday to weed

Ive had another look at this blog this time last year .... and things were very different potatoes were ready strawberries too ... i had a feel under the soil and i have potatoes :) but i want to leave them a bit longer as they looked quite small

02 June 2012

Arrived at the allotment with callum about 10:30 this morning i took with me 12 swede plants, 10 celeriac plants and 9 strawberry sweetcorn ... the plan was to plant them.
However i saw so many green fruits on my strawberry plants i decided i best net them from the birds before it gets too late and they help themselves to them once they are ripe it took me almost an hour to net them everything i tried to do didnt work out but got there in the end ...i have no idea how im going to weed let alone harvest them!!

I quickly planted the strawberry sweetcorn and decided to head home for lunch and return after

We arrived back around 2pm ish it was quite warm perfect weather for the allotment, i planted swede, celeriac,and 3 autumn cauliflowers i found in my greenhouse... then another plot holder came along and asked if i would like any leeks i had room on a row for about 8 more so happily took some and planted them too im not sure when i'll get back there as the next few days look like its going to rain :(

27 May 2012

I didnt plan on visiting the allotment today but a change of plans gave me a free morning :) so me and callum headed to the allotment just after 9:30 ,not a cloud in the sky and it wasnt too hot just perfect we left around 11am as it was getting a bit too hot and he was panicking about missing formula 1

I took 5 cabbage plants these should be ready in the autumn i already have my summer ones in and they are doing well

Also took down the last of my peas i have grown at home really need greenhouse space as im growing some tomatoes in the greenhouse this year
i took the follwing pic from inside the netting

The largest are right at the back


After a bit of weeding i dug a large hole filled with manure and planted a courgette plant it became too big for the greenhouse ,i have another variety but its much smaller at the moment so i'll hold on a week or two

At this point i decided it was getting too hot so we headed home as we were leaving another plot holder said we could help ourselves to his asparagus as he will be going on his hols soon :) .... funny that as my plot neighbour told me the same thing this week :):) and i picked some yesterday

26 May 2012

Made a quick trip to the allotment this morning as my runner beans were getting tangled with each other in the greenhouse,so they really had to go out im sure they will be fine now, didnt hang around to long it was just too hot even with the breeze i came home nice and brown on my legs though from kneeling on the soil

24 May 2012

It was way too hot at the allotment at 10 am!!! when i arrived there was only one other person there on their plot , but i saw a couple had been down to water, after a few mins i was there alone and no wonder within minutes sweat was pouring from me i hate being hot.
I did get some hoeing done around the strawberries they have lots of flowers on them and some have green fruits i really need to get them netted or the birds will be helping themselves!!

 

Nice to see the potatoes are covered with bloody weeds sorted them out whilst i was at it

they still aren't as far on as they were this time last year i guess we can thank the weather for that
oh yes that's a mole hill bottom left of the pic damn thing!!!

Finally here is a pic of some of my tomatoes there are 2 gardeners delight the ones i normally grow and 3 moneymaker which are new to me I'm earlier than usual planting these out but they have got too big in the greenhouse, they are at home  and if it gets chilly I'll put some fleece around them

20th May 2012

It wasn't very warm out today too cloudy and miserable ,but when your busy you soon warm up.
I took down some broccoli plants today and the leeks both ready to be out ,really need the space in my greenhouse its full of veg and flowering plants.
The leeks were easy just make a hole with a dibber drop the leeks in,give a good water and thats it ,you don't even cover the holes back in the soil eventually falls around them

Callum dug a trench where the runner beans are going and i filled it with manure and kitchen compost i might put them in next week i have enough fleece in case it turns cold

I recovered the peas with debris netting I'm determined this year that pea moth isn't going to lay maggots in the peas!!
I must be doing something right people are now coming over to my plot asking to pick my brains about things ,i only know about what I'm growing though ask me about garlic i wouldn't know!! there is so much info now from books and the Internet there is no need to just look in one place for help, i read up on as much as i can about the things i grow and it's good to read about how other people grow stuff and what works best rather than just dumping it in the ground and hoping for the best .

Its going to be a lovely week for weather next week so I'm hoping i have some spare time to pop down :)

17th May 2012

So for the second time this week i step out of my car at the allotment and it starts to rain!! One of the plot holders laughed and said " nice to see you have brought the rain with you again".
 It wasn't going to put me off and it was only light rain and i wanted to uncover the potatoes that were covered, it didn't take long so made a start on my runner bean frame very impressed with myself it was done very quickly and is much sturdier than last years effort. Whilst i didn't have back ache i gave the area a good dig over too

I wasn't very happy to see that the damn mole had paid another visit to my plot grrrrr but at least it left my peas alone this time

that's the bit that got dug over damn mole!!

I really need to get more stuff down to my plot but have to wait until frost risk is over about 2 more weeks hopefully , i have a huge courgette plant ready to go out ,think its time for a new photo update from the greenhouse

13th May 2012

Went to my plot again this morning with callum we were in a rush i had strict instructions we had to be home for 12 noon as F1 was on the tv *sigh* and it can't be missed!

I took down about 30 pea plants that i had started off in my greenhouse running out of space in there ,they were all big enough to survive that pesky pea and bean weevil that chomps on the leaves.
It didn't take too long to plant them although i'm sure i'll be replanting them next time i go down as a mole keeps hilling around my peas grrrr.

The next job was to make a runner bean structure but i decided i really couldn't be bothered after all the cage building yesterday, so instead took the fleece off the parsnip/ beetroot seedlings BIG MISTAKE!! they were covered with thousands of tiny weeds .... took me almost an hour to weed around them all, still need to thin them out a bit but that's for another day

 beetroot on the left cant really see them and parsnips on the right the whole area was covered in weeds!!


Had a quick check around onions are fine, silverskin onions grown from seed are doing well too, things i planted yesterday are still alive ,strawberries in flower need to get them netted soon , first earlies are through and some second earlies .

I was given a redcurrant bush by another plot holder a few months ago it's doing really well think I'll be getting some fruit this year

finally a sneaky look at my blackberry i planted last year it has flower buds, the following  pic is a close up it's much bigger than it appears

12th May 2012

Had a bit of a shock this morning never seen it so busy at the allotment ,must have been the sunshine.

I wanted to get my cabbage and cauliflower cage built quickly so i could get them planted ,things didn't work out as planned and it took a long time to build... not only that because i have club root on my plot i have to dig a hole where i am planting each one sprinkle lime then fill it with compost it helps !!....derrr i forgot the compost  so decided to abandon my plot after an hour and a half and return after lunch.

The afternoon was very different no one was there except me and callum , i didn't forget the bag of compost this time .

Planted 3 summer cauliflowers ,2 summer savoys and 1 summer golden acre ... there is lots of room in the cage to plant autumn and winter varieties later on

1 cage down 1 to go ,next the taller cage which will be for brussel sprouts,broccoli,calabrese ,purple sprouting broccoli and kale it took even longer to build it but got there in the end.

I only had 2 plants to plant in there and they were 2 brussel sprouts, the other things will follow later on

Hoping to go down again in the morning i have lots of peas in my greenhouse to plant really need the space in there!!

Sunday 6th May

Me and Callum spent a couple of hours at my allotment today it was very strange as there was an orange glow in the sky and it was quite warm ....makes a change.

There was only one other plot holder there today and somehow managed to get on to the topic of rats!! and it wasn't me that chose the topic of conversation!! i went over to my plot and put up with callum making random noises to try and convince me there was a rat i was having none of it. It wasn't until later when i was near the hedge (it always scares me being there ) that i heard a scuffling noise and a splash and as quick as anything a brown thing appeared ,this of course made me scream the allotment down!!
It turned out to be a bird, it had taken a bath in a pot of water behind my shed ,thankfully the other plot holder just got on with his digging!!

I spent most of the time there edging the other side of my plot boundary seemed to have gained more room to grow things ;) it took 4 wheelbarrows of weeds and grass to clear it all.

We had taken some old compost from my pots in the garden to top up the three blue bins i have at the allotment  that was callums job , then finally sowed some carrot seeds I'm late with them again i can sow up until July but can start them much earlier than may.

Good news from my plot the parsnips i sowed under fleece three weeks ago have germinated :) as have the beetroot

In my greenhouse at home runner and french beans have finally sprouted just waiting on that damn stupid pumpkin to germinate

Not sure when I'll next get to my plot the weather doesn't look too good for next week but if i do go I'll be taking down some brassicas that are now very big

3rd March.. i mean May 2012

It felt more like march at the allotment today ,that was until i started edging my plot soon worked up a sweat!!
Todays main task was to earth up first earlies i have 2 or 3 rows i cant remember, but only 2 are showing through ive already earthed them up and now the mound is too high to do it anymore , a frost is due on Saturday and Sunday night so I'm going down at the weekend to cover with newspaper and fleece .I'm relieved i delayed planting this year as this time last year the same thing happened and a frost came me and callum had 6 rows to cover up quick.

Had a quick check on the strawberries and they are beginning to flower so fruit will soon be here :)

Next i had a check on my plot boundaries and decided to claim back some of my plot from the weeds that are creeping on and making the path much wider and my plot smaller this took a while!! and ill do the other side next time

The silverskin onions i sowed the other week are just coming through as are some of the beetroot ...no sign of the parsnips yet they are under fleece with the beetroot.

I have sown some swede in my greenhouse have lots more to sow on my list to do this month

Enough rambling I'm going to check on here now what i was doing this time last year I'm sure things were much further on!!

24 APRIL 2012

As promised by the weatherman a day free of rain ,so i took the chance and headed of to the allotment ,i was a bit worried incase any rat holes had appeared there or even worse a rat was waiting there for me !!!
Everything was fine though but i don't think i would have stopped there alone just incase
I took some more peas down with me from the greenhouse and planted them with the others they are doing well

Had a quick check on the potatoes none had appeared yet so carefully checked and the first earlies are just under the surface i would imagine by the weekend they will be showing meaning i have to keep an eye on the weather incase a frost is due!!

Tried to tidy up path edges but my back hurt too much so gave up on that and decided i would finish it next time

this is my red currant bush that another plot holder gave me looks like i'll be getting some fruit from it this year :) i have another 3 but they are alot smaller

the blackcurrant bushes i bought last year have new growth on them ,I'm not expecting fruit this year

here are my onions doing well so far ,under the fleece i have sown parsnips and beetroot

strawberries are growing again this time last year they were in flower

seven rows of potatoes

I'll do a monthly upload of whats growing in my greenhouse tomorrow ,doesn't look likely ill get to the allotment before Saturday that's the next rain free day

14/04/2012

I've just been looking back on here at last years blog posts from the allotment the weather was very warm in fact one post mid April the temp in my car was 30C!!!  and i seem to have been much further on with things ..... this is what i wanted though as i was too eager to start things last year and a lot of stuff was stuck at home waiting to go out but couldn't because of frosts

Another trip to the allotment today and it was very cold!!!! but once we got stuck in and the sun came out it wasn't too bad.
Today's jobs were to plant some peas not many just about 8 that had grown too big i have about another 60 in the greenhouse, some just sown others germinated all at various stages. They didn't take long to plant it was the supports that i put it that took up the time , i did take a picture but it wasn't that good.

I also took down my paris silverskin onions that i have grown from seed they are the variety that come pickled in jars ..different from normal onion sets and shallots ...these are similar to spring onions in how they grow, each seedling produces one white bulb that you pick when they are at the size you like and you don't have to wait for the leaves to die off , i intend to pick mine when they are about the size of a marble ...
There was plenty of chatting today with my plot neighbours saw one of them today i haven't seen since last summer hope i get down there next week but looking at the forecast it's another week of sunshine and showers

11/04/2012

Well today was different at the allotment i decided to go down this afternoon after lunch ,the sky started to look black but decided i needed to sow my parsnip seeds I'm very late this year.
We got halfway which isn't far from my house and saw the roads had puddles all over ??? we had nothing at home, i did think it would be too wet and was going to turn around and go home but didn't in the end.
The ground wasn't too wet for what i wanted to do so we made a start .

My soil is very stony not good for growing carrots and parsnips as when the tap root hits a stone it causes them to fork meaning lots of little roots instead of one long thick one.
They did ok last some did fork though and i wanted to give them a little more attention so me and callum dug out a small trench quite deep then very slowly sieved the soil back in ,we did it in sections rather than one big trench from one side to the other, this was going fine until the heavens opened we ran in to my little shed which is very messy at the moment and both squeezed in , we couldn't run to the car as it was really heavy!!
 we were stuck in there for a good 10 minutes so we had a tidy up too .

When the shower had stopped we headed back on to the plot and carried on it took a long time but we got there in the end and sowed a row of parsnip seeds fingers crossed all that hard work pays off !! we then covered the row in fleece to keep the worst of the cold off

In this picture are my onions i put in at the weekend and the parsnips from today





My strawberries are finally showing signs of life

showing my potatoes

06/04/2012

Back to the allotment today to plant maincrops :) put 5 red rooster seed potatoes in and the rest of the row  a variety mr lawrence gave me, also put another 2 rows of them in on my hands and knees :)

now have 8 rows in total of potatoes put in the ground i  now have to watch the weather for frosts and keep rushing down to earth them up once they show!!!

Had a good weed around the strawberries too  that patch is weed heaven!!!

We will be back there again tomorrow to plant my onions that have been started off in the greenhouse and hopefully build a pea support system so i can get them in next week, have quite a few that have come through in the greenhouse planted 50 something so far :) last year i sowed them down there and had bad germination and some bug that enjoyed nibbling the leaves i forgot the name of it so i have started them here in my greenhouse

I will also take down some parsnip seeds just incase i have time to sow some i'm late with them compared to last year
enough rambling will report back tomorrow :)

1st April 2012

Sunny Sunday at the allotment today me and callum went down this afternoon with a mission in mind ... to plant potatoes :)
put 2 rows of first earlies in last week (foremost) and this week did half a row of them then the rest in the row were a different variety called pentland javelin  heard good things about them so thought id give them a go it was only a small bag i bought from poundland

next a row of second earlies called charlotte i have tried them at home before with good results

and finally i put in a row of second earlies maris peer supposed to be good and according to the old men at the allotment the maris varieties do well ..i saw that for myself last year

I wanted to wait another week before putting my second earlies in as last year there was the late frost i managed to avoid damage by rushing down with garden fleece but had the idea if i planted a little later it would be better although the first 2 rows were later than last year ,looking back at my blog im about the same time planting seconds as i was last year .... holding off the maincrop for a week or so

Then i came up with the bright idea of moving the carrot bins to make room for the tayberry bush im late planting!!
this job involved moving the soil from one  blue bin to another move it then fill it again ... its done now and i wont be repeating that again!!

24/03/2012 it's planting time!!!

I took Callum with me to the allotment this morning, it was a bit foggy but the sun soon came out bringing with it some other plot holders
i took Pete's drill with me as i needed more holes drilling in the bottom of the carrot tubs for water drainage and also needed to drill some holes in the metal poles that are near the blackberry bush so that i could put some more wire supports in , i dont think i'll get much fruit this year it's only the second year of growth

After my drilling skills were put to the test :) it was then time to start planting my first earlies callum dug a trench whilst i put more manure in the trenches weren't very straight but i made sure the potatoes were in a straight line

                    same as last year 2 rows of foremost hoping they will do as well as last year

                                             filled with more manure then mixed in a bit

bit of  a strange colour on this picture but here are the potatoes in the trench with added manure

potatoes are in a straight line  not really that bothered it doesnt make them grow any better

here we go 2 rows in one more to go but that will be another day

Also have some shocking news from the allotment it's about RATS i hate rats more than anything else so imagine my horror when i moved a bag of manure and saw a hole in the ground!! i knew instantly it was a rat hole so callum who cLaims he isn't scared filled it with pebbles the bag had been chewed through but no further signs of Mr rat no more holes or chewed bags we moved them for now....

im More than a bit horrified !!!

 Later callum was in the area and jumped back quick this made me scream like an idiot much to the delight of other plot holders!! turns out he got stung my a nettle felt such a fool!! 

Well the planting season of 2012 has begun on the allotment and my greenhouse is getting very full with various veg and flowers :)

10th March 2012

Went to the allotment this morning with Callum still not much to do as I'm starting everything off in the greenhouse this year
Today's task was to drill some holes in the large water butt type tubs i use for the carrots however all didn't go to plan as the drill bit snapped so ended up coming home

Things in the greenhouse are coming along well so far the following have germinated

brussel sprouts
savoy cabbage
golden acre cabbage
silverskin onions
peas
sweet pepper
1x celeriac hope the others follow soon
leeks
cauliflower
lettuce

just waiting for the tomatoes to appear now

March 1st 2012

Finally found the time to visit my allotment this morning :) there wasn't much to do hardly any weeds which was good!! I put some manure around the fruit bushes and had a little dig around wasn't there long
i did finally remember a soil sample from the area i want to grow cabbages,cauliflowers and sprouts ect they don't like soil to be too acid ,last year i added some lime and things seemed to grow well.

confirms i need lime again ill do it as soon as the potatoes are in don't want to risk putting it on an area where they might be going as they hate lime

This afternoon a spent a good hour in my greenhouse sowing seeds :):) here's what i started

tomato gardeners delight for pots outside

tomato minibel  for hanging baskets

tomato alacante which I'm growing in the greenhouse

cabbage golden acre

cabbage savoy

brussel sprouts

just a couple of each cabbage as i plan to stagger them so they are not all ready at the same time

also sowed some paris silverskin shallots like the ones you buy in jars :)

think i might be back in there again tomorrow as i have so much to do I'm growing everything in my greenhouse and transferring later to my allotment

Here is a picture of just a few of my potatoes chitting

What's growing 2012

The greenhouse in finally in use :) mainly with flower seeds but i do have a few veg started

sweet peppers
celeriac
leeks
cauliflower just a couple ill be growing more later
lettuce
march is only days away i'll be starting more things in a couple of weeks :)

Here is a list of everytime im growing this at home and the allotment

allotment--- *new* is never grown before

runner beans
french beans
beetroot
brussels
butternut squash *new*
cabbage several varieties to last the year
carrots
cauliflower
celeriac *new*
celery
calabrese *new*
courgette
kohl rabi *new*
leeks
lettuce
onions
parsnips
peas
potatoes first early
potatoes second early
potatoes maincrop
pumpkin
raddish
shallots (silverskin)
spring onion
swede
sweetcorn
strawberry sweetcorn (popcorn variety)
mini sweetcorn
purple sprouting broccoli

Fruit bushes

blackberry
tayberry
blackcurrant
redcurrant
strawberries (52 plants)

Growing at home

cherry tomatoes for the hanging baskets
tomatoes
cucumbers *new*
sweet peppers *new*
maybe some lettuce

Fruit bushes at home

raspberries
blueberries
cranberries
kiwi


looks like another busy year then!!

A few links for you :)

Ive been asked for tips for beginners recently and i keep saying i'll post a few good sites and forget.
Better late than never here they are :)

http://uktv.co.uk/home/dgiped/kw/211  ...uktv how to grow guides and useful section on growing in pots

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardening_guides/  bbc has some good guides for beginners

http://www.growinggrub.co.uk/container/container01_frameset.htm  good info for growing in pots

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/   this site has quite a lot of information on it

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/how-to-grow good guides on growing veg


Veg seeds

http://www.moreveg.co.uk/  started using this site this year most packets of seeds are 50p smaller quanities than usual packs very impressed with them :)

Forum links

Here are my 3 favourite sites for help on growing fruit and veg

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/forum.php  from grow you own mag

http://chat.allotment.org.uk/  really good site

Recipes for when you have grown too much!!

http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/

Mushrooms part 2

Well i have news :) i checked yesterday to see if anything had happened to the mushroom kit. Carefully lifted the lid and found some furry white stuff ,i checked back on the instructions and this is what i need ..so far so good :)

On to the next stage ,which is to place somewhere cool and dark and check daily i am days away from mushrooms ,well hopefully!!!  sorry Allotment Amy if you are reading this i wrongly told you last night 21 days :/ no idea where i got that from lol , I will post another update if anything should happen

Mushrooms!!!

Hello:):) it's been a long time since i updated my blog but then again there hasn't been that much to report from the allotment .
At the moment I'm busy ordering seeds and planning where I'm going to plant everything (this however changes every other day)
Anyway i thought i would write a blog post about growing mushrooms, i bought 2 kits from poundland to give them a try as i have heard they are a bit hit and miss at that price you cant go wrong.

so here is the kit it's not very big

Inside is the white stuff (mushroom spores) a small bag of compost and a lid ,instructions are easy enough as long as you pay attention

You have to put the compost on top of the white stuff (spores) and spray with a water spray so it doesn't get too wet

Next put the lid on and put it somewhere that's around 20C and leave it for about 6 days I'll be checking on it at the beginning of next week so I'll report back if there are any new findings