Quiet year..

It's been a pretty terrible summer and autumn at the allotment this year - the weather has been terrible, with a lot of rain. So much so there's not been much to write about - although we started quite a lot of different plants off at home in the cold frame as soon as they were planted out they'd end up being eaten by slugs which was very frustating.

One of the few crops that did survive were the potatoes, although they had to be dug up early as they caught blight - luckily we managed to cut down the blighted foliage and left the potatoes in the ground for a while before digging them up, they seem okay and we still have a fair amount stored at home. The peas didn't do so well, only managed to pick a small amount - although one surprise were the sugar snap peas we planted along with them which did really well till the weather turned. The patty pan squash plants also did quite well considering, although they came to an abrupt end after only one single squash. The pumpkin plants also grew really quickly and we had the beginnings of a couple of pumpkins but they were also munched by the slugs which was a big disappointment.

We managed to finally get out to the allotment for the first time in ages last Saturday and dug over the beds - luckily the ground wasn't too wet although it was pretty cold. Felt quite satisfied to get things looking a bit tidier although it does look pretty desolate other than the surviving couple of sprout plants and leeks. Hopefully next year the weather will be better and the plot will be a bit more productive!

Slugs, Strawberries and Bumblebees

Things have picked up at the allotment as the weather has improved although it also means the grass paths seem to be growing really quickly so spending a lot of time mowing and strimming. Also had some problems with suspected slug attacks as a whole bed of small cauliflower and cabbage plants disappeared pretty much overnight, quite disappointing as we'd started them off at home from seed before planting out. Luckily we still have a few sprout plants left (well, lucky for Alison, I'm not keen on them..yuck)

We've also planted out some summer squashes and also a couple of pumpkin plants started at home from seed we swapped for at the seed swap earlier this year - they're all doing well so far and not been attacked by anything (yet). Also our strawberry plants are growing well and starting to fruit, the strawberries are huge and there seems to be loads of them :)

The raspberry canes also seem to be growing well, hopefully soon they'll be tall enough to tie in to the wire & stake supports I put up (which are a bit wonky to be honest but they'll do). The potatoes also seem to be growing really well with lots of foliage. We also have sugar snap peas and regular peas which are doing okay. There's also some onion sets along with my rather pathetic attempt at growing some from seed (maybe 3-4 of them left, they look more like blades of grass at the moment). Lots of garlic still in the ground which seems to be doing well, and also some fairly tiny leeks which will hopefully pick up soon.

Mowed, strimmed and had a tidy in the garden at home this evening after work - along with what's in the cold frame we have some herbs and other bits and bobs growing in pots and around the garden. Took this picture of a bumblebee on the chive flowers, seemed to be loads of them in the garden this evening. Good excuse to experiment with the macro mode on my new camera :)
 

Cold frame and more seed sowing

It's (still) been pretty quiet on the allotment front recently although managed to get last Friday off work and did a bit of digging and weeding on a fairly nice day - other than the grass needing a cut it's looking fairly tidy, although still quite empty. However we've been busy at home preparing stuff to plant out in the next few months - we have a wooden DIY coldframe that we're using to sow seeds and start off plants in. Currently in there we have some onions, summer cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, sprouts (bleurgh) and the four sweet pea seedlings mentioned in the last post.

Also I sowed some tomatoes and aubergines a while ago in the heated propagator that we have in the house, they've done well and have just transferred them to bigger pots - eventually the tomatoes can go outside in pots (they're a small cherry tomato variety suited for containers) although the aubergines will need a greenhouse or conservatory to live in, but already have a few homes in mind for them.

Next month things should be getting busier - have prepared a few beds for the potatoes which will go in soon. Also going to plant loads of peas soon hopefully (they did well last year, and bonus is that I really like eating them too) which also means constructing some sort of structure for them to grow up and support them which is always fun (have designs on an epic pea-sail made from bamboo sticks and garden netting..)

First seedlings of the year

Have had fairly good weather this week (other than being a bit cold), finally made it to the weekend which is pretty much the only time I can get anything done at the allotment and it's chucking it down with rain. So guess not much is going to be happening allotment-wise today. Managed to get a bit done last week though (mostly shovelling poo and tidying the plot..exciting stuff) so that's something at least.

However I did plant some sweet pea seeds a couple of weeks ago and they have germinated which is good - I saved the seeds from some plants Alison bought last year which we grew in the back garden in pots, they did pretty well and noticed that some had started to form seed pods so saved a few and left them to dry and saved the seeds. Wasn't sure if they would actually be viable and germinate but seems they have which is pretty cool :)

They will now be going into the coldframe out in the garden - bit worried as it's been quite cold recently but from what I've read they are pretty hardy and need to be out there to toughen up and acclimatize ready for planting when the weather gets better. Hopefully they'll make nice plants.

Windy day..

Was hoping to get some stuff done at the allotment today but the weather had other ideas - really windy and since the allotment is quite exposed with not much shelter decided to just check on it and dug up a few leeks whilst there (they're going to end up in a chicken and leek bake sometime next week probably..)

Have to decide which of the beds we're going to put the potatoes in this year and dig some manure in ready for planting which should be around April (I think?) - have to get some seed potatoes and get them chitting sometime soon. Also need to order some seeds, want to try growing some onions from seed this year, and believe it'll soon be time to sow seeds in trays which can go in the coldframe at home for now.

Other than that, still plenty of digging and weeding to do ready for Spring. Looking forward to the weather getting better! :)

First post..

So here is our first post - unfortunately it's very early January and the weather is pretty bad (lots of wind and rain) so we've not been up to much at the plot. Currently it's looking pretty bleak (and quite muddy!). Most of the beds are empty (except for the weeds of course) although we still have some leeks growing (still a bit small though, think we were a bit late planting them out) and also some garlic has started sprouting which was planted out not so long ago. We've also recently planted some raspberry canes and some strawberry plants on a large area near the back of the plot that's been dug over and sat empty for a while - hopefully we might have some strawberries this year but the raspberry canes probably won't fruit till next year.

Things aren't very exciting at this time of year but hopefully in a few months when Spring arrives we'll be a lot busier - It has been hard work since starting last April (especially digging out the beds!) but well worth it, and have a good layout ready to start growing stuff this year. Really looking forward to it!

(We don't have any recent photos of the plot - if we did they'd look a bit boring what with it being winter and the plot looking a bit empty. However here is a photo taken a few months after we started last year showing most of the plot, lot more sunny back then!)