Catching up on the Plot

I have been busy on the allotment since last week as I'm sure most of you have too what with this amazing weather we have been having ( well it has been here in Hampshire anyway !) I actually spent from 11.30 am to 4.55 pm on Tuesday up there digging and shifting manure by the barrow loads, and I have finally got the bed ready for the broad beans to go in over the week-end or early next week. See how they have grown it's amazing how sturdy they are and the roots are coming out the bottom of the root trainers.

As they were from a few weeks ago

And here they are today

The bed is all ready and when I get them in I will cover them until all frosts have gone, even though they have been hardened off each day for a couple of weeks . You can see the bed where I added lots of manure. The plot is looking bare now but I have so many seeds on the go that it should look very good in a couple of months. I also planted spinach on Tuesday, so that should be up as it takes no time at all to appear.

The potatoes are chitting and I will also get them in next week as they are first earlies, so maybe should have been in by now. We don't eat a lot of potatoes, so I don't grow that many now.

My garden is looking pretty and there are lots of lovely spring flowers about the place. The Hyacinths are fantastic and fill the air with the most amazing scent, especially in the evening. They are just outside the kitchen door and placed near a seating area so we get a whiff of them every so often, I must grow more next year. They seem a popular cut flower too, even Tesco has started selling them in their flower section, but at £5 a small bunch it's got to be cheaper to grow a bed of them to cut on the allotment.

The heather behind the Buddha is looking great I love the colour, it's a welcome sight and it's been flowering for ages. I am so glad I didn't pull up the Rudbeckia  plants that i grew from seed last year, I thought they were dead but I spotted this one sending up a new shoot this morning.

I hope you all have a great week-end and that you get done all you need to do in the garden or on the allotment.

The Allotment is still giving me treats.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas ! we had a fabulous time, it was fun and we had some lovely presents, good company, and the best bit was being with the family. But I am always glad when it's over ( I whispered that !) I long for my normal routine and also can't wait to see what the new year will bring. I love the start of a New Year, and I just want to get sowing and growing again.

I went up to the allotment yesterday, the first time in weeks and I harvested some curly Kale, a very large and a small parsnip some green regular sprouts, and some of a friends purple sprouts that she asked me to help myself to as she couldn't manage to eat them all.
The purple sprouts were so delicious that they are on my 'Must Sow in 2010' list, I just have to ask her what the variety was. The purple sprouting broccoli is just starting to sprout and I hope to be picking some in a few weeks. The perpetual spinach is still going, I must cut down on the amount next year. The garlic sown in late Autumn is up and growing well, and the autumn planted cabbages haven't really grown a lot as yet. It all looked a bit bleak and mucky up there and Rosie the scarecrow will need a complete overhaul next year, so Lot's of planning to do.

Monday's harvest

New Years Eve is only a couple of days away, so I will wish you all a lovely evening however you intend to celebrate it, and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all as well.

Ok, So one little Ladybird doesn't mean it's Spring.

But ! I was so glad to see this little spotted creature on one of my pots today, it's the first I've seen this year. By the time I went to get the camera she was just disappearing over the edge.It was so mild today that I was gardening in a tee shirt, so lovely to be out doing something in the garden.

Yesterday I spent 2 hours on the allotment and dug over one of the leek beds ready to plant something else in it this year. The leeks were small but were very tasty in a soup for lunch today. I took all the dead and large leaves off the Purple sprouting broccoli, and weeded that bed and raised the netting so the pigeons couldn't eat it before I tasted it. It's taken a year but I love P.S.Broccoli, so I am sure it will be worth the wait.

I noticed in Tesco's that the baby brussel sprouts were on sale at £1.09p ( roughly the same amount as in my pic) and I have had many more bags this size and bigger, so that made me feel good, and the leeks are expensive to buy especially the baby size that I picked yesterday, so it really does save money to GYO.

This last photo is of a few pots on my kitchen windowsill, they look very pretty, so I thought I would share it.

An allotment post at last !

I finally made it to the allotment today, it's been almost a week, and I only managed to stay for about 20 minutes. It is so cold and my hands were frozen, I hate not being able to do anything up there.

My allotment neighbour was there cutting back his fruit bushes, he mainly grows fruit of all kinds and has now got asparagus growing which he had earthed up today. He doesn't grow any other vegetables at all.

Apart from him and myself the only other life up there were the allotment Chickens, I went over to take a photo of them and they thought I had food and were making a rare old fuss and noise. I was sorry to disappoint them, but they sadly don't belong to me (I wish) so they would have to wait until their owner came to feed them.

I checked on the sweet-peas and the garlic in the greenhouse, some of the sweet-peas looked a little droopy, but I am sure they will buck up. The garlic is doing well and the ground planted bulbs have grown a lot since last week. Since I cut the heads off the brussel plants the sprouts are growing much bigger, perhaps I should have done that before. The purple sprouting broccoli isn't quite ready to be picked yet maybe at the end of February? I think I read somewhere that taking the tops off helps the side of the stems to sprout quicker, I must look into that ! does anyone out there know anything about this ?

A deserted allotment- this is taken from the main

gate entrance, my plot is way down the end of

the field and then right, so a bit of a walk !

Still Harvesting

Purple sprouting broccoli (above)

Brussel Sprouts (above) wallflowers (below)

Today was the first visit to the lottie in a week. The sweet-peas are growing strong in the greenhouse. The garlic looks very sturdy and I should be able to get it planted out soon. I planted the garlic in individual sections, so it will be easy to plant out with little or no disturbance. The ones that I planted straight into the ground are also doing very well.

I cut the tops off the brussel sprouts, they are like little cabbages and are very tasty, some will be going in a soup with the leeks I dug up. The remaining brussels will get bigger now the tops are off the plants, and I will probably have harvested them all by mid February, I can then dig that bed ready for my beans.

As you can see in the photo my purple sprouting broccoli is just beginning to show some purple sprouts, I can't wait to harvest that as it's a favourite veg and so expensive to buy.

The photo at the bottom shows my wallflowers which have grown so big, they are going to look and smell wonderful. I think it's because they are protected from the weather in their bed by the greenhouse, as I lost some that were planted in pots.

As you can see in the bottom photo I still have lots of leeks to harvest, I need to get some more sown soon.

Never trust "Mother Nature"

I went up to the Lottie today very briefly, mainly because I never got around to taking up the kitchen waste for the compost bins yesterday. I am so glad I went, because when I got up there I am sad to report that the winds had blown Rosie (my scarecrow) over. She was lying flat on her back in the mud. Oh I know it's only a scarecrow, but she has a real personality (honest! just look at her picture. back dated post ) anyway I took her clothes home and washed them and we ( my allotment assistant & I !!) will go up and sort her out as soon as the ground is less muddy. I think we will have to concrete her in.

The wind also blew the empty wheelbarrow onto one of my leek beds which flattened some leeks, AND blew the plastic tunnel off of the broad beans ( I think I have lost one or two) I came back home looking really put out, and needed a cup of tea ! Mother Nature really got one over on me today.

First seeds this year are sown- Yippee

I really feel that Spring is nearly upon us, the weather today is sunny with blue skies, so once again the weather forecast wasn't spot on, but hey ! I'm not complaining. I know we will have more frosts for a while to come yet, but lets make the most of these lovely days and get ahead ready for planting.

Apart from taking up some kitchen waste ( some from my neighbour as well) for the compost bin, I don't intend to do anything on the allotment today. Instead I have planted my onion, leeks, and tomato seeds. I don't have a photo as it would seem rather boring just looking at bare compost, so I will post one when the first shoots appear. (fingers crossed). I planted them in John Innes seed compost and covered them and put them on window sills and will move them on to the greenhouse ( which is unheated) when they start growing and the weather is warmer.

This is the ideal time to check all your seed packets from last year if you haven't already done so, and throw out any that are out of date or that you weren't pleased with. Then take stock of what you need to buy or want to grow this year and look around the garden centres or "Wilkinsons" (wilko's) if you have a store near you, as their prices are very good. I personally never order from seed catalogues unless it's something rare that I can't get locally. For reasons -one, I am too impatient to wait for delivery and two, I like to hold the seed packet and turn it over and read the sowing advice etc before deciding to buy it.

I brought two Blueberry bushes which I got at the end of last year from "Wisley" RHS gardens. They need ericatious compost and are better off in large pots, (thats unless your soil is right for them !) mine isn't so they are in pots and they are in my garden, I decided not to take them to the allotment as they were too expensive and could easily be taken ( not that we usually have any theft problems) in pots.

The case of the missing leeks

When I last visited my plot on Tuesday I noticed that some leeks were missing or maybe I was mistaken ? I didn't really know for sure. Anyway this evening my daughter Niki and her partner Paul came for dinner and in conversation she let slip that they had fancied making some leek and potato soup !!!! so had popped up to my plot ( they are working on their own plot, but it's early days) and STOLE some leeks, cheeky devils ! so if you two are reading this blog HANDS OF MY LEEKS !! I think I had better sow extra seeds for them this year.

I don't really mind though as they have some nice cauliflowers growing, so when I fancy some cauliflower cheese I may just ?????????? - love you Niki ! next time you want to do a "Peter Rabbit" can you pull up a few weeds as well please.

Hurrah ! at last some decent weather

The weather was so mild today it was like an early spring day. So we ( my allotment assistant-Austin came as well) took advantage of it and went up to the lottie for an hour or so.
As you can see by the photo I managed to dig over what was last years cabbage bed. The soil was fantastic, that frost really did the trick.

I also dug up about 7 leeks for tomorrows lunch of leek and potato soup. They were very muddy and needed lots of washing, not my favourite job as leeks are so hard to get clean.




I also dug the two raised beds and added some manure that I had delivered about three
months ago. I checked the broad beans (under the plastic tunnel) they seem to be OK but one or two looked a little fragile after the severe frosts we had last week. I will sow some more just in case they don't survive.

I am going to sow my onion seeds this week-end, I usually buy onion sets, but thought I would have a go at sowing from seed this year. It was so good to be doing something up there today and a couple of walkers going past stopped to chat which is always nice. Hopefully the weather will start to get better now and I can't wait for the lighter evenings.

Busy times ahead

This is a photo of my seed collection taken today. I feel such a hoarder! lots of them are from last year, bought in half price sales in the garden centre, how could I resist a bargain ?? I do have to admit I still feel drawn to peruse the seed collection whenever I go to the garden centres wherever I am, and that I have bought some this year. I was mortified when I put them all on the table today to list them,(list at bottom of right hand side of page)

Most of the herbs came free from Gardening mags as did a few vegetable seeds.
I can't wait to get sowing. I usually start my seeds off indoors on a window sill or in the mini plastic covered greenhouse in the garden or the one on the allotment, depending on the seeds. I always feel that they get a better start and I like to see results rather than not know if they are going to come up in the ground. Carrots are the only seeds I grew straight into the bed last year, we had a good crop.

I didn't have much success with the Aubergines last year. I had a few small ones but they were a bit disappointing, however I will give them another try this year.

I have lots more flower seeds to sow this year, but some are for my garden as well. The Cosmos were very beautiful last year as were the Marigolds, Calendulas and Sweet-peas. I thought I would try some Dahlias this year, they aren't the kind of flower I would normally grow but they are an allotment traditional favourite and I must say that some of the other plots had stunning displays of them.

I daresay we shall all be seed and plant swapping again this year as we did last year, that's part of the communal allotment life and it's great.

A New year begins- 2009 on the allotment

Today was my first visit this year to the lottie. I had to go and see if the garlic and sweet-peas were ok in the unheated greenhouse. I hadn't watered them for well over a week and it would be a shame to lose them after all the attention I had previously given them. I am pleased to say that although they were a bit dried out they were absolutely fine and growing like crazy even in this freezing weather. I only hope I haven't done them any harm by using the very cold water ( it had ice in the bottle !) that was in the greenhouse, I think they are quite tough by now though.

This is the garlic grown in the ground it's hardly grown, but it's possibly going to be bigger bulbs as the cold apparently is good for them, and the other photo is the ones I planted in the greenhouse.

The garlic in the ground hasn't done half as well as the one's I planted in the greenhouse I am experimenting to see just how well the end growing results will be.

If the sweet-peas carry on growing so well I shall have flowers to pick earlier than I did last year. This is also an experiment as I grew them in the

spring last year, these were planted in the autumn.

These little watering tops are wonderful

I can recommend these little watering tops, if you haven't already got some treat yourself as they are reasonably cheap, fit onto a normal plastic "spring water" bottle and are so good for watering in the greenhouse or home. They don't drown the seedlings and are better than a clumsy watering can. Most garden centres have them, if not they can be ordered from the "Harrods" garden catalogue but that will be more expensive as they charge postage. Link below :

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/HarrodSite/pages/home/default.asp

and here is a photo:

Broad Beans

The Broad Beans are growing well, it's the first time I have started them off this early. I didn't get my plot until February, so by the time I had dug it over and prepared it this years beans went in later, but people who already had their plots were picking their autumn sown broad beans not long after mine had gone in, so I thought I would have a go.

This photo is of the Sweet Peas during the summer they had grown to the top of my 6ft high "goalpost" and the smell was Divine and I had bunches daily and had enough to give to neighbours as well. Roll on next year I have lofty plans I want to fulfill.

Good news - my Allotment is growing

I phoned the council today and it was confirmed that I now officially have the huge hard standing in front of my plot, the letter of confirmation was posted yesterday. So in the spring I shall either buy a bigger shed if I can afford it, or move my current small one onto the concrete base and then that frees up loads more planting area for me. There is a photo in an earlier post showing the layout of the hard standing.

Today's Harvest

The weather was so lovely today, it is still cold but it was pleasant enough to visit the lottie and clean the car. I got to harvest yet more leeks, curly kale and Brussels for tomorrows dinner. (photo - all washed and looking delicious ) I must say I shall be glad when the purple sprouting broccoli is ready to pick as I refuse to pay the price of it in the supermarkets.

I still haven't heard from the council as to whether or not I have the hard standing in front of my plot. If I haven't heard by tomorrows post I shall give them a ring, I still have my fingers crossed !!!!

That's about it for today, not much happening really on the allotment front, my sweet peas are coming on well in the unheated greenhouse, but no sign of the Garlic I planted.

I am going to tackle the compost bins at the weekend, they need emptying out,turning and shovelling back into the bins, apart from that there isn't really a lot to do until spring, other than harvest whats already growing up there.

Fingers crossed ! my plot may be growing

When I first took on my plot I asked if the hard standing was mine as well (see photo) seeing as it is attached to my space, but the lady from the council said NO ! apparently it used to have a large weed/rubbish bin on it that everyone shared, and when the council decided it was costing them to much to empty it (man power, petrol etc) they gave all plot holders a free compost bin and said "there you go ! put your rubbish in those" SO the concrete hard standings then became car parking spaces. (there is another one on the allotment)

Anyway to cut a long story, recently a new person has taken over the allotment section in the council offices and thankfully she has an allotment of her own, (elsewhere) so she understood the nuisance it must be for me to have cars parked right in front of my plot, and when she did her first inspection of allotments 2 weeks ago she made a note of it.

The thing is the other hard standing has recently been given to a new plot holder that has his plot right next to it. So I thought why shouldn't I get the one near me ? so I phoned the lady from the council today and she is going to "run it by her boss" and she can't see any reason why I can't have it as the car spaces weren't there whilst the bins where in place, and everyone managed to park if they needed to take their car in.

She said she will send me a letter to confirm it's mine next week if it's ok'd. SO fingers crossed if I get it I can move my shed onto it and free up much needed growing space where the shed is now. Oh it's so exciting ! but I am trying not to hold out much hope in case I don't get it.
Sorry if this is boring but it's all part of my allotment blog history.

The Broad Beans are in

I spent about two hours this afternoon at the allotment. The broad beans have got on so well I thought I should get them into the bed. I dug in a bag of farmyard manure first and then got them planted and covered just as it was getting dark, so haven't taken a photo of them in place but here's one before I took them to the lottie. and a photo of my wooden box with all my seeds for next year. I can't wait for the spring to get sowing.

Photo's from plot 19

Photo's above : Veggie for the dinner picked today, yummy ! The Brussels are getting bigger !

An old fire bucket rescued from the skip filled with wallflowers, and the beds covered for the winter with black plastic to keep the weeds down and warm up the soil. You can also see my paving slabs that I bought second hand for 50p each from the local council dump, great for my paths which I have to plan in the spring.

It's time I did some work on the Allotment

I finally got around to visiting the allotment today. The weather was dry and crisp, so I wrapped up warm as I still have the cold but I needed some fresh air. I went on my own as my allotment assistant ( Austin) decided he'd stay at home. I tidied up the strawberry bed, raked up some leaves and added them to our leaf mold bin and then weeded my flower bed as I could see the bulbs peeping through, they are very early so I hope the frost doesn't kill them. I gathered a small crop of veg for the dinner this evening. I picked some curly kale, some little sprouts and a couple of leeks (photo above) I also took some photo's of my little allotment Angel ( pictured here)and some others around the plot just for the record as it will be interesting to see how it changes over the coming months.