Fresco Como una Lechuga!

(Corrections are expected and appreciated!!)

Este blogpost es para mis amigos de curso de español. Hablo siempre de mi huerta tan aqui lo es! 

Eses nosotros dos huertas; de 125m² en total

Hace el sitio en Hungerford desde 2009. Jamie, mi pareja, y yo hemos cultivido vegetales aqui desde el principio. Hay mas que 100 otras jardineros al sitio.

El Marsh Lane Sitio

Este año hemos comenzado una huerta nueva - otros 50m². Es muy dificil cavar.

Huerta Numero 3

Aqui cultivamos nuestra ajo y ensalada.

Estan las patatas de Tenerife. Le parece frio si hace mal tiempo! Son mas pico que los otras patatas.

Papas arrugadas

Estoy esperando este año cultivamos muchas vegetales y podamos hablar de las! Cebollas, tomates, ajos, habas verdes, pepinos y calabacíns. Delicioso!

Si teneis suerte habéis unas fresas pronto!

Signs of Things to Come

So after catching the sun yesterday (naughty - I didn't put any suncream on) I was quite relieved that it wasn't so sunny today (that isn't something anyone would normally hear me say, but I've got transplant clinic on Wednesday!!). We had a lovely few hours on the site this afternoon and enjoyed chatting to other plotholders.

We sowed some wild flowers at the back of Plot 8 and Jamie sowed night stocks at the front, by the bench, so hopefully we'll have some warm fragrant evenings on the plot this year! Maybe eating strawberries - look at that little beauty! (PLEASE don't let there be another frost!!)

Not so busy today. Though I did plant out a few asparagus pea plants - along the front of the plot as the flowers are so pretty and they need to be accessible to get all those delicious pods picked when they're still small and tasty.
Also, rainbow chard (a couple of plants of each colour: yellow, pink, orange & red) which are the other side of the same quarter, again for easy access as I like chard raw in salads so eat it regularly. And it looks really stunning if the sun catches it right.
The remaining seedlings I've potted on as replacements if the planted plants disappear or as spares for fellow plotholders if they want them... They're looking a little sad immediately after transplanting but they should cheer up in a couple of days.

This is our Tiger Nuts pot - known as Chufa in Spain. They make a lovely drink called Horchata which I really enjoyed in Tenerife. Hopefully in the late Autumn we'll get some chufa and be able to make our own... The grass-like plant has to be kept wet, hence the green trug-thing...with the escape route for the insects which are always drawn to water then drown in it! I saw a frog today too so perhaps he'll fancy a dip.

Our rhubarb is still going strong, giving us plenty of stalks whenever we want it - these raspberry red plants are definitely worth growing as the rhubarb stays red after cooking.

Sow Far Sow Good

We didn't expect it to be so hot today but it was lovely and mostly sunny. A great day for getting a lot of our seeds sown...Here goes...

Scarlet Empire runner beans, Oarsman leeks and Revenge sprouts in modules.

Best of All swede direct into the ground.

Albion Parsnips and 3 varieties of carrot (Purple Sun, Eskimo & Primo) direct into the ground. The parsnips have bottle cloches for protection and, as usual, are sown 3 per station - we'll only keep the best seedlings. The carrots are in 2 rows under enviromesh.

American cress (like watercress, but doesn't need running water (apparently)) into a pot, which will stay behind the greenhouse, as it likes a bit of shade.

Some Empress of India Nasturtium  and Radish Rats Tails in an empty spot near the compost bins.

Paris Silverskin onions in the raised bed with the beets. And, the beets I planted out last week are Cylindria, not Boltardy as I've been thinking!

Tenerife spuds

Here's a timelapse of part of our day ...

Wrap Up Warm

Tonight it would seem we're going to get a frost. The sky is completely clear and it does feel a bit nippy, so, better to be safe than sorry...
That's our potatoes completely earthed up. The little Tenerife ones have an additional fleece covering - we could hear them shivering already :-{

We had some more fleece so covered the strawberry plants which have the most flowers. The other plants may get frosted, but it's only the flowers that will be affected at this stage.

Aw, and my poor little lettuces - not sure that this cloche will help. But surely it won't be a harsh frost...

Hopefully the seedlings in the greenhouse will be ok...


 

Know Your Enemies

I got screeched at by a couple of jackdaws! They weren't happy when I stopped them jumping along behind the frog which was trying to hop away in the long grass - poor froggy was only a little fella. Anyway, he got away safe. I wish the jackdaws would concentrate on slugs and snails, not the good guys!
We did a lot of weeding, tidying and feeding today - our strawberries have had a bit of tomato feed and are now netted as tiny strawberries are just beginning to develop.

This is the site after it's been tidied

Jamie completely dug and weeded the quarter where our parsnips and carrots are going - alongside our onions. I planted my purple-podded mangetout outside. I'm growing them up an obelisk. They're well-protected at present otherwise the pigeons wouldn't be able to resist. I don't intend to leave the bottle cloches on once they've got a bit bigger. I've planted all 11 plants, so the obelisk may get a bit overcrowded if they all survive. I'm hoping I'll be able to get at the pods...I'm guessing the flowers grow on the outside facing the sun so that's where I'm hoping the pods will end up!

I also planted out some of the Little Gem and Tom Thumb lettuce outside. I'm not protecting them as we have plenty, but may have to take action if pigeons, pheasants or slugs step up...

All the Boltardy beetroot are planted out now too - this is a part of allotment life that I love; filling in the gaps with tiny plants and watching them grow into food - hopefully mostly for me and Jamie! They're under cover, but only because they're going to share the small raised bed with Silverskin onions, which should be sowed soon.

Our Tenerife spuds are emerging in the bags! Not showing enough for a photo yet, but tell-tale humps in the soil. They obviously prefer the warmth of the bags more than in the ground at the moment.

And here are our bell pepper and chilli pepper. They've grown a lot since we bought them in Wilko a few weeks ago. They're staying at home for the timebeing...