Warning - Whinger Alert

Bleah, what a year!

One would think that a month off work would mean that our plots are looking beautiful and we're busy harvesting. Unfortunately that isn't the case as I've been sickly and there are a lot of bare patches where we just haven't had time to sow, plant or grow anything. I hate to admit that as I write this I know there are marigolds, cabbages and leeks drying out in their trays - how awful :-(

Well, we're resigned to not eating much this year! Here are a few pics on the few occasions we have visited.

I'm still hoping to get some mangetout. I was most disappointed, though not surprised, when I saw that the pigeons had visited...

I half-heartedly attached some strips of plastic and there's been a bit of new (un-nibbled) growth, so we'll see...

Apart from the rhubarb and strawbs this is what we've harvested! Lucky I don't have any appetite at the moment. We pulled the Desiree potatoes because the foliage had gone down with something.

I am going to risk saying that my Florence fennel looks good (well, it did a few days ago).

Here's to feeling healthy again quite soon!

Catching Up

A couple of weeks away from work and a few sunny days have made all the difference! I feel much better and the plot is looking at least part-loved again. We've been driving to the allotment and parking next to our plot so I can escape to the car (the shed) as necessary!

This is what we've been living on throughout June - no wonder you've been unwell, you're thinking!! OK, not quite, but it is all we're harvesting at the moment.

The Raspberry Red rhubarb has been amazing; shooting up delicious new stems regularly. The plants are collapsing under the weight of the older leaves and stems now, just look at the size of those two plants!

We've enjoyed quite a lot of air traffic recently because of D Day commemorations and this Dakota flying low over the site was very impressive - take my word for it - the photo does NOT do it justice.

Jamie's just finished sowing some Speedy dwarf French beans for germinating at home, before planting out on the plot. This may mean that our runners and French beans don't all arrive at once...

The Scarlet Empire runners are looking happy since being transplanted on the plot and protected from wind damage by fleece.

Look at that healthy bud, just waiting to become flowers then lovely beanies!

The raised bed crops are looking ok, though the Pak choi leaves may not be edible due to flea beetle damage. We should get some salad and I live in hope that the beets will pull through (though generally seedlings don't appreciate being completely dried out in the early stages of their lives!)

The Florence fennel continues to need regular protection from slugs. They are beginning to bulb up, so I'm looking forward to that!

 

I've put a trellis up for purple-podded mangetout and some PeeWee 65 petit pois. I've also sown a row of Asparagus pea, chard and Callalloo. Jamie transplanted the grafted Lizzano tomato plants into high standing pots. We're hoping this will stop us trampling on so many of the toms when they start

I've put a Festival squash to scramble along the ground near the pea trellis and a Sunburst patty pan squash, which is a bush variety, on the legume quarter. Two Zephyr squash have been planted to grow over the squash trellis from last year.

Jamie's sown the carrots and parsnips and we've got Tundra cabbage and multi-coloured beet root seedlings just popping up in the seeding cage by our healthy-looking potato plants.

So, we've been pretty busy - well, Jamie's been busy; I've provided vital morale boosting and support :-)

What we have done...

Luckily Plot 8 is looking a bit better than Plot 7. The rhubarb and strawberries have been serving us very well. We had to net the strawberries as we have a friendly female blackbird who has a very sweet tooth :-)

Slugs are again the bane of the site. They've eaten some potato plants down to stalks - our Chopin rows received a lot of attention, but the Desiree got away with it (at least the foliage has).

I bought a tray of 8 Florence fennel, which have gone into the raised bed, protected by bottle cloches and slug pellets. Everyday we find new dead slugs surrounding each plant - gross, but at least I still have 8 plants...

I've put rows of Pak choi, lettuce and beets into the raised bed too. The slug pellets are saving them too, but there aren't many red fire lettuce left!

Alison (fellow plotholder) gave me a bunch of jewel-coloured flowers - so beautiful!

The squashes and gherkins germinated well but aren't quite ready to go into the ground yet. The cucamelons didn't grow well, so none of them to try this year - unless anyone else on the allotment site had any luck with theirs.

The two rows of broad beans are pathetic, as a result of slug (and possibly pheasant) abuse. We've got a few flowers on most remaining stems so we're leaving them to do what they will... And hopefully we'll get a few beans to eat!

A Lapse in Blogging

A few weeks of not feeling tip-top and now the World Cup aren't helping Plot 7 (or this blog) to look like a happy growing spot :-(

I'm just working on a summary of where we're at, but here's where we're at right now - Come on England!!

Something Achieved

At last! I made the chive vinegar that I've been thinking about since last August when I saw it made on The Horticultural Channel.

The first jar I made up with white wine vinegar, using the chives which I picked last week and whose buds had opened in water at home. The colour had already started seeping into the water at this point and the flowers weren't so vibrant as the freshly picked ones.

Later, after a visit to the plot, I made another jar using some lovely fresh, and more richly coloured, chives and normal distilled white vinegar.

We also had some delicious stewed rhubarb, plucked from the plot today.

Lovely colourful ingredients to work with!

Try to ignore the doughnuts!!

Two Weeks Later...

My niece's wedding was a fabulous affair - such a beautiful location in the Berkshire downs, in the sunshine with delightful company. Always lovely to catch up with the cousins and more distant family members.

Recovery on Sunday included a few hours of weeding and more tidying. Jamie chopped and manual-mowed the path (not a nice neat path) between the hedge and our plots - {nearly killed him, on the hottest day of the year so far 25°!}

This is a photo from 5th May:

Two weeks away from the plot is a long time - look at how the hedge has grown!

I was very pleasantly surprised to see my seeds had germinated and not dried out or been nibbled - lucky some things can take a bit of abuse!

And the spuds have obviously been up for  a few days.

And, I picked some chive flowers for my vinegar. I picked a lot of buds and hope they'll open at home before being popped in the jar (will it ever get made?!)

Then we left as the helicopters were circling the site!

Still catching up

We finally managed to get some time on the plot today. We joined the many other plotholders who were taking advantage of a lovely warm (18°) Bank Holiday. 

As with most visits, it starts with a quick plot inspection. The rhubarb is attempting to take over Plot 8 and I'm pleased to say that some of the broad beans and onions have sprouted. The grass paths really do look good at Marsh Lane, but certainly add to the workload; the edges had nearly grown a foot! Look at those lovely strawberry flowers - I really hope they don't get hit by a frost this week!

Finally I got to clearing the brassicas from last year. They grew really well, as you can see among the weeds. But we just didn't get round to picking them - isn't that dreadful? Such a waste, but they do get composted - by the Council, not in our compost bins; compost doesn't like too much brassica waste added in one go.

Jamie dug over the quarter with the manure pile, which we'll use for brassicas this year. 

So, we got a lot of tidying done, we took 6 bagfuls of green waste away with us!

And, we got our little greenhouse up, so I sowed a couple of seed trays - just Boltardy beets and half trays of lettuce Red Fire and Tom Thumb - at last it feels like a real start.

Oh, and +SueatGLAllotments, no flowers on my chives yet ...

But so close ...

so I haven't missed the boat with making my chive vinegar yet...

ChainMail Article June 2014

It's April showers all the way today so I don't know if we'll get to the plot. Shame really, I want to make some chive flower vinegar.

I'm in the process of writing my next Chainmail article - Hungerford's quarterly magazine. This will be for the June-September edition. Unbelievable! I'm still trying to work out what happened to February and March this year!

Here's a link to my article in the previous edition. Inspired by some of the lovely wildlife visitors on Marsh Lane and who I'd like to see more of!

Potatoes and Beans

We had a successful afternoon on the plot today. It was reasonably warm, though if the chill wind blew while the sun wasn't shining I needed to grab my jacket. The temperature fell to zero over the last couple of nights.

One of our rhubarb plants had sent up this flower head. When the bud starts growing it looks like any other stem, but now the flower has developed it's obvious and easy to remove - to stop the whole plant going to seed.

After cutting the stem off there's a gaping hollow stem.

To avoid it filling with water and rotting I put a cover over the top. The flowers are really pretty, but I'll enjoy them on other people's plots rather than on our's :-)

We achieved today's prime objective and got our spuds in! We've only planted 20 this year: 10 x Chopin and 10 x Desiree. Spread across three rows. The Chopin are on grass clippings and manure while the Desiree also have shredded paper in their trenches. All have a bit of added 6x and of course the nematodes should be doing their thing to keep the slugs at bay.



Rain threatened, but stayed away

Here's Jamie adding Christmas tree sprinkles as a further slug deterrent! (I rather like the shadow in this photo).

Christmas Tree needles

We also sowed some broad beans: 15 x Suttons and 10 x Express - we're hoping these varieties will result in their own succession harvesting...

As usual we protect them immediately with bottle cloches. There's debate at Marsh Lane as to whether the pheasants or mice are the biggest broad beanshoot chompers; they're both unwelcome, but frequent, visitors.

The cat is enjoying all the activity, human, gnome, rodent and feathered!

Gnome Toppling Time

The strawberry flowers make it look like it could be a bumper year, if the frost stays off. I thought it funny that this photo shows flowers on the same plant with 5 and 6-petals - 6 is apparently more common, will have to pay more attention next time I'm on the site

A Hand Bag?!

Here are our leeks we picked today - some real whoppers! Looking forward to having them in a cheesy sauce, with Quorn, topped with lovely mash - yum!

Oh, yes, and it's a gratuitous shot of my iridescent handbag, which I love :)