Progress Report – Winter Preparations

I’ve been quite busy doing some large and cumbersome tasks.  I’ve enlarged the beds and got next year’s rotation underway.

We now have two 22x8.5 foot beds, and two 20x

Technorati Tags: Winter,planting,digging

8.5 beds all dug and turned over.  Our onions are in, as are garlic, leeks and carrots.

I’ve got the new brassica bed dug and planted with cauliflower, curly cale and purple sprouting.  The leeks and beans that are still in there will be out soon, and that can be left to over winter and will plant some summer varieties in there once the frosts have done their job.

Next year’s legume bed is dug, it’s an odd shape because I’ve left the blackcurrant bushes in situ, but I’ve also planted in this year’s potato bed 3xgooseberry, redcurrant and blackcurrant giving us another 9 fruit bushes maybe in 2011.  Should be good.  Need to build a net for them at some point. 

Had a tidy up and a mow around, and things, apart from the nettles and tatty front fence are looking quite good.  As usual, a weeding and a trip to the dump are required but otherwise I’m quite optimistic about next year.

One downer, we’ve got leek moth caterpillars in our mature leeks.  We are eating them anyway :)  The creatures are about a centimetre long and pretty much featureless, and they don’t appear to affect the flavour.

Progress report

Beds 1 and 2 (spuds) are doing fine. A surprise crop of Nasturtiums are in bed 1 on top of the potatoes. Fine with me. Herbs at the bottom of the bed are looking great now.

Bed 3: Have planted Kale and white sprouting, all doing fine. South end is doing better than North end, and I think that is just down to situation and prevalance of bindweed. Needs weeding. Chives are now in flower and finished (as a crop, but I love the flowers)

Bed 4: Lettuces are just great. No problems at all. One or two small icebergs but most hearting-up nicely. Harvesting and eating regularly, and it is amazing how much taste they have compared to shop bought ones.
Radishes harvesting, and I made radish pickle yesterday. 2nd crop to come.

Bed 5: Squashes are finally fruiting. One good courgette on plant (about 8") several more on the way. Needs weeding. Fennel looks nice. Corn is beginning to show cobs. Runner beans doing great.

Bed 6: Broad beans. Tiny. Blackfly appears to have moved on. I am beginning to suspect that I have in fact a perfectly healthy crop of dwarf broad beans. Dwarf runners growing well, I have staked them, just in case. Probably a waste of time. Leeks doing really well.

Bed 7: Done and empty

Bed 8: Needs one last fork over and dig.

Greenhouse: Toms doing well now. Have some red and many yellow ripe. Squash doing really well, whatever it is will be fruiting soon. Lots of fruit on the Apache pepper plant. Very long fruit. Russian Taragon doing ok, one looks to be dead but feeding and watering anyway.

Tomatoes outside greenhouse aren't fruiting at all. Maybe they need more shelter from the wind or juset more time. Time will tell.

Border: Rosemary bay, thyme, artichokes all doing fine. Second artichoke harvest now ready. 1 of 3 plants looks nearly dead after massive blackfly infestation.

Jerusalem artichokes are doing really well. Very vigourous.

Jobs to be done: Plant cabbages, empty incinerator and have a fire. Tidy up. Kill wasps. Bring down nettles. Have a fiew. More harvesting.

Things done: Made gooseberry jam (some of our own, some scrumped from next door), rhubarb jam, redcurrant jam, pickled radish.

Observations: Very glad I didn't compost the broad beans. Absolutely delicious. Today is much, much too hot for doing serious work.

Getting there

A one week gap between visits has left my best tomato plants looking decidely sorry for themselves, although the fruits are fine and ripening nicely. I've fed them with organic sea weed fertiliser after giving them a really good drink; so hopefully they'll perk up.

Some good chillis sized chillis are now coming.

Generally now taking the fruits of my labour rather than planting anything worthwhile. Tomatoes, radishes, mint, broad beans are all coming through nicely.

The beans are interesting, the plants are tiny but the beans are normal looking. Will continue to sit on the fence about them. The runners I planted are coming up.

Second batch of white sprouting brocolli are looking much better than the first. Glad I put them in.

One, and only one courgette so far. Most distressing.

Wasps have made a nest in my nettle patch, which needs sorting.

Interesting Black/Silver flat spiders in the greenhouse.

Progress report

Bed 5: My broad beans are stunted and covered in black fly. Fit only for compost I think.

Bed 3 and 4: Have given in and used slug pellets. Tired of seeing my squashes start only to be gone the next day. Read the instructions after use, and found I have overdone it somewhat. Dug them in. Still might be too much. Oh well. Manured bed 3 with organic chicken manure pellets.

Planted some basil and parsley in the greenhouse.

Dwarf French Beans in bed 6 germinating already.

My comfrey soup contains some WEIRD wildlife. Little elongated ovals with sharp pointy tails. Body about 1" and maggoty and the tail about 2" and thin and sharp. There are Thousands of them, writhing over each other. Somewhat horrible. Wonder what they are! It's a pretty hostile environment in there.

Progress report

Bed 7 dug and weeded. French dwarf beans sown today. More radishes sown in bed 3.

I am a monster

Feeling truly horrible! Our neighbours (a guy and his father in-law) have recently abandoned their allotment due to some shenanigans at, or rather slightly too close to, home. It's pretty much a meadow now with a few very tall brassicas and fruit bushes. Finally there is some talk of someone else getting it so I got the brush cutter out and made a start on the big stuff, and decided to lift some of the carpets. There was a squeeking noise from the undergrowth when I started that should have alerted me, but after lifting a bit of carpet I notice 5 baby rodents. The people who are busy raiding the previous occupants stuff identify them as rats - and variations on 'kill the rats!" fill the air. I dutifully hid them in the nearest bush, hoping mum comes back and moves them somewhere a bit more sensible. They are blind and pink, probably only a few days old. It doesn't look good for them. Then the mother appears standing about 4 feet from me in plain view, squeeking - it's a field mouse, not a rat. I feel awful. Despite the mouse damage to my pumpkin, I don't mind them at all, and all babies look like babies to me now. Cast somewhat of a pall over my day. Some consolation that she'll probably have another litter in a couple of weeks.

Dug over the bottom of bed 3 and dug out some of the annual weeds, planted 12 or so white sprouting brocolli and some more kale.

Things haven't exactly impressed me with the speed of their growing, but I think I'm just being impatient. Have started watering the beds and things seem to at least be getting started now.

Have acquired two new compost bins, bringing up our total up to 3. Also nicked a disused hose.

Bought some brain to apply to cucumbers in the hope of detering, or at least sating the slugs appetites.

Put some shelves into the greenhouse.

Dug over bed 7. Onions planned to go in here.

Tootling about

Weeding and mowing today. Strimmer problem is getting really annoying.

Strawberries looking good.

Fed tomatoes and courgettes with Miracle Gro slow release tabs. Will see how they do.

Big day (or felt like it, anyway)

Rachael came up and weeded the strawberries. I used grass clippings as a bed for the burgeoning fruit, should hopefully keep the slugs off a bit. We've had a little damage on the fuit we've had so far. Nothing really major, but an annoyance none the less.

Bed 3: I planted 8curly Kale and 8 white sprouing and made a net from old sticks and shop bought net.

Bed 4: I planted two rows of radishes. Scarlett Globe and French breakfast.

Bed 6: Planted 24 fingerling leeks. They've been in the greenhouse for a while in pots, hopefully got them in in time. The method use was to make a hole about 9" deep with a broom handle, place the leek in the hole, and water. Leaving the leek in the hole without backfilling it or stamping it into place. This is recommended in The Vegetable Expert so am trusting it.

Greenhouse: Sowed Pak Choi and Savoy Cabbage.

Filled the water butt from the tap, had a light strim around the borders. Strimmer needs looking at as the wire isn't feeding. Another job.

Listened to Guns N Roses on the ipod all day. 'kin awesome.

A really hot day

Actually had my top off. Very nice for me. Not so nice for the neighbours. Haha.

In a shockingly environmentally friendly turn of events, I used last year's dried out jerusalem artichoke sticks as tomato canes. Free and zero miles! My how things change.

Very little done today as there was a great MotoGP race (Rossi taught Lorenzo a lesson I think will define the season, viva 46!) and I had to do jobs around the house.

I carried two growbags up from the local shop, about 300 yards. Jesus they're heavy! (Or I'm unfit). Anyway, I think my back is in its previous state of fitness once more. Good. It's been painful and a little worrying that I'd done something permanent. I filled one of the bags with 4 tomato plants cadged from our neighbour, purpotedly yellow tomatoes. The more the merrier. One bag still spare.

Watered the greenhouse plants. Noticed a couple of very pretty wasps in the Jerusalem artichokes - not yellowjackets - one black and the other yellow. Some really pretty little spiders in the greenhouse too. Long forelegs, green and yellow. Will have to look them up.

I replanted the remains of last year's apple mint. Pointless sentimentality really, but it was the very first plant I bought and I'd really like to rescue it. Where it was last year there was basically just a stick, but I noticed a bit of green on it so have put it in a large pot with a lot of compost and brought it into the greenhouse. Rachael thinks it's gone, but I'm hopeful some love can turn it back into a plant.

The cucumbers look utterly terrible.

Planting

Ate our first strawberry of the year today! Shared with Rachael. Summer has arrived!

Found a largeish garden spider lurking in the inner band of my hat. Quite glad I followed the inexplicable urge to check it!

Bed 1: Rachael planted potatoes, from B&Q of all places, and we covered with membrane. I planted a tray of herbs (Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Spearmint) aiming for a nice abundant herb patch of whatever is most vigourous. A little survival of the fittest is OK here. Teamwork today. Nice!

Bed 4: I managed to plant 11 sweetcorn, 45 lettuces (Lollo Rosso, Iceberg and Cos)

Bed 6: Planted 18 broad bean seedlings. Not sure at all what they are going to be like, very small indeed and way late for planting.

Bindweed continues to be a major hassle. If we ever find a use for the stuff then a new empire can arise, built on this rare and precious resource, and it's capital shall be my allotment.

My planting regime is following the old Russian maxim of 'God likes things in threes' - lets hope the allotment god feels the same way about my little rows of threes.

I made comfrey and urine soup today, utlising the piss bucket, for use as tomato food when they come into flower.

A female kestrel was hunting over me today, always a stirring sight, and made me think that I really must build a kestrel box for next year. It must be the day for raptors as I also saw a male sparrowhawk getting seen off by, of all things, a couple of swifts. Plucky little things.

Jobs to be done soon:

• 6+7 to be dug properly.
• Mowing
• Incinerator emptying.
• Stakes for tall things.
• Extra tomato plants to be repotted
• Lettuces to be covered.

Also, but not so urgently

• Clear the bloody carpets that are ruining our allotment.

Coffee and a cigarette on the patio set, elbow on the ipod and my Black n Red a5 ringbound notebook under a gelpen in my right hand, large billowing clouds in a bright blue sky. What a joy.

"I must have been working the ropes when your hand slipped from mine." der de doo de doo.