Christmas visit

I visited with dad today and collected some brussells sprouts and some leeks. The ground is frozen solid. This is a shame as I have raspberry canes to plant that dad got for me but I can't dig frozen ground.

Brussells sprouts and more clearing up

Took down the bean frames today and threw the bean plants entwined in plastic into the handy skip that's at the allotments at the moment. Pulled up and disposed of the sweetcorn plants and had a general hoe and rake. I've left one pair of supports up for the catherine wheels and laid some paving slabs to do fireworks on Wednesday!

Clearing up and compost-spreading

Had a bit more of a clearup today of the dying-off plants. I took up a wheelbarrow of lovely-looking compost from our garden kitchen waset composter to the plot today. It looks great and had a lot of eggshells in it (we eat lots of eggs) so heopfully they'll keep the slugs away.

The end of the curcubits

A few more courgettes today and I harvested the butternut squashes as frost is likely this week. I've had a bit of a weed and tidied up a bit too. The sweetcorn and the beans are dying back now and will be taken out soon.

Pumpkins, horseradish and the last of the potatoes and courgettes

One pumpkin had been slug-devoured so I've harvested the rest now. I dug up the last of the potatoes today and also some horseradish roots as we're having beef tonight. I think I might have had the last of the courgettes too...

More harvesting

Barbara and I harvested lots more beans and some more potatoes. It's a real pleasure to be reaping the fruits of the labour of the year. The brussells sprouts and leeks are coming on well although the sprouts are a bit whitefly-infested.

Beans, Corn, Courgettes, Pumpkins and Butternut Squash

Well Neil did a fantastic job. The pumpkins are ripening nicely and the courgettes are still coming thick and fast. I picked a sweetcorn cob today and had it boiled for dinner with butter and black pepper. Very nice.





There are loads of beans - both runners and Cosse Violette. The potatoes have died off now so I'll dig up the tubers in the next week or so. There are lots there to be dug!

Final visit before holidays

Went up tonight and had a general tidy up as well as harvesting some more potatoes and courgettes. Sprouts and Sweetcorn are starting to show promise of harvest as are the beans.

Our friends Dave and Neil have kindly agreed to look after the plot while we've away. Neil used to look after the garden at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons so we're confident it is in good hands!

Monster potato harvest

I cut loads more courgettes and lettuces today and dug up a line of potatoes. The ground was lovely and soft so I dug out most of the potatoes by hand. There are loads!

More lettuces

I planted some more lettuce seeds in pots that melt into the soil today. I put them in the propagator and they should be nicely germinated and ready to put outside when we get back from holidays.

Just a tidy-up

All going well. Hoed as many weeds as possible and pulled out anything that wasn't meant to be there.

You can have too much of a good thing

More courgettes! The lettuces are huge too. Sweetcorn is looking good (about 4 ft high now) and there will be lots of butternut squash in a month or two. The leaves on the pumpkin plants seem to be going a bit yellow. The pumpkins look OK though. I'm also looking forward to the first beans. They are growing well.

Going crazy

I harvested about 12 huge courgettes today only a week after harvesting the last lot. Gonna have to start giving them away...

The pumpkins are huge already. I harvested one even though it is still green. It was nice and soft inside and cooked beautifully with some brown sugar and cinnamon. I've also put some that are still growing on bricks. Thanks for the tip, Roland!

Also cut some more lettuces. They are doing rather well but are a bit crowded so I'll nurse them in smaller pots next year.

Full production mode now

A short visit today. Loads of courgettes appearing now and some pumpkins are beginning to look like they will be a good size. The lettuces are also growing fast. Sweetcorn is now up to about waist height.

I gave the plot a quick hoeing-over. The beans are getting quite tall now too. some needed untangling!

Leek Planting

I gave the whole plot another hoeing today and harvested yet more courgettes! I planted the leeks that Sheila Dunford gave me. It rained rather hard and is still raining now I'm home writing this.

The first potatoes

Short visit today with 11 year old Adam. He planted his pumpkin plant on our plot and I planted the horseradish Tom gave me. Dug up two potato plants (Milva) today and got easily enough potatoes for dinner for four with some left over for tomorrow. More courgettes harvested too. Dinner tonight included home-grown basil and allotment-grown potatoes, courgettes and gooseberries!

Visit with Barbara and Lulu

Just another tidy up today. Things are growing nicely now.

The first pumpkins are also starting to form. Very exciting.

I ran the hoe over most of the plot today as the weeks are growing very vigorously now.

Visit with Parents

My parents as well as Gordon's mum were visiting this weekend. We popped up to the allotment on Sunday afternoon for a look. We harvested lots of gooseberries as well as some rhubarb for folks to take home.

The courgettes are now coming thick and fast!

In the heatwave

We've seen temperatures of 30C this week but there has been to occasional heavy rain so things were not looking too dry. Quite a few weeds today but I ran the hoe over most of the plot. The lettuces are doing well as are the sweetcorn plants. Beans are starting to climb up the frame too. I picked the first courgettes and we had them gently cooked with olive oil and garlic for dinner. Yummy!

Tidy up and more rhubarb and gosseberries

Just a quick visit tonight. Weeds not too bad but had a quick hoe ever the plot to keep them at bay.Potatoes are looking really good now, beans have started to germinate and the courgette plants are beginning to look established after planting out.

After the storm

We had a fantastic thunderstorm around 5pm today. There were still hail stones on the allotment at 7.30pm!

The plants seem to have largely survived and weed growth has not been too bad since the last visit. The potatoes took a bit of a bashing. No sign of bean germination yet and the brussels sprouts have been rather chomped by slugs & snails.

I planted the lettuces today. They look a bit sorry for themselves and probably should have gone out a couple of weeks ago.

A liberal sprinkling of slug pellets should hopefully protect the lettuces from being chomped!

I harvested some rhubarb and gooseberries as well as the last few radishes from the first planting.

Marathon session!

A 4.5-hour visit today!

I weeded around the potatoes and the sweetcorn and uncovered the second strip of land, behind the cucurbits and in front of the potatoes. That land took a lot of weeding and I pulled out huge amounts of taproots. I bet the weeds will be back before I know it though.

Using a trowel so much has left a nasty raw patch on the palm of my right hand which is extremely sore.

I built a frame from shrub stakes (dirt cheap - 35p at B&Q) with canes across the top and pean and bean netting over it (stapled to the stakes).

I've sown Peas (greensage), Dwarf French Beans, Climbing French Beans (Cosse Violette) and Runner Beans. In that order, anticlockwise around frame from back right as you face the plot.

Quick tidy up and first courgette

The weather was extremely nice and warm and sunny for the start of this week and is now turning colder and wet. I will use some slug pellets if the weather stays wet as I'd rather everything didn't get eaten by slugs and snails.

I visited on Monday and Wednesday just to water the new seedlings (as they are like plants in pots until they start putting roots into the ground) but decided that was too boring to blog about.

The weeds have certainly grown a lot since I last weeded so I gave the open ground a good hoeing today. I also raked some more soil around the potatoes. They are coming on very nicely.

The sweetcorn has germinated and is about an inch high and the first courgette flower has appeared, complete with tiny courgette.

Planting the cucurbits

Planted cucubits in the front of the plot, through the mypex weed-supressing cloth. From left to right planted 6xButternut Squash (F1 Metro), 6xCourgette (F1 Astia) and 3xPumpkin (Jack O'Lantern). These plants have been nursed from seeds planted on 19th April.

Sowed up some of the large holes with garden twine to keep the light off the weeds that would compete with the plants.

Picked some radishes and a few goosberries. Both are looking good and growing well. The potatoes are showing a lot of leaf now. They needed a good watering today.