Flowers, Peas and Tomatoes!

We try growing different things each year; sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't. This year we have had some limited success with some wild flowers, peas, and tomatoes, for the first time.

Whilst the flowers that have emerged looked nice, there was plenty of room in the flowerbed for more to emerge:

We have tried to grow peas on a couple of occasions, and have never been particularly successful. Although they start off well, they soon get eaten (I think by birds). Nonetheless, this year has seen a couple of plants survive:

Until now the highlight of the year has been the courgettes, however they have now been superseded by the tomatoes. Whilst lots have grown, only a few have ripened (a problem everyone seems to be having):

Nonetheless, there is nothing quite like growing something you can eat there and then:

We have even managed to get some to grow in our front room!!

Today's Allotment

As promised in the last post, this post brings the user up-to-date with the current state of the allotment. Whilst we don't spend as much time on the allotment as we wish, and the weeds are continuing to be a struggle, we did bring home a large bag of veg today :-)

Section 1
Jerusalem artichokes, potatoes, and some bits and pieces that refuse to show much in the way of life:


Section 2
Mostly onions (interspersed with annoying bits of grass), although at the top there are also 3 surviving butternut squash plants surrounded by lots of weeds (the rest were eaten by slugs).


Section 3
Cucumbers and courgettes...which we discovered were EXTREMELY tasty today.


Section 4
Broad beans, runner beans, some barely surviving peas and more tomatoes than you can shake a stick at:


Whilst the allotment is never as successful as we wish, it does seem to be becoming more successful with each passing year:

There is nothing quite as rewarding as eating your own vegetables.

Blogs are Great!

Blogs are a great record of things that change over time, unfortunately they are only really great if they are updated regularly! I have been too busy to update my allotment blog regularly, so here is a quick update of the last two months. Last time I blogged seedlings were growing, and a little green house had been put up. Since then most of the seedlings have been eaten and the greenhouse was blown over (and broken beyond repair). Such is the lot of the allotmenteer.

The squashes (see photo below), cucumbers and courgettes were all planted out.

Although they have since been battered by slugs and the weather. Only a couple of the courgettes seem to have survived so far, whilst it was a bit disappointing to discover yesterday that some of the cucumber plants that were beginning to show cucumbers had been broken by the weather. This is the largest this particular plant will get:


Nonetheless overall things seem to be improving with every passing year.

Hopefully we will have tomatoes this year for the first time:

Since this photo was taken we have planted out even more plants, and probably have about 70 in total. If we get just one tomato off of each we will probably be happy.

As always beans continue to be the lifeblood of our allotment, and last night we added some runner beans to our collection broad beans:


We even, occasionally get time for some more cosmetic work, such as the adding of borders around the flower beds:


Irregular blog postings don't really show all the highs and lows of the allotment life, so my next post will try to be a much more methodical catchup of everything that is going on. After which I will attempt to post more regularly.

So much to do!

The allotment is a joy at the moment. Whilst there is a lot to do, there are so many things happening it is all very exciting. A few of the bits and pieces from the last couple of weeks:
The propogators have been very successful, and the tomatoes were transplanted before they got too big.

We knocked-up a plastic greenhouse to keep our seedlings in.

And we had to deal with a rather angry wasp nest.

The next few weeks promise to be even more busy.

A very productive Tuesday

Following the extensive propagating work on the Monday, we managed an equally productive Tuesday resulting in numerous photographs of mud.
Mud covering peas and beans:

Mud covering lettuce seeds:

Mud covering carrot and parsnip seeds (can you tell Emma planted them in the wrong rows?):

Emma also planted a primrose:

Whilst I attacked the tree with a saw to stop its over-shadowing shenanigans:

Very productive and photogenic.

Propagating Again!

Last time we tried propagating it didn't quite go to plan, although that was almost 2 years ago and I am hopeful that this time we will be more successful.

We have started to propagate tomatoes, butternut squashes, cucumbers, and courgettes.

Whilst the planting all went to plan (with the help of our new ABC tablecloth), the lack of a sprinkling watering-can did cause blood to be shed. To provide the sprinkling effect holes were dug into the cap of a plastic bottle. Unfortunately the corkscrew also dug a hole in my finger:

Luckily there are few flesh wounds that a monster plaster can't cure.

Wild flowers...hopefully

Only a few hours after the last post showing a rectangle of mud on the allotment, another rectangle of mud:

Whilst it may look like Emma's shallow grave, it is actually a flower bed where Emma has been sowing wild flowers (if that is not a contradiction).

There seems to be loads to do on the allotment at the moment, and whilst we got some carrots and parsnips sowed there are loads of bits and pieces we need to start potting indoors (something that has not worked particularly well previously).

Everyone seems to be in the same situation, and the allotments were busy despite the rather miserable weather, so we chose to do the neighbourly thing and not play the radio. Really we should try to get up there earlier.

The world's laziest blogger?

To ease the process of blogging I have taken to sending photos of the plot directly to my email account via MMS, so that I don't have to worry about resizing the images or uploading them to the computer. Nonetheless I have still failed to blog last weeks work on the allotment, and I am therefore making a very short post before heading back to the allotment in a few minutes.

Whilst the picture may look like a square of mud, it actually represents a lot of digging and planting. In a few months this will represent a flood of Jerusalem artichokes and potatoes...possibly.