Harvest Time

 At last the tomatoes are ripening - and jolly tasty they are too!

We bagged up 90lbs of potatoes.  I grade them into sizes, small, medium, large, and 'jacket' potato size.  The 'rejects' tiny one, ones accidentally stabbed when  digging up go into the fridge drawers to be used first.  Nothing gets wasted

 Four bags of mixed beans (these are bit dusty) got topped and tailed sliced and washed.

 The pumpkins were getting far too big, so I picked some to ripen at home.

 Marrows and courgettes - will be turned into roasted veggie mixes

 I have now blanched and frozen 8 lbs of mixed beans - some of which are above, packed 8oz to a bag.

And finally this week, I picked 2lbs of luscious blackberries now washed and frozen.

We'll have lots of fabulous food for the winter months.

Allotment Diary 2011 Me: 64.5 hrs He: 59.5hrs

 We spent four and a half hours up the allotment this week, and areas we had weeded  just two weeks ago, looked as though they hadn't been done at all

 

I decided to get serious, so not only dug up all the weeds, 

 

I dug up everything, onions, potatoes, even a stray comfrey plant.

 

I harvested courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, Italian beans, runner beans, French beans, borlotti beans

 

Everything has gone crazy - in a good way (well apart from the weeds)

 

The mulching with grass cuttings I did between the rows of these potatoes worked well, and we made a start on digging up the 2nd early spuds.

 

I have some fine looking huge cabbages waiting to be harvested.

 

O.K.  I know this 'after' photo looks ugly, but trust me, I have tried all sorts of organic methods with mustard, and other mulching plants - and they have all been unsuccessful in keeping the weeds at bay after harvesting.  We get docks and thistles, and bindweed as well and the annual weeds, and it is just too much work for me to keep up with.  So part of my 250ft x 33ft plot just has to be covered when the crops are in.

Allotment Diary 2011 Me: 56.5 hrs He: 52.5hrs ....cont

So I mowed

The heavens opened and I mowed in the pouring rain, soaked to the skin literally

Half an hour later you'd never know it rained

Not a pretty site, but emergency actions - I picked 4 large carrier bags full of broad beans, and Mr L helped me pull up all the plants.  Because of all the rain forecast we did a quick weed of the plot area but it needs digging over where the broad beans were - so to avoid a jungle growing, we have covered it, and weighted down the plastic with the nearest heavy 'stuff'.   In our defence another heavy downfall was just starting and we had been working for over three hours and I was shattered

Some red potatoes not ready yet, and onions - not a good crop due to the drought conditions

More lawns and paths now mowed, we just have to keep it under control and the weeds grow so fast.

 

The covered bed in the foreground is the only way I can keep in control of the huge plot - its were the potatoes will go next year.

Grass now mowed and weeds pulled and it filled up a compost bin!

I added a few more courgette plants, and headed wearily home.

 

 

I have been busy in the garden too - more of that another time.

Allotment Diary Me:40hrs He:36hrs

Over the last couple of weeks I have spent 8 hours up the allotment

The early potatoes are growing, despite there being no rain

The broad beans are really behind due to the drought

So too the climbing Italian yellow beans

I weeded the potato bed which was full of thistles

I also earthed them up yet more

It's looking quite nice even if I do say so myself

Today the broad beans are in flower although still stunted

 Blackcurrents - they need a big dose of rain to plump them up.

The same applies to the gooseberries - not as good a crop as last year

Have you seen these before?

I haven't had to use these for years

But with the dire weather conditions I got them out.

They are a ring of plastic - not thick - which has sections fused which creates tubes

You fill the tubes with water and place over a plant - in this case pumpkins.  Because it is so windy here, I have taken precautions and put stakes inside them to stop them blowing away.

The idea is that the water warms up in any sunshine which creates a microclimate - a little greenhouse effect.

It is open at the top so that it's easy to water the plant - and lets the rain in.  It protects fragile plants from rabbits and muntjac and other critters.

When the plant gets established you just lift off the ring!  They are easy to store - about the size of a carrier bag.

This view almost breaks my heart. It is the view over my bottom fence and the part of my allotment I gave up to a very keen couple who were desperate for an allotment.

It was my favourite and best laid out of my plot.  The very bottom (which you can't see) I sowed an organic meadow - and I used to have three hybrid chickens living there - and they had free range of the whole quarter of an acre (which is the size of the whole plot).

The plot you can see, I split up in to six beds that ran horizontally and sowed organic 'bowling green' flat wide paths in between each bed.

The top bed had mixed perennial flowers in and was a lovely sight.

The next bed has asparagus - and I used the rest for different vegetables.

The next had the most magnificent rhubarb plant - which you can see has the tall yellow spears of flowers as it has gone to seed.

The other long beds were used for crop rotation veggies, and the nearest one to the fence had fruit bushes, more asparagus, and a well rotted manure compost area.

It's now full of tall weeds, thistles, stinging nettles, dock weeds gone to seed and many more.

It's such a shame  to see - but I shouldn't get upset about it as I gave it up!

We have a new old door on our pig hut shed.  The other one was in bad shape and was falling to bits.   Our nice neighbouring plot holder offered to fit this one for us - we did a bit of bartering - and I have it three coats of wood stain today - it was very windy so there are drips on the floor!  They'll wash off.  I'll give it a few more coats over the summer - lets hope it lasts until I decide to give up my plot.

Allotment Diary Me:35.25hrs He:30.25hrs

What happened to the rain then?  I was so excited at the prospect of overnight rain that I was up really early and raring to go.

We had a bit of cloud, and when I went outside to load the car up a 8.30am there were a few drizzley drips - and that was it.

It didn't dampen my enthusiam, just cut short my time up the allotment.

My mission was to cover my fruit bushes.  Years ago this fruit cage was covered in netting but over time it had been dessimated by the terrible winter weather. 

Not knowing how long I'll be able to keep up working on the allotment I have compromised.

With a bit of improvisation with bamboo canes stuck into the ground, and pieces of plastic pipe, slid on top and raised or lowered to the optimum height, I have hopes that I have created a bird proof method of protecting my soft fruit crops without too much expense.  (i.e. the protection not working out in excess of the cost of purchasing the fruit.)  Having said that, I never seen red currants in the shops and very rarely any blackcurrants, nor gooseberries, and this fruit keeps us in vitamin C right through until next harvest - plus the jams, jellies, etc.

I had enough netting to protect my row of lovely red gooseberries, but not enough for the remainder of the fruit bushes.

This originally was the cuttings bed, but everything flourished, so redcurrants, blackcurrents, jostaberries, and gooseberries, are covered with a selection of net curtains and black netting renmants.

Three hours since we finished, my hands and arms are still stinging from the result of renegade nettles attacking me through my sleeves and gardening gloves as I wrenched them from their niches and hurled them onto the incinerator ready to be burnt.

Even the cool shower and mango butter body creams didn't soothe them - but I am off to have a choc ice on a stick - you can bet that will be a distraction.

Hoping for rain overnight or all day tomorrow - I'll be having a day or (relative) rest

Allotment Diary Me:33hrs He:28hrs

Still no rain sadly, the soil is like dust, but there were still jobs I had to do.

I picked a barrow full of rhubarb, and once prepared I had 7lb which is now in the freezer.

I made a nice mixed fruit crumble - I'll add the recipe over the weekend,

Yesterday I spent four hours up the plot on my own.

There must have been a frost as some of the tips of the potatoes were blackened.  Not much harm done, I just cut off the damaged leaves and heaped up the potatoes even higher - weeded them at the same time too.  The weeds will soon shrivel and dry.

I had previously dug out deep trenches and we filled them with lots of well rotted manure, and I added a layer of cut comfrey leaves.  These had all dried and were rotting, so I planted some Italian climbing green beans

They are wiggley shaped ones - I grew them at home last year for the first time and they were delicious.   Once planted I watered the beans well then added  yet more comfrey to keep the damp in, and when rotted they will act as a top dressing feed.

How the broad beans continue to grow without a drop of water absolutely amazes me.  But they do!

Ditto the onions - and the weeds too!

In order to keep the beans protected from the wind, and to give them a bit of respite from the unrelenting sunshine, I 'cobbled together' some pieces of netting to make a screen.  Not very pretty, but it'll do the job until they grow up and are thriving.

It was a bit of a let down (understatement) when I saw that the thistles had started appearing in the big potato bed, despite my weeding them out a couple of weeks ago.

It's just not fair that weeds grow in dry, barren, dusty soil!  My next job methinks

The winds had blown off the protection from this big bed, so I had to put it all back and secure it again.  At least it keeps it weed free.

All of the above took me four hours yesterday - now on to today's efforts.

I took these photos of the gooseberry bushes as Mr Lottie didn't believe that the berries were ripe so early.

The downside is that they are small and hard, so I really do want the rain to plump them up to perfection, and I ought to add the netting to keep the birds off too!

I so wish that I had taken before and after photos of this part of the fruit area.

It was full of weeds again - thistles and annuals.  

I cleared them all with my Azada - it was hard work but the tool does get right under the roots.

I have planted cauliflowers, cabbages, and brussel sprouts.  The frame I have made from pieces of water pipe which I cut to size.  Mr L helped me bang in some metal rods and then I slotted the pipe on top - makes a nice sturdy frame.

The plants were really well watered before I attached a lace up 'bodice'.  Well it ended up looking like one to me.  Took me absolutely ages to do!  Hopefully it will keep the birds off, and the rabbits out, and keep the moisture in.

The transplanted rhubarb cuttings could do with a drink, but as we are forecast some rain - if we are lucky - on Saturday night or Sunday, I decided not to water them and save my precious supply of rainwater.

Once the brassicas get tall, I will be able to incresae the height by pulling the pipes up the metal rods - and just sliding the the netting up one side and adding either another piece or chicken wire fencing.  Can't let those pesky pigeons or rabbits at my winter brassicas!

Mr L was kept busy cutting a nice straight edge on the front bed.

And fetching and carrying tools for me too.

Phew - we sure were tired when we got home - so it was a quick home made spaghetti bolognese for lunch.