Snow 2010. Again !

Snow !
Some quick shots of the recent snow, over a foot fell in 24 hours and coated everything in a nice blanket of white !

 

Birr Vember !

Down the plot yesterday and I note that the first frosts have hit here in Caterham, quite late in the year I though until I was corrected by the old hats on the plot.

The green manure has spurted up and appears to give a decent cover to the empty spaces, fingers crossed this will mean less weeds come spring !

The onions and garlic have all ready started to sprout, and the leeks are well underway developing nice thick stalks.

I have finished moving the strawberries and raspberry canes, and a number of flower bulbs have been set in the borders to brighten up the plot for next year.  A further job completed was the cutting down of the artichoke stalks so the winter winds don't pull up the tubers like last year. All in all not a bad days work.

Berry berry much.

A quick update and early look at the new strawberry bed under development, there simply was to much grass to deal with this season around the plants so I hope this will help keep the weeds & grass down.

Brrrrr October !

October 2010

What a load of...

Manure! After having the whole plot dug over and weeded in the last few afternoons, I have sowed green manure ( rye grass & trefoil/Clover) in all the empty space left after harvest to improve and maintain plot seven's soil.

I hope that they will be forming a green carpet that stops weeds colonising and prevent nutrients from being washed away.

Last season I had cast some green manure in the vacant bed and I am well impressed in the improvement in soil quality.  So fingers crossed.

Blubs & holes

Well,  I had a spare hour today before the boss got home so I ducked down to the plot and got 50 garlic cloves in. They came from this years harvest , so fingers crossed. I hope they do well with the 50 red onion and 50 shallots that are neighbours. I plan to have rows of marigolds between them in the new year. I really like all the plots I have seen with them this year and they can't harm keeping the bugs and weeds down! I also removed the last if the sweetcorn and I placed the shafts in next years bean trench for added composting, hopefully this should give an added boost that the beans didn't have this time. On Sunday I finished putting down a small decked area at the front of the shed. I plan to have the boss sit here during the summer months to supervise, I was told to make it nice with a chair and pimms on tap !!!

Lots of digging...

Bounty

Harvest time is by far the most rewarding of times at the allotment. The boss and I have spent the day picking another load of the fruits of our labour . Marrow,beans,potatoes,carrots,spring onions and lettuce has been our targets for today. With the weeks "shopping" at the allotment collected we retired home to a lovely bottle of red wine while putting away and storing the food. I have already started to plan where next years garlic, etc are to go and I have learned a lot this year. Tomorrow we will be harvesting half the sweetcorn ! Yum.

Garlic

 

Marrows

 

Beans

 

Lifted the garlic yesterday and they have spent the day drying in the brilliant sunshine, I have taken them home today to string up and dry further, the Marrows have started to "fatten" and the Beans are still climbing and I have taken some harvest all ready from them. Yum !

Sweetie corn !

YUM !

Sunshine

Bright Bright Sun

Wow what a scorcher ! I went down to the plot this morning to make sure everything had a really good drink of water, the taps down on the allotment are still working but the pressure is very low indeed so I took my time and used a watering can to ensure I didn't waste a single drop !

Fingers crossed that we don't end up with no water at all !

Allotment Photos

Allotment piccies today !

Allotment Strawberries

Allotment Strawberries,  despite a sudden burst of grass on the strawberry section on the allotment, I harvested these and oh wow , Yum !

Longest day of the year 2010

Today is the longest day of the year 2010, and the end of the spring harvest !
Down here at the allotments in Caterham it is clear that Midsummer is upon us and planning now for Autumn and winter crops should be underway (Or at least considered).

Things to grow this month ;

Another row of beetroot , Spring Cabbage for next year , Chicory ,Another row of carrots ,More lettuce , spring onions, and few more rows of cabbage , cauliflower and kale.

Jobs to do;
Turn the compost heap,weeding , pea and bean care , heavy watering the potatoes.
Sort out water collection and guttering for next year.
Dig over and cover summer manure area.
Build that dammed greenhouse !
Net cover the brassicas.
Lift garlic.

(Update this with pictures later!)

Photo bonanza

Hi there, Still cant do all that much at the moment apart from pick at the odd weed and water the veggies.

I took some photos to cheer me up, everything is growing so fast !

.

A nice pair of melons

Plot seven , caterham on the hill , allotment growing fantastic melons :)

Sweet Sweet Sweet Corn !

Popped down the allotment to have a look at whats growing and the sweetcorn is rushing along, with the warm weather I had to give the patch a real good soaking with some nice cool water to ensure they stay the course!

I ask you this, what is it with the weeds, they grow faster than the veggies !

Grow my little ones , grow !

June 2010

Wow what a June, the weather has been fantastic and I have been laid up with my ribs unable to do more than watch stuff grow! I am slowly recovering and just about able to start bending over to weed (about time!) and plant out seedlings again. The boss has been helping me keep on top of things and has been great, but i think the help is only to make sure the strawberry's are looked after and kept well !

Veggie sticks

How cool are these !

15th of May 2010

Peas coming along

Lettuce bed

25 Leeks after a drink

Taken on the 15th of May 2010

Half way thru planting the sweet corn.

Ouchie.

Beans beans good for your heart...

Well it is going to be an interesting few weeks, due to a domestic mishap (New mattress), a trip to the GP led on to a trip to hospital and that I have fractured a rib!

Boy it hurts. Pain management is the only offer I have while it will take 6-8 weeks to heal fully and I am very glad I did all the heavy digging months ago on the allotment as there is no way in hell will I be able to swing a spade or fork in anger for at least two months.

I cannot even put on my socks with out the better half helping !
That been said I did venture down and took a risk in planting out the beans. I think they are hardy enough to survive for the next few weeks. I will keep the sweetcorn however in the potting shed for another fortnight taking them out for a few hours to harden off before dropping them in the plot as the loss of the shed beside me will mean they will be more exposed than last year and I want to give them the best chance of giving a large crop this year.

Well that's it for now, going to be resting a lot with my feet up, so I think simple potting on and succession seedlings will be my lot for a while, unless I can convince the boss to do some heavy work , other than ice cream and teas !

April pictures